Relational Buddhism 2

Carried on from last post, let’s begin with a meditation from Shantideva in his Way of the Bodhisattva, in the Chapter of Vigilant Introspection: “The Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas both / Possess unclouded vision, seeing everything: / All lies open to their gaze, / And likewise I am always in their presence.” (5: [...]

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Existential Buddhism

When I speak of existential Buddhism, I’m not offering any coherent form of philosophy or a systematic way of interpreting the tradition. But I am suggesting different ways of reading and absorbing the wisdom of the Buddhist scriptures and responding in kind.
Most sutras begin with the words, “Thus I have heard.” Many commentators and masters [...]

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Traditional questions in theology that must be studied

I’m a fan of Paul Tillich and his work in Systematic Theology. The fact that he rejects the idea of “either total salvation or total damnation” (the idea that only a tiny fraction of human beings will reach salvation is the contention of fundamentalism and conservative Catholicism) as “absurd and demonic” is enough to convince [...]

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Book Review: Buddhism after Patriarchy

I was doing research for my thesis but got distracted by this book by Rita Gross, called Buddhism after Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis and Reconstruction of Buddhism. I’ve been reading it all day. I would say I have two complaints about the book: firstly, it’s got a relatively large number of typos. Secondly, there [...]

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