“I’m looking California / And feeling Minnesota / So now you know, who gets mystified…” – Soundgarden, “Outshined”
Heavily inked, yet sporting the orange robe of a Buddhist monk in the Cambodian tradition, Boo Roth is not hard to spot on the streets of Rochester, MN (pop. 110,000). And now, neither is his artwork.
A transplant from Stockton, CA, this “Full Metal Monk” (a moniker bestowed by a friend for his habit of cranking Pantera and such while he creates) is making his mark on Rochester through officially approved public art projects. Painting wall murals, as well as electrical transformers and town benches, Roth enlists area children, and even random passers-by, to join in the process. The subject matter is diverse—comic book heroes, Americana, the Japanese woodblock painting of ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa,’ the word ‘Love’—but the point, according to a recent story on Roth’s work in the Austin (MN) City Herald, is that “…the project is a way to give back to the community, and to help community members to creatively express themselves.” Continued »
“Getting Off the Emotional Rollercoaster” is the name of this year’s annual “What the Buddhists Teach” program at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. Co-presented by the Shambhala Sun Foundation, it will run from July 19 to 21 and feature Anyen Rinpoche, Polly Young-Eisendrath, and John Tarrant, all exploring emotions and how to work with them in everyday life. During the weekend, participants will learn to cultivate a sense of calm and spaciousness, make friends with negative emotions, transform the inner dialogue that accompanies them, and apply helpful Buddhist techniques to deal with them on the spot.
The retreat combines presentations, meditation, and discussion, and draws on the wisdom of three major Buddhist traditions: Vipassana, Zen, and Tibetan Buddhism. The program is open to both experienced Buddhist practitioners and those who are new to Buddhism. For more information and to register, click here.
Gyuto Monks as pictured on the cover of their new release, "Chants."
By Konchog Norbu
The Gyuto Monks of Tibet, whose seminal recordings of their unique overtone chanting have long stoked spiritual and musical imaginations, are once again collaborating with some of the most cutting-edge musicians and producers, with major recordings and appearances imminent.
Currently touring Australia with HH the Dalai Lama, the Gyuto Monks will break away to participate in this year’s Glastonbury Festival, their first visit to the UK since selling out London’s Royal Albert Hall exactly 40 years ago. In addition to creating a sand mandala in the festival’s Green Fields area, the monks will take the stage on June 27th in a performance timed to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tibetan Declaration of Independence. (Students for a Free Tibet will be touring a replica of this document with “Reclaiming Independence” events in the US this summer; see the schedule and read a translation here.) Continued »
Is Edward Snowden a Buddhist? If one were to read the widely-circulated AP profile on the NSA leaker, one could be led to believe so. In the media scramble to glean meaning about Edward Snowden’s 29-year old life and the possible motives for his actions, reporters have been sniffing along his online trail, including sifting through more than 750 comments he left on the technology blog Arstechnica. Mining Snowden’s writing about personal freedom, privacy, and security (he posted under the pseudonym TheTrueHOOHA), the AP writer offers this nugget: Continued »
Body was 375 pounds. And in “Body and Me,” from our July magazine, Ira Sukrungruang bares his soul about their complicated relationship.
Click here to read an excerpt. And be sure to check out the rest of our July issue, which features more articles about our bodies, from pleasure and pain to performance and path. You’ll find pieces by Karen Connelly, Thich Nhat Hanh, Jaimal Yogis, Tara Bennett-Goleman, and more. Click here to see all of this issue’s contents.
He’s said it before, and he’s saying it again. The current, fourteenth Dalai Lama told crowds in Australia this week, “If the circumstances are such that a female Dalai Lama is more useful, then automatically a female Dalai Lama will come.” He went on to say that our world is in need of more female leaders: “biologically, females have more potential,” the Dalai Lama said. “Females have more sensitivity about others’ well-being.”
“This,” writes Shoba Narayan in a new post for The Atlantic, “is where I lost him.” So she investigates this statement and weighs it against scientific studies. Yes, it’s only fair, in terms of balance, to have more female leaders. But, Narayan asks, are women really more compassionate than men? Check out her post, here.
Have you heard of this show, The Goodwin Games? It’s currently on the air, having come on as a mid-season replacement on FOX. But, apparently, its finale will air next month.
Too bad. Okay, I’ve only watched one episode (“Hamletta”), having just stumbled upon the show the other day. I’m not saying The Goodwin Games is brilliant — how could I, especially after just one episode? But it does seem to be, at least, *good.* Sometimes, that’s refreshing in itself. Also refreshing: the main characters — one sister and two brothers, previously estranged but reunited after their father’s death — all seem to share positive values. They’re multidimensional. They love each other and say so. And: one of the Goodwin brothers, Jimmy, is a Buddhist.
Yes, this character is fond of quoting the Buddha, make no mistake about it. Continued »
Andrew, far left, and Meg, far right, with Kristina Parlee in a publicity shot for The Reference Desk.
As is the case with our art director Liza Matthews, we like our hires in that department to be real artists. Whatever their medium. That includes the medium of music.
So we’ve just got to crow about the just-released “New Music” issue of the great local weekly here, The Coast, which features not one but two bands that include Shambhala Sun art-department figures. First there’s Psychic Fair, with our new Associate Art Director, Andrew Glencross — who’s also played with Buck 65 and others — on bass. Then, there’s The Reference Desk, which includes Andrew on guitar, as well as Megumi Yoshida, who previously held Andrew’s position and now serves as Associate Art Director for Mindful. And Meg’s even in another band, Halifax stalwarts, Bad Vibrations.
