Interested in Waylon Lewis’ opening on this one. It echoes my own.

Starbucks is already Fair-Trade. Now, they say they’re going green—and supporting local—by 2010.

If they actually do it, I might have to give up my 15-year buycott of Starbucks. I used to dislike ‘em ’cause they put my favorite local cafes outta business in Boston, Cambridge etc. Then I moved back to my hometown of Boulder, and looked with shriveled eyes at idiot college kids and yuppies who hung about their non-local Starbucks, spending money on The Man.

Then, Starbucks not only got on the Fair-trade wagon, but started leading the charge. Hmmm, I said, and turned my Conscious Consumer Alarm off the Starbucks channel.

Ross Robertson of EnlightenNext has a nice piece on an interesting pioneer:

Jun Po Roshi—dharma heir of Rinzai Zen Master Eido Shimano Roshi, founder of a lay Buddhist order called Hollow Bones, and originator of a modern form of Rinzai known as Mondo Zen—came to visit us at EnlightenNext yesterday. After a delicious lunch and a delightful afternoon together, I was even more impressed with him than I had been on the phone a few weeks ago when we interviewed him for a “Beyond Limits” feature in our next issue. Jun Po is a remarkable human being, and his presence transmits a unique combination of strength and sweetness, fearless confidence and undefended vulnerability. Immediately upon meeting him, he makes you feel like an old and trusted friend. And he’s filled with stories of a long life richly lived, from his days as a San Francisco “urban shaman” at the center of the LSD revolution to his years in the monastery, his passion for wild mushrooms and the Argentine tango, and his recent “march down to death’s gate” in the clutches of stage IV throat cancer.

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In this evening’s talk, Michael addresses the divine and eternal source of all things.

ISmile222 - The Source of Mind [ 36:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (413)

Tahoe Morning

Originally uploaded by Michael G. McAlister

Book Talk

Originally uploaded by Michael G. McAlister

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This talk is the second of two parts and comes from an intensive at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The theme for the day was getting beyond pain.

ISmile221 - Beyond Fear, Part II [ 45:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (408)

Click on the player below, in order to listen to Michael’s talk.
Get the new iTunes software and subscribe to this podcast from the Buddhist and/or Philosophy sections of the Religion & Spirituality list.
____

This talk is the first of two parts and comes from an intensive at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The theme for the day was getting beyond pain.

ISmile220 - Beyond Pain, Part I [ 46:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (417)

Stephen Dinan writes of The Spiritual Importance of Twitter:

Although I was a Twitter naysayer at first, I’m now convinced that Twitter is part of the spiritual evolution of our species. Its growth corresponds to the accelerating spread of a global consciousness, one in which our sense of boundaries no longer end at national boundaries and we are increasingly in touch with our sense of “oneness” with others.

Bows, @KosmicTom