Daily Dharma

Maitreya, the Buddha has prophesied that only one more birth stands between you and unexcelled, perfect enlightenment. What kind of birth does this prophecy concern,… Read More »When Does Rebirth Actually Occur?

Inside each of us is a complex constellation of perceptions, ideas, feelings, and intentions that mutually affect one another. Our inner worlds interact with outer… Read More »Inner Worlds and Outer Worlds

If you set egoic goals for the purpose of freeing yourself, enhancing yourself or your sense of importance, even if you achieve them, they will… Read More »Reject the Notion of “A Means to an End”

Hence, it is quite false to imagine that Zen is a sort of individualistic, subjective purity in which the monk seeks to rest and find… Read More »The First and Foremost Fact About Zen

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,this is the… Read More »The Best Season

A few years ago, a dying friend read me some lines from the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. They made me smile. Virtuous King Yudhistara (the son of Yama, the… Read More »How Would You Like to Die?

Concerning sorrow,The beginning of sorrow,The eightfold way,And the end of sorrow.Then at last she is safe.She has shaken off sorrow.She is free. The Buddhafrom The… Read More »Concerning Sorrow

The Tao has never had a namesimple and though smallno one can command itif a lord upheld itthe world would be his guestwhen Heaven joins… Read More »The Taoteching #32

Yet for all the ease with which we connect and feel close to our pets and other animals, we all too often remain indifferent to… Read More »On Connectedness with Animals

“‘If a sage contemplates rightly on a mountain peak, the effects are perceptible a thousand miles away.’ Is that a ‘useless and selfish shutting away… Read More »On Service