Rev. Danny Fisher

Today’s quote is from Robert A.F. Thurman, who is Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, co-founder and president of Tibet House U.S., prolific author and teacher, and translator. (For me, Thurman’s translation of theVimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra, The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti: A Mahāyāna Scripture, remains one of the richest and most rewarding English translations of, well, anything.) This is it – from my interview this week with “Buddha Bob” for Shambhala Sun Space:

Buddhist Studies is practice. There are three “baskets” of Buddhist scriptures (Agamadharma), and three higher educations constitute Buddhist realization/practice (Adhigamadharma). The middle basket is the sutra basket, which corresponds to the middle practice which corresponds to mind or meditation, higher education (chitta- or samadhi-adhishiksha), the other two practices / spiritual educations being ethical actions and wisdom — scientific, experiential insight, discovery and understanding. So it’s all of a single piece, the vehicle of study, meditating, understanding, and putting into practice and life.