The talk starts off a bit slowly and meanders (in a good way) at times, but for those who like Lama Surya Das and/or Ram Dass, this will be a great treat. The conversation flows from preparing for death, being Jewish and inspired by Jesus, Maharaj-ji, experiences in India, Cats vs. Dogs, baseball, love, and more “teachings and moments on the spiritual path” along with a brief period of meditation. For more, see my Oct. 2012 interview with Lama Surya Das: American... Read more
In this informative and wide reaching conversation of concentration meditation, Leigh Brasington (meditation teacher) and Willoughby Britton (Brown University teacher/researcher) cover the advantages and the many potential pitfalls a new -or old- meditator might find. (my thanks to The Secular Buddhist for sharing it): Brasington was mentioned in (and kindly commented on) one of my posts last fall: Neuroscience and Buddhist Meditation (highly recommended, you can skim the post, but the comments are really great), discussing some recent thought in the area. And Britton... Read more
I sat down over the weekend to watch (for a second time), this short documentary, joined by two fellow PhD students, one a Theravadin Buddhist, the other a Roman Catholic. At just 44 minutes in length, it is brief, but perhaps it is the perfect length for a high school or university class on Comparative Religions or a faith group to watch over tea and cookies. The film features three people who are intimately familiar with both traditions: Father Robert... Read more
I’m not sure what it is. Perhaps something in my Irish-English-Polish(Jewish)-Scottish heritage and dirt-road, blue sky, tumble-weed, Montana upbringing, but I just don’t understand a lot of …. how should I put it? Conservatism? Orthodox traditionalism? Now, today is St. Patrick’s Day. This has always been a fun holiday for my family as yesterday (March 16th) is the birthday of my father, Patrick James Whitaker (where I get my Irish/English). Montana has a pretty large Irish population, as – as... Read more
Today we have a guest post by Nathan Thompson of Dangerous Harvests. Nathan is one of the most highly regarded Zen practitioner writers in the blogosphere today. In addition to his blog, he also writes for Life as a Human, an online magazine dedicated to “writing on topics such as personal growth, mindful living, humor, spirituality, relationships, social trends, and the issues that bind and divide us.” He is also a yogi and an activist based in the Twin Cities area... Read more
[Note, this story will be updated as possible in the coming days] Today it was decided, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, a Jesuit, has been elected as the 266th Pope and will take the name Francis I. According to the Guardian: The archbishop of Buenos Aires is a Jesuit intellectual who travels by bus and has a practical approach to poverty: when he was appointed a cardinal, Bergoglio persuaded hundreds of Argentinians not to fly to Rome to celebrate with him but instead... Read more
(My first post for Secular Buddhism is up. Have a look.) This week William Irvine, a philosophy professor in at Wright State University in Ohio, wrote a short piece for TIME magazine on insults. The premise is relatively simple: we are social animals driven by desires to reach the top and, of course, to hold back others who might compete with us. He writes: What I realized was that the pain caused by insults is really just a symptom of a far... Read more
By now I hope you know that today is International Women’s Day. As with Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, we really should pay our respect to women every day, not just today, but it helps to have a day set aside for the whole world to pause, even if only for a moment, to think of the importance of women in our world. In honor of the day, get out of here and check out 15 Great Women Buddhist Blogs – in... Read more
Many of you by now have seen this video: (click here to watch it with Spanish subtitles) It is a few months old, but thanks to Upworthy and a few similar sites has made a big resurgence in recent weeks on social media. Today, a larger infographic was created, telling a bit more about what has changed in the last 30 years. Interestingly, if we look at the chart embedded on mean household income, the picture from 1983 looks a... Read more
The Huffington Post has a good article out today on Buddhism and technology: Om Mani iPadme Hum: Why Buddhists Get Technology. According to Joyce Morgan, the author: Printing is one of humanity’s great four inventions (together with paper, gunpowder and the compass). In the West, it helped spread literacy and ushered in the Enlightenment. In the East, seekers after another form of enlightenment were instrumental in its spread. Buddhist monks grasped the value of the rapid reproduction of material —... Read more
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