Will of thinkBuddha, after hearing a lecture by Stephen Batchelor, worries that we can be losing the shine on metaphors Buddha used to communicate ‘reaching the other shore.’
Stephen Batchelor suggested that Buddhism has nothing to do with Enlightenment. … The metaphor of enlightenment is drawn from the idea of the European enlightenment, an intellectual movement that is exemplified by the work of Hume, Kant and others. It may be that this metaphor, when applied to the Buddhist context, is misleading and is far from the obvious translation of the term bodhi… Translation is always a treacherous business, but a better choice of translation for bodhi might be “awakening”.Amadeus of Dharma Vision offers a great overview of the intra-Republican squabble over America’s right to torture. Here, the beginning of the post: “It is kind of shocking when the President of the United States goes to Congress to lobby for torture. If you haven't heard, that is what President Bush did today. In a strange and surprising turn, yesterday Republican leaders shot down the President's attempt to expand torture and wiretapping power. Today, President Bush was livid.”
James of Genius of Insanity offers some excerpts from Bush’s Rose Garden press conference, yesterday, and recent appearance on The Today Show. Bush is passionate while not making a whit of sense; saying he is proposing that which is lawful when it clearly ain’t. Comments James, “If you crane your ear enough you can hear the Constitution being shredded.”
TMCG writes in her eponymous blog, “It's not so hard to extend ourselves to others... but ego, selfishness and fear get in the way.” TMCG has decided she needs a good Buddhist life coach to “kick her in the arse” since she’s finding it hard to get motivated.” Bill of Integral Options Café coaches people and kicks some arse, when necessary, albeit in the fitness realm, but he may not be quite the right person for TMCG: Bill is 36% slacker! Who’d’a thunk it about this blogging dynamo!?
Kalsang Dorje of The-universe-is-all-in-your-head has a tantrum wrestling with a demon of the moment. His post begins, “I'm done with the horseshit of blindness.”
I LOVE MY WIFE: Scott Wichmann's acting continues to dazzle critics and all others in the audience of plays he's in. The critic for the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote a full-throttle rave, "Firehouse stages a must-see: In I Am My Own Wife, masterful acting meets the demands of challenging story," that Scott reposts in his blog, Scott Wichmann Online.
Seeing Red
The picture on the home page of the New York Times online today is of a red elephant. [A bit of the pic appears at right. See article.] The caption under the photo reads, “The British art provocateur-prankster Banksy had a splashy opening for ‘Barely Legal,’ his show in a Los Angeles warehouse, complete with painted elephant. But the question remains: Just who is Banksy?”A similar mystery has
come to the Buddhasphere – as our Buddhist mystery man terms the Buddhoblogosphere. The mysterious Miso, with an office and staff in San Francisco’s Financial District, has set down in our midst with a burley new blog, Big Red Buddha, that comes at us with high-tech features, and a clever square logo. Is Miso a provocateur-prankster? Just who is Miso?Writes Miso on the blog’s About page, “I’m convinced that Big Red Buddha is destined to become one of America’s most respected sources for Buddhist news, information and commentary.”
Already, a major Buddhist blogger – whom I have agreed not to name – is coming out of retirement and is set to join the already-illustrious BRB team.
This Justin: The blogger of Ordinary Extraordinary finds Banksy to be extraordinary in a review posted today. Justin concludes, "Some of [Banksy's guerrilla art] is reminiscent of Dead Kennedys and Radiohead artwork - in style and social theme. Great!" Now, if only Justin would check out BRB.
== Oop. Pretty short post today. It's not ALL of the best, but certainly SOME of the best that was going on yesterday. Read and blog on, y'all!
