Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founders Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo. The art form is known to “resist fixity” and be difficult to define; notably, founder Hijikata Tatsumi viewed the… Read More Tantric Theatre: Liberation Butoh
Hear Antonin Artaud’s Censored, Never-Aired Radio Play: To Have Done With The Judgment of God(1947) in Radio, Theatre | September 11th, 2014 Leave a Comment Antonin Artaud had his first mental breakdown at the age of 16 and, from there on out, spent much of his life in and out of asylums. Diagnosed with “incurable paranoid delirium,” Artaud suffered from hallucinations,glossolalia, and bouts… Read More Tantric Theatre: Artaud and the Performance of the Abject
The so-called real world is a perpetual cycle of suffering and discontent called samsara, in which base emotions such as hatred, envy, grasping, and ignorance reign. In our own time the materialistic outlook is completely dominant and almost impossible to resist. Only by removing our blindfolds and confronting these forces of negativity can they be… Read More Welcome to the Real World
Our Social Movements Need More Movement! by Nathan G. Thompson A little over a week ago, I co-taught a workshop with Mushim Patricia Ikeda at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s National Gathering entitled “Movement for Right Action: Yoga for Socially Engaged Buddhists.” Since then, I have been practicing what I preached there. Yesterday, for example, I opted to… Read More Nathan Thompson: Our Social Movement Need More Movement
Buddhists Blockade Hotel to Protest Police-Military Training [Note: If you’re local to the Bay Area and would like to participate in the growing coalition campaign to Stop Urban Shield, join the large rally and protest outside the Marriott Hotel in downtown Oakland at 4pm on Friday, Sept. 5th.] A war is raging, not just overseas, but… Read More A Model Of Meaningfully Engaged Buddhism
Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture Slavoj Zizek, Clayton Crockett, Creston Davis, Jeffrey W. Robbins, Editors [Editor: Creston Davis, the editor of the Insurrections series, is looking for material that covers Buddhist insurrectionist theory and critique. I have submitted my work “Outcastes as Activists: A Tantric Approach to Engaged Buddhism” for this series.] The intersection of religion,… Read More Insurrectionist Theology: critical studies in religion, politics and culture
August 21, 2014 by Justin Whitaker I am honored this month to share an interview with the creators of transbuddhists.organd a guide to trans*competence (links below). Please read on and visit their website to find out more about how you can make Buddhism more inclusive. Who counts as “trans*” and why is it important for Buddhists today to understand the term? We… Read More Trans*Buddhism: interview with transbuddhists.org
