The Scene
“When something needs to be done in the world to rectify the wrongs, if one is really concerned with benefiting others, one needs to be engaged, involved.” -–14th Dalai Lama
What is the state of our world today? And what’s Buddhism got to do with it? This section offers commentary on where and how Buddhism interfaces with other larger-picture, higher-level topics: like politics, economy, international relations, the environment, and virtual reality.
A couple months ago, during a conversation about DRBU planning, Professor Mark Mancall from Stanford University posed a question: “What does contemporary Buddhist architecture look like?” He said he’d been asking people this question lately whenever he has a conversation about Buddhism, and so far, he said, no one he’d talked to seemed confident that they had an answer. [...]
The two men in this photo are Pancho Ramos Stierle and Adelaja Simon. I have meditated with them in the park near their home in Oakland where many homicides have taken place. We wanted to spread loving-kindness and help heal the wounds of something that is now very dysfunctional. At the heart, there is the [...]
On a beautiful Saturday last month, I went down to San Francisco’s Ocean beach to join a thousand other people in spelling out “TAX THE 1%” with our bodies in the sand, while a helicopter flew overhead and took pictures. Several local news stations ran stories on the demonstration, and everyone who was involved was [...]
After the Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) Walk to Feed the Hungry in South Bay CA, I was invited to spend time with Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi at his residence in Chuang Yen Monastery, Carmel, NY. There were BGR meetings about to take place and were interested in having more Buddhist monastics involved in their programs. I [...]
[Berkeley Buddhist Monastery will be offering a series of Sunday evening classes using Dhamma with modern issues led by Ajahn Guna. It will be a blend of modern documentaries, walking meditation, discussion, reflection, and other spiritual tools such as chanting.] I have devoted my life to the study and practice of the teachings of the [...]
We are a lost generation, desperately clinging to anything that feels real, but too afraid to become it ourselves. We are a defeated generation, resigned to the hypocrisy of those before us, who once sang songs of rebellion and now sell them back to us. We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous [...]
[Admin’s note: Buddhist Global Relief just hosted a 18-mile peace walk from San Jose to Palo Alto, CA on Sept 11, 2011, ten years after 9/11. Ajahn Guna, a Theravada monk living in Berkeley Buddhist Monastery led the walk and many members of the Berkeley community joined the walk. The event was quite successful with [...]
My last post on Late-Capitalist Youth looked at Nietzsche’s call to control our passions, in order to gain a sense of freedom and new direction for our lives—but the Buddha looked at self-overcoming as well. To move towards a new patterning for our desires, we need to have some space for the conditioned systems of [...]