The West is a meat grinder. Whatever you feed into it becomes chewed up beyond all recognition, fit only to be wrapped up in plastic and then slapped in a refrigerated counter under fluorescent lights. One of the questions that comes up among Westerners re: Buddhism is the latter'
If I were an oligarch – and no oligarch would ever do what I'm proposing here, even though it would cost them nothing – I would build a black obelisk with the names of every U.S. senator and representative who voted to give Israel money since October 7th. I
The Fifth Precept goes: I undertake the training rule to abstain from intoxicating drinks and substances which cause heedlessness. I try to take the precepts each day, first thing before getting out of bed. If you do this along with the Five Remembrances – and maybe promise yourself to be mindful
It occurred to me one day that daily meditation – practice – is, among other things, a training for our death. This assumes that one's death is not sudden but rather something anticipated in terms of minutes, hours, or months. If you die suddenly in this life, your practice will
In a recent YouTube video, Joseph Sciambra and Fr. John Strickland held an interesting review of Western art, exploring the underlying theology and anthropology. I never really paid much attention to just how weird Western religious art is. I knew some of the works were odd, and I gravitated toward
There is no Artificial Intelligence. Let's just get that out of the way. What people call AI is based on an oligarchic scheme to inflate company stock values. I worked at a small software company in the 1990s and saw its stock reach the stratosphere on revenues of
For years I've weighed the benefits of going mobile. Before I bought my house, I gave serious thought to going nomad, buying a used camper and taking to the open road. Here is a list of why I did not and still would not: * Cost. Used RVs and
This is a terrible story, but I'm glad Sheila Bell stepped forward to share it. Capitalists assumed they could force the jab on their employees and that they would share in the indemnity extended to Pfizer and other firms behind it. This won't turn out as
The suttas of the Pali Canon are repetitive. If you approach them as something with a grand story arc with detailed breakdowns of the crucial mechanics of Awakening, you'll be disappointed. On the other hand, reading the suttas slowly and working through the repetition is highly beneficial. I
Have you ever gotten mixed up about the beverage in your cup, picked it up and tasted water for a split second only to realize it was something else? The taste of water was as real in that instant, as palpable as the actual flavor and texture that drowned it
By July of 2020, I was paying very little attention to Covid and wasn't really following current events much. We were still required to wear face masks in some stores, but I ignored them, the one exception being a local Guitar Center that absolutely required masking in order
I know most people have Covid fatigue and want to see it as past us. We should all move on with our lives and forget about it. Covid, the jab, and everything related to this period is the most important thing that has happened in the last few centuries. Both