by Vishvapani | Feb 20, 2014 | Comment, Featured, Mindfulness
Mindfulness practice is sometimes presented as a way of coping better with what society throws at us. But the implicit message is more radical and more political. What does mindfulness tell us about our society and how we might change it? The recent cover of Time...
by Vishvapani | Nov 21, 2013 | Buddhism, Featured, Mindfulness, Practice
The criticisms that can be legitimately levelled at Mindfulness Based Approaches boil down to a single issue: the entire mindfulness movement is based around eight-week courses. Teachers of secular mindfulness, along with others such as Buddhists, need to face this...
by Vishvapani | Jan 1, 2013 | Buddhism, Buddhism in the West, Featured, Practice
Some years ago I attended a Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz concentration camp. It as a sobering, but deeply stirring experience. >When I announced I was going to do a retreat at Auschwitz, I met many responses. Some people were shocked, as if uttering...
by Vishvapani | Nov 29, 2012 | Buddha, Featured, Gautama Buddha
In the Buddha’s world, nature and the wilderness were frightening threats. The early Buddhist texts show how he forged a new relationship with nature, opening the way for the beautiful nature poetry of his followers As the Discourses of the Pali Canon (our main...
by Vishvapani | Oct 26, 2012 | arts, Featured, Interviews
Harold Bloom’s writing on literature and religion is a remarkable mix of almost supernatural erudition with a deep concern with spiritual life. He’s controversial and unfashionable, but I constantly read and reread his works. I think Bloom’s approach has much in...
by Vishvapani | Oct 16, 2012 | Buddhism in the West, Featured, Mindfulness
Buddhist mindfulness practices are being used in settings from healthcare to corporate stress management and military training. This is the secular Mindfulness Movement. But can what else can mainstream society learn from Buddhism, and what does a Buddhist context add...
