en-us http://www.intensedebate.com/users/1727 Comments by Al Jigen Billings http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=20644#IDComment152410257 So you&#039;re giving all of the money that you&#039;d spend on a tattoo to people or you just feel you can&#039;t justify spending the money on a tattoo because it *could* be given to people to feed the or the like? How is this different than saying, &quot;Well, I could buy this Buddhist book but I&#039;ve read plenty of books and I could give that same money to the homeless shelter&quot;? Sun, 15 May 2011 19:57:05 +0000 http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=20644#IDComment152410257 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/05/the-emptiness-of-family-a-guide-to-engaged-parenting/#IDComment152402438 Thanks for posting this. I appreciate the ideas as a parent. I&#039;m not sure if this is really directly related to Engaged Buddhism, as a philosophy, more than just the Dharma in general. (I say this as someone who is generally turned off by the political aspects of Engaged Buddhism.) Sun, 15 May 2011 19:21:16 +0000 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/05/the-emptiness-of-family-a-guide-to-engaged-parenting/#IDComment152402438 http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=20644#IDComment128956455 I have refuge vows in Sanskrit on my arm. Buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi. Dharmaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi. Saṃghaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/albill/5007641236/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/albill/5007641236/</a> I recently had the blackwork done in August outlined in a red border: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/albill/5403350848/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/albill/5403350848/</a> Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:00:06 +0000 http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=20644#IDComment128956455 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/disrobing-genpo--brad-warner/#IDComment128212927 Unfortunately, everything you say here is pretty true. I&#039;ve heard well known &quot;Zen&quot; teachers admit to never reading a sutra, which I find appalling. Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:23:55 +0000 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/disrobing-genpo--brad-warner/#IDComment128212927 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/disrobing-genpo--brad-warner/#IDComment128190511 The Japanese don&#039;t have Vinaya holding monks. Since the establishment of the Bodhisattva Vows-based ordination platform following Saicho&#039;s death more than 1,000 years ago, more and more monastics in Japan were ordained under that system until the Vinaya system died out. All the people you see in Japan are not Vinaya holders. You need to go to China, Korea (for one of the orders there), Vietnam, Thailand, etc in order to meet Vinaaya monastics. In the West, when people speak of a Buddhist &quot;priest,&quot; they generally mean someone who has received Bodhisattva Vow-based precepts but who is not a holder of Vinaya vows, is not required to be celibate, and may often be married. The reason to use &quot;priest&quot; instead of &quot;monk&quot; (the Japanese word used is soryo and it is used interchangeably there) is to avoid this confusion. Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:13:13 +0000 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/disrobing-genpo--brad-warner/#IDComment128190511 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/disrobing-genpo--brad-warner/#IDComment128189799 How is Big Mind a &quot;dangerous spiritual practice?&quot; Have you tried it, watched the videos about it or read their literature? I&#039;ve watched the videos but never tried it. That said, it seemed to be pretty straightforward psychotherapy (but not really Buddhist per se). Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:09:56 +0000 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/disrobing-genpo--brad-warner/#IDComment128189799 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/disrobing-genpo--brad-warner/#IDComment128189143 That&#039;s the kind of highbrow response I expect! Good job! Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:06:14 +0000 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/disrobing-genpo--brad-warner/#IDComment128189143 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/spirituality-and-technology-best-frenemies/#IDComment128150782 A number of us have been using technology to help connect widely separated communities of Dharma practitioners or individual practitioners without a community. I&#039;ve been a part of the Five Mountain Buddhist Seminary <a href="http://(http://five-mountain.org)" target="_blank">(http://five-mountain.org)</a> for the last couple of years. We&#039;ve set up a program to allow people to engage in the study of the Dharma as a non-denominational seminary and school. While we&#039;re a Zen organization, not everyone that is involved with us has a Zen background. To compliment the study, we have annual retreats (and are aiming for more often) where people come from across the country to practice together in person. Week to week, we meet online using open source courseware that runs on the site. Additionally, we have a number of Dharma teachers that meet with non-local students using a combination of email, phone calls, and Skype video. We&#039;re actually looking to expand this into having large sangha meetings monthly using video conferencing technology on the Internet to facilitate group interaction and discussion in a many to many fashion (rather than everyone just watching a video feed of a teacher speaking). Right now, if you want to learn about the Dharma, you really need to be in a major city, preferably a coastal one, if you want to work with other people. I&#039;ve spoken to many people online who has no nearby sanghas or teachers because they don&#039;t live in a large city. Online learning and interaction provides opportunities that people would simply not have otherwise and I think that it is going to continue to become a larger resource in the future. Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:17:27 +0000 http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/spirituality-and-technology-best-frenemies/#IDComment128150782 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/11/quick-note-%e2%80%9ctaoism-can-save-the-world-%e2%80%9d.html#IDComment108469831 There is a simpler solution, Cat. Just convince Jason to ban Robin and it becomes a much politer and more intelligent place. He&#039;s banned plenty of other places (which is, perhaps, why he is here after all). Mon, 8 Nov 2010 03:22:34 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/11/quick-note-%e2%80%9ctaoism-can-save-the-world-%e2%80%9d.html#IDComment108469831 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/11/quick-note-%e2%80%9ctaoism-can-save-the-world-%e2%80%9d.html#IDComment108469683 Besides yourself and pretending you&#039;re Michael Ford or Andrew Chumbley, what do you like, Robin? Mon, 8 Nov 2010 03:21:10 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/11/quick-note-%e2%80%9ctaoism-can-save-the-world-%e2%80%9d.html#IDComment108469683 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/11/quick-note-%e2%80%9ctaoism-can-save-the-world-%e2%80%9d.html#IDComment108469351 Because Islam is the enemy? Mon, 8 Nov 2010 03:17:52 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/11/quick-note-%e2%80%9ctaoism-can-save-the-world-%e2%80%9d.html#IDComment108469351 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50569242 Cute. Wed, 6 Jan 2010 01:57:40 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50569242 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50569087 I understand what you&#039;re saying Thorn. I wasn&#039;t thinking of you as much as others that we know that had much more visibly emotional (and angry) reactions concerning the revelation of Bey&#039;s NAMBLA past. I still admire so much of his work while also being disgusted by aspects of his personality and beliefs. It is very much a mixed bag but so many influential people are (as this blog posts mentions) that I tend to just take the good where I find it unless I find that the &quot;good&quot; preached by the person was simply and only a mask to hide a nastier agenda. Even then, if it is misused as positive inspiration by others, so be it. TAZ had such an amazing affect on my life and my early association with a bunch of the Moors in Seattle really did change my life for the better. You&#039;ve quoted Noble Drew Ali? Sweet! I didn&#039;t know that though I&#039;ve never found many of his writings (outside of the Circle Seven Koran). I&#039;ve been reading Michael Muhammad Knight&#039;s work on the Five Percenters recently. Wed, 6 Jan 2010 01:56:49 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50569087 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50536667 Tell this to all the people who want to remove references to Hakim Bey from their work since they found out about his NAMBLA history. Tue, 5 Jan 2010 23:26:41 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50536667 http://beyondgrowth.net/beyond-growth-project/the-secret-fails-harris-threatens-to-sue-mcduffee/#IDComment49463820 I recommend sitting on a cushion and staring at a wall. Your ego needs a check, Michael. Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:48:55 +0000 http://beyondgrowth.net/beyond-growth-project/the-secret-fails-harris-threatens-to-sue-mcduffee/#IDComment49463820 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/uniteds-pagan-problem.html#IDComment49280806 As has been pointed out elsewhere, the subcontractor in question is subcontracted by the AIRPORT, not United. United uses the subcontractor that the airport provides. This has nothing to do with United really. Complain to the airport. Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:03:27 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/uniteds-pagan-problem.html#IDComment49280806 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/after-the-parliament-statement-from-andras-corban-arthen.html#IDComment47671942 You&#039;re not going to get a reply from him on this. He cherry picks his topics and responses. Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:22:50 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/after-the-parliament-statement-from-andras-corban-arthen.html#IDComment47671942 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/continuing-discussions-on-pagan-definitions.html#IDComment47669695 That isn&#039;t actually what happened. I recommend reading some Japanese history. It wasn&#039;t a religious issue that drove their extermination, but a political one. Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:14:15 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/continuing-discussions-on-pagan-definitions.html#IDComment47669695 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/after-the-parliament-statement-from-andras-corban-arthen.html#IDComment47292107 Not only have a I read it, I cited it in papers that I wrote for my Master&#039;s degree. I used to have those papers online on my blog but took them down a few years ago. I never published them and I&#039;ve never met Dr. Hangegraaf in person though since he didn&#039;t come to the Western Esotericism conference at UC, Davis in 2006 and I didn&#039;t go to the one following it (or the European conference). I completely agree that modern paganism is rooted in Western Esotericism. Being rooted in something has no effect on the fact that the actual religions involved as wholly modern creations and institutions. His thoughts are not a refutation of them being, almost entirely, within the category of New Religious Movements. Wicca was started in the 1940s (we can quibble back to the 30s, in some senses maybe) and other pagan religions are almost entirely post-WWII. This is the same failed logic that says because some person reads a book of Plato&#039;s and one of Proclus&#039; and then founds a esoteric philosophy club, he&#039;s practicing ancient paganism instead of the reality that what he&#039;s doing is completely contemporary. So, I&#039;m not sure how your comment actually refutes what I said. Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:06:44 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/after-the-parliament-statement-from-andras-corban-arthen.html#IDComment47292107 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/after-the-parliament-statement-from-andras-corban-arthen.html#IDComment47163314 Is American culture effectively European or something else? After all, we&#039;re not in Europe so, by your logic, ours is not a European based culture (which is obviously untrue). Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:15:29 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/after-the-parliament-statement-from-andras-corban-arthen.html#IDComment47163314