American Buddhist Net

2008-08-08

The streets of Okinawa will be filled during a four-day period starting Wednesday, but most stores won’t be closed.

It is Obon, one of the three primary holidays on the Okinawa calendar.

Obon is a time for celebrating life, and welcoming ancestor spirits home for a family reunion. It’s a Buddhist event, where ancestor spirits are believed to return to the human world in order to visit relatives. It is also called the Urabon, the Feast of Lanterns.

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7th August 2008
By Shaun Inguanzo

SPRINGVALE’S Buddhist community celebrated the Hungry Ghost Festival this week.

The Hungry Ghost Festival is a traditional Buddhist ceremony held annually on the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

The belief is that the festival is held when spirits come to Earth from above, living Buddhists offer prayers, chants, food and burn incense to satisfy ghosts and attract good fortune.

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August 6, 2008

Nanjing (China) : Chinese archaeologists Wednesday opened a 1,000-year-old steel case that was believed to contain Buddhist relics.

A pagoda top wrapped in silk emerged after archaeologists removed two steel panels of the cube-shaped case, which is 0.5 metre long, 0.5 metre wide and 1.34 metres high.

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Robbie Corey-Boulet

All but one of the six Tibetans participating in a hunger strike for Tibetan freedom lay nearly motionless in their tent near Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, their ninth day without food or water. The one who managed to sit up, a 31-year-old monk named Sodhak, strained to describe his physical ailments, which included dehydration and stomach pains.

“I’m feeling very weak now,” said Sodhak, who fled Tibet in 1997 to study Buddhism in Karnataka, according to a profile distributed by the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), the organiser of the strike. “The Tibetans in exile are representing the Tibetans inside Tibet. We have to express their grievances.”

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What if it turns out that early Christianity really was deeply influenced by Buddhism, as many scholars of the subject aver? What if some of Christ's teachings were borrowed from the Dharma? Or if early Christian monasteries were modeled on Buddhist ones? There was definitely a robust Buddhist influence in the ancient Mediterranean world and there was a good deal of travel and communication between it and India. Here is a good place to start if this subject interests you: Buddhism and Christianity. ABN
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Exclusivist view of Christianity might not be so rare.

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra | posted 8/05/2008 08:32AM

Many Christian leaders lamented the results of a Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey from June, which revealed that 57 percent of those affiliated with evangelical churches agree with the statement that many religions can lead to eternal life.

But that number may not be as alarming as it first appears, said Terry Mattingly, editor of media blog GetReligion. Many survey respondents, he said, may not have distinguished between religion and denomination.

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I see the Mahayana as mainly being a more positive statement of what enlightenment or nirvana is. The Mahayana was also a response to passive monasticism and a tendency to exclude lay people from deep understanding of the teachings. Much of the best Mahayana philosophy wends its way to statements of "pure emptiness' and thus leaves readers with something that much resembles Theravada teachings, with the changes mentioned above.

As for the Dalai Lama and his teachings on God and Christianity, as far as I understand, his main motive for being open to so many other beliefs and practices lies in his understanding that it is very difficult for most people to change religions, so to try to convert them to Buddhism will cause them to suffer while at the same time offending their traditional religious and political leaders. ABN
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2008-08-06 01:16
By Dr. Edward Perera

One of the acute problems in the Buddhist world is that there are so many Pundits with extensive Dhamma knowledge but their conduct is extremely contradictory to what they preach. In the past, the pious monks travelled from village to village, state to state, on some occasions also from country to country to carry the Dhamma message.

So-called Buddhist scholars talk on Buddhism to make themselves popular or if possible to have more money in their pockets. It is quite interesting to listen to the speech delivered by the white gentleman on Four Noble Truths and I am pleased to hear this sermon from someone brought up in the West. ( Buddhist Society of Western Australia - Forum)

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04/08/2008

The non-stop hustle and competitions of daily life have made people ignore themselves and the things around them. In the chaos of it all, everyone could benefit from a minute or two relaxing and musing on the life they are living.

The 63 photos in the Buddhist-themed exhibition Khoang Lang (The Tranquillity) hosted by HCM City Photographers’ Association depict and suggest the call for the restless to come back to their real, human livelihoods. They record the destinies of a handful of fates.

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Aug 4, 2008

DEVOTEES of a local Buddhist temple on Monday released 300,000 shellfish into the waters off Pulau Ubin as part of a traditional practice known as animal liberation.

The rite, which is tied to Buddhist belief in reincarnation, commonly involves the release of birds, fish and turtles.

Members of the Thekchen Choling Temple in Beatty Lane, though, chose to liberate cockles instead.

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August 5, 2008

Go'o Shrine in Kyoto on the western side of the Imperial Palace is dedicated to all things pig.

The shrine enshrines Wake no Kinomaru (733–799), an adviser to the Heian Period Emperor Kammu (737–806), and the courtier's sister Hiromushi.

