Discussed here.

I once asked bar_barra to summarise the difference between Buddhism and Taoism. He responded with this story:

The Tale of the Three Vinegar TastersThree sages (a Confucianist, a Buddhist and a Daoist) walk into a bar. There in the middle of the floor is a big cauldron. Sage 1 steps forward, says I'll handle this and takes a sip. "Ewww! It's sour!" quoth he ( Read more... )

About the book The Monk and the Philosopher:
The intersection between European-cum-Western civilisation and Asian influences is hard to escape when one lives in a country where the cuisine of restaurants-if they are not purveyors of a specific ethnic cuisine-is reasonably described as “Mediterrasian”; a country that is geographically part of the ( Read more... )

The growth of cognitive science has been one of the major intellectual advances of the last few decades. Largely kicked off by Noam Chomsky’s rethinking of the human aptitude for language, and attracting noted popularisers (such as Steven Pinker), it has been spreading across intellectual life. That humans have finally created something that is ( Read more... )

From Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, went to three films and a talk in the Buddhist Film Festival held at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in their Fed. Square facilities.

Friday afternoon, started with the Festval's opening film, The Dhamma Brothers, a fascinating look at the introduction of Vipassana meditation into a ( Read more... )

Just had the best sausage and bread in Melbourne at Lorca. Am sitting in Fed. Square, the night is balmy, slightly humid. There is life, light and joy all around. Have just watched a great film, The Dhamma Brothers and waiting for the next film Meditate and Destroy at ACMI in their Buddhist Film Festival. Some moments need recording.

Forensic psychologist Nigel Latta’s book Into the Darklands and Beyond: Unveiling the Predators Amongst Us is about working with sexual predators and other criminals as well as troubled adolescents (many of whom are well down that same path). Reading about the evil, sad and depraved I found a distinct relief after The Al Qaeda Reader because- ( Read more... )

I suspect that most of my readers are aware of the Litany Against Fear which has well and truly made it into popular culture.

Fear is an issue for me, due to my upbringing. Not anxiety as such, I have dealt with that, but ultimately irrational fears leading to destructive procrastination and indecision ( Read more... )

Brian Daizen Victoria’s Zen at War is a study of how Zen Buddhism became deeply complicit in Japanese militarism

Brian Victoria, a Soto Buddhist priest, directly challenges the “touchy-feelie” good image that Buddhism has in the West. Especially Zen Buddhism in the US. Zen at War is particularly confronting in what it shows about D T Suzuki’s ( Read more... )

The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers and Warriors in Premodern Japan by Mikael S Adolphson is a narrative history of political demonstrations by Buddhist monks in Japan up until the C14th. A little too much of a narrative history-I would have liked some more in-depth discussion of the institutional arrangements ( Read more... )