I used to think Buddhism was all about ommm-ing on a cushion, tapping finger cymbals while incense wafted over you. Which sounded mildly pleasant but not relevant.
Since I started studying what Buddhist philosophy really means in 2007, I’ve found that what Ethan says is right on – Buddhism’s teachings about compassion and interdependence are not only relevant, they’re URGENTLY relevant, and useful as philosophy even if you follow the religious teachings of Christianity, Judaism, Muslim, or any other faith.
My own deepening meditation practice has led me to places I never would have expected, some of them pretty frightening in their clarity. I am also known to have an extremely allergic to Koolaid, which the country’s best doctors say has only gotten worse since I started meditating.

I appreciate this emphasis on questioning the teachings, of one’s teacher, of tradition, even of the Buddha himself. The fact remains, as Socrates argued, that virtue — or right action, or mindfulness-awareness – cannot be taught. It can be pointed out, it can be exemplified, and it can be analyzed and expressed in language in helpful ways. But only the individual can beat and and burn and cut and rub the teachings in order to figure out the truth for herself.
This emphasis in Buddhism on the necessity for the individual to make her own journey across the river is what I most love about Buddhism and the meditative traditions in general. Basically, meditation is sitting down and watching one’s mind. Abstracting oneself, and at the same time sinking deeper and deeper into the present moment through the careful training of one’s mindfulness-awareness. Still, basically, it’s sitting, it’s watching, it’s being present. We sit and sit and sit, and burn and cut and rub, and we discover the teachings for ourselves.
And yes, as I see it, one could Twitter mindfully. A tricky art, indeed!

I think a tricky part studying Buddhism in the 21st century is understanding when to spin/reinterpret the teachings and when to sit with the teachings, and maybe even drink that – if not koolaid – then, um, let’s say ginger tea.
If the teachings are in conflict with our pre-conceived notions of how we think about our career, our relationships, our thoughts about justice, etc., we need to examine that thoroughly, rather than saying “it’s a different time.”
Well I mean that I see my personal relationship with Buddhism as a process of becoming increasingly more honest with myself. That could mean either updating/interpreting the teachings based on my cultural history or letting go of some mainstream preferences I’ve been justifying because they seem culturally acceptable.

Let’s apply a healthy does of skepticism to this blog entry-
OneCity blog and ID project are here to develop allergies to koolaid?
“There’s only one way to deal with the 21st century from a Buddhist perspective.” – This sounds a lot like drinking the Koolaid

It is this always questioning aspect that really draws me to Buddhist practice. It is very self-empowering.

I agree there is an urgent “need to skeptically examine beliefs, actions, and culture in the unique context of the present moment. “I just can’t say whether it’s more urgent now than at other times in history, say, like during the Black Death, or the Age of Exploration/Colonization, or the Enlightenment, since I only have experience of this time. But my experience of this time says, yeah, it’s pretty urgent.

A great article. The trick is to be able to have devotion and a skeptical mind. It is an ongoing balance.

@Gili – you have modified what Ethan wrote – note you have added a period at the end of his sentence, vs. leaving the colon and the full quote:
“There’s only one way to deal with the 21st century from a Buddhist perspective: we need goodhearted, compassionate, and inquisitive people to develop a collective allergy to Koolaid”
I agree with Ethan that developing compassion, “goodheartedness”, and an inquisitive nature are all worthwhile; as is developing an allergy to Koolaid (Koolaid being a metaphor for corporate/societal pressure to consume w/o regard to consequences for self, planet, and other sentient beings).
Ethan is clearly not saying that the Buddhist perspective is the only way, if that’s your beef; there are other practices and faiths that may be equally useful in developing a right view. But I don’t disagree with his assertion that from a Buddhist perspective, compassion, goodheartedness, and inquisitive nature is the only way.
And yeah – apply skepticism, repeat, and apply skepticism!!! But can we agree to apply skepticism to what Ethan actually wrote, not a modified version of it, and see if it holds up.

I agree with Patrick- the experiential, try it out for yourself nature of Buddhism was/is really appealing to me. I appreciate that the Buddha invited skepticism.

@MiniMoFo – speaking of modifying things, you might want to check the link to the explanation about drinking the Koolaid
if anything my “beef” with what Ethan wrote is more along the lines of what @Ellen commented except that I would take it one step further and say that this sense of urgency does not help in developing compassion nor do all these communications tools Ethan mentioned. Developing compassion is the ultimate communication tool. Buddhism has proven itself a tremendous tool in developing compassion.
and who knows maybe we’d all be better off drinking the koolaid?

Hi Ethan-Great post.
You quoted Buddha as saying, “As the wise test gold by burning, cutting and rubbing it…, so are you to accept my words only after examining them and not merely out of regard for me.”
Maybe another way to ponder that statement is in the context of taking the “middle path,” rather than beating the hell out of his teachings or being skeptical. His invite to “examine” his words, not just because he is the Buddha, but rather to invite an open discussion where there are no absolutes and each practitioner experiences their own reality.
There are no absolutes….right?
peace-yogajane

words can not describe how much I like this post, and how much this message needs to be considered now, more than ever. I’ve been starved for this kind of dialogue. The collective, predictable cycles of the zeitgeist’s sugar-highs have been leaving me rather psychologically malnourished.
So thank you.

