by Chade-Meng Tan | Jun 25, 2024 | Buddhism for All
Soryu often points out one type of debate that modern Buddhists tend to get into, a new type of argument: disagreements about whether certain Buddhist texts are historical. Modern people often think that if something is not historical, it cannot be true...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Jun 23, 2024 | Buddhism for All
“Look Master, I’m focusing on the core!” With all that diversity within Buddhism, and all that potential for nasty conflicts, how is it that we are so frequently able to treat each other like we are from the same family? There are at least two...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Jun 20, 2024 | Buddhism for All
“Say samadhi!” (Context: The history of sectarian Buddhism.) My own experience as a Buddhist was cross-sectarian. I consider my “home base” to be Zen. Zen was my first real encounter with Buddhism as a teenager, and even though I did not...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Jun 18, 2024 | Buddhism for All
“Master, when you were young, did you also have sects?” (Context: The history of sectarian Buddhism.) According to the popular narrative, sectarian Buddhism started with a schism at the Second Buddhist Council due a disagreement over monastic rules. ...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Jun 16, 2024 | Buddhism for All
There are now three major sects of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.[1] Here is a short historical account of how it came to be. Previously, we talked about how two of King Ashoka’s children, Mahinda and Sanghamitta, were sent to Sri Lanka as Buddhist...
