Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2023 i Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

WELCOME TO THE Summer 2023 Buddhadharma. The theme of this issue is “Power and the Practitioner.” Now, just what do we mean by that? Let’s define our terms. Power of course has many aspects, many meanings. We might think, for example, of power dynamics: who has power over whom, how we respect and support one another, and how we don’t. That’s something Buddhadharma has commented upon in the past, and will again. It’s important. Here, though, the word denotes instead the power, and powers, that we uncover, experience, and cultivate through dharma practice. Whether they derive from within or without us, they are waiting for us to recognize, draw out, and nourish them. The giant wave, the lightning bolt, the fierce twister, the ferocity of the dominant species guarding its…

I WRITE THIS ARTICLE overshadowed by the death of my stillborn daughter, Avery. As an ordained minister of the Nichiren Shu, I am used to others asking how to cope with life’s suffering and tragedies. Now I must ask myself: Where do I find the power to get through this? It is not enough, even an insult, to people’s intelligence and basic human feelings to simply say, “chant about it.” However, in our lineage, it is true that chanting the Odaimoku mantra in joyful confidence is the vessel we use to gather, realize, and express the three powers that come together to overcome suffering and anguish. These three powers are the awe-inspiring power of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha, the power of the foundational merit of the practitioner, and the power…

ANCIENT STORIES tell of a wise king asking Buddha Shakyamuni for dharma teachings and practices that do not require renouncing the world: “I cannot leave my family and royal responsibilities to become a monastic practitioner. Is there another path to liberation for someone like myself?” According to legend, the compassionate Buddha responded by teaching the famous Kalachakra Tantra, evoking a complex, colorful symbolic mandala transmitting enlightenment itself. Returning home, the monarch led an awakened life in the world. This story shows us the transformative power of tantric Buddhist teachings for complete awakening in any situation. What is the source of this renowned spiritual power? How is it possible to attain liberation from confused and confusing entanglements while actively engaging everyday life? Tantric Buddhist practice often involves reciting mantras, visualizing deities,…

FOR THE ANALYTICALLY minded who appreciate a systematic presentation of ideas, the Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics series (Wisdom), conceived by the Dalai Lama, compiled by a team of monastic scholars, and edited by Thupten Jinpa, is a useful collection of Buddhist primary sources. The latest volume in the series, entitled Volume 4: Philosophical Topics, translated by Dechen Rochard, meticulously covers major topics in Buddhist philosophy: the two truths, no-self, emptiness, epistemology, and the philosophy of language. These topics are explained in a direct and authoritative voice that moves with the clear progression of logic often found in traditional Tibetan commentaries. Replete with cited passages from Indian sources by the heavy hitters of Buddhist philosophy such as Nagarjuna, Candrakirti, Vasubandhu, and Dignaga, this edited compilation will appeal…

IN RECENT DECADES, self-compassion has emerged as a counterpoint to self-esteem in the field of psychology. We all need social recognition for our achievements—this forms the basis for much of our self-esteem—but overreliance on such recognition can lead to a fragile, brittle sense of self, subject to the opinions of others. Self-compassion, in contrast, involves being kind to oneself regardless of external outcomes and recognition. It is qualitative rather than quantitative and helps affirm the self with the qualities of warmth, kindness—compassion. Yet, in practice, self-compassion also has limitations: it can be challenging to muster up our sense of self-compassion, especially when things are hard, and thus, when we need that compassion the most. But what if we realized that that compassion is always there, not something we have to…

I BEGAN FORMAL Buddhist practice in 1969, studying at Antaiji, a tiny Soto Zen temple in what was, at the time, the northern edge of Kyoto, Japan. Kosho Uchiyama Roshi (1912–1998) taught shikantaza, “only mind your sitting,” yet in his public lectures he praised Kanzeon Bosatsu, Guan Yin Bodhisattva, the Awakened Being of Great Compassion; Jizo Bosatsu, Earth Treasury Bodhisattva, the Awakened Being of Great Vows; Munjo (Manjushri) Bosatsu and Fugen (Samantabhadra) Bosatsu, identified with Great Wisdom and Great Practices, respectively. His presentation of Zen was embedded in the larger framework of the Mahayana teachings, replete with admiration for the four great “celestial bodhisattvas” of the Mahayana. Uchiyama Roshi said that if Buddhism had a contribution to make to the twentieth-century world, it was going to come from the limitless…

WHEN I FIRST MET my teacher, Ajaan Fuang, I had never heard of the Thai Forest Tradition, even though I had been living and working in Thailand for almost two years. This was in the early ‘70s, before knowledge of the tradition had penetrated the consciousness of the university circles in which I worked. As a result, I had no idea what to expect. As the days passed during that first three-week period, I realized that I was in an entirely new reality. On the one hand, I was drawn to Ajaan Fuang’s extraordinary wisdom and kindness, and especially his clear-sighted perspective on Thai society. It was as if I were meeting him on a direct human level, outside of the usual expectations of my encounters with Thai people, which…

On the first bell, sit down, feel the earth beneath you, give yourself to her. Take a breath and expand within, filling your whole body with fresh energy. On the exhale, expand into the space around you. Occupy that space. And now on the second bell, like Avalokitesvara in her posture of royal ease, with that one knee up and her foot on the ground, rise up and share your heart with the world, that heart of yours that burns for justice, and peace. Just to do this continuously is called the host within the host. —Chan master Dongshan Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great. It has to do with what we decide in that moment when we are called upon to be more. —US…