Posted on May 4, 2021
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
Prajñāpāramitā Part III: The Lotus Sutra This is my third and final installment on the three core sutras that define Mahayana Buddhism. It has taken me four years to complete a study of these ancient Buddhist scripture in order to walk away feeling as though… Continue Reading “Prajñāpāramitā Part III: The Sacred Lotus of the Dharma”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and SpiritualityTags: *See All Posts, Bodhichitta, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva Dharanimdhara, Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha, Bodhisattva Manjushri, Buddhism, Dharma Practice, Dwelling in the Four Ways, Lotus Sutra, Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Prajnaparamita
Posted on January 21, 2019
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” ~Gary Snyder Liberation and a Return to the Sacred Buddhism has a long history with the forest. Siddhartha Gautama fled the comforts of the Shakya Kingdom and immersed himself with the lands beyond to… Continue Reading “Liberation and a Return to the Sacred”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Behavioral Health, Environment, ScienceTags: *See All Posts, Behavioral Health, Buddhism, Ego, Forest Bathing, Forests, Four Noble Truths, Liberation, Mahayana, Mental Health, Nature, Nature Therapy, Pan, Pantheism, Sacred, Self, Siddhartha Gautama, Taoism, Woodlands
Posted on September 9, 2018
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
Prajñāpāramitā Part II: The Heart Sutra The second sutra that I will be explaining from the Prajñāpāramitā is the Heart Sutra. If you have not already read Prajñāpāramitā Part I: The Diamond Sutra, I encourage you to start there before continuing with this article on the Heart… Continue Reading “Prajñāpāramitā Part II: The Heart of Insight”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and SpiritualityTags: *See All Posts, Buddhism, Existence, Faith, Heart Mantra, Heart Sutra, Insight, Inspiration, Life, Mahayana, Mind, Prajnaparamita, Religion, Thich Nhat Hanh, Truth, Zen Buddhism
Posted on April 1, 2018
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
The Power of Belief I was born into and raised within a Christian community, more specifically a Catholic parish. This article will discuss how I went from attending a private Catholic school and Catholic Mass every weekend, to feeling a lot of doubt in… Continue Reading “The Power of Belief”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, GodTags: *See All Posts, Atheism, Atheist, Buddhism, Buddhist, Catholic, Christianity, Church, Confirmation, Doubt, Easter, Eucharist, Faith, Holy Bible, Inspiration, Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, Mind, Nature, Ordained Minister, Ordination, Parish, Power of Belief, Priest, Religion, Richard Dawkins, Sacraments, Sam Harris, Sin, Transubstantiation, Youth Pastor
Posted on February 7, 2018
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
Ben Tre: Keep The Loneliness Warm I hold my face in my two hands. No, I am not crying. I hold my face in my two hands to keep the loneliness warm two hands protecting, two hands nourishing, two hands preventing my soul from… Continue Reading “Ben Tre: Keep the Loneliness Warm”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous, PoliticsTags: *See All Posts, Ben Tre, Bombing of Ben Tre, Buddhism, Buddhist Monk, Da Nang, Destruction of Ben Tre, Facts, Ho Chi Minh City, Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, PBS, Politics, Public Broadcasting Service, Saigon, Self-Immolation, Southern Vietnam, The Vietnam War, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thich Quang Duc, Viet Cong, Vietnam War
Posted on December 18, 2017
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
Prajñāpāramitā Part I: The Diamond Sutra There is much to learn from all of the Buddhist scriptures and each of the three main branches of Buddhism have their own interpretations of the texts. For those who follow the Theravada tradition, the Pali Canon are the… Continue Reading “Prajñāpāramitā Part I: The Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and SpiritualityTags: *See All Posts, Albert Einstein, Brian Greene, Buddhism, Diamond Sutra, Inspiration, Mahayana, Pali Canon, Physics, Prajnaparamita, Shakyamuni, Siddhartha Gautama, Tathagata, Thich Nhat Hanh, Tipitaka, Truth
