Once upon a time Zen was very popular in Tibet. That is to say, it was popular in the way that Country Music is popular. Some people really liked it, but others weren’t so sure. The early history of Zen in Tibet is actually a lot like the early history of Zen in China. In […]
Category: buddhism
寫經 (Sutra Copying)
寫經 (pinyin: xiě-jīng) literally means “copy sutra”. Koreans pronounce it as sagyeong (사경). In Japanese Buddhism it is pronounced shakyo. And to keep us on our toes, the Japanese use two different Chinese characters: 写経 (don’t ask me why – but the first character, 写, is the cursive form of 寫, and the second character, […]
南無阿彌陀佛 (Homage to Amita Buddha in Chinese Characters)
Transliterating Sanskrit with Chinese characters is pretty interesting. Here I’ll look at one significant example: how to write “Homage to Amita Buddha” in Traditional Chinese characters. First up is “homage”, which can also be translated as “bow to” or “take refuge in”. The Sanskrit for this is नमः (namaḥ) or नमो (namo). This is transliterated […]
An inside joke
Once upon a time, Shakyamuni Buddha stood before a large group of people who had gathered at Vulture Peak to hear him teach. But the Buddha remained silent. Instead of saying anything, he only held up a single flower. At this, the Buddha’s disciple Mahakasyapa broke into a smile. When the Buddha saw Mahakasyapa’s smile, […]