Buddhist calendars 2012

Buddhism is making a name for itself as a modern spiritual path towards happiness, without dogma. The calendars on this page share uplifting quotes and inspiring photographs to help you make the best of your life.

Zen Buddhism

The least dogmatic of all Buddhist paths is perhaps Zen Buddhism. It offers a 'direct path' to enlightenment, though the Japanese and Chinese traditions do include more rituals than (protestant) westerners are likely to be aware of.

Tibetan Buddhism

The Buddhism of Tibet has moved out of Tibet as it's people have been forced to flee Chinese occupation. This is a tragedy for the people of Tibet obviously, but to the world it has the upside of these teachings becoming accessible for the first time to lay people.

Teachings that used to be limited to educated monks are now explained in Western languages to people who have not even taken refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha (the three jewels). In other words: many people involved in Buddhism today are not Buddhists in a traditional sense at all.

This is true for all types of Buddhism in the West, but in the case of Tibetan Buddhism it is most noticeable.

Theravada Buddhism (Hinayana)

For some reason Theravada Buddhism is not as popular in the West as the Mahayana Buddhist paths of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism does probably stay closest to Buddhism as the Buddha taught it, so it is worth mentioning here. However, I did not find you any calendars featuring this path.

The only woman teacher on this page, Pema Chodron is well known for her ability to translate Tibetan Buddhism into every day life. Taking her examples from the common occurrences of life, her teachings bring the essence of Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism home.

The Dalai Lama is the most famous spiritual teacher of our day, and probably the most revered secular leader today as well. Like many Buddhist teachers he teaches Buddhism to two audiences: non-Buddhists, and Buddhists.

To the Non-buddhist audience he mostly speaks about things they are likely to be able to related to: happiness, how to deal with conflict, meditation etc.

To his Tibetan Buddhist audience, which consists of Tibetans as well as Westerners, he talks about the traditional Tibetan Buddhist topics. This can go quite deep and include Buddhist philosophy (sunyata) as well as the famous Tibetan Mantra 'Om Mani Padme Hum'.

A famous teacher in Zen is Thich Nhat Hanh. Like the Dalai Lama his teachings are on two levels: for non-Buddhists and Buddhists. The calendars here stay on the general spirituality path: inspiring quotes you will enjoy even if all you know about Buddhism is that it teaches how to live a good life.