Now playing — the trailer for “Brad Warner’s Hardcore Zen,” a documentary about Zen monk, author, musician, and filmmaker Brad Warner:
A cut of the film is currently being entered into film festivals, but there’s time — about a month left — to pitch in and help get the film properly finished. Click here to visit its IndieGoGo page to find out more.
And look for a feature review of Warner’s new book, There Is No God And He Is Always With You in the September 2013 Shambhala Sun magazine.
When it’s rainy, as it is here outside the Shambhala Sun offices today, it’s easy to see things as dreary. But there’s an alternative: seeing fresh. Contemplative photography is a great way to do that.
Through contemplative photography we can work with the contemplative state of mind, seeing the world in fresh ways, and expressing our experience photographically. Each week we choose an image that’s been submitted to seeingfresh.com that really exemplifies this practice. This week’s photo, by Maria Claudia Quijano, is a lovely display of texture and color, a harmonious perception of what might normally be seen as random drops of rain. It’s a fine example of fresh seeing.
Shambhala Sun readers will be familiar with Lily Koppel and her wonderful gift for telling true stories about female friendship. In Between the Lines of the Red Leather Diary she wrote about her inter-generational friendship with Florence Wolfson Howitt—a ninety-year-old woman she tracked down after finding her old journal in a dumpster. Then in The Five of Us Koppel wrote about the powerful connection she has shared with her four childhood girlfriends and the divergent and intriguing paths their lives have taken.
Now Lily Koppel is celebrating the release of her new book The Astronaut Wives Club, which is about the wives of first Americans in space. Most of these women started out as ordinary military spouses who had to pinch pennies. Continued »
Enid at ten minutes old; Wilder holds his new sister
We want to congratulate two members of the Shambhala Sun Foundation family for the new addition to their family. Jamie Proctor Boyce, who worked in our publisher’s office until she had to stop for obvious reasons, and Eddie Boyce, the Shambhala Sun’s associate publisher, have a new daughter. Enid Beatrice Boyce was born on Sunday. Enid’s brother is the impossibly cute Wilder, who, Eddie writes, “is already the proud older brother, showing her his favorite spots around town. On the drive home from the hospital he alerted her to some key intel: ‘Baby Enid, that’s Java Blend!’” One day old and she’s already a hipster! We’re so happy for them all.
With our new July magazine — all about your body, from pleasure and pain to performance and path — available now, we share Jim T. Lindsey‘s unique take on a simple practice that helps the body and mind work together.
Photo by Stella Ducklow, Dartmouth NS.
Rowga is a portmanteau word that combines the words rowing and yoga. The practice of rowga is likewise a blend of these two, with an emphasis on meditation.
The seed of rowga was planted in 1991, in an old van headed north on Highway 1 to a meditation center in northern California. Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso (The Scholar Who Is an Ocean of Discipline) was our precious cargo. From Kham in Tibet, he had been teaching us in Berkeley and we were escorting him to his next congregation in Sonoma county. We were much taken with his talks about Milarepa, the great twelfth-century Tibetan meditation master who spontaneously composed thousands of songs about enlightenment. We asked him to make up a song just for us.
This is the translation of what he sang, looking out the window at the sparkling Pacific stretching away to our left:
Mind is like the ocean in its vast expanse. Thoughts are like waves that arise from the ocean and into the ocean subside. Continued »
An excerpt from “For Love of Nature,” Andrea Miller’s Q&A with famed anthropologist and primatolgist Jane Goodall — as found in our July 2013 magazine.
You use the word spiritual. How would you define spirituality?
It’s the opposite of being materialistic. Some people believe that everything is just there for its material value, or just as a thing. And then other people believe there’s something more than that, which I happen to believe. I don’t know if I can define spirituality—I’m not sure anybody really has—but it’s something that you either feel or you don’t. It’s an awareness of life that’s more than just the physical presence.
In your work as a primatologist and an ethologist, what anecdotal evidence have you discovered that demonstrates animals can feel compassion or love?
I’ll give you one story. There was an infant chimpanzee named Mel. He was three and should still have been riding on his mother’s back, sleeping with her at night, and suckling. But his mother died. Continued »
The clearly Buddhist-influenced cover for Akron/Family’s 2006 album, Meek Warrior.
In a new interview with the Auburn Citizen, Ryan Vanderhoof, formerly of the excellent and adventurous band Akron/Family, talks about his new music and his Buddhist practice. On balancing being a practitioner and being a musician, he says:
“In order to integrate Buddhism into my life I needed to focus on it in-depth. To find success with Akron/Family we needed to spend all our time making it a success. I needed to integrate Buddhism into my life fully, and spending the last six years doing that, it’s really informed my life and my music in all ways. So yeah, I’ve found a balance.”
Read the whole interview here. And for more on the Buddhism-and-music connection, see our feature story featuring k.d. lang, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Born I Music, Tina Turner, and others from earlier this year.
“Getting Off the Emotional Rollercoaster” is the name of this year’s annual “What the Buddhists Teach” program at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. Co-presented by the Shambhala Sun Foundation, it will run from July 19 to 21 and feature Anyen Rinpoche, Polly Young-Eisendrath, and John Tarrant, all exploring emotions and how to work with them in everyday life. During the weekend, participants will learn to cultivate a sense of calm and spaciousness, make friends with negative emotions, transform the inner dialogue that accompanies them, and apply helpful Buddhist techniques to deal with them on the spot.
By Konchog Norbu
Shambhala Sun readers will be familiar with Lily Koppel and her wonderful gift for telling true stories about female friendship. In 
