Buddhist Political Glossary
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Walking Backward Toward the Future
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. –Soren Kierkegaard The ancient Greeks, who put the power of Fate above that of Zeus himself, foresaw our own unpredestinate perspective in their metaphor…
Examining Attention
Attention is not just another “function” alongside other cognitive functions. Its ontological status is of something prior to functions and even to things. The kind of attention we bring to bear on the world changes the…
The Search for Meaning
My father spent two years in concentration camps—first Auschwitz, then Buchenwald, then a smaller camp in the Black Forest. No, that does not mean I am Jewish—he was a Catholic Pole living in Warsaw, turned in…
Bonfire Buddha
The night is bitter cold, the temple an icebox. Winter grips the land and the monks shiver. A wanderer arrives, hoping to defrost a bit, maybe have a cup of tea. Problem is, the fire’s gone…
Giving Pain the Slip
I learned to meditate when I was 8 years old, though I did not know it at the time. I was beset by terrible headaches, and the doctors did not know their cause. In retrospect, I…
What’s So Wrong with Mindfulness?
“I was stressed out, burned out, and divorced. And then I started doing yoga.” This is how many people I have spoken to in the course of my research describe their path to mindfulness. Like yoga,…
Ecology of the Heart
We have a simple wooden Buddha figure on our home altar. During a surfing holiday in Bali, our son Jesse purchased this Buddha from a seaside craftsman. Jesse asked forgiveness of the Buddha before wrapping him…
The Teacher Racket
Two years ago, my wife, Stephanie, and I decided to move to Toronto from our home in Los Angeles to be nearer to our families. Among other things, this meant leaving our jobs—in my case, a…
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