Father’s day and Mother’s day are for all
As Father’s day approaches, I’m reminded that every year, it’s common to hear people say things like “For those of you who are fathers, Happy Father’s Day!” or “Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers I know). And of course, we hear similar things for Mother’s day. It’s become a day to celebrate someone’s (often…
This really stings
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is upon us and I am truly hating the self-flagellation among 1st generation Indian Americans in the form of laughing at the fact that South Asian kids dominate the winners list. It’s claimed that what is tested in the Bee is a “completely useless skill” and that Indian parents (unlike…
The rise of the extremist intellectual in India
People like Sai Deepak are scary. He’s got the intensity of one who’s trying to arouse anger and hate in his audience, through invoking a sense of grievance, sounding so reasonable in the process. Further it’s the humorless intensity that you can see in culture warriors (think Tucker Carlson/Tomi Lahren/Robert Reich/DeSantis for US equivalents). He’s…
Why do liberal places want me to…hold it in?
Why is it that the most liberal towns and cities are the ones where it is hardest for me to find a bathroom? Aren’t they the places that profess the most compassion? Many will say “Restroom are for customers only/No public restrooms”. Some will have “restrooms out of order” signs permanently (clearly a lie since…
Hinduism as a foil
Ever notice how Hinduism/Indian culture is brought up in American Buddhist circles in the context of Buddhism and India only while discussing some aspect of Buddhist belief that is not readily digestible or palatable to a mindset with “Western” cultural baggage? For example, rebirth concepts, the presence of spirits like tree spirits, guardian spirits and…
Where’s Asia?/Expanding Europe
You can find the GDP of countries and continents and famous groups of countries on the World Bank’s (WB) website. Examples of groups are the Arab world, the EU, South Asia. But you cannot find the GDP of Europe there or the GDP of Asia there. There is one of the European Union, but…
Spirituality is distinct from the sense world
While this seems obvious, I have repeatedly come to the realization, each time with a small shock, that this is not so in the minds of many people. For example, consider retreats on some spiritual practice. People go there, spend a week or two doing something like movement exercises, eating delicious (and usually organic) food,…
Want to reform Asian Sanghas? Support your own
I have thought long and hard about it and have not been able to understand why people in America and Europe are insistent (often angrily) that the Thai Sangha or some other Asian Sangha needs to change and promote equality of women in the religious context as it limiting women in corresponding spiritual circles in…
The bearers of gifts and good tidings
Without spiritual practice, and even with considerable amounts of it, we all prefer feeling pleasant sensations and not unpleasant sensations and correspondingly, pleasant news over unpleasant news. However, there is also a preference for being the bearer of pleasant news and not that of the unpleasant. This is less about pleasing one’s own five senses,…
From a cartoonist
I got this from a post in the Black Buddhist Society’s Facebook page. Nobody in the group knew who had created it, so I cannot credit the artist. But I do want to post it here because it fits within the themes covered in other posts on this blog. I have also removed the title…
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Gotamist 