The Rowboat, drawing our attention to a post on The Immanent Frame and inviting comments either here or on that blog. Here is his message:
I am writing to inform you about an ongoing conversation at The Immanent Frame—a blog on secularism, religion, and the public sphere, produced by the Social Science Research Council.
On May 13, The New York Times published a column by David Brooks entitled "The Neural Buddhists," in which Brooks speculated about the impact of cognitive neuroscience on the future of religion. Soon after, we invited a series of posts on The Immanent Frame by thinkers from various fields, encouraging them to discuss the Brooks column and the questions and claims raised within it. The latest of these is called "The Buddha According to Brooks," and was written by the eminent scholar of Buddhism, Donald S. Lopez, Jr. In it, he offers a critical historical perspective on the idea of "Buddhism" that Brooks employs. "This neural Buddhism may indeed lead to big cultural effects," writes Lopez. "But if it does, it will be important to remember how we got there, and what might have gotten lost along the way."
We hope that you will take some time to look at Lopez's post, the series of which it is a part, and The Immanent Frame in general. More posts in the series are on the way in the weeks ahead. We'd welcome your comments, both on our site and at Progressive Buddhism.
Lopez's post: http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/2008/06/12/the-buddha-according-to-brooks/
The "A cognitive revolution?" series: http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/category/a-cognitive-revolution/
Regards,
Nathan Schneider
http://rowboat.smallsclone.com/
Please have a look and share your thoughts. Brooks' original article is here http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/opinion/13brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Justin
