Comparative Religion

Buddhism, Shinto and Japanese Folklore

Buddhism

Fundamentals

• Four Noble Truths
• Shunryu Suzuki On Bowing in Zen
• The Noble Eightfold Path: In Bullet Points
• The 10 Zen Oxherding Pictures
• The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts
• What is Meditation?
• Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Mindfulness

• Mindfulness: I’m too busy and other excuses
• Mindfulness Training
• The Two Great Seeds

Memorials, Monasteries, etc.

• The Five Giant Buddha’s of Asia
• Dambulla Cave Temple
• Longmen Caves – (龍門 石窟) Henan, China

Thích Nhất Hạnh

• Please do not build a stupa by Thích Nhất Hạnh
• Nhất Hạnh Faces Death With Dignity and A Lesson in Mindfulness
• Zen Compassion

Zen Humor

• Zen Humor: Vow of Silence

Zen Buddhism Resources

• Zen Journal
• Zen Glossary

Tibetan Buddhism

• 108 bead Mala

Shinto

• Idea of Kami (神) in Shintō
• Japan’s Most Sacred Shinto Shrines
• Kibune, Japan & the Kifune Shrine

Japanese Folklore

Yōkai

• Yōkai: An Introduction
• Baku (獏 / ばく)
• Haishaku (肺積 / はいしゃく)
• Haka No Hi (墓の火 / はかのき)
• Hannya (般若 / はんにゃ)
• Hashihime (橋姫 / はしひめ)
• Hiderigami (魃 or ひでりがみ)
• Hone Onna (骨女 or ほねおんな)
• Itsumade (以津真 / 天いつまで)
• Kappa (河童 / かっぱ)
• Koto Furunushi (琴古主 or ことふるぬし)
• Makuwauri No Bakemono (真桑瓜の化物 or まくわうりのばけもの)
• Myōbu (命婦 / みょうぶ)
• Shoki (鍾馗 or しょうき)
• Tōfu kozō (豆腐小僧 / とうふこぞう)
• Yama Oroshi (山颪 or やまおろし)
• Yamajijii (山爺 or やまじじい)
• Yuki-Onna (雪女, “snow woman”)

Animals

• Chōchō (蝶々): Butterfly
• Kaeru (蛙): Frogs
• Kame (亀): Turtle
• Koi (鯉): Carp
• Tsuro (鶴): Crane

Judaism

Jewish Thought and Faith

• 613 Mitzvot (Commandments)
• American Conservative Judaism
• American Judaism: Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist
• Baruch Spinoza: The God Of Spinoza
• Hannukkah…What Exactly Is It?
• Kashrut: Jewish Dietary Laws
• Tikkun ‘olam: Repairing the World
• The Ten Commandments Controversy
• What is a Dreidel and Why?

Evidence or No Evidence

• The Pharaoh of Exodus: Evidence or No Evidence
• The Plagues: Evidence or No Evidence

Hebrew

• Hebrew Alphabet

Hebrew Alphabet

• Alef (א)
• Bet (ב)

Jewish Clothing, Etc.

• Tallit (Jewish Prayer Shawl)
• Tefillin, what is it and why?
• Tzitzit
  • How to Tie Tzitzit

Jewish Food

• Jewish & Israeli Cuisine – Recipes & Techniques
• Kashrut: Jewish Dietary Laws

Jewish Holy Books

• Shulkhan Arukh
• The Torah
  • Torah & Science: Genesis as Allegory

Jewish Prayers

• An Assortment Of Jewish Blessings
• The Sh’ma

Secular Humanism

Secular Humanism

• Agnostic Atheism
• Atheism Quotes
• Church Membership in U.S. Falls Below Fifty Percent
• Daniel Dennett from Freedom Evolves
• Daniel Dennett with the Institute of Art and Ideas
• Evolutionary Ethics: Thoughts upon reading “The Moral Landscape” By Sam Harris
• Ingersoll Day
• The Necessity of Secularism
• Peter Watson
• Sam Harris on Atheism