Philosopher, Alain de Botton, founded a company in which he surveys some of the great philosophers, socialists, and political scientists in short five minute animated clips. In a course on eastern philosophy, the School of Life reviews the life and contributions of Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, Confucius, and Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. The clips are ideal for students and could be used in class or assigned as homework. Read more

John Hull, the great Australian religious teacher and writer, died yesterday.  Among the many things for which he is well known, is the touching and courageous way in which he accepted his blindness soon after his daughter was born in 1983. Hull made a recording of his diary entries after he went completely blind.  According to The New York Times , Hull sent his recordings to two London film makers who produced the short film above. It premiered at the Sun Dance film festival in 2014 and won the documentary... Read more

Wow! Not one, not two, but four major American museums have exhibits of Islamic art!  They include Baltimore’s Walters Museum, New York’s Metropolitan Museum, Dallas’s Museum of Art and Los Angeles County’s Museum of Art. Each museum focuses on a different aspect of Muslim art. For example, the Baltimore exhibit is called “Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts” and “has over ninety objects reflecting Islamic culture from the Bay of Bengal to the Mediterranean.”... Read more

Here’s a terrific TedEd clip on how Islamic artists use geometry to develop their designs. Eric Brough developed the clip and even has a book about the geometry of Islamic design. Read more

Beliefnet has a great story about the hijbab and some of the misconceptions about it. Did you know, for example, that the hijab did not originate with Muslims. They simply adopted the practice that was prevalent in pre-Islamic Mediterranean societies. And Muslims were not the only ones to wear a veil. Christians wore one too. According to Belifenet, “the Apostle Paul encouraged women to wear veils and his letter to the Corinthians said “‘For if a woman does not have... Read more

Here’s the trailer for a new feature film about Buddhism called Golden Kingdom that will premiere in America this fall. It’s already opend in Europe and gotten great reviews.   According to Variety,  Golden Kingdom  “…is a more intimate appreciation of Buddhism than Martin Scorsese’s rapturous “Kundun” or Bernardo Bertolucci’s earnest but misguided “Little Buddha.” The film follows a group of four novice monks, young boys, who must fend for themselves in their monestary after their head monk leaves. According to the Hollywood Reporter, three... Read more

Muslims believe that the words of the Quaran were first spoken to the Prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabrielle in the early 7th century? How did the words get transcribed into the Quran we know today? How was it first diseeminated and when was it first printed? How did Europeans react to the Quran when they first learned about it during the Crusades? These are some of the interesting questions BBC IWonder answers in their new intereactive timeline called The Quran: The long journey... Read more

The University of Oxford has digitized at least 100 paintings of Hindu gods that were made in the 19th century as cheap souvenirs for tourists at the Temple of Kali in Calicutta. You can now see them at the Unviersity’s Digital Bodleian site. Among the images you will see are Kali, the Hindu goddess of creativity and fertility;  Krishna, the popular God who is considered one of the most powerful incarnations of Vishnu; Shiva, the destroyer; and Durga, the invincible goddess who symbolizes... Read more

The Pacific Asian Museum in Pasadena, California has a terrific interactive web exhibit called Visions of Enlightenment: Understanding the Art of Buddhism. It works as a great web quest for students. The exhibit has four sections. The first includes the history of the Buddha, including his birth, his attainment of enlightenment, and his death. A section about Buddhist places reviews where Buddhism spread in Asia. You will tour Sri Lanka where the Buddha himself spread his teachings. In Cambodia, you... Read more

If the sacred texts of many religions overwhelm you, then take a look at some of the favorite passages or images that religious scholars chose. In an online exhibit called Expressions of Faith, the British Library invited scholars and well-known people of each of the major religions to choose their favorite. The result gives you a fascinating look at some of the religions’ great manuscripts. For example, Sue Arnold, a well-known author and social critic with a tie to Buddhism through... Read more