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    Buddhism 102
    Buddhism 102
    Buddhism 102
    Ebook224 pages1 hour

    Buddhism 102

    By Willy Thorn

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A simple & clear collection of reflections on basic Buddhist philosophy.

    Major principles covered include: Prince Siddharta’s earliest days; the three Ignoble Truths; the roots of suffering; the power of detachment; developing awareness & mindfulness; & the peace that follows.

    The book is divided into 8 sections with 59 concise pieces — all written simply & clearly, in a way that is thoughtful & explanatory & built around analogy & rhyme.

    Individual pieces include: Old Age, Infirmity & Death; how places, things & people cause suffering; how the past & future, senses & desires - & even self - bring pain; detaching from habits; the great weight of reputations; the broken ladders of expectations; unpacking yourself; peeling layers of illusion; awareness in the moment; mindfulness like everything & nothing else; how observation, focus and perception unite... & more.

    Includes photos of Buddha statues from temples in Bangkok’s Koh Ratan Kosin district — at Wat Mahanna Pharam, Wat Chana Songkram, Wat Bowonniwet, Wat Pho, Wat Suthat & Wat Thepthi Daram.

    Willy Thorn is a Bangkok artist, journalist & copywriter. He is also a meditation instructor, trained thru the renowned Willpower Institute of Wat Dhamma Mongkoln.

    - end –

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWilly Thorn
    Release dateMay 2, 2020
    ISBN9780463975398
    Buddhism 102
    Author

    Willy Thorn

    Willy Thorn is a communications expert & artistic renaissance man. He is a journalist & copywriter, teacher, author & artist.He has lived many places, beginning with Milwaukee & Rome & Minnesota & central Wisconsin. Among his other homes are Washington DC & Baltimore, Chicago & the Twin Cities, St. Francis South Dakota, the Bay Area & Shanghai. He currently lives & works in Bangkok.Thorn has a Masters Degree in Journalism & has spent time as a Capitol Hill reporter & wire editor, sports writer, political columnist & arts critic. Other media endeavors include public relations campaigns, magazine feature writing, ghostwritten biographies & time on the radio – as a DJ & on-air host, play-by-play sports announcer & music promoter.He has spent nearly a decade as a language specialist for Craft Worldwide & as a copywriter & creative for McCann Worldgroup. He currently works as senior copywriter at Quo Global branding agency in Bangkok.He has won awards at Cannes Lions & been recognized for sports writing & political columns, magazine features, theatre scripts, religious publications & photography.Thorn is also a photographer & classical oil painter, trained thru the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC. His artistic c.v. includes photography gallery shows; sculpting in Mamallapuram, India; concrete statuary at Wat Xieng Mouane, in Luang Prabang, Laos; and flower petal mosaics in Cagli, Italy.He is a Buddhist meditation instructor; trained thru Thailand’s renowned Willpower Institute. And he was even the rare foreigner to complete the entire six month course in spoken & written Thai. He currently sits as an advisor on the institute’s English Foreign Language subcommittee – where he translates books, helps develop outreach programs & occasionally lectures.He is the author of more than 3o full-length books & plays & proudly notes a Master’s Degree from Marquette University & books in both Washington's Library of Congress & the Vatican Archives in Rome.His catalog is varied & he has written extensively about a number of subjects — including sports, politics, religion, Buddhist philosophy & Asian history & art. One of his largest endeavors was documenting & cataloguing several hundred temples in Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Yangon, Vientiane & Kuala Lumpur.His catalog is available thru the following distributors: Amazon // Apple iBooks // Android Aldiko // Barnes & Noble // Sony // & Smashwords.His Milwaukee-centric column of sports poetry & prose — 'Run of tha Mil' — can be found at Milticket.blogspot.com

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      Book preview

      Buddhism 102 - Willy Thorn

      the Prince

      Kapilavastu

      More than 25 centuries ago

      There lived a prince

      who was blind

      to the world.

      For the entirety of his young life

      his parents hid all suffering

      & all discomfort

      & all ugliness

      & all death

      from him.

      Everything was ideal

      & his world was perfect.

      The prince was raised

      in a paradise

      & his existence

      was conflict free

      & effortless

      & happy

      & pleasurable.

      He felt no want, nor dissatisfaction

      — let alone pain, or need.

      He never tasted suffering

      or witnessed it.

      He never even imagined it.

      Everything around him

      was perfect & ideal

      & beautiful & young.

      He never saw so much

      as a blemished piece of fruit.

      Siddhartha was his royal name

      & Gautama or Gotama, his family name.

      His father was King Suddhodana

      & his mother was Queen Maya

      & also known as Maha Maya.

      His royal blood line was Okkaka

      & his people ruled over the Sakyas;

      an Aryan tribe of Kshattriyas.

      The kingdom was Kapilavastu;

      about 4o miles of the Himalayas

      in the Nepal Terai.

      The next largest capital

      was the city of Benares;

      about 1oo miles southwest.

      Kapilavastu was located on the Rohini river.

      It is now known as the Kohana

      & is mostly historic ruins.

      The great Indian King Asoka

      later marked the spot

      of the prince’s birth

      with a stone pillar

      & named it Lumphini Garden.

      HS Olcott’s rendition

      The royal Brahmana astrologers foretold at his birth that he would one day resign his kingdom because of suffering. The king, not wishing to lose an heir, carefully prevented him from seeing any sights that might suggest human misery & death.

      He was not allowed even to know, much less observe, the miseries of ordinary existence. No one was allowed to speak of such things to the prince.

      The mighty sovereign’s opulence enabled him to give the heir of his house every luxury that a voluptuous imagination could desire.

      The prince was almost like a prisoner in his lovely palaces & flower gardens. They were surrounded by high walls & inside everything was made beautiful as possible — so that he might not wish to see the world.

      All suggestions of death were banished from the royal palace … the city was bedecked with flowers & gay flags & every painful object removed from sight when the young Prince Siddharta visited.

      Many beautiful maidens, skilled in dancing & music were in continual attendance to amuse him.

      Love was jailer & delight its bars.

      And every dawn the dying rose was plucked

      the dead leaves hid, all evil sights removed.

      For said the king: ‘If he shall pass his youth

      far from such things as move to wistfulness

      & brooding on the empty eggs of thought

      the shadow of this fate, too vast for man

      may fade, belike & I shall see him grow

      to that great stature of fair sovereignty.

      When he shall rule all lands – if he will rule

      as the king of kings & glory of his time.’

      — Edwin Arnold

      ‘The Light of Asia’

      HS Olcott II

      In his 16th year he was married to Princess Yasodhara. She was the daughter of King Suprabuddha.

      The prince won his wife in the ancient Kshattriya warrior fashion — overcoming all competitors in games & exercises of skill & prowess. Then he selected Yasodhara from all the maidens gathered there. Their fathers had brought them to the tournament, or mela.

      The king built them three magnificent palaces for the three seasons — cold, hot & rain — of nine stories, five stories & three stories.

      They were handsomely decorated & around each were gardens of the most beautiful & fragrant flowers, with fountains of sprouting water, trees full of singing birds & peacocks strutting over the grounds.

      …

      the Ignoble Truths

      But then one day, the prince escaped.

      And he slipped from the palace

      to the nearest town

      in disguise.

      And what he saw there

      shook his world

      & opened

      his eyes wide.

      Everything was chaos.

      And no matter where he looked

      he only saw three things.

      They were strangers to his eye

      — offensive & unnatural

      but he knew instantly

      that they were truth.

      Three ignoble truths

      They ran rampant

      & they touched everyone

      & they touched everything

      & they fed each

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