- Why Our Deepest Certainties Can Be Completely Wrong
Doug examines whether there is any reliable way to know when we are right, tracing how confident certainty has misled even history's greatest thinkers, and asking whether Buddhist meditative insight offers a better standard. Drawing on…
- The Paradox of Ownership in Early Buddhism
There's a paradox of ownership in early Buddhist dharma. I'll consider that paradox, and why we should try to avoid looking at the world in terms of possession and ownership.
- The Hierarchy of Pleasures in Early Buddhism
What role did pleasure have to play in the Buddha's teaching? We'll look at the hierarchy of pleasures that the Buddha described, some of its paradoxes, and where it might lead us to understand the dharma better.
- Appreciating Nature in Early Buddhism
What did the early Buddhists have to say about appreciating nature? It's a bit of a conundrum. We'll look at what a couple of venerable monks had to say about the beauty of the natural world. Then we'll turn to the Buddha's views on such…
- Do All Religions Lead to the Same Goal?
Do all systems of spiritual practice lead to the same place? Are they all essentially identical? This is a view that's come to be known as "perennial philosophy" or "universalism". I'll consider what the Buddha had to say about such…
- Lessons and Practices from the Fire
I'll outline three lessons learned from the fire, worldly wise things that helped out in a time of need, as well as two practices that I've found useful. I'll also consider a couple of key early Buddhist suttas.
- What's wrong with pleasure?
What's wrong with pleasure? It often seems as though sensory pleasures are an unalloyed good, the sorts of things that we should aim to gain as much of during our lifetimes as possible. The Buddha had a somewhat different view of them…
- Our Stories: Are They Everything?
We structure our lives through our stories, but in what ways can they lead us astray? We'll look at how story is important using some comments by YouTube filmmaker Casey Neistat. Then we'll look at the story of the Buddha, and the stories…