Eight Verses on Training the Mind
n essence, the short text entitled Eight Verses on Training the Mind presents the practices of cultivating both conventional bodhicitta, or the altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood for the benefit of all beings, and ultimate bodhicitta, the profound insight into the ultimate nature of reality or “the ultimate mind of enlightenment.” The first seven stanzas […]
Reality
Also known as “meat space” to differentiate it from cyberspace and regular space, which is a vacuum. “How can this chair be a chair and also a quantum probability and also mostly empty space? How do those different realities co-exist? How can the same “object” follow one set of physics at a conventional scale […]
For driverless cars, a moral dilemma: Who lives or dies
BOSTON — Imagine you’re behind the wheel when your brakes fail. As you speed toward a crowded crosswalk, you’re confronted with an impossible choice: veer right and mow down a large group of elderly people or veer left into a woman pushing a stroller. Now imagine you’re riding in the back of a self-driving car. […]
THE THREE HIGHER TRAININGS
Higher training in morality, in meditation, and in wisdom. The teaching on the Four Noble Truths, which was the Buddha’s first teaching following his attainment of full awakening, represents the foundation for the practices of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. This teaching underpins everything that the Buddha taught subsequently and helps us to establish […]
The 7 Levels of Sapience
Self-awareness is ranked as Level 5 information integration and above according to the following criteria: Level 0 – Inanimate Objects Note: At this level, there is no capacity for experiencing pain or suffering. No information integration: Inanimate objects; objects that do not modify themselves in response to interaction – e.g., rocks, mountains. Level 1 – […]
THREE LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING
In Buddhism, one speaks of three different levels of understanding, which are sequential—an understanding arrived at through learning and studying, an understanding developed as a result of deep reflection and contemplation, and an understanding acquired through meditative or religious experience. There is a definite order in the sequence of this three. So on the basis […]
THE INNER WORLD OF CONSCIOUSNESS
When we use such terms as “consciousness” or “mind” it often tends to give the impression that we are talking about a single, monolithic entity; but this is misleading. Our own personal experience reveals that the mental world is tremendously diverse. Moreover, when we examine each moment of cognition or mental experience, we realize that […]
DEPENDENT ORIGINATION AND THE LAW OF CAUSALITY
A key principle here is dependent origination. This fundamental principle of Buddhism states that everything arises and ceases in dependence upon causes and conditions. The fourth-century Indian Buddhist thinker Asanga identified three key conditions governing this principle of dependent origination. First is “the absence of designer condition,” which pertains to the issue of whether or […]
THE FOUR PRINCIPLES OF REALITY
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.19.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]Let us return to our discussion of the Buddhist view that all experiences and things come into existence in dependence upon causes and conditions. What does this imply for our own world or experiences, such as the experiences of pain, pleasure, […]
What black holes can tell us about spatial dimensionality of the universe.
Let’s start somewhere you wouldn’t expect, because I want to see how many times I can skip this stone. One thing you will notice, is how many people misinterpret string theory, and using the word “theory” there, is very generous, to say the least. Is the idea of “alternate” dimensions, since 11 dimensions seem to […]
