Dharama Talks

  • A Poisoned Arrow

    Gautama Buddha had a young pupil whose name was Marnkyaptra. He was argumentative by nature. He questioned Buddha in this way. Is there an end in this world or is there nothing? Does the soul (spirit) exist or not? Does the next world exist or not? Our distress is not relieved if we know whether the world has an end or there is nothing after death. I explain the teaching which conquers our distress in our present life. Such a thing will not matter if you reach enlightenment. A Poisoned Arrow A Dharma Talk by Sensei Imanaka We do not know what will happen in our life, and there are …

  • Rain and Plants

    All flowers are beautiful and graceful when seen from Buddha’s eyes. There are many kind of plants and flowers in the world. It is raining. The earth is moistened with rain. those plants absorb moisture, grow up, and the flower bloom. but those rapidity of growth, size, and color and shape of the flower are different. Because the kind of the seed is different. Now I compared Buddha’s teaching to rain and plants to people. Buddha’s teaching is equality for all people and speed of people grow up is various like rain and plants.

  • The Six Essential Buddhist Practices

    Six Virtue Practices and Offerings There is no power or order that oversees or enforces a Buddhist’s moral conduct. Therefore, if you choose to break a decision which you have made, you will not receive blame or punishment by anyone. In contrast, you cannot blame or punish anyone but yourself. It is only to yourself that you have the power to admonish. There are six virtue practices and six virtue offerings that Buddhists should follow. These offerings are given to Buddha and, in turn, are a reflection of the practices. The first offering: Water Water, circulating throughout the earth, gives a universal blessing unstintingly (without reservation) to all living creatures. …

  • The Mechanism of prayer in Buddhism

    The ideal Buddhist prayer is wishing to use the collected good energy which was created by good actions for other’s benefit. I would like to talk about the mechanism of prayer in Buddhism. First, I would like to talk about Karma. Karma means Action. In Buddhism, energy occurs by action. Good energy comes from good action. Bad energy comes from bad action. Good energy brings happiness and bad energy brings unhappiness. The ideal Buddhist prayer is wishing to use the collected good energy which was created by good actions for other’s benefit. This is called “EKO”. Many Buddhist is wishing for all the people get the good energy they created …