Thomas Merton: “Contemplation cannot construct a new world by itself” cannot construct a new world by itself”
Thomas Merton, in the introduction to the Spanish language edition to his complete works: Contemplation cannot construct a new world by itself. Contemplation does not feed the hungry; it does not clothe the naked… and it does not return the sinner to peace, truth, and union with God. But without contemplation we cannot see what ...
Shi Yongxin, “CEO Monk” and abbot of the Shaolin Temple
Buddhism is the dominant religion in China, with as many as 300 million believers across the country. Like other forms of Buddhism, Zen emphasizes letting go of worldly cares and working toward enlightenment through meditation and practice of the Buddha’s teachings, which include a ban on harming any sentient beings. As its home, and ...
Tolle on Collective Egos vs. Enlightened Collectives
How have the various monastic traditions embodied the two possibilities that Tolle writes about below? “How hard is it to live with yourself? One of the ways in which the ego attempts to escape the unsatisfactoriness of personal self hood is to enlarge and strengthen its sense of self by identifying with a group—a nation, ...
The First Robot Was a Monk*
Check out Radiolab’s fascinating piece on the miraculous sixteenth-century creation of a clockwork automaton of a Franciscan. *Actually, this monk robot is but an “early and very rare example of a self-acting automaton.” Please excuse the hyperbole.
Alan Wallace on DharmaCafe.com: Renunciation as Emergence Out of X and Towards Y
In this excellent interview from dharmacafe.com (via @c4chaos), Alan Wallace says that what often gets translated from Buddhist texts as “renunciation” is something closer to “emergence,” as in when we emerge from childish strategies that don’t work toward something more authentic and fulfilling. It’s more than a radical disillusionment, like Sartre or Camus… They’re renouncing something, ...
Coming soon: “The Artists Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom”
From the author of the Monk Manifesto, Christine Valters Paintner. Pre-order yours today. Amazon.com: The Artists Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom 9781933495293: Christine Valters Paintner: Books
SHARE San Francisco
I’ll be here next weekend (May 7): SHARE San Francisco, Saturday, May 7th, Hub SoMa SHARE San Francisco is convening local leaders on Saturday May 7th for a day of connection, conversation, and action to strengthen the Bay Area as a platform for sharing. Why SHARE SF? Cities promise broad access to the resources citizens ...
5/5/11 in Berkeley: “Artmonk Sangha: the Bay Area’s Ritual Laboratory for Artmonks”
Based on practices that we have been developing at the January 2010 & 2011 Artmonk Retreats in the Mojave Desert, these weekly (or semi-weekly) meetups will provide an opportunity for anyone in the Bay Area who is interested to explore the path of the artmonk. DEFINITIONS: “Artmonk”: someone who dwells (alone or in community) at ...
Monks at Portsmouth Abbey Use Web in Recruitment – NYTimes.com
So the monks, who for centuries have shied away from any outside distractions, have instead done what many troubled organizations are doing to find new members — they have taken to the Internet with an elaborate ad campaign featuring videos, a blog and even a Gregorian chant ringtone. “We’re down in numbers, we’re aging, we ...
