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There are at present several crore untouchables in India, the vast majority of whom are underprivileged in every sense of the term. In the course of the last thousand or so years saints and reformers have sought to ameliorate the lot of the untouchables-none of them with any great success. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, himself an untouchable by birth, who came to the conclusion that there was no salvation for the untouchables within Hinduism and that they would ...
The three texts that are brought together here, though divided in time by up to five hundred years, belong to the same group of Mahayana sutras: The first text the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom Sutras) which is concerned with seeing reality everywhere, at all times, in all poaces, and under all circumstances. The second text, The Heart Sutra which constitutes the heart, or essence of the Prajnaparamita, gives us in a highly condensed form the essential ...
On the morning of 14 October 1956, at a mass rally in the Indian town of Nagpur, four hundred thousand men and women turned their backs on a millennium of degradation and slavery. Finally renouncing Hinduism, with its cruel system of 'graded inequality', they turned instead to Buddhism, in search of dignity, hope and a path to self-improvement. Over the coming months, Hindu India shook as hundreds of thousands more followed their example, and as the Buddha Dhamma ...
The Three Jewels are living symbols, objects of commitment and devotion in the life of every Buddhist. The Buddha Jewel: symbol of Enlightenment, particularly as embodied in siddhartha Cautama, the man who discovered the path to human perfection. The Dharma Jewel: symbol of the path itself, the teachings and practices that help each individual towards Enlightenment. The Sangha Jewel: symbol of the fellowship enjoyed by those whose lives are based on ...
What is the meaning of life? How can we be truly happy? These questions are no less pressing for having been asked so many times. In Buddhism, the answer is to be found in the Dharma - a traditional term which means both 'the Truth' and 'the Path'. Guided by a lifetime's experience of Buddhist practice, Sangharakshita tackles the question: 'What is the Dharma?' from many different angles. The result is a basic starter kit of teachings and practices, which ...
Vimalakirti is a Bodhisattva who appears as a layman in order to help 'all living beings’. A worker of wonders, he reveals distant universes, feeds thousands of beings with a single bowl of nectar, and wins a philosophical debate with a thunderous silence. Because he is enlightened, the means he uses are highly skilful yet utterly inconceivable. How can we understand and communicate the Buddha’s teaching, learn to practice the spiritual life in ...