Scott Mitchell offers us a glimpse of the ever-evolving world of Pure Land practice in North America. From the Winter 2018 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly. It’s a late summer afternoon, and strings of lanterns run from the Buddhist Church of Oakland’s substantial facade to the trees in Madison Park. Inside, the minister is giving tours of the hondo, [...]
Yes, Buddhism is a Religion
Buddhism shouldn’t be stereotyped as a New Age fad or reduced to a mere technique, says Scott Mitchell. We miss so much by not acknowledging what it really is. In the American imagination, Buddhism has long been associated with counterculture drop-outs—Beat generation iconoclasts, Age of Aquarius hippies, woo-woo New Agers. This unfortunate stereotype identifies Western [...]
Every Crime and Every Act of Kindness: Cloud Atlas, reviewed
The film version of Cloud Atlas, says our reviewer Scott Mitchell, presents a surprisingly traditional view of karma and rebirth— “and so any attempt to figure out its logic is probably doomed." Cloud Atlas is an ambitious film: one that is both compelling and something of a mental workout. In its attempts to convey both the broad scope of humanity across several centuries [...]
Stephen Colbert brings his view of Buddhism to the “Nation”
A guest post by Scott Mitchell, who teaches at the Institute of Buddhist Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and is co-host of the DharmaRealm podcast. Drats. It would appear I could soon be out of a job, and thanks to Stephen Colbert, no less. Right now, Colbert Nation – the website, of course, of Comedy Central's Colbert Report – is featuring a [...]
