Archive for June, 2009
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Non-attachment Alert: Starbucks Sways
Interested in Waylon Lewis’ opening on this one. It echoes my own. Starbucks is already Fair-Trade. Now, they say they’re going green—and supporting local—by 2010. If they actually do it, I might have to give up my 15-year buycott of Starbucks. I used to dislike ‘em ’cause they put my favorite local cafes outta business [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Renaissance Roshi
Ross Robertson of EnlightenNext has a nice piece on an interesting pioneer: Jun Po Roshi—dharma heir of Rinzai Zen Master Eido Shimano Roshi, founder of a lay Buddhist order called Hollow Bones, and originator of a modern form of Rinzai known as Mondo Zen—came to visit us at EnlightenNext yesterday. After a delicious lunch and [...]
No Comments » - Posted in People by Michael McAlister
Friday, June 26th, 2009
Tahoe Morning
Tahoe Morning Originally uploaded by Michael G. McAlister
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Book Talk
Book Talk Originally uploaded by Michael G. McAlister
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Podcast Alert: ISmile221 – Beyond Pain, Part II
This talk is the second of two parts and comes from an intensive at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The theme for the day was getting beyond pain. via ISmile221 – Beyond Pain, Part II | Infinite Smile.
No Comments » - Posted in Podcast by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Podcast Alert: ISmile220 – Beyond Pain, Part I
This talk is the first of two parts and comes from an intensive at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The theme for the day was getting beyond pain. via ISmile220 – Beyond Pain, Part I | Infinite Smile.
No Comments » - Posted in Podcast by Michael McAlister
Friday, June 19th, 2009
Spirituality and Twitter
Stephen Dinan writes of The Spiritual Importance of Twitter: Although I was a Twitter naysayer at first, I’m now convinced that Twitter is part of the spiritual evolution of our species. Its growth corresponds to the accelerating spread of a global consciousness, one in which our sense of boundaries no longer end at national boundaries [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Development,Writing by Michael McAlister
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Podcast Alert: ISmile219 – Broken Truth, Whole Truth
In this evening’s talk, Michael reads Old Turtle and the Broken Truth by Douglas Wood. It’s an enjoyable story that, among other things, points out the spiritual hazards of ethnocentrism and how limited truth falls apart under the weight of Absolute Truth.
No Comments » - Posted in Podcast by Michael McAlister
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
Redux: Anger and Dogma
I’ve been reading and listening to lots of conflict over the past several days. Along with the recent killing of the doctor who performs abortions as well as yesterday’s shooting at the Holocaust Museum, it got me thinking about some writing I did on this topic. …in today’s global religious culture, we find major attachments [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Fundamentalism by Michael McAlister
Monday, June 8th, 2009
He’s Not the Messiah! He’s a Naughty, Naughty Boy!
A couple of more pieces on the ongoing saga of Osel Hita Torres who recently left monastic life and his tradition: Over at the Guardian, Victoria Coren offers up an interesting bit of analysis: …you have to know what you are rejecting. Otherwise, the rejection has no meaning. So my advice to the gurus of [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Fundamentalism,People by Michael McAlister
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
No Self
No Self Originally uploaded by Michael G. McAlister
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
Self
Self Originally uploaded by Michael G. McAlister
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
Should I Leave My Teacher?
I thought I’d share this exchange I just had with a reader: Michael, for some reason, issues of guru abuse are coming at me from every direction. I just had a good friend call me asking to talk – she has been with a guru here in the Bay Area for 7 years and is [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Fundamentalism,People,Writing by Michael McAlister
Friday, June 5th, 2009
Muslims Throwing Light Upon Themselves
Over at the Intent.com, Deepak Chopra offers some analysis of Obama’s speech in Cairo: …it was a cobweb-clearing speech. The content wasn’t exceptional. Before Muslims assumed the role of bogeyman after 9/11, any tolerant educated person realized that Islamic civilization has a great heritage. Nor is it news that the Muslim world is far more [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Fundamentalism by Michael McAlister
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
Rest in Peace, David Carradine
Carrie Rickey, at the Philadelphia Inquirer writes: Maybe you knew David Carradine from his role as the title character, the stonefaced assassin in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Or maybe you knew him as Woody Guthrie, the plainspoken folk singer and folk hero in Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory, for which he earned a deserved Golden Globe nomination [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Stillness In the Face of a Child’s Tantrum
I recently received this in a wonderful letter from one of our virtual sangha members in Germany. It’s a beautiful reminder of how this practice can have profound effects on our families: Kids develop in phases and each jump to the next level seems to bring with it both a regression in behavior as well [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Theory & Practice,Writing by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Skeletons in the Buddhist Closet
After yesterday’s post about Lama Osel Hita Torres leaving his leadership role in Tibetan Buddhism as well as his order, a reader wrote: We need more news like this. Westerners, disillusioned with “their own” religious institutions, often turn to Buddhism, thinking that it is purer and that its institutions are not corrupt. But Tibetan Buddhism [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Monday, June 1st, 2009
Turning Away From God
One of Andrew Sullivan’s readers posted this assessment of Dr. George Tiller’s murder yesterday. Whether you agree with his practice as it relates to abortion or not, the scope of this tragedy speaks to something very deep in our spiritual psyches. Do they not understand that each day that Dr. Tiller lived was another opportunity [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Fundamentalism,Writing by Michael McAlister
Monday, June 1st, 2009
Oops… but wait, you’re a Rinpoche
Poor Osel Hita Torres (or, until recently, Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche). Dale Fuchs from the Guardian reports that as a toddler he was seen as the reincarnation of the beloved Lama Yeshe and so ascended the throne to be worshipped by monks everywhere. Trouble was, he wanted to grow his hair long, wear baggy jeans, [...]
