I am currently reading the book Good Heart, Good Mind by my teacher and abbot when I was a monk, Thanissaro Bhikkhu (available free here). It’s a book of talks he gave in Brazil and France about the ten virtues, or “parami” of the Theravadin Buddhist tradition, often called the…

Recently, at times it would be good medicine, I’ve begun to sometimes chant the Nembutsu, a kind of mantra associated with Jodo Shu, a Japanese form of Pure Land Buddhism usually considered a form of devotional “folk Buddhism.” Sometimes I’ll chant it out loud, sometimes internally.

Why would I do…

Well, it’s been quite the couple of weeks on social media. …

Was there ever a time this essay didn’t exist?

Is the past still present? In memory, yes, at least to some extent (possibly a very small one), but beyond that, does it still literally exist? Most people would say no. …

An important Zionist politician recently tried to leave the Jewish people to protest Israeli policies. I’m sympathetic, but here’s why I won’t follow suit.

Avrum Burg a “scion of the Zionist aristocracy” recently announced that he no longer wanted to be a member of the Jewish community. I can sympathize…

A 17 year old Climate activist recently told me I should stop saying “climate change” and start saying “climate crisis”, and she’s right. By this point, we all know the statistics, and some of us are tracking how much worse they get every week. …

One of the most important discoveries of the last couple of centuries- or perhaps better to say “scientific confirmations” is the theory of atoms. …

I went for a walk this morning to get a cup of coffee from a local hipster hole-in-the-wall. It’s sandwiched between a Christian thrift store and the currently comatose BC Gnostic Society, which has closed for the pandemic.

As I walked I saw a flock of city birds — I…