Meta-Buddhist Inquiry
Dharma Nerds aims to be a hub for intellectual and creative exploration of dharma themes in Buddhism and related Engaged Contemplative traditions. I welcome submission of your articles, photos, film and other visual art, poetry, creative writing and sound explorations. I love articles on modern and post-modern dharma scholarship, but also heterodox and counter-cultural explorations … Continue reading Calling All Nerds
In my last post on 'Non-Self as Liberation', I related how I experienced painful thoughts as visual fragments of memories. In this teaching by Josh Korda, Josh explains that trauma experiences are stored as fragments in the right amygdala. He explains the whole process of how trauma is processed and stored by the brain, and all … Continue reading Josh Korda: Bullying and Trauma
I developed a new way of thinking about 'non-self.' It came rather casually as I was examining my own thoughts about myself in meditation. Last year, through mindfulness, I realized that thoughts as such don't bother me, that is, intellectual thoughts. What causes me suffering are visual images in my mind, memories, flashes of some incident in my … Continue reading No Self as Liberation
Gil Fronsdal describes a way of practicing Buddhism that he calls 'Natural Buddhism.' Then he provides a summary of the teachings of the Atthakavagga, 'The Book of Eights' which he offers as an examplar of Natural Buddhism. His introduction to Natural Buddhism is posted here; the rest can be read by continuing at the link … Continue reading Gil Fronsdal: Natural Buddhism
Michael Taft conducts his second interview with Culadasa, and this time they get into topics that are more profound and engaging: namely, what exactly is 'awakening' and how do you know if you are such? Culadasa's take is that 'stream entry', as the first stage of awakening, is not just a transitory experience that you … Continue reading Culadasa: Dharma Naturalist
I've started a new band with a friend of mine, Geoff Wilson, a keyboardist-drummer who also happens to be a Nichiren Buddhist. We were friends a decade ago and reconnected when I came back to Massachusetts, just like old friends. We're doing a Soul Jazz project called the Soul Yogis. I call what I'm doing … Continue reading Buddhist [in]Fusion
Book Review Of Owen Flanagan’s “The Bodhisattva’s Brain: Buddhism Naturalized” OCTOBER 30, 2011 BY SETH ZUIHO SEGALL, reblogged from the Existential Buddhist. Owen Flanagan [1], is my favorite living analytical philosopher because he writes clearly, deals with topics (theory of mind, ethics, what it means to live well) that I actually care about, is what smart … Continue reading Review of The Bodhisattva’s Brain
Owen Flanagan's Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized, seems to be just what I was looking for as a kind of Buddhism that I could live with, and more than that, which I would find beneficial and worthwhile. It does not have to be a naturalism that is perfectly formulated, without contradictions and 'aporias' as Glenn Wallace … Continue reading Buddhism Naturalized
