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Random Notes |
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Weekend Open Thread
A hundred birds brought flower offerings to Fa-yung in his cave on Niu-t'ou Mountain. More » -
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Stop Eating, You're Destroying the Planet
Put down that Chicken McNugget / carrot / wild mushroom. No matter what you're eating, no matter how healthy or environmentally-friendly it's supposed to be, by eating it, you're destroying the planet. Nothing's safe, or sacred. "Food miles fly to top of consumer worry list," screams one headline (of course, that's in England, where with the whole foot-and-mouth thing they have to be more mindful of their food than Americans do.) Well, hold everything, food miles mean nothing, says some crank in the New York Times. More » -
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We're all on the spectrum
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
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"
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
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 »
