The person who made me aware of the video’s existence criticizes Sullivan’s take as “shallow.” He goes on: “Again with the ‘extinguishing of the individual,’ the nihilist error. The point being, of course, that *no* independent self can be identified or proven as having *ever* existed as an entity beyond false concepts imputed on the dependently arisen, temporarily-hung-together, psychophysical array – i.e., there’s nothing to extinguish except erroneous ideas that keep us in cycles of dissatisfaction. Who wouldn’t want to extinguish those? All Buddhism asks is that we give up false ideas. But don’t expect a political commentator to embrace that any time soon. [...] I do agree with him that Merton’s cool, though.”

What do you think?

UPDATE: The same person who commented above now writes with this update:

“A reader has followed up with Andrew, quite intelligently and gently. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. Maybe my perception of his attitude set me off. Also I said ‘nihilist’ when I should have said ‘eternalist.’ Now who’s the dope?” Click here to read the followup post.

You may have seen this photo (or others like it) going around, posted on Facebook, etc, with a note that it’s of Burmese monks praying for world peace. That’s not quite accurate.

The actual story is that this is from a photoset of what some call a cult, based out of Thailand, whose “mass ceremonies are inspired by the head abbot’s fascination with the Muslim hajj gatherings and Nazi parades…” That description and the photoset itself — called “Close Encounters of the Buddhist Kind” — come from Foreign Policy. These photos really do beg to be seen. Only, in context.

Obviously, this is for silly/parody/entertainment purposes only. As for me? I got “The Monk Great Name.” That is not nearly as cool as “Tha Eurythmic King of Nowhere” (my Wu name) but if you want to try it yourself, click here. (And let us know what you got in the comments here.)

Hat-tip to my main man Barry Boyce.

And Miller, it can be said, loved honestly, too. You’ve got to admire that, as well.

What really has people talking, and reading of course, is Miller’s last blog post, appropriately titled “The Last Post.” In it, Miller writes, as it were, from “beyond the grave,” providing a posthumous summary of how the cancer that took his life changed it, how he gained perspective on the people around him, and about the mysteries that will survive him: how will the lives of his wife and daughters go on now that his own no longer can?

Why am I talking about this here? No, Miller’s now-famous Last Post wasn’t a post about Buddhism, or about culture, or about meditation — but it was about life, and by extension, as the meditation teacher Larry Rosenberg puts it, “living in the light of death.” That’s by no means an exclusively Buddhist idea or ideal, of course. But it’s something that you’ll find Buddhism does, again and again, concern itself with. And Buddhism, it has been said by many teachers now, is really about appreciating your life.

In his Last Post, Miller shared an appreciation of his life whose eloquence and beauty makes me both smile and cry and feel a whole bunch of love every time I read a paragraph or two. It’s powerful writing if ever there was powerful writing, and so in that regard, I’m pleased to be able to point you to it.

But that is, of course, far more bitter than it is sweet; I’d rather have known about Derek before he’d gone. So if you hold a favorite fearless writing or teaching about death in your heart and mind, I hope you’ll share word of it in the comments here. When it comes to truly appreciating our lives, as Miller knew, every word helps.

Now: am I pointing to this because [I think] it’s funny and smart and worthwhile, or because it, um, exists?

You’ll quickly figure that out, I’m sure.

Thank you!

The main thing about these Awards is to get a chance to be exposed to some of the best Buddhist bloggers out there. So check out all the finalists; winners to be announced this coming Sunday.

Well, you heard the man: You have GOT to watch it. (Not really, but I enjoyed it and you might too.)

Thanks, as always, Konchog.

I’m pretty sure you’ll be glad you did. And for more about Peter Rowan, visit his website.

(And: Happy Thanksgiving.)

Hey, any meditation teacher who loves Mastodon and the Wu-Tang Clan is my kinda meditation teacher.

Check out the interview here.

And thanks to the mighty Sam DeWitt for the heads-up on this one.