The beginning part about fear spoke to me, it was what I needed to hear. The rest of it was a little too feel-good individualistic navel-gazing self-hThe beginning part about fear spoke to me, it was what I needed to hear. The rest of it was a little too feel-good individualistic navel-gazing self-help industry, in a way that didn't to me feel grounded enough (for example, the frequent use of addiction as a metaphor).
I've been looking for something like this for a long time, and I'm so glad the authors put this out in the world and that I finally found it.I've been looking for something like this for a long time, and I'm so glad the authors put this out in the world and that I finally found it....more
20-30 years ago I was willing to invest time in this kind of colonizer philosophy, because I didn't know there were other options. At this point in my20-30 years ago I was willing to invest time in this kind of colonizer philosophy, because I didn't know there were other options. At this point in my life, trying to read this just reminds me that I've been meaning to read more Arundhati Roy.
Read the first 20%, skimmed the rest, so marking it DNF....more
I really enjoyed the beginning and thought the author's textual analysis of various sutras/sutras was insightful and helpful.
Unfortunately, the last pI really enjoyed the beginning and thought the author's textual analysis of various sutras/sutras was insightful and helpful.
Unfortunately, the last part of the book is currently clearest in my mind and the part that I have the most qualms about. In no particular order:
-while Simmer-Brown mentions in the intro that Gross died before she could incorporate more discussion of issues facing transgender practitioners, I think it was probably better for my blood pressure this way: Gross was a cis woman writing exclusively from that perspective and it really showed. (Like seriously, no mention of hijra gender at all? 🙄)
-Gross was proudly attached to her identity as a second-wave feminist. I found this attachment problematic even if she didn't. I think if she were less attached to the label, she could have had more energy to explore intersectional feminisms instead of refusing those insights. (Not saying she should have become a postmodernist, but her hostility to the ideas was clear in the final chapter, when she complaines about people playing oppression Olympics and not letting her White Feminism™️ in peace (pp144-145).)
-she made a comment about social scientists critiquing her for trying to colonize Buddhism after spending half a chapter saying that Asian Buddhists refused to respect the word feminism and I had a very facepalm feeling because I'd spent that entire section cringing at her attempts at hermeneutic colonization*. Defensive walls make it hard to take in new ways of thinking and I completely have been there. But I've never written a book subtitled "liberation from attachment" 😕
Anyway, I have strongly mixed feelings about this book. Also, it's not a good entry-level text. The writing is engaging and readable, but if you don't have a solid grounding in Buddhist principles you'll be looking up a lot of terms.
(*is that a real term? I kept thinking of hermeneutic injustice and colonization while reading that part and this was the closest I could come to describing it?)...more
The first half is engaging, but towards the middle it becomes endless lists of the rules of different traditions. I think that would be more useful toThe first half is engaging, but towards the middle it becomes endless lists of the rules of different traditions. I think that would be more useful to me in print than it is in audiobook. I didn't make it quite to the end, but I got as finished as I'm going to get with this format. I do anticipate listening to the beginning sections again at some point....more
I find it really amusing that some reviewers have complained that this book doesn't mentioned White or Native American traditions. It does, but they'rI find it really amusing that some reviewers have complained that this book doesn't mentioned White or Native American traditions. It does, but they're not given primary attention. This book centers Blackness. If you're not used to that or not expecting it... it'll throw you off a bit, I guess.
I thought this was a great read. I learned a lot about US history and about my own assumptions when approaching religious/moral discussions. I liked how it explored the role of Conjure in religion, folklore, healing, social networks, and music -- how these different arenas were contextualized by Chireau's narration but also presented in quotes from first person accounts. One of the most interesting parts to me was the role of Conjure in political dissent and slave revolts. Highly recommend.
Note: I came across this title in the Lemonade syllabus (google it). A great resource for further reading....more
That was a fun way to spend a couple of hours. One thing I like about this series is how it sets you up to learn more about a culture's mytho3.5 stars
That was a fun way to spend a couple of hours. One thing I like about this series is how it sets you up to learn more about a culture's mythology, if you want to. (In this case, it also lets me know that maybe I'd rather direct my attentions elsewhere for now.)
Rounded down because the author's expectation that all her readers come from a Euro-Christian background was so clearly implicit that her explicit reference to it at the end was eyeroll-inducing....more
Loading...
