The Open Buddhist University
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📼 Life of Novice Monks at the Phukthar Monastery in Zanskar (A free, 22-minute video from 2021)
Tags: #Tibet #Monk
Tags: #Tibet #Monk
Life of Novice Monks at the Phukthar Monastery in Zanskar
This short film follows novice monks, many starting at a young age, at Phukthar Monastery in Zanskar through their rigorous schedule of work, study, and meditation.
buddhistuniversity.net
November 12, 2025 at 3:37 AM
📰 The Role of Brahmā in Pāli Discourses (A free, 10-page article from 2003)
Tags: #God #BuddhaQuotes #Dialogue #Philosophy
Tags: #God #BuddhaQuotes #Dialogue #Philosophy
The Role of Brahmā in Pāli Discourses
> Contrary to popular assumption, the thought world of the Pali discourses is well populated with gods and spirits, demons and ghosts, as picturesque as the imagination of a reader of Tolkien's novels could wish for.
buddhistuniversity.net
November 11, 2025 at 3:39 AM
📰 The Role of Brahmā in Pāli Discourses (A free, 10-page article from 2003)
Tags: #God #BuddhaQuotes #Dialogue #Philosophy
Tags: #God #BuddhaQuotes #Dialogue #Philosophy
📰 The Role of Brahmā in Pāli Discourses (A free, 10-page article from 2003)
Tags: #BuddhaQuotes #Dialogue #Philosophy #God
Tags: #BuddhaQuotes #Dialogue #Philosophy #God
The Role of Brahmā in Pāli Discourses
> Contrary to popular assumption, the thought world of the Pali discourses is well populated with gods and spirits, demons and ghosts, as picturesque as the imagination of a reader of Tolkien's novels could wish for.
buddhistuniversity.net
November 10, 2025 at 3:43 AM
📰 The Role of Brahmā in Pāli Discourses (A free, 10-page article from 2003)
Tags: #BuddhaQuotes #Dialogue #Philosophy #God
Tags: #BuddhaQuotes #Dialogue #Philosophy #God
📰 Temple Slavery in Ancient Sri Lanka (A free, 20-page article from 2007)
Tags: #Theravada #SriLankaHistory #Society
Tags: #Theravada #SriLankaHistory #Society
Temple Slavery in Ancient Sri Lanka
> Another interesting source of 'slavery' in Buddhist temples in historic Sri Lanka was donating oneself voluntarily as a slave to gain merit attached to the deed...
buddhistuniversity.net
November 6, 2025 at 3:40 AM
📰 Temple Slavery in Ancient Sri Lanka (A free, 20-page article from 2007)
Tags: #Theravada #SriLankaHistory #Society
Tags: #Theravada #SriLankaHistory #Society
📰 Changes in Eighteenth Century Buddhist Education (A free, 24-page article from 1997)
Tags: #Theravada #Monk
Tags: #Theravada #Monk
Sūtra Sannayas and Saraṇaṃkara: Changes in Eighteenth Century Buddhist Education
> These commentaries, known as *sūtra sannayas*, and/or as *sūtra vistara sannayas*, were composed in large numbers beginning in the middle of the eighteenth century.
In what follows, I present the historical context for this change in Buddhist textual practices...
buddhistuniversity.net
November 5, 2025 at 3:37 AM
📰 Changes in Eighteenth Century Buddhist Education (A free, 24-page article from 1997)
Tags: #Theravada #Monk
Tags: #Theravada #Monk
📰 A Framework for Buddhist Environmentalism (A free, 27-page article from 2018)
Tags: #ClimateChange #Karma
Tags: #ClimateChange #Karma
A Framework for Buddhist Environmentalism
> This paper is critical of any Buddhist environmentalism that fails to give due attention to both dimensions, and it emphasizes that both the relational and developmental dimensions must be held in balance in order for a genuine Buddhist environmentalism to be possible.
buddhistuniversity.net
November 4, 2025 at 3:36 AM
📰 A Framework for Buddhist Environmentalism (A free, 27-page article from 2018)
Tags: #ClimateChange #Karma
Tags: #ClimateChange #Karma
📰 The Celebration of Congee in East Asian Buddhism (A free, 44-page article from 2017)
Tags: #Zen #Change #MaterialCulture #Food
Tags: #Zen #Change #MaterialCulture #Food
The Celebration of Congee in East Asian Buddhism
> Scholars of Chinese Buddhism have given much attention to vilified foodstuffs such as meat and pungent vegetables and less attention to celebrated foods.
> While proscriptions are important for their role in constructing boundaries used in group identification, we should not overlook the celebration of particular foods such as congee (zhōu 粥).
buddhistuniversity.net
November 3, 2025 at 3:43 AM
📰 The Celebration of Congee in East Asian Buddhism (A free, 44-page article from 2017)
Tags: #Zen #Change #MaterialCulture #Food
Tags: #Zen #Change #MaterialCulture #Food
📑 Monkhood and Priesthood in Newar Buddhism (A free, 28-page paper from 1989)
Tags: #MonasticTibetan #Nepalese
Tags: #MonasticTibetan #Nepalese
Monkhood and Priesthood in Newar Buddhism
> The position of the family-priest is legitimated by the application of a fundamental [Tantric] Buddhist idea: the hierarchy of Disciples' Way (śrāvakayāna), Great Way (mahāyāna) and Diamond Way (vajrayāna).
