Disrobing “Big Mind”
I don’t know what kind of monk Genpo Roshi actually intended to be, but his recent disrobing brings up some good issues around a few of the elements of monasticism I’ve been writing about. Celibacy & Sexuality (can monks be sexually active? how ’bout unfaithfully so? polyamorous?) Vows (where do marriage vows and monastic vows overlap?) Hierarchy ...
Jesus Lama
…the encounter between Catholicism and Buddhism cannot take place at the level of the Magisterium, it can only take place at the level of two contemplatives talking together in private. —Harold Talbott, paraphrasing Dom Aelred Graham, in “Thomas Merton in the Himalayas, An Interview with Harold Talbott” from Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Summer, 1992. If the ...
Chapter 7 Augustine’s Rule, on Governance & Obedience
Starting on October 2nd, I’ll be doing a Jesuit retreat on the Rule of Augustine (which I’ve written about here: “Up to our necks in Augustine”). Each day, I’ll read 1 of the 8 chapters of the Rule of Augustine. Today’s reading is from Chapter VII on “Governance and Obedience” from the Rule of Augustine1, one of the “mother ...
Nuggets
Ken Wilber, in Always Already: The Brilliant Clarity of Ever-Present Awareness: Many people have stern objections to “mysticism” or “transcendentalism” of any sort, because they think it somehow denies this world, or hates this earth, or despises the body and the senses and its vital life, and so on. While that may be true of certain ...
theFWD submission #4
[intended partially as a provocation, partially completely seriously, for the Future We Deserve collaborative book project] 3rd-Party Certification of Spiritual Agents, Teachers & Centers The goal of certification is to protect both spiritual practitioners (agents), teachers, and centers. Monastic tradition, by adhering to openly published rules and vows and being accountable to a central governance ...
theFWD submission #1
In developing my ideas on secular monasticism, I’ve been attempting to both to hone my thinking and to let it run completely wild. I found a great opportunity to do so in The Future We Deserve. I submitted a few inter-related pieces for this collaborative book on: Secular monasticism Art monasticism Spirituality as game 3rd-party ...
