Nagarjuna Cultural Center

Sunday:Pith Instructions and Teachings of Master Hanshan

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Master's Teachings (Los Angeles Time)

Fri Immeasurable Life Sutra Sat Master Hanshan

Senior Practitioners’ Teachings (Thailand Time)

Mon Eight Verses for Training the Mind Tue Treasury of Valid Cognition Wed Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way (Catuḥśataka) Thu The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra) Fri Ngöndro / Immeasurable Life (C)

Chinese New Year 2026 San Diego USA

March Spring Festival Chan Retreat in Nagarjuna Cultural Center's San Diego Retreat Center.

October 2025 Chiang Mai Thailand

October 2025 Meditation retreat，the main venue in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

August 2025 Chiang Mai Thailand

August 2025 Chiang Mai Thailand，on line meditation retreat.

About Puja

Puja (Sanskrit: पूजा; Pāli: Pūjā) means “offering” or“reverence.”

The Relationship Between Buddhist Theory and Practice

Buddhist theory encompasses both teachings and practices.

Buddhist Worldview and Modern Life

To understand the world around us, we rely on our worldview - how we perceive and make sense of things.

Cognition and Expression Part One

Beyond logical arguments, Buddhists offer meditation as a powerful avenue for exploring the non-computational nature of cognition.

Cognition and Expression Part Two

One prominent distinction between Eastern and Western philosophy lies in the approach to cognition: while Western philosophy relies on the senses, Eastern philosophy emphasizes the cessation of the senses for transcendent cognition.

Are You Accumulating Merit the Wrong Way Too?

If you do not accumulate merit, there is simply no way to carry out genuine practice. Your mind unconsciously keeps reinforcing this sense of “I” as an individual, and may even use so-called “merit” to armor and protect it. Practicing in this way, you will never experience the Dharma-nature of selflessness (dharmatā), and liberation will remain forever out of reach.

Methods for Not Being Attached to Pleasant Feeling (Part Two)

Another method is to reflect in advance and remind yourself that this pleasant feeling will not last, and that if it changes, you will face it calmly. Repeating this to yourself again and again is what we often call “preparing yourself mentally in advance.”

How Can One Develop Firm Conviction in the Existence of Reincarnation?

In conclusion, we must exhaust all means to establish unwavering conviction in reincarnation. Mere conceptual acceptance cannot provide lasting momentum for practice. Without inner conviction, essential foundational practices—such as the Five Preliminary Practices (Ngöndro)—risk degenerating into hollow formalities, performed perfunctorily and with haste.

How to Define Renunciation ？

For the purposes of our current discussion, “renunciation” refers specifically to a mental attitude that seeks liberation and yearns to be free from the cycle of saṃsāra in the three realms.This is how renunciation is being defined here.

Why Are We Unable to Establish Stable Meditative Concentration? (Part 2)

Even those who seek worldly merit should not cling to such meaningless disputes—how much more so for those who seek liberation? The very purpose of Buddhist practice is to relinquish all that is clung to by the self, and ultimately to recognize that such self does not exist at all. Given this, why should we bother calculating and arguing over worldly interests?

Why is it so difficult for us to attain enlightenment?

Why was Hui Neng able to attain enlightenment by hearing "the mind should act without any attachments" twice? His spiritual capacity was sufficient. As practitioners, we should follow the path that Hui Neng demonstrated. However, why can't we attain enlightenment just by hearing the same line? The answer is straightforward - we lack the necessary capacity.

A Small Story, a Great Truth,Hold Profound Reverence for the Words “Bodhicitta”

So, although we must distinguish between conceptual bodhicitta and genuine bodhicitta, even if it is “fake,” even if it is merely conceptual bodhicitta (bodhicitta), as Mahāyāna practitioners we have to still hold profoundly deep reverence for the three words“bodhicitta.”

Modern Thinkers on Buddhism

All of this is something Buddhism is capable of accomplishing. We can discuss the fundamental nature of the world: Buddhism holds that the foundation of the world is emptiness, and moreover, that emptiness can be directly realized.