The Tantric Woo-Woo of Christopher Wallis, Part 1

June 23, 2018

This article is my response to Christopher Wallis’s 2017 book “The Recognition Sutras: Illuminating a 1000-Year-Old Spiritual Masterpiece.” This book, which is a translation and explanation of Tantric master Ksemaraja’s “The Essence of the Recognition Philosophy” (Pratyabhijna-hrdaya in Sanskrit), has, so far, received nothing but glowing five-star reviews at Amazon (but this will change when I post my review). According to the book’s description at Amazon: “Pratyabhijna-hrdaya is one of the primary sources for the study and practice of nondual Tantrik Yoga, and it has never been accurately translated or fully explained until now. Christopher Wallis, author of “Tantra Illuminated: The Philosophy, History, and Practice of a Timeless Tradition,” expounds the subtleties of this spiritual and philosophical classic.”

I’ve read two other versions of Pratyabhijna-hridaya, so I was already familiar with Ksemaraja’s work before reading Wallis’s translation/explanation.… Read the full article

Why I’m Not an Objectivist

June 15, 2018
[This is a raw, unedited article that I just finished writing. At some point in time, I’ll develop it further.]

Although I am a HUGE fan of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, and agree with most of its tenets, I don’t qualify as an Objectivists because I don’t embrace all its tenets—and Rand made it clear that to be an Objectivist, one must do so. Objectivism, according to Rand and her intellectual heir, Leonard Peikoff (who founded The Ayn Rand Institute in 1985), is a “closed system, “meaning that it is not subject to revision or expansion. When philosophy professor David Kelley, affiliated with Peikoff and the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), argued for Objectivism as an “open system,” Peikoff rejected his argument, and Kelley left ARI, subsequently founding his own “Objectivist” institute, The Atlas Society.

Because I agree with Peikoff’s POV (that Objectivism is Ayn Rand’s philosophy) and reject Kelley’s (that Objectivism should not be delimited to Rand’s philosophy), I classify myself as a quasi-Objectivist, meaning that I have philosophic differences with Rand.… Read the full article

Universal “Brotherhood” in the New Age

May 8, 2018
[This is an excerpt from my book "Electrical Christianity: A Revolutionary Guide to Jesus' Teachings and Spiritual Enlightenment," which is available in Kindle and paperback at Amazon.]

Q: Is the Aquarian Age the panacea that will lead to universal brotherhood and a true New Age?

A: Not necessarily. To my taste buds, the current New Age (of Aquarius) movement is hardly a bowl of fresh, delectable cherries; it’s more like pabulum or packaged tapioca. Instead of profound Truth doctrines, it proffers assorted versions of dumbed-down Dharma drivel. When a clueless, fogged-out mystic like Eckhart Tolle (Sun sign in Aquarius, by the way) is your movement’s shining star, then you know that Dystopia, rather than Utopia, is the likely outcome of your brotherhood-and-unity babble.

Aquarius, like every other astrological sign, has its dark side, or weaknesses. Though usually friendly, it is impersonal and dissociative. I’ve had a number of Aquarius girlfriends over the years, and not one of them was good at intimate, interpersonal relations. But a positive aspect of the Aquarian vibration is increased tolerance.… Read the full article

The Lankavatara Sutra: New Perspectives

March 27, 2018
[This is a raw ,unedited article that will be included in my forthcoming book on Zen. It includes excerpts from my previous writings on the Lankavatara Sutra.]

The Lankavatara Sutra (abbreviated LS or Lankavatara) is a profound and important Mahayana Buddhist sutra. It propounds the doctrine of Cittamatra, a sub-system of Yogacara which asserts that a single universal Mind (or Consciousness) has become everything. As such, the LS is akin to Hindu Kashmir Shaivism and Tibetan Dzogchen, which likewise assert that a single omnipresent Consciousness or Awareness (Siva or Dharmakaya), has manifested as all existents.


Unfortunately, however, if an impressive LS commentary has been penned since D.T. Suzuki’s in his Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra and The Lankavatara Sutra in the early 1930s, I haven’t encountered it. What separates Suzuki’s analysis from those of other LS exegetes is his understanding of LS’s Cittamatra philosophy. Unlike other authors on the said subject, he groks the important distinctions between the Yogacara Cittamatra of the LS and the Yogacara Vijnaptimatra/Vijnanavada of Asanga, Vasubandu, and others.
… Read the full article

Buddhist Politics 501

March 19, 2018
[This is a raw, unedited chapter (which I just finished writing today) from my forthcoming Zen book. If you have any recommendations for improving it, please let me know.]

According to the Pew Research Center’s party affiliation among Buddhists by political ideology survey in 2014 (http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/political-ideology/by/party-affiliation/among/religious-tradition/buddhist/), 12% of American Buddhists identify themselves as conservatives, 32% as moderates, 54% as liberals, and 2% “don’t know.” There is little reason to doubt the veracity of this survey, because other such surveys provide similar results.

Left-wing Buddhists not only outnumber right-wingers by more than a 4/1 ratio, but many of them are now devoted to combining Buddhism with a “progressive” political agenda. At his blog Hardcore Zen (hardcorezen.info), Brad Warner comments on this phenomenon:

“What bugs me is when it appears that liberal, left-leaning Buddhists are trying to mix Buddhism with their political agenda in precisely the same way people like Pat Robertson mix Christianity with their conservative political agenda.… Read the full article

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →