Freedom
Fall 2006 Vol. 23 #1
Fall 2006 Vol. 23 #1
Introduction
The editors give an overview of this issue’s theme and articles, pondering “Freedom” and what it means to us as Buddhists.
Features
A newly translated teaching by the Thai master Buddhadasa, on “the supreme freedom,” which he defines as synonymous with “supreme voidness.” Buddhadasa says that this freedom leads to “a life that doesn’t bite.”
Santikaro confirms the value of Buddhadasa’s type of freedom by revealing our cultural illusions.
Performance artist Nina Wise told herself, You’ve meditated for years, you do yoga, you eat organic carrots, seaweed and brown rice, you hike, take vitamins, write poetry; you are an unlikely candidate for breast cancer.
To Peter Marin, freedom is not a goal; it’s the ground from which everything legitimate arises—culturally, politically and spiritually.
Ronna Kabatznick looks at her own cravings around food through the Buddhist monastic ritual of alms rounds and the Jewish sabbath.
Richard Shankman examines the significance of samadhi in Buddhist meditation practices.
Barbara Gates (a profuse talker with a New Yorker’s love of conversation) practices “right speech” at her family reunion—which, in family matters, is minimal speech or no speech at all.
Poems & Not Poems
A poem in four parts from a reader and poet based in Fairfield, Iowa.
Dharma Jewel
The Myth of Freedom, by Chögyam Trungpa
Reviewed By Kidder Smith
Asian Studies professor Kidder Smith offers context for Trungpa Rinpoche’s Myth of Freedom—a path he likens to “open heart surgery without anesthesia.”
Reviews
First Buddhist Women: Poems and Stories of Awakening, Revised Edition by Susan Murcott
Reviewed By Ajahn Candasiri
(237 pp., Parallax Press, 2006)
Coffee-Table Books & Daily Reminders
Reviewed By Ronna Kabatznick
The gift of giving is timeless. As the holiday season approaches, we offer you ideas to inspire the priceless practice of generosity.
Books & Bodhi: A Mind Reader's Briefing
Reviewed By Peter Dale Scott, Frank Reynolds, Steve Armstrong, Ronna Kabatznick, Wes Nisker
Brief reviews of The State of Mind Called Beautiful • Mindful Politics • She Still Lives: A Novel of Tibet • Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chögyam Trungpa •The Cosmos in a Carrot: A Zen Guide to Eating Well • Presence: Chants of Sacred Power
Practice
Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia explores the Buddhist admonishment against clinging to rites and rituals.
The Dharma & the Drama
With characteristic humor and insight, Wes Nisker channels his inner beat poet in a meditation on intention.