Spiritual Teachers, Stop Enabling Addicts!
I recently put up a video strongly criticizing the folks over at a website called Buddhist Geeks for promoting the use of psychedelic drugs as a “spiritual practice.” I’ve written and made videos about this subject before. People who use these drugs for “spiritual purposes” often take my criticism of their form of drug use […]
Buzz Words
Yesterday I said on Facebook and Twitter, “I identify as someone who automatically mistrusts anyone who starts a sentence with ‘I identify as’.” When I saw that some folks took that as a dig against transgender people, I regretted saying it that way. But, by then, the discussion below my comment had grown so long and […]
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 […]
