When filling in a census form, under the section 'Religion', I write 'Buddhism.' This may not, to the general reader, be much of a surprise, considering the fact that I am a Buddhist, and yet, many Buddhists would themselves feel uncomfortable with classifying Buddhism as a religion. Why? Well, if we take a typical dictionary definition of religion, we usually come up with something like the following (taken from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, in this case): 'the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods/a particular system of faith and worship.' If we examine this description of what religion is, and then compare it to our own understanding of Buddhism, do we find that the former sums up the latter or not?

A collection of reactions to the death of J. D. Salinger from around the internet - and one wonders what hidden treasures from his pen may be released in the coming years. I want to point out that even The Onion, which is mentioned below, had something to say about Salinger's death: Bunch of Phonies Mourn JD Salinger.

We begin with the article by Charles McGrath from the New York Times, perhaps the longest tribute I have so far seen.

I didn't plan on writing about the death of J.D. Salinger. Sure, I read Catcher in the Rye in high school, loved that rascal Holden for a few years precisely because he catered to my own sense of youthful angst and disbelief in the "adult" version of the world. But Salinger's disappearance from the world, and game playing when it came to interviews, always struck me as a bit odd, and pointless. And Holden himself became more of an answer to a trivia question, or the punchline to a joke, as I've grown older. Holden would probably say "You've given in, buddy!," to which I'd reply "If I kept living like you, I would have died a long time ago."

So, I wasn't going to write about the recluse and his little gang of smart mouthed characters, that is, until I stumbled upon the following post by Scott over at the buddha is my dj:

<!-- custom per item content begin -->

[ Filed under Conversions or in the Architecture category ]

Is architecture an art? This question has no simple answer, having been debated from ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman times up through Medieval and Gothic construction to Modernism as well as other contemporary design periods and movements. This series of models – created in the process rethinking a barn as a home – suggest that art and architecture exist in tension, opposition and dialog … all at the same time.

The artistic techniques employed by architect Julian King in this case have helped his client (a retired writer) to visualize spatial experiences in three dimensions (with paired two-dimensional drawings) and allowed King  as the designer to explore and develop a hybrid remodel of a Tuscan barn in Italy – a modern dwelling that draws both literally and metaphorically on the models that preceded its reconstruction.

Just because a famous writer once lived there doesn't make it a successful tourist destination....

To mark the reclusive writer's passing, The New Yorker has opened up its digital archives, making available the thirteen pieces of fiction he wrote for the magazine, his longtime professional home.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, as canonical a writer in American literature as there is, ought to instead be kicked out of the curriculum, argue two English professors at the University of Hartford.

Huffington Post writer Seth Bauer experiences one of Duany's famous, unstoppable rants about the state of the American environment.

read more

Mark Twain, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jack Torrance from the Shining, all lost control of their typewriters and found the simple machines could take on lives of their own....