Buddhism In the News and Around the 'Net

• This might be a bit for The Worst Horse: Clint Eastwood talks admiringly of Buddhism. "‘I do believe in self-help. I’m not a New Age person but I do believe in meditation, and for that reason I’ve always liked the Buddhist religion. When I’ve been to Japan I’ve been to Buddhist temples and meditated and I found that rewarding."
  
  
• The Chinese media - I won't bother to link simply because I'm not going to take the time to do it - plays up the Buddhist angle in this movie more than the guy at Salon does.

• P.Z. Meyers has a nice bit about all the reasons people are atheists, and concludes with "My main point is that one general flaw in many atheists is a lack of appreciation for why they find themselves comfortable with that label, and it always lies in a set of sometimes unexamined working metrics for how the world works. You are an atheist — take pride in what you do believe, not what you deny."  I generally shy away from the atheist label, but I am a non-theist.  I'm not convinced "take pride" is good advice in general and in this case.  It just is.

• I'm not sure what to make of the current Karmapa controversy, except to say that if you're in somebody's country, you can't not expect them to want to benefit from your presence there, just like being in any community.  Yeah, there's a question of boundaries and limits, but those boundaries and limits are in part defined by one's position.  And there are laws.  And Buddhist bloggers should be mindful of the tendency to resort to "groupthink" in things.

• Somebody else at the Huffington Post is trying to crow-bar Buddhism into Twelve Step religion. So it goes. 

• Another Buddhist temple, another odd zoning/construction hearing from another town in California. Money quote: "You want to work with the community?" Bonsall Community Sponsor Group member Mark Litner said to Frank Hoang, who represents the project. "I'm not feeling the love here of you trying to work with the community whatsoever."