POLITICON 2017: Attributing Bad Intent
I attended a very interesting event this past weekend called Politicon. I went with my nephew Ben, who some readers will recall from previous installments of this blog. Suffice it to say that Ben runs a partisan website and is very interested in politics. When Ben told me he was going to Politicon in Pasadena […]
More Buddhist Scandals
So, apparently, a guy named Sogyal Rinpoche who runs (ran?) a Buddhist organization called Rigpa is in trouble for doing some kinda something that made people upset. According to Lion’s Roar, a “twelve-page letter (from Sogyal’s students) … addresses, in detail, four areas of alleged behavior by Sogyal Rinpoche: physical and psychological abuse of students, […]
The High Cost of Zen
I often get the question of why it’s so expensive to go to Zen retreats or to do monastic practice. Shouldn’t the dharma be free? Before going into my answer I want to make the point that, while Zen retreats are often costly, going to your local Zen center just to sit with the group […]
Opening Up to Ideological Diversity
The other day, Lion’s Roar magazine ran an article called The False Comfort of the Familiar by Jules Shuzan Harris. It’s a great article about the lack of diversity in many Buddhist communities. Harris points out how “people naturally tend to self-segregate and align themselves with others with whom they find similarity, familiarity, and comfort.” […]