> Thus the family-priesthood in Newar Buddhism, exercised by the Vajrācāryas alone, is justified in terms of the images of bodhisattva (altruistic saint) and siddha (accomplished one), the ideals of Great Way and Diamond Way respectively.
> Vajrācāryas are monks, householders and priests all at once and the contradiction this seems to entail in modern eyes is avoided traditionally by viewing this sequence as a hierarchy.
buddhistuniversity.net
November 1, 2025 at 3:36 AM
📑 Monkhood and Priesthood in Newar Buddhism (A free, 28-page paper from 1989)
Tags: #MonasticTibetan #Nepalese
Tags: #MonasticTibetan #Nepalese
📰 Interplay of Rhythmic Uniformity and Change in Pali Verses (A free, 28-page article from 2022)
Tags: #BuddhaQuotes #PaliMetre
Tags: #BuddhaQuotes #PaliMetre
Listening to the Theragatha: Interplay of Rhythmic Uniformity and Change in Pali Verses
> Taking the verses in the Dasanipata of the Theragatha as examples, this article focuses on the stylistic interplay of rhythmic uniformity and change in the expression of core messages in a Pali poem. It aims to unveil the poets’ strategies in the use of various types of metres and prosodic elements to create the narrative style of each poem and draw the audiences’ attention to the Buddha’s key teachings in the verses.
buddhistuniversity.net
October 31, 2025 at 3:37 AM
📰 Interplay of Rhythmic Uniformity and Change in Pali Verses (A free, 28-page article from 2022)
Tags: #BuddhaQuotes #PaliMetre
Tags: #BuddhaQuotes #PaliMetre
📰 Zongmi’s Strategies for Reconciling Textual Study and Meditative Practice (A free, 36-page article from 2017)
Tags: #Philosophy #Zen
Tags: #Philosophy #Zen
Bridging the Gap: Zongmi’s Strategies for Reconciling Textual Study and Meditative Practice
> ... because I have discerned the teachings by perceiving my own mind, I feel
respect for the tradition that bases itself on mind [i.e., Chan].
Moreover, because I have understood the cultivation of mind by discerning the teachings, I have reverent regard for the meaning of the teachings.
buddhistuniversity.net
October 29, 2025 at 3:40 AM
📰 Zongmi’s Strategies for Reconciling Textual Study and Meditative Practice (A free, 36-page article from 2017)
Tags: #Philosophy #Zen
Tags: #Philosophy #Zen
🗣️ Somatic Nectars of the Trance State (A free, 40-minute podcast from 2020)
Tags: #Mythology #Samadhi #Religion
Tags: #Mythology #Samadhi #Religion
The Honey that Hums and Blazes: Somatic Nectars of the Trance State
> So when in deep, rapturous meditation, we enter the state of flow, when we are one with the present moment, this is the 'immortal nectar.'
This is why the Tibetan texts speak of *amrita* as the elixir of timeless awareness.
It's not an external liquid.
It's a byproduct of steeping in the awareness of the present moment which, when all the hormonal centers of the brain kick in, feels like being soaked in honey, basking in the nectar of the eternal 'now.'
buddhistuniversity.net
October 28, 2025 at 6:21 AM
🗣️ Somatic Nectars of the Trance State (A free, 40-minute podcast from 2020)
Tags: #Mythology #Samadhi #Religion
Tags: #Mythology #Samadhi #Religion
📰 Geomagnetism and the Orientation of Temples in Thailand (A free, 11-page article from 2011)
Tags: #ThailandHistory #BuddhistArchitecture #ThaiArt #Theravada #History #Geology
Tags: #ThailandHistory #BuddhistArchitecture #ThaiArt #Theravada #History #Geology
Geomagnetism and the Orientation of Temples in Thailand
> Orientations of temples at Ayutthaya seem to have been determined by magnetic compass
buddhistuniversity.net
October 27, 2025 at 3:44 AM
📰 Geomagnetism and the Orientation of Temples in Thailand (A free, 11-page article from 2011)
Tags: #ThailandHistory #BuddhistArchitecture #ThaiArt #Theravada #History #Geology
Tags: #ThailandHistory #BuddhistArchitecture #ThaiArt #Theravada #History #Geology
📰 A Note on the Mahākammavibhaṅga-Sutta and Its Commentary (A free, 20-page article from 2015)
Tags: #Rebirth #MnTranslation
Tags: #Rebirth #MnTranslation
A Note on the Mahākammavibhaṅga-Sutta and Its Commentary
> The present note is concerned primarily with the translation and interpretation of the final summary paragraph, both in the sutta and its commentary
buddhistuniversity.net
October 26, 2025 at 3:34 AM
📰 A Note on the Mahākammavibhaṅga-Sutta and Its Commentary (A free, 20-page article from 2015)
Tags: #Rebirth #MnTranslation
Tags: #Rebirth #MnTranslation
📰 Apadana-Atthakatha/Visuddhajanavilasini (534 13-537 28, Vv 12–48) (A free, 55-page article from 2021)
Tags: #Pali #EarlyBuddhism #BuddhaQuotes
Tags: #Pali #EarlyBuddhism #BuddhaQuotes
Dravidian Poem Translated Into Pali?: Apadana-Atthakatha/Visuddhajanavilasini (534 13-537 28, Vv 12–48)
> This article examines a poem in the Kaludayittherapadanavannana which expands on the poem attributed to Kaludayitthera in the Theragatha; the poem in the Kaludayittherapadanavannana did not make it into the final canon.