Instead of the usual komainu (mythical lion-like beasts) standing guard outside the shrine, a pair of wild boar do the job instead.

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Regardless of whether or not the monks have "tamed" them, these animals are still wild at heart and hence unpredictable...I foresee eventual tragedy in this.

Hmm, the tiger in the photo looks pretty zonked. I wonder if any "special ingredients" are added to the boiled chickens he's "filled up with" prior to tourist visits... Robyn
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By RICHARD WHITE

A TODDLER creeps up behind a snoozing tiger — and incredibly, PETS it.

The big cat is one of three which have been totally tamed by monks at a Buddhist temple.

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Aug 4, 2008
By Khushwant Singh

LAWYERS for former chief executive officer of Ren Ci Hospital Shi Ming Yi on Monday asked for more time to make representations to the Attorney-General's Chambers.

They made the request during the court appearance of the 46-year-old Buddhist monk who has been charged with criminal breach of trust, forgery and abetting falsification of accounts. He also faces six charges under the Charities Act for allegedly providing false information.

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From childhood, Miranda Hodgson had been a staunch atheist, but when she began to practise yoga and meditation, her life took an unexpected turn

* Miranda Hodgson
* The Guardian,
* Monday August 4 2008

Eleven years ago, I was living in New York, and working as an arts administrator for Carnegie Hall.

I was ambitious and driven, but I felt as if something was missing in my life, and I couldn't explain what it was. My family was from London, but had moved to the US when my two elder brothers and I were very young, so that my father could pursue his career as a surgeon. We were comfortably middle-class, and it was expected that we, too, would develop highly successful careers, get married and, in turn, have successful children of our own.

My father was an atheist of the Richard Dawkins or Karl Marx ilk, for whom religion was simply a mechanism of political and social oppression. Although my mother never said much to contradict this, she would seem mildly upset when I would occasionally deny the existence of God. I, too, was an atheist. As a teenager, I refused to be confirmed.

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August 02, 2008
By Greg Sabatino

In 1943, a girl named Sadako Sasaki was born in Hiroshima, Japan.

On Aug. 6, 1945, an event took place that forever changed the face of the earth as the first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

This year, on that same day, 63 years after the Hiroshima attack, the Kamloops Buddhist Temple will host an event commemorating the bombing of Hiroshima in an attempt to remind people of the devastation the bombing and horrors of war cause.

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An age-old Buddhist ritual, 'wing ma', involves both local children and adults

Sunday August 03, 2008
Story by PLOENPOTE ATTHAKOR

Holding a colourful loincloth firmly in her hands, Suchada Oonhasut is ready for her mission - to run around the main chapel of Wat Suwannaram in an act of worship.

The mission to be carried out by the 13-year-old girl is part of a ritual called wing ma kae bon (riding on horseback as an act of worship), which is performed by thankful worshippers whose wishes have been granted by Phra Satsada, the sacred Buddha image of Wat Suwannaram in Bangkok Noi district. The loincloth symbolises a horse. The girl will run three times around the main hall of the temple.

The girl and her running mate, Monchai Kramwong, will mimic a horse's neigh from time to time during the ritual, which is well-known not only to locals but also people in other districts. They will both receive 200 baht for the mission, which will last about 10 to 15 minutes.

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Aug 01, 2008

If you live in or have visited Bangkok, you are probably under the illusion that Thailand is a modern society and you could be excused for thinking that. Sure, it's modern in the way that shopping malls, underground and sky trains, large movie theatres and enormous supermarkets are modern. But, in thought and in action, the Thais are often actually not very modern at all and, in fact, are the products of a culture of superstition and folk beliefs.

Not that I'm knocking it. In fact, I love the superstitions, spirit worship and folk beliefs that Thais believe in. Buddhism is still the main religion of Thailand, yet most Thais actually believe in a mixture of Thai Buddhism, superstition and folk religions. Every day, just in my normal life, I experience an example of some of this superstition and folk magic, and work today was no exception.

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Good piece, worth reading, especially if you are not familiar with the history of this area. Moreover, given the importance of Buddhist Gandhara, Taxila, and Greco-Bactria, and given the known influence of these regions on both Indian and Chinese Buddhism, it is hard not to conclude that Eastern Mediterranean coastal areas were also deeply influenced by these kingdoms and that consequently early Christianity was influenced by Buddhism. Some say that it was profoundly influenced. Central Asia is one of the world's most important historical regions, though constant changes in the area often obscure that fact. ABN
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August 1, 2008
Pervaiz Munir Alvi

Pakistan is home to the ancient Gandhara Civilization. Its Buddhist character, which this civilization is best known for, was first established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when colonial British military men and archeologists discovered various ancient religious sites near the city of Taxila in the Potowar region of Pakistan.

However since independence of Pakistan, the late 20th century studies and research conducted both by the Pakistani and Western scholars have documented and confirmed that Gandhara Civilization was not always Buddhist in character