Posts
“THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THORNS AND ROOTS ON A GREAT BANYAN TREE”, “DISGUISED MONKS”, THE MEANING OF NIKĀYA: Southern/Sri Lankan traditions explanations of the Original Split of the Buddhist community into two schools, criticism of the largest school, the Third Council, Difference between Black Ashoka and Maurya Ashoka (17th Karmapa, Day 5, Mar-Ngog teachings (2026)
“The genuine Arhat/Elders’ School is like a great “banyan tree” (Mahānigrodha) with a strong root and spread leaves, while the other seventeen schools that branched out from the Elders’ School or the Great School are like “thorns” (Kantaka) that grew from the tree trunk.” “Today, when we talk about a school (Nikāya), we may mean…
A FIVE-STAGE CHRONOLOGY OF THE SPLIT INTO SCHOOLS AND A DIFFERENT NARRATIVE OF MAHĀDEVA’S ROLE IN IT: A Detailed Analysis of the Original Split into Two Main Buddhist Schools and re-assessing Mahādeva’s Five Points as being the cause of the split, Northern and Southern Accounts considered
“The claim that the original split occurred because of Mahādeva’s Five Points does not appear to be entirely correct. The reason is that the Five Points associated with Mahādeva may have developed within the Caitika or Caitika-related traditions, which were later sub-schools of the Mahāsāṃghikas. If that is so, the controversy concerning the Five Points…
“GIVE BACK GENTLE FLOWERS FOR BRUTE DEMONIC WEAPONS”: Dordrag Tulku (Gedun Chophel)’s incendiary refutation of Gelugpa philosophical reasoning on Nāgarjuna’s “intent” and new translation of opening verses
“To the brute weapons of demons, give soft, gentle flowers in return. ༄༅། །བདུད་ཀྱི་མཚོན་ཆ་རྩུབ་མོ་དག་ལ་འཇམ་མཉེན་མེ་ཏོག་ལན་དུ་སྦྱིན །” –Gedun Chophel (1950) Translator’s Introduction: A symbolic and politically significant text of brilliant reasoning, rebellion of a brave, maverick Tibetan: The quote above is the first opening verse to Adornment to Nagarjuna’s Intent (Ludrub Gong Gyen: ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་དགོང་རྒྱན། ) an important…
A FRIEND’S TRIBUTE: “For Claire, and for the Buddhist voice that said sorry”
“Claire was not someone I, or those who knew her, would ever have imagined would take her own life. I saw her at Samye Ling just a few days before she went to the retreat on Holy Isle.” “After everything that has happened, it has felt extraordinary to me that the Buddhist response I had…
Explanations of the Four Main Groups (Tsog De Zhi) in Original Buddhism: Geography, characteristics and Tibetan translations of the source texts (17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Day 3 teaching: summary and transcript)
“In the past, there was only one, the Sarvāstivāda, but after the Bhagavān Buddha’s parinirvāṇa, other schools arose, and since they were based on this, it became the foundation, and it was called the Sarvastivada, the ‘all-that-exists’ school’ is explained. This shows that there was originally only one Sarvāstivāda (All-That-Exists) school. Later, after the death…
THE IMPORTANCE OF CARE, COMMON SENSE AND COMPASSION: The tragic suicide of British “wellness” teacher due to intense pain, experienced during and after Tibetan Buddhist “purification” practice and retreat at Holy Isle, Scotland. Coroner’s report published that “not a preventable death” but lacking “common sense”
“We speak for the dead to protect the living.” –Judge Peter Thornton QC on the purpose of coroner’s reports (2012) “Mr Middleton [the coroner] said he did not believe the retreat had directly caused her fibromyalgia, but agreed trauma, prostrations and disturbed sleep could have contributed, adding “common sense will say it is possible those…
WHAT DEFINES A “SCHISM” AND “A SCHOOL” IN THE BUDDHIST MONASTIC COMMUNITY? The origins and division of the eighteen schools of Buddhism, the four factions that emerged, definitive historical texts of the Northern and Southern Traditions, and the Chinese translation by Xuanzang
“The first consideration concerns the Vinaya definition of a schism in the Saṅgha. A schism occurs when members of a monastic community can no longer remain together or carry out the formal activities of the Saṅgha as a single body. The Vinaya gives a precise definition. When monastics living within the same ecclesiastical boundary fall…
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All the work I create for **Dakini Translations** and branch activities of music, songs, talks, podcasts, art and more is offered voluntarily, produced in my own time and largely at my own expense, without formal employment, institutional funding, or organisational support (often due to being a female and survivor/whistleblower). Despite this, the website is read…
“CONTRADICTION ON THE “BUDDHIST” PLATE” : When Care and Compassion Ends where Appetite Begins and the glaring gap between Buddhist view, vows, ethics and practice (Autobiographical Excerpt from Unshakeable Devotion: A Lone Woman’s Journey to Awakening)
“The animals could not speak about the cages, the heat, the fear or the knife. They could not question the monastics who ate their slaughtered bodies or the institutions that permitted their sale on monastic property. They could not ask why prayers for universal compassion did not include them in reality. The least I could…
The Origins and Development of Nikāya (Early Schools) Buddhism and the importance of lay followers and merchants in the early Buddhist “schools” tradition: 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Mar-Ngog Summer Teachings (Day One)
“For the last few years, I have been giving quite few teachings on various different times and themes. The main reason for this is that we need to increase our level of understanding of the development of ancient Buddhism, as it developed in ancient India, and it shouldn’t be only as it’s described in ancient…
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