Personal Commentary
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An Introduction to the Middle-Length Agama
The Middle-Length Agama (MA) is Taisho No. 26, which spans 60 fascicles and 388 pages of the Taisho Daizokyo, Vol. 1. To put this in perspective, a page of Taisho prose typically translates to 1,500 words of English, so a complete translation of MA will probably be 600,000-700,000 words in length. In addition to this Continue reading
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Wealth, Knowledge, and Wisdom
Human beings are like rats: We like to acquire things. I recall a rat I once took care of for a friend. I had never known a rat before, so it was a learning experience. The most striking thing about the rat to me was that it had a home, a little dome in which Continue reading
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Diamond Sutra: Dharmas, Laws, and Notions
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
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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
Dharma Pearls 