If you happened to be in Berkeley, CA between February 6 and March 10, you might have caught “The Fourth Messenger” a musical animated by the questions: What if the Buddha were a woman? What if she were alive today? The story, “loosely inspired by the life of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama,” follows a young reporter headed to see the new spiritual leader, known to her followers as Mama Sid, in a quest for an expose on her activities. Spiritual,... Read more
Today I am happy to introduce you to a branch of Buddhism that you probably have never heard of (I say that with confidence because before coming across them recently I had never heard or them): Shinnyo-en. This particular branch began in 1936 as a community within Shingon Buddhism, a lineage started in Japan by a monk named Kūkai in the 8th-9th century CE. The founder of Shinnyo-en’s, Master Shinjo Ito, was trained in the Shingon Buddhist Daigo School (see their temple)... Read more
Last week I came across an interview with one of the true mahātmās of the academic study of Buddhism, Jay L. Garfield, a man who has cleared – and continues to clear – the way for what we can only hope is a great deal more work to come at the intersection of philosophy, East and West. If this photo doesn’t instill much confidence, scroll down to see the book covers of a selection of his published works. He has been working hard... Read more
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is participating in a symposium with scientists and scholars entitled “Life and After Life” Maitripa College in Portland, Oregon, USA on May 10, 2013. Click play to watch (and discuss below -or above- in the comments). In a recent press release, Maitripa College confirmed that the Red Hot Chili Peppers will perform to close out the symposium: Maitripa College and Red Hot Chili Peppers JOINT PRESS RELEASE MAITRIPA COLLEGE TO HOST RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS AS... Read more
The commencement address that David Foster Wallace gave in 2005 at Kenyon College has just been re-posted on youtube with a little visual help from filmmakers known as The Glossary. As the filmmakers state, “the resulting speech didn’t become widely known until 3 years later, after his tragic death. It is, without a doubt, some of the best life advice we’ve ever come across, and perhaps the most simple and elegant explanation of the real value of education.” After 3 days... Read more
The Absaroka Institute, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to supporting spiritual and ecological literacy, will offer two Wilderness Meditation Expeditions this year in the Absaroka (pronounced ‘absor-kee’) mountain range which runs through Wyoming and Montana. The expeditions will be in August and September of this year and will move through Wyoming’s remote and wild Absaroka Range within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, truly one of the most beautiful and relatively remote and untouched places in the world. According to the institute, the purpose of the... Read more
Today a special election in South Carolina pits former Governor Mark Stanford, better known as the guy who lied about hiking the Appalachian trail so he could cheat on his wife with an Argentinian woman (whom he now plans to marry) against Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, better known to many as the sister-of-Steven-Colbert. As a recent ABC news headline reads, the South Carolina House Race [is] Defined by People Who Aren’t Running. Along with the famous brother and the Argentinian mistress, Stanford was recently... Read more
The Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), has a couple podcasts and articles this week on this topic: Buddhism: made for the internet and Buddhism on the Move. The article surrounding the first begins: At the heart of Buddhism is a metaphor for interconnectedness: Indra’s net. The Vedic god’s net, which is supposed to hang over his palace on Mount Meru, is said to stretch to infinity. At each point where the threads cross sits a jewel that reflects all the other jewels,... Read more
My news feed had an interesting title in it a week or so back, “In case you were wondering about Buddhism.” “Yes,” I thought, “I am wondering about Buddhism…” So I clicked through to see what it was all about and found that it was a link from a fellow Patheos bloger, Mark Shea (Catholic and Enjoying It!). His introduction to the piece is short, simply calling it “a fine (and sympathetic) comparison and contrast between Buddhism and Catholic faith by Peter... Read more
Courtesy China’s Global Times (thanks to Tricycle’s Emma Varvaloucas, who you can follow on twitter here). The article states: A giant statue of a gold Buddha in Luoyang, Henan Province garnered attention on Weibo recently for sporting a slicked-back hairstyle, jschina.com reported. First posted by Tian Yichen, a social commentator on Sina Weibo on April 22, the statue of the Maitreya Buddha attracted online attention for its conservative haircut more befitting a local official than an enlightened being. According to the... Read more
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