Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Booklet 3: The Essence of Buddhism

Essence means truth and also refers to the fundamental Dharma. Sometimes we say the doctrine of the Three Dharma Seals (also known as the Three Characteristics of Existence) is the essence of Buddhism, or that Dependent Origination is the essence of Buddhism. Other times we say that it is emptiness (sunyata) or the Four Noble Truths. What, then, is the essence of Buddhism? Actually, all of these concepts are the fundamental truths of Buddhism.

This is our study topic for March. Please read details at http://www.blpusa.com/bies03.html (go to the download for free link) and post your comments below.

1 comments:

Alex said...

This booklet reminded me of the great inspiration that I had when I first studied in the Core Teachings class at Hsi Lai Temple with Venerable Miao Zhong. Reviewing the material was really a help to be clear myself what the basics are and, hopefully, be able to answer questions from others. I also listed the equivalent Chinese terms for the basic concepts at www.chinesenotes.com/buddhism_intro.php.

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