Biographies of the Buddha that I have read

First off there's Karen Armstrong's. She's a great BBC religion presenter, and wrote a memoir about her spiritual journey as a Christian nun, a few books actually, rewrote one of them. She's not a Buddhist but her sister is one ... She has some spiritual insight and is a good presenter, so it's a basic good job by someone who isn't a Buddhist but is symptathetic. 

Next I read a book by H.W. Schumann, an English translation of Der historische Buddha: Leben und Lehre des Gotama (2004).

Then I read Gautama Buddha: The Life and Times of the Awakened One by Vishvapani Blomfield. It's good.

There is a Tibetan version by Tenzin Chogyel The Life of the Buddha from the 18th century.

Then there's Nanamoli The Life of the Buddha: According to the Pali Canon. This is excellent, and it's the kind of book I never stop reading.

There's also Noble Warrior, another version from the Pali Canon by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu and Khematto Bhikkhu. I'm only 21% done with this one. 

I'm not done with this one, but I'm looking to find more, if you know of any, please comment.

Lalitavistara Sūtra is surely on my to read list (8400 translation). Hey they have an app, so I don't have to download.

Channa

In DN 16, the Buddha has time to initiate a last discipline Subhadda.

The Buddha says that Channa, his chariot driver supposedly when he was a prince, has been talking bad about some others, and he's to be ostracized by the other monks. All business up to the end. Channa overcomes this ostracizing to become an arihant so the story ends well. 

Bob's Burgers

Bob's Burgers is an absurd cartoon about a burger joint and the family that runs it.

In season 11, episode 19, Bob challenges his nemesis Jimmy Pesto to a meditation contest.

They get Mort the mortician next door to judge the contest. 

The characters are the characters, Jimmy Pesto is a jerk, so he jerks out of the competition when Bob starts to win. 

It's absurd, and in no way objective or something that would happen, but I thought it was a funny notion in popular culture about meditation. 

Bonus Link

Old NY Times article about Loren Bouchard, who created the show.

Everything all at once

 

Pilgrimage

DN 16 the Mahaparinibbana Sutta suggests 4 holy places. Where the Buddha was born in Lumbini. Where he got enlightened: Bodh Gaya. Where he taught his first sermon that enlightened others, "turning the wheel of the Dharma": Deer Park (Sarnath). And where he reached parinirvana: Kusinara.

When you look at the Lumbini wikipedia page, you see that countries build temples: India, Japan, Thailand, Chinese, Germany, French, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Cambodia, Austria, Singapore, Canada, Vietnam, Tibet, Myanmar, and even Russia is building a temple. It's not lost on me that USA doesn't have one. These spiritual tourism cities have a logic of their own.

There are some good pillars of Ashoka there. In the mythology there were many Buddhas before our era Buddha and one of them is Konagamana, who was also born in Lumbini.

Only 3% of the people in Lumbini now are Buddhists, it's mostly Hindu now, and there are twice as many Muslims as Buddhas.

It's not the original tree at Bodh Gaya, it's the grandchild of the original tree. Someone must have taken a cutting and grown a tree, and someone took a cutting from that one, and grew a tree. 

Like all good tourist spots, it includes other notable sites. There is a temple that was built 200 years after the Buddha's death, which makes it quite old. It must have been refurbished a few times. There is a stupa and an Ashoka pillar dedicated to the girl who gave the Buddha some milk. There is a great statue:

(Sarcastic voice) Like all good spiritual places, there were bombings in 2013.

Sarnath has the Dhamek Stupa. The Dharmarajika Stupa is one of the few pre-Ashokan stupas remaining at Sarnath, although only the foundations remain. It has been the subject of extensive depredations and archaeological excavations, from the late 18th through the early 20th century (source). There's an 1833 drawing of it.

The Ashokan pillar erected here was broken during the invasions of the 12th century but many of the pieces remain at the original location.

There's a 5th century relief of the Buddha's first sermon that is notable. 

Perhaps the most impressive stupa is the Chaukhandi Stupa.

The Sarnath Museum looks cool too, where the above relief is. 

Mulagandha Kuty Vihara looks interesting too.

There is also another grandson of the Bodhi tree planted in Sarnath. 

Kushinagar is where the Buddha died. I've been reading the fantastical Mahaparinibbana Sutta. I don't really get the spiritual importance of the story where Ananda could have asked the Buddha to live 20 more years, but he missed it. Excoriating people for lack of mindfulness isn't what Buddhism is about, in my humble opinion. 

