The Shugden Cult, Dalai Lama Protests, Race, and Genocide

Last updated on: June 9, 2014 at 6:08 pm By Justin Whitaker

Last month, when the Dalai Lama was in Oslo on the 25th anniversary of his Nobel Peace Prize, he and supporters were confronted with crowds of protesters calling him, among other things, a False Dalai Lama and a persecutor of worshippers of Dorje (or Dolgyal) Shugden, a protector deity associated with the Dalai Lama’s Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. In gathering background on the situation, we looked at two prominent scholars of Tibetan Buddhism, Georges Dreyfus and Robert Thurman (who uses... Read more

That all-too-human urge to understand the heart of things

Last updated on: May 27, 2014 at 1:42 am By Justin Whitaker

As I discussed in a recent post at the Indian Philosophy Blog, there is quite often a divide in approaches taken to the study of religion between what we might broadly call the ‘philosophers’ and the ‘historians’. Philosophers, and I count myself as one of these most days, seek out the meaning of texts, seeing them as doorways into distant lands and into the minds of great thinkers, past and present. We often have to construct meanings through fragmentary and at times... Read more

Inquiring Mind, the journal of the global Theravada / Insight community, is seeking a new publisher

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 at 6:37 pm By Justin Whitaker

For those interested in Theravadin Buddhism and Insight (vipassana) meditation practice, especially those in the San Francisco Bay area, here is an excellent opportunity to get more deeply involved. Inquiring Mind seeks a new part-time publisher. The position is currently part-paid, part-dana, but that could change if the journal’s finances and readership allow. More about Inquiring Mind (via their website): Inquiring Mind is a donation supported, semiannual journal dedicated to the creative transmission of Buddhadharma to the West. Founded in 1983 and... Read more

More Nazi Buddha space junk

Last updated on: May 19, 2014 at 9:00 pm By Justin Whitaker

Last month Nicholas Kristof provided a timely test of our religious literacy. It started out: Noah of Arc and his wife, Joan, build a boat to survive a great flood. Moses climbs Mount Cyanide and receives 10 enumerated commandments; for all the differences among religious denominations, the Ten Commandments are a common bedrock that Jews, Catholics and Protestants agree on… After two or three paragraphs, Kristof tells us that there are about 20 mistakes. He uses the test to explain the... Read more

New Kadampa / Shugden followers protest Dalai Lama’s Nobel Peace Prize

Last updated on: May 14, 2014 at 6:26 pm By Justin Whitaker

Last week the Dalai Lama made a three-day visit to Oslo, Norway, where he received the Nobel Peace Prize 25 years ago for his ongoing nonviolent stance toward China, which took over Tibet between 1951 and 1959. And while thousands of well-wishers turned out to greet the Dalai Lama, a small band of protesters were also on hand, asking for the prize to be revoked. The protesters were, by and large, members of the New Kadampa Tradition, a break-away group... Read more

‘Best Article’: Buddhist Ethics and End-of-Life Care – available for free download

Last updated on: May 9, 2014 at 12:23 pm By Justin Whitaker

I am often asked “why study Buddhist ethics?” Sometimes people are simply curious, others actively oppose the very notion. The curious ones are wonderful to speak with. For you, the curious, I’m happy to share this article, which is free for all to download. The value of studies in Buddhist ethics, including those of my supervisor, Damien Keown, and Peter Harvey among others, becomes clear as one grapples with guidelines for real-world decisions. I’m also chuffed to bits (as they... Read more

Dhammananda Bhikkhuni and Thailand’s “secret” Buddhist Nuns

Last updated on: May 8, 2014 at 1:00 pm By Justin Whitaker

Danny Fisher has already shared this short documentary looking inside Thailand’s only all-female monastery but I came across it again today and found it worth re-sharing. As Danny notes from the website Dharma Documentaries: This is a short but informative and positive look at the current state of bhikkhunis in Thailand with interviews with people on both sides of the debate. The documentary is made as part of the Secret Tribes series which is fronted by Malaysian presenter Ezra Zaid… The... Read more

Happy 5th Birthday, Patheos! #Patheos5Yrs

Last updated on: May 6, 2014 at 7:04 pm By Justin Whitaker

Happy Fifth Anniversary, Patheos. To Kristi and Deborah, and Jamie and Leo and Cathie, and David and everyone else in Denver and around the world: Thank You. Thank you for building this platform, for infusing it with scholarly foundations, and for bringing on board such an amazing group of writers. And thank you for inviting me to join back in 2011; which I suppose means I’ve been along for the ride for a little over half of the Patheos Journey.... Read more

Dalai Lama Awakening, a Q&A with Director Khashyar Darvich

Last updated on: May 4, 2014 at 1:30 pm By Justin Whitaker

Last night I attended a cozy screening of “Dalai Lama Awakening”, an extended director’s cut of the earlier film “Dalai Lama Renaissance.” The film follows forty scholars and intellectuals who were invited to a 1999 meeting with the Dalai Lama to forge a strategy for solving the world’s problems. Enormous task? Yes. And the enormous egos of a few of these folks clearly didn’t help. The arc of the movie focuses on a few key individuals as they struggle with India’s... Read more

Buddhism and Modern Psychology : week five, looking at meditation

Last updated on: May 5, 2014 at 8:27 pm By Justin Whitaker

Following the trend from the last couple weeks, I’m once again behind on notes (in fact week six has come and gone too). So I apologize to anyone who has followed along with the videos and these posts; but perhaps this can serve as a welcome reminder. Speaking of reminders, last week (week four) we looked at some modular theories of the mind, which seem to be in vogue in modern psychology circles, and how they may affirm the central... Read more