CONTEMPORARY BUDDHIST WRITING AND/OR TRANSLATIONS

Taisen Deshimaru, Mushotoku Mind: The Heart of the Heart Sutra, revised and reedited by Richard Collins (Chino Valley, AZ: HOHM Press, 2012) ("Giving, in the deepest sense of the word, is a fundamental requirement of the religious mind. Giving that is practiced very simply, very modestly, is no less praiseworthy. To refuse food you desire is a fuse for the whole world. Simple actions like this are the hardest to do. These trivial desires prop up our ego, perpetuating indulgence and self-satisfaction. We have to train ourselves to resist them for them to disappear naturally. This action will them be of infinite assistance to all beings. Nowadays, though, we are moving in the opposite direction. Greed is the engine of our materialistic society. Spiritual values are enfeebled and can no longer resist the dominant current. From lack of wisdom, our civilization finds itself at a dead end." Id. at 124. "Civilization now finds itself on a narrow ledge with an abyss on either side. On one side lie the evils of social disintegration and environmental collapse, the result of development pushed to absurdity, of rationalist materialism and self-seeking greed. On the other hand lies the darkness of the antirational: fundamentalist fervor, dogmatism, and hatred of the Other. The effects of both are already creating devastation and great suffering. But if, even from this desperate place, we can reconsider the world from a global perspective, with the necessary balance we can bring harmony back to a civilization in crisis. For this, we must pause, give nature time to regenerate, repair the disasters that we have caused on our path and equitably share nature's healthy fruits. We must understand deeply that we as individuals are not separate from the whole of humanity, nor from the whole of nature, the whole of the universe." Id. at 143.).

Rebecca Redwood French & Mark A. Nathan, eds., Buddhism and Law: An Introduction (New York: Cambridge U. Press,  2014). 

Han-shan, The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain, translated by Bill Porter (aka Red Pine) revised and expanded; with an introduction by John Blofeld (Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2000).

Lex Hixon, Mother of the Buddhas: Meditation on the Prajnaparamita Sutra, foreword by Robert A. F. Thurman (Wheaton, Il: Quest Books, 1993) ("Although the Prajnaparamita Sutra provides essentially a religious rather than a philosophical, psychological or literary experience, I believe it will attract not only students of religion, meditation and esoteric knowledge but also thinkers who are secular or nontraditional, who practice humanism through art, science and social action. Mahayana teachings present important guidance to every seeker of truth, to every honest investigator of the nature of the universe and the mind. Mahayana Buddhism also proposes a model for any society or institution which purports to be truly human." Id at 6.).

Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, Tell Me Something About Buddhism: Questions and Answers for the Curious Beginner (Charlottesville, Va.: Hampton Books, 2011).

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2004 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2004) (From Tsoknyo Rinpoche, "Buddhism Is Not Self-Help": "Dharma practice is not meant merely to make oneself feel better. The whole point of spiritual practice is to liberate oneself through realization and also to liberate others through compassionate capacity. To practice in order to feel better only brings one back up to that same level--one never makes any real progress. At the end of one's life, one just happens to feel good till the end of one's last session and then that's it--nothing happens beyond that. With this attitude of merely feeling good becoming the type of Buddhism that spreads in the West, we may see a huge scarcity of enlightened masters in the future. They will become an endanger species." "Please understand that the pursuit of 'feeling good' is a samsaric goal. It is a totally mundane pursuit that borrows from the dharma, and uses all its special methods in order to fine-tune the ego into a fit and workable entity. The definition of a worldly aim is to try to achieve something for oneself with a goal-oriented frame of mind--'so that I feel good.' We may use spiritual practice to achieve this, one good reason being that it works much better than other methods. If we're on this path, we do a little spiritual practice and pretend to be doing it sincerely. This kind of deception, hiding the ego-oriented materialistic aim under the tablecloth might include something like 'I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, so I must be pure.' Gradually, as we become more astute at spiritual practice, we may bring our materialistic aim out into the open. This is quite possible: people definitely do it. But if this is how you practice, you won't get anywhere in the end. How could one ever become liberated through selfishness?" Id. at 335, 340-341.).

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2005 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2005) (From The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "The Infinite Dot Called Mind": "To the extent that we live in the memory of thoughts, we are not experiencing the freedom of space. To the extent that we live in the memory of understanding, even though we may have good memories or a good understanding, it's like we are decorating our prison. Our prison may look a little better and more refreshing, but we still are living within a limited space. We haven't freed ourselves from the prison of dwelling in the past and anticipating the future. Mindfulness of mind is being there in the tiny spot, that infinite space, and that only comes through totally letting go of our expectations. When we totally let go of our thoughts, we totally free our thoughts." "In a way, our thoughts are imprisoning us. On the other hand, we are imprisoning them. We imprison our thoughts in the same way they imprison us. We're not letting thought be thought. We're not letting these thoughts be thoughts in their own state. We are coloring them. We are clothing them. We're painting the face of our thoughts. We're putting hats and boots on them." Id. at 227, 238.).

