Few words in Buddhism are more well-known, and more debated historically among Buddhists, than the word “emptiness.” What do we find about “emptiness” in the Pali canon, the oldest records we have of the Buddha‘s teachings? In this essay Buddhist monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu explains how Theravadan Buddhists understand the word in terms of these earliest […]
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Tag Archives: unbinding
Do we really believe in impermanence?
2010/09/14 
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In my own practice, I’ve really been wrestling with the Buddha’s teaching of anicca—the truth that all conditioned, fabricated, created things are impermanent and constantly change. It’s one thing to accept anicca as a truism—after all, it’s obvious that all things change and are transient. And it’s another to see something of the truth of […]
Continue readingThe Paradox of Becoming-A Deep Study of the Buddha’s Teaching
2010/05/07 0 Comments
Of all the skillful writings of Thanissaro Bhikkhu, I think “The Paradox of Becoming” is probably his greatest, his magnum opus, though his “Wings to Awakening” certainly ranks right at the top as well. (see: Wings to Awakening-An Anthology from the Pali Canon) In this wonderful treatise, Thanissaro Bhikkhu has brings together all the Buddha’s […]
Continue readingThe Mind like Fire Unbound-the Fire Metaphor for Nirvana
2010/04/28 0 Comments
In an earlier post, The Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta-the Buddha on the Nature of Existence and Nirvana, the Buddha explains how nirvana is like the extinction of a flame. The ascetic wanderer Vacchagotta can’t understand what happens after death to one who attains nirvana, or complete Unbinding. Does he still exist? Does he not exist? Does he […]
Continue reading Nirvana is a Verb, Not a Place
2010/02/22 3 Comments
A Verb for Nirvana by Thanissaro Bhikkhu “Back in the days of the Buddha, nirvana (nibbana) had a verb of its own: nibbuti. It meant to “go out,” like a flame. Because fire was thought to be in a state of entrapment as it burned — both clinging to and trapped by the fuel on […]
Continue readingMay All Beings Be Happy
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Metta Refuge 