Thanks to my friend Sam DeWitt, who sent news of this video clip with the message “Here is Josh Korda (our teacher at NYC Dharma Punx) interviewed on CBS Doc Dot Com. America will never be the same!”

CBS’s own caption for the clip: “Dharma Punx in New York City mixes the tradition of Buddhism with the ideology of punk rock. Dr. Jon LaPook talks with teacher Josh Korda about how the seemingly different connect with the help of meditation.” Check out the video, after the jump. (more…)

The third and final installment of my Shambhala Sun Audio interview with Noah Levine, founder of the Dharma Punx and Against the Stream movements, is now online.

In it, Noah talks about how he deals with all the attention he gets, and why Americans might want to take a good look at creating their own stream of Buddhist practice. You can listen here. You’ll also find links to the previous two installments. Noah has some good stuff to say — definitely worth a listen.

How should one Buddhist sign off on an email to another Buddhist? It’s no big deal, right? Wrong. It is way more complicated than you might imagine.

Are you SURE about that?

You see, when I was an administrator at a dharma center, I wrote between 20 and 40 emails a day, many of which were navigating complex issues of a sensitive and personal nature. The standard sign-off from one Buddhist to another in the vipassana/Theravada lineage in the West is “metta,” the Pali word for the brahma vihara of loving-kindness. The problem is that “metta” has become used so frequently-in fundraising letters, in memos, etc.– that it has become the equivalent of “sincerely.” The reader (at least this reader!) doesn’t necessarily expect that the writer really has taken a moment to send loving-kindness to all 20,000 people on the mailing list. Perhaps we intend it more as a dharma-insiders’ handshake.

But because “metta” is over-used, at some point staff people, teachers, and even students began using “love.” This really bothers me because some people sign “love” when I cannot imagine they love me. How could they? All I did was help them register for a course, or something similarly administrative. But then I am stuck: they signed love, if I don’t write “love” back, then am I giving them a cold shoulder? And if I do write “love”, then am I validating something I am not sure I agree with?

And believe it or not, because “love” is used so much, if you use “metta” you are being pretty chilly. For example, one of my dearest, bestest friends also worked in this dharma organization. However, I didn’t always agree with her ideas and from time to time we would get a bit worked up about things. Naturally, some of our emails were tense. I always try to be sincere in my signoffs, so while I normally would sign “love” to her, if I was aggrieved, I would sign “metta.” Signing “metta” meant that I did NOT sign “love” and that meant that I was actually pretty pissed off and that meant that when I wrote “metta” I did not mean metta. I was just trying to see if I could conjure it.

There’s one signoff that is between “metta” and “love,” and that is “with love.” “With love” means that you are just sending the letter with love but you are not making a statement about the whole relationship. I like to use “with love” when there’s something difficult for the other person and I want them to know I empathize.

The dear friend I mentioned before has found a good solution for signoffs among close dharma friends. She does “xo” for “hugs and kisses.” The problem is that when she’s really pleased with something or with me, she does more x’s and o’s. “Oh, I loved the birthday card you sent me! Xxxxxoooooo.” So if she uses just one xo, I am not sure if she’s feeling peeved or in a hurry or what. I will actually take a moment to notice if it’s xo or xxoo or xxxooo. I use “xo” myself now, but sometimes people for whom English is not a first language are left a bit baffled (I tried explaining it to my Korean husband, only to realize I had no idea why x=kiss and o=hug). And, it is also a tricky signoff if I am writing to a man who isn’t my husband!

My Zen friend Josh uses emoticons [or, "graticons,"] which is also a good solution. Here’s a bow: /|\. Bows are a nice way of ending a letter. The students from the Zen tradition often do “Gassho”, which is a bow, but like “metta” you run into all kinds of nuances with that, too. Since “gassho” is commonly used, I wonder if the Zennies too are using “love” among themselves!

Personally, I have settled on two solutions. One is to simply mirror the signoff the other person did, with the exception of “love.” I always feel relief when the person doesn’t do any signoff or does the beautifully simple “Best.” The Protestant New Englander in me really appreciates restraint, so that when something is really worth expressing a feeling about, it’s all the more meaningful. If someone has been using “best” for a long time and then shifts to “with love” I am gratified by the deepening of our relationship. My other preference is to sign off with “Gratefully.” Before I do, I check with myself to see if I really am grateful. Many of my emails are about needing something, asking something, and I truly will be grateful if the person can write back with the something that I need. My only worry with “Gratefully” is that it might seem like I’m trying too hard to be humble. No one likes pretentiousness.

