April 26, 2014

Our friend and Patheos colleague Justin Whitaker keeps the conversation going at his blog American Buddhist Perspective. Here’s a snippet: Certainly any acute acts of terrorism, and those who support those acts in their words are well defined with “Buddhist terror.” “Buddhist extremism” is likewise useful for those groups and individuals who clearly stand out from the mainstream in a society, but this too can be a difficult label… The label “ethnocentric Buddhism” might be helpful in covering something much broader existing in... Read more

April 23, 2014

This coming August 29th-31st, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship will host its first national Gathering since 2006, bring practitioners together for “meeting face to face to deepen our practice in social justice and spiritual awakening.” The featured keynote speakers will be Sulak Sivaraksa and Joanna Macy — very exciting news indeed! The event, which will be held at the East Bay Meditation Center, will include the following: Hands-on training in nonviolent direct action Dharma practice & collective healing strategies Dialogues on climate... Read more

April 20, 2014

Spirituality & Health has a terrific piece on Dekila Chungyalpa, who is the Director of the World Wildlife Fund’s Sacred Earth Program, which “works with religious leaders and faith communities who best articulate ethical and spiritual ideals around the sacred value of Earth and its diversity, and are committed to protecting it.” She’s also a Buddhist in the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, who, after a meeting with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje, was moved to propose... Read more

April 20, 2014

CNN has a substantial feature online about Aung San Suu Kyi and the Rohingya in Burma. In it, the news agency wonders, “Has ‘The Lady’ lost her voice?” Here’s a snippet: [Human Rights Watch] executive director Kenneth Roth was withering in a recent report: “The world was apparently mistaken to assume that as a revered victim of rights abuse she would also be a principled defender of rights.” Aung Zaw, editor of Myanmar news magazine The Irrawaddy, said that while she remained... Read more

April 20, 2014

Our friend Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is interviewed in the latest issue of Spirituality & Health. It’s short, but good. Here’s a snippet: You started an organization to fight world hunger, you write about the devastating consequences of climate change, and you marched with the Occupy Wall Street movement. When did you decide that, in addition to your spiritual work as a Buddhist monk and translator of ancient texts, you needed to be an activist? Before I became a monk, back... Read more

April 20, 2014

I just wanted to take a moment to offer belated congratulations to Reuters journalists Jason Szep and Andrew R.C. Marshall, whose coverage of the Rohingyas was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting earlier this week. I’ve used their work in my own blogging about the Rohingya in the past, including this post and this one. Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online has more about the prize, Mr. Szep and Mr. Marshall’s work, and the situation. Do take a look. Congratulations... Read more

April 20, 2014

This past week, the New York Times editorial board opined on Human Rights Watch’s damning report on “how far Nepal has gone in capitulating to Chinese pressure in cracking down on Tibetan residents and refugees.” Among other things, the editors write: Nepal has long been a way station for Tibetans fleeing China. Many continue on to India, where the Dalai Lama lives and where they can obtain refugee status. Still, some 20,000 Tibetans live in Nepal. Most were born there, yet... Read more

April 11, 2014

Sulak Sivaraksa is one of Thailand’s preeminent social activist and one of the titans of the modern engaged Buddhist movement. He founded and currently directs Thailand’s Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation, and also serves on the advisory board of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. In addition to all his work as an activist, organizer, and social critic in Thailand, he has also served as chair of the UN’s Asian Cultural Forum on Development and has been a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley,... Read more

April 11, 2014

Buddhologist Paul Fuller (who blogs here) has a new piece at the Democratic Voice of Burma that argues for a new term when discussing ethnic conflicts led by Buddhist monastics within countries like Burma, Thailand, and Sri Lanka: “ethnocentric Buddhism.” He advances this term to be used in place of “Buddhist terror” or “Buddhist extremism,” which have been used (most famously in Time Magazine) to describe phenomena such as the Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) in Sri Lanka and... Read more

April 11, 2014

And what he comes up with makes for absolutely essential reading. Here’s a snippet: Interdependence is not merely an insight to be cultivated on our cushions. A suffering world calls upon us to realize interdependence–to make it real–in the ways we actually live. If Buddhists do not want to do this or cannot find ways to do this, then Buddhism is not the spiritual path that the world needs today. Read the rest at the Huffington Post here. Loy is a professor, writer,... Read more

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