Borrowed from Subhashita Manjuri, via a recent follower of American Buddhist Perspective: Posted by Aham brahmāsmi #fullpost{display:none;} स्वगृहे पूज्यते मूर्खःस्वग्रामे पूज्यते प्रभुः ।स्वदेशे पूज्यते राजाविद्वान् सर्वत्र पूज्यते ॥ A fool is respected in his home.A chief (or mayor) is respected in his village (or city).A king is respected in his kingdom.A learned person is respected everywhere. Some day, when I have time and my Devanagari in front of me I’ll analyze this a bit more. But until then, what do... Read more

I arrived Wednesday night, amazed to see a very clear skyline around the Los Angeles basin and delighted yesterday in the sun with my temporary teaching-prep assistant, Milo (below).I’m staying with my sister, a hot-shot producer in Hollywood, or somewhere around there, so life is pretty good. Here’s a sunset from her apartment. This week I’m very honored to be taking part in The Woodenfish Winter program for Whittier College students. I’ll be teaching sessions on Buddhist ethics, which I’ll... Read more

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a fan of Bill O’Reilly. But I’ll give him credit for this response to a letter on his show (via WORLD Mag): “Religion is such a deeply personal issue and it is wrong to discuss what another person should believe. Mr. Hume should have contacted Tiger Woods privately instead of taking it public.” “That’s not a bad point,” O’Reilly responded. “I’m sure Hume had noble intentions when he addressed the golfer publicly,... Read more

I’m off in just a few minutes to Los Angeles – so this’ll be quick. I’m off to LA thanks to the very kind invitation from Venerable Yifa, to teach students of Whittier College at Hsi Lai Temple. (Google around and you’ll find links to any of these). I’m also going to spend some time with my wonderful sister, who just turned 3… thirty something two days ago – happy belated birthday, Eve. And, hey, it’s my brother’s bday today,... Read more

For anyone who doesn’t know, Fox News commentator Brit Hume made a bit of a gaffe a little over a week ago, when he said of Tiger Woods: “He is said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger would be, ‘Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the... Read more

Falling off the wagon, but hopefully not too far, from my adventures in local living… Last night I tried to take my girlfriend to a movie and, well, I did take her, but it was sold out. The movie in question was Avatar 3D. The idea to see it came from a recent “Call for Papers” on a philosophy listserv for a book called (cleverly), “Avatar and Philosophy.” A great discussion/debate ensued, academics being great discussants and debaters, and finally... Read more

My fellow Pāli learner, Matt, and I have taken to memorizing suttas (nutty, yes, but helpful too) as a way to cram yet more of the language into our minds. Matt is much better at this and managed to memorize the entire Karaniya Metta Sutta in Pāli and English while I only managed about half the English and a couple stanzas at best of the Pāli. Now we’re on to a couple more suttas, the first of which is one... Read more

Last March I read with optimism the latest AAR (American Academy of Religion) report on careers, based on facts gleaned from job seekers and employers at its 2008 meeting in Chicago. And in 2009 I applied for a handful myself, predicting that I would finish my studies sometime in mid-2010 and thus be ripe for teaching in the fall. The results? Less than stellar. Brian, a friend I met in my China travels this summer, did great though: landing five... Read more

So far this year my only “resolution” has been more mindful consumption (I’m thinking about adding “getting organized” but that might be a bit too pie-in-the-sky). I don’t have any particular expectations or rules: just trying to take note of where the stuff comes from that goes into me (and around me). I’m focusing on food because it’s my #1 expenditure. But I’ll note other things as they come into my world. Today was my first grocery trip of the... Read more