{"id":756,"date":"2009-08-19T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2009-08-19T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/08\/10-of-the-best-websites-for-buddhism.html"},"modified":"2009-08-19T12:00:34","modified_gmt":"2009-08-19T12:00:34","slug":"10-of-the-best-websites-for-buddhism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/08\/10-of-the-best-websites-for-buddhism.html","title":{"rendered":"10 Of the Best Websites for Buddhism"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wake up early every morning, meditate, make coffee, write a bit and usually check out a few sites online. Besides the Interdependence Project One City blog<\/b><\/a>,<\/b> which I humbly submit manages to have a more relevant, lively, and consistent conversation about Buddhist technique in 21st century lifestyle than anyone else out there –   I’ve found that there are a handful of blogs and websites I always come back to. So in no particular order, here are the 10 of the best websites to check out when exploring your own practice (or just if you’re just curious about Buddhism).<\/p>\n

 I follow most of these by subscribing with the always free Google Reader<\/a>; before that i just had a little folder called “Daily Reading” in my Firefox toolbar. Many of them have Twitter accounts as well.<\/p>\n


\n
1. How to Save the World<\/a> <\/b>
\nDave Pollard is an extraordinary thinker who has been writing for years
\nabout the intersection of environment, intentional community, and
\npersonal choices and “a better understanding of how the world really
\nworks”. There is no other writer who so consistently challenges the
\nlimits of my understanding and causes me to return again and again to
\ntheir ideas. Dave nearly always leads to me to an “ah-hah” moment, but
\nsometimes it takes re-reading or marinating his essays to get it.<\/p>\n

2. Buddhanet<\/a><\/b>
\nHands down the most absurdly well-stocked library of information about
\nBuddhism online, Buddhanet has everything from online meditation
\nteachings, to an evolving Buddhist eLibrary, a massive director of
\nSanghas and Buddhist organizations worldwide, mp3’s of chanting,
\nteachings and Buddhist songs – all donation supported since 1995. This
\nis one of the first places I saw Buddhism being explored online, and it
\nis constantly being updated.<\/p>\n

3. The Dalai Lama’s Personal Wesbite<\/a><\/b>
\nHis Holiness’  website includes audio teachings in many languages
\n(check out Webcasts) as well as news updates and a photo gallery that
\nmakes me wonder why he’s never done a music video.<\/p>\n

4. Buddhist Geeks<\/a><\/b> While The Interdependence Project may have the best podcasts of contemporary Buddhist classes<\/a>
\navailable online, Buddhist Geeks is the leader in awesome interviews
\nwith Buddhist teachers, scholars and thinkers, all of which are meant
\nto inspire direct action rather than just mere “flapping their gums”. 
\nChief geek Vince Horn did a great guest post<\/a> here at the IDP blog last week that drew over 170 comments.<\/p>\n

5. Tricycle<\/a>
\n<\/b>While Buddhist Geeks and the Interdependence Project rigorously strive
\nto make teachings relevant to 21st century internet dwellers, Tricycle
\ntends to a bit more navel-gazing, critical analysis and review. Always
\nthoughtful, always scented by just a whiff of Nag Champa, Tricycle’s
\nonline magazine and their blog are where I go when I need a more
\nphilosophical moment.<\/p>\n

6. Kevin Kelly’s Lifestream<\/a><\/b>
\nBack in the day, Wired Magazine was a mind-bending, thought-provoking
\nhotbed of thinking about how people, technology, and the physical
\nenvironment intersected. Though it’s tended toward more standard
\ncoverage of toys and technology over the last few years, founder Kevin
\nKelly’s writing about the Technium on his personal blog continues to
\ndeliver impactful ideas on a par with Dave Pollard’s.  In his latest post<\/a>,
\nhe proposes that The Technium  (his term for the physical world of
\ntechnolgy) comprises less than 1% of all the physical atoms on earth,
\nyet has an effect perhaps more profound than the other 99%. The
\nLifestream is a feed of all his writing on all the subjects he writes
\nso eloquently about.  <\/p>\n

