Reinventing the Wheel: A Buddhist Response to the Information Age
by
Peter D. Hershock
Albany: State University of New York Press
Summary
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By uniquely using Buddhist teachings, Reinventing the Wheel assesses the personal and communal costs of our goal economic and technological commitments. Hershock urges reinvention of the technological "wheel," and, at the same time, acknowledges the need for new forms of practice suited to our rapidly evolving social, political, and economic circumstances. His persuasive presentation urges the skillful spinning of a new "wheel of the dharma." © State University of New York |
Review
"Hershock clearly brings the root suppositions of western cultural dynamics to our awareness, while contrasting its fundamental values such as independence, individual freedom, and a control of the world, with those of Buddhism. If we continue to accept these western cultural presuppositions, he argues, they will trap us in a 'wheel' of existence, in life's perpetual karmic circle. Although many tend to think that technology is a savior, this is merely an illusion-it colonizes our consciousness. Hence, Hershock argues that we must reinvent the wheel of existence by replacing independence with interdependence, control with appreciation, being with value. In a word, we must free ourselves from ego-based desire through the practice of Zen meditation for the sake of the health and sanity of humanity. He asks the reader to weigh the consequences if we choose to remain oblivious to the karmic bind and its perpetual circle." Shigenori Nagatomo
David L. Hall
Roger T. Ames |