There are some dubious explanations of earthquakes, but the idea that enlightenment causes some is a cute idea. There's a big debate over whether the Buddha at boar by eating "Pig's Delight" but I think it would be truffles. 

Ramabhar Stupa is the thing to see. In a way it reminds me of the Native American mounds in North America. 

There's a Parinirvana Temple.

If you added in other sites, I would pick:

Vulture's Peak Rajgir Bahar India.

Rajgir is where Nalanda, a great center of Buddhism 427 CE until around 1400 CE., which hosted the scholars Dharmapala, Nagarjuna, Dharmakirti, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Chandrakirti, Xuanzang, Śīlabhadra and Atiśa..

Sravasti includes stupas and many sites, archaeological and reconstructed that are in the Pali Canon.

Sankissa has some sights, pillars, statues, monastery and stupa ruins.

Vaishali has archaeological sites too.

Mathura has the first image of the Buddha on record perhaps.

When I think of sites I would like to visit, I think Bodhidharma's cave and a walk around Shikoku to the 88 temples, for Kukai. India, Nepal, China and Japan. I'm sure I could find more places I'd like to go, but that's what comes to mind this morning.

DN 16 expresses a contradiction. Some of the monks are wailing and pulling their hair out, and some have attained something so that they don't see death as a surprise. Both contradictory reactions are possible. One is of great devotion but little insight, and one seems blase but actually contains the insights the Buddha has led you to. 

 

Poem

Shrine flowers

teaching impermanence

and joy

one flower 

still

opens up

a few days later

I want to learn

how to open up

with no nourishment

just water

unconditioned

Dharmakaya

with stillness, simplicity and contentment

This is a photo a few days before the miracle of opening up after being plucked many days ago. I guess there are stories of lamps that kept burning after the oil was gone and loaves of bread that just kept splitting and splitting to feed everyone.

When I was in Ecuador, I learned about epiphytes, plants that grow without soil.  

Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein has 33 talks on the Satipatthana Sutta. April 2004 on YouTube on AudioBuddha.

In the first one his some background to his journey. At one point he says, "I could happily just sit there and think and entertain myself." But that's not what meditation is about. Do you want to think or do you want to get enlightened. What choice are you making. Do you want to indulge this pattern or arouse the ardency, which is the energy factor. This path isn't a path of uninterrupted bliss. You need courage.

The goal is to clearly comprehend what is going on. Investigate and develop wisdom.

Here is the first one. 

In the second one he talks about pseudo enlightenment stage, when you develop lopsided in second one. There's a selflessness in faith. Faith keeps us open to things beyond our current level of understanding. I've never hear of faith described that way, and it's blown my mind. He reference Tracing Back the Radiance by Jinul (1158–1210). Mindfulness helps us not to proliferate into desire and confusions. 

Goldstein is an 80 American, grew up in Catskills, studied philosophy at Columbia. He went to Thailand in the peace corps. He came back and started teaching at Naropa. He established Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. He uses the phrase "guru job" in his first talk, and I wonder about his guru jobs aside from author and retreat leader, retreat talker.

Links

First book: The Experience of Insight (pdf).

You can find all his books on his Wikipedia page.

Looking on Goodreads, most people have read his book on Mindfulness (2013). Then Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom (1993). Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation (1987) with Jack Kornfield. With the first book The Experience of Insight: A Simple & Direct Guide to Buddhist Meditation, he has these 4 books top the list of books that come up. One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism (2002) looks interesting too. Books are more concise, some people prefer audio learning. 

I love hearing about new Buddhists, I've never hear of Jinul (1158–1210). Jinul is also spelled Chinul. 

"The young monk's relationship with his preceptor does not seem to have been especially close, for his biographer states that he never had a permanent teacher. Chinul's intellect and his natural inclination toward solitude and retreat had been noticeable since his youth; with the fractious climate of the church in his days, he probably felt more comfortable learning to get along on his own considerable talents in seclusion. From early on in his vocation Chinul made up for the lack of personal instruction by drawing inspiration from the Buddhist scriptures. In the spirit of self-reliance that is central to Buddhism, he took responsibility for his own spiritual development and followed the path of practice outlined in the scriptures and confirmed through his own Sŏn meditation. Chinul's progress in Buddhist practice was, therefore, based on using scriptural instructions to perfect formal Sŏn practice." 

From The Korean Approach to Zen: The Collected Works of Chinul, Translated with an Introduction by Robert E. Buswell Jr., pages 20-21.

He founded the Jogye order. "In 1994, the Jogye order managed 1725 temples and 10,056 clerics and had 9,125,991 adherents." They attach to the Huineng lineage, famous for his Platform Sutra and winning poetry contests. 

