Non-Self and Spiritual Experience are a Natural Result of Shifting Brain Function It’s my opinion, based on my experience, that an increase in capacity for non-dogmatic spiritual experience is concomitant with a decrease in self-centredness, and that this is a completely natural process, based on brain functioning, that all humans are capable of. I believe… Read More Spirituality is a Whole Brain Phenomenon
A Five-Part Series on Sexual Exploitation in Buddhist Communities. Part 1: BPF Rising Up to End Sexual Abuse in Buddhist Communities Link to original article in BPF Turning Wheel Media: http://www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/rising-up-to-end-sexual-abuse-in-buddhist-communities/ Video Transcript Happy Valentine’s Day BPFers! I’m heading out today to join up with One Billion Rising, a movement to recognize that over 1 billion women and girls… Read More Rising Up to End Sexual Abuse in Buddhist Communities Part 1
When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness. – Pema Chödrön, “The Fundamental Ambiguity of Being… Read More Pema: Flowing with Change
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
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
I spent the weekend learning about B.R. Ambedkar. What a brilliant man and powerful advocate for social justice for the Untouchables of India, for women, for labour, and the “depressed classes” the world over. I read his treatise “The Annihilation of Caste” [which I downloaded from Verso Books for less than $3], with commentary by Arundhati… Read More Dalit Buddhist Revolution: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, We Salute You