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2006 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2006) (From Dzigar Kongtrul, "It's Up to You": "When we look in the mirror, the one thing we don't want to see is an ordinary human being. [] The conflict between what we see and what we want to see causes tremendous pain. [] We are imprisoned in this pain by a sense of specialness, or self-importance. Self-importance is the underlying clinging we  have to 'I, I, I, me, me, me, mine, mine, mine,' which colors all of our experience. If we look closely, we find a strong element of self-importance in everything we think, say, and do. 'How can I feel good? What will others think? What will I gain? What will I lose?' These questions are all rooted in our self-importance. Even out feeling of not measuring up to who we think we should be is a form of self-importance. [] It takes courage to go beyond self-importance and see who we really are--but this is our path." Id. at 1, 1-2. From Carolyn Rose Gimian, "The Three Lords of Materialism": "We often avoid authentic spiritual engagement that involves humbling ourselves or giving in. A pernicious form of spiritual materialism . . . is to imitate or ape spiritual experiences, rat than to actually engage them, We get high, we get absorbed in nothingness or the godhead, we have a cathartic religious experience, but all on our own terms. God loves us, the universe loves us, we love ourselves." "Genuine spirituality offers various paths to investigate what we might call the real mysteries of life. It offers the opportunity both to look more deeply into life and to open our further into the world, It offers exploration, it offers communication, it offers investigation, It offers us genuine question Spiritual materialism, n the other hand, says: You don't have to question, Do tis and you'll be fine, believe this and you'll be fine, When you die, you'll be fine." Id. at 149, 153.).

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2007 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2007) (From Alice Walker, "Suffering Too Insignificant for the Majority to See": "Sometimes, as African Americans, African Indians, African Amerindians, people of color, it appears we are being removed from the planet. Fascism and Nazism, visibly on the rise in the world, have always been our experience of white supremacy in America, and this has barely let up. Plague such as AIDS seem incredibly convenient for the forces that have enslaved and abused us over the centuries and that today are as blatant in their attempts to seize our native homelands and their resources as Columbus was five hundred years ago. Following the suffering and exhilaration of the sixties, a pharmacopeia  of drugs suddenly appeared just as we were beaconing used to enjoying our minds. Citizen Television,' which keeps relentless watch over each and every home, claims the uniqueness and individuality of the majority of our children from birth. After the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Che Guevara, and so many other defenders of humanity, known and unknown, around the globe, we find ourselves with an unelected president who came to office by disenfranchising black voters, just as was done, routinely, before Martin Luther King, Jr., and the rest of us were born. This is major suffering for black people and must not be overlooked. I myself, on realizing what had happened, felt a soul sickness I have not experienced in decades. Those who wanted power beyond anything else--oil an money to be made from oil (which is the Earth Mother's blood)--were contemptuous of the sacrifices generations of our ancestors made. The suffering of our people, especially of our children, with their bright, hopeful eyes, is of no significance to them" Id. at 243, 251-252.').

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2008 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2008).

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2009 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2009) (From Christina Feldman, "Long Journey to a Bow": "The conceit of self (mana in Pali) is said to be the last of the great obstacles to full awakening. Conceit is an ingenious creature, at times masquerading as humility, empathy, or virtue. Conceit manifests in the feelings of better than, worse than, and equal to another. Within these three dimensions of conceit are held the whole tormented world of comparing, evaluating, and judging that afflicts our hearts. Jealousy, resentment, fear, and low self-esteem spring from this deeply embedded pattern. Conceit perpetuates the dualities of 'self' and 'other'--the schisms that are the root of the enormous alienation and suffering in our world. Our commitment to awakening asks us to honestly explore the ways in which conceit manifests in our lives and to find the way to its end. The cessation of conceit allows the fruition of empathy, kindness, compassion, and awakening. The Buddha taught that 'one who has truly penetrated this threefold conceit of superiority, inferiority, and equality is said to have put an end to suffering." Id. at 196, 197.).

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2010 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2010).

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2011 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2011) (From Rodney Smith, "Undivided Mind": "Over the last half-century, Buddhist practices in the West have grown in popularity. Mindfulness has become associated with stress reduction, enhanced immunological protection, psychological well-being, and profound states of happiness. In many cases, mindfulness has been uncoupled from the Buddha's teaching altogether and is a stand-alone cognitive therapy for the treatment of various mental difficulties, from depression to obsessive-compulsive disorder." "The term anatta, which means 'no [permanently abiding] self or soul,' is at the heart of Buddha's teaching. but with our Western emphasis on psychological health it is perhaps inevitable that this essential aspect of the teaching is downplayed or even avoided. Emptiness, after all, stands in opposition to many of our most important values, such as self-reliance, individual initiative, and pursuit of pleasure. We want the contentment and happiness promised by the Buddha but with 'me' fully stabilized and intact." Id. at 246, 246-247.).

