The Vitakkasanthana Sutta — the sutta on the relaxation of thoughts — the Buddha teaches that the refined mindfulness developed through the Eightfold Path brings a relaxed and peaceful quality of mind…
The Phena Sutta is another sutta on emptiness as the Buddha uses the term. In this sutta he teaches the emptiness of The Five Clinging Aggregates and the emptiness of creating self-identities by clinging to fleeting objects, events, views and ideas…
Shunyata – Three Discourses on Emptiness is an article on the Buddha’s teachings on emptiness. I will cite three suttas where the Buddha teaches the meaning and application of emptiness, shunyata (Pali: Sunnata)…
In the Meghiya Sutta, the Buddha teaches Meghiya five qualities that bring awakening or full human maturity…
The Bhaddekaratta Sutta teaches the importance of being mindfully present of life as life unfolds. The title of this Sutta means an auspicious day…
In the Alagaddupama Sutta – The Water Snake Sutta, the Buddha uses the simile of a water snake to teach the nature of clinging maintained by a mind conditioned by confused and deluded views…
The Assutava Sutta is another simple and direct sutta on Dependent Origination that also references the Five Clinging Aggregates…
The The Sallatha Sutta The Two Arrows is a key teaching as it clearly explains what for many is a confusing aspect of the Dhamma…
The intense desire to alter the dhamma to fit confused views rooted in ignorance of The Four Noble Truths has persisted until today. This has resulted in many contradictory “Buddhist” religions that together present a confusing “dharma.”…
What I have found through my own direct experience and inquiry is that the attempt to protect a particular modern lineage or to insist on a one-size-fits-all reconciliation of all the modern Buddhist “Dharmas” leads to a confusing and, again in my experience, an ineffective “thicket of views.” The term thicket of views are the words the Buddha used 2600 years ago to describe what would occur by craving for an adapted form of Dharma practice…