Ethan Nichtern comes to Los Angeles (video)

(Mark Molaro) Inspiring interview with Ethan Nichtern, founder and director of the Interdependence Project (The ID Project) in New York City and author of the new book One City: A Declaration of Interdependence. This is a fascinating and personal discussion of Nichtern's idea of interdependence, as well as an enlightening conversation about Eastern philosophies in general, such as Buddhism and meditation. Nichtern talks about a strong worldwide desire for a new social consciousness that properly balances inner peace with informed civic and social engagement and responsibility.

• The Mindful Social Network: Going Online Without Losing Your Mind
• 10-week Buddhism study course with Ethan Nichtern and Sharon Salzberg
• "Seeing Clearly in a City of Illusion" with
  
• Shastri Ethan Nichtern at Shambhala WLA
• Sunday, July 31, 2011 5:30 - 7:00 pm
• $15.00 general public, $10.00 (members, seniors, students)
• Public sitting at 4:00-5:00 pm, talk begins at 5:30 pm

"An Amazing Decade for Dharma"

(Dec. 22, 2009) Over the past ten years we Buddhists have been the beneficiaries of a staggering wealth of new resources. We've been incredibly fortunate in the number of new translations of sutras, commentaries, and new studies that have emerged over the last ten years. Whatever your particular area of interest, there is without question exponentially more to work with than there was even ten years ago.

Last year I singled out Snow Lion Publications for praise, so I won't repeat that at length here. But I would like to extent the appreciation and thanks to Wisdom Publications (a nonprofit organization), which has also been doing great work. In particular, I'm excited about four of their fantastic series:

• Teachings of the Buddha Series - Excellent new translations of the Nikayas and other material from the Pāli canon, with exhaustive footnotes and explanations from leading experts like Bhikkhu Bodhi. Never has it been easier to explore for oneself directly what the Buddha taught.
• Classics of Indian Buddhism - The counterpart to the above series, it features translations of Mahāyāna texts from Sanskrit. It's just getting underway with an avadāna collection published last year, but hopefully many more titles are to come.
• The Library of Tibetan Classics... More>>

Connecting Language and Actions (Frank Schaeffer)

Buddhism is Not a Religion

Beliefnet.com (Interdependence Project, 9/16/09)
The Buddha-Dharma -- despite there being religious organizations called "Buddhism" -- is not inherently a religion. It is a technique and way of living that is applicable to anyone, EVEN IF they choose to continue identifying with a religion.

• Buddhism

The Buddhist way of being is one that fos-ters compassion, kind-ness, and cooperation. If a condition of being Buddhist is that you must forsake your religion (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or otherwise) for something called a "Buddhist religion," the chance of Buddhism spreading wide becomes exponentially slimmer. I would have sorely misunderstood what the Four Noble Truths mean.

• Talking Dharma

Buddhism is a path to liberation from dissatisfaction (dukkha). It does not condone war or killing others on the way to liberation. Buddhists do not defend physical or mental territory with knives, guns, and bombs (or bows and arrows, as pictured here with a "lost tribe" in the Amazon jungle that does not want contact with the modern world). Although religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others all have beautiful teachings and have been engines of civilization at various points in history, each of them also succumbs to combat when their geography or beliefs are challenged.

There is a whiff of the primitive origins of religion that makes itself known whenever religious organzations (or governments claiming a divine right) kill other people for not believing in the spiritual or physical boundaries that they have drawn.

When I hear of wars being conducted with the blessing of Christ, or a Jewish God, or a Fatwah, or in the name of a Mormon divinity, I cannot help but picture a caveman with a stone in his hand standing outside his rock house bashing in the head of a threatening neighbor going "Me mine, no come here!"

Spiritual teachings that are truly based on compassion and interdependence -- that offer the tools to actually manifest compassion -- do not require guns, knives, and bombs. More>>

Sharon Salzberg: "The 8 Train"

Sharon Salzberg: Buddhism and Art -- "The 8 Train" (Beliefnet 7/13/09)

Sharon is one of three Buddhist lineage mentors for Beliefnet's Interdependence Project. She is also awesome and one of the foremost Buddhist meditation teachers in America (Ethan Nichtern).

The 8 Train

William James said, "My experience is what I agree to attend to. Only those items which I notice shape my mind." I spent some time this afternoon at a gallery in lower Manhattan (Art in General), to see an exhibit called "The 8 Train" created by Josh Melnick.

Josh took a Vision Research camera, ordinarily used in scientific studies requiring high speed motion analysis, into the New York City subway and shot individual portraits. In the gallery space, two seconds of real time footage is extended to several minutes on the screen. It was a fantastic exercise in attention and compassion. First I was struck by the fact that... More>>

Meditation, Psychology, and Therapy

Interested in Buddhist meditation and its link to psychology, therapy, the healing arts, and a contemporary understanding of the mind? What might Carl Jung have said about Buddhism or guided meditation? Would Pema Chodron and Sigmund Freud get into a ballroom brawl or be on the same team conquering the forces of confusion? How do Buddhists deal with depression? Drs. Miles Neale and Joesph Loizzo are starting what might be a groundbreaking series at the Interdependence Project. Listen wherever (details).

• Not in public podcast, only home-listen series

Buddhism and psychology, Buddhist meditation, Buddhists, Carl Jung, depression, Freud, interdependence project, meditation, meditation and depression, Pema Chodron, therapy