Our friend Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi branches out from his wonderful op-eds at Tricycle‘s blog, and drops knowledge and compassion on Truthout this week with an excellent op-ed responding to the recent US State Department Environmental Impact Statement on the Keystone XL pipeline: “Clearing Our Heads About Keystone”. It should go without saying that this is a must-read. Here’s a snippet. There is a fixed ceiling to the quantity of carbon we can release into the atmosphere without setting off irreversible changes... Read more

A tip of the hat to Shambhala Sun Space web editor Rod Meade Sperry for bringing this event and its particulars to our attention. The panel — which is entitled “Social Messages and Gun Violence – How are we communicating the devaluation of life?” — is described in full this way: Within our society is there a pervasive life-devaluing message that contributes to gun violence in our communities? If so how does it contribute and by what means are these messages delivered?... Read more

Buddhist Door International recently interviewed my friend Dr. Lewis R. Lancaster, the mighty and prolific Buddhist scholar, about his years of prison volunteer work, and you can watch the conversation below, via their YouTube channel. Dr. Lancaster was the first-ever recipient of the Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the groundbreaking program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a member of the faculty at the University of California-Berkeley for thirty-three years, as well as founder and director of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative... Read more

Tricycle: The Buddhist Review‘s Associate Editor Alex Caring-Lobel has the story (with video and some prophetic commentary) at the magazine’s official blog. Here’s just a snippet: Bill Duane, a senior manager at Google, attempted to neutralize the situation with “grace and compassion“—and more than a little condescension. He directed the crowd to “check in with your body” and “feel what it’s like to be in conflict with people with heartfelt ideas” after a spirited tug-of-war for the banner concluded at... Read more

This via the University of Hyderabad’s Distinguished Lectures YouTube Channel: Date: December 4, 2013 Venue: CV Raman Auditorium, University of Hyderabad Topic: “What the Buddha Thought” Speaker: Prof. Richard Francis Gombrich, University of Oxford About the speaker: Prof. Richard Francis Gombrich is an Internationally renowned Indologist and a Scholar of Sanskrit, Pali, and Buddhist Studies. He was the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford from 1976 to 2001. He was the founder of the Oxford Centre for... Read more

Sakyadhita USA — the United States branch of the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women, “an alliance of women (and men) committed to transforming the lives of women in Buddhist societies” — launched a new eZine at the start of the new year, entitled American Buddhist Women. “The response to issue No. 1 was extremely positive,” the website states. “Lay and monastic Buddhist women from across the country emailed to say how much they liked the new eZine and what it brings. Several... Read more

Shambhala Sun Space has a terrific post up about environmentally-sound animal release ceremonies by contributor Konchog Norbu. Do take a look. Here’s a snippet: I can’t explain why, but birding has been my main pastime (okay, obsession) for the past 17 years. As such, I’ve developed a wary view at best of the Buddhist practice of “life release”—reciting a blessing liturgy and setting animals free into the wild that would otherwise have remained in human captivity or killed. I’ve seen goldfish giddily... Read more

As the son of a professional actress and a stage director/theater scholar, and the brother of a former manager for a Tony Award-winning theater company, I’ve seen quite a lot of theater in my time. Of all the many wonderful productions I’ve been privileged to see, one that I have not and will never forget is the 2003 Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, starring Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Dennehy, Robert Sean Leonard, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.... Read more

This from the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana: The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Louisiana filed a federal lawsuit today against the Sabine Parish School Board, alleging that officials at one school harassed and proselytized a sixth-grader because of his Buddhist faith. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two parents, Scott and Sharon Lane, and three of their children, including their son, “C.C.,” who is a lifelong Buddhist of Thai descent… According to the complaint... Read more

Drs. Donald S. Lopez, Jr., and Robert E. Buswell, Jr., co-authors of the recently published Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, visited my home institution University of the West this week to present the volume and discuss its composition. In addition, they also shared their “10 Misconceptions About Buddhism”. Luckily, UWest’s wonderful Coordinator of Extended Studies Glenn Dunki-Jacobs, was on-hand, and he captured the whole event on video for you. You can watch below, at the end of this post. I recently included the... Read more