A book in progress...
Why Buddha Touched the Earth
Update: November 25 2012: the edited manuscript is off for layout and final proofing. Why Buddha Touched the Earth will be available soon from Megalithica Books.
If you'd like to be updated on the progress to publication, and to receive information about my workshops and lectures on topics related to Zen Paganism, please join my mailing list. Or you can "like" the book's Facebook page.
Meanwhile, there are a few excerpts up to entice and amuse you.
Shortly before his death, John Lennon called himself a “Zen Pagan.” With this he gave an excellent name to a religious trend that goes back at least as far as Henry David Thoreau, who wrote of his love and respect for both the ancient nature god Pan and the Buddha.
The connection between Buddhism and nature spirituality is ancient. According to legends of the Buddha's enlightenment, in his hour of need he asked the Earth to bear him witness, rather than appealing to a heavenly deity. Over the centuries Buddhism influenced and was influenced by nature religions like Taoism and Shintō, and its introduction to the West came partly by the work of spiritual nature writers like Thoreau and Gary Snyder. Occultists like Aleister Crowley and H.P. Blavatsky played key roles in both Buddhist and Pagan history.
Why Buddha Touched the Earth: Zen Paganism for the 21st Century investigates these connections. It combines rigorous historical research with lively and practical discussions of mysticism, magic, meditation, ethics, and the future of religion.
Some excerpts from the manuscript:
- Chapter 1, "I Love Being Religious!"
- excerpt from Chapter 4, The Mystic Sense
- excerpt from Chapter 7, The Tapestry of Zen Pagan History, Part I
- excerpt from Chapter 11, Why Buddha Touched the Earth
- excerpt from Chapter 14, Zen and the Art of Magic
If this looks interesting to you and you'd like updates about the book and related work, you might want to get on my "Zen Pagan" mailing list, or "like" the book's Facebook page.
. Thanks.
-Tom Swiss / tms@infamous.net
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Comments
Nice
I am not Wiccan that I know of, but I am a follower of what Buddha sought. I think this sounds like it is/will be a good a good book.
Fascinating!
As an eclectic with a serious tossed-salad spiritual approach (Tao & Zen, heavy Native American influence, a dab of Wicca, reflexive vestiges of Catholicism being transformed into Creation Spirituality, with a Quaker practice overall), I'm enjoying this. Signing up for your mailing list, looking forward to more...
I am sure there are endless
I am sure there are endless philosophical and cultural perspectives on Buddhism in the modern world but I don't think we should forget about the basic fundamentals in Buddhism, these are the fundamentals that keep it all together. Thanks for sharing these resources, I've also recently found an interesting reference to the church of Shambhala, I think it adds to the matter.