- 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…
- Is Nirvana Achievable For Everyone?
Is it possible for a layperson to reach the highest attainment in early Buddhism? The focus of early Buddhist practice was monastic. However as we will see, there is also fascinating early evidence that laypeople could aspire to very high…
- What is Buddhist Enlightenment?
What is Buddhist enlightenment or awakening? I'll look at three early suttas for indications of different pictures of the knowledge and results gained through enlightenment. Then I'll turn to how the picture of such knowledge and results…
- 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.
- The Strange Case of the Formless Meditations in Early Buddhism
Early Buddhism presents us with a conundrum around the practice of the formless attainments of deep meditation. Namely, are they skillful routes to nirvana, or are they not? We will look at evidence from the early suttas that indicates…
- A Couple of Thoughts on "Who was the Buddha" by @ReligionForBreakfast
The engaging and popular YouTube channel @ReligionForBreakfast has put out a number of videos on Buddhism recently. Their video on "Who was the Buddha?" is a good intro to the topic that raised questions around the idea of a historical…
- 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…