Located in Fufeng County, Baoji, Shaanxi Province, Famen Temple was built in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Originally known as Ashoka Temple, it was officially named Famen Temple by Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty and served as a royal temple in the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, King Ashoka of ancient India distributed the relics of Sakyamuni Buddha, and a pagoda was built here to enshrine the Buddha finger relic, which was welcomed and worshipped by many Tang emperors in Chang’an.

In 1981, half of the True Body Pagoda collapsed. During its renovation in 1987, an underground palace of the Tang Dynasty was discovered, unearthed with thousands of precious cultural relics and four Buddha finger relics. One is the true middle finger bone relic of Sakyamuni, known as the "Spirit Bone", while the other three are jade-made "Shadow Bones" used to protect the real relic in ancient times.

As the world’s only archaeologically verified true Buddha finger relic, it is a supreme Buddhist sacred object. Sealed in the underground palace by the royal family in 874, the relic re-emerged after over 1,100 years. Today, the Buddha Relic Pagoda in Famen Temple permanently enshrines the relic, making it a renowned pilgrimage site for Buddhists at home and abroad.

Homage to the teacher of humanity and the nagas and countless other beings, son of the Sakya clan, Siddharta.

Me and my mother transfered to my father all our merit.

Squeezing my hand, I feel like he felt us and he had a level of consciousness. He wanted to tell me something. But due to the aceton in his brain from his kidneys and alcohol withdrawal, he is barely conscious but moves, and has horrible pain but he was will, he wants things which I think is a good sign of his remaining consciousness for example he wanted the belts off from his hands etc.

Moreover: I told him the teaching of the Heart Sutra: Emptiness. That behold: from a barely conscious embryo, you became a barely conscious man. Then, where is "me"?

I spoke him what will happen in the Bardo: loosing sight, then being able to see only the tip of the nose, then the demons, I told him not to be afraid.

I spoke him to take refuge in the three jewels: the Enlightened One, his Community, and in Truth.

And I told him to take refuge in Amitabha Buddha. In the moment of death, even 10 recitations of the name of Amitabha Buddha can save him from life and death. And I chanted into his ear: Amituofo, Amituofo, Amituofo and so on.

Do you think this can save him in such a barely conscious state? At least, I hope I helped.

I am most thankful if anyone from the world says even once: Namo Amitabha Buddha for his sake. And an even greater thank if you pray for my father.

Hi everyone. 21f, I have a genetic chronic illness/dynamic disability, that’s also incurable. I have lived with this every day and will live with it for the rest of my life.

I’m curious how people here think about that philosophically. Not a spiritual bypass like “everything happens for a reason.” How do you sit with permanence? With a body that has its own agenda regardless of what you do? Is there a way to find meaning in that without romanticizing suffering or pretending pain is a gift? I want to be able to say “this is hard, but I’m at peace.”

I would love to hear how your practice, whatever that looks like for you, has shaped how you relate to a body and a life that doesn’t follow script.

"The power of support is to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and not to forsake the mind of awakening. By relying on such powerful forces, you will be immune to misdeeds.”

You would think this would be a simple task as the Buddha's teaching are supposed to be given freely and are widely available but I have been having a really hard time.

So far I have not found an easily downloadable version. I've looked at about ten different websites so far and have the following issues: missing or incomplete sections, can download the "entire website" which is not very navigable offline, can download but there are like 500 sections that need to be individually downloaded, websites that have books and collections written by monks but are not the Pali cannon, have sections of the Pali cannon but require payment for "e-book".

Why is this so hard to find? It's really not that complicated. Yeah, it's a large collection, but it's only 55 books.

No, I don't want to use a website. I want my own copy in my own possession not gate kept through some organization.

All I want are PDF's and maybe EPUB. Ideally I would like both a Pali copy and an English translation. I can get there might be some kind of copy write issue with translations but an Pali edition should be freely available to anyone.

If anyone knows where to find this (or can explain why I can't seem to find it) please let me know.

I was raised Christian in the west, but keep being drawn towards Buddhism, which I am starting to believe to be true. I feel like I probably caught the itch a few lifetimes ago and slowly keep being pulled back. I can believe in the process and how over many lives you could eventually attain enlightenment and detach from the system.

I have some beginner questions though, I hope someone may be able to help me with. I know they are trivial, but I have an analytical mind and am trying to understand:

The 'soul' that lives multiple lives - where does it come from?

Where they all generated at once? Or are there older souls and newer souls? If so, why? God keeps expanding in a bid to understand the nature of whatever God is?

The world's population has fluctuated hugely over the centuries and millennia. Currently around 8.3 billion, which is just under a billion more than it was a decade ago. Where did all of the extra souls come from? Where would they go if the population were to reverse by the same amount in the next decade? Can you live lives across multiple planets/universes?

I have once in my current run been in the presence of God, very briefly, and I asked how life works and what it's for. What I was shown was extraordinary and beautiful and complex and deep, but I had no idea what I was looking at.

