As my readers know, there is no such thing as “Buddhism” — there are multiple kinds of buddhisms, some of which eschew spirits and deities while emphasizing consciousness and compassion, whereas others are highly ritualized and enthusiastically enjoin the supernatural realm of gods and souls.
I was reminded of this the other day while reading Electa [...]
Tags:Boulder Shambhala Meditation Center·Buddhism·Buddhisms·credulous Boulderites·Dalai Lama·emanation·Holden Caulfield·holiness·incarnation succession·Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche·Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche·reincarnation·Rinpoche·Tibetan Buddhism
This is the question asked by Philip Goldberg in a recent article in which he boldly answers yes: “Religious faith in the case of the Hindus has never been allowed to run counter to scientific laws. The same can be said for Buddhism, which derives from the same Vedic roots.”
Setting aside for a [...]
Tags:ahistorical·Buddhism·C.W. Huntington·critique·eastern religions·elites·empiricism·enlightenment·essentializing·Gregory Schopen·Hinduism·intellectuals·Jonathan Z. Smith·Philip Goldberg·reconstructed Buddhism·Religion and Other Products of Empire·Richard Horsley·Robert Sharf·science·social construction·The Zen of Japanese Nationalism·Vedic·Western consumption·Zen Buddhism
Ryan Foley has written an intriguing article about the collaboration between the Dalai Lama and Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Like so many brain scientists these days, Richardson uses imaging techniques to investigate various aspects of mind, including those which may be peculiar to Buddhists who meditate:
Davidson’s research has used brain [...]
Tags:Buddhism·Buddhisms·Buddhist·Dalai Lama·Matthew Crawford·Richard Davidson
A quick roundup today because I am leaving town tomorrow and will be blogging irregularly this coming week. We will begin with an examination of a theme from my earlier post on Fractured Faiths — The Myth of Unified Religious Traditions.
In this article, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche over at HuffPo Religon discusses what it means to [...]
Tags:Buddhism·Catholic·intolerance·monotheism·moral babies·moral rigidity·natural morality·Siddhartha·syncretism
If you did not catch the airing of “The Buddha” on PBS last night, I am sure it will be shown several times in the future. Be sure to catch it. All in all, it was well done. For those not familiar with the life of (former) Prince Siddhartha who, after achieving a state of [...]
Tags:axial age·Buddhism·Siddhartha
On April 7, PBS will premiere a two hour documentary titled “The Buddha.” During an interview with The State, the filmmaker David Grubin made this interesting comment:
“We try to set his life in its historical context, but it’s so long ago that we don’t know what he really did. But what I realized is, what [...]
Tags:Buddhism
