We encounter many fortunes and misfortunes in life. When misfortunes arise, people tend to rely on conventional and superficial explanations, directing blame outward. When someone we love dies, we point to an illness: “He died because of cancer.” When someone suffers great financial loss, we attribute it to external conditions: “She lost money because of competitors.” Many such examples can be given; they are virtually endless. Here, by “suffering,” the emphasis in this post is primarily on...

When we observe the mind carefully, let’s be honest to ourselves: it is rarely straight. It leans, bends, and inclines: pulled by lobha, pushed by dosa, clouded by moha. Even when we intend to act rightly, something within distorts that intention. This inner crookedness is the natural condition of an untrained mind. The mind is always bending in such a manner, conditioned by defilements to act in these ways throughout beginningless saṃsāra. In the teachings of the Buddha, there is a term that...

The commentaries provide a profoundly important clarification about attainments of Path and Fruition, and that liberation is neither random nor mechanically guaranteed. It unfolds through prior and present causes. The Apadāna Commentary expresses this as follows: “To all disciples of the Blessed One: (1) the presence of meritorious supporting conditions (adhikāra), and (2) a strong and resolute aspiration (chanda) for the noble knowledge of enlightenment (bodhi-ñāṇa) one seeks — Only when...