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Bodhisattva Road

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Buddhist

2021-09-04T10:28:01-05:00

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.

Rough Edges and Scissorhands

Last updated on: September 4, 2021 at 10:28 am By Daniel Scharpenburg

Our meditation practice can help us soften our rough edges. This is an analogy that I’ve seen more than once. We are like rocks with sharp edges and we’ve got to get polished so we can be smooth. So we are doing the work of polishing ourselves. How do we do this? By cultivating Virtue, Meditation, and Insight. These three things are like our polishing tools. We apply them to our rough edges in hopes that we can be a... Read more

2021-08-29T13:32:54-05:00

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.

Facing the Wall, Facing the Buddha

Last updated on: August 29, 2021 at 1:32 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

I used to face the wall in meditation. It’s what is (usually) taught in the Zen tradition. Eyes open, face the wall. It’s the practice that Bodhidharma recommended. He called it “wall gazing” That’s what I did for many years and what I recommended as a practice when people would ask. Face the wall. If you don’t have a blank wall, find a blank spot on the floor that you can look at, not straight down, at a 45 degree... Read more

2021-08-20T16:39:07-05:00

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.

Hold Beings To Be Precious

Last updated on: August 20, 2021 at 4:39 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

“Considering that all sentient beings Accomplish a supreme purpose Superior to the wish-fulfilling jewel, I shall at all times hold them to be very precious.” -Langri Tangpa This is the beginning of a text called “The Eight Stanzas of Mind Training.” This is a collection of very short and simple teachings in a genre called ‘mind training’ from the Bodhisattva tradition. The text is a series of eight really short sayings. Easy to remember, mostly easy to understand. The point... Read more

2021-08-14T09:20:00-05:00

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 Four Forces

Last updated on: August 14, 2021 at 9:20 am By Daniel Scharpenburg

I was reading a book called “Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech” by Kunzang Pelden and I came across a teaching that I wanted to share. This text, by the way, is a detailed commentary on “Way of the Bodhisattva”. I recommend this book if you’re interested in going deeply into Bodhisattva teachings. The section I’m talking about today is the section on Diligence. This is a teaching called “the Four Forces” which represents four things that help us in the cultivation... Read more

way of the bodhisattva

2021-08-12T17:24:54-05:00

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.

Shantideva Had No Friends

Last updated on: August 12, 2021 at 5:24 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

I’m going to tell you a story. Shantideva is a fascinating figure in Buddhist history. He lived in the 8th Century in India. He was a monk and lived at a large Buddhist university called Nalanda with a lot of other monks. His story means a lot to me for a few reasons. One is he wrote a text called “Way of the Bodhisattva.” To me this is one of the most important writings in all of Buddhist history. He... Read more

way of the bodhisattva

2021-05-31T16:23:32-05:00

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.

The Second Arrow

Last updated on: May 31, 2021 at 4:23 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

Today I’m going to talk about the second arrow. It’s this old teaching about how we relate to our experience. The second arrow is how we tend to magnify our own suffering. The first arrow – this is a metaphor, obviously – is a bad thing that happens, and the second arrow is our way of making it worse. My two personal examples for this are: This one time my son threw up, and that in itself is bad. That’s... Read more

buddhism

suffering

2020-12-14T12:30:26-05:00

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.

I’m Too Busy to Meditate

Last updated on: December 14, 2020 at 12:30 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

Today I want to address the question, “What if I’m too busy to meditate?” This is one of a few things that people often say in a casual way when they find out that I meditate. I want to be very clear, this is something that comes up in a general conversation, not usually a teaching context. People find out I’m a meditator, people find out I teach meditation, and they say either some version of, “That’s so cool, I... Read more

meditation

mindfulness

2020-12-14T12:29:39-05:00

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.

Grieving and Death

Last updated on: December 14, 2020 at 12:29 pm By Daniel Scharpenburg

I wanted to write about grief and death today. Some asked me to talk about this, so I’m going to. It’s going to get a little personal too. This is about grief and death. Ultimately an aspect of this is going to be very personal because of my own experience, and I’m going to relate that to you, but I’m going to start by sharing a quote. This is from a book called Awake in the World, by Michael Stone.... Read more

2020-11-27T07:45:46-05:00

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.

Originally Not A Single Dharma

Last updated on: November 27, 2020 at 7:45 am By Daniel Scharpenburg

“Originally there is not a single dharma; Why discuss inspiration and training?” -Song of Mind What does it mean if there’s not a single dharma? Are Buddhist teachings empty and meaningless? What are we even doing? There’s a story from the life of the Buddha that this reminds me of. Some monks were arguing about which of the Buddha’s teachings were the most important. (Yes this even happened when the Buddha was alive) The Buddha approached them and said, “With... Read more

2020-11-24T09:02:26-05:00

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 Nature of Mind

Last updated on: November 24, 2020 at 9:02 am By Daniel Scharpenburg

“The Nature of Mind is non-arising, What need is there for knowledge and views?” -Niutou Farong, Song of Mind The text “Song of Mind” starts right away with a heavy teaching. Some other texts start with easier teachings and build up from that. This is like getting thrown into the deep end of the pool. We’ve been attaching to our minds and our thoughts as real, important, solid things.. But are they? Thoughts are fleeting. I have this thought,... Read more

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