Peter Clothier
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Peter Clothier is an internationally-known novelist, art critic, and blogger. A student of Theravada Buddhism, Peter hopes to use his online platforms to integrate compassion, non-attachment, and political engagement into our contemporary discourse, even as he gradually integrates those same qualities into his own life.

In addition to his Huffington Post blog, you can find Peter's work on his daily blog, The Buddha Diaries and his monthly podcast, The Art of Outrage.

Blog Entries by Peter Clothier

Buddhist Books for Children

(2) Comments | Posted May 10, 2012 | 2:53 PM

I spent a delightful afternoon yesterday reading the Barefoot Books collection of Indian Tales, as told by Shenaaz Naji and illustrated by Christopher Corr.  Barefoot Books aims to "celebrate art and story that opens the hearts and minds of children from all walks of life, inspiring them...

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Running With the Mind of Meditation

(2) Comments | Posted May 7, 2012 | 1:18 PM

I would have been happy to have come across Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind 20 years ago, before my lower back and my hips and knees started telling me that enough was enough. Authored by Sakyong Mipham, the leader of Shambala and himself...

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Ask the Hard Questions -- Please

(5) Comments | Posted May 2, 2012 | 11:41 AM

I just watched the CBS This Morning interview with Mitt and Ann Romney, in which the couple were encouraged to spend a good deal of time "humanizing" the Republican candidate. CBS boasts more news in the morning, and I had expected better of Charlie Rose, who basks in a reputation...

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The Emotional Life of Your Brain

(0) Comments | Posted April 23, 2012 | 11:31 AM

I first heard of Dr. Richard Davidson's work in the field of neuroscience a couple of months ago in an unlikely setting: the annual conference of the National Art Education Association in New York. Regular readers might remember my mention of the Compassion Project in Appleton, Wis.,...

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Through a Glass Darkly

(5) Comments | Posted March 27, 2012 | 8:43 AM

My friend Marco Sassone asked me to take a look at some new watercolors. They are astonishing. And, I must add, they lead to some somber reflections about the way we see the world and our place in it; and about that ultimate and...
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A Disappointing Night Out

(9) Comments | Posted January 13, 2012 | 11:10 AM

So we decided to go out for a birthday dinner for my wife and had chosen Campanile because it is on La Brea, not far from the gallery where we planned to end the festivities of the day. It had been quite some time since we had last eaten...

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Phenomenal

(1) Comments | Posted January 4, 2012 | 1:53 PM

A post-Christmas drive took us down to San Diego to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art for an exhibition in the Pacific Standard Time series, "Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface" installed at both the downtown gallery and the original MCASD space in La Jolla. A big enthusiast for this...

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Review: Patience

(2) Comments | Posted December 30, 2011 | 4:38 PM

I have just finished reading Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living, by Allan Lokos, the founder and guiding teacher of the Community Meditation Center in New York City. It's a timely read for a season in which the stresses seem to multiply in direct proportion to the peace and joy...

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Now Dig This: Charles White

(7) Comments | Posted December 9, 2011 | 3:24 PM

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PST: Best Kept Secret

(0) Comments | Posted November 4, 2011 | 11:13 AM

Back in 1969, when I first visited the University of California, Irvine campus, it looked like some futurist outpost set in isolated architectural splendor among the largely barren hills of the Irvine Ranch. Impressed, I even toyed...
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PST/OC

(0) Comments | Posted October 18, 2011 | 5:07 PM

Robert Kinmont: 8 Natural Handstands, 1969/2009; nine black-and-white photographs; courtesy of Alexander...
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One Saturday: Art/L.A.

(0) Comments | Posted October 18, 2011 | 12:26 PM

It's a hectic time for the art enthusiast in Los Angeles. Last weekend, on our return from our travels, we managed to make a jet-lagged visit to Art Platform, only one of the art fairs opening that weekend -- and one of the best such events in memory: a...

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Animosity

(182) Comments | Posted August 5, 2011 | 4:54 PM

In the daily metta practice with which I start my meditation, I reiterate the wish to be free from animosity. It's easy enough when it comes to those I like, and with whom I generally agree; the hard part is with the people I dislike, and those with whom I...

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Norway -- And the Fate of the Human Species

(4) Comments | Posted August 1, 2011 | 11:18 AM

I have been thinking about those dreadful events in Norway and following their aftermath with the same kind of horror I felt when the World Trade Center was attacked, now nearly ten years ago. When you think of it, proportionate to the population, the death toll was even greater for...

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Rebels in Paradise

(0) Comments | Posted July 28, 2011 | 3:56 PM

I arrived in Southern California in the summer of 1968, in time for the last year of the 1960s decade. A poet, newly appointed to teach Comparative Literature at USC, I'd had little contact with the world of contemporary art -- and therefore no idea at all that I had...

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Gilbert "Magu" Lujan: A Benefit

(5) Comments | Posted July 21, 2011 | 1:55 PM

Followers of the contemporary art scene -- and indeed Chicano art enthusiasts everywhere -- will want to hear of this opportunity to come to the support of one of its most important pioneers and practitioners. Gilbert "Magu" Lujan is currently in a life-and-death battle with cancer, and is caught up...

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Review of Little Princes

(5) Comments | Posted February 25, 2011 | 9:20 AM

I have been promising an antidote to the bleak view I have been taking of my adopted country in my past few political entries. Here it is, today, in the form of a book review.

The book is called Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost...

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Wisconsin Rises

(5) Comments | Posted February 20, 2011 | 5:33 PM

First, this is about the saddest must-read that I ever read. Thanks to my friend Michael for having brought it to my attention. Things have to change. We hear the voices of those clamoring for democracy on the streets of the Mideast and we admire their courage. We overlook...

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Gallery Rounds/Bergamot Station

(1) Comments | Posted February 16, 2011 | 9:43 AM

We actually found quite a lot to like in the course of our afternoon at Bergamot Station late last week. (Bergamot, for readers unfamiliar with the topography of Los Angeles area galleries, is a former train station in Santa Monica, and has been a lively...
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Keef

(8) Comments | Posted February 9, 2011 | 12:15 PM

Keith Richards's autobiography, Life, is quite a ride. I'm not, honestly, that familiar with the work of the Rolling Stones, nor with the rock 'n' roll scene in general. I enjoy hearing the band occasionally, when there's one of their more familiar tunes playing on the radio. But I am...

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