The provocative title of this post comes not from one of my sleep deprivation induced paroxysms of self-righteous indignation, but rather from a beautifully selected forum discussion in the current issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly.
You can read the forward by Charles Johnson online, but you’ll have to buy a copy of Buddhadharma to read the entire discussion with Larry Yang, Amanda Rivera, angel Kyodo Williams and Bob Agoglia. You’ll also find a great piece by Jan Willis, “Yes, We’re Buddhists Too!” I couldn’t recommend this issue enough.
The forum discussion is one that readers of this blog really shouldn’t ingore. Read it and let me know: what did you think?
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AnonymousDecember 20, 2011 at 4:33 PM
one of my sleep deprivation induced paroxysms of self-righteous indignation
Glad I am not the only one. 🙂
Eisel MazardOctober 6, 2012 at 11:37 PM
Note: Shambolic Sun headquarters = Eastern Canada.
We’re talking about Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada: a place that is not only white, but built on a history of British Empire genocide.
http://www.gov.ns.ca/abor/img/map_firstnations.jpg
Buddhism is an extremely marginal religion in Canada (see chart, below), but even more marginalized (and close to extinction) are the religions (and languages) indigenous to Canada:
http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.ca/2012/08/religious-identity-in-canadian-census.html
Race and racism in Canada are a big deal, but the “Asian-White dichotomy” is not the only source of tension here.
The fact that people have forgotten that Shambolic Sun is Canadian (and Halifaxian at that) is a reflection of their commercial success –but in the photograph you’ve selected, their roots are certainly showing.
They aren’t reflective of a spectrum of American Buddhism generally –nor American Buddhism in Chicago specifically. This is Halifax we’re talking about.