Category Archives: Hongaku Jodo
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
No One Is Perfect, Nor Can They Be
In a conversation with an aged Brahmin, the Buddha once explained concisely what a Buddha, an enlightened one, means: What has to be known, that I have known (the five aggregates); What has to be abandoned, that I have abandoned; … Continue reading
Does Buddhism Need A Dhamma Police?
This is a reposted blog article by Sensei Keisho Ananda of Hongaku Jodo. It is well worth the read. Please check him out. Does Buddhism Need A Dhamma Police? When I took refuge years ago I took refuge in The … Continue reading
The Matrix of Practice
Dengyo Daishi once wrote, “A devout believer in the Buddha’s Law who is also a wise man is truly obliged to point out to his students any false doctrines, even though they are principles of his own sect. He must … Continue reading
Faith In the Way
We are empirical and finite beings, we are confined to a bubble of sense perceptions and our existence is limited to time and space. Pursuit of truth starts with our encounter with a sense of the transcendent and the infinite, … Continue reading
Fists Full of Sand 