Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

VENERABLE PANNAVATI BHIKKHUNI is founder of Heartwood Refuge, an intentional spiritual community in Hendersonville, North Carolina, and abbot of Embracing Simplicity Hermitage, a twenty-first–century trans-lineage Buddhist order. She has received ordination in both Theravada and Mahayana, as well as Vajrayana empowerments. She also serves as a US vice president for the Global Buddhist Bhikkhuni Association. NAGAPRIYA is an ordained Dharmachari in the Triratna Buddhist Community. Originally from the UK, in 2013 he moved to Mexico, where he helped found the Centro Budista de Cuernavaca. He is cofounder and director of Editorial Dharmamegha, a small publishing venture dedicated to sharing Buddhist teachings in the Spanish-speaking world. He also works as part of a team training men from Latin America for ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order. REV. BLAYNE HIGA is the minister of…

:: EXPERTISE Abacus Wealth, Astrology Now, Bari Tessler, Buddhist Astrology, Deborah Young, Maggie Kelly, Michael Carroll, Pico Iyer, Tarot by Tashi, The Pigeon’s Heart:: DIGITAL & AUDIO Alex Cline:: BOOKS & PRINT Amber Lotus, Cheryl Wilfong, Karma Calendar, Lama Tsomo, Mango, New Harbinger, New World Library, North Atlantic Books, Padmasambhava Buddhist Center, Parallax Press, Particular Press, Quarto Group, Shambhala Publications, Sounds True, Sumeru Press, Wisdom Publications:: SIGNED WORKS Andy Karr, Claire B. Willis, Clare Goldsberry, Dan Zigmond, David Richo, Dean Sluyter, Elena Mannes, Erika Sanchez, George Saunders, Jacoby Ballard, Kaira Jewel Lingo, Karl Brunnholzl, Lauren Shufran, Mark Nepo, Mirabai Bush, Noel McLellan, Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Pema Chodron, Pierce Salguero, Quan Barry, Roger Jackson, Ruth Ozeki, Sallie Tisdale, Sandra Cisneros, Taste Tibet, Thubten Chodron, yung pueblo:: ART Archie Frink, Boulder Shop,…

IN JULY 2022, seven clergy of various faiths in Miami-Dade County filed lawsuits against the State of Florida seeking to invalidate House Bill 5 (HB 5), the Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality Act. HB 5 prevents women and girls from having autonomy over their own bodies; has no exceptions for rape, incest, or the age of the victim; no exceptions for life-threatening medical emergencies; and no exceptions for incurable fetal abnormalities. I was one of the seven. Can our lawsuit be considered bodhisattva activity? If motivation counts, then yes. Can we as Buddhists dispassionately examine this issue, asking ourselves and our teachers difficult questions? Can we dialogue with those who disagree with us? And whatever perspective we adopt regarding abortion, can we offer spiritual support and understanding to women and girls who…

MYOZEN JOAN AMARAL: Yesterday, my friend Ivana and I were celebrating Central American Independence Day. Among many other things, she is Honduran, and spiritual, and actually also latently religious. She has just begun sitting zazen with the sangha, after many years of meditating through her own yoga practice. She didn’t call her meditation practice “Buddhism,” so it’s been interesting to see her turn to “Buddhist” practice now. As we enjoyed pupusas and some delicious passionfruit juice, I asked her, “What do you think makes Buddhism, Buddhism?” Without hesitation, she replied, “Buddha.” Boom. Done. Hecho y satisfecho. Beginners mind—without pretense, without that kind of tribalism that can creep in after years of practice. After founding a sangha and leading it for ten years, I notice that this is where I go: back…

I am such that I do not know right and wrongAnd cannot distinguish false and true;I lack even small love and small compassion,And yet, for fame and profit, enjoy teaching others.—The Collected Works of Shinran WHILE AT FIRST GLANCE this might not seem much of a consolation, according to Shinran (1173–1263), the founder of the Jodo Shinshu or True Pure Land School in Japan, an honest assessment of our own limitedness is the beginning of a more sincere relationship to dharma practice, to oneself, and to others. That honesty is the catalyst for a metanoia, a “change of mind” or conversion. Once we learn to recognize that our ego-directed effort is ultimately futile in the pursuit of spiritual liberation, we can begin to live in a way that more fully honors…

IT IS SAID THAT after Siddhartha Gautama realized enlightenment, his first impulse was to teach others how to achieve liberation. But after contemplating his initial enthusiasm for sharing what he had learned and who he had become, he became burdened with grave doubts about humanity’s ability to receive and understand his dharma. As the story goes, a heavenly deity reached out to the Buddha to inform him that some people were capable of learning what he wanted to teach, so the Buddha embarked on a teaching ministry. As he taught from grove to grove, his student base grew, giving rise to the need for additional dharma teachers. In the centuries since, across countries and eventually continents, Buddhist traditions have continued to grapple with, and in some cases define themselves by,…