Writing
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Scroll down to see a selection of articles, including those originally published in Tricycle Magazine, Buddhadharma, and Lion’s Roar.
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Featured Article
Photo by Frank McKenna
The Five Opponent Powers
This article originally appeared in Tricycle Online: The Buddhist Review, July 10, 2025.
In the Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra, the Buddhist philosopher Najarguna tells the following story: while the Buddha was teaching at Jetavana grove, a drunk brahman approached him and asked to be ordained. To the sangha’s surprise, the Buddha agreed and turning to Ananda, asked him to shave the brahman’s head and clothe him in monk’s robes. The next morning, when the brahman’s intoxication had worn off, he was astonished to find himself transformed like this, and scared out of his wits, he ran away without a backward glance.
“My Lord,” the monks respectfully asked the Buddha after the brahman had left, “why did you allow this drunk brahman to become a monk? He clearly didn’t know what he was doing.”
“For endless eons, this poor man couldn’t even dream of becoming a bhiksu,” the Buddha answered. “But today, as a result of his drunkenness, he made a small resolution, thanks to which he will later leave the world and embark on the path.”
When I first heard this story, I was skeptical. I had just become a monk myself through a long and arduous process which I’d taken very seriously, so the Buddha’s act felt to me like wishful thinking—a waste of a good robe and a waste of the sangha’s time. These days I’m struck instead by the Buddha’s kindness, by his willingness to seize that tiny ember in the brahman’s mind, hurrying to fan the flame before it died out.
In various ways, our religious traditions make room for the fact that we human beings stray, we falter, we fall, and sometimes don’t know how to get back up. Even with the best of intentions, even when we want to do good, sometimes we don’t because we get caught by our craving or confusion and the result, almost invariably, is some form of harm. But harm isn’t fixed, Buddhism says (read the full article)
Feeling bad isn’t the point. The point, always, is to see more clearly and to choose actions that will benefit us and everyone else.
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*Banner photo by Johnny Briggs
It’s incredibly rare to have been born human, to have encountered the dharma, and to be able to practice it