I signed, and I hope you will too. In addition, as previously mentioned, I am a trained and certified Climate Leader with Former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps. As a certified Climate Leader, I’m charged to go forth and present on climate change to various groups and communities. I’ve decided that I would like to make Buddhist communities a special focus of mine in this regard. As a Climate Leader, it is my hope that by offering presentations with the best and... Read more

Continuing the end-of-the-year lists for 2013, here are five of my favorite dharma books from 2013. (Unlike my list of five favorite films, I haven’t ranked these — they’re just listed alphabetically again this year just as they were last year.) Once again, I find that five is a hard number for trying to represent a broad spectrum of Buddhist traditions and perspectives — for example, there’s not really a title from the Theravada/Insight perspective this year (though both Mindfulness: A Practical... Read more

Last year, I began a tradition at this blog of naming my favorite films of the year. (I say “favorites” because I think it’s more honest; “bests” are pretty subjective most of the time, and yet seem to make claims to some kind of objectivity.) I’m a little behind the curve this year, but I present to you my list hoping that late is better than never… *     *     * 1. G-Dog, dir. Freida Lee Mock... Read more

…Then share yours at learntheaddress.org. Read more

I’m a #LoveMore Ambassador — very proudly so, given the vision of the project and the person behind it (who is a great friend and an immensely gifted artist). Find out more about #LoveMore right here. Read more

This video of a talk by noted Buddhist scholar Robert H. Sharf comes to us via NellaLou of Smiling Buddha Cabaret fame, and I think it is full of well-articulated points and insights that many Buddhist Americans ought to hear and discuss. In my own ways here at the blog I’ve tried to point us away from the faddish “McMindfulness” that consumes so much public conversation about Buddhism here in America, to a fuller and richer understanding of the Buddha’s... Read more

Though this story doesn’t yet seem to have an angle relevant to the social justice focus of this blog, a lot of people asked me this week about an article that appeared in the New York Times. The report details an archaeological discovery at Lumbini in Nepal, the site of the Buddha’s birth, and suggests that it may influence how we estimate the timeline of the Buddha’s life. Author John Noble Wilford says: Until now, archaeological evidence favored a date [for... Read more

Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of participating in Buddhist Global Relief’s “Walk to Feed the Hungry” in Santa Monica, CA. My fundraising goal was $1,000, and I ultimately raised $1,135. For that, I owe a huge thank you to the following people… my parents, James and Dana Fisher Charles Prebish Maia Duerr Matthew Brensilver Yasmin Seneviratne and James Piper John and Jennique Bangs Horrigan Judy Hsu Debra Rogers Jeannie and Brian Rosenthal Philip, Katy, and Henry Miller Helen Stiver Karen... Read more

This from our friend, the great Buddhist scholar Charles Prebish: Dear Colleagues and Friends: John Negru (Karma Yonten Gyatso), publisher of Sumeru Books, and I are collecting a series of anecdotal stories for inclusion in a book we are editing called “The Little Book of Buddhist Humor.” In difficult times, we feel that the Buddhist world has the opportunity to contribute to and inject some happy, Buddhist-inspired humor into our everyday lives. As such, we’re inviting any of you who... Read more

Al Jazeera English has wonderful, in-depth reporting and photography about the “Buddhist monks from Phnom Penh [who] have marched 25 kilometres through dense jungle into western Cambodia in protest against the environmental destruction of one of the country’s few remaining pristine rainforests.” Take a look here. Read more