by Chade-Meng Tan | Mar 12, 2024 | Buddhism for All
The teaching of karma can be profound, but its central core is surprisingly simple. Karma literally means action. The Buddha gives a clear, concise definition for karma: It is volition, monks, that I call karma. For having willed, one acts by body,...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Mar 10, 2024 | Buddhism for All
There is an important theme you see over and over again in Buddhism, and that is the central importance of cause and effect. All of Buddhism can be said to revolve around the one vital insight that suffering has causes, and that if you take away any necessary...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Mar 7, 2024 | Buddhism for All
The Buddha’s teachings on dukkha (suffering) is somewhat more nuanced than we talked about earlier (here). In an important discourse[1], the Buddha clarified that there are three types of dukkha: Dukkha due to physical or emotional pain Dukkha due to...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Mar 5, 2024 | Buddhism for All
One theme that consistently comes up in Buddhism is seeing things as they really are.[1] Buddhism is about total liberation from all suffering, and the way to do that is to fully understand cause and effect relating to suffering, and that begins with seeing...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Mar 3, 2024 | Buddhism for All
There is an island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean called Easter Island that is famous for having hundreds of statues of giant heads carved from stone. Some of my friends make jokes about them, but I tell them, “Whatever you say, those statues still come out...