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2012 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2012).

Melvin McLeod & The Editors of the Shambhala Sun, eds., The Best Buddhist Writing 2013 (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2013).

Shohaku Okumura, Living By Vow: A Practical Introduction to Eight Essential Zen Chants and Texts, edited by Dave Ellison (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2012) ("Many religions originate in our weaknesses and fears. Before civilization conditions of life were very severe. There were many dangers and people needed something to pray to. In many primal religions people worshiped natural phenomena: the ocean, mountains, thunder, or ancient trees. They worshiped things larger, more powerful, and longer lasting than themselves. Gradually civilization developed and human beings became better at survival. We then became each others' enemies. We started to fight, and at the time of Shakyamuri about the fifth century BCE, people had enough wealth to fight over territory. They fought each other to establish countries and kingdoms. Stronger nations conquered weaker ones. We needed some principle to live together in harmony. This is the second reason for religion: to teach us to live together with people. I think this is the point of all religions and philosophies in the history of humanity. We live in civilizations that have developed over twenty centuries in America, Japan, and Europe, and yet we are still spiritually sick. We still don't know how to live in peace with people from different national, racial, religious, or cultural backgrounds. The Buddha's teaching is a prescription for curing this sickness." Id. at 74-75.).

Bill Porter (aka Red Pine), The Lankavatara Sutra: A Zen Text, translation and commentary by Red Pine (Berkeley: Counterpoint,  2012).

Gerry Shishin Wick, The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans, foreword by Bernie Gassman (Boston: Wisdom Publishing, 2005).

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Into the Heart of Life (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2011).

Koun Yamada, The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans, translated with commentary by Koun Yamada, with a foreword by Ruben L. F. Habito (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004) ("Truly, if you are forever attached to ideas and philosophies, you will never attain enlightenment." Id. at 34.).

ESSAYS ON INSTITUTIONS

Jeremy Waldron, Political Political Theory: Essays on Institutions (Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London, England, 2016) ("Even if our main preoccupation remains with justice, liberty, security, and equality, we still need to complement that work with an understanding of the mechanisms through which these ideals--these ends of life--will be pursued. This is what I mean by political political theory--theory addressing itself to politics and to the way our political institutions house and frame our disagreements about social ideals and orchestrate what is done about whatever aims we can settle on." Id. at 6. "But first, what do I mean by Enlightenment constitutionalism? I mean a body of thought that emerged in the eighteenth century, but originated in England in the later decades of the seventeenth century, about a form of government and the structuring of the institutions of government to promote the common good, secure liberty, restrain monarchs, uphold the rule of law, and to make the attempt to establish popular government--representative, if not direct democracy--safe and practicable for a large modern republic." Id. at 275. "We need to get over whatever snobbery leads us to separate the work of the American framers form the boarder trends of the Enlightenment. Gordon Wood is right when he says in his essay, 'The American Enlightenment' that 'America was the first nation in the world to base its nationhood solely on Enlightenment values.' The Americans based their constitutional structures on Enlightenment principles, they thought of themselves as contributing to the constitutional thought of the Enlightenment, and those on the eastern shores, of the Atlantic whom we unhesitatingly categorize as Enlightenment philosophes thought so too." Id. at 276 (citations omitted). Most unfortunately and sadly, I think, late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century America (and Americans) has strayed from Enlightenment principles and values, embracing both anti-intellectualism and anti-Enlightenment.).

A RELIGIOUSLY PLURAL AMERICA IS BENEFICAL AND JUST!

Denise A. Spellberg, Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an: Islam and the Founders (New York: Knopf, 2013) ("Resistance to the idea of Muslim citizenship was predictable in the eighteenth century. Americans had inherited from Europe almost a millennium of negative distortions of the faith's theological and political character. Given the dominance and popularity of the anti-Islamic representations, is was startling that a few notable American not only refused to exclude Muslims, but even imagined a day when they would be citizens of the United States, with full and equal rights. This surprising, uniquely egalitarian defense of Muslim rights was the logical extension of European precedents . . .  . Still, on both sides of the Atlantic, such ideas were marginal at best. How, then did the idea of the Muslim as a citizen with rights survive despite powerful opposition from the outset? And what is the fate of that ideal in the twenty-first century?" 'This book provides a new history of the founding era, one that explains how and why Thomas Jefferson and a handful of others adopted and then moved beyond European ideas about the toleration of Muslims. It should be said at the outset that these exceptional men were not motivated by any inherent appreciations for Islam as a religion. Muslims, for most American Protestants, remained beyond the outer limits of those possessing acceptable beliefs, but they nevertheless became emblems of two competing conceptions of the nation's identity: one essentially preserving the Protestant status quo, and the other fully realizing the pluralism implied in the revolutionary rhetoric of inalienable and universal rights. Thus while some fought to exclude a group whose inclusion they feared would ultimately portend the undoing of the nation's Protestant character, a pivotal minority, also protestants. perceiving the ultimate benefit and justice of a religiously plural America, set about defending the rights of future Muslim citizens." Id. at 4-5. Query: Is a twenty-first "pivotal minority" able to maintain and (re)invigorate America's principles surrounding religious plurality and nondiscrimination in immigration and citizenship on the basis of religious belief and national origin? Or will the fearful majority prevail though hate? America is not a "Christian Nation." It is a religious plural nation, and out to remain such!.).

