by Chade-Meng Tan | Nov 14, 2023 | Buddhism for All
“I’m trying to extinguish his greed, hatred, and delusion.” First, it’s useful to know the literal meaning of the word nirvana. Nirvana literally means “going out”,[1] as in the extinguishing of a flame, so in that sense, nirvana means...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Nov 13, 2023 | Buddhism for All
Once upon a time, a fish and a turtle were friends. The turtle returned from a visit to dry land, and the fish had a lot of trouble trying to understand this “dry land” place where the turtle had been. So, the fish asked a series of questions, such as, “Is...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Nov 13, 2023 | Buddhism.net Blog
Friends, The Third Noble Truth is about complete freedom from affliction. Imagine a man afflicted by a horrible skin condition. He had sores and blisters all over his limbs, being devoured by worms. When he burned his afflicted skin over a fire, he...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Nov 11, 2023 | Buddhism for All
The insight that you do not have to construct anything new to solve suffering also has a surprisingly powerful practical implication: that we can solve problems without creating new ones. This is an idea formulated by Soryu and a Buddhist master I know: Shinzen...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Nov 10, 2023 | Buddhism for All
If Soryu was giving a lecture on the Second Noble Truth, he would start by explaining that suffering is caused. That means it is not inherent, and not arbitrary, and that it is subject to cause and effect. And then before he talks about the actual cause of suffering,...
