Author Archives: Sensei Mui
Celebrating Amitabha’s Power
The power of Amitabha Buddha, also called Amida Buddha, is a fascinating and important topic in Buddhism. Amitabha Buddha is one of the most popular and widely venerated figures in Mahayana Buddhism, and is especially revered in Pure Land Buddhism. … Continue reading
Harsh Truths You Need to Accept
To Live a Happy Life The Dhammapada tells us that. All beings seek happiness and fear pain and death. This seems obvious on the face of it, but we act as if it weren’t true. We look for happiness in … Continue reading
Creating Peace By Letting Go
When speaking of emptiness there seems to be a distorted sense of what that term means. It often comes across as some incredibly deep metaphysical reality separate from the day-to-day humdrum of modern ‘civilized’ being. It’s an easy belief to … Continue reading
Persistent Erroneous Beliefs
“What more does the community of bhikkhus expect from me, Ananda? I have set forth the Dhamma without making any distinction of esoteric and exoteric doctrine; there is nothing, Ananda, with regard to the teachings that the Tathagata holds to … Continue reading
Fear Is Born From Arming Oneself.
A life filled with negativity is not created by bad luck or circumstances. It is created by a negative mind and beliefs. This mindset and belief was created by conditioning and habits of thinking both conscious and unconscious. If you … Continue reading
Leader or Guide?
Upali lived during the time of Buddha and was the follower of another religion and went to the Buddha in order to argue with him and try to convert him. But after talking to the Buddha, he was so impressed that he decided … Continue reading
Knowledgeable Ignorance
Going To All the Wrong Places I am not complaining, I merely state an observation: most people are knowledgeably ignorant. The pseudo-spiritual say that in order to understand reality “you have to go inside” but they never tell you inside … Continue reading
Living With Fools
Asevana ca balanam panditanañca sevana, “Don’t associate with fools. Associate only with wise people.” “Fools” are people whose minds and actions are unskillful and “evil”. They are unskillful in their actions – killing, stealing, having careless sex – and unskillful … Continue reading
My Buddha Can Beat Up Your Buddha
Contemporary Pure Land Buddhism has come under much scholarly critique over the past two to three decades. This is especially true of the Japanese Jōdo and Jōdo Shinshū presentations. In fact, the entirety of the model of populist Buddhism in … Continue reading
On Counterfeit Buddha Quotes
For the past 3 weeks the Hongaku Jōdo Sangha in Chicago has been going over the “Short Medicine Sadhana” with a fine toothcomb — not literally, of course. An in depth study of any of the writings or practices making … Continue reading
Fists Full of Sand 