Dharma Archives - Contemporary Buddhism

Commercial Intent – aka Buddhism, money and making a living (online)

First published July 6, 2013

As I write this, this blog has a whopping 4 visitors a day, on average. As a seasoned web professional of over 10 years, I knew that it was never going to get a lot of traffic overnight. Why not? Because I started this blog with the intent of simply writing about what I care [...]

Taking refuge: vows, commitments, belief and faith

First published February 23, 2012

Since I took refuge, I find myself explaining what that means to me to Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Because, after all, I did not suddenly become less of a skeptic. There are aspects of the Buddhism I’m being taught that I don’t relate to much at all. The main example is, always, the enormous amounts of [...]

Universal Buddhist Refuge Prayer

First published January 18, 2012

In the Gelugpa Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism of the FPMT one is expected to take refuge in the three jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) twice daily (three times each), especially if one has already taken refuge formally. For me, as a former theosophist, anything sectarian is a problem. On the other hand, I did pick Buddhism as [...]