7. Shambhala Sunspace<\/a><\/b>
\nWhen Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche brought his version of Buddhism to the
\nWest forty years ago, he framed them as the Shambhala teachings to make
\nthem relevant to a young American audience.   As Shambhala Sun magazine (the
\nphysical version) continues to serve a largely older population made up
\nof the people who gave Buddhism its foundation in Western Society, its
\nblog Shambhala Sunspace is finding its sea legs as it engages today’s younger audience.  Editor Rod
\nMeade Sperry is doing a fantastic job, and it wouldn’t surprise me if
\nhis work with Sunspace becomes an important part of the emerging conversation about Buddhism in modern life.<\/p>\n

8. Illuminated Mind<\/a>
\n<\/b>Jonathan Mead’s website about livelihood, creativity, and finding your
\nauthentic voice could easily be a pastiche of cheesy self-development
\ncrap.  Instead, he’s managed to make lessons learned on his own deeply
\nfelt (and ongoing) journey to self-actualization relevant to anyone
\nwho’s ever wondered “who the F am I anyways?”  I’ve never asked
\nJonatahan if he’s Buddhist or if he practices meditation, but I do know
\nthis: he tests every idea that he comes up with in the lab of his own
\nlife, rejects what doesn’t work, keeps what does, then writes about it
\nin a way that makes me feel like I am up at 2AM having an amazing
\nconversation with an old friend. Love it.<\/p>\n

9. Elephant Journal<\/a><\/b>
\nIf the Interdependence Project is the New
\nYorky\/crunchy\/environmentalist\/Kumbaya\/neurotic love child of Martin
\nLuther King Jr, Allen Ginsberg and Woody Harrelson, then Elephant
\nJournal is our easy-breezy\/Bouldery-y\/athletic
\nintellectual\/pine-scented\/ski-pass toting\/yoga-doing cousin. 
\nPersonally I’d love to see a shirtless Celebrity Buddhist Smackdown
\nbetween Ethan Nichtern and Waylon Lewis, but I should proabably keep my
\nsordid fantasies to myself. In any given day, Elephant Journal might
\nwrite about yoga practice, a consumer boycott, the coolest yoga pants
\nto buy, and the decline and resurrection of a personal meditation
\npractice. If I turn the computer off for two hours, when I turn it back
\non I’m almost guaranteed there will be something fresh from Elephant
\nJournal. <\/p>\n

10. Ann Coulter<\/a><\/b> One of the key
\nteachings of Buddhism is to develop enough space in your own mind that
\nyou can recognize, and choose how to deal with, the three poisions of
\ngreed, anger and ignorance.  As root causes of suffering, we dedicate
\nour practice to shining a light on the poisions in ourselves and
\nothers, in order to alleviate dissatisfaction.  I can think of no
\nbetter opportunity to practice compassion or deal with our own internal
\nreactions than being faced with a living, breathing example of the
\nthree poisions run amok.  Ann Coulter is a shining example of what
\nhappens when you (consciously or not) embrace the poisons and then
\npackage and sell them back to other people to increase their
\ndissatisfaction without offering any hope or path to a more easeful way
\nof being.  This may be the best site site of all the best
\nsites for Buddhists, as it offers an opportunity to practice how we
\ndeal with unskillful emotions in oursleves, and in others.  It’s easier
\nbeing Buddhist in the familar environments of  Elephant Journal,
\nTricycle, or Buddhist Geeks –  but what happens when we are confronted
\nwith button-pushing unskillful dogma?  <\/p>\n

I’ve deliberately
\navoided listing any sites that are commercial re-packagings of the
\nBuddha’s teachings as instant enlightement, “quadrant thinking”, or new
\nagey self development.  (you know who you are – some of your ads even show up automatically at the bottom of this page).  <\/p>\n

What’s your favorite places to visit online? What sites have I missed?<\/b><\/p>\n

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