Comments on: Top 10 celebrity Buddhists

By: KA

KA — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:01:31 +0000

I am attending my first Buddhist temple service tomorrow and am very much looking forward to it. I was born and raised a Methodist, believing in the Trinity. Majoring in European history and philosophy in college changed that and I have become more of a Deist, firmly believing ‘God’ gave us reason and not religion. I am grateful we have the freedom to experience and learn new things. Very excited to learn more about Buddhist philosophies and practices!

By: Bodhipaksa

Bodhipaksa — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:11:23 +0000

Thanks. That’s going to save me a ton of time.

By: Tom Armstrong

Tom Armstrong — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:17:50 +0000

No problem. Just set the papers where you’ll eventually write the updated/new article to one side and, using my magical powers, I put the commas in this evening in advance of you inserting the words.

By: Bodhipaksa

Bodhipaksa — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:10:13 +0000

Yeah, I’ve been “planning” to write a new version of the article for almost two years now (“planning” here being a technical term that means “not actually doing anything”).

It has to happen. And I’ll call on your comma-placement superpowers, if you don’t mind.

By: Tom Armstrong

Tom Armstrong — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:07:06 +0000

One of us should update this vital arena of information, Bodhipaksa. Since Zen Unbound is defunct, I think either the National Enquirer [Buddhist Edition] or Wildmind [if it hasn't gotten to be too classy, what with Justin Whitaker as one of its writers] or elephant journal would joust for the chance at such as esteemed and reader-luring piece.

I nominate you for this task. You’re a much better writer and better looking than me. My only skill is that I’m a wiz at comma placements.

By: Bodhipaksa

Bodhipaksa — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:48:40 +0000

Great minds think alike! This is the first time I’ve heard of your article, Tom.

By: Tom Armstrong

Tom Armstrong — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:39:47 +0000

Hey, wait a minute. This story looks familiar.
http://web.archive.org/web/20060103171646/http://www.zenunbound.com/celebbuds.html

By: Kevin Briggs

Kevin Briggs — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:31:26 +0000

Thanks for the very interesting list. It is great to see the dhamma do well represented in Hollywood.

I’d like to chime in on the criticism of Tiger’s practice. I think it is not helpful to call Tiger a “bad” Buddhist. He certainly strayed from the dhamma with his various infidelities, but in Buddhism we can always start over and start following the dhamma with a fresh focus. It seems to me that he was aware that he strayed from the path. He acknowledged this publicly. His actions have resulted in some bad press for Buddhism, but he expressed an aspect of Right View, and it is clear that he intends to have Right Action.

We should support his renewed focus on the dhamma. One of the greatest aspects of the dhamma is our opportunity to start living with mindfulness each and every present moment.

With metta,
Kevin

By: John

John — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:37:28 +0000

Kwatz.

Every sentient being is a nascent Buddha. As Buddhism is specifically not a religion, it would be quite difficult to highlight who ‘practices’ said and who does not.

Anyone who has set themselves on the path of awakening, by applying the concept of Neti Neti to everything to which they have merely been conditioned, would likely qualify as ‘Buddhist’.

Those anchored to the idea of Buddhism as a ‘religion’ (in the current common conception of that word) will likely not awaken…this time around.

By: Bodhipaksa

Bodhipaksa — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:51:43 +0000

There are a lot of languages I don’t speak.