On the Secular Buddhist podcast, I listened to a brilliant discussion on engaged Buddhism with Captain Cheri Maple, a dharma teacher in Tich Nhat Hanh’s tradition. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/episode-114-cheri-maples-center/id333093081?i=114178991&mt=2 There are too few people doing engaged Buddhist work at a community-wide and large social scale, but those that do are doing brilliant work that transforms society. http://www.mindfulnessandjustice.org Cheri… Read More Center for Mindfulness and Justice

Break all the rules. Break every rule. That’s part of what we did at at Khyber Sound Club with Nick Dourado. We begin with breathing mediation, then listening mediation, in which we focus on the background sounds in the room. Then we do several rounds of improv vocalizing. In each of these exercises, we identify… Read More Improv Meditation: Break the Rules!

X-Post-Non: Meta Buddhist Inquiry is a thing that is happening in Halifax on Wednesday, April 8 at 1 PM, Halifax Central Library. Look for me on the third or fourth floor of the HFXCL. Topic: The God Realm. We meet approximately twice a month.

Zen and the art of social movement maintenance James K. Rowe March 21, 2015 Angela Davis, revolutionary activist and philosopher, is a committed yogi. She began practicing in prison when a doctor working with the Black Panther Party passed along a book on yoga to help her deal with chronic headaches. The poses worked, and… Read More An Examination of Mindfulness and Social Justice Movements

“Ultimately one must abandon the path to enlightenment. If you still define yourself as a Buddhist, you are not a buddha yet.” Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Spirituality is not something you do alone. . .  it is fundamentally something you do with people. Spirituality is all about relating to other people, creating trust, friendship, community. If… Read More Circus of the Spectrum: Diving Right into the Terrible Beauty of Life

Ram Das talks about being caught up in ‘specialness’, acting as the “holy man.” About the spiritual life: “It’s not about getting high, it’s about getting free.” On social action: “I’m beginning to see that I am only going to be free when I’m fully involved in the world.” On aging: “As I get older, I am… Read More Ram Das: Embracing our Humanity

I’m sick of practicing a restrictive Buddhism that rejects the world, that refuses to engage in culture and society as both participant and critic. I’m sick of a Buddhism that tries to escape the world by immersing itself in exotic cultures, obscure languages and obtuse philosophies, or by withdrawing into contemplative silence. I’m sick of… Read More Sociopathic Buddhism: Contemporary Western Buddhism as a Moral Failure