Comments on: Guest article: The Upper Middle Way – Have North American Buddhists renounced renunciation?

By: Johanna Lueders

Johanna Lueders — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:50:06 +0000

I absolutely agree with what this man says, i first heard his show on Tapestry, listened to it again, googled him. I am utterly convinced that Kobai Scott Whitney is telling us ALL some profound truths.. We must listen up and take heed if we want to live in an awesome, beautiful, peaceful world..

By: Ella Does Squamish :: CBC’s Tapestry :: November :: 2007

Ella Does Squamish :: CBC’s Tapestry :: November :: 2007 — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:23:48 +0000

[...] My radio was broken in my last car, may the green machine rest in peace, so for years I drove around in silence. I am really enjoying listening to the CBC again while driving. Today, driving back from a jaunt to Rathtrevor Provincial Park near Parksville, which is an incredible spot and only 30 minutes from Nanaimo, I caught the below broadcast on Tapestry which I found thought-provoking. The Upper-Middle PathYou’ve heard about the "Middle Path"? It’s one of Buddhism’s key teachings: steer clear of extremes; find a balance between indulging the senses and going overboard on deprivation. But what happens when the Buddha’s "Middle Path" becomes the "Upper-Middle Path”? Meet Kobai Scott Whitney, a writer and Buddhist prison chaplain. He says North American Buddhists are turning the great tradition into some kind of Buddhism Lite: taking what they like and leaving the rest. Newbie Buddhists, Kobai says, simply ignore anything too demanding, preferring to zone out on their comfy meditation cushions. Mary Hynes meets Kobai Scott Whitney (the name means Old Plum) on Tapestry. Here are a couple of other references to Kobai Scott Whitney’s thoughts and work:http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/on-practice/kobai-renunciation#more-454http://www.prisondharmanetwork.org/ [...]

By: George Deane

George Deane — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:14:10 +0000

You are absolutely right regarding the tendency of American Buddhist teachers to tread softly on the matter of renunciation. My teacher defined renunciation as repudiating the causes of suffering but rejected the more ascetic implications of the term – namely the object itself. Americans do not have ascetic tendencies and would find it difficult to adhere to the rigid standard you indicate here. Hence it must be watered down to the point where you can enjoy the object in question and pretend that you are renouncing it simultaneously.

By: David R Munson

David R Munson — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:48:01 +0000

You have addressed a core issue that has been nagging at me for several years now. I am young (25), but I already find myself aware of an imbalance in my own life. I am not remotely wealthy, and in fact worry most days about paying my bills. All the same, my life has been dominated by clutter and unnecessary complexity and drama, and I now see a vast amount of this traced back to (surprise!) being overly attached to the things I have around me. Having made this realization, I began the journey towards renunciation of sorts. Here in America we cling to everything, looking for something that always eludes us. How many of us, I wonder, would find exactly what we needed in life, if we just let go of all the detritus of life we hoard around ourselves, and were to strive for the simplicity that embodies what the Buddha had in mind.