If Only He Were a Cat! by Diana St Ruth

Buddhism now

If you like cats—if you are a total fool when it comes to cats, as I am—you will probably make a beeline for them when you see them in the street, and pet them if they’ll let you. But you won’t be upset if they turn their backs on you, stick their tails in the air, and walk off—because that’s how cats are. And if your cat at home makes self-centred demands—as they are wont to do—you probably won’t mind in the least. And they can be quite moody—all over you one minute and ignoring you the next—but you simply won’t mind, because you don’t expect cats to be any other way. So, cat lovers tolerate their cats’ little quirks and foibles with ease and just think: ‘Oh well, that’s cats for you!’

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Dhammapada Studies, by Sylvia Swain

Buddhism now

Introduction

For those who know little of Buddhism or who find it obscure, the Dhammapada is an ideal book to begin with. For those who know and love Buddhism it is likely already to be a constant companion and a reminder, just like having the gentle hand of Gautama on the reins of the unruly heart.

It consists of a collection of verses taken from a section of the Buddhist Pali Canon known as the Khuddaka, the shorter discourses. It is considered to embody the essence of the teachings. Juan Mascaro, the translator of the Bhagavad Gītā and the Upaniṣads as well as the Dhammapada, said of it “This gospel of light and of love is amongst the greatest spiritual works of man. Each verse is like a small star, and the whole has the radiance of eternity”. The verses represent a condensed description of the Way of the Buddha…

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Photographs of the 1903 Francis Younghusband led mission to invade Tibet

This gallery contains 22 photos.

Originally posted on Buddhism now:
Mission Tibet [1903-1904] Click any photo to view full size gallery. The photographs are of Tibet when the Francis Younghusband led the mission to invade Tibet. In 1903 a substantial army was assembled in Sikkim…

Everything and Nothing (edit) :: J. L. Borges

The Floating Library

There was no one in him; behind his face (which even in the poor paintings of the period is unlike any other) and his words, which were copious, imaginative, and emotional, there was nothing but a little chill, a dream not dreamed by anyone. At first he thought everyone was like him, but the puzzled look on a friend’s face when he remarked on that emptiness told him he was mistaken and convinced him forever that an individual must not differ from his species. Occasionally he thought he would find in books the cure for his ill, and so

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I will not be returning to Ferguson

The Breath of the Universe: Hindu Philosophy