Category: Featured Article

The Medicine of Buddhism

By Body & Mind, Meditation & Practice

The occurrence of a disease is closely related to one’s mental health, physical health, spiritual health, behavior, habits, living environment, and even the society and culture in which one lives.  Harmonizing all of these elements and engaging in specific practices can help to bring about optimum health and prevent illness.  Gaining awareness about the cause of illness and conducting our lives in a manner that nourishes and maintains long-term good health can drastically improve our overall well-being.  The Buddha offers us several suggestions and practices that can serve as medicine for all aspects of our lives.

Overcoming Greed

By Buddhism in Everyday Life

Greed is a basic disease of all sentient beings. In our realm, the desire realm (kamadhatu), the force and effects of greed can be felt especially strongly. Greed is based on ignorance and cannot function without it. The fundamental ignorance that enables greed to function is the belief in a self that exists separately and independently from other sentient beings. This belief leads to nothing but trouble and it can only lead to trouble. Once we believe we are separate, we begin to have desires, attachments and the false certainty that we can obtain advantages for ourselves without including the well-being of others.

Healing the Body

By Body & Mind

Technological progress and advances in modern science have led to material improvements that have enhanced the quality of people’s lives on many levels. Yet, no matter how much we have progressed or how advanced our technology is, there still remain fundamental problems in life that science will never be able to solve. Two of the…

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Healing the Mind

By Body & Mind

People suffer from a variety of diseases of the mind, such as being greedy, judgmental, or quick to anger. The Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra says, “There are four kinds of diseases of the body, which are due to excessive wind, heat, phlegm, or other causes. There are also four kinds of diseases of the…

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Healing Afflictions

By Body & Mind

What are people supposed to do when they are troubled by afflictions? Some people are troubled by very specific things, others encounter poverty, and many have poor relations with other people. Some individuals are disturbed the moment they hear even the slightest comment they do not like, or they become angry when they see someone…

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