Buddhism Without the Hocus-Pocus

Dominic Sansoni, onasia.com. Photo illustration by Bob Mcgrath

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By Owen Flanagan

You could say that my formal association with Buddhism began when I was invited to participate in a weeklong discussion in Dharamsala, India, with the Dalai Lama and a handful of scientists and Buddhist adepts on the topic of destructive emotions. Why not? I thought. I knew a bit about Buddhism, and believed in the worth of comparative philosophy. If there is wisdom about mind, morals, and the meaning of life, then studying different traditions might reveal what it is.

Ideas hatched