Posted on December 13, 2017
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
The Passenger: Commentaries on the Nature of Consciousness What is consciousness? It is defined as a subjective experience, an awareness of self or one’s surroundings and the ability to react to it. Right now, as you are reading this, there is someone inside your… Continue Reading “The Passenger”
Category: All, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, MiscellaneousTags: *See All Posts, Buddhism, Callosotomy, Christof Koch, Corpus Callosum, Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Emergent Property, Gregory Matloff, John Wheeler, Left Hemisphere, Multiple Personality Disorder, Nature of Consciousness, Neuroscience, Panpsychism, Philosophy, Physics, Right Hemisphere, Roger Penrose, Sam Harris, Split-Brain Theory
Posted on November 12, 2017
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
From Samanera to Bhikkhu: The Life of a Traditional Theravada Monk In this article we will explore the life of a traditional Buddhist monk, as seen through the eyes of a Theravada practitioner. If you don’t know anything about Buddhism, I highly recommend you… Continue Reading “From Samanera to Bhikkhu: The Life of a Traditional Theravada Monk”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and SpiritualityTags: *See All Posts, Anagarika, Bhukkhu, Buddhism, Buddhist Monk, Dharma Talk, Ego, Faith, Five Precepts, Inspiration, Mahayana, Monastery, Monastic Life, Monk, Pacittiya, Pali Canon, Religion, Ritual, Samanera, Sangha, Sutra, Sutta, Ten Precepts, Theravada, Vajrayana, Vinaya Pitaka
Posted on August 31, 2017
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
The Middle Way and the Turning of the Wheel: A Brief Examination of Buddhism Buddhism has its origins in the late 6th century BCE with the teachings of the Buddha in Northern India and Nepal. The Buddha, which is a title and not a… Continue Reading “The Middle Way and the Turning of the Wheel”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and SpiritualityTags: *See All Posts, 14th Dalai Lama, Ashtamangala, Auspicious, Buddha, Buddhism, Dharma Wheel, Diamond Sutra, Ego, Eight-Fold Path, Four Noble Truths, Heart Sutra, Inspiration, Koan, Lotus Sutra, Mahayana, Mala, Mantra, Meditation, Nichiren, Pali Canon, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, Samsara, School of the Elders, Shambhala, Siddhartha Gautama, Spirituality, Tenzin Gyatso, The Great Vehicle, Theravada, Thich Nhat Hanh, Tibetan, Truth, Vajrayana, Zen
Posted on July 4, 2017
by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
No Arrival, No Destination, Just Being From Thich Nhat Hanh, the venerable Vietnamese monk who strives to live and spread the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, I’ve learned this simple lesson: There should be no coming, no going, just being. More than anything else, these… Continue Reading “No Arrival, No Destination, Just Being”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human ConditionTags: *See All Posts, Alone, Awareness, Buddhism, Explore, Inspiration, Learn, Lonely, Meditation, Mindfulness, Nature, Peace, Philosophy, Spirituality, Thich Nhat Hanh, Truth, Wander, Zen
Kēphen
The Ardent Axiom 
Ben Tre: Keep the Loneliness Warm
Posted on February 7, 2018 by Kēphen
Leave a Comment
Ben Tre: Keep The Loneliness Warm I hold my face in my two hands. No, I am not crying. I hold my face in my two hands to keep the loneliness warm two hands protecting, two hands nourishing, two hands preventing my soul from… Continue Reading “Ben Tre: Keep the Loneliness Warm”
Category: All, Atheism, Religion and Spirituality, Human Condition, Kephen's Commentary, Miscellaneous, PoliticsTags: *See All Posts, Ben Tre, Bombing of Ben Tre, Buddhism, Buddhist Monk, Da Nang, Destruction of Ben Tre, Facts, Ho Chi Minh City, Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, PBS, Politics, Public Broadcasting Service, Saigon, Self-Immolation, Southern Vietnam, The Vietnam War, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thich Quang Duc, Viet Cong, Vietnam War