Tricycle | Awake in the World

Inquiring Mind's 25th anniversary issue is themed—buddhistically enough—"Sickness, Old Age, Death and the Path of Practice." It's been out for a while now and it's a great read. In it Ajahn Sumedho pays a pretty harrowing visit to a Thai hospital to contemplate autopsies, but "after the aversion and proliferating tendencies stopped," he writes, I really began to observe the decaying process. Strangely enough, I found it quite beautiful—the way nature disposes of things. My judgments of beauty had been created on a conventional level, but in the here and now—being with the aversion and the disgust—I didn’t feel repelled at all by the process of decay. It was quite marvelous to watch how life consumes and takes away. More »

Beliefnet looks at Buddhism and politics: So American Buddhists aren't likely to become a political machine or a crucial swing vote any time soon. But as the religion born in the East carves its place in the West, many Buddhists are making a mark in U.S. politics, including this year's presidential race. A significant number of Buddhist immigrants who fled communist regimes in Southeast Asia tend to be politically conservative, which could help Republican candidate Sen. John McCain. But a solid majority of American Buddhists are converts, who tend to be liberal, and many back Democrat Barack Obama. You may have read about the troubles of the Cambodian temple in Long Beach, California. More »