Buddha on the Brain

I just read this interview with B. Allan Wallace on the Buddhist Channel.  It's about science and Buddhism, specifically the science of the mind.  Quite an interesting read.

So my semester is winding down now.  I've finished a short paper due next Saturday and now have to finish the presentation that goes with it.  Then I have just one other paper related to the Theravada sangha (the monastic community of S.E. Asia, but for the purposes of this class, the paper will be about the early sangha in the time of the Buddha and soon after).  I'm reading Gregory Schopen's Bones, Stones and Buddhist Monks about the early sangha for this paper.  I usually skip the preface, but in this case I read the whole thing.  Or was it the acknowledgments....  In any case, his totally unpretentious, self-effacing sense of humor makes me like him.  He's got none of the self-important snobbishness one often finds in academia.

I also have on my desk Geri H. Malandra's Unfolding Mandala, a book on the Buddhist caves at Ellora in Maharashtra, India.  I had no idea these caves had anything to do with the rise of Tantra in India until I read this.  The art work represents some of the earliest carvings of tantric deities in India.

I'm also re-reading sections of one of my text books: Buddhist Monastic Life According to the Texts of the Theravada Tradition.  This is one of the best accounts of the early sangha I've come across.

I'm actually looking at a stack of books about a foot high, but I won't bore you with an entire list of the tomes.  I really do recommend the three I've listed above, especially Schopen's book. 

I may not blog too much again before my retreat.  I've got papers to write as I mentioned above and one more exam.  Next semester, I plan to take a methodology course, one on hermeneutics (the use of language), a Tibetan language class (I've decided to focus on Tibetan now and will probably study Sanskrit later), and a class on Tibetan texts.  All this is on top of working full-time, but the Tibetan language and text classes are all-day classes Friday and Saturday for four weeks only, so for most of the semester, I will have just two classes. I think I can pull it off. 

I also need to get my supplies together for my retreat (see the note in the right had column and this blog entry).  I need to bring all my non-perishable items with me, and plenty of blankets as there is no heat in the hut I will be practicing in.  I'm really looking forward to this retreat.  It will be my first in four years.

That's all for now.

Comments

[kunzang]

Best wishes for your study/exams and for your retreat. Different methods, same goal: end of suffering for all. So wonderful you could carve out the precious retreat time from your long work and study filled days. May it nourish you fully for the next slog!!

[Amy Dyrek]

"0"

[Andy]

Are you on retreat? I'd like to hear more of your musings.

Lately, there's been alot of postings about Gregory Schopen's talk on the original sangha as a form of corporation. Interesting subject. Any thoughts?

[Rinchen Gyatso]

I'm not aware of Schopen's talk. Can you send me a link to something about it?