dharma door

There are 84,000 doors to the Dharma.
This is door

.:. [ dharma = truth,
and the paths to the truth
: :
the path of harmony and love,
the Way. ] .:.

W E L C O M E
Y o u H a v e A r r i v e d
I n T h e H e r e & N o w

m a p

The lay-out is quartered :

1. Buddha

2. Dharma

3. Sangha

4. Everyday applications

p l u s

Miscellaneous goodies

N O T E :
Dharma Door is based on my book, Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism.."Complete Idiot's Guides" is a popular mainstream American series of over 500 books (I did not make up the title -- but complete ignoramuses (ignorami?) are numberless: I vow to awaken with them all).

The series format breaks content out into a highly-organized, grid ----- thus an appropriate format for teaching the Dharma ----- -----

I wish I could wave a magic wand and have my publisher send a copy to every human being on the planet. Instead, I am weaving this online portal, using my book's table of contents as the floorplan
--- mixing in free chapters online with original text, plus topical portals (numerous annotated hyperlinks, arranged by category and theme).

Thank you for being. Please enjoy.

May all beings thrive.

Here follows a more detailed site map. (Each page has further degrees of detail and granularity.)

---

:: 1 ::
The Buddha, Showing the Way

.:. Why Is This Man Smiling?:
The Buddha

Free, online chapter.

.:. One Taste, Different Flavors: The Teachings Adapt to Different Lands

.:. What Might an Italian Buddha Look Like?: Western Buddhism

.:. Different Travel Agents, Same Destination?:
Interfaith

:: 2 ::
Awakening:
Basic Teachings

.:. The Handshake:
Buddhism's Basic Beliefs

.:. Taking Steps:
The Path

.:. The Art of Living:
Cardinal Precepts

.:. The Fine Print:
Touching Deeper

:: 3 ::
Seeing Clearly & Deeply:
Meditation & Its Paths

.:. Taking the Plunge:
Beginning and Cultivating Your Practice

.:. Base Camp:
Meditation Basics

Free, online chapter.

.:. Look Within, and Know:
Insight Meditation (Vipassana)

.:. See? Words Cannot Express:
Zen

.:. Paths of Devotion and Transformation:
Pure Land and Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana)

:: 4 ::
The Pedal Hits the Metal:
Buddhism Applied to the World

.:. Alone, Together:
Buddhist Relationships

.:. No Work, No Eat:
Work to Eat or Eat to Work?

.:. Everybody's Doing It:
Buddhism and Popular Culture

Free, online chapter.

.:.New Ways of Seeing and Being:
Buddhism and Fine Arts

.:.The World Within and Without:
Buddhism and the Sciences

.:.This Generation :
Engaging the World

.:. Times and Places to Celebrate

Free, online chapter., (not in the 2nd edition) coming in mid-October.

:: miscellaneous goodies ::

.:. Chain of 12 Links

.:. Bibliography

.:. Timeline of the timeliness

.:. group inter view, from Inkwell.vue

---

---

Internet Maps & Buddhism
By "map," we refer to the fact that on the Web every site is equidistant from every other site ----- it all seems just a click away ----- and so we're weaving this site to provide some perspective, (howsoever illusory any single perspective might be).

Fortunately, the concept of an interconnected web of being isn't unfamiliar territory to the path of the Buddha ...

As a net is made up of a series of ties,
so everything in this world is connected
by a series of ties. If anyone thinks
that the mesh of a net is an independent,
isolated thing, he or she is mistaken.
It is called "a net" because it is made up of
a series of interconnected meshes -----
and each mesh has its place and responsibility
in relation to all the other meshes.

- The Buddha

m i s c e l l a n e o u s