Now more than ever, Buddhists are using scientific tools and scientists are using Buddhist wisdom to uncover truths about the universe. Here, we present a collection of articles on the fruits of those collaborations. Featuring the Dalai Lama, Daniel Goleman, Karen Kissel Wegela, Vincent Horn, Judy Roitman, Jack Kornfield, Judy Lief, Sam Littlefair, and more. Buddhist [...]
The Dharma of Distraction
It goes a lot deeper than how many times a day you check your phone. According to Buddhist teacher Judy Lief, distraction is the very foundation of ego, the way we protect ourselves against both the pain of life and the open space of awakened mind. You could even say that letting go of all distraction is the path to enlightenment. Distractions are everywhere, all the [...]
How do you text “I’m meditating”?
How do you say "I'm busy developing insight into the nature of mind," in a text? Soon, you'll be able to say it the same way it seems everything is communicated in 2017: with an emoji. For World Emoji Day on Monday, Apple released a preview of its forthcoming emojis, including a meditator emoji. Predicts my colleague, LionsRoar.com assistant editor Lilly Greenblatt, "This is [...]
“Ice stupas” bring water to drought-stricken villages of Northern India
Traditional Buddhist monuments are bringing life to a Himalayan community grappling with climate change. Villagers in Northern India have invented a way to fight drought, inspired by traditional Buddhist architecture. Each winter since 2013, the people of Phyang, Ladakh, have built stupas — traditional Buddhist monuments — made out of ice. When the whether warms and [...]
13 Buddhist Apps to Help Recognize You Don’t Really Need a Buddhist iPhone App
Sam Littlefair learns why there are so few Buddhist apps and how — even if they're not totally necessary — they might help you on your spiritual journey. I select Stop, Breathe & Think on my iPad, and the app opens to a friendly drawing of a meditator, next to a large “Begin” button, which I tap. I’m swept into my guided meditation. Close your eyes, reads the next [...]
Is a More-Enlightened Social Media Possible?
Dan Zigmond, a Zen priest and the director of analytics for Facebook's News Feed, argues that social media can promote thoughtful and compassionate discussion. As the director of analytics for Facebook’s News Feed, Dan Zigmond works on the algorithms that decide what more than a billion people read each day. That’s a big responsibility. After the U.S. election, commentators [...]
New research explores benefits of Buddhist practice in virtual reality
Buddhist teacher Andrew Holecek says virtual reality, just like lucid dreaming, could be an opportunity to investigate the mind — or it could be "super samsara." What do dreams and video games have to do with Tibetan Buddhism? For one thing, they all introduce us to “dereification” — the creeping feeling that reality isn’t as solid as we might think. For another, they will [...]
Joy, Awe, Surprise, and Bodhisattva A.I.’s: An interview with author Alexander Weinstein
Author Alexander Weinstein writes about Vajrayana sleeper cells, virtual-reality children, and commodified digital enlightenment. Here he talks with Myles McDonough about the Buddhist themes in his debut short story collection, Children of the New World. Myles McDonough: You received your B.A. from Naropa University, an institution founded by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam [...]
After ten years, Buddhist Geeks shuts down
Buddhist Geeks — the podcast about dharma, technology, and culture, which has been downloaded more than 10 million times — is no more. On Tuesday, founders Vincent and Emily Horn announced that they have stopped the podcast, memorializing it with a death poem and launching a fundraiser to pay for the organization’s outstanding costs. Horn says Buddhist Geeks may publish one [...]
Xian’er the robot wants to answer your questions about Buddhism
The ongoing collision of technology and dharma is rife with both promise and pitfalls. So what are we to make of Xian’er, developed by Chinese artificial intelligence experts to, as ShanghaiList reports, “sense his surroundings and answer deep questions about Buddhism?” Already well-known as an animated character who teaches Buddhist concepts, Xian’er is now firmly in the [...]