Tanja from Germany spent months practising meditation in Myanmar (Burma).
I asked her to send me a summary of the three places. Continue reading
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Tanja from Germany spent months practising meditation in Myanmar (Burma).
I asked her to send me a summary of the three places. Continue reading
The 10-day Goenka courses have become well known in the Buddhist world since Goenka (30 January, 1924 – 29 September, 2013), a wealthy Mumbai businessman, launched his Vipassana courses in 1969 to a group of Western seekers travelling in India. Continue reading
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We held our 42nd annual Dharma retreat in India on mindfulness, insight meditation (vipassana) and liberation in India in late February. 2016.
Indian newspapers had been reporting a decline of around 5% tourists per year (outside Goa) for several years in India. For example, British tourists and travel agents were disgruntled with the £98.00 visa charge (the British government charge even more for Indian citizens to secure a tourist visa for the UK), plus sending in the passport, photo and visa forms to the Indian High Commission. One small error or oversight in the form could result in delays in securing the visa. Continue reading
In his books, articles and public lectures and debates, Sam Harris engages in frequent diatribes against Muslims. He appears obsessed with the undermining of the Islamic faith in every fault-finding way he can dig up.
While occasionally, he makes a mild acknowledgement to moderate Muslims, he pursues his condemnation of Islam. Extremist Muslims also condemn the West. Extremists of any persuasion live in blame of the other.
Yet, I don’t think Harris has a phobia about Muslims. I define a phobia as an extreme, irrational fear of an unresolved issue triggering anxiety attacks or panic. He comes across as intensely anti-Muslim.
Sam Harris has around three decades of experience in Insight Meditation (referred to as Vipassana in the Buddhist tradition). He has attended short retreats of a week to three months in the West and Myanmar, as well as engaging in spiritual exploration in India. He has years of interest in the teachings of Non-duality (Advaita) but does not appear to have understood. He seems to have identified his extremist and dualistic views as Pro-West and Anti-Islam, which he sees as the external reality, rather than his state of mind.
I suspect Sam lacks real contact with Muslims in the Muslim world. Alienation from the Muslim community reinforces these verbal/written attacks. It is hard to perceive a threat, an enemy, if you spend time in their homes, culture and benefit from their hospitality.
As the English proverb states: “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” In his 300-page book, The End of Faith, Sam Harris devotes sections of his book to targeting Islam with little reference to a critique of other faiths. (See the Index for the number of references to Islam/ Muslims compared to Judaism and Christianity). His attitude feeds into the stereotype of Muslims, prominent in the USA and elsewhere in the West. His views do not support wise and responsible approach to the Muslim community or US citizens.
Muslims in the West would feel understandably concerned at this concerted put down of their faith by a Jewish intellectual.
Quotations from Sam Harris and Source
What on Earth happened in the past of Sam Harris to trigger such violence in his views against Muslims?
Views change, become a different view, as much anything else changes, adapts or dissolves. In the years ahead, perhaps Sam Harris will have a turning point, gradual or sudden, enabling him to see how his views harm Muslims and feed the violent prejudices of non-Muslims. He may conclude his anti-Muslim views reveals neither wisdom nor compassion.
On a Muslim country acquiring long-range nuclear weaponry, Harris endorses war crimes.
“If history is any guide, we will not be sure about where the offending warheads are or what their state of readiness is, and so we will be unable to rely on targeted, conventional weapons to destroy them. In such a situation, the only thing likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own.
This would be an unthinkable crime—as it would kill tens of millions of innocent civilians in a single day—but it may be the only course of action available to us, given what Islamists believe.
Sam Harris, a Vipassana meditator
In his blog, Sam Harris tells his readers he is a Vipassana meditator. He wrote:
“I spent two years on silent retreat myself (in increments of one week to three months), practicing various techniques of meditation for twelve to eighteen hours a day.
I believe that such states of mind have a lot to say about the nature of consciousness and the possibilities of human well-being.
Buddhism in particular possesses a literature on the nature of the mind that has no peer in Western religion or Western science.
For beginners, I usually recommend a technique called vipassana (Pali for “insight”), which comes from the oldest tradition of Buddhism, the Theravada. One of the advantages of vipassana is that it can be taught in an entirely secular way.
My friend Joseph Goldstein, one of the finest vipassana teachers I know, likens this shift in awareness to the experience of being fully immersed in a film and then suddenly realizing that you are sitting in a theater watching a mere play of light on a wall. Your perception is unchanged, but the spell is broken.”
Final Word
Sam Harris needs to engage in soul searching. He could apply his intellect to showing concern for the immense suffering of Muslim communities in the Arab world and the West. He could write fierce criticisms of the ideology of superiority of the USA government, NATO and the Israeli government with the massive bombings, invasions and slaughter of Muslims in cities, towns and villages. He could reflect on the anti-Muslim propaganda in the media to justify the West’s engagement in mass murder.
I trust in my experience over years with many Muslims in many Muslim countries rather than identify with views/doctrines that feed division and suffering.
MAY ALL BEINGS BE FREE FROM ISLAMAPHOBIA
MAY ALL BEING BE FREE FROM ANTI-SEMITISM
MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY
I published this blog in 2015. I edited this blog in March 2023. I wrote a blog on Islamophobia this month (March 2023). I cut some paragraphs offering a general over of Islamophobia from this blog and placed in the March 23 blog. I add further section to the recent blog. Here is the link to click on on Islamophobia..