Monastic Separateness & Engagement (part 3): Monasticism in Society
[This series of posts, “The Elements of Monasticism” asks the question, what exactly is monasticism? “Separateness & Engagement” will unfold in a series of 4 posts (links: 1, 2, 3, 4).] A gem from Father Louis (aka Thomas Merton), in case you missed it a few weeks ago: The monastery is neither a museum nor an asylum. The monk remains in […]
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 […]
Monastic Separateness & Engagement (part 2): Assumptions
[This series of posts, “The Elements of Monasticism” asks the question, what exactly is monasticism? “Separateness & Engagement” will unfold in a series of 4 posts (links: 1, 2, 3, 4).] The conflation I mentioned in part 1 represents one of a number of assumptions of how monastics exist in society. I will now attempt to summarize some other assumptions I’ve […]
Monastic Separateness & Engagement (part 1): Problematizing Separateness
[This series of posts, “The Elements of Monasticism” asks the question, what exactly is monasticism? “Separateness & Engagement” will unfold in a series of 4 posts (links: 1, 2, 3, 4).] Why put on the robe of the monk, and live aloof from the world in lonely pride? —Kabîr For monks are not a special sort of people, but only what all […]
Gary Snyder is an artmonk
Snyder answers the koan “who’s talking?” “Talking is talking to talking. That would be one way to talk about that. Or as I said in the poem, ‘Walking on walking/ underfoot earth turns”… So if it’s a talking on talking, the mind burns.” Snyder answers the koan “who’s talking?” “Talking is talking to talking. That would […]
Dronemonks!
“Sunn 0))) playing in a church! A Big Church!”: “Sunn 0))) playing in a church! A Big Church!”:
Shambhala Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown on Monasticism
Shambhala Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, in Buddhist Geeks, Episode 146 “Investing in the Future of American Buddhism”: Vince: So before we close, maybe if I could ask a little bit about monasticism, where you see it heading. This is something you said you wanted to come back to. Judith: I think the returns are not in on […]
“Fed manure and kept in the dark…”
Daniel Ingram: An old friend and former meditation teacher of mine and I were ranting in our typically passionate style about this very topic one day, and we came up with the “Mushroom Theory.” Mushrooms are fed manure and kept in the dark, and we speculated that part of the problem was that some meditation […]
“The monastery is neither a museum nor an asylum…
“The monastery is neither a museum nor an asylum. The monk remains in the world from which the monk has fled, and the monk remains a potent, though hidden, force in that world. Beyond all the works which may accidentally attach themselves to the vocation, the monk acts on the world simply by being a […]
Music of Italian Convents of the 17th Century
Speaking of artnuns, here’s a project that needs funding. I’ve written about Capella Artemisia before. Speaking of artnuns, here’s a project that needs funding. I’ve written about Capella Artemisia before.
