For over two thousand years, Buddhists around the world have celebrated the Buddha‘s Birthday. Traditionally, his birth is supposed to have been in 623 BC but the Buddhist calendar …

During mondo, somebody asked: „You always say strong, strong, strong.” Strong decision! In history, the monk Tosui is an example of a strong decision of following the Way. Tosui …

Śūnyatā is a Sanskrit noun that derives from the adj. sūnya – ‘void’, Suññatā (Pāli; adj. suñña), Ku (Japanese), Śūnyatā holds the semantic field of “emptiness” and is the …

KAN JI ZAI BO SA GYO- JIN HAN-NYA HA RA MI TA JI Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, while meditating deeply in the Prajñaparamita, SHO- KEN GO ON KAI KU- DO IS-SAI …

THE FIRST ANCESTOR, One day, the World-honoured One offered up a flower with a  twinkle  in  His  eye;  Mahakasyapa’s  face  broke  out  in  a  smile. The World-honoured One said, …

Cetasika = Ceta + s + ika is translated as “mental factors”, “mental states”, “mental events”, “concomitants of consciousness”, “mental concomitants”, “mental adjuncts”, “psychic factors”, etc. Cetasika, (adj.) means …

The Shōbōgenzō is the well recognized spiritual masterpiece of the Japanese Soto Zen Master, Eihei Dogen. It contains discourses that he gave to his disciples, in person or in …

In meditation, the Five Hindrances can be seen as the major forces in the mind that hinder our ability to see clearly or become concentrated, preventing us from gaining …

The kimono is representative of Japan’s culture and heritage, and there are different types of kimono worn to complement every season and occasion. Originally, “kimono” was the Japanese word …

The lotus flower symbol has deep, mythic meaning for many cultures. The lotus blossom has been revered, attributed to deities, and meditated on for thousands of years. The mystical lotus bloom …