In my last post I discussed the nature of models in Buddhism, both historically and today, and as a feature of basic human understanding and communication. Today I’m posting videos from the wonderful contemporary teacher, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, who discusses his own tentative “integral model” for understanding Buddhism. This lecture was given to the board members and volunteers of Buddhist Global Relief during a Board Retreat. It is an early attempt by Ven. Bodhi to develop a model for understanding... Read more

I currently teach an online course on Comparative World Religions to mostly 18-19 year old Americans. I asked them at the beginning of the course to tell me what they hoped to get out of the class and one of the most memorable answers was something along the lines of, “why are Muslims so angry at the West and so violent?” For people whose conscious lives evolved post 9-11, this might seem like an obvious question. We in America have... Read more

Today I’m honored to host the writing of Lodro Rinsler, author of “The Buddha Walks into a Bar” (reviewed here) who introduces Shambhala Publications “under 35 project.” Here is a quick introduction by Lodro, along with one of his recent writings: Over the last few months Shambhala Publications, one of the world’s pre-eminent publishers of books on enlightened living, has begun a conversation on what it means to bring mindfulness and compassion to every aspect of our lives. This conversation... Read more