It has been a busy week here, with a trip to Cheltenham to lead metta meditation for students in Dave Webster’s course on Buddhism and a journey to London to see Professor Ian Harris talk on Buddhism and Politics at Kings College. So I haven’t been able to write as detailed a post on week two of the Buddhism and Modern Psychology course as I wrote for week one. This week’s lecture looked at “The Buddhist Prescription” – focusing on... Read more
You can now watch this debate between the famous “Secular Buddhist” Stephen Batchelor and Ajahn Brahmali, of the Thai Theravadin tradition from earlier this month. I’d be very interested in hearing your thoughts (Jayarava, Mufi, Doug Smith, Ted Meissner – and the whole ‘Secular Buddhist’ crowd, US and UK – Nathan Thompson, and others who have discussed this intersection of ‘the world’ / seculum according to Batchelor and Buddhism). As debates go, it was highly collegial. They agree on far... Read more
Based in East Oakland, CA, this center could use your support. They are hoping to raise $20,000 by April 30th and are already 1/4 of the way there. Check out the video above or click here to find out more about the community, the teacher Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, and the space itself. Read more
Shang Shung Publications, an Italian publisher founded around the teachings of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and of other greats from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, has a new book out called The Miraculous 16th Karmapa: Incredible Encounters with the Black Crown Buddha (Amazon/Shang Shung). I was kindly offered not only an advance copy of the book to read, but also an opportunity to send a couple questions to some of the contributors to this memorable volume. I picked four contributors, all rather remarkable... Read more
She studied philosophy at Oxford and rubbed shoulders with greats like Philippa Foot, Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Anscombe and Mary Warnock, writes books on a wide variety of contemporary moral issues, has as good a wit and charm as any, a penchant for gratitude, and at least at one time, a Buddhist practice. But you probably have never heard of Mary Midgely. That should change. Thanks to the Guardian, you can learn a great deal from a recent interview covering her life... Read more
Buddhism and Modern Psychology, a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), started yesterday. So far it is excellent, with Prof. Wright laying out some foundations of Buddhism, trying to narrow the scope of what is used with terms like supernatural (which is excluded) and secular (included) and science (the method of choosing which is which). He also gives overviews of a few psychology experiments that have proven relevant to Buddhist understandings of the first two noble truths. Questions of rebirth are... Read more
A guest-post by Daniel D. Woo (© 2010, 2013, 2014) As a child I grew up in a family with a father filled with rage, intemperate emotions and verbal abuse and sometimes physical violence. My dad was a former P-51 fighter pilot who flew with the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War, where over 80 fellow pilots from my dad’s squadrons died, and where the People’s Republic of China (the Communists) under Chairman Mao Tse-tung won the Civil War. I... Read more
“Is it possible to take an ancient comprehensive philosophy like Buddhism, subtract the hocus pocus, and have a worthwhile philosophy for twenty-first-century scientifically informed secular thinkers?” This was the quote, taken from Owen Flanagan’s recent book (see below), which served to open a discussion last Wednesday at Bristol’s “Festival of Ideas”. The event re-raised the age old question, “Buddhism, is it a religion, philosophy, or way of life?” (I wrote a bit about this topic last fall if you’d like to... Read more
In case you haven’t heard of this story, a sixth grader in a public school was ridiculed in front of classmates about his religion until he was physically ill – by school officials! The young Asian American Buddhist was told that Buddhism is “stupid” and that he should transfer to a different school with “more Asians” – again, by school officials. As the ACLU reports, “They also taught creationism in science class, incorporated prayer into class and nearly every school... Read more
Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University Master of Arts in Peace Studies Program Call for Academic Articles for the Santisuksa Journal Associate Professor, Venerable Dr. Hansa Dhammahaso, has recently created the Master of Arts in Peace Studies Program, at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU); and as part of the academic committee formed to create the program, Dr. Dion Peoples (MCU) has taken the initiative to create the academic journal, entitled: “Santisuksa”, which is the Pali/Thai-language version for “Peace Studies”. Associate Professor Dr. Dipti Mahanta of MCU... Read more
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