Category Archives: Buddhist practice

Good Monk, Bad Monk

Posted on April 28, 2015 by EricKVanHorn

When my children were young and I was learning how to be a parent, one of the things that I quickly noticed was how they learn from their parents. The most obvious way in which they learn is by the … Continue reading →

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Additional Resources

Posted on February 15, 2015 by EricKVanHorn

Books Buddhist History The Foundations of Buddhism by Rupert Gethin This is a remarkably unbiased book about all of the Buddhist traditions and the history and evolution of Buddhism. I cannot recommend this book enough. I discovered it some years … Continue reading →

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New Jhāna Update

Posted on January 5, 2015 by EricKVanHorn

One of my shorter posts in this blog simply references a study that I did on jhāna (meditative absorption) in the Majhima Nikāya. (That post has since been deleted.) The reason that the post is so short is that the … Continue reading →

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Making a Difference

Posted on October 19, 2014 by EricKVanHorn

I am sitting here at the Starbucks in Mt. Laurel, NJ. A very dear old friend of mine from Cherry Hill committed suicide on Monday and I am here for the funeral. I first met Bill the summer after my … Continue reading →

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A Good Man, and Oy! What a Memory!

Posted on June 13, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

The purpose of the Buddhist canonical literature is to preserve the teachings of the Buddha. To that end there is no intent to create a biography of the Buddha, or anyone else. Having said that, one of the things I … Continue reading →

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Honor… and Humility

Posted on May 25, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

Thich Nhat Hanh has this very beautiful teaching about our ancestors. He says that whenever we miss our parents or our grandparents or any of our ancestors, all we have to do is to look into our own hands. Of … Continue reading →

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Oh, Those Unruly Monks! (Finale)

Posted on April 29, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

I suppose that every human institution has its dirty laundry. The sutta about the monks at Kosambi shows that this was true even in the Buddha’s own time and even in his own community. So it isn’t too surprising that … Continue reading →

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Meditation Can Be Habit Forming

Posted on April 9, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

My daughter, in her usual thoughtful way, gave me a book for my birthday on the nature of habits. It is called “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business”. The word “habit” is … Continue reading →

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The Buddha Wasn’t Kidding – Really

Posted on March 28, 2013 by EricKVanHorn

When I first started to meditate it was in a Zen practice. We were told mainly to “just sit.” If any question or problem came up, the instruction was the same, to “just keep sitting”. To this day the words … Continue reading →

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