Some of my least favorite signoffs are “take care” and “peace.” I think “take care” implies that the person has forgotten to take care of themselves and you, who knows better, are reminding them. “Peace” feels too 60s and I am not one to imitate. The one signoff that truly gratifies me is from a monk I know who signs with “Peace and Joy.” I like it because he greets me (and all others) with “Peace and Joy, Sumi!” and you can tell he really means it. So when he signs his letters, it’s like he’s really there beaming peace and joy at me.

You are probably thinking that I am insane or obsessive or have too much time on my hands. Perhaps. But the signoff is a statement of where you think the receiver stands in your pecking order of acquaintances, colleagues, friends, dear friends, and dearest friends. That matters. Moreover, we all know that email tends to intensify or misconstrue what people really mean. The signoff, which we often notice, is like the aftertaste of a letter. If the taste is nice, that can change the interpretation entirely. So, bon apetite, dear dharma friends, and, as my characteristically irreverent Zenophile friend Josh recently signed off,

Boogers,

Sumi

Sumi Loundon Kim is the spawn of Zen nuts and spent a good portion of her childhood in a Zen commune. Bewildered by normal people, she went on a search for her identity, which resulted in two books, Blue Jean Buddha: Voices of Young Buddhists and The Buddha’s Apprentices: More Voices of Young Buddhists. She has a Master’s degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and was until recently the associate director at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, MA. Sumi teaches mindfulness practice to young people in Asia and America, and writes often on young adults’ encounters with Buddhism and meditation.

Dig this new New York Times “Bowery Journal” report on Noah Levine, Dharma Punx, and Josh Korda, who runs an NYC DP group.

A sample quote: “Perched on a ledge behind Mr. Korda, who was kneeling at the front, was a small white statue of a seated Buddha — with a mohawk. It is a curious combination; punk is typically seen as an expression of aggression, whereas Buddhism espouses compassion. But Mr. Korda and his friend Noah Levine, who started Dharma Punx, say both movements are rooted in dissatisfaction with the way things are, a desire to live in the present and a thirst for peace of mind.”

What’s extra cool is that as of 10 am, this article was the lead on the front page of the NYT site. What’s less cool is that the Dharma Punx site is seemingly down because of all the traffic they must be getting.

Well, nice problem to have.

When it comes to comix, twenty bucks had better go a long way. Well, Guy Delisle’s Burma Chronicles goes a long way indeed. For some of us, this lovingly-made hardcover might be the closest we ever get to taking a trip to Burma (notoriously a.k.a. Myanmar).

Delisle has written and illustrated two previous graphic accounts of trips to Asia: Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, and Shenzhen: A Travelogue in China. In Burma Chronicles we see Delisle’s drawing and storytelling get even more refined, and at the same time, more personal. Even after all the coverage that washed over our PCs and TV screens with the recent surges of the Saffron Revolution, a more intimate sense of what life is like in Burma has somehow been missing. Thankfully, Delisle depicts so much with his simple panels: the near-unbearable heat and the intensity of “the rainy season”; the homes, so many of which look like “they were carved up by a mad architect”; the near omnipresence of government guards and the deeply-seated censorship that are part of Burmese life.

Delisle is an outsider, visiting with his family in support of wife Nadege’s work with Doctors Without Borders. Often left behind, Delisle does his best to be part of the strange new country he and baby son Louis find themselves in. In so doing, regular guy and great dad Delisle broadens his world: learning how to shop in village markets, teaching animation to a ragtag group of Burmese cartoonists, becoming fascinated with the life and story of National League for Democracy prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, whose home-turned-prison is just a stroller-walk away. Also nearby is a Theravadan meditation center. “Good grief,” reflects Delisle. “Reaching Nirvana must be something else. I better get started one of these days.”

Finally, near the end of the Chronicles, Delisle’s day comes, and he visits a vipassana temple for a three-day retreat. Though he’s an Westerner in Burma, his is a pretty typical first-retreat experience: he’s hesitant, he’s full of doubt, and then, slowly, the beauty and the weight of the experience settle in. By the times he leaves, there’s a change: “…if I’d known, I would have come here from the start of my stay and not waited till the end… After 42 hours of meditation in 3 days, I feel more peaceful than ever before, but also very alert.”

At that point, only a few more pages of Burma Chronicles remain, as the Delisle family packs to leave the country.

Where will they go next? It almost doesn’t matter. If Burma Chronicles is any indication, it’ll be worth the wait and, for sure, another twenty bucks.

You can get Burma Chronicles directly from publisher Drawn & Quarterly, here.

Here’s Noah’s new blog (more or less about his own brand-new website) for Huffington Post.

Go, Noah.

He, and the new documentary about him, have even landed on the MTV movies blog.

And hey, while we’re trawling the web, here’s a nifty little time-machine artifact from a 1952 issue of TIME.