Category: Buddhism

The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment Buddhist Sūtra, original Chinese title is Yuanjue jing, Japanese Engaku-kyo; 1 fasc. (T 842.17.913a-922a). Full title Dafangguang yuanjue xiuduluo liaoyi jing. A Chinese Mahāyāna sutra which was probably written in the early eighth century C.E. Divided into twelve chapters as a series of discussions on meditation practice, this text deals with issues such as the...

Lama Surya Das is an American-born lama in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, an author of popular works on Buddhism, and a respected teacher of Buddhism in the United States. Born Jeffrey Miller, and raised on Long Island, Lama Surya Das later spent many years in India and Tibet studying with Tibetan lamas including H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dilgo Khyentse...

Surmang Monastery consists of a complex of nine monasteries founded about 600 years ago in Kham, eastern Tibet. It is the home of the Trungpa tulkus, the line of incarnate lamas that heads Surmang. The present head of the Surmang monasteries is Choseng Trungpa Rinpoche, the XII Trungpa Tulku. Surmang is closely connected with the teachings of such remarkable Kagyu...

Sule Pagoda is a pagoda located on a roundabout in downtown Yangon, Myanmar. Prior to land reclaimation, the pagoda lay on an island on the Hlaing River. The Sule pagoda is about 2,500 years old and contains a hair relic of the Gautama Buddha. It is believed that a powerful nat spirit called ‘Sularata’ resided at the site. The Sule...

In Buddhist meditation, Sukkha is a type of emotion and one of the factors of Jhana. It consists in a quiet happiness, while Piti mentions a deep joy, rapture. Piti is a deep joy, maybe with smiling, laughter, etc. Sukkha is a quiet joy, where you contemplate the joy, and you don’t respond to it by laughing, but are merely...

A stupa (from the Sanskrit) is a type of Buddhist structure found across the Indian subcontinent, Asia and increasingly in the Western World. Stupas are known in many Southeast Asian countries as chedi (from a Pāli synonym of stupa), and in some countries (particularly Sri Lanka) as dagoba (from Sanskrit dhatu– element, component, or relic + garbha – storehouse or...

Sthaviravāda (Sanskrit. Chinese 上座部) literally “Teaching Of The Elders”, was one of the two main movements in early Buddhism, the other being that of the Mahasamghaka. “The Elders” referred to Buddha 500 immediate disciples who had attained Arahantship (Enlightenment), they held the First Council, and unanimously decided not to modify any of Buddha Vinaya and Dhamma. The two groups separated...

The Śrīmālā Sūtra (full title: Śrīmālādevī-siṃha-nāda-sūtra) is one of the main early Mahayana Buddhist texts that taught the doctrines of tathagatagarbha and the Single Vehicle, through the words of the Indian Queen Śrīmālā. It was translated to Chinese in 436 CE by Gunabhadra (394-468). It was later translated into English by Alex and Hideko Wayman as The Lion’s Roar of...

Sravaka-Buddhas (Pali:Savaka-Buddhas): gain Nirvana, but attain Enlightenment by hearing the Dharma as initially taught by a Samyaksam-Buddha. After attaining enlightenment, Sravaka-Buddhas might also lead others to enlightenment, but cannot teach the Dharma in a time or world where it has been forgotten or has not been taught before, because they depend upon a tradition that stretches back to a Samyaksam-Buddha....

Soyen Shaku (1859 – 1919; sometimes written as Soen Shaku or Kogaku So’en Shaku) was the first Zen Buddhist master to teach in the United States. He was a Roshi of the Rinzai school and was abbot of both Kencho-ji and Engaku-ji temples in Kamakura, Japan. Shaku was a disciple of Imakita Kosen. Soyen Shaku was an exceptional Zen monk....

Southern Chan (pron. djenn) is the zen school that evolved from Hui Neng (Jap. Eno)—the sixth Chinese patriarch in the Dhyana tradition. At the same time there evolved the Northern School. The southern chan school is mainly considered the one that has maintained the ‘origin’ from Bodhidharma with its ‘sudden enlightenment‘ versus the northern school’s ‘gradual enlightenment’. Hui Neng further...

The was formed in 1996 by American and Japanese Zen teachers in response to a perceived need to draw the various autonomous lineages of the North American Soto stream of Zen together for mutual support as well as the development of common training and ethical standards. While independent of the Japanese , the SZBA works closely with what it generally...

Sōtō (曹洞宗; Japanese: Sōtō-shū, Chinese: Caodong-zong) is one of the two major Japanese Zen sects (the other major one being Rinzai). It is an extension or subbranch of the Chinese Caodong, which was brought to Japan by Dogen Zenji (1200-1253), and which after his death became known as the Soto school. It now has a significant presence in North America...

Songgwangsa is one of the most important Seon Buddhist monasteries in Korea, and is considered one of the Three Jewel Temples of Korea. It is located on Jogye Mountain in South Jeolla, South Korea. Founded by Jinul, this monastery is still very active today as a practice center. The practices engaged in at this monastery have been reported on in...