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Mae West on Rebirth

Single lifetime liberation, yo!

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Play Hard

My kind of meditation instruction. :)

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It’s Probably the Fifth Jhāna

Greetings, Friendlies! Please excuse the radio silence; took myself to the woods for a 25-night personal samadhi/jhāna retreat. For guidance I followed Rob Burbea’s excellent 2019 3-week jhāna retreat at Gaia House. I’ve worked with Bhante Vimalaramsi’s TWIM and Leigh Brasington’s (Ayya Kema’s) techniques; very much enjoyed the spin Burbea brought to the practice. I […]

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DharmaPhD

I write this in order to acquaint it to my mind.

There is nothing here that has not been explained beforeAnd I have no skill in the art of rhetoric;Therefore, lacking any intention to benefit others,I write this in order to acquaint it to my mind. ~Shantideva, A Guide to the Boddhisatva’s Way of Life, Translated by Stephen Batchelor

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Discourse

The Eleventh Pāramī

During an Insight Dialogue Online session this week, the lovely Susie Clarion quoted someone saying A Sense of Humor might make a nice eleventh pāramī. I vote for Levity. :) PS: If you’re not doing Insight Dialogue yet, why not give it a try? PPS: In my iOS Pāli-English Dictionary, null results for both humor […]

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DharmaPhD

Especially Buddhism…

Brought to you by the inimitable Mr. Alan Watts. :)

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DharmaPhD

Some thoughts on “Bhava”, “Saṅkhāra”, “Habit”, and Basil Ganglia: Part 1, Untangling the Knot

Sometimes ideas get all wrapped up and around and through each other and a clever theory, when gently prodded, reveals itself a writhing, gnarly mess. Maybe this doesn’t happen to you? It totally happens to me. I think I understand a thing, I get all excited about it, I try explaining it to someone, or […]

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DharmaPhD

Hungry Ghosts

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Discourse

Incremental Backups

Because the more people coming up with silly Dhamma T-shirts, the better. :) (link)

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Discourse Scholarship

Conditionality (Idappaccayatā) vs Dependent Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda): Part 2, Conversations with Leigh Brasington

Edit: If you want to start with Part 1, that’s here. The meditation teacher Leigh Brasington wrote a book on Dependent Origination which he self published and made available for Dāna on his website. He kindly (and enthusiastically!) read my previous post on DO and Conditionality. With his permission, here’s an image we cobbled together: A few […]

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Discourse Meta

What About “Postmodern Dhamma”?

After I left military service in 2014, I moved to Paris and studied Philosophy for two years. The most important course I took during that time was “Modern Critical Theory” where a long-limbed, curly-cue of a Frenchman introduced me to Postmodernism and Critical Theory. In that course I read Western thinkers touching into the same concepts […]

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Discourse Scholarship

Now Get On With It.

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Discourse Meta

The Why, What, and How of the Independent PhD: Part 1.1, Why? Independent vs Institutional PhDs

In Part 1 we talked about motivation for starting an Independent PhD. But why an Independent PhD rather than a classic, Institutional PhD? I describe my Independent PhD as “Four-ish years of study, practice, and discourse that culminates in a book no-one will read.” But the beauty of an Independent PhD is that it doesn’t have to be four […]

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Discourse

The Blind People and the Elephant, Alternate Ending

You probably know the Indian parable of the Blind People and the Elephant (Ud 6.4), where a group of folks who are blind-since-birth are brought together ’round an elephant. I propose a different ending. What if, instead, the blind people figure it out by working together?

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Discourse Practice Scholarship

Transcendent vs Imminent Nibbāna. Is this a thing? And how does it impact practice? (Part 1)

Part 1 – Are there two Nibbānas?

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Discourse Practice Scholarship

On Anurodha, “Liking”

In your day-to-day, off-the-cushion experience, what part of the 12-link Dependent Origination cycle (12-nidanas) do you notice most readily? I ask because I think it may be the case that many of us spend our days “liking” stuff or “disliking” stuff. But liking/disliking is not in the 12-nidanas. When I first began learning about Dependent Origination I was surprised to […]

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DharmaPhD Discourse

Fake Metta

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DharmaPhD Discourse Meta

The Why, What, and How of the Independent PhD: Part 1, Why?

Greetings, Friendlies! The writing challenge continues; taking a quick zoom out and spending a few sessions writing about the Independent PhD as the container for this Dharma PhD gig. I don’t know if y’all are interested in this material; maybe anything that is not a sutta spreadsheet is anathema? Let me know if that’s the […]

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Scholarship

MN 122 – Translation Comparison

Greetings, Friendlies! This month’s homework for the Bodhi College CPP is MN 122, The Longer/Greater Discourse on Emptiness. As previously, I’ve compiled a spreadsheet comparing translations between Sujato, Ñanamoli, and Ṭhānissaro: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J23pjMQkIRkus0LOthLGtHriaZA6Pq4UTwjVaD0umlo/. Exciting stuff. Structure The sutta is not divided into chapters but seems to discuss 9(ish) different things: Mendicants should not allow themselves to […]

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Discourse Practice Teaching

Is Pain Vedanā? (And Why Does It Matter?)

(TL;DR: No. Pain is not Vedanā.)

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Practice Scholarship

Stephen Batchelor on Human Flourishing – Upcoming Online Events

Buddha-Stiftung, a Secular Buddhist organization in Germany, will be hosting two online events with Stephen Batchelor on the topic of Human Flourishing. From their email:

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DharmaPhD

Heavily Meditated

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DharmaPhD

Conditionality (Idappaccayatā) vs Dependent Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda): What’s What and Why It Matters

When I first began studying Dependent Origination, it was not clear to me where DO (paṭiccasamuppāda) ended and Conditionality (idappaccayatā) began. Today it’s a little more clear; here’s what I think, and why I think it matters: Conditionality (idappaccayatā) is the way the world is. All phenomena are dependent on (conditioned by) other phenomena. The […]

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Perpetually Prototyping – A Writing Experiment

I’ve recently learned of the writing workshop Ship 30 for 30. The structure is writing <250 word "Atomic Essays" every day for 30 days.

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When Philosophy Strikes…

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Discourse Scholarship

¿Is Vedanā Interoception?

Is vedanā interoception? Or is interoception vedanā? In a 2018 talk on Vedanā (link) @MartineBatchelor referred to @LisaFeldmanBarrett’s book, How Emotions Are Made. She described interoception and asked, “…the question is, is she talking about the same thing [as] me?” [4:29] Here’s my take: In HEAM, Barrett says: “Simple pleasant and unpleasant feelings come from […]

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Teach MBSR!

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If You See the Buddha…

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Make Mindfulness Great Again

MmGAaaaaa! What? To soon?

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I Taught JKZ How to Body Sweep…

I almost laughed out loud when she said this. So saucy, that Christina! :)