What has just begun at the Inauguration of Donald Trump is the class war to end all class wars. Lately I’ve been thinking that this election is indeed a class war, but it has nothing to do with “us”, the working class, the 99%. Rather it’s a class war amongst the Plutocrats, the billionaire class that… Read More Now It’s All of Us
EPA is ‘failing’ its environmental justice obligations, civil rights watchdog says Coal ash was front and center in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report. CREDIT: FLICKR/Alan Greig The Environmental Protection Agency is “failing” in its environmental justice obligations while struggling to help poor communities of color facing pollution, particularly coal ash, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights… Read More EPA ‘failing’ on environmental justice
I was having dinner with some Buddhist friends recently. I started to tell them about my interest in Theravada Buddhism, particularly my interest in the Navayana or “new vehicle” of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. These were all Tibetan Buddhists, and they didn’t seem to get it. “What attracts you to Theravada?” I told them that… Read More Children of a Lesser Buddha
Today I am very glad to introduce Jim Hartz as a regular contributor to Engage! Jim is an author, teacher and lifelong student of Chögyam Trungpa. Jim teaches ‘Buddhism without Credentials’ classes around the US. He is also a very deep and critical thinker on the subjects of spirituality and materialism. We present his first… Read More Hartz: Some Notes On Buddhist & Marxist Dialectics
The central guiding principle of Buddhism is compassion and concern for the world in which we live. It’s the idea of interdependence—that our actions dictate the experience of others. I don’t think everybody needs to run out and join an aid organization and everyone should feel bad that they’re not doing more for people in… Read More Compassion Demands Engagement
Last night I listened to the CBC broadcast of Payam Akhavan’s speech on his work as a war crimes investigator for the UN, and as a jurist at the Int’l Court of Human Rights at the Hague. Akhavan is a B’hai, and he is now on my list of spiritual teachers that I hold on… Read More Payam Akhavan: B’Hai Human Rights Jurist on Empathy, Interdependence
I learn from teachers. I refuse to follow gurus. Modern history is replete with accounts of gurus and spiritual communities that are rife with sexual abuse; drug and alcohol abuse; extreme coercion for financial support; deference to “advanced practitioners”; and devaluation of the devotee so that they become emotionally dependent on the community and the guru. … Read More Teachers, Not Gurus
