2014 Fo Guang Buddhist Montastic Retreat

Last updated on: January 20, 2014 at 2:56 am By Justin Whitaker

The Fo Guang Buddhist Monastic Retreat program, hosted at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in southern Taiwan, is accepting applications for its 2014 summer Buddhist monastic retreat program. The program runs from June 26th to July 24th and includes two weeks of introduction and classes, followed by a seven day intensive retreat, a International Youth Seminar on Life and Chán, and a tour of Taiwan. They will accept 50-60 university / college students (or graduates within 3 years after graduation aged 18-35) and the... Read more

R.I.P. David Kalupahana, a giant in the field of Buddhist Philosophy

Last updated on: January 21, 2014 at 9:51 am By Justin Whitaker

The Colombo Page, a Sri Lankan online newspaper, has reported that the great writer and professor of Buddhist philosophy, David J. Kalupahana, passed away January 15 in Honolulu, Hawai’i.* Kalupahana retired in 2000 as professor of philosophy at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, a department internationally recognized for its East-West philosophical focus. He earlier served as the Chairman of the Department of Philosophy. His works on Buddhist Philosophy and Buddhist Ethics were ground-breaking in their use of analytic philosophy to... Read more

The effectiveness of Meditation, a meta-analysis

Last updated on: August 11, 2014 at 11:02 am By Justin Whitaker

This week the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released a massive meta-analysis on the effectiveness of meditation (variously defined) for a number of healthcare applications. While most news articles point you to the JAMA (subscriber only) link, you can read the entire study for free here (.pdf). The conclusion of the study will not surprise those who have studied or practiced meditation for any length of time: meditation is a mixed-bag, in terms of definitions, applications, and outcomes. The... Read more

Traveller, a guest post by Naga R. Dhoopati

Last updated on: January 10, 2014 at 5:13 pm By Justin Whitaker

You have been testing me, Life, I do not know. Why me? Of all the people, Of all the things I went through, You keep throwing them at me, and I keep overcoming them. Hurdles and hurdles…. All people pass by me All chances pass by me I am always behind in the race… I don’t know why I have to race, nor do I know if I possess the speed to catch up with the world…. for now I... Read more

Tibetan Prayer Flags mark the “World’s Scariest Bridge”

Last updated on: January 9, 2014 at 4:04 pm By Justin Whitaker

BBC News reported today from the “World’s Scariest Bridge”, otherwise known as the Titlis Cliff Walk in Switzerland. The suspension bridge, Europe’s highest, has been open for over a year, but this is the first video I’ve seen with the newly added Tibetan Prayer flags. Perhaps they have a calming effect on some visitors who are not so interested in “a high-adrenaline kind of new adventure ” as a spokeswoman described it. Have a look: Tibetan prayer flags are believed to... Read more

Nineteenth Joint Postgraduate Conference on Religion and Theology

Last updated on: January 7, 2014 at 2:37 pm By Justin Whitaker

This year I am helping in the organization of the University of Bristol’s postgraduate conference on religion and theology. Please help spread the word and if you are in the UK or can make it here in March, please submit an abstract. The deadline for abstracts is soon – just 6 days away now – so don’t delay! Call for papers and panels 7-8 March 2014, Bristol 19th Joint Postgraduate Conference on Religion and Theology SPIRITUAL EXERCISES Keynote speaker: Professor... Read more

16 Guides to a healthy, eco-consious, non-harming 2014 from the Jain eLibrary (Videos)

Last updated on: October 25, 2016 at 8:19 pm By Justin Whitaker

Members of the Jain Education Committee (www.jainelibrary.org) have suggested the following list as a guide to life, well, mainly eating, in 2014. For those who don’t know, Jainism (pronounced Jane-ism or more often Jine-ism or something like Ja-een-ism) is something of a brother-religion to Buddhism, the major founder (or re-founder) being an older contemporary of the Buddha himself. Both religions branched off from Brahmanism (or proto-Hinduism), becoming separate chapters in our contemporary books on world religions, as opposed to the... Read more

Buddhism dominates Western States behind Christianity

Last updated on: August 1, 2014 at 6:45 pm By Justin Whitaker

Last month the Washington Post published an article* illustrating religion in America today with maps like the one below. If you’re interested in the composition of religion in America today, I highly recommend reading it. The data used to created them is from the ASARB, the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. That site, which provides downloadable data going back to 1952, is also excellent. Those curious about obscure facts and figures will have a field day there. Just... Read more

Buddhanet launches Buddhist eLibrary

Last updated on: December 27, 2013 at 5:53 pm By Justin Whitaker

This week, the well-known Buddhist web resource Buddhanet launched a mobile site: Buddhist eLibrary. Merry Christmas to us. (fyi, Access to Insight can also be downloaded in full here for android and on itunes for iphones, or to your computer for offline browsing.) The eLibrary is currently fairly sparse in its offerings and available online in 5 languages: English, Chinese, Thai, Portuguese, and Spanish, but further languages and materials are planned. The site represents the combined efforts of the Buddha Dharma... Read more

Mindfulness: Critics and Defenders

Last updated on: May 10, 2015 at 11:43 pm By Justin Whitaker

Those who have followed ‘mindfulness’ in the Western Buddhist world in recent months have noticed a rising debate between those who find it useful on the one hand and those who question it from a variety of perspectives on the other. This all seems to have blown up with the July 1st article by Ron Purser and David Loy in the Huffington Post titled “Beyond McMindfulness.” There they wrote: Suddenly mindfulness meditation has become mainstream, making its way into schools,... Read more