BODHI MONASTERY

Contents Introduction (Bhikkhu Bodhi) The Practice of Giving (Susan Elbaum Jootla) Giving in the Pali Canon (Lily de Silva) Giving from the Heart (M. O’C. Walshe) Generosity: The Inward Dimension (Nina van Gorkom) The Perfection of Giving (Acariya Dhammapala) About the Contributors Notes Introduction    by Bhikkhu Bodhi The practice of giving is universally recognized

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I. Competing Buddhist Ideals The arahant ideal and the bodhisattva ideal are often considered the respective guiding ideals of Theravāda Buddhism and Mahāyāna Buddhism. This assumption is not entirely correct, for the Theravāda tradition has absorbed the bodhisattva ideal into its framework and thus recognizes the validity of both arahantship and Buddhahood as objects of

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Buddhism originates in the life and teaching of the Buddha, whose proper name was Siddhartha Gautama. Born into a royal family in north India (now Nepal) in the fifth century B.C., Gautama was raised in the wealth and luxury befitting an aristocrat, but he soon found that worldly comfort is not enough to guarantee true happiness and contentment. In his twenty-ninth year, moved by the suffering to which humanity is prone, he renounced his life in the palace and set off to find the key to human happiness. After six years of struggle and ascetic practices, in his thirty-fifth year he discovered the path that leads to complete release from all bondage and misery. Pursuing this path, he attained Perfect Enlightenment, the consummation of his quest, and from that point on came to be known as the Buddha, the Awakened One. For the remaining forty-five years of his life he traveled all over northern India teaching others the Dharma, the truth that he discovered, and the path to Nirvana, the state of ultimate bliss. He also established a community of monks and nuns, called the Sangha, to carry on his teaching after his death. In his eightieth year the Buddha passed away peacefully, surrounded by his many devoted disciples. Continue Reading »

One becomes a Buddhist lay disciple by means of two steps: Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels and undertaking the Five Precepts. By going for refuge one makes the solemn commitment to accept the Three Jewels — the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha — as the guiding ideals of one’s life. By taking

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All the Buddha’s teachings center around the Four Noble Truths, the formula into which he compressed the essence of his realization. The First Noble Truth teaches that life involves suffering. It is impossible to live without experiencing some kind of discomfort or stress. Possessing bodies, we have to endure sickness, injury, fatigue, old age, and

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