A Quicky Roundup of recent interesting posts in the Buddhoblogosphere …
David Brazier [aka, Dharmavidya] writes an assessment of the situation in the Middle East in Dharmavidya Web. He sees Iraq in a civil war with unrestrainable Shia v Sunni violence in Baghdad. The war in Lebanon has weakened America’s position in the area since, in the perception of the Arab public, Israel’s failure to do well is seen as a loss by its sponsor, America. David further writes, “The consequences for the rest of the world are more difficult to predict, but there will be many. All this introduces a significant element of uncertainty into international relations as a whole for the next several years. With the US economic position also weakening relatively in comparison with Europe and Japan, international politics could now become a lot more complicated than it has been.”
Justin Whitaker of American Buddhist Perspective is back from Spain … without Ana. [Apparently he didn’t fold her into his luggage and bring her with him back to Montana.] Now, he has a burgeoning enrollment for the Introduction to Buddhism class he’ll be teaching at the University of Montana in Missoula [as I write, the class is overbooked by five students]… and other humdrum worries in his life of privilege. Ah, Justin.
Shokai of Water Dissolves Water tells us about making Atlanta a bit of a better place. Tanyard Creek is subject to flooding and when that happens trash can get left up in the branches of trees on its banks. Shokai is at the center of a developing community movement of volunteers to fix the situation.
Joshua of Mudita Journal does a roundup of movie previews he found at Apple trailers. Ones that intrigued Joshua include The Prestige with Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson; We Are Marshall, which appears to be a “sentimental and inspiring” film, starring Will Smith; and Infamous where Truman Capote is obsessed with solving a murder.
Bill of Integral Options Café tells us that Sunday was “Sacrifice Our Wants for Other’s Needs Sunday” -- a time to do something nice for some other human. A nice idea in a world where there is week after week of Glorify Thyself.
Partings and Startings and Kudos and Such
Ryan of Integral Awakening is back from a solitary five-week retreat, readying himself for school and work. He has little to say, but does link to pictures he’s taken. He advises “it's going to get real geeky this fall. REAL geeky.” [And with that last sentence fragment he links to what appears to be a quite interesting new group blogsite, Buddhist Geeks (q.v.). Hmmm.] Five weeks away, but now back in the blogosphere working doubletime, he is.
Corax’s venerated Ow, My Blog has sunk beneath waves of electrons. A future-dated post [for 9/20] appeared on my RSS aggregator, but by the time I tried to read it, alas, the whole blogsite was gone, gone, gone beyond, svaha. Corax was known for his posts in opposition to euthanasia and for the 2004 Christmastime post “The Scrooge Sutra,” which explained Dickens’s The Christmas Carol in Buddhist terms. “Scrooge” was picked up for publication in Zen Unbound and received high praise a year later from Amy Cunningham in her Beliefnet blog, Chattering Minds.
Eric’s brilliant Virtual Zen is on the ‘endangered list.’ [Only one “temporary post” since July. Home page now reads, “Site Temporarily Unavailable.”] Virtual Zen is a first-rate Personal Journal where Eric had been keeping us up-to-date on his busy life and career in Toronto.
Tyson of tysonwilliams.com has hit a milestone: 1000 posts. He tells us, “I am looking forward to another 1000 or maybe 10,000 posts in the near future! Blogging is addictive.…” Rah that, Tyson! Yowza!
Yet more tasty links ... Check out Bill Harryman's Speedlinkin' posts in Integral Options Cafe: August 27, 2006; August 28, 2006.
