Buddhist Geeks Conference (October 2014)

Seth Auberon, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; BuddhistGeeks.com/Conference

The Buddhist Geeks Conference is taking place in Boulder, Colorado next month -- October 16-19. We're excited to share the full conference schedule now.

FULL SCHEDULE

Day 1-Thursday, October 16th

4:00 pm - Event Registration - Millenium Harvest Hotel

7:00 pm Buddhist Geeks: Exploring the Convergence - Vincent Horn - Opening Talk

7:30 pm - Zen Changes: Navigating the Converging Streams - Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara - Keynote Day 2 - Friday, October 17th

8:00 am - Track #1 - Waking Up Together: Insight Meditation - David Chernikoff - Contemplative Practice

8:00 am - Track #2 - Moving Presence - TBA - Contemplative Practice

9:00AM - Mini Break

9:30 am - Building Inclusivity in Western Buddhism - JoAnna Harper - Live Talk

9:50 am - Refuge Recovery - Noah Levine - Live Talk

10:10 am - Original Oops: Mahamudra and the Mindfulness Movement - Lama Karma - Live Talk

10:30 am - Mini Break

11:00 am - The Convergence of Buddhism and … Science?...Scientism? - Charles Tart - Keynote

11:45 am - Mindful Kids: Worldview, Practice, & Community - Susan Kaiser Greenland - Keynote

12:30 pm - Lunch

2:30 pm - Track #1 - Buddhist Geeks Hangouts - Have the conversations you want to have

2:30 pm - Track #2 - Courage @ Work: Bridging Practice & Leadership - Sam Elmore & Michael Rich - Workshop

3:30 pm - Mini Break

4:00 pm - Contemplative Technology - Vincent Horn (moderator), Mikey Siegel, Jacob Redmond, & other panelists TBA

5:30 pm - Dinner

7:30 pm - Tea Ceremony - Sip some tea and chat with fellow conference goers

Day 3 - Saturday, October 18th

8:00 am - Track #1 - Guided Meditation - Dharma Ocean Practice Leader - Contemplative Practice

8:00 am - Track #2 - Hatha Yoga - Sofia Diaz - Contemplative Practice

9:00 am - Mini Break

9:30 am - A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Meditation Go Down - Katherine MacLean - Live Talk

9:50 am - Drawing a Path to Mindfulness - John F. Simon Jr. - Live Talk

10:10 am - Imaging Buddha - Hokai Sobol - Live Talk

10:30 am - Mini Break

11:00 am - The Gathering Dharma Cloud - Susan Piver - Keynote

11:45 am - A Pragmatist's Take on The Powers - Daniel Ingram - Keynote

12:30 pm - Lunch

2:30 pm - Track #1 - Buddhist Geeks Hangouts - Have the conversations you want to have

2:30 pm - Track #2 - Contemplative Drawing Practice - John F. Simon Jr. - Workshop

3:30 pm - Mini Break

3:45 pm - Track #1 - Buddhist Geeks Hangouts - Have the conversations you want to have

3:45 pm - Track #2 - Transforming our Relationship with Technology - Eran Globen - Workshop

5:00 pm - Identity Collapse - Chris Dancy - Keynote

6:00 pm - Dinner - Day 4 - Sunday, October 19th

9:00 am - Debugging the Source Code of the Dharma - Bodhipaksa - Live Talk

9:20 am - Achieving Insight Without the Dark Night - Culadasa - Live Talk

9:40 am - Engineering Enlightenment & Applied Contemplative Science - Mikey Siegel - Live Talk

10:00am - Mini Break

10:30 am - Dead or Alive - Hokai Sobol (moderator), Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara, & other panelists TBA

12:30pm - Buddhist Geeks: Conference Closing - Buddhist Geeks Team

Burma sends military to protect precious rock

Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Saw Yan Naing (irrawaddy.org), "Hpakant Jade Stone Estimated at 50 Tons," Feb. 20, 2014

Myanmar's "Golden Rock," Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, Mon State, Burma (hjuengst/flickr.com)

 

Thai cave temple, Wat Umong (Decha Thapanya)

RANGOON, Burma - A massive precious jade stone recently discovered near a village in Kachin State’s Hpakant region is believed to weigh 50+ tons.

But with half the rock yet to be unearthed, its exact mass remains unknown.

 

After visiting the discovery site and sizing up the raw jade stone in Wai Ka Village amid tight security, local jade merchant U Cho said initial reports of its size were likely underestimated.

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  Jade boulders still buried (The Irrawaddy)

  [Prior to becoming a military dictatorship and, along with England, part of the inspiration for George Orwell's dystopian Nineteen Eighty-Four, Burma was the richest country in Southeast Asia. (Orwell was born in British India but stationed in Burma during his military service. See Shooting an Elephant). It is still a tremendous source of raw resources fought over by the USA and China, both aspiring to strip the land and its corrupt military dictatorship/false front democratically elected parliament to enrich themselves. Dictator and head of the ruling military junta, Gen. Than Shwe took a backseat while still pulling the levers of political control, as former U.S. Sec'y of State, and potential future presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton cut deals and helped put pressure on the junta to give opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi a seat in parliament.]

“We estimate that the stone might be bigger,” he told The Irrawaddy. “What we had heard [that the stone was thought to weigh about 20 tons] was because the body of the stone is still buried in the ground. But we don’t know how much it will be worth.”

 

Jade stone used for life-sized Buddha (R-E)

Government troops were deployed this week to guard the area where the jade stone is located. As a result, local small-scale jade miners have been completely barred from s[caveng]ing for jade in the surrounding area.

The jade [boulder], described by locals as being “as big as a Mitsubishi Pajero truck,” was found by a small-scale miner, Aung Naing Win, on Feb. 9th in Hpakant Township. The region, west of the Kachin State capital Myitkyina, is known for possessing some of the world’s best jade.

 

Theravada novices on alms (Hilde Juengst)

Contacted by The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, a staffer at the state-owned Myanmar Gems Enterprise in [the new Burmese capital and secretive military headquarters] Naypyidaw (WSJ video) said she was not allowed to comment on the jade stone discovery in Hpakant. Asked for contact details for an individual authorized to speak to the media, the staffer said she was not at liberty to provide that information.

 

The Myanmar Gems Enterprise operates under Burma’s Ministry of Mines.

 

Small-scale miners in the region operate unlicensed, and thus have no legal claim to jade that they discover. Most of them deal in the black market trade. More

(This World Rocks) Burma with its massive golden, jewel-encrusted Shwedagon Pagoda (housing the Buddha's first relics, a few hairs given to merchants shortly after the great enlightenment and decision to teach, according to legend), a testament to the country's wealth.

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