Single lifetime liberation, yo!
Mae West on Rebirth

Single lifetime liberation, yo!
My kind of meditation instruction. :)
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
MmGAaaaaa! What? To soon?
I almost laughed out loud when she said this. So saucy, that Christina! :)
Many thanks to the extraordinary Pilar Puig Cortada for this one. Can you imagine showing up to a retreat and we’re all wearing this? The teachers would be so pleased/horrified. :)
The best thing that can happen to a human being is to find a problem, to fall in love with that problem, and to live trying to solve that problem, unless another problem even more lovable appears. ~ Karl Popper
Greetings, Friendlies! Please excuse the radio silence; I’ve been on the road since 03Mar. Back in the US today, though not yet home, and just beginning to touch the internet. I received an email from Cloud Mountain Retreat Center; they have two openings for full-time residential positions. If you know of the right candidate, do […]
January Practice Daily 0.5-1.0 hour metta practice (TWIM-esque). As we prepare to move and upend our life, I’m finding my mind quite unsettled. For a few days I only practiced guided body scans; I found I needed the support of someone talking me through it. But eventually I was able to get back on the […]
In Stephen Batchelor’s Buddhism Without Beliefs, the penultimate chapter, “Imagination”, begins with a quote by Richard Rorty: “[A] talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well, is the chief instrument of cultural change.” This is what Dharma PhD is all about, learning how to speak differently.
Greetings, Friendlies! BooBear and I have settled(ish) on the West Coast of the US. The cross country trip was _amazing_; Five Stars. Highly Recommend. This is just a quick touch to report that we’ve landed and that the Independent PhD progresses by leaps and bounds. Thanks to all of you who reached out; I can […]
Greetings, Friendlies! Welcome to 2021! The 2020 Q4 summary is: experimenting. There were lots _and lots_ of experiments, big and small. The podcasting workshop closed down and I found myself without a dedicated Akimbo workshop for the first time since February. It was a little bit lonely, but there was much more space, less tending […]
In preparation for this blog post, I reviewed the 2020 Q2 update and laughed outloud. The first sentence, “What a crazy busy quarter.” 2020 Q3. What a crazy busy quarter! :D The Akimbo Podcasting workshop was (as the Story Skills workshop was) transformational. I hate using language like that, but there it is. How so, […]
I’m in the midst of producing several Buddha Bites podcast episodes on Vedanā (aka Hedonic Tone). It’s been challenging; following are some deets about the process. As I wrote back in March, a 2019 retreat led by Akincano Weber and Dr. Judson Brewer hooked me on the implications of Vedanā. When I talk about Dharma […]