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
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
Peter Coy August 21, 2014 Photograph by Philip Montgomery A woman watches protesters on West Florissant Avenue on Aug. 19 Early this year, before the summer weather in Ferguson, Mo., turned to a fog of tear gas and a hail of rubber bullets, before the downscale suburb began to share national airtime with Sierra Leone… Read More Injustice in Ferguson, Long Before Michael Brown
WE COULD STOP PUTTING LIDS ON OURSELVES It is as if we were extraordinary children, possessing all sorts of genius, and we were being undermined by the society around us, which was dying to make us normal people. Whenever we would show any mark of genius, our parents would get embarrassed and try to put… Read More Take the Buddhists Bowling
Engaged Buddhism begins at home. . . The following is a preview of an upcoming article in the Fall 2014 Tricycle Magazine, which I received by email. It’s called “White Trash Buddhist” and it’s about the class divisions of contemporary Buddhism. I’m glad that someone had the guts to write this article and name the… Read More White Trash Buddhist: Class Divisions in Contemporary Buddhism
