The Parsis have one of the most unusual funeral rituals of all religions.  Parsis are members of India’s largest Zoroastrian community. They originally came from Iran where Zoroastrianism was founded over a thousand years ago. I wrote about them in March when the Indian photographer, Sooni Taraporevala, opened a Parsi photographic exposition. Their funeral rituals are unusual because they do not believe in burying or cremating their dead. They see that as polluting nature. Instead, according to this NPR story,”the Parsi... Read more

Bob Thurman: We Can all be Buddhas Matthieu Ricard: The habits of happiness Joan Halifax: Compassion and the true meaning of empathy Dhammananda Bikkuni: Empowering Our Potentiality   Read more

Lisa Bu explains how books transformed her life–in The Correspondence in the Family of Fou Lei, she found parental advice, in Jane Eyre, she found a role model of an independent woman, from Cheaper by the Dozen, she learned how to be efficient, and from The Complete Works of Sammao, she realized she learned that she wanted to study abroad. She came to the US in 1995 and began reading books that were banned in China like the Bible and Pearl... Read more

Twitter took on a new role yesterday as street clashes rocked Istanbul. It replaced the traditional media, which was almost non-existent, in spreading information about the demonstration. During the Egyptian revolution, the majority of the tweets came from outside the country, according to this story from Monkey Cage.  In Turkey, by contrast, over 50% came from inside Istanbul and over 80% were in Turkish, meaning that they were written for Turkish consumption, not for the outside world. Monkey Cage says... Read more

  In 2001, the Taliban blew up two huge 6th century Buddhas that were built into the sandstone cliff face of the Bamiyan valley in central Afghanistan. Now, Afghanistan is threatening another Buddhist  heritage, Mes Aynak, which, according to The Guardian, “is a magnificent Buddhist city, and the most important archaeological discovery in a generation.”  That’s because the ancient city sits atop a vast copper deposit.  The photograph below shows the remains of statutes found at Mes Aynak. William Dalrymple,... Read more

The more Muslims use the internet, the more they say that Muslims and Christians have a lot in common.  That, among other things, is what the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found out in a survey of Muslims in 39 countries.  For example, 42% of  Muslims internet users in Kyrgyzstan saw commonality with Christians while 29% of non users did not. The same seems to true for Muslim attitudes toward western culture like movies and music. “In nearly every... Read more

Nuclear war can create a crisis of faith. The discovery of missiles in Cuba in 1962 almost created such a  crisis.  The clip above is  a teaser for Clouds over Cuba, an awesome interactive documentary about the Cuban Missile crisis. It won a Webby award this year.  “While you watch the documentary,”  according to one review, “dozens of archival photos, videos, documents and audio recordings — like the recently declassified tapes from the ExComm meetings between Kennedy and his advisory... Read more

Here are the top three posts for May. Book of Mormon: Party Bus Edition World Population Distribution Face to Faith: Teaching Students to be Global Citizens Read more

Ken Halla posted a short video on Google Hangouts on the World history blog,  but this awesome tip sheet shows you step by step how to start using the program.  Google Hangouts is a little like Skype in that you can connect with other users through your computer’s camera.  The difference with Hangouts is that you can invite up to ten people  into your Hangout room.  The tip sheet was developed by Chicago school tech innovator, Jennie Magiera Read more

Couples in Ankara, Turkey locked lips this weekend in a subway to protest “moral rules” that said that kissing is not proper conduct in the subway. You can see a slideshow here at the Huffington Post. Read more