May 3, 2014

A tip of the hat to Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online, which recently brought us news of a documentary recently aired on Channel News Asia that is now available online: Secret Tribes: Bhikkhunis, which takes viewers inside the lives of Thai nuns. The website Dharma Documentaries describes it this way: This is a short but informative and positive look at the current state of bhikkhunis in Thailand with interviews with people on both sides of the debate. The documentary is made as... Read more

May 3, 2014

This via Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online: A twice-jailed and still missing Tibetan Buddhist monk, Jigme Gyatso, will be among 100 “Information Heroes” honored May 3 by Reporters Without Borders (Paris-based RSF) for World Press Freedom Day. According to a report by Radio Free Asia, “Jigme Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist monk and rights activist…along with now imprisoned Tibetan Dhondup Wangchen, filmed Leaving Fear Behind, a 25-minute documentary that includes interviews with more than 100 Tibetans about their experiences living under Chinese rule. After... Read more

April 27, 2014

Dr. Roger Dorris, Naropa University core faculty member; a former board member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship; and “one of the great practitioners of engaged Buddhism” (according to the Upaya Zen Center) passed away this past November 9th, 2013. Roger, as his obituary noted, “worked extensively with marginalized populations including the homeless, those incarcerated, the HIV community and those suffering from addiction.” He put these experiences, as well as his academic work (an MA from Naropa and a Ph.D. in Peace Studies from... Read more

April 27, 2014

I had the pleasure of being the guest teacher for a recent Buddhist Geeks “Practice and Life” Google+ Hangout, hosted by the wonderful Daniel Thorson. You can now watch the video online here, or below. Buddhist Geeks described the event this way: Danny Fisher joins an episode of Practice and Life to discuss ecodharma, social justice, and how to find progressive Buddhist communities. I sure enjoyed the Hangout, and so appreciated the opportunity. Thank you, Buddhist Geeks! Thank you, Daniel! Thanks to... Read more

April 27, 2014

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly on PBS had a truly outstanding report this past week on the violence by Buddhist mobs in Burma against the Rohingya Muslim minority there. I’ve been posting and working a lot on this issue, and, whether you’ve been tracking this story or not, there’s a lot here for you; it makes for both an excellent introduction to the situation, and a powerful record of what some of us already know. In short, don’t miss this —... Read more

April 27, 2014

LGBT Weekly has the story: A Thai Buddhist monk who is gay and a former cross-dresser has gone on public television to say there is nothing wrong with gay people becoming Buddhist monks, causing much controversy in Thailand where Buddhism is the primary religion and has special status, reports GayAsiaNews.com. “I am who I am, and I’m not going to pretend just to fit in,”  Venerable Tanaisawan George Chandha-dhammo, 28, told Woody Talk, the popular MCOT talk show. “Gay people can make... Read more

April 26, 2014

Inquiring Mind, the thirty-year-old biannual that is one of the longest-standing publications for Dharma practitioners in North America, has a new issue out devoted entirely to “War and Peace”. The special issue also brings in a guest co-editor: Hozan Alan Senauke, founder of the Clear View Project, one of the founders of Think Sangha, vice-abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center, former executive director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and author of the brand new book Heirs To Ambedkar: The Rebirth of Engaged Buddhism in India. In his... Read more

April 26, 2014

I had a lot of thoughts about Arthur Brooks’ recent op-ed in the pages of the New York Times about His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s recent visit to his free market think-tank the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Fortunately, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review‘s editorial assistant Max Zahn had some too, and composed his more eloquently and helpfully than I would have been able to do with mine. It’s an awesome piece. Here’s a snippet: By reducing Washington politics to a series of... Read more

April 26, 2014

Ajahn Sujato — the founding abbot of Santi Forest Monastery, resident of Bodhinyana Monastery, Sutta Central content creator, and popular blogger — has a new Earth Day post at his site that is noteworthy for its tone of discouragement about humanity’s lack of action on climate change. He writes: The plain reality is that all of the activism that has been done for decades is a complete failure. No matter how many solar panels we put up, or how efficient our light... Read more

April 26, 2014

Tides, the online magazine of the South Asian American Digital Archive, in honor of Dalit History Month 2014, has posted an exchange of letters between the Dalit Buddhist leader and author of India’s Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, and W.E.B. Du Bois, the mighty African-American civil rights leader, scholar, and educator. You can see them here. Article author Manan Desai explains: In 1913, B.R. Ambedkar arrived in New York City from Bombay at the age of twenty-two, on a scholarship to... Read more

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