Money, Sex, War, Karma: Notes for a Buddhist Revolution

I was more impressed by the early chapters of this book than its conclusion. I had a couple of moments of clarity brought about by Loy's description of some of the more difficult concepts/non-concepts in Buddhism, particularly regarding non-self, arising, and emptiness. I think that Loy points to a number of essential pieces in our understanding of the ways in which people interact around issues of power and control. But like many cases with a primarily structural analysis of the institutions of power, he deftly highlights the flaws, and calls our attention to the need to create new structures, but in the end provides us with few tools to bring about change outside of ourselves and our fellow meditators.

I also found his treatment of sex to be superficial, although this reflects a still troubled relationship with body that is not new to me in Buddhist teachings. I will suggest to the author that West-meets-East really needs to take a better look at feminism-meets-patriarchy to better address our ambivalence at the fact of being consciousness embodied.

I would recommend this book regardless as a component of cultural awakening and an exceptional example of both structural analysis of power and Buddhism-meets-western philosophy. ( )