As many, if not all, trans feminine individuals intimately come to understand, our social recognition is caught up in a peculiar catch-22: if you do not adopt the social conventions that uphold the meaning behind the designation “woman”, you’re asked how anyone can take your identity seriously, but, if you do adopt such conventions then … More Loud and Proud
I like to think of a communizing program based on Cooperativism as analogous to the process by which a Bodhisattva becomes a Buddha. I’ll elaborate on each before I draw the connection. After I draw the connection, I’ll make the point that beyond the analogy, the two can be concretely realized as component parts of … More Co-operative Bodhisattvas
If the thought “I should probably take a break from social media” has ever arisen in your mind, you should take it very seriously. And I’m not just talking about putting the phone down or just closing the tab, but actually taking extended breaks for days, weeks, even months. I knew that obsessive social media … More Retreat from “Social” Media
If and when duality (the mode in which phenomena appear as different from each other and occupying the states of presence or absence) is found to be erroneous, there is the tendency or urge to move towards a “higher” mode in which phenomena are seen in some sense as actually identical to one another and … More Genuine Non-Duality (as the Non-Duality of Duality and Non-Duality)
Some thoughts on the dichotomy of self-empty (rang stong) and other-empty (gzhan stong): The basis of the dichotomy comes about from considering the role and scope of negation in the apprehension of emptiness. The dialectic of emptiness that runs through the various tenet systems (from Vaibhashika to Sautantrika to Cittamatra to Madhyamaka) progressively refines the negandum or … More Beyond the Impasse of Self-Emptiness and Other-Emptiness in Tibetan Madhyamaka
Avoiding extremes, we abide in the middle. Extreme views arise out of a basic ignorance of the nature of reality, and ground themselves on a basis that is assumed to be, or argued to be, the true nature of the reality with which they are concerned. Extreme views give rise to extreme behaviors, which are … More Middling without a Middle
Xenotechne:Alien techniques of abstraction.Theopoiesis:Divine art of communion. Devoid of the act of abstracting individualsout of the concrete continuum,There would be no congregation to communeIn the first instance. Devoid of the need for real communionBetween congregated individuals,There would be no reason for abstractionIn the last instance. Though functionally distinct, Xenotechne and TheopoiesisAre basically inseparableIn their being different … More Verses on Xenotechne & Theopoiesis
In contemporary Buddhist Studies (which refers to the mostly Western, semi-global academic study of Buddhism, and not the indigenous systems of actually existing Buddhadharma) the Madhyamaka is often rendered as a form of philosophical anti-foundationalism, which is opposed to totalizing, metaphysical forms of thought based on self-sufficient first principles or self-grounding foundations which pretend to, … More On Madhyamaka non-foundationalism
Consummate Buddhahood is like an alien intelligence from the future assembling itself entirely from the past and present afflictions of sentient beings, transforming this afflictive basis into remedial elements more conducive to the eventual and inexorable realization of this perfected body of wisdom and bliss. Cosmically speaking, humanity becomes known as being, and as having … More Buddhahood at the Terminus of a Thanatropic Humanity
I don’t think I’ve ever not been somewhat of a night owl in terms of my sleep schedule. For a long time I’ve been taught to internalize these habits as something inherently wrong with me (lazy, irresponsible, disorganized), or I attribute it to some condition (I was majorly depressed throughout my teenage years, making it … More Sleeplessness and Wakefulness under 24/7 Capitalism
