Tibetan Buddhist nuns are breaking centuries-old barriers, earning the highest degrees in their tradition and taking on leadership roles across monastic and community institutions.
Tag: buddhism
From elephant ivory crucifixes to rhino horn handles for Muslim ceremonial daggers, sacred wildlife products fuel an overlooked driver of the illegal trade. This unbridled demand is pushing some species toward extinction, forcing faith leaders to reconcile devotion with biodiversity conservation.
The Dalai Lama has warned his followers against any attempt to name his successor outside the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, a veiled reference to the Chinese Communist Party, which seeks to control the reincarnation process of the 90-year-old spiritual leader.
Updated June 11, 2024 at 12:00 p.m. On this day in 1963, Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức self-immolated to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. Why did the monk self-immolate during the Vietnam war? Buddhists were facing religious discrimination, and the South Vietnamese government had imposed various restrictions on them. […]
Updated May 8, 2024 at 11:20 a.m. Mahatma Gandhi began an iconic fast on this day in 1933 in protest against the British government’s decision to separate the electoral system in India based on religion. He believed that the decision would lead to communal division and destroy Hindu-Muslim unity. Gandhi’s fast lasted for a total […]
Unemployment, stress in the workplace, economic difficulties: more and more young Chinese graduates are flocking to monasteries to find “another school of life.”
We tend to think of Buddhism as a religion devoid of commandments, and therefore generally more accepting than others. The author, an Australian researcher — and “genderqueer, non-binary Buddhist” themself — suggests that it is far from being the case.
Death metal is considered the most soulless music of all. But the Taipei-based Buddhist death metal band Dharma is proving otherwise. Their music may also even be a secret weapon in the island’s stand-off with China.
On his blog, Tenzin Peljor, a Berlin-born Buddhist monk investigates complex issues linked to his religion, including physical and sexual abuse in Buddhist communities.
Emerging religions and cults in Asia are deeply intertwined with politics: in China, religions need political approval, while in Japan religious groups use political platforms to assert themselves. Not even the killing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, carried out by a member of the Unification Church, has prompted a closer look at exactly what role religion plays in society.
The Buddha’s “Eight Heavy Rules” included a stipulation that placed Buddhist nuns under the supervision of monks, which have undermined women’s status in the ancient religion.
Buddhist and Shinto temples in Japan hold “ningyo kuyo” (人形供養) funeral rites for unwanted dolls, a spiritual send off to thank dolls for their service and properly put them to rest.
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A Happier Kind Of Philosophy
I’m not a religious person. As a philosophy teacher, my go-to thinker was Spinoza, who once wrote that religion was created “to deceive the people and to constrain the minds of men” But I guess that if I had to pick one faith, the smiles of Buddhism I discovered throughout my Asian travels would be […]
Our new OneShot commemorates Vietnamese monk Thích Quảng Đức’s self-immolation, which took place exactly 55 years ago, on June 11, 1963. The images of this dramatic moment by Associated Press photographer, Malcom W. Browne, won both the World Press Photo of the Year and the Pulitzer Prize. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/gaFZvscGsM8 expand=1] Thích Quảng Đức’s self-immolation, June 11, 1963 (© Malcolm W. Browne/Associated Press/Public Domain) OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow OneShot:
NEW DELHI — Despite India’s recent progress, its international influence is not commensurate with its size, might and tradition. India is often criticized for being unable to punch above its weight, or even according to its weight. Time and again, we have noticed that economic strength and military might have their limitations. The potential for Indian soft power, however, is enormous, but has remained underutilized. On the occasion of Gautama Buddha’s birth anniversary, I posit that India should reclaim Buddha and his philosophy, including his practice of Vipassana, as an Indian ideological, philosophical and lifestyle export to the world at […]
President Xi Jinping demands ‘inflexible atheism’ from his fellow Communist Party members. But he also has a soft spot for Buddhism, sources suggest.
NEW DELHI — The impact of the 19th Communist Party of China congress and affirmation of President Xi Jinping as China’s ‘most powerful” leader in decades matters for India — especially on the ‘Tibet Issue,” which also intersects with longstanding conflicts over the Chinese-Indian border. Tibetan leader Dalai Lama’s well-known desire to return home has taken on new urgency, following this November 23 statement: “The past is past, Tibetans want to stay with China,” he said. These words carry a serious political overtone, coming as it does immediately after the 19th party congress and amid the current Doklam border standoff […]
The South Korea nun’s culinary philosophy has influenced chefs and foodies around the world.
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Heavily Heavenly
Nirvana comes at a price — and a weight: 5.5 tons of gold, to be more precise, in the case of the Golden Buddha, in Bangkok’s Wat Traimit temple.
