Not exactly exuding praise, Wilson tells a story of stumbling across a little self-help shop in Canada, finding the book and ultimately being glad to get it off his hands: “I have had to read it a couple times… when I ran out of Sports Illustrated and stuff like that.” Fallon offers us part of the entry, “Smile at Fear” (which, in full, is): When you are frightened by something, you have to relate with fear, explore why you are frightened,... Read more
Years ago, a Buddhist teacher of mine told me that “you don’t own stuff. The stuff owns you.” Every thing you have costs you an attention tax, a worry tax, eventually a loss tax, as you waste precious energy on the objects around you that could be used in activities and in caring for people and the world. As I wrote about my recent time in the desert, there is a kind of simplicity developed there that makes clear the great... Read more
A little over a week ago, I packed my bags, spent a night in Missoula, MT, picked up 3 (and then 4) fellow travelers, and headed into the wilds of Utah where we met two more friends. I’m not a seasoned backpacker or hiker, having spent usually only a day or two in the “back country” and six days last year hiking 80+ miles of the Wind River National Wilderness Area with two good friends who are much more knowledgeable... Read more
I’m off tomorrow for a week off the grid. Or, more truthfully, about 3.5 days of driving and camping with 3.5 days trekking through some of the remoter gullies and gulches of southern Utah with three good friends and three soon-to-be good friends. Mindfulness will be on the menu, though it is a hard thing to avoid when your life is on your back, the sun is hot overhead, and one missed step could mean a sprained ankle (or worse)... Read more
You’ll see Secretary Clinton walking with President Obama and the abbot of Wat Pho monastery in Bangkok, Thailand at about 55 seconds in. The image is from a 2012 tour of Asia by the President and Secretary of State. As the picture flashes on the screen, President Obama discusses his his and Clinton’s “pursuit of diplomacy in capitals around the world.” While it would be easy to make too big a deal of it – it is, after all, just... Read more
Editors’ Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Faith and the Election. Read other perspectives here. Politicians, more than anyone else, have the power to appeal either to our fears or our better natures. This year there are still three major politicians in the race for the US Presidency: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump. I was an early (early) supporter of Clinton, who, from the very start was “anointed” by Democratic party insiders. She... Read more
Citing a recent survey of anonymous superdelegates, the AP last night said that Clinton has what is needed to win the Democratic nomination. I’ve seen the outrage (Glenn Greenwald is always a good read). I’ve also seen that this has, sort of, happened before. And what next? Former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and current Sanders supporter, Robert Reich, has some advice. But that is getting ahead of ourselves a bit. First, results from this month’s reader (self-selected, online, non-randomized)... Read more
With just over 200 responses thus far, this month’s Buddhist Political Preferences online poll is already shaping up to be quite interesting. Some notes thus far: it seems to be the most equally balanced in the age ranges so far. There is still an overwhelming over-representation of white/Caucasian identified Buddhists as well as males and those identifying as converts and sympathizers as opposed to “cradle” Buddhists (those raised by a Buddhist family). While it’s likely that no particular number of... Read more
Writing for NPR today, Adam Frank introduces us to Eihei Dōgen. Dōgen was a thirteenth century Japanese Buddhist thinker and founder of Sōtō Zen. And Frank is an astrophysicist teaching at the University of Rochester. Why would a 21st century astrophysicist be praising a long-dead Japanese guy as a “philosopher”? As Frank writes, “it doesn’t do much good imagining that Europe cornered the market on creative thinking about being human.” He, like me, my friend Amod Lele, and a lot... Read more
Another end-of-the-month, and another sampling of Buddhist political leanings for the 2016 US Presidential race. This month’s poll has been updated with Nichiren as a choice for Buddhist type/school and, for the first time, has only one Republican choice. It has been kindly brought to my attention that results of the poll should be taken with a grain, or lump, of salt. This is not a random sampling, which itself is imperfect for understanding a population, but is an online survey,... Read more
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