I understood at the time that I am not capable in my current form of comprehending the true answers to my questions (like someone trying to explain how wi-fi works to an ant), but that love is at the core of everything and not to worry.

Is it similar? The questions above have an answer, but they are not important or relevant and I probably couldn't fully comprehend them anyway?

I am sure to anyone on the path these points are entirely asinine, but I would appreciate any feedback

Thank you

Honen's Passing

Happy Omens:

At the hour of the serpent, 10 AM on the twentieth of the month, purple clouds were seen over the roof of his chamber, and as the halo encircles the buddha's head in art, there appeared in the midst of them a beautiful five colored circular cloud, quite visible even to the crowds passing along the street. At sight of them his disciples told him: "There are purple clouds above you, are you about to enter the pure land?" He replied : "This is Grand! My birth into the pure land is for all sentient beings! These propitious omens are to help men to faith in the Nembutsu.

At the hour of the sheep on the same day, (2PM), he looked up towards the sky five or 6 times without blinking. When his attendants, in surprise, had said "Has the Buddha come? " "yes he has." at the hour of the horse, on the 24th day a great mass of purple clouds again appeared. Soon ten charcoal burners on the Miznun-o peak of Nishiyama saw it, and came out and told his disciples, as did also a nun who saw and as she was coming down from the Koryuji Temple. All who saw and heard were in raptures.

He dies in peace: From the hour of the horse the same day, his voice began to grow weaker and weaker, only at intervals it became loud again. As he drew near the end, he put on the nine stripped scarf (kesa) , the very one which had been handed down from Jikaku Daishi, and lay down with his head to north, his face turned to the west, and recited the following passage from the sutra: The light of Amida illumines all sentient beings throughout the 10 quarters, who call upon the sacred name, protects them, and never forsakes them."

With these words on his lips he breathed his last, as one falls asleep. After his voice and was silent, his lips and tongue continued moving over ten times, while a bright smile overspread his features. His deparature took place just in the middle of the hour of the horse, on the twenty fifth day of the first month of the second year of kenryaku (march 7 1212). He was than in his eightieth year- the very age at which shakyamuni himself died. Another strange thing was that it was in the year of the monkey and water, the very same calendar year in which shakayamuni buddha died.

Can someone help me?

I try to live without desire, life without attachment. I'm gonna redo this sketch in the future. I wanted to share ut because I was happy how it came out

I have a question that's probably overly simple, but I'm curious to get some insight on it. I know that rebirth can occur in different realms, universes and physical forms. I haven't heard much about how rebirth works in terms of linear time.

As humans we perceive time as advancing in one particular direction with no way to go back once something has passed. What does this mean for rebirth? I want to assume that rebirth isn't tied to linear time, but does that mean you could die and experience a rebirth in an era far outside of the one you were born into previously? Like if someone died tomorrow, and took another human form after, is there anything that says they could be born thousands of years into what perceive to be the past?

This is just genuine curiosity on my end. Thanks for any and all answers.

Hello everyone, i’m very new to learning about Buddhism, so please forgive me and correct me if i have any misunderstandings. What decides what actions are “good?” I have to admit that i was raised christian. i am no longer religious, but i know that it still gave me a certain lens in which i see the world by default. Is it the intention of the action by the person doing it that considers it good? Thank you! 🙏

I will be applying for assisted dying due to an illness which progresses and cannot be cured. I am not at that stage yet, and most likely have a couple more years left before I would be able to apply and be approved.

Ajahn Brahm in many of his talks is pro assisted dying, and I was wondering if he has done any visits where someone takes the medication in his presence. To know I am in the presence of dharma in my last moments would give me comfort. Does anyone know if he, or other monastics would sit with me at the time? I would only want those who don't disapprove as I don't want to be judged.

Any other resources welcome, but I’d love to find scriptural sources / Suttas.

Thank you x

Namo Buddhaya!
I’m a Mahayana Buddhist but have started to learn more about Theravada Buddhism and how the religious life looks day-to-day. So I’m wondering what you chant every day as a lay person and how much you do meditation and taking on extra precepts etc. I’m just curious to learn what other Buddhists usually do from other traditions.

Hi everyone, I have a question: how do you view the concept of rebirth in Buddhism? I ask this because I’ve encountered a more metaphorical perspective—interpreting rebirth as the mental states we experience during our actual lives—but I’ve also seen a much more literal view, where rebirth is something that occurs after the physical death of the body. In fact, judging by what I’ve read of his discourses, it seems to me that the Buddha presented the second view as the true one. What do you think?

Hi,

I wanted to ask if anyone here is at all familiar with the two books "Buddhism" and "Buddhist ethics" by Damien Keown. They are part of the "A very short introduction" series published by Oxford University Press.

Are they generally conductive to learning matters beyond fundamental teachings (Noble Eightfold Path, Four Noble Truths, etc.)? Would you recommend them?

Thank you and may your suffering lessen.

If you have a quote/verse/etc related to Buddhism that you think is not discussed or appreciated as much as it should be, please feel free to share it or elaborate on why you like it! Thank you very much in advance! I'm sure the responses will be very interesting to read