Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Nov 20, 2009, 2:11 am
In the Pāli texts his followers called him Bhagavan. Other people tended to call him Gotama or 'sāmaṇa' depending on whether they were being polite or impolite. Later is was established t...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Nov 13, 2009, 2:00 am
tadyathāI've been asked several times recently about the meaning and function of this word tadyathā - especially in the Heart Sūtra. I thought some brief comments on my Visiblemantra blog woul...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Nov 6, 2009, 2:00 am
taintless true beyond subtle very difficult to see unenfeebled certain looked for without attributes free from the mental proliferation peaceful deathless sublime auspicious a place of safety marvello...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Oct 30, 2009, 3:00 am
In this post I'll offer a brief commentary on the Vajrasattva mantra, drawing on an article which appeared in our WBO Order Journal in 1990. In his article Dharmacārin and Sanskritist Sthīramati...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Oct 23, 2009, 3:00 am
The earliest strands of Buddhism seem to avoid any ontological speculation, and dharma - in the sense of the object of manas - has no particular status viz a viz reality. Indeed I'm not convinced ...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Oct 16, 2009, 3:00 am
In this essay I want to try to get across the breadth of the word dharma (Pāli dhamma) as used in early Buddhism. Last week I took a diachronic (across time) approach, this week will be synchronic (...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Oct 9, 2009, 3:00 am
This is the first of a series of three essays in which I will attempt to summarise recent research on the word dharma (Pāli dhamma). Perhaps more than any other term it is synonymous with religion in...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Oct 2, 2009, 3:00 am
Over the years I have cited one Pāli phrase perhaps more than any other and it dawned on me that I should give it a fuller treatment. As far as I know it occurs only once in the Pāli suttas, but the...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Sep 25, 2009, 3:05 am
In this essay I want to highlight the importance of myth. Carl Jung realised that many myths around the world have similar content and characters, and he made that the basis of a theory of a universal...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Sep 18, 2009, 3:00 am
Recently I was involved in an online discussion on the subject of ordination. It revolved around the use of the word ordination by the Western Buddhist Order. The main contention was that the word ...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Sep 11, 2009, 2:00 am
This is rave no.150 One time when the Buddha was living in Sāvatthī, not as he frequently did in the Jeta Grove, but in the garden of Migāra's mother, King Pasenadi played a little trick on hi...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Sep 4, 2009, 3:00 am
One time the Buddha was staying outside the walled city of Sāvatthī (modern day Śravasti) in the park that the merchant Anāthapiṇḍika had purchased from Prince Jeta at great price. Sāvatthī ...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Aug 28, 2009, 1:00 am
In the first of two essays last week (why do we have a sense of self?) I explored how neuroscience might explain the emergence of self-consciousness or self-awareness. In this second essay I want to ...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Aug 21, 2009, 3:00 am
This essay is part one of two in which I explore how contemporary ideas in neuroscience and evolutionary biology can help to make sense of the human condition and the Buddhist response to it. I begin...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Aug 14, 2009, 2:00 am
In Britain last week 'we' were been saying farewell to 111 year old Harry Patch. Although most of us had never heard of him a month ago Patch, and 113 year old Henry Allingham who also died r...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Aug 7, 2009, 3:00 am
Today's text, the Nibbedhika Sutta*, does not begin "thus have I heard" and it does not tell us where the Buddha was staying. This oversight may be a puzzle because we sometimes hear that this i...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Jul 31, 2009, 3:00 am
One time the Buddha was living in the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park just outside Sāvatthī. At that time a bhikkhu named Sāti was insisting that consciousness (viññāṇa Sanskrit: v...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Jul 24, 2009, 3:00 am
Aśoka (6th) Pillar fragment Brāhmī inscription formerly at Meerut. Mid-3rd century BCE. (?u)pagamane sememokhyamate (bhi)sitename iyaṃdhaṃmali(pi) li* © British Museum (my photo) When I recen...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Jul 17, 2009, 3:00 am
www.marriedtothesea.comRecently Matt Quinn commented on my post "Who Craves?" He asked a very good question and in answering it I found myself edging over into rave mode and realised that it would be ...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Jul 10, 2009, 3:00 am
To see my Google Map click here One of the marvels of modern technology is that we have easy access to all kinds of information. I've been trying to visualise Kūkai's journey to China and to...
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Jayarava posted an article on The Jayarava Rave - Jul 3, 2009, 2:00 am
In March 2008 Melvin Bragg's 'In Our Time' show focussed on the dissolution of the monasteries of Britain in the 16th century by King Henry VIII. Although the monasteries were wealthy and ...
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