Angry Asian Buddhist interviewed

Last updated on: May 22, 2012 at 5:29 pm By Justin Whitaker

Tricycle’s Emma Varvaloucas has another wonderful interview posted at the Tricycle blog: Who Is the Angry Asian Buddhist? An Interview with arunlikhati For those interested in Buddhism in America (and the West more broadly) his many looks at Asian Buddhism are both welcome and needed. You can also find him interviewed (Oct 6, 2011) at another great blog, the Jizo Chronicles. And for those who didn’t know, May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. Happy APAHM to Arun and everyone else out... Read more

A Buddhist Perspective on World News

Last updated on: May 23, 2012 at 1:52 am By Justin Whitaker

For Sunday, the 20th of May, 2012. As before, a wrap-up of news in the world from my Buddhist Perspective. Your perspective, on these or other stories, is always welcome in comments section. First, a couple stories from my side of the pond (England). Last Sunday, as mentioned, the Dalai Lama was awarded around $1.7 million and promptly passed it on to others, saying something about his empty pocket maybe being upset with him, but otherwise trying to make the... Read more

Eat Well, Live Well – the green smoothie

Last updated on: May 23, 2012 at 1:49 am By Justin Whitaker

I have long been interested in ‘eating right’, though not always the best practitioner. As a child, Popeye sold me in the importance of eating spinach, but it has always been a struggle to actually eat it. It’s not that tasty. Drench it in oil and vinegar or other fatty/carb-loaded dressing and okay, yum. But that kind of negates the healthy aspect of it. Cooking it into things is good, from Indian curries to Italian tomato sauces, but I’m too... Read more

The Beer Belt of America

Last updated on: May 18, 2012 at 2:11 am By Justin Whitaker

(No Buddhist content, just taking a mini-break) This image, from a story at npr about beer, gave me pause today. The darker states represent the highest growth in microbreweries per capita. And Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado form a sort of belt (perhaps we’ll include New Mexico to get border to border coverage). The old ‘Bible belt‘ exists in an almost perfectly inverse relationship to what I’ll call the Beer Belt of America. It forms the nice vertical off-white line in... Read more

Categories, Yoginis, and Gender

Last updated on: May 16, 2012 at 9:08 am By Justin Whitaker

Yesterday, Bristol University’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies seminar hosted Dr. Sondra Hausner, who teaches anthropology at Oxford. Her talk, while very good, won’t exactly be the subject of my blog post today. But instead I thought I’d write about a few of the ‘spin off’ ideas that came to me out of her talk. [This is one of the things I’m very grateful for in academia, the opportunities one gets to hear leading researchers on countless topics and... Read more

A Buddhist perspective on World News

Last updated on: May 14, 2012 at 2:46 am By Justin Whitaker

Each Sunday here at American Buddhist Perspective, we’ll try to round up a few of the world’s news stories worth knowing about. I have my own (often very limited) perspective, so I welcome yours by way of the comments. First, not far from where I am now, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be awarded over $1.6 million tomorrow, only to turn around and donate it all to a yet-to-be-named recipient. I won’t be headed to London to see him... Read more

Gay Marriage in Buddhism

Last updated on: February 5, 2014 at 12:34 pm By Justin Whitaker

The first place I generally turn whenever I come across a broad ethical issue in Buddhism is Peter Harvey’s masterful Introduction to Buddhist Ethics. There we find a whole chapter devoted to “Homosexuality and other forms of ‘queerness'”. It shouldn’t be surprising that Buddhism, like any ancient religion, has nothing in particular to say about Gay Marriage. It’s just not an issue that cropped up. Just as marriage wasn’t always a sacrament in Christianity – I believe it was added... Read more

A Christian view of Gay Marriage that every Buddhist should see

Last updated on: May 10, 2012 at 2:58 pm By Justin Whitaker

This guy is fantastic. Matthew Vines speaks on the theological debate regarding the Bible and the role of gay Christians in the church. Delivered at College Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas on March 8, 2012. I’ve been meaning to write about Buddhism and gay marriage for over a month now. I suppose with Biden’s and now Obama’s statements, it’s about time I finally put it together. But it’ll have to wait until Saturday, probably, as I’m currently... Read more

Studies in Buddhist ethics 6 – the 21st century

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 at 12:03 pm By Justin Whitaker

The 21st Century This is part six of a series of posts based on a 27 February talk I delivered for the Oxford Center for Buddhist Studies; click for parts one, Introduction and orientation two, Buddhist ethics in the 1970s three, Buddhist ethics in the 1990s and four: Ongoing debates. five: Categorical Thinkers. I would like to retrace my steps over one of these debates and speculate about its origins and suggest a resolution. Let us return to Little and Twiss’ tripartite... Read more

Death in the Desert in an American Buddhist Cult

Last updated on: May 6, 2012 at 12:59 am By Justin Whitaker

Matthew Remski emailed me today, bringing my attention to an article he has just published at Elephant Journal. In his article he discusses the recent death of Ian Thornson, a Buddhist practitioner in S.E. Arizona at Geshe Michael Roach’s Diamond Mountain University. The death is indeed a tragedy and it highlights again the need for some sort of oversight in Western Buddhist circles. For as small (numerically in adherents) as Buddhism is in the West, it conveys enormous social influence... Read more