http://opencopy.org Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 22 Nov 2006 04:48:38 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My daughter delivers the Sun newspaper and this morning's issue contained a long article about people who are better off collecting welfare than going after jobs. The reporter, posing as an unemployed labourer, was able to find no less that seven full time jobs. But he claimed to ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-encounters-with-buddhism/8-right-livelihood-and-the-problem-of-work/ Background It’s fascinating that so many people think of Buddhism as a religion that is ‘other worldly’ -- that is a religion that doesn’t much pay attention to events in the world. Its equally puzzling that it is so often described as a ‘selfish’ religion in the sense that the ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-encounters-with-buddhism/7-the-social-and-political-vision-of-buddhism/ The Thick-Headed Monk There is a fairly common Zen story about the ‘thick-headed’ monk who, no matter what his master tried to do, seemed incapable of grasping the nature of his mind. He just didn’t get it. One day, his master got him to carry a sack of barley ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-encounters-with-buddhism/6-intellectualizing-buddhism/ Introduction In a recent talk that was delivered to the Temple in Chicago, I pointed out that one of the real ironies of history was that so many people consider Buddhism an other worldly religion -- one that doesn’t may sufficient attention to the real world. This is not only ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-encounters-with-buddhism/5-the-burning-monk/ Introduction One of the most monumental developments in the history of Buddhism was the way it began to catch on in North America. Its an incredible story, partly because Eastern and North American cultures are so very different, and for the longest time, it looked as though Buddhism was only ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-encounters-with-buddhism/4-the-baby-and-the-bath-water/ Introduction If the History of Buddhism tells us anything, it is that religion should not be reified either as dogma or as the product of a particular time and place. It is constantly adopting, conforming and making alliances with its environment. One of the reasons that Buddhism is a truly great ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-encounters-with-buddhism/3-of-philosophers-and-kings-buddhism-in-the-world-of-nations/ A Circuitous Route Before the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha, could be brought to the West, they first traveled to the east in the way that so many things traveled in those days, by the famous Silk Road -- the luxury trade route. The Dharma left India and traveled through ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-encounters-with-buddhism/2-the-bodhisattva-greets-the-dawn/ Introduction One of the most famous Zen Buddhist koans, or riddles that move one beyond merely rational thought structures is “What did your face look like before your parents were born?” The koan goes to the very heart of Buddhism, since Buddhism is a religion that finds the idea of a ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-encounters-with-buddhism/1-how-the-buddha-got-his-face/ The Reading Please read all of Virginia Woolf’s marvelous novel To The Lighthouse and try to answer the following questions. This time, I’ve done the questions a bit differently. Instead of going through the novel section by section, as in the previous modules, the first twenty-one questions challenge you to demonstrate ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-civilization/4a-questions-and-possible-answers/ A. Introduction The intellectual hero of the last module was Max Weber. Why? Because Max Weber: 1) understood that the world of scientific rationalism (positivism) could never encompass a human reality that was subjective and a social world that was inter-subjective. Neither logic nor the realistic investigation of ... http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-civilization/4-subjective-reality-the-artists-journey-into-the-interior/