Last night I watched a beautiful and moving documentary: Merton: A Film Biography. To be honest, the film quality, editing and whatnot were all quite mediocre, it was the subject that made viewing so exquisite. Thomas Merton, a Trappist (Catholic) Monk, lived a life of fierce spirituality, struggling to the very heart of what it meant – and means – to live a life of both amazing spiritual depth and passionate social commitment. My own love and amazement with Merton... Read more

My thesis (oh yea, that) will aim to answer two questions: Can Buddhism be said to be deontological in nature? That is, is Buddhism, as a philosophy of life, based on a notion of an underlying duty that each of us can and should understand and live by? and Can a deontological ethics, namely Kantian, incorporate elements of other forms of ethical theory such as virtue ethics and utilitarianism? 1. Buddhism does preserve the term dharma from its precursor Hinduism... Read more

If you don’t like horror movies, especially ones based on reality, you might want to avoid these two documentaries: No End in Sight, about the Iraq War, and Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders. No End In Sight brings you back to the rushed days leading to the war up through the many mistakes leading to today: the un-or poorly-supported claims of Iraq’s WMDs, capacity to attack the US and Britain, and ties to... Read more

Karma is one of the most evasive doctrines in Buddhism (and throughout Indian religion/philosophy). Here is a typical statement on karma/kamma… You want: long life, health, beauty, power, riches, high birth, wisdom? Or even some of these things? They do not appear by chance. It is not someone’s luck that they are healthy, or another’s lack of it that he is stupid. Though it may not be clear to us now, all such inequalities among human beings (and all sorts... Read more

A great deal of intellectual energy in Buddhism these days is being poured into the twin doctrines of karma and rebirth. What do they mean? What are their personal, ethical, and social implications? Can we abandon them and still have Buddhism? These are just some of the questions being thrown around lately. Another quote from that same book review: On another page he suggests we need to get beyond thinking only in terms of causal relationships, “and it is perhaps... Read more

There is a proposal due today for a conference discussing Karma and/or Causality in Buddhism. But, my karma being somewhat of the overly lazy and busy sort, I don’t think I am going to get a proposal together in time. It is a bit of a shame, but we’ll see what happens. I’ll work on it. For now, a quote: Moment by moment we recreate ourselves through what we think, say and do. Over time we develop distinctive habits: a... Read more

It is interesting that the article begins with Chairman Mao’s acknowledging his debt to Tibet as “our only foreign debt” and ends with the recommendation that “the United States should first acknowledge that the Chinese have sovereign right to Tibet…” From “Foreign Policy in Focus“: In 1935, the People’s Liberation Army swept through Tibet on the Long March to evade Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalists. It was a grim time. Harassed by snipers, Mao’s armies faced a much greater challenge: cold and... Read more

Is there reason for optimism for Tibet? I believe so. First of all, the world is watching. Never before has Tibet won such sustained media coverage and discussion. (I say that not knowing fully how much attention it gained in 1988-1989 when the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize and peaceful protests/celebrations in Tibet were violently put down. But I do not think it was as much as we have today.) Second, the world is learning. Interest in and... Read more

“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance — it is the illusion of knowledge.” – Daniel J. Boorstin Chapter one of Vic Mansfield’s book, “Tibetan Buddhism & Modern Physics” helped clear the ground for the rest of the book. It did this by pointing out some of the prejudices in Western (primarily scientific) thought against Eastern ideas and anything sounding remotely religious. By showing us why so many people simply ‘write off’ these important ideas without even looking at... Read more

Well, not Tibet per se, but actually of the ongoing protests across the world of the upcoming Olympics. I look forward to seeing how it goes in San Fransisco, the torch’s next stop. As you will see/hear from the second video, The International Olympic Committee is beginning to express its concern (at last!). Keep up the protests, keep up the support of the protests, keep contacting your senators and representatives! Olympic Torch Relay Protests – in London: And in Paris: Read more