Kunsang Dolma, author of Wisdom Publications’ new title A Hundred Thousand White Stones: An Ordinary Tibetan’s Extraordinary Journey, has a new piece published at Phayul on “the seven worst excuses for ignoring women’s rights.” It’s definitely one you must read — a personal and powerful piece of writing. Here’s just a taste: We have had enough of excuses and delays, we need to move forward. When we move forward with women’s rights the entire community will gain from it. Women’s... Read more

This via Buddhist Studies at Leiden University… A NWO-funded Research Project Call for Papers A Conference on Buddhism and Social Justice 23-25 April 2014, Leiden University Moving away from a common perception of Buddhism as intrinsically a tradition of peace and justice, our project—based at Leiden University—seeks to explore the various ways in which historically Buddhist societies have shaped, transmitted, and adapted Buddhist ideas and ideals about equality, fairness, and freedom. We are further interested in how (if at all)... Read more

I’ve got a brand new interview with my buddy Dr. Michaela Haas over at Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online that I hope you’ll check out. Michaela is an international reporter, lecturer and consultant, as well as author of Shambhala Publications’ recent book Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. Dr. Haas is also currently a lecturer and research scholar in the Religious Studies department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an adjunct... Read more

The police dispatcher that George Zimmerman spoke to on the night of February 26th, 2012, told him that the authorities did not need him to follow Trayvon Martin in his car. Not only did he continue anyway, he got out of his car with a gun, accosted Martin, and was ultimately responsible for shooting and killing him. Martin was a minor, guilty of no crime and walking home. Martin appears to have physically defended himself, and much has been made... Read more

I’ve found myself thinking quite an awful lot lately about two articles that appeared recently and have been discussed elsewhere in the Buddhist blogosphere of late: “Beyond McMindfulness” by Ron Purser and the great David Loy for The Huffington Post, and “The Morality of Meditation” by David DeSteno for the New York Times. Purser and Loy’s piece speaks prophetically to something that has proven to bring as many problems with it as possibilities: the commodification of Buddhist mindfulness. They write:... Read more

As many of you reading have probably heard by now, there has been a coordinated series of bombing attacks at Bodh Gaya, the site of the historical Buddha’s enlightenment. Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online reports: Starting at 5:30 am, nine serial explosions occurred, beginning with four on the grounds of the Mahabodhi temple… One bomb destroyed the altar in front of the Bodhi Tree (thought to be a direct descendant of the original), though the tree was unharmed. Two monks were... Read more

Two thought-provoking posts appeared in the Buddhist blogosphere this week. First, my friend Shastri Ethan Nichtern writes about “Buddhism in a Post-Religious Society” for his blog, saying, “I firmly believe that Buddhist meditation, philosophy and psychology should not be viewed as religious practices.” Second, over at Tricycle‘s Awake in the World blog, Lama Jampa Thaye offers the provocative piece “We Are Not Kind Machines: A Radical Rejection of Scientific Buddhism”, in which he writes that “while science itself is not... Read more

As you may have heard, President Obama today unveiled his second-term plan to address climate change. His speech envisioned three obligations for America: “cutting carbon pollution in America, leading international efforts to cut global emissions, and preparing the U.S. for the costly impacts of climate change.” You can read the full transcript here, and watch it online here. Al Gore hailed the speech as “the best address on climate by any president ever.” Indeed, it creates an important and necessarly moral... Read more

Amy Hollingsworth is the author of the newly-released book Letters from the Closet: Ten Years of Correspondence That Changed My Life, which is described by its publisher — Howard Books — in this way: Timely and relevant, this is a love story of the most contemporary kind. It’s a rare and beautiful glimpse into an intimate, but platonic, relationship between a gay English teacher and his young female protégée—each seeking connection and acceptance. Now the student-turned-author looks back at the decade... Read more

Sure, Time Magazine‘s cover isn’t always the same in the U.S. as it is in the rest of the world, especially when it comes to news about Asia (which we don’t follow very closely here). It’s a shame for a number of reasons, not the least of which being what I heard recently from Rohingya Muslims in diaspora: that Buddhist Americans might be able to help the current situation in Burma. We need this news on our magazine covers and in... Read more