Tag Archives | Zen

Introducing Alan Watts?

By on December 5, 2012 in News 11


It’s unlikely this will be an introduction for most Disnfonaughts but as the community grows it’s worth welcoming newcomers with a few of the basics. Trust me when I say he’ll be useful to you if you’re unaware of his work[1].

Open Culture has highlighted the arrival of the complete 1959 series of television shows which helped to make his name in the US.

If you’re familliar with his work you’ll have skipped this, prepared yourself a good fat tasty portion of Zen and already be watching the master weave some ‘classic’ spells.

Open culture writes:

The British-born interpreter and popularizer of East Asian Buddhist thought generated most of his media in the San Francisco of the 1950s and 1960s, and his televised lectures, produced for local public station KQED, must have offered many a San Franciscan their very first glimpse of Zen. Now that episodes of his series Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life have made it to YouTube (season one, season two), you can see for yourself that Watts’ then-cutting-edge delivery of this ancient wisdom remains entertaining, informative, and striking in its clarity. Begin with the introductory episode above, “Man and Nature,” in which Watts calmly lays out his observations of the ill effects of Westerners’ having grown to distrust their human instincts.

FULL STORY HERE.

[1] Early rumours surrounding The Discordian Holy text “Principia Discordia” placed him as its author. This speaks to the clout he had in the US spiritual counter culture.

Nick Margerrison

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Duncan Trussell on The DisinfoCast With Matt Staggs

By on May 25, 2012 in News, Podcasts 17

Duncan TrussellDuncan Trussell | The DisinfoCast with Matt Staggs: Episode 09

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Comedian, actor, writer and podcaster Duncan Trussell (The Duncan Trussell Family Hour, MADtv, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time) joins me for this episode of The DisinfoCast. Trussell talks about his childhood attempt to raise quail from the dead, his experiences as a student of Zen and the ways in which psychedelics are like personal lubricants. When you’re done listening to the show, visit Duncan at www.duncantrussell.com.

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Sex, Sake and Zen

By on December 26, 2011 in News 19

Portrait o fIkkyū By Bokusai[Site editor's note: The following is an excerpt from the new Disinformation title 50 Things You're Not Supposed To Know: Religion, authored by Daniele Bolelli.]

Most Westerners who become fascinated with Zen Buddhism are intrigued with its reputation as an anti-authoritarian, freedom-loving, individualistic tradition. Books by excellent writers like Alan Watts popularized an image of Zen as a very relaxed, go-with-the-flow type of religion. But even a brief visit to a typical Zen temple is enough to make us painfully aware of the difference between hype and reality. Life in real Zen temples, in fact, is often so structured, regimented and heavily regulated as to quickly dispel the romanticism created by much of the literature about it. Far from being a hippie rendition of Buddhism, Zen discipleship can be demanding and severe.

But sometimes even misguided stereotypes are born from seeds of truth. Enter 15th century Japanese monk Ikkyu Sojun, who was truly as free, wild and allergic to authorities as advertised.… Read the rest

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Resist ’1984′ in 2010: Facebook Mass Deactivation Attempt on March 7th

By on March 1, 2010 in News 37

This is a call to all readers,

I represent a small group of people who have chosen to permanently deactivate from Facebook on March 7th.

Although we are all aware of the website’s convenience, we are abandoning Facebook for the Promised Land that was once known as life. In order to demonstrate our acknowledgement of the website’s obvious capabilities, we created an event page using Facebook. You can find it here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=308145337480&ref=ts

On behalf of dwindling humanity in the face of population overload, we cordially invite you to check out the page, and hope that you will consider participating in deactivation on March 7. By gathering many participants in a show of solidarity, we hope to create some awareness and generate mainstream discussion on the true implications of web 2.0.

On the page you’ll find a heated and sometimes hilarious wall-debate outlining many different reasons why one may or may not choose to take up the cause.… Read the rest

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Science & Zen: A Closer Look

By on February 5, 2010 in News 0

DNAWritten by Chuan Zhi on the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun website:

Neuroscience has recently revolutionized the way we envision the mind and the brain. With functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) we can now literally see the brain working in real time as different parts of the brain “light up” in response to various internal and external stimuli. Researchers now better understand not only how we think about things, but also how we feel about things. Emotions of all kinds — empathy, happiness, melancholy, anger, frustration, joy – are all seen as unique brain activities in particular parts of the brain. Researchers are also finding that people differ, often quite dramatically, in the degree to which these specific parts of the brain are active for specific emotions. Some people have a huge area of the brain devoted, for example, to anger, while others may have more brain development in the empathy area (empathy, we are told, is a direct result of the presence of motor neurons in the brain).

… Read the rest

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