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,...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)...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...About Buddhism
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 »