Thanks, Matteo Pistono, for the reminder! For the uninitiated, Sivaraksa is 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 served as chair of the UN’s Asian Cultural Forum on Development and has been a visiting professor... Read more

Waylon Lewis offers another fun conversation through Elephant Journal, this one with our friend Roshi Joan Halifax — one of the modern engaged Buddhist movement’s great heroines. A Zen priest, anthropologist, shaman, activist, and author, Roshi is also the founder, abbot, and head teacher at Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist monastery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Elephant Journal describes the full Google Hangout this way: Mindfulness meditation gets used by the military, Silicon Valley, and Wall St. to do their jobs... Read more

I’m pleased to share with you all that I will be one of the contributing teachers to the upcoming Eco-Dharma Conference & Retreat 2014, which will be held this year at the Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH, from August 7 – August 11, 2014. You can find out more about the event at Wonderwell’s website or on Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly‘s Calendar page. The keynote speaker for the event will be the great David Loy, and, in addition to myself,... Read more

The Al Jazeera English program The Stream recently devoted an entire episode to the issue of Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka. Here’s a description of the episode from their website: Hardline Buddhist monks are targeting Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka, where the civil war’s end has spurred a new wave of sectarianism bent on preserving Sinhalese culture. Since the conflict ended nearly five years ago, groups like Bodu Bala Sena have emerged as Sri Lanka’s self-appointed watchdogs of Buddhism.... Read more

Shambhala Sun Space recently noted His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s support for gay marriage (and denunciation of violence against and harassment of LGBTQI people) during an interview with Larry King (see below). Additionally, Barbara O’Brien at Barbara’s About Buddhism Blog reminds us that His Holiness’ past comments on homosexuality have not always read as supportive. In fact, Barbara sees His Holiness’ comments to King as inconsistent with what he has said in the past on the matter. She provides a... Read more

The UC-Berkeley News Center has just issued a new story about a sophomore seminar being offered this term at the institution that is called “Buddhist Economics.” [UC Berkeley economist Clair Brown] said she created the one-unit Buddhist Economics course after students in her Introductory Economics (Econ 1) class expressed frustration with the relentless Madison Avenue message that more is better, economic growth paves the path to a better life and “retail therapy” is a quick trip to nirvana… Brown said she... Read more

I confess that I couldn’t resist Jon Stewart’s invitation to participate in #mcconnelling. You’ll find my contribution below. For more on the phenomenon, check out this article from the Daily Mail, which explains: An unconventional campaign ad featuring video clips of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has brought parodies out of the woodwork, mocking the Kentuckian’s choice to distribute a message containing pictures and music – but no words. The original ad appeared online on March 11, defying the conventional wisdom that... Read more

Those on Buddhist Global Relief‘s e-mailing list received the below message from Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, the organization’s founder and chairperson, this past Friday: I am pleased to announce that on Friday, April 25, 2014 at 7 pm, Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) will be holding its third annual Concert To Feed The Hungry. The concert will be held at the Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY, between 119th and 120th Streets. Esperanza Spalding and Kenny Werner, two world-renowned jazz artists, will headline at... Read more

Shambhala Sun Space reports that a settlement has been reached in favor of the Buddhist student bullied at Louisiana school, who I wrote about in two past posts. Blogger Konchog Norbu has all the information, plus useful links. Take a look at the full post here. One of the links Konchog shares is to a post about the settlement at the ACLU’s “Blog of Rights” by Heather L. Weaver, from the organization’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. She... Read more

Christopher Titmuss, the former Buddhist monk, current dharma teacher, and prolific author, has posted a new teaching on his YouTube channel about vegetarianism/veganism as not only a practice of Buddhist compassion, but an act of environmental stewardship. It’s well worth a look, especially for those of us with an interest in eco-dharma. Watch it in full below. For more on Buddhism and the environment, here’s a post I did about resources from across the Buddhist traditions for my personal website.... Read more