My blogging life has been a bit quiet of late. This is despite the fact that I have some developing ambitions to write more and curate more wonderful writing from friends and strangers around the topics of Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. More on that in a moment. If you missed it, my neighbor here in the Patheos Buddhist world and long-time facebook friend – I’m still hoping to get him up to Montana for a sermon at our local Unitarian... Read more
Thich Nhat Hanh’s adoptive home of France is in early winter now and his monastery, Plum Village, is entering its fourth week of a three-month winter retreat. These days the retreats, once led by the 90 year-old Zen master himself, are taught by his senior disciples. It has been nearly a year since Thay (as he’s known to disciples) returned to France after treatment in the U.S. for a stroke. According to the monastics at Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh... Read more
A guest post by Emily J. Hooks Understanding and practicing forgiveness has never been more important than it is today. As tensions around the world rise, we are called to stay ever more vigilant to the energy we put out into the world. The outcome of all action is determined by the source energy behind that action. Ironically, many of us who claim to understand this universal principle are reacting passionately out of fear and expecting to make a positive difference.... Read more
Feedspot, a web organizing tool described by lifehacker.com as “a Google Reader Replacement with Tons of Sharing Features,” has posted its 50 (51, actually) best Buddhist Blogs on the Planet. According to their site, the data is based on: Google reputation and Google search ranking Influence and popularity on Facebook, twitter and other social media sites Quality and consistency of posts. Feedspot’s editorial team and expert review Click through the link above if you’re on feedspot and would like to... Read more
Most Christians will know the Parable of the Mustard Seed, wherein Jesus describes the Kingdom of God as like a mustard seed in that it is tiny but grows into a great tree. Buddhism, too, has its Parable of the Mustard Seed, but here the story is quite different. Kisa Gotami In the Buddhist story a young woman -Kisa Gotami- follows a rather fairy-tale like path from birth in a poor family to a marriage to the only son of... Read more
The Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh has been a source of deep wisdom in times of global political stress for over 50 years. In 1967 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. In his nomination Dr. King said, “I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of [this prize] than this gentle monk from Vietnam. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.” Last month,... Read more
Tenzin Dorjee is from Bhutan, the tiny kingdom in the Himalayas made famous by its adherence to the idea that Gross National Happiness is at least as important as Gross Domestic Product. He is a practicing Buddhist, for whom “being peaceful is a huge part of his religion and identity.” As an immigrant in America, he has faced racism and discrimination, but nothing like what happened to him last week. On November 9th, the day after Donald Trump’s election, he... Read more
Well, we certainly do live in interesting times, don’t we? One truth that has been exposed by the recent election is the chasm that has opened up in the American electorate. Some hoped that after Nov 8 that divide would be closed and we could go back to life as usual. That hasn’t happened. I wrote just before the election on this topic, but was reminded of it today so I’ll send it out again, minus the pre-election thoughts. Now the... Read more
A LOT of feelings came up for me Tuesday night. After teaching meditation, I turned on my phone to see a text from my girlfriend reading, “I’m pretty freaked out right now.” I noted it as I walked to my car, unsure then (around 9pm MST) of what was going on exactly in the election. When I got home it was a clear, crisp night. I took a deep breath outside of my car. I looked at all of the... Read more
We know anything can happen on election day and Nate Silver and the team at FiveThirtyEight is not infallible. We saw, among other surprises, Oklahoma flip from a very strong (>75% chance) Clinton prediction into a Sanders win in the primaries this year. And four years ago this blog got its 15 minutes of fame (forbes!) when I wrote about Nate Silver failing to give Jon Tester the predicted victory despite polling data giving him both momentum and a lead... Read more
American Buddhist Perspectives
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