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Yearly Archives: 2020

HomeYearly Archives: 2020
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06
July

Remaining Celibate in an Environment of Attachment

While it’s true that one can practice in a relationship, it’s more difficult to counteract attachment when one lives in an environment permeated by it. If lay life were the most effective way to practice, the Buddha himself would not have been a monastic. Ven. Thubten Chodron Remaining Celibate in an Environment of Attachment By Ven. Thubten…

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06
July

A Monastic’s Mind

As we remain ordained longer and longer, we come to understand how our behavior affects other people, and we begin to feel some responsibility for the continuity of the teachings. These precious teachings, which have helped us so much, began with the Buddha. Ven. Thubten Chodron A Monastic’s Mind Ven. Thubten Chodron Excerpted from a talk given at…

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06
July

On Celibacy

They also need faith. This is achieved by the inspiring example of monks and nuns whose pure lifestyle and inner attainment of peace show that renunciation is possible. On Celibacy By Ven. Thubten Gyatso It is 1972, in Jalalabad, and travellers on their journey to the east, stranded in Afghanistan by the Indo-Pakistani war, are partying. A…

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06
July

A Renounced Mind

We know the general methods for protecting our mind: recollecting the imminence of death, the sufferings of samsara, the skeleton beneath the skin, the rotting corpse, honey on a razor blade. But we don’t really believe them. Ven. Thubten Gyatso A Renounced Mind By Ven. Thubten Gyatso One evening in 1975, on the hilltop at Kopan, my girlfriend…

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05
July

Sojong-Purifying and Restoring our Vows

Since the pratimoksha vows are received from a preceptor, an instructor, and several members of the sangha, the rite of confession must also be carried out before members of the sangha-that is to say, a group of bhikshus. Ven. Sangye Khadro Sojong-Purifying and Restoring our Vows By Ven. Sangye Khadro According to Geshe Jampa Tegchog in Monastic Rites,…

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05
July

Meditating on the Body

On reflection we can see that the Buddha is not having us look at the body and be repelled by it or have distaste for it in any way, but to be discerning and dispassionate in the same way that one looks at a bag with various kinds of beans and seeds and whatnot. Ven. Sangye…

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05
July

Keeping Your Balance

Have a sense that being ordained is really important and really precious and someone who has been able to remain ordained for so many years is something to rejoice in. If we have this attitude of appreciation for this whole lifestyle as a monk and nun, we will value our own ordination more. Ven Sangye Khadro Keeping…

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05
July

How to Keep the Spirit

For me it would be arrogant to think that I don’t need to be a nun in order to practice Dharma, in order to get realizations, in order to live a beneficial life, when our teachers such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and so on are all ordained. It’s like saying…

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05
July

Sojong as Skillful Means for Building Community

Sojong as Skillful Means for Building Community By Bhikshuni Thubten Saldon Today more than ever, I am deeply reassured about the potential of Sojong for the Western Sangha. The practice of or Sojong supports both the individual and the community by the dismantling of harmful karmic conditionings. Again and again, I have experienced the huge potential…

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