In a podcast interview, “Episode 12: Behind it All”, Ram Das explains the links between compassion and emptiness, and between different forms of yoga and faith, from Buddhism to Hindu yogas to Christianity. He quotes and explains a Mahamudra text: ‘He who clings to the void and neglects compassion does not reach the highest stage but… Read More Ram Das: Compassion and the Void
Addicted to Distraction NY Times By TONY SCHWARTZNOV. 28, 2015Photo CreditYoshi Sodeoka ONE evening early this summer, I opened a book and found myself reading the same paragraph over and over, a half dozen times before concluding that it was hopeless to continue. I simply couldn’t marshal the necessary focus. I was horrified. All my life,… Read More Addicted to Distraction
Note: I also call this ‘social engagement’; the simple act of knitting hats for the Syrian refugees is a wonderful act of warmth, welcome and generosity. Halifax women help co-ordinate knitting of tuques for Syrian refugees Wenda MacDonald and Helen Langille sport toques they’ve knitted with Louise Renault (centre), Don Connolly (far left) and Peter… Read More Canadians Knit Tuques for Syrian Refugees
I have just discovered sociologist John Holloway and his approach to going “against and beyond” capitalism, expounded in two books, Changing the World Without Taking Power (2002) and Crack Capitalism (2009) [note: “crack” as in break]. Though he is not a Buddhist or a religious person (that I know of), his writings resonate with engaged Buddhism by elucidating means to… Read More John Holloway on the Multiple Crises of Capitalism
‘We need social ownership and democratic control of energy’ Paul Stevenson under a Creative Commons Licence The dust has settled in Paris, where hundreds of thousands of delegates, journalists and activists spent the last two weeks buzzing around on little sleep and carrying heavy agendas. Despite the news of a ‘historic, world-saving agreement’ flooding the airwaves,… Read More After Paris: Climate Jobs and Justice
Jayarava has published a great article on class dynamics and contemporary Buddhism, including analysis of British Imperialism in Asia and how it contributed Buddhist modernism. Read the full article here: The Problem of Class and Popular Buddhism “What I particular want to draw attention to here is that the first substantial European contacts with Buddhism were: some of… Read More Jayarava: The Problem of Class and Popular Buddhism
