An American Zen Buddhist training center in the Mountains and Rivers Order, offering Sunday programs, weekend retreats and month-long residencies.
Buddha |
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Sri Lanka's "blend of faiths" a cause for hope
In the September issue of the Atlantic, Robert Kaplan writes that any hope for a lasting peace in Sri Lanka will depend on its ability to reconnect to the "blend of faiths" that lay at the very foundation of the ancient Kingdom of Kandy, from which the famous city in the island's heartland takes its name: [E]ven if the artistic grandeur of Kandy has helped form the emotional source of Buddhist nationalism, which has proved itself as bloody as other religious nationalisms, Kandy’s religious monuments also offer a much deeper lesson: the affinity—rather than the hostility—between Buddhism and Hinduism. Buddhism arrived in Sri Lanka from India as part of the missionary activity of the great Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the third century B.C. More » -
16-year-old high school soccer player finds the middle way
Sixteen-year-old Jimmy O'Leary, a high school junior at St. John’s Prep, an all-boys Catholic school in Danvers, Massachusetts, made the Boston Globe this weekend for taking up an interest in Buddhism. Says his soccer coach, Rene Novoa, who began coaching O'Leary six years ago: “All of a sudden, he was more calm, he was more collected when things didn’t go his way. More » -
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Buddhism: Religion, Science, Both?
The "secularization" of Buddhism in the West has its countless proponents. But its secularization may often be little more than a wrong-headed denial of its religious roots. At least that's what we hear from our favorite Buddhist Geek Vincent Horn, who has posted to the Interdependence Project's "One City" blog, hosted by Beliefnet. While Horn acknowledges some of the positive effects of the secularization of Buddhist practice, in general, the trend doesn't sit well with him: [L]et me be clear about what I mean when I say, "making Buddhism secular." I mean, specifically, the attempt to strip away the cultural trappings of the tradition, while preserving and re-packaging the "essence" of the tradition (which usually has something to do with meditation practice). More » -
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Internet Dharma Talks from Jampal Norbu Namgyal
Yesterday, Jampal Norbu Namgyal, the tweny-one-year-old son of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, gave his first dharma talk to his father’s entire sangha. The talk—called "From the Cushion to the Grocery Store: Developing Positive Habits"—was part of a new series of free weekly dharma talks delivered via internet by Rinpoche, his wife Elizabeth Namgyal, and Jampal. The series, currently airing from Boulder and Crestone, Colorado, is called the Link, and takes place every Sunday at ten o’clock, mountain time. More » -
What's the fastest-growing religion in Britain's jails?
You guessed it, Buddhism. While Buddhists make up only 0.26% of the general population, they're 2% of the prison population, and their numbers have increased eightfold over the past decade. Buddhism's growth in Britain's prison system now outstrips that of Muslims, whose numbers have merely doubled. More » -
Video of the magnificent Leshan Buddha
Many thanks to Sharon Saw, who posted the following comment to my earlier post on the Leshan Buddha ("Where is the largest stone carved Buddha in the world?"). Take a look, the footage is great and gives you an idea of how magnificent this millennium-old Chinese homage to Maitreya Buddha truly is: yeah.. there’s a cool youtube video of HE Tsem Tulku Rinpoche at Leshan…there are 2 parts, here’s part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7DczsOQdz4 and part 2 is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORb_T-aijP0 More »
