Neurodiverse Triratna
Neurodiverse Triratna

Autism and Buddhist Practice

By NDTriratna on Mon, 3 Jul, 2023 - 16:41

Autism and Buddhist Practice

By NDTriratna on Mon, 3 Jul, 2023 - 16:41

Here is a book that may be of interest to you, whether or not you are autistic around different aspects of Buddhist practice. It includes a chapter from our very own Prajnanandi. It would be of particular use to those looking to articulate more about their autism and how it works with Buddhism, or those who are interested in supporting autistic individuals.

The description from the publisher:

“This series of reflective accounts explores the benefits that Buddhist practice can bring for autistic individuals, and...

Buddhist Centre Features
Buddhist Centre Features

Seeing It Better: A Review of 'After Cézanne' by Maitreyabandhu

By Vishvapani on Thu, 21 Apr, 2022 - 17:26

Seeing It Better: A Review of 'After Cézanne' by Maitreyabandhu

By Vishvapani on Thu, 21 Apr, 2022 - 17:26

After Cézanne,
By Maitreyabandhu,
Bloodaxe, 2019

Review by Vishvapani
Maitreyabandhu’s most recent poetry collection reflects on Cézanne’s paintings and is a subtle meditation on the possibilities of art and perception

The epigraph of Maitreyabandhu’s most recent collection After Cézanne is a quote from a letter the artist sent to Emile Bernard in 1904: ‘Talking about art is virtually useless.’ That challenges the fifty-plus poems in the collection, which all relate directly or indirectly to Cézanne’s painting and are generously...

Buddhist Centre Features
Buddhist Centre Features

The Sound of One Hand by Satyadasa: Review by Vishvapani

By Vishvapani on Tue, 5 Apr, 2022 - 16:12

The Sound of One Hand by Satyadasa: Review by Vishvapani

By Vishvapani on Tue, 5 Apr, 2022 - 16:12

The Sound of One Hand
By Satyadasa
Yakhorn Press, 2022

Like Satyadasa I’ve been a part of the Triratna Buddhist Community for the whole of my adult life. He’s about a decade younger than me, but many of the Triratna experiences he describes in The Sound of One Hand are shared. Like me, David (as Satyadasa is called up to his ordination) grew up in the middle-class South London suburbs and had an Oxbridge education before pitching into...

Western Buddhist Review
Western Buddhist Review

Debating the Middle Way

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Wed, 25 Sep, 2019 - 18:16

Debating the Middle Way

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Wed, 25 Sep, 2019 - 18:16

Here we present a review by Arnold Tilley of a new book by Robert Ellis, founder of the Middle Way Society:

Robert Ellis 

The Buddha’s Middle Way, London: Equinox, 2019, 320pp., £23 pb

review by Arnold Tilley

Much of the content of Ellis’s book concerns the Buddha’s Middle Way, yet seen as an instance of a purported universal Middle Way ‘which springs from the structural needs of human beings (and possibly other organisms)’ (p.281). Ellis’s formula for this universal Middle Way is expressed by...

Western Buddhist Review
Western Buddhist Review

Precision Dharma

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Sun, 19 May, 2019 - 12:22

Precision Dharma

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Sun, 19 May, 2019 - 12:22

Vajratara reviews a first-class new book on early Buddhist doctrine:

Early Buddhist Teachings

by Y. Karunadasa

Boston: Wisdom Publications 2018, 240pp, hb £22.50, pb £11, ebook

review by Vajratara

In a book market saturated with books about Buddhism, one may not immediately choose a book about early Buddhist teachings written by a Pali and Buddhist studies Scholar. However, though Early Buddhist Teachings goes over some of the same ground as other books about basic Buddhism, it offers a fresh and comprehensive overview that leaves us with a deeper understanding. Professor Karunadasa explains...

Western Buddhist Review
Western Buddhist Review

Philosopher Strikes Gold

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Mon, 15 Oct, 2018 - 13:19

Philosopher Strikes Gold

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Mon, 15 Oct, 2018 - 13:19

Another review – this time by myself (Dhīvan) on an excellent new history of Buddhist philosophy in India:

The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy

by Jan Westerhoff

Oxford University Press, 2018, 326pp £30 hb

 review by Dhīvan

In a customary gesture in books like this one, [1] Jan Westerhoff asks in his introduction what the purpose might be in his writing another history of Buddhist philosophy, given that those already available were written by such eminent scholars. In this case, the eminent scholars are Volker Zotz (writing in...

Western Buddhist Review
Western Buddhist Review

Weighing the Evidence

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Fri, 12 Oct, 2018 - 10:55

Weighing the Evidence

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Fri, 12 Oct, 2018 - 10:55

We present a review by Nāgapriya of Anālayo’s recent study of the Buddhist teaching of rebirth and what evidence there might be for the truth of it:

Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research

by Bhikkhu Analayo

Wisdom Publications, Somerville MA, 279pp. hb. £22.50

review by Nāgapriya

Bhikkhu Anālayo has garnered a distinguished reputation as an authoritative scholar of the Pali Canon and early Buddhism. His mastery not only of Pāli sources but also of parallels in Chinese translation has enabled him to produce a growing corpus of...

Western Buddhist Review
Western Buddhist Review

Welcome to Gandhāra

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Fri, 21 Sep, 2018 - 16:12

Welcome to Gandhāra

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Fri, 21 Sep, 2018 - 16:12

We present here a review by Dhīvan and Kulamitra of an important new book for the study of early Buddhist literature and history:

Richard Salomon

The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhāra: An Introduction with Selected Translations

Wisdom Publications, Somerville, MA, 2018, pb $29.95

review by Dhīvan, with a contribution by Kulamitra

In 1994, a clay pot containing ancient birch-bark scrolls appeared on the antiquities market in Pakistan, and was acquired by the British Library. Richard Salomon was one of the first scholars to inspect these fragile scrolls,...

Western Buddhist Review
Western Buddhist Review

Freedom and persuasion in the attention economy

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Sat, 8 Sep, 2018 - 11:32

Freedom and persuasion in the attention economy

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Sat, 8 Sep, 2018 - 11:32

We’re delighted to present a review by Akasapriya of an important new book of philosophical reflection on the effects of contemporary social media:

James Williams, Stand Out of our Light

Cambridge University Press, 2018, pb £13, or available as a free ebook

Readers of Vaddhaka’s book The Buddha on Wall Street (reviewed here) may recall that he dedicated a chapter to the attention economy. The term refers to the various ways in which internet-based companies make money, often indirectly, from the users of their services. Stand...

Western Buddhist Review
Western Buddhist Review

Buddhists and Stoics in the Philosophy Café

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Sat, 12 May, 2018 - 13:22

Buddhists and Stoics in the Philosophy Café

By Dhivan Thomas Jones on Sat, 12 May, 2018 - 13:22

We present here a review of a new book exploring common ground between Buddhism and the philosophical tradition of Stoicism:

More Than Happiness: Buddhist and Stoic Wisdom for a Sceptical Age

by Antonia Macaro

Icon Books, London, 2018. £12.99 hb

review by Dhīvan

I met the author of More Than Happiness, Antonia Macaro, at a mindfulness retreat in 2016 led by Ven Anālayo,[i] and then again in November 2017 at a Bodhi College weekend on ‘Philosophy as a Way of Life’. An encouragingly large number of us listened to Stephen...

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