Letter from Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi on Buddhist holiday

VESAK 2012 Remembering the Buddha and his teachings with joy, gratitude, and generosity Dear Friend, The most important holiday in the Buddhist calendar, Vesak, is just around the corner. Starting on the full moon day of May, the month of Vesak celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and passing away of the Buddha. It is a day

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Dana ── The Practice of Giving

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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Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas

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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Making a Fresh Start in Life

A talk given at the Chinese New Year assembly at Bodhi Monastery, February 9th, 2008 For Buddhists, the new year should not be an occasion merely to celebrate and enjoy good food and the company of friends. It is an opportunity to take a new birth and start a new life, a time to renew

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My First Encounter with a Buddhist Monk

In the first week of August, 1965, after finishing summer school, I set out to travel by car from New York to California. I was twenty years old and in September would be entering my senior year at Brooklyn College . I wanted to visit a friend who was spending the summer in San Francisco

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