I disagree that there is more urgency how than at other periods. how is impermanence speeding up, exactly, in terms of reshaping the world? And if the urgency has to do with things being fucked up in the world, they always have been fucked, although the nature of the fucked-up-ness changes, or seems to…
I love this phrasing:
“ancient psychological science and tradition of meditative inquiry” very nice.

In the path of figuring out the truth, you have to trust yourself. That is the only thing you can rely on. Be aware of the consequence of your activities. Also be careful of all the Buddhism teachers out there, especially the most famous ones. If you want good books of Buddhism, seek out Buddha’s sutra or books that have survived at least 300 years of test by time.

I think would respectfully disagree, on one level at least, with those that think that we’re not in a period of particular historical urgency. From the standpoint of the material world, we’re at a critical juncture in my opinion, pushing all of the world’s systems from food to climate to natural resources to wildlife to their limits. We’ve successfully interwoven our systems and lives into a tapestry that is, I’d argue, *more* interdependent that they have been at any point in history, which means that we have a greater responsibility to pay attention to the nature of this interdependence than has been asked of human beings in the past, at least on the material level.
To be fair, when the Buddha spoke of interdependence, and laid out the idea of prat?tyasamutp?da aka “Dependent Arising” or “Codependent Origination”, he was speaking solely to the mind, and not to the material/physical world. This is a common place where people get tripped up about the concept of Karma. When you stub your toe, that’s not Karma ripening. When you have the reaction of being incredibly upset by the fact that you’ve stubbed your toe, long after the physical pain has worn off, that’s karma ripening and being co-created in that moment.
So yes, the mind is no more interdependent than it ever was. In my opinion though, our world is.

I really like this. It makes so much sense to me.

Accepting the teachings wholeheartedly based upon faith is not inherently negative. When we take Refuge, for example, there’s a big leap of faith involved.
As long as we’re not wearing blinders, we can accept teachings on “faith” (perhaps combined with previous experience) while still conciously examining the significance (or lack thereof) in today’s world.
We might even want to just sit with the teachings rather than “beating the hell out of them.”

Congrats to Ethan and all the other amazing people doing One City on this new, spiffy platform. It is wonderful that you shall have this expansive opportunity to let people read y’all’s cool thought and valuable insights.

Congrats to Ethan and all the other amazing people doing One City on this new, spiffy platform. It is wonderful that you shall have this expansive opportunity to let people read y’all’s cool thought and valuable insights.

Empathetics–I don’t mean to say we’re not facing real urgency in terms of needing change, my point is that there has always been urgency. Things have always been terrible. Jim Crow laws? Centuries of slavery? Two examples in the list of past atrocities–two examples in a what is probably an infinite list going back to the dawn of humankind.
I’m not sure what “From the standpoint of the material world” means exactly–but from the rest of the sentence, I gather it means environmentally? In that case, maybe so… though I’ll guess environmentally speaking things have always been bad, in different ways, in the industrialized world.

@empathetics
“To be fair, when the Buddha spoke of interdependence, and laid out the idea of prat?tyasamutp?da aka “Dependent Arising” or “Codependent Origination”, he was speaking solely to the mind, and not to the material/physical world.”
This is true for the shravaka schools, but the Mahayana extents the idea to account for everything.
“When you stub your toe, that’s not Karma ripening. When you have the reaction of being incredibly upset by the fact that you’ve stubbed your toe, long after the physical pain has worn off, that’s karma ripening and being co-created in that moment.”
Karmic ripening is not limited to our reactions to events, however. The big one is the determination of what realm we are born into.

Don’t expect Buddhism can solve all your problems. This is modern time and human civilizations have accumulated a lot of knowledge. And as an individual, you have the responsibility to learn the knowledge to function responsibly in this world. You need to rely on thinking because you cannot see society clearly. That is the limitation of human being. If you are able to learn of the human world both horizontally (across different geographic regions) and vertically (historically), you will be able to see and act without thinking.
Human beings are limited, and we don’t know everything. When we need to carry out responsibilities that require us to obtain knowledge that is outside of our existing scope, we need to know how to obtain that knowledge. But it is not always easy to learn of new knowledge. So sometimes thinking helps, to a degree. But by thinking, we also easily send us to a path of confusion. I will not go into details here, which will require a lot more words to describe.
But when we are carrying out things that don’t really require us to obtain a lot of new knowledge, for example, brushing the teeth after getting up in the morning, we just stay with what we already know. There is no thinking. Then your consciousness is perfect and there is no problem at all. You are directly connected to the world and there is no anxiety. With that, even you encounter situations that require you to obtain new knowledge, you know how to learn without thinking. Also you need to know that you will never be able to know everything. So it is fine to just do according to what you already know now. When you just do that, your consciousness is perfect and you have no problem.
With all that said, how do you start your practice? When you brush your teeth, just brush your teeth. When you eat, just eat. When you sleep, just sleep. If you are able to do that in these simple situations, it will be easier for you when it comes to more complex situations, especially situations that require learning.
Don’t learn Buddhism. But find your own way of how you want to live your life. If Buddhism can be of any help in that regard, it is a big blessing.

This post really makes sense. I like it! It is wonderful opportunity for me to learn different thoughts & insights.