> The hypothesis of this paper is that the poem may be a popular Dravidian song adapted to Buddhist use and translated into Pali, and this is the primary reason it was excluded from the canon.
buddhistuniversity.net
October 25, 2025 at 3:28 AM
📰 Apadana-Atthakatha/Visuddhajanavilasini (534 13-537 28, Vv 12–48) (A free, 55-page article from 2021)
Tags: #Pali #EarlyBuddhism #BuddhaQuotes
Tags: #Pali #EarlyBuddhism #BuddhaQuotes
📰 A Conversation with Robbers (A free, 34-page article translation from 2013)
Tags: #Thailand #Crime #History #TBT #Society
Tags: #Thailand #Crime #History #TBT #Society
A Conversation with Robbers
> Many rural crime sprees punctuated the last two decades of King Chulalongkorn’s reign, but one of the worst broke out in early 1903. A violent gang of robbers repeatedly made off with herds of water buffaloes, consistently eluding the newly established provincial police force...
buddhistuniversity.net
October 23, 2025 at 3:29 AM
📰 Huayan and Chan in the Context of East Asian Buddhism (A free, 32-page article from 2017)
Tags: #ZenHistory
Tags: #ZenHistory
Huayan and Chan in the Context of East Asian Buddhism
> In this article, after focusing on one particularly radical group, whose beliefs consisted of worshipping one’s own future Buddha (法身) residing within oneself (the Dilun school 地論宗), I show that all three schools born of the northern region—the Huayan 華嚴, Chan 禪 and the Three Stages Movement 三階教—succeeded the radical group...
buddhistuniversity.net
October 22, 2025 at 3:37 AM
📰 Huayan and Chan in the Context of East Asian Buddhism (A free, 32-page article from 2017)
Tags: #ZenHistory
Tags: #ZenHistory
📖 A Philosophical Study based on Classical Chinese Chan Texts (A ✨NEW✨, free, 213-page thesis)
Tags: #Mahayana #Koan
Tags: #Mahayana #Koan
The Nature of Chan Ethics: A Philosophical Study based on Classical Chinese Chan Texts
> One who regards the 南泉 (Nánquán) gōng'àn as antinomianism is doctrinally confused, yet one who assigns feasibility to it is practically mistaken.
buddhistuniversity.net
October 21, 2025 at 3:32 AM
📑 Ethical Reading and the Ethics of Forgetting and Remembering (A free, 18-page paper from 2017)
Tags: #Hermeneutics #RebirthStories
Tags: #Hermeneutics #RebirthStories
Ethical Reading and the Ethics of Forgetting and Remembering
> Focusing on the shock (saṃvega) that may occur when one is reminded of things one has forgotten, the paper argues for the ethical significance not so much of remembering the past as of remembering that one has forgotten it.
> The colorful tales from the Divyāvadāna serve as brilliant and humorous reminders of the enormity of all we have forgotten.
buddhistuniversity.net
October 20, 2025 at 3:40 AM
📑 Ethical Reading and the Ethics of Forgetting and Remembering (A free, 18-page paper from 2017)
Tags: #Hermeneutics #RebirthStories
Tags: #Hermeneutics #RebirthStories
📰 FPMT and the Study of Engaged Buddhism (A ✨NEW✨, free, 49-page article)
Tags: #EngagedBuddhism #Tibet
Tags: #EngagedBuddhism #Tibet
Is There a Traditionalist Buddhist Social Engagement?: FPMT and the Study of Engaged Buddhism
> This article presents research on one traditionalist group, *Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition* (FPMT).
It describes FPMT’s engagement, identifies its motivations, objectives, and activities, and examines the possibility that it represents a type of engagement that can be called “traditionalist.”
buddhistuniversity.net
October 19, 2025 at 3:38 AM
📰 FPMT and the Study of Engaged Buddhism (A ✨NEW✨, free, 49-page article)
Tags: #EngagedBuddhism #Tibet
Tags: #EngagedBuddhism #Tibet