Bhikkhu Bodhi on Mindfulness in the Buddha’s Words

Last updated on: March 27, 2017 at 3:34 pm By Justin Whitaker

Mindfulness in the Western world is perhaps best known in the terms of the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn as: “Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.” Bodhipaksa of Wildmind presents a helpful breakdown of each part of this sentence after offering his own definition of “the gentle effort to be continuously present with experience.” Culadasa (John Yates, PhD), author of The Mind Illuminated, describes mindfulness in terms of “optimizing the interaction between attention and awareness.” He emphasizes... Read more

Buddhist Monastic Life in China (Photos)

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 9:58 am By Justin Whitaker

In 2009 I traveled to China to experience Chinese Buddhist monastic life and learn about the practice, philosophy, and history unique to Chan Buddhism. That trip was organized mostly for graduate students in Buddhism or Chinese culture/religion/history but the program has since grown in size and scope to look a bit like the one that was then run separately at Fo Guang Shan monastery in southern Taiwan. My experience with the 2009 program was so positive that I applied for and... Read more

A history of Buddhist Social Engagement

Last updated on: March 14, 2017 at 4:40 pm By Justin Whitaker

Not long ago, a friend and colleague of mine posted a query in a Buddhist academic group: what sutras or other suitably ancient Buddhist writings could one read today as appealing to something like the social activism we see in America now? The ensuing discussion was lively and, for some perhaps, disappointing. In short, there are none. No pre-modern Buddhist writing can be found that will exhort people to go to the streets, to directly help the poor, or work... Read more

UPDATE: Tibet Women’s Soccer team finds allies in Congress

Last updated on: March 10, 2017 at 12:21 pm By Justin Whitaker

As reported recently, the Tibet Women’s Soccer team, the “Snow Lionesses,” has been denied visas to come to the U.S. They were planning to join in an upcoming tournament. The team, based in India and coached by New Jersey native Cassie Childers was told that they “have no good reason to visit the U.S.” Congressional help Last week, two congressmen from New Jersey, Rep. Chris Smith and Rep. Tom MacArthur, both Republicans, asked Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to... Read more

Tibetan Refugee Soccer Team denied visas to United States

Last updated on: February 28, 2017 at 7:55 pm By Justin Whitaker

A Tibetan Women’s Soccer team based in India has been denied visas to the United States, raising concerns about our country’s level of support for Tibetans and others under contested Chinese rule. Cassie Childers, a coach for the team, said that they were told at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi that they “have no good reason to visit the U.S.” The team had been invited to play in Dallas and until recently, the travel would have been business as... Read more

The Nature of Reality: Buddhist Scholar Alan Wallace in dialogue with Physicist Sean Carroll

Last updated on: May 12, 2017 at 1:42 pm By Justin Whitaker

During my undergraduate studies in philosophy at the University of Montana, I took a ‘capstone’ class on Philosophy of Mind. We started with Descartes, setting out the direction that Western thinkers would take: the problem of mind (immaterial, without spatial relations) and body (material, spatially located) interacting with one another. This is the “mind-body problem” and it vexed Descartes 400 years ago and it vexes those who look deeply into it today. The “problem” is not only in regard to... Read more

Psychologists test the Dalai Lama’s teaching on Compassion, and it works

Last updated on: February 17, 2017 at 11:18 pm By Justin Whitaker

Anyone in a relationship knows that it feels good to do something nice for your significant other. In fact, in general, it just feels good to give. Theorists have posited a spectrum of reasons why this is so, from the “egoist” position that we only give in hope of receiving back to accounts that suggest that “we” are merely giving to support similar genetic material or to strengthen social bonds. The Dalai Lama’s famous quote (or paraphrase) is that “If... Read more

In the Obituary of a Tibetan Buddhism scholar, some ominous words

Last updated on: February 16, 2017 at 3:17 pm By Justin Whitaker

The obituary for Elliot Sperling begins as most do, noting the peaks of the man’s life: 66 years of vitality, a MacArthur (genius) Fellowship, and a reshaping of our understanding of Sino-Tibetan relations. Of particular note, the obituary’s author Tenzin Dorjee, writes: Through his seminal writings on Tibet’s relations with China during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, he became arguably the first historian to extensively use both Chinese and Tibetan sources to bring to light the separation and independence... Read more

Buddhist Activism in an age of neo-fascism and “alternative facts”

Last updated on: February 9, 2017 at 2:50 pm By Justin Whitaker

I sit in a basement cafe in downtown Seattle. I worry a bit about finances here, or class sign-ups there. But I’m okay. And odds are, so are you. Who is next? We’re in the midst of something, though, that could change all of that. There is a range of wise view on just how quickly that will happen and how severely, from the oft-quoted “we’re screwed” to the increasingly pollyannish “wait and see.” Already, if you’re one of estimated... Read more

“Korematsu! We stand up for what is right!”

Last updated on: January 30, 2017 at 11:06 am By Justin Whitaker

Fred Korematsu is an American hero worth celebrating. And California is doing just that today, with their seventh annual Fred Korematsu Day. Google, too, is getting in on the action with their “doodle” honoring him, surrounded by cherry blossoms and the bars of the American flag. Fred was a Japanese American minding his own business on a day in late may, 1942. His family, along with tens of thousands of other Japanese Americans had already been rounded up for internment... Read more