Today, I want to continue with a short explanation of the specific meanings of the term "dharma" in the Diamond Sutra. Yesterday, I narrated a contemplation about baseballs to demonstrate how I understand the Diamond Sutra's insistence that named things are just names. In the process I explained the very general use of "dharma" in … Continue reading Diamond Sutra: Dharmas, Laws, and Notions
Month: February 2019
Diamond Sutra: A Baseball Is Not a Baseball; It’s Called a Baseball
The Diamond Sutra addresses a number of Buddhist concepts and themes but at the core of its mystery is an unexplained formula that is repeated over and over. It can be summarized as a sort of equation: X is not X. This is called X. The Sutra authors apply this equation to many things: The … Continue reading Diamond Sutra: A Baseball Is Not a Baseball; It’s Called a Baseball
Progress Report: Annotations and Mañjuśrī’s Sūtra for February
Now that I have a good translation of Kumārajīva's Diamond Sūtra finished, I'll begin working on an annotation that attempts to interpret it with both my personal reading and notes gleamed from the Vasubandhu/Asaṅga commentary that exists in Chinese. Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras are perplexing by design, but the Diamond Sūtra can seem like an … Continue reading Progress Report: Annotations and Mañjuśrī’s Sūtra for February
Dharma Pearls 