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Teachings in Chinese Buddhism

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:48:11 +0000

Teachings in Chinese Buddhism is a collection of selected and translated articles from five books in the Third volume of the Chinese Miao Yun Collection; namely “The Dharma is the Saver of the World”, “The Three Essentials in Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha”, “The Buddha lives in the world”, “To investigate the Dharma according to the Teachings of the Buddha” and “My view on Religions”. These texts are from the Mahayana tradition as it is practiced traditionally in China. Download the free ebook here (257 pages):

Teachings in Chinese Buddhism

Taming the Monkey Mind – A Guide to Pure Land Practice

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:31:34 +0000

Taming the Monkey Mind – A Guide to Pure Land Practice. Pure Land Buddhism is branch of mahayana Buddhism. In Pure Land practice people focus on buddha in the form of Amitabha, the buddha of infinite life and infinite light. Believers put their faith in Amitabha Buddha and recite his name, confident in the promises he has given to deliver all who invoke his name. Download the free ebook here: (145 pages) :

Taming the Monkey Mind

Seeking Buddho by Ajahn Anan Akincano

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:20:36 +0000

Seeking Buddho by Ajahn Anan Akincano is an introduction to the Thai Buddhist Forest teachings of Ajahn Anan Akiñcano. These teachings provide both a guide to the fundamentals of meditation practice and also an overview of the entire Noble Path from beginning to end. Both these aspects stress not only the development of samādhi and wisdom, but also the cultivation of other essential virtues such as generosity, patience, loving kindness and moral discipline that together emphasize the integrated and harmonious nature of the Buddhist path. Download the free ebook here (119 pages):

Seeking Buddho by Ajahn Anan Akincano

Illumination of the Path to Freedom by His Holiness the First Dalai Lama Gyalwa Gendun Drup

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:13:59 +0000

Illumination of the Path to Freedom by His Holiness the First Dalai Lama Gyalwa Gendun Drup (1391-1474), is a commentary to a much older Tibetan classic: The Treasure House of Knowledge, written by the Master Vasubandhu (350 AD). Dalai Lama starts out with an entertaining discussion about Tibetan versus Sanskrit – Tibet versus India:

“If a commentary comes from India people will take the time to study and teach it. It’s just like the local merchants. If they hear some barley has come from the lowlands, right away they want to trade for it, because the source is a good one. A commentary may be excellent, but if you don’t put some Sanskrit in it nobody wants to work with it. They think it’s just Tibetan.”

Download it here (184 pages):

Illumination of the Path to Freedom by the First Dalai Lama

A Long Sadhana Vajrayogini – The diamond female yogi

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:14:17 +0000

Lobsang and Lobsang - Krhomteng Gompa Tawang

Last April I spend some time at the Tawang Monastary up between Bhutan and the border to Tibet. This is the second largest Buddhist monastary in the world, the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama and the first stop in safe-land for the 14th after his escape from Lhasa. One day I walked the mountains for hours to reach a branch of Tawang Monastary a nunnery called Khromteng Gonpa. Here lives about 20 nuns practicing Vajrayogini. It translates to ‘the diamond female yogi’ and it is a series of tantric practices including methods for preventing ordinary death, intermediate state, bardo, and rebirth by transforming them into paths to enlightenment. Here is a part of one central meditation, Meditation on the Mandala of Vajrayogini:

“My body is red in colour, with a brilliance like the fire of the Aeon of Destruction. I have one face, two arms, and three eyes which look up towards Dakini-land. With my right hand I hold a downwards-facing outstretched curved knife marked with a vajra. With my left I hold up in the air a skullcup filled with nectar.”

These women are hardcore. Download a detailed description of the practice A Long Sadhana Vajrayogin here. Keep in mind that these instructions are post-initial:

A Long Sadhana of Vajrayogini

Rain on the Nile by Ajahn Amaro

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:56:16 +0000

Rain on the Nile by Ajahn Amaro has the subtitle ‘Talks & Travels‘. The book was published by the Abhayagiri Forest Monastery in California in 2009 and it consists of Ajahn Amaro’s, a well-known and well-respected teacher of Buddhism, poems, teachings and itineraries from a travel to Egypt with a group of american Buddhists. Download it here (260 pages):

Rain on the Nile

Bushido the Soul of Japan by Nitobe Inazo

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:49:05 +0000

Bushido the Soul of Japan is is Inazo Nitobe’s description of the Samurai code, Bushido. Bushido literally translates “the way of the warrior” and it was a widespread philosophy of work, war, art and spirituality which influenced the entire society. Bushido has it´s roots in Zen-Buddhism and the ethic codes of the Japanese chivalry and Bushido is a philosophical foundation for a range of martial arts such as Aikido and Kendo. Bushido the Soul of Japan was first published in 1904 and here it is:

Bushido the Soul of Japan by Nitobe Inazo

The Debate of King Milinda

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:30:41 +0000

The Debate of King Milinda – The Milinda Pañha is a famous work of early Buddhist literature, probably compiled in the first century B.C. It presents the core Buddhist doctrines in an attractive and memorable form as a dialogue between a Bactrian Greek king, Milinda, who plays the ‘Devil’s Advocate’ and a Buddhist sage, Nagasena. Download the free pdf ebook here:

The Debate of King Milinda

The Teachings of Ajan Chah – A Collection of Ajan Chah’s Dharma Talks

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:08:04 +0000

The Teachings of Ajan Chah – A Collection of Ajan Chah’s Dharma Talks includes the following eight Dhamma books by Ajahn Chah, more of them are here on the site as single volumes:
• Bodhinyana (1982)
• A Taste of Freedom (fifth impression – 2002)
• Living Dhamma (1992)
• Food for the Heart (1992)
• The Path to Peace (1996)
• Clarity of Insight (2000)
• Unshakeable Peace (2003)
• Everything is Teaching Us (2004)
Download the ebook here (725 pages):

The Teachings of Ajan Chah

The Paradox of Becoming by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

admin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:06:33 +0000

The Paradox of Becoming was written by Thanissaro Bhikkhu in 2008. The topic of becoming is one of the most important in Buddhas teachings, and it features some major paradoxes. The importance of becoming is evident from the role it plays in the four noble truths, particularly in the second: Suffering are caused by any form of craving that leads to becoming. Thus the end of suffering must involve the end of becoming. The central paradox is also evident in the second noble truth, where one of the three forms of craving leading to becoming is craving for non-becoming—the ending of what has come to be. This poses a practical challenge for any attempt to put an end to becoming. Download the book here (136 pages):