“Buddhism is the opiate of the middle classes.” —Slavoy Zizek. “One of the most interesting critiques I’ve heard comes from Slavoy Zizek. He says, “Buddhism is the opium of the middle classes.” In other words, its a kind of a drug, mindfulness—that can make us feel a little bit more detached, kind of chilled out,… Read More After Buddhism: Culturally Complacent vs. Critically Engaged

The Paris Climate Talks and the Failure of States Gabriel Levy The officials in charge of the United Nations climate talks say that no deal will be done in Paris in December (COP21) to avoid dangerous global warming. After preparatory negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, this month, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention… Read More Paris 2015: Forget Two Degrees Celsius

What keeps coming to me over and over again is that you have to find your awakening in your ordinary life, such as it is, because if you don’t find it there, you’re not going to find it anywhere else; not on retreat, or in a course, or in a monastery, or with a guru,… Read More The Post-Buddhism Buddhist: Your Life is the Path to Awakening

Tonight, I went to the Khyber Gallery’s Wednesday Improv group with Nick Dourado. It was church, y’all, jazz church. Coltrane, John and Alice, Ornette, and Santana, First we sat and focused on the breath, and listened, listened to the whispering sounds in the room, the shuffle of feet, a deep inhale/exhale, a flutter of paper, the… Read More Improv Meditation, Jazz Church

  3 Peace Walks Converge For a Nuclear-Free Future at the Peace & Planet Mobilization Via BPFer Louise Dunlap: Marking 70 years since Hiroshima & Nagasaki, THREE PeaceWalks will converge at the United Nations, joining people from all over the world to urge the UN to move toward abolition of costly & horrific nuclear weapons—in this terrifying… Read More Walks and Blockades: BPF and Buddhist Direct Action

From Democracy Now, the 50th Anniversary of the March for Voting Rights in Selma, Alabama (Pt. 1). http://publish.dvlabs.com/democracynow/flash/dn2015-0309.mp4

Buddha was a homeless beggar on Spring Garden Road. It’s very likely that if Gotama Buddha were alive today, he would be diagnosed by mental health officials as mentally ill, psychotic, delusional. His “teachings” would be classified as the religious ravings of a schizophrenic. Imagine that you go up to a homeless guy who is… Read More Buddha was a homeless beggar on Spring Garden Road