Tag: kōans

• The 13th-Century Monk Who Said ‘Ignore Everyone’—And Why It’s the Secret to Deeper Listening

  

  Introduction: The Practitioner’s Paradox In any spiritual path, a fundamental tension exists between two essential guides: the wisdom of others and the truth of our own experience. On one hand, we have sacred texts, traditions, and teachers—a map charted by those who have already walked the path. To ignore this map is to risk getting…

  William Altig

  October 23, 2025

  Nichiren

  Buddha’s gaze, Buddha-nature, daimoku, Expedient Means (Upāya), experiential insight, fundamental darkness (ganpon no mumyō), Gohonzon, golden words of the Buddha, guru (lama), Guru Yoga, Ichinen Sanzen, insight meditation, Kaidan, kalyāṇa-mitta (spiritual friend), Kamakura period, Kangyur, kenshō, kōans, Kālāma Sūtta, Latter Day of the Law, Lotus Sūtra, Mahayana philosophy, Mappō, Mutual Inclusion of the Ten Realms (jikkai gogu), Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō, Nichiren, Nichiren Buddhism, Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō, One Vehicle (Ekayāna), Pali Canon (Tipiṭaka), practitioner’s paradox, provisional doctrines, satori, scriptural authority, scriptural literalism, Shakubuku, shōju, spiritual bypassing, Tathāgatagarbha, Ten Realms, Tengyur, Theravada Buddhism, Three Great Hidden Dharmas, Three Thousand Realms, Tiantai School, transmission outside the scriptures, Vajrayana Buddhism, vipassanā, zazen, Zen Buddhism

• This 2,000-Year-Old Text Is a Recipe for Life—Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Just Read It

  

  Introduction: The Gap Between Knowing and Doing There’s a well-known gap between knowing something in theory and understanding it through experience. An old metaphor captures this perfectly: you can read a recipe for a meal, memorize every ingredient, and understand the chemistry of cooking, but you will remain completely ignorant of the food’s taste. True…

  William Altig

  October 8, 2025

  Chapter 5, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  Arhat, Bodhicitta, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattvas of the Earth, Buddha-nature, Burning House Parable, Chapter Two, Compassion, dṛṣṭi, Ekayāna, Engaged Buddhism, expedient means, insight, Insight of the Buddha, kosen-rufu, kōans, Lotus Sūtra, One Vehicle, Pedagogy, practice, prajñā, Pratyekabuddhas, Prodigal Son Parable, Pāramitās, realization, Recipe analogy, Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, Samsara, Six Perfections, Skillful Means, Tathāgata, Tathāgatagarbha, Theravada Buddhism, three vehicles, upāya, vipassanā, wisdom, zazen, Zen Buddhism, śrāvakas