-Essay- TAIPEI — I still recall the long journey I made in 1987 during my first visit in China, traveling in crammed buses with the smells of caged poultry on board. Through Guangzhou in Canton, and the famous mountain landscape of Guilin and Yangshuo in the southeast province of Guangxi, I recall being amazed that, […]
CHIBA — Researchers are collecting 3D data of Buddhist statues and other cultural assets at a university here on the eastern outskirts of Tokyo in order to store the stereoscopic information in case of the objects’ deterioration or theft. The graduate school research laboratory at Chiba University is recording the 3D data, which is also […]
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The Dalai Lama’s Overcast Trip
-Analysis- A planned visit by the Dalai Lama, a Tibetan spiritual leader, to a remote corner of northeast India could just have escalated tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors India and China. The Asian nations share a disputed 3,500-km border. China claims ownership of about 90,000 square meters of land run by India, which it calls South […]
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Extra Plump
Statues of Buddhas are famously plump, but these chubby figures at Kelaniya Temple near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo really take the cake.
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Holy Business
Straw hats, maracas, decoratives masks … The ancient Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura is considered sacred to the Buddhist world, and a great place to buy just about anything!
-Essay- I am short of breath. My brow is wet with sweat, and my fingertips are tingling. I can’t seem to concentrate. I’m happy, but there’s this idea nagging inside of me that I might lose that very happiness I’m feeling. That is indeed the cause of my anxiety. It’s not the fault of the […]
A campaign to see Buddhism become the country’s official religion has exposed an ugly rift that could have serious consequences for the Muslim minority.
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Entrance Examination
If you want to catch a glimpse of the Emerald Buddha inside Bangkok“s Wat Phra Kaew, the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand, you first have to make it past the two imposing demon statues.
We have a tendency to extol our late loved ones for having “fought” against the illnesses that struck them. But those who peacefully succumb to terminal disease are no less brave.
Not only is the Great Stupa, in the ancient Sri Lankan capital of Anuradhapura, considered an architectural marvel, but it is one of the holliest places for Buddhists, as the shrine is believed to contain relics of Buddha.
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Buddhist Incense
The only thing missing from this picture of a Buddhist temple on the island city-state of Singapore is the intense scent of incense these worshippers were burning.
BANGALORE — Here in the Indian capital of global call centers, the Dalai Lama was the feature guest at the Arab-Asian Chamber of Commerce” Peace for Economy conference. In an interview with La Stampa on the sidelines of the conference, the highest authority of Tibetan Buddhism extended an olive branch to the West’s current Enemy […]
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Polychrome Religion
Children were playing next to a man painting a wood panel for one of the countless Hindu festivals in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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Best Buddha
Sri Lanka has hundreds of reclining Buddhas, but the 30-ft-long one at Isurumuni Temple in Anuradhapura, with its vibrant colours, really stands out.
BOGOR — The oldest Buddhist temple in Bogor, West Java, is a silent witness to religious tolerance in the area. Five men gather inside the temple, whose doors are always open for people from different religions to come inside and pray. Sitting behind statues of a Buddhist goddess, the men engage in their weekly communal Koran study group. After the evening prayer, they move to the temple’s kitchen to enjoy tonight’s dinner. “We’ve been doing this for three years now, every Thursday night. It’s a routine,” says Epul Saefullah, who leads this evening’s Koran reading. “At first people asked, “But […]
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Buddha Watching
In the heart of the Kathmandu valley lies one of the most sacred and oldest Buddhist pilgrimage sites. At the top of the Swayambhunath dome, or stupa, Buddha is looking in all four directions. At this particular moment, I was hoping it meant a special protective glance over these two Nepalese cleaners, standing dangerously close […]
A group of young people of all religious backgrounds are living proof of religious tolerance, as they volunteer to clean Jakarta houses of worship, whether they be Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist or Christian.
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Give And Take
No, these monks are not giving food to destitute people, quite the opposite. In Thailand, the giving of alms is not considered charity — it is part of a two-way relationship: The community feeds and clothes the monks, who in return have a responsability to support the community spiritually.
CESAR — Without saying a word, which none would have understood anyway, Guneymaku Chaparro, an Arhuaca Mamo or spiritual leader, and Tenzin Priyadarshi, a monk and disciple of the Dalai Lama, took each other’s hands and lightly put their heads together to say good-bye. It was the end of a meeting that the northern Colombia […]
SEOUL – Alongside the highway that runs from Seoul to the barbed wire fences of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) there is an all but forgotten cemetery. For one South Korean Buddhist monk, this is a truly sacred site. Muk-gai chants — this is meant to ease the suffering of the spirits that inhabit this graveyard. With his shaved head and grey tunic, he taps on a small drum as he walks past the headstones that dot this hillside. These graves belong to 769 North Korean soldiers. The 58-year-old monk says he doesn’t consider them as enemies. “It isn’t about sympathy […]
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Nirvana Starts Young
Nepalese prayer wheels come in all shapes and sizes. This one wouldn’t quite fit in my luggage, so I brought a smaller one back home.