There are a number of popular conceits about Buddhism in Brendan O'Neill's article "The Truth About Tibetan Buddhism" at Reason. For example, the article reflects the common notion that westerners who "take up" Buddhism are privileged dilettantes who don't practice seriously. Buddhism to westerners, O'Neill says, "is something you can ingest while sipping on a skinny-milk, no-cream, hazelnut latte." Western Buddhists are "hippyish, celebrity, and middle-class followers."

To prove this point, O'Neill sites an old episode of the television series Friends in which Jennifer Anniston's character read a collection of the Dalai Lama's teachings. And he tells us about a student at Boston University who was asked why she wore a Tibetan necklace:

"It keeps me healthy and happy," she said, reducing Tibetan Buddhism, as so many Dalai Lama-loving undergrads do, to the religious equivalent of knocking back a vitamin pill.

And that's it. Those are his examples of western Buddhists, from which he drew his conclusions.

Read more...

The Truth About the Truth About Buddhism originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 14:29:07.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

I've written recently about misbehaving dharma teachers (see "When Teachers Aren't Perfect"). At his blog Monkey Mind, Zen teacher James Ford brings up the issue of sexual misconduct among teachers and considers what might be done about it.

Apparently there have been new revelations of sexual misconduct about a particular Rinzai teacher who has been "haunted by relentless allegations of sexual misconduct with students over many years," says James Ford. I don't want to replay that tape now (sorry). What's more interesting to me were the Rev. Ford's observations on western Zen going forward.

Read more...

Zen Police? originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 09:20:20.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

On his blog, Andrew Sullivan shares a reader letter about language and religion, in this case Christian. The reader writes,

Very early on it struck me that the crisis of faith in my own experience was a crisis of language that obfuscated spiritual reality. It seemed that the mystical traditions of both Catholicism, certain forms of Buddhism and Islam had struggled mightily to push the limits of what we could speak of in terms of God and our experience of God. I think the post-modern hermeneutical tradition had much to say on this with respect to language in general.

Read more...

Words, Letters, Myth, Zen, Stuff originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 16:19:14.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Barbara Crossette writes for The Nation that a visit to the U.S. by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa had to be canceled because the government of India wouldn't permit him to go. The trip, long planned and scheduled for the near future, had been unpublicized. I understand that His Holiness was going to visit the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Center in Woodstock, New York, and some other Kagyu centers.

As Crossette says, the government of India has restricted His Holiness's movements since he arrived in Dharamsala in January 2000, after escaping from Tibet. But India permitted His Holiness to leave India in 2008 for a highly visible tour of the United States. This year he had to cancel a publicized trip to Europe as well as the quieter one to U.S.  To say that His Holiness is under "virtual house arrest" may be an overstatement, but only a slight one.

I have inquiries out to see if there could be any possible reason for India's actions other than the influence of China. As Crossette says, it appears China wants to squelch the Karmapa's growing visibility and popularity. They don't want anyone not under their control to become the public face of Tibetan Buddhism after His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is gone.

Karmapa Under "House Arrest"? originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 08:55:03.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

If there was just one teaching from Buddhism you wish the world would take to heart, what would it be? I started thinking about this after I wached a video of Pema Chodron talking about how we respond to aggression. It make me think of the lines from the Dhammapada --

"He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me." Those who harbor such thoughts do not still their hatred.
"He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me." Those who do not harbor such thoughts still their hatred.
Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is a law eternal. [Acharya Buddharakkhita translation]

You may have heard that there's a huge controversy over plans to build an Islamic center in lower Manhattan. Because the center would be two blocks from Ground Zero, the site where the World Trade Center once stood, all manner of political figures are trying to whip up opposition to the project so it won't be built.

Read more...

Just One Pointer originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 at 13:12:44.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

The June issue of the scholarly journal Psychlogical Science has an article titled "Intensive Meditation Training Improves Perceptual Discrimination and Sustained Attention" by Katherine A. MacLean and 12 other people. The article itself is behind a subscription firewall, but the gist of it is that researchers decided Buddhist meditation increases attention span.

Very briefly, the researchers rounded up 60 people and sent 30 to an intensive Buddhist meditation retreat. Tests showed that the meditation group had an enhanced attention span compared to the control group. You can read more about it at Science Daily, next to a stock photo of someone meditating in a position more associated with Hinduism than Buddhism. Baby steps.

Read more...

Science and Meditation originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 16:33:36.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Here's some news that may, or may not, be significant -- According to Voice of Sikkim,  Kagyu Buddhist monks in Sikkim are joining forces to call for the enthronement of His Holiness Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa, at Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre , the official home-monastery-in-exile of Karma Kagyu Tibetan Buddhism.  And if that doesn't interest you, keep reading. As they say, it gets juicy.

Monks of the three largest Kagyu monasteries in Sikkim -- Phodong, Ralong and Rumtek -- have received the support of some major Nyingma monasteries in Sikkim, plus some other organizations, to bring His Holiness to Rumtek. Further, the majority party of the Sikkim state  legislature apparently had the return of the Karmapa to Rumtek in its most recent campaign platform.

