On Patriotism

I should move on to something more serious after last session.
Let’s talk about patriotism, nationalism, and possibly racism (since too often nationalism does lead to racism). I really do not believe in the reality of nations being homogeneous, ‘real’ entities that deserve loyalty. Perhaps it’s my own Buddhist perspective coming into play, but it’s impossible [...]

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Something new… yet something often done

Hello :)
I don’t have much to present in today’s session. Ever since my ‘Mistaken Ideals of the Anglos’ post I haven’t been able to pull up anything of real importance or concrete interest to blog about. Essentially, I’ve been on a bit of a writer’s block in the past few days. So instead, I’m going [...]

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Rest in Peace, Heath ol’ mate

I never thought I’d be writing an obituary for a Hollywood actor of all things, but I genuinely am disappointed at Heath Ledger’s sudden death. I haven’t watched many of his movies and I don’t know the guy, but I was so hyped to see his performance in The Dark Knight (the new Batman movie). [...]

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Mistaken ideals of the Anglos

I was browsing a forum topic where the author asked if the Americans can be formally accused of genocide against the Native Americans. They were guilty by OUR standards, although perhaps it’s not fair to judge a past society by our modern examples, or else that would mean the entirety of the Western world, in [...]

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Why does fundamentalism exist?

In today’s session I would like to propose a suggestion as to why extremist religions exist, prevail, and propagate. In the first place, there is a presupposing on our part that when we examine a fundamentalist religion, we are examining a religion, namely, a religion that is either similar or based around the major surviving [...]

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Dreams for the Future

You know those profiles that qualified teachers/lecturers/coaches/chaplains/academics tend to put up on their websites, blogs, or organizations they are affiliated with? I think it’s something those people deserve to be proud of, especially when they talk about their research interests or exactly what they teach. I think it’d be a pretty proud achievement to have [...]

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An exegesis of Sudhana’s Encounter with Vasumitra

Whenever someone makes the uninformed and presumptuous assertion that all Buddhism is life-hating and negative and pessimistic and impractical and all that claptrap, I introduce them to the reality of ‘erroneous/mistaken/malicious translations’. What does this mean? It means that throughout Buddhism’s history in the West, whether on part of ignorance, mistakes or malevolent intent, the [...]

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A Feast for the Eyes, Ears and Heart

Hello! Sit down with some cookies and chocolate. Kick your feet back and relax. Tonight I’ve selected three excellent music videos for your listening and viewing pleasure. It’s going to be a tour of the senses.
The first one is not really a music video since it’s only got a frieze of the band members, but [...]

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Three tips for writing

Someone roared at me. I have no idea what being roared at means, but a quick look seems to reveal that I’m obligated to give three tips for writing. Well, here’s a shot:
1. Blog for yourself, not others. There have been four to five day blocks where I have not updated my blog because of [...]

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The Thorn Birds

I watched the mini-series Thorn Birds (NOT Thunderbirds) a few days ago, and although some parts were cringeable, especially the hellish hairstyle typical of old school shows, it was far more compelling, watchable, and worthwhile than 99.9% of modern series.
It was one of the only drama series I have enjoyed in several years. It was [...]

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