What defines Western Buddhism?

The defining characteristic of the emerging Western Buddhism is a basic pragmatism, rather than an adherence to some philosophical system or sectarian viewpoint. What most characterizes the One Dharma of the West is an allegiance to a very simple question: What works? What works to free the mind from suffering? What works to accomplish the heart of compassion? What works to awaken us from the dream states of our ignorance?

- Joseph Goldstein, "One Dharma"
http://www.tricycle.com/feature/one-dharma

No Exits

Monastic life isn’t tough because you have to work hard all day long. It isn’t tough because you don’t have any time for yourself. It isn’t tough because there is no time to practice. It’s tough because there are no exits and you come up so close to yourself.”

—“No Place to Hide” by Pema Chödrön

Community Media - Interactive World: If the World were a Global Village ...

Community Media - Interactive World: If the World were a Global Village ...

milgram's should

Cutting Ties: The Fruits of Solitude | Tricycle

Cutting Ties: The Fruits of Solitude | Tricycle

Cutting Ties: The Fruits of Solitude - Pema Chödrön walks us through Shantideva's prescription for solitude, verse by verse.

BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - All in the Mind, 21/06/2011

BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - All in the Mind, 21/06/2011

Buddhism In America: What Is The Future?

Buddhism In America: What Is The Future?

the brain - a user's manual

As thinking beings we are how the Universe is becoming conscious of its(our)self.

So don’t waste your brain by driving it like a crawling sportscar forever in first gear.

Where can we find a user’s manual for the brain?

concept cobbling

I no longer have ‘lessons’ ready to deliver. These days I prefer dialogue. It is not as if there is a truth out there - it is a matter of individual brains (existences) cobbling together a few stray inputs from genes, culture and serendipity. (Clark)

apprehend religion

"Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine.

Since the relation may be either moral, physical, or ritual, it is evident that out of religion in the sense in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiastical organizations may secondarily grow."

- William James