Old Path White Clouds: The Life Story of the Buddha

In monasteries around the world, monks since the time of the historical Buddha have chanted four vows that encapsulate the Mahayana Buddhist path. The standard translation of the first vow says, “Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them all.” What does this mean? What exactly are we vowing to do?

The teachings of the Buddha are about letting go and opening: you do that in how you relate to the people in your life, how you relate to the situations you’re in, how you relate with your thoughts, how you relate with your emotions. The purpose of your whole life is not to make a lot of money, it’s not to find the perfect marriage, it’s not to bui

As we have already seen, the function of this exercise is to nourish us with joy and happiness and to heal the wounds within us. But we have no doubts about letting go of this joy in order to embark on the work of observation. Joy and happiness come about because of physical and psychological conditions, and are as impermanent as all other physical

Throughout the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Buddha lists sixteen such perceptions that represent the different views common in his day concerning the element of our existence believed to be permanent or real. The four included here focus on the dimensions of space and time. Atma (self) refers to an inner reality, sattva (being) to an outer realit