Archives by date

You are browsing the site archives by date.

The Eternal Value of One Little Thing

I’m working on a new Dogen book. And in doing so, I’ve noticed a little message Dogen sneaks into his writings from time to time that I’d never really seen before. In my current book Don’t Be a Jerk, Dogen says, “Even if the whole universe is nothing but a bunch of jerks doing all kinds of jerk-type things, there is […]

Is There Life After Death?

Last night I saw Chuck Klosterman speak at Skylight Books in Los Angeles. During his talk he read a piece from But What If We’re Wrong? (which I reviewed in my last entry) that illustrates my point about how he — like lots of people these days — voices some of the same ideas contained […]

But What If We’re Wrong?

I just finished reading Chuck Klosterman’s new book But What If We’re Wrong?. Klosterman isn’t a Buddhist. If I were to ever be in a position to give him advice, my first suggestion would be to stay as far away as possible from Buddhism. That’s because what he writes is often very close to the […]

Is Hate Conquered by Love?

After the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, it seemed like every Buddhist organization with any kind of on line presence was posting a quotation attributed to the Buddha that went, “Hate is not conquered by hate. Hate is conquered by love. This law is eternal.” This is the go-to quotation that every Western-born Buddhist is […]

Orlando

Orlando

Last Saturday, a crazy person with a gun shot and killed fifty people in a nightclub in Florida. But maybe the details don’t matter. Of course those fifty people matter. What I mean is, in terms of this blog, maybe you’re reading this six months after I wrote it following the next mass killing in […]