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    We're all on the spectrum Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 03 Aug 2007
    A very interesting online test here for Asperger's Syndrome that got me thinking. It seems that more and more we learn (or, if you prefer, are told by so-called experts) that things like autism and pervasive developmental disorder are spectrum disorders, and that sexuality is a spectrum between the two poles of purely heterosexual and purely homosexual. Some would even say that gender itself is a spectrum between male and female, and few or none of us are 100% one or the other. Is this merely soft relativism or something grander, like transcending duality? - Philip Ryan, Webmaster  More »
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    The Thing with the President and Meditate While You Commute Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 24 Jul 2007
    People have been asking about the Bush / Bodhisattva thing, so I'll link to the Dharma-Burger Drive-Thru (not to be confused with the drive-by media) who's got it covered. In the complex stew of Asian political Buddhism, I'll offer this essay and then a comment on the essay. I don't know what to think, really. This is relevant to Western Buddhists not really on a Buddhist practice basis, but more as a geopolitical awareness issue. It's more about the role of Religion in Society rather than the role of Buddhism in your life. More »
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    HorseFest and "Big-boned Buddha" Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 23 Jul 2007
    Bored and wealthy? Rush over to central Asia and check out the Qinghai Horse Festival This link is from the travel website Diverse China. You might expect the Chinese government to crush this kind of "expression of diversity" but Communist governments like to publicly celebrate their minorities even while brutally repressing them away from the cameras. Recall the Soviet Union's frequent joyful proclamations of the many nations of people within its vast borders, and all the while various nationalities were being relocated or extinguished at the whim of Moscow bureaucrats. (The entire nation of Chechnya was forcibly relocated to Kazakhstan in 1944, because Stalin believed they were conspiring with the approaching -- but never quite arriving, in Chechnya -- German army. They got to come home after Stalin died.) But this horse thing looks very cool. More »
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    Happier = Smarter Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 20 Jul 2007
    A pretty interesting article on JewBus in the Jewish Journal. Two illustrative quotes: "Liberal Judaism is the child of German rationalism," wrote Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, author and scholar in-residence at the Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco. "Our liberal predecessors dismissed East European Jewish mysticism as unenlightened, irrational, and superstitious." "Buddhism is part of a greater trend," [Rabbi Miles] Krassen explained. "The bigger picture: evolving American spirituality that's going to be a smorgasbord of all these religious dishes." Krassen's goal: "to ensure that the delicacies of Judaism will be served at the table." Krassen is a former professor at Naropa. More »
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    Inquiring Mind, Jet Li, and the Buddha's Tooth Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 17 Jul 2007
    Happy birthday, Inquiring Mind! The Bay Area journal is throwing a daylong 25th anniversary party / benefit at Spirit Rock on July 21st, according to the Berkeley Daily Planet. There'll be music, auctions, a lot of great guests, and all kinds of stuff, so if you're in Marin County, swing by and help celebrate a great publication. Seems like the Dalai Lama is more popular than the Pope in Germany. And the Pope's a hometown boy, too. I bet the Dalai Lama is more popular than most people, most places. More »
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    Metta Forest Monastery Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 26 Jun 2007
    This past Saturday I drove up to Metta Forest Monastery in Valley Center, California with my friend Sally. (Ok, she drove.) The abbot, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, known as Ajaan Geoff to his students (Ajaan is a Thai word for "teacher") gave a two-hour teaching centered on the Introduction to his book The Wings to Awakening. There are several other monks in residence at MFM (I spoke to a very nice monk named Than Isaac, whose mother is a schoolteacher in Oklahoma) and soon maybe there will be one more: The young man sitting next to me in the class was due to be ordained as a bhikkhu in July. The drive (from Del Mar, where I was staying) was very beautiful, but to this jetlagged East Coaster, also felt very long. More »