- Is Solitary Buddhist Practice Selfish? (The "Lone Buddha" Path)
What would the Buddha say about the modern tendency to pursue quiet practice alone in our homes? Are there drawbacks or pitfalls to lone practice?
- Solitude: Its Advantages and Drawbacks in Buddhist Practice
The Buddha praised solitude as highly beneficial, but he also warned of its dangers. How can we best balance solitude and community in our practice, and how can we cultivate solitude even in our busy everyday lives?
- Buddha's Advice On The Dangers Of Affection May Surprise You!
Affection can be dangerous, this is some of the surprising and even shocking advice the Buddha gives in the early suttas. I'll look at what the Buddha said about some of affection's problematic role in lay and monastic life, as well as…
- Superiority of Solitude in Early Buddhism: The Rhinoceros Sutta
Is solitary practice superior? We will consider that problem through a look at one of the most powerful and enigmatic early Buddhist poems, the sutta on the rhinoceros. What does it tell us, and who composed it?
- Buddhism and Loneliness
We'll look at what the Buddha had to say about solitude and living an uncrowded life, and then turn to how the Buddha's advice can help us to reframe the problem of loneliness. Then we'll turn to two major problems associated with…
- Is Deep Meditative Absorption (Jhana) Necessary for Enlightenment?
Do we need to have achieved the jhānas -- four deep states of meditative absorption -- in order to become enlightened? We'll look at some early texts for clues as to what the Buddha might have thought about this complex and controversial…
- How Deep Should Buddhist Meditation Get? The Question of Jhana
There has been a recent disagreement over how deep meditative concentration practice should go, and over how deep the early Buddhist texts claim it was. We will look at that disagreement and help illuminate it by looking at some…