This is from the NY Times today. The ‘Puppet-Panchen’ Lama of China has been promoted. This just a month after being appointed Vice-President of the Buddhist Association of China. …Because he was appointed by Communist Party authorities rather than by Buddhist leaders, many Tibetans reject his religious authority as the ranking leader after the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile since 1959. Born as Gyaltsen Norbu, he was anointed the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, after the Dalai Lama... Read more
Getting a little extra time to submit my Mphil upgrade is a blessing, as the weather is turning very nice here and demands both outside-time and attention to visuals (photographically speaking). Plus, friends are crawling out of winter slumbers and overall creative energy seems to be in the air… Here are some select pics to help start out the week beautifully… The sun had just set on us tonight when I caught this reflection. It’s the top of the... Read more
I got word back from my PhD advisor today: postpone the upgrade (an ‘upgrade’ is a sort of checking in with your work to see if you’re adequately on track to complete your degree). I have some good work, but it’s all still a bit too scattered and there are still some sizable gaps. Sigh. It’s a tough break, but also an opportunity to grow a bit: accept that the world doesn’t always work as we’d like – especially if... Read more
The good man cannot be miserable, though he may not be blessed with good fortune. – Ethica Nicomachea 1100b This is not necessarily a follow-up from my previous post (We’ll See), but there does seem to be some overlap. There I posted the old Chinese story of the farmer and his son and horse. The point was simple: we never know what the future will bring; we don’t know whether something that has happened to us is good or bad... Read more
An intriguing question is posted at Yoga Buddhist today (Thanks @ZenDirtZenDust via twitter for the link): G.K. Sandoval, @drumsofdharma on Twitter, posed the following provocative question and exercise today within a couple of tweets: If Sakyamuni Buddha were present today, how many “modern” Buddhists would give up everything to hear him, to be in his assembly? Contemplate what you would have to do to relinquish your current lifestyle for a life as a member of the Buddha’s entourage. It is... Read more
This is a story I heard back when I lived in England the first time (Bristol, 2005). It is often presented as a Zen (or Ch’an) story, but in fact it is Taoist – but happily borrowed by students of Zen and other philosophies for its simple and all-too-true message that you never know… There was an old man with a small farm in China many years ago. He had one son, who did most of the work on the... Read more
Fridays are good days for most people. For me today it was especially so. It was a productive day of thesis writing, Pāli studies, and an amazing time at a talk by the Tibetan tulku Anam Thubten Rinpoche. Tomorrow and Sunday will be spent in non-residential retreat with him, which I’m very grateful for and very much looking forward to – see here for a report on one person’s experience of retreat with Anam Thubten. Starting the day right with... Read more
Tonight I’ve taken on the task of “talking about Zen” for our campus Sangha. Not an enviable task for someone who is admittedly very ignorant about the subject. But what is the saying, “fools walk where angels dare not tread”? There are, I think, four ways to “talk about Zen.” Or perhaps 4000, or 84,000, or whatever. I like to keep things simple. First, there is a scholarly history of Zen: very textual, lots of dates and names, fancy words... Read more
Thoughts on Zen from a Theravādin perspective* Students of Theravādin Buddhism will no doubt find such statements to be a bit peculiar. In Theravāda, as well as most Tibetan Buddhism, their is an emphasis on gradual personal/moral/spiritual development on the path to awakening. Teachings of a gradual path are found throughout the Pāli Canon, the preserved teachings of the Buddha from the Theravādin tradition. Indeed the Buddha’s own life, and numerous past lives, reflect this gradual perfection of virtues en... Read more
It’ll be thesis, thesis, thesis for the next month or so, and then a trip to England to defend a bit of it – so blogging will be a bit sparse. This weekend, Julie and I and a couple friends took a road trip to Jackson, MT, population 37, for a dip in their famous hot springs. The area around Jackson is a gorgeous, though desolate, piece of Montana. Situated on a high plateau, roughly around 6000 feet, they receive... Read more
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