INDIAN ENSLAVEMENT IN AMERICA

Andres Resendez, The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America (Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) (From the book jacket: "Since the time of Columbus, Indian slavery was illegal in much of the American continent. Yet . . . it was practiced for centuries as an open secret. There was no abolitionist movement to protect the tens of thousands of Natives who were kidnapped and enslaved by the conquistadors, then forced to descend into the 'mouth of hell' of eighteenth-century sliver mines or, later, made to serve as domestics for Mormon settlers and rich Anglos." "Resendez builds the incisive case that it was mass slavery--more than epidemics--that decimated Indian populations across North America. New evidence . . . sheds light too on Indian enslavement of other Indians--as what started as a European business passed into the hands of indigenous operators and spread like wildfire across a vast tracts of the American Southwest." "The Other Slavery reveal nothing less than a key missing piece of American history. For over two centuries we have fought over, abolished, and tried to come to grips with African American slavery. It is time for the West to confront an entirely separate, equally devastating enslavement we have long failed to truly see.").

NEIGHBORLINESS?? CAN IT SAVE DEMOCRACY?

Nancy L. Rosenblum, Good Neighbors: The Democracy of Everyday Life in America (Princeton & Oxford: Princeton U. Press, 2016) (From the book jacket: "Nancy Rosenblum explores how encounters among neighbors creates a democracy of everyday life, which has been with us since the beginning of American history and is expressed in settler, immigrant, and suburban narratives and in novels, poetry, and popular culture. During disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, the democracy of everyday life is a resource for neighbors who improvise rescue and care. Degraded, this framework can give way to betrayal by neighbors, as faced by the Japanese Americans interned during World War II, or to terrible violence such as the lynching of African Americans. Under extreme conditions the barest act of neighborliness is a bulwark against total ethical breakdown. The elements of the democracy of everyday life--reciprocity, speaking out, and 'live and let live'--comprise a democratic ideal not reducible to public principles of justice or civic virtue, but it is no less important. The democracy of everyday life, Rosenbaum argues, is the deep substrate of democracy in America and can be its saving remnant.").

THE FALSENESS OF THE HAPPY HOMEOWNER NARRATIVE

Brian J. McCabe, No Place Like Home: Wealth, Community and the Politics of Homeownership  (New York: Oxford U. Press, 2016) ("This book's story leads to a counterintuitive conclusion about the place of homeownership in American life. Although we often laud homeownership as a tool for strengthening citizenship and integrating people into their communities, I have shown that the impact of homeownership on community life is not as clear-cut--and often, not as positive--as proponents claim. Rather than transforming citizens into better neighbors and engaged citizens, owning a home often leads them to participate in the politics of exclusion. Concerned about the value of their homes, they elevate concerns about property values above other issues in their communities. As a result, when they do engage in civic activity, or participate in local politics, they often do so as a way of protecting their financial interests. This type of civic involvement can lead to fractured, segregated neighborhoods, with homeowners working to exclude particular practices and people from their communities." "This complicated story of citizen-homeowners cuts against a widely held narrative in the United States that portrays homeowners as more responsible, engaged citizens and neighbors. Legal scholar Mechelle Dickerson refers to this as the Happy Homeowner Narrative--the uncritical belief that homeownership transforms citizens into happier, wealthier, more stable and involved citizens. [] But in this book, I have worked to set the record straight." Id. at 139.).

THE CHANGING AND CONTESTED POLITICAL ECONOMICS OF THE U.S. ARMY.

Jennifer Mittelstadt, The Rise of the Military Welfare State (Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London, England: Harvard U. Press, 2015) ("This book examines how military service intertwined with citizenship and entitlement through the history of welfare provision in the late twentieth-century U.S. Army. While all branches of the U.S. military expanded their benefits and social programs for soldiers and families, the army operated as the vanguard as well as the largest and costliest element of military social welfare." Id. at 5-6. Free market. Military service as job. Christian family values. Outsourcing. Race, class, women. Education.).