A mental factor of physical or mental happiness or unhappiness can accompany the physical sensation of pleasure or pain.

The Pursuit of Happiness We have two types of happiness, physical happiness and mental happiness, and most of the effort we put into our lives is involved in the pursuit of physical comfort and happiness. In the pursuit of physical happiness and comfort a lot of people engage...

December 10th 2024 marks a special day for all of us here at Study Buddhism – it’s Dr. Alexander Berzin’s 80th birthday! As the founder of Study Buddhism, Dr. Berzin’s extraordinary journey through life is an inspiring tale of adventure that would lead to the profound...

Introduction  This seminar is about how the five Buddha-family traits create our view of the universe. This is a topic that deals with what we call in Buddhism “Buddha-nature.” The word “family” in “Buddha-family” is actually the Sanskrit word for caste, a social system...

Verses 5 through 8 When we recite the refuge prayer, we have the line, “By the force of my giving and so on…” It’s good to know that we can change this line to suit the occasion. So, if we are prostrating, we can say, “By the positive force of prostrating to the Buddhas and...

Dealing with Problematic Situations We were speaking about this whole issue of what I should do and what I shouldn’t do and the fear that comes from that, and so on. We saw that the entire issue revolves around a misconception about ourselves. We need to make a clear...

“O noble goddess, at a time when incalculable and still more incalculable eons – extensive, inconceivable and immeasurable – had passed, at that time, at that moment, the Tathagata, the Arhat, the Fully Enlightened One called Ratna-shikhin, perfect in wisdom and conduct, gone...

The traditional presentations list three points concerning our behavior toward a spiritual teacher. Making offerings, helping them and practicing in accordance with their advice.

The “self” is very central to the Buddhist spiritual path. In this series, we explore how lam-rim practice helps us to develop a healthy sense of “me” and rid ourselves of identification with an inflated “me.”

What are some of the challenges as well as opportunities that Buddhism will need to address in the decades to come for the further development of Buddhism through the use of Internet technology?