Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Bodhisattva Road

Home
Buddhist

2022-07-17T13:28:58-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Training in Joy

Last updated on: July 17, 2022 at 1:28 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

“Joy has its roots in mindfulness, which sensitizes us to our world of the moment. Mindfulness brings intimacy with all things. With mindfulness we simply learn to make room for joy; learning to see, listen, and attend to all things with a spacious heart.” -Christina Feldman Joy makes us feel alive. It’s part of our innate potential. We can have joyous lives. With mindfulness we can learn to see the roots of our joy and to have some understanding of... Read more

2022-06-25T13:15:32-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Buddhism for Beginners

Last updated on: June 25, 2022 at 1:15 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

Many people develop an interest in Buddhism, but it can be hard to know where to begin. When I first became interested I resisted going to a temple and meeting other Buddhists for many years. I resisted this because I was worried. I was worried I’d sit in the wrong position in meditation, or pronounce something wrong, or somehow accidentally reveal my lack of knowledge. I was worried about things I didn’t need to worry about. Buddhists are generally not... Read more

2022-06-14T17:01:35-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Training in Compassion

Last updated on: June 14, 2022 at 5:01 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

“Compassion has the power to bring harshness and cruelty to an end; compassion heals our hearts even when pain cannot be fixed; compassion is the root of forgiveness, patience, and tolerance. The seed of profound and immeasurable compassion lies in each of our hearts.” -Christina Feldman Compassion is fundamental to living an ethical and fulfilled life. The original term that we’re translating as ‘compassion’ is ‘karuna’. It’s an attitude we can cultivate in our lives. Compassion is the wish for... Read more

2022-06-16T07:52:38-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What’s Meditation? (short answer)

Last updated on: June 16, 2022 at 7:52 am By Daniel Scharpenburg

Whenever I teach a meditation class I always ask the people what they think meditation is. When I do that I get a range of different answers. I’m going to tell you what I think meditation is. In her book Buddhism for Beginners by Thubten Chodron, she says, “Meditation means habituating ourselves to constructive, realistic, and beneficial emotions and attitudes. It builds up good habits of the mind. Meditation is used to transform our thoughts and views so that they... Read more

buddhism for beginners

awareness

meditation

mindfulness

2022-06-10T14:20:44-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Saga Dawa Duchen: The Great Occasion 2022

Last updated on: June 10, 2022 at 2:20 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

Saga Dawa is considered a holy month in the Tibetan Buddhist calendar. It’s said to be in this period that the Buddha was born, attained enlightenment, and passed away. It’s a lunar calendar, so it doesn’t have the same dates every year. This year it’s the month of June. If our Christian friends could imagine what things would be like if Christmas and Easter were in the same month, that can give us a sort of general understanding. During Saga... Read more

2022-06-08T18:53:23-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Loving-kindness and Compassion

Last updated on: June 8, 2022 at 6:53 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

Loving-kindness and Compassion are two attitudes that we can develop. Learning to embody these attitudes is a really meaningful way to live your life and they can bring us a lot of benefit, both internally and externally. The Buddha said that developing these attitudes is “the most noble way of living in this world.” I think that’s true. I think we get so caught up thinking about mindfulness and attention that we sometimes lose sight of the other things that... Read more

buddhism for beginners

2022-05-30T16:35:38-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Essence of Buddhism

Last updated on: May 30, 2022 at 4:35 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

At the Rime Center we do a chant every Sunday called Supplication to the Buddha. I believe that within one part of this chant we really get at what the essence of Buddhism is. It is as follows: “Do not commit any non-virtuous actions. Perform only perfect virtuous actions. Subdue your mind thoroughly- This is the teaching of the Blessed One” In her book Buddhism for Beginners Thubten Chodron echoes the same idea with just a little different wording. She... Read more

buddhism for beginners

2022-05-30T10:14:29-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Saga Dawa 2022: The Month of Merit

Last updated on: May 30, 2022 at 10:14 am By Daniel Scharpenburg

Saga Dawa is a holy month in the Tibetan Buddhist calendar. It’s a lunar calendar, so in our western reckoning it’s not exactly the same time every year. This year, 2022, it lines up almost perfectly with the month of June. Saga Dawa starts on May 31st and ends on June 29th this year. There important events are said to have happened during this month. They are: the birth of the Buddha, the Buddha’s Enlightenment, and the Buddha’s death. This... Read more

2022-05-24T17:05:00-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Most Noble Way of Living in This World

Last updated on: May 24, 2022 at 5:05 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

The path of Metta is a radical path. Boundless kindness is outside of our normal way of doing things. We may even feel compelled to ask say things like, “If I’m nice to people, they’ll take advantage of me.” Sensitivity is seen as a weakness and we actually have terms in our language that exist to convey the message that we care too much about other people. Many years ago the term ‘bleeding heart’ was the one that got thrown... Read more

2022-05-22T16:56:32-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Training in Kindness

Last updated on: May 22, 2022 at 4:56 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

“Each moment of cultivating the psychological gesture of kindness rather than the impulse of abandonment is learning to inhabit our life in a fearless way.” -Christina Feldman Kindness is fundamental to living an ethical life, with positive thoughts, words, and actions. It’s hard to imagine living a life of virtue that isn’t predominately focused on kindness. I’m using the word ‘kindness’ because that’s easier to use and understand, but what we’re really talking about is ‘Metta’. Sometimes this word is... Read more

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Zacchaeus Nicodemus Simon Bartimaeus

Support this
Column

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 37 Practices blog bodhisattva book review boundless heart buddha buddhism buddhism for beginners compass of zen compassion dhammapada dharma emptiness Faith in Mind fearless heart han shan impermanence inspiration interfaith koans life Lojong mahayana meditation mind training mirror of zen movie review nagarjuna news questions recording song of mind steps to the great perfection suffering sutras suttas Uncategorized vajrayana video videos zen

Select a Month July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 September 2021 August 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 August 2019 March 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Buddhist