Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

  • About Us
    • New and Notable
    • Mission and Values
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • IMS
    • Job Openings
    • Getting to BCBS
    • Mailing List
    • Contact Us
  • Residential Courses
    • Residential Course Calendar
    • Everything You Need to Know
    • Lottery Courses
    • Yearlong Programs
      • Dharma and Art: A Practice of Investigating Perception
      • Nalanda Program
    • Typical Course Schedule
    • Self-Study
    • Continuing Education Credits
    • Financial Assistance
    • Teacher Dāna
  • Online Programs
    • Foundations of a Soulmaking Dharma
    • Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation
    • Entering The Path: An Online Foundations Course in Early Buddhist Study and Practice
    • Dharma and Art: A Practice of Investigating Perception
    • Cancellation Policy
  • Teaching Faculty
  • Resources
    • Insight Journal
    • Bhikkhu Anālayo Lectures
    •  Publications by Bhikkhu Anālayo
    • Books
    • Access to Insight
  • Generosity
    • Donate
    • Planned Giving
    • Stock Transfers
    • Teacher Dāna
    • Volunteer

The Steadfast Family Man (Anguttara Nikaya 5:40 & 3:48)

Poem
Andrew Olendzki
Fall 2004

If you haven't already, join our mailing list to receive monthly articles in your inbox.

Share

Fall04_poem

Most Buddhists have always been and continue to be laypersons and householders. These verses from the Numerical Collection of discourses paint a picture of a householder who is both refuge and support for an entire family unit or of a community. Of course these days such a person might just as soon be a woman as a man, or might even be an organization or a group. In either case it is the shelter provided by faith and virtue that enables the family to flourish. Its members are protected from the unwholesomeness of the world like a grove of trees is sheltered by the mountain from harsh winter winds.

Faith, or confidence in the truth of the teachings, allows access to the nurture and guidance of the Buddha’s wisdom, while virtue is both a foundation upon which a life of practice can be built and a shield against the potentially dire consequences of immoral activities. As the Buddha has often suggested, one’s true safely only comes from a network of relationships that have been carefully and respectfully cultivated. And as he has further said and demonstrated, a life of virtue can serve a much larger good than merely one’s own when it is shared with one’s companions on the path.

If you found this article helpful, please consider supporting the work of BCBS.

Insight Journal

Fall 2004

Download PDF

In this issue:

War and Peace

By Andrew Olendzki

Article

The Working of Boundless Compassion

By Tai Unno

Interview

In This World, Hate Never Yet Dispelled Hate

By Sarah Doering

Article

Generating Spiritual Friendship: Reflections from a Gray Haired Mentor

By Jean Esther

Article

Lessons from an Illness

By Marilyn Judson

Article

What Is Mindfulness… And Why Is It Important to Therapists?

By Christopher K. Germer

Article

The Steadfast Family Man (Anguttara Nikaya 5:40 & 3:48)

By Andrew Olendzki

Poem

A Comprehensive Matrix of Constructed Experience

By Andrew Olendzki

Sutta Study

 

All issues:

See all Insight Journal issues

Located in Central Massachusetts

149 Lockwood Road, Barre, MA 01005
978 355 2347     contact@buddhistinquiry.org

 

Connect with Us

 Join Our Mailing List
 Find us on Facebook

 

Support BCBS

 Donate
 Volunteer

Copyright © 2019 · Centric Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Copyright © 1994-2019 Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
logo
  • Home
  • About Us
    • New and Notable
    • Mission and Values
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • IMS
    • Job Openings
    • Getting to BCBS
    • Mailing List
    • Contact Us
  • Residential Courses
    • Residential Course Calendar
    • Yearlong Programs
      • Dharma and Art: A Practice of Investigating Perception
      • Nalanda Program
    • Everything You Need to Know
    • Typical Course Schedule
    • Self-Study
    • Continuing Education Credits
    • Financial Assistance
    • Teacher Dāna
  • Online Programs
    • Foundations of a Soulmaking Dharma
    • Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation
    • Entering The Path: An Online Foundations Course in Early Buddhist Study and Practice
    • Dharma and Art: A Practice of Investigating Perception
    • Cancellation Policy
  • Teaching Faculty
  • Resources
    • Insight Journal
    • Bhikkhu Anālayo Lectures
    •  Publications by Bhikkhu Anālayo
    • Books
    • Access to Insight
  • Generosity
    • Donate
    • Volunteer
    • Teacher Dāna
    • Planned Giving
    • Stock Transfers