I’m happy to pass along this request for stories from the great Charles Prebish for an upcoming book he and John Negru are putting together: Dear Colleagues and Friends: John Negru (Karma Yonten Gyatso), publisher of Sumeru Books, and I are collecting a series of anecdotal stories for inclusion in a book we are editing called “The Little Book of Buddhist Humor.” In difficult times, we feel that the Buddhist world has the opportunity to contribute to and inject some... Read more
“All victims of human rights abuses should be able to look to the Human Rights Council as a forum and a springboard for action.” – Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, 12 March 2007, Opening of the 4th Human Rights Council Session “Lack of access to justice, the official impunity, the possibility of arbitrary detention….” These are not statements about a country you would expect to be joining the world’s highest Human Rights body. The country in question is, of course, China,... Read more
Many of you may have heard about the recent and tragic death of the Tibetan master Akong Tulku Rinpoche. He set up many Dharma centres around the world where people could learn and practice the principles of Buddhism. In London, a group of filmmakers are in the process of making a documentary about him. They are Chico Dall’Inha, Jörg Wagner and Gerry McCulloch. This project actually began over two years ago and now due to his untimely death is more... Read more
“Lou Reed was not a Buddhist” writes Rod Meade Sperry for Shambhala SunSpace. However, he did study meditation under Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and claimed to be a “student of Buddhist philosophy.” He was also a supporter of various causes, including the movement to free Tibet. Find out a bit more here (wiki) Meditating on the Wild Side (Beliefnet, on his Tai Chi album) And, in case you missed it above, Rod’s article is here. Read more
In just two minutes, Ajahn Brahm tells us with clarity and compassion how to deal with pain during meditation: As he says, when the pain builds and builds, “It’s common sense: move.” Otherwise you end up like the guy with the double knee-replacement. I’ll note that there is plenty of wisdom in sitting through discomfort, through itches, and through distractions of various types. Otherwise few of us would manage to sit still at all. But learning to see what is... Read more
The well-known American Roshi (Zen teacher) Joan Halifax is featured on the National Geographic Traveler website currently. For those who don’t know about Roshi Joan already, heave a look at her wiki page or the Upaya Institute and Zen Center, which she founded and currently leads. via National Geographic Traveler: THE HEALER In 1981, when Joan Halifax trekked high in the Everest region of Nepal, she saw a lethally low level of healthcare. Within years of that visit, the socially... Read more
The NY Times recently posted a video taking us briefly inside the world of female monastic life in contemporary Burma. Have a look: They report that, “Enrollment is rising at the Aung Thawada Nunnery School on the northern border of Yangon. The nuns, whose ages range from 9 to 94, join for a variety of reasons, including to escape poverty or abuse.” It was great to see that the reporter, Chelsi Moy, is a young woman from my home town... Read more
This is a repost of an article written by Naga R Dhoopati last spring. Given that today is the UN International Day of the Girl Child, I felt it worthwhile to repost it in the hope that the educational message will spread further and wider, bringing a swifter end to atrocities committed against girls around the world. Educating girls around the globe. There have been many cases where a girl’s life has become a burden to her parents, especially in India.... Read more
Today we’re interviewing Robert M. Ellis, a UK philosopher and formerly ordained Buddhist (in the FWBO, now TBC) about his new undertaking, the Middle Way Society. I have personally been in touch with Robert for a number of years now, having exchanged a few emails back when I began my PhD and moved to London in 2007. Since then we have mostly crossed paths of our blogs and those of fellow Buddhist-philosophy type people, and earlier this year I had... Read more
Oct. 9 Update: The story has been covered by numerous news sites across the UK: ITV, the Belfast Telegraph, The Scotsman, along with those listed below and Phayul, a major Tibetan website based in India. The police in China, as noted below, have arrested three Tibetan men, listed as “a Tibetan man from Derge and two others from Chamdo Joda region” by Phayul. According to The Scotsman, “A spokesman for the Free Tibet campaign said his organisation did not want... Read more
American Buddhist Perspectives
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