SARCASM AND IRONY AS PHILOSOPHY

HOW FAR WILL YOU GO WITH NON-DUALITY? Few schools of Buddhism dared take non-duality to its logical conclusion. Zen teachers often dare, yet none were as radical as the Taintai school, and Siming Zhili (960–1028) went to the very end and concluded:  “Other than the devil, there is no Buddha;..other than the Buddha, there is […]

TEN NON-DUALITY GATES (十不二門)

Below is the first English translation of the Tiantai Patriarch Zhanran’s essay the ‘ten Non-duality Gates’ (十不二門) that I am aware of.  The translation was done as a collaboration between myself and Li Jinyi. TEN NON-DUALITY GATES  (See Appendix One for Chinese version.) Zhanran Appearance and essence are not two gates Inside and outside are […]

COSMIC BUDDHA (VAIROCANA)

COSMIC BUDDHA (VAIROCANA) Vairocana, the Cosmic Buddha, is accumulation and expression of the essentials of Buddhism and to see Vairocana face to face is the aim of Buddhism. There are three aspects of Vairocana: firstly, Vairocana is true explanation ‘sunyata’ or ‘emptiness’; secondly, Vairocana is the fulfilment of the spiritual needs of the faithful and […]