His magnum opus is called: Excerpts from the Dharma Collection and Special Practice Record with Personal Notes.

One of his teachings is essence-function.

Ambapali

They derisively called her the mango woman, the courtesan who wanted to see the Buddha. She locked wheels with other vehicles trying to get to the Buddha. They offered her all the money in the world not to go, but she wanted to see the Buddha. He agreed to eat with her, and she served him and the sangha a meal. She was inspired to become a nun.

DN 16

Hindustan Times

The Verses of Ambapali: Read the poem from the Therigatha attributed to Ambapali. The Therigatha is perhaps the first book of women's spirituality on earth, that comes down to us, and is quite riveting, and sparkles with spiritual intensity. I once read it on retreat, and was really wowed by it. She has the refrain, "The truth of the Truth-speaker's words doesn't change."

Sujato translation

Ayya Soma

Thanissaro

Empty Cloud

Today is  Empty Cloud's (Xu-yun) birthday. He lived to be 119, and wrote a memoir about his life. I found the earlier parts best. He walked all around China, first to sacred mountains to honor his parents, and then to Tibet and over to Myanmar. At times he suffered quite a bit, but he was disciplined and led an interesting life, through a lot of interesting Chinese history. Later in life he traveled around a lot visiting monasteries to support them, and raise money for them. He was brutally beaten when the communist took over at the very end of his life, when he was over 100. He lived to be 119, which is a pretty amazing feat in itself. There's research that restricted calorie intake can extend your life, and I think he was partially starved in parts of his life in the early years.  

Ivory plaque with scenes of Buddha's life. China, Ming dynasty, 1368-1644.

19 September 2024 Met exhibit on Mandalas opens

"Mandalas: Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet, an exhibition that will showcase a wide range of Himalayan Buddhist devotional art. Scheduled to open on 19 September, the exhibition will feature more than 100 items, including paintings, sculptures, textiles, costumes, weapons, musical instruments, and various ritual objects, primarily dating from the 11th–15th centuries. The exhibition will also include a contemporary installation by Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol, commissioned by the museum specifically for this event and to be displayed in the atrium of the museum’s Robert Lehman Wing."

Buddhist Door Global

A mandala is a graphic representation.

Here's an example on their page about a talk on the 22nd.

The protectors

I do a puja and I confess to the protectors. One time I asked what protections are there in Buddhism, are on Reddit and I was sent to the Lotus Sutra, where there was a bit about mantras provide protection. 

I think the protectors come out of the primordial soup, they are ancient mythical figures. With my skeptical mind, I'm resistant to this, but when I think about opening that part of my mind up to these experiences, I'm excited, and I get benefit from them.

There are Four Heavenly Kings: Vaiśravaṇa, Virūḍhaka, Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Virupaksa.

There are also the Dharmapala, who are wrathful forms of deities that protect the Dharma.

The Eight Dharmapalas are Begtse, Tsangspa, Kuvera (Vaiśravaṇa), Lhamo, Yama (Lord of death), Yamantaka, Hayagriva, and Mahakala (HAR), of whom the last five are the best known. They come from the proto-Hindu past. 

Mahakala 1600 - 1699 Nyingma

People on r/Buddhism like to say there was no Hinduism when the Buddha happened, but when you look at the Hindu wikipedia entry, the Buddha was around the Vedic period into the second urbanization period, so um, not sure that's good history. They must mean something, thinking Hinduism doesn't begin until after the Classical Period which is 200 B.C.E.

Mahakala is claimed by Nyingma Buddhists as their special protector. I wonder who the protector of my unfocused and hazzy sectless Buddhism is? I often wonder where I should make a pilgrimage. I do go down to the lake to celebrate Tara, who is waterborne. Obviously I could go to the Buddha's sites in India and Nepal, or the many sacred places in Asia. I've read about Robert Thurman circumambulating around a sacred mountain in Tibet. I've read about the Macao Caves and great places along the silk road, and I discover new archaeological sites seemingly often, last one was Tapa Shotor. 

What's the sacred site that Buddhists claim in America? It is yet to emerge, Buddhism has only been here one tenth of the time it's been on earth. There is a great stupa in Colorado, and in Newmarket New Hampshire, and I'm sure there are many others. 

The coolest ceremony in America is Zozobra, the Friday before labor day where they burn their burdens and worries. It's a clearing of the deck for positivity. 

Links:

What Are Dharma Protectors by Dr. Alexander Berzin