Heal Yorself ! Talpe Temple School

TWO WORDS -- Mahayana and Hinayana -- cause much confusion among Buddhists, I would like to offer a different way of looking at them. They concern the Buddhist approach to life. Mahayana literally means "Great Vehicle" (of Liberation from Samsara, or the "Wheel of Change&…

I would like to explain why, about fifteen years ago, I became interested in Buddhism and have continued to practice and study it since then. I am an American and was raised as a Roman Catholic. But by the time I was halfway through high school, I became disenchanted with Christianity and…

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Savatthi, in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. There he addressed the monks, "Monks, I will teach you the five-factored noble right concentration. Listen, and pay close attention. I will speak." &quo…

During these days of practice together, we've been reading the names of many people - our departed loved ones, and also relatives, family members, friends, who are suffering untold agony and hardship at this time. There is so much misery all around us - how do we accept it all? We…

Where does one begin? This is obviously the first question. And when the issue at hand is the manifest need to explore and resolve the root-problem of our personal existence, then this question takes on a primacy in terms not only of sequence but of importance. One begins, of course, fr…

During Wesak Day, we are informed that it is also the day Buddha attained Parinibbana. But not many know how the Buddha died. Ancient texts weave two stories about the Lord Buddha's death. Was it planned and willed by the Buddha, or was it food poisoning, or something else altogether…

There are two types of meditation in Buddhism. One is Samatha meditation; the other is Vipassana meditation. Samatha here means concentration. Vipassana here means insight or experiential knowledge of bodily and mental phenomena. Of these two types of mental training Samatha meditation i…