Jim Binkley, Rest In Peace

Jim Binkley, who led the Washington D.C. Buddhist Studies Group for many years passed away on Saturday 2021 November 27th.

The first word that comes to my mind when I think about Jim is “kindness”.

Jim had many kind conversations with me over the years. Conversations that I learned a lot from in Jim’s in gentle manner.

Jim will forever be an example to me of someone who lived life in a kind way, and truly having a Buddhist attitude towards the vicissitudes in life.

I will forever be grateful to him for keeping The Washington D.C. Buddhist Studies Group going for so many years despite all of the effort and time he had to put into it. I’ve gotten a lot out of the group over the years and I have Jim to thank for a large portion of that.

I hope wherever his it is fantastic for him.

I wish the best with all of my heart for his family and friends.

No Secret Teachings.

Many early Buddhist suttas are repetitive, covering the same ground as many other suttas.  However, every once in a while you come across one that has a very different message.   Interestingly, these messages tend not to get repeated a lot and at least in my opinion are useful for preventing people from going in a direction that isn’t useful.   Here is such a sutta:

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Not A Secret Doctrine

AN 3:129; 128

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From

In The Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon Edited and introduced by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Page 88

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“These three things, monks, are conducted in secret, not openly.

What three? Affairs with women, the mantras of the brahmins, and wrong view.

“But these three things, monks, shine openly, not in secret.

What three?

The moon, the sun, and the Dhamma and Discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata.”

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Meditation – The Only Way by K. Sri Dhammananda

 

 

 

Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda was a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk who wrote many books on Buddhism for free distribution.   Many of them have been digitized and made freely available online.   This one hasn’t been, until now.   Out of print for many, many, years the only option is to pay a ridiculous price for a used copy via online bookstores.  I didn’t like that as the poorest of the poor people in Buddhist countries will take money they do not have to donate it to Buddhist organizations so books such as the one below can be distributed freely to help people.   I had a copy ( destroyed in the scanning process ) on my bookshelf that I bought from a Buddhist temple in the 1990s. I decided to use a few of my own dollars to have it scanned and make it available for free, online.   Feel free to leave your opinions about the book in the comment section below.  Enjoy!