Buddhist History Guides
A Rain Ritual in the Tibetan Book of Spells from Dunhuang An Excerpt from Buddhist Magic RITUALS IN THE SUTRAS Some of the earliest ritual scriptures in Buddhism are dedicated to rainmaking. The most widespread and influential of these is the Great Cloud Sutra. Appearing in India in the fourth or fifth century, this ritual
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Shambhala Publications · Mindfulness Breathing Exercise with Dr. Sarah Shaw Find a moment of stillness with Dr. Sarah Shaw, author of Mindfulness: Where It Comes From and What It Means. In this audio recording, she guides listeners through a shamatha breathing mindfulness exercise. May it be of benefit. Mindfulness$17.95 - PaperbackBy: Sarah Shaw Add
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It is with a very heavy heart I share the news that our author, translator, editor, audiobook reader, and—most of all— friend Sherab Chodzin Kohn passed away on January 21, 2020. His roots with Shambhala Publications go very deep. Sherab did his dissertation at the Sorbonne, after which he jumped into publishing as a copyeditor
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Buddha Nature Read More In the eleventh century, the great Tibetan scholar-practitioner Gampopa (1079–1153) began his composition known as The Jewel Ornament of Liberation with an exposition on the cause for awakening. What is the cause for awakening? In the Vajrayana and third turning traditions of Buddhism it is buddha nature. Buddha nature is our
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Elephants and Thai Monks | An Excerpt from In the Cool Shade of Compassion
The Art of Elephant Training An excerpt from In the Cool Shade of Compassion: The Enchanted World of the Buddha in the Jungle about the wandering monks and adepts of the village temples, hills, and forests of Thailand. An In the 1920s, when [George] Orwell and Campbell were working in Muang Ngao forest, there were still
Teaching the Dharma | An Excerpt from A Feast of the Nectar of the Supreme Vehicle
Investigating the Dharma 1. Showing Why It Is Worth Teaching Others the Dharma Unstintingly When bodhisattvas thoroughly investigating the Dharma have received the teachings and gained unmistaken realization of them, they explain them unstintingly to sentient beings and thereby complete their own transcendent perfections and bring other sentient beings to maturity. There is no better
Temple Boy and Spitting Cobra | An Excerpt from In the Cool Shade of Compassion
A Lesson on Revenge Ajan Ngoen was born in 1890 in the Village of Grandma Hom’s Knoll in Nakhon Pathom, a province about sixty kilometers west of Bangkok. Ngoen’s father was a farmer and herbal doctor who taught him mantras and medicine from palm-leaf texts. In 1910 Ngoen (which means “silver”) was ordained as a
In the world of religion, some things stay the same, while many are constantly adapting to meet our new world of the internet and cell phones, scientific discovery, increasing awareness of gender and race dynamics, multiculturalism, the numbers of people identifying their religion as “none” or “spiritual but not religious,” and so much more. We
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Sacred Are the Trees: A Retelling of Ancient Stories from Biographies of the Buddha by Wendy Garling, author of Stars at Dawn Why Trees? Those familiar with the Buddha’s biography know that all major events in his life took place under trees. He was born under a shala tree (shorea robusta), for example, as his
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Related Reader's Guides Guide to the Sakya Tradition Guides to Other Important Sakya Figures: Sakya Pandita | Sakyasribhadra Drogön Chögyal Phagpa Lodrö Gyaltsten (1235-1280) Drogon Chogyal Phagpa Lodro Gyaltsen (1235-1280), better known to the world as Chögyal Phagpa (or Phakpa) is one of the five great founding masters from the Sakya tradition in Tibet. In
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