The Wheel Publication Series

In this satirical, allegorical essay, Māra - the Buddhist personification of evil and death - writes a letter to his armies with instructions on how to keep his subjects trapped in his realm of birth and death. Māra is portrayed as a modern figure who views his dominions through a computer monitor. His armies personify the mental defilements that prevent one from attaining true liberation. This essay will help make traditional Buddhist Cosmology and doctrine accessible for modern readers.

An audiobook of two lectures on Buddhism by Bhikkhu Bodhi. The first part explores the Buddha's mission, the second part talks about his doctrine and the path.

In the teaching of the Buddha, the practice of giving claims a place of special eminence, one that singles it out as being in a sense the foundation and seed of spiritual development. This publication was compiled by Bhikkhu Bodhi to explore this cardinal Buddhist virtue in greater depth by featuring essays in which four modern writers (Elbaum-Jootla, de Silva, Walshe, and van Gorkom) and a classical commentator (Acariya Dhammapala) set forth their understanding of giving and its relation to the wider body of Dhamma practice. "The most excellent motive for giving is the intention that it strengthens one's efforts to attain Nibbana.... If we aspire to ultimate peace and purity by practicing generosity, we will be developing the dana param - the perfection of giving, building up a store of merit that will bear its full fruit with our attainment of enlightenment. As we progress towards this goal, the volition involved in acts of giving will assist us by contributing towards the pliancy of mind, an essential asset in developing concentration and wisdom, the prime requisites of liberation." (From "The Practice of Giving" by Susan Elbaum-Jootla) Contents: "Introduction" (Bhikkhu Bodhi) "The Practice of Giving" (Susan Elbaum Jootla) "Giving in the Pali Canon" (Lily de Silva) "Giving from the Heart" (M. O’C. Walshe) "Generosity: The Inward Dimension" (Nina van Gorkom) "The Perfection of Giving" (Acariya Dhammapala)

In this audiobook we will be exploring poems composed by the Arahat bhikkhun?s or enlightened Buddhist nuns of old, looking at these poems as springs of inspiration for contemporary Buddhists. Most of the poems we will consider come from the Ther?g?th?, a small section of the vast Pali Canon. From the poems of the enlightened nuns of the Buddha’s time contemporary followers of the Noble Eightfold Path can receive a great deal of instruction, help and encouragement. These verses can assist us in developing morality, concentration and wisdom, the three sections of the path. With their aid we will be able to work more effectively towards eliminating our mental defilements and towards finding lasting peace and happiness.

This is the audiobook version of Soma Thera's translation of the Buddha's discourse to the Kalamas. The instruction of the Kalamas (Kalama Sutta) is justly famous for its encouragement of free inquiry; the spirit of the sutta signifies a teaching that is exempt from fanaticism, bigotry, dogmatism, and intolerance. As the Buddha says, "Look, Kalamas, it is not by recitation, nor by tradition, nor by report, nor by scripture, nor by reason of philosophy, nor by reason of inference, nor by thinking ideas through, nor by favoring views, nor by others' seeming capability, nor insofar as a particular ascetic is your teacher, but rather when you know yourselves."

This is the audiobook version of Wheel Publication 365/366, in which the founder of the Maha Bodhi Society in India explains the ethics, the psychology, the blessings and power of mett?, with instructions on the traditional practice of metta-bhavana meditation. "But let not metta be mistaken as a mere sentiment. It is the power of the strong. If the leaders from different walks of life were to give metta a fair trial, no principle or guideline to action would be found to possess greater efficiency or fruitfulness in all spheres. If man decides to substitute metta as a policy of action for aggression and ill will, the world will turn into a veritable abode of peace. For it is only when man shall have peace within himself, and boundless goodwill for others, that peace in the world will become enduring."

Mudita, Wheel Publicaton No. 170, contains several short essays, one by the editor, Ven. Nyanaponika, and three by lay practitioners on one of the lesser known and too-little practiced sublime states of mind. Mudita, usually translated "sympathetic joy", was designated one of the brahma-viharas by the Buddha, one of the sublime, noble states of mind. How is it to be practiced, and what are the implications of mudita on the spiritual path? These essays address those questions.