…and I’m proud to say that it’s by one of our students in the Buddhist Chaplaincy Department at University of the West (which I chair): Mr. Noel Alumit. You can watch it and read the transcript at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s Turning Wheel Media right here. Read more

My wife Steph and I learned recently that our neighborhood Ralph’s is the very same Ralph’s in which the opening scene of Joel and Ethan Coen’s cult classic (and Buddhist favorite) The Big Lebowski takes place. While grocery shopping yesterday morning, I couldn’t resist asking my beloved to take the above picture for your enjoyment. I certainly have some strange, unexpected, and wonderful karma with The Big Lebowski, that’s for sure. Who would’ve thunk it? Believe it or not, I also... Read more

Tricycle: The Buddhist Review recently posted on its a website a piece adapted from Andrew Holecek’s new book Preparing to Die (Shambhala Publications, 2013). It’s an otherwise serviceable teaching on practicing with the four reminders, but for one unfortunate, cringe-worthy snippet that needs to be called out for its callousness (intentional or not). I might have blown it off, except that Trike used part of that very same snippet (perhaps provocatively) when they posted the piece on their Facebook page. In context, it’s... Read more

Yesterday, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review posted on their Facebook page these two TIME Magazine covers (one from this week, one from more than a decade ago) side-by-side with this caption: Ah, to be white, blonde, mindful, and frozen in TIME. Meditation and mindful TIME covers from 2003 & 2014. Looking at the two covers, and considering the more-than-ten-year-span between them, I don’t think I can put it better than my friend Joshua Eaton: When I say the mindfulness movement uses Buddhism to prop up the white... Read more

This news courtesy of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online: …The University of Hamburg will be accepting applications from February 1 to March 15 for an online course on bhikkhuni/bhikshuni ordination (the two spellings are Pali and Sanskrit, respectively, reflecting the different lineages from which these ordinations derive). According to the course material, “Parti­ci­pants in the class will gain know­led­ge of the th­ree Vina­ya schools in re­gards to bhikk­hu­ni or­di­na­ti­on, and, ta­king an aca­de­mic ap­proach, de­ve­lop the abi­li­ty to ana­ly­ze the com­ple­xi­ties... Read more

There was quite a lot in the news today about Nick Kristof’s Sunday column for the New York Times, which features an exclusive open letter from Dylan Farrow, the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen whom Allen was accused of molesting when she was a child. This follows recent public comments from Farrow and her and Allen’s biological son Ronan, as well as controversy around both Allen’s recent Lifetime Achievement Golden Globe and Oscar nomination. In addition, just... Read more

I don’t know how he’s doing it, considering the fact that he’s hard at work on what is likely to be a great and important film, but Adam Tebbe has some marvelous and relevant posts up at Sweeping Zen that you don’t want to miss: Kokan Genjo Marinello Osho’s statement “Abolish the Death Penalty” The wonderful Andy Cooper’s “Recalling Nichidatsu Fuji” Adam’s interview with the absolutely amazing Mushim Patricia Ikeda Keep your eyes on sweepingzen.com — I’m sure there’s even... Read more

“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom… Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”... Read more

This bittersweet BBC piece reminded me that I haven’t yet mentioned here my first foray into writing for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s Turning Wheel Media (which I have long admired and appreciated). After a kind invitation from the brilliant and amazing Katie Loncke there, I gave her a piece that I’ve been working on for some time, which is about my newest writing implement: the Olympus SM3 portable typewriter (seen at left). A typewriter? In 2014? And what does a... Read more

The entire “Epilogue” from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David J. Garrow (New York: Vintage Books, 1986), pg. 625: “By idolizing those whom we honor,” writes black educator Charles Willie, one of King’s Morehouse classmates, “we do a disservice both to them and to ourselves. By exalting the accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr., into a legendary tale that is annually told, we fail to recognize his humanity–his personal and... Read more