American Buddhist Perspectives

Bodhi Day (Rohatsu) – a (Zen) Buddhist day of Practice

December 8, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

December 8 is the day that Japanese Zen schools celebrate Rohatsu, also known as the Buddha’s enlightenment day (Japanese: Jōdō-e, 成道会). Many Zen Buddhists mark this day often the week leading up to it with diligent practice, as James Ford (from Monkey Mind) did in 2013; and here’s his post-Rohatsu sesshin post from that year as well as his post from 2015 in which he recounts the awakening of the Buddha thus: So, Gautama decides if there is truth to be known, it must be found in… Read more

Heroes of Progressive Buddhism: Sebene Selassie

December 5, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

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Note: this is the first in a planned series on the topic of “Progressive Buddhism.” That term is admittedly vague, despite a blog being devoted to the topic since 2007 and a facebook group since 2015 (both administered by yours truly at present). I hope in the coming months to develop a set of principles and ideals to guide thinking around and discussion of Progressive Buddhism, and to point out “heroes,” or people who embody some of those principles and… Read more

The oldest datable depiction of the Buddha in Human Form, from the British Museum

November 27, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

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Below is a rather extraordinary video featuring Dr. Sushma Jansari of the British Museum.* It is remarkable in part because it depicts the oldest datable depiction of the Buddha in human form, as the title indicates. And it is also remarkable because Dr. Jansari suggests that this is “one of the most important objects in the entire British Museum.” The item described is the “Bimaran casket,” a gold cylindrical object approximately 4 inches tall. It was found with coins that… Read more

Netizen Nastiness: Can there Be Compassionate Social Media Use in the age of Trump?

November 15, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

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Remember the internet of the late ’90s and early 2000s? Before Facebook, before Twitter? Back then I was in my late teens and early twenties; and I had developed a case of militant atheism. It wasn’t pretty. For the most part, my life looked normal. But once I stepped inside an internet chatroom: look out. As a relatively newly converted atheist, I was ready to take on the power structures that had oppressed my people for centuries. It turns out, I… Read more

Buddhist economics in action: Bhutan

November 15, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

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Recently I have been turned on to ideas of “Buddhist economics” through a class I am teaching on Buddhist ethics in Hong Kong. The idea of “Buddhist economics” is a relatively new one, like Buddhist ethics and, well, Buddhism. All arise in the modernist milieu of the mingling of Buddhadhamma and Western ideas and concepts. That’s not to say that Buddhist economics isn’t real or isn’t based in longstanding historical traditions. But it does mean that whatever it is, it will… Read more

A 2-year-old solves the trolley problem (and a note on Buddhist ethics)

November 2, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

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And horrifies everyone: (and ‘solves’ definitely isn’t meant in the sense of ‘resolves’) The trolley problem, shown above, was developed by 20th century Moral Philosopher Philippa Foot and is a favorite among moral philosophers (also disdained by some) for testing the moral intuitions of students. Do we do a quick calculus and push the lever, saving the 5 and killing the 1. Do we let the train kill the five, considering ourselves blaimless because we did nothing, whereas pushing the… Read more

6 Reasons for the creation of Himalayan art, only one is “devotional”

October 2, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

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The online Buddhist magazine Buddhistdoor Global* published a great interview last week: “On Bells, Whistles, Hats, and Number Sets: An Interview with Jeff Watt on Buddhist Iconography and Himalayan Art” By Anne Wisman. Jeff Watt, the person interviewed, is noted as “one of the world’s foremost scholars and curators of Tibetan and Himalayan art.” One of the most important parts comes when Watt gives the various reasons for the creation of Himalayan art. He lists six: Devotional; Didactic: nobody bows… Read more

Watching the Kavanaugh hearings from a Dharmic perspective: two Buddhist women speak

September 28, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

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If you’re like me, your social media feeds have been on fire with discussions and news postings about the Ford and Kavanaugh testimonies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. And, if you’re like me, you have a lot of Buddhists (teachers, scholars, and practitioners) on your friends list and you saw them engaging: often very deeply, passionately, empathetically, and personally, with the process unfolding on live television and the radio. And it shouldn’t need to be said any more, but it… Read more

Resources for learning Pali : a key language for early Buddhism and the Theravadin Tradition

September 26, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

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I am sometimes asked for resources or tools for studying Pali, the language of the Theravadin canon, encapsulating more or less the very language of the historical Buddha. My own instruction in Pali has been on my own with a good friend using Gair and Karunatillake (see below). I then went on to study with Prof. Richard Gombrich in Oxford in 2011; which I thought I wrote about at some point, but I see only a couple other posts on… Read more

The psychedelic drug debate: why Buddhist ethics matters

September 19, 2018 By Justin Whitaker

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Last month I covered the revived discussion amongst Buddhists in North America about psychedelic drug use. One fascinating aspect of this work was seeing the various forms of reasoning used by those involved in the debate. In the study of ethics, forms of reasoning are important. If the Buddhists had focused heavily on the intentions of the psychedelic drug users, they might have had what we’d call deontological moral frameworks. If the Buddhists had focused on the character development of those… Read more