I say "return" of the Karmapa, because the 16th Karmapa lived there for many years. The current Karmapa has never been there, however, and I don't believe the other current Karmapa has been there, either. And yes, there is a controversy over which is the real Karmapa, which is why this story may be significant.

Read more...

Sikkim Monks and the 17th Karmapa originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Monday, July 19th, 2010 at 17:02:13.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Sometimes I think the government of China must have a Ministry of Dalai Lama Outrage. At least, a large part of China's bureaucracy seems to be dedicated to thinking up reasons to express outrage at His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

His Holiness is calling himself a "son of India" these days, and the People's Daily, the official voice of the Chinese Communist Party, has gone off-the-wall ballistic about it. More "proof of his reckless separatism," China sniffs.

At first blush it seems a silly thing to get whipped up about. His Holiness has lived in India most of his life, after all. But China sees "son of India" as a challenge to the historical narrative China has adopted to claim control of Tibet, and of Tibetan Buddhism.

Read more...

China Unhinged Over "Son of India" originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 22:01:31.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Awhile back I wrote a post called "You Can't Get It From Books" in which I argued that it's a very bad idea to try to understand dharma and "get enlightened" only from reading books, including sutras. This is true because (1) people I've met who have taught themselves Buddhism by reading sutras without guidance have misunderstood most of what they read, and (2) reading alone isn't direct experience or the complete practice of the Eightfold Path. Further, be aware that texts written in ancient Asian languages don't translate into English well, and it's good to study them under the guidance of a teacher who has good understanding of dharma.

At no point in this post did I suggest avoiding the sutras, or discarding the sutras, or that sutra reading was a waste of time. I specifically said it was not a waste of time, in fact. Yet a number of commenters (here, on Facebook and on Twitter) complained that I was discouraging people from reading sutras.

I bring this up because apparently Zen teacher Brad Warner had a similar experience lately. Recently on his Hardcore Zen blog he discussed the role of scriptures in Buddhism, and apparently caught some flak for it. Yesterday he wrote,

Read more...

You Still Can't Get It From Books originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 08:42:25.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

In past blog posts I've disagreed with the idea that all religions are just different paths up the same mountain. Now I'm going to be contrary.

You may have heard of John Shelby Spong, an Episcopal priest who has spoken out strongly against fundamentalism. The Rev. Spong writes at the Washington Post website,

I walk the Christ path, but I could never say it is the only path. I walk it faithfully because I know that it leads me beyond all human limits, even the limits of Christianity, into the experience of the divine. That has also been the experience of those who walk the Jewish path, the Islamic path, the Hindu path and the Buddhist path.

Read more...

To the Top of the Mountain originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Saturday, July 10th, 2010 at 23:54:47.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

This morning I read a news story about a New Zealand man who was charged with animal cruelty for failing to get veterinary care for a severely injured cat. The man's excuse, as near as I can understand it, was that the veterinarian wanted to euthanize the cat, and the man couldn't do that because he was Buddhist. I get an impression there were other issues going on with this fellow that had nothing to do with religion, but it did start me thinking about pet end-of-life issues.

What do you do when a beloved animal companion is coming to the end of his life? Some of my Buddhist friends seem hostile to the idea of euthanasia, but I think under some circumstances it may be the most compassionate thing to do. But it can be a gut wrenching decision to make, I know.

Read more...

When It's Time for Them to Go originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 16:55:56.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is 75 years old today. He appears to be in good health for a man his age, but all compounded things are impermanent.

The government of China recently re-asserted its intention to name the next Dalai Lama. Hao Peng, a deputy party secretary and vice chairman of what China calls the  "Tibet Autonomous Region," told a group of foreign journalists that rebirths of "all Tibetan spiritual leaders, including the Dalai Lama, must be approved by the Chinese central government," writes Edward Wong of the New York Times.

Read more...

China Plans to Name the 15th Dalai Lama originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 01:12:05.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Thanks to the efforts of Kyle the Reformed Buddhist, the Blogisattva Awards are on this year. The purpose of these awards, in Kyle's words, is "recognizing excellence in blogging about Buddhism, to introduce blogs that many may not know about to others and to help build a sense of community."

To clarify, it is not an award for the "best Buddhist" who blogs, but for the best blogging about Buddhism. To paraphrase the Visuddhi Magga, much blogging exists, but no bloggers are found, anyway.

Because I'm a volunteer judge/panelist this blog is not eligible for awards. But do take a look to be sure your other (ahem) favorite Buddhism blogs have been added to the directory. You can add a site that's missing, including your own, just be sure it's a site that's primarily about Buddhism. And please nominate your favorites for an award. Nominations are open until November, I believe, but don't wait!

The Blogisattva Awards -- Nominations Are Open originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Sunday, July 4th, 2010 at 15:24:29.

Permalink | Comment | Email this