Barbara's Buddhism Blog May 2008 Archive

Julia Duin, writing in the Washington Times's "Belief Blog," sites violence by Sri Lankan Buddhists against Christian churches. "Buddhism is treated as a state religion in Sri Lanka where Buddhist ... Read More

In 1996, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor had a stroke and found Nirvana. Leslie Kaufman writes in the New York Times ("A Superhighway to Bliss") that as the parts of the ... Read More

Reuters reports that the military government of Burma (Myanmar) today extended Aung San Suu Kyi's house detention for another year. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been under ... Read More

Memorial Day is set aside to honor Americans in the military who died in service to their country. Those so honored today include Buddhists. The photograph at right is of ... Read More

His Holiness the Dalai Lama yesterday told Julian Borger of The Guardian that he fears China will be tougher on Tibet after this summer's Beijing Olympics. He believes Beijing is ... Read More

This morning several news agencies report that Senior General Than Shwe, the military dictator of Burma (Myanmar), has agreed to allow foreign aid workers into the cyclone-hit areas of Burma. ... Read More

Elisabeth Rosenthal writes in today's New York Times that the recent Sichuan earthquake has pushed Tibetan activism out of the limelight and left activists in a quandary. The ongoing Olympic torch ... Read More

Yesterday and today Vesak, or Wesak, is being observed in many parts of Asia. This is the celebration of the Buddha's birth, but for many there is little time for ... Read More

Buddhist monks are distributing food and other aid in Burma (Myanmar), in spite of the government's obstruction. Aung Hla Tun reports for Reuters, With foreign agencies on a tight leash and ... Read More

The Hammerstein Ballroom -- actually a theater, originally an opera house -- on Manhattan's West 34th Street holds about 3,000 people. From where I was sitting on Saturday afternoon it ... Read More

Did karma cause Cyclone Nargis to strike Burma (Myanmar)? According to Professor Ingrid Jordt of the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee, Buddhists of Burma blame Burma's oppressive military regime for Cyclone Nargis. ... Read More

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, arrived in New York yesterday for an 18-day tour that will include public events in the New York City area; Boulder, ... Read More

I want to call attention to a couple of items in today's New York Times. The first is Nicholas Kristof's column, "The Terrified Monks." Kristof gives us a glimpse of ... Read More

The Red Cross is estimating the cyclone death toll in Burma (Myanmar) could be as high as 128,000. As many as 2.5 million Burmese remain in desperate need of food, ... Read More

In "The Neural Buddhists," New York Times columnist David Brooks discusses developments in neural science and how these developments might impact religion. "In unexpected ways, science and mysticism are joining ... Read More

Bodhisattvas sometimes are pictured with multiple arms and heads. I didn't appreciate this symbolism until I heard this dharma talk by John Daido Loori, in which he said, Every time there's ... Read More

Prajnaparamita is Sanskrit for "perfection of wisdom." In Mahayana Buddhism, the word wisdom usually points to "shunyata," or "emptiness." According to this teaching, nothing has intrinsic existence, and all ... Read More

The military junta that controls Burma (Myanmar) continues to delay and frustrate efforts to bring help to the people of Burma. Although United Nations relief planes now are landing supplies ... Read More

The United Nations estimates that hundreds of thousands of people in Myanmar (Burma) are in desperate need of help. Most news media today reported that 22,500 people died as ... Read More

Today President George Bush signed congressional legislation that awarded Aung San Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal, America's top civilian honor. Yesterday the government of Canada named her an honorary ... Read More

The death toll from the cyclone that ripped through southern Burma (Myanmar) this weekend has reached nearly 4,000, according to Seth Mydans of the New York Times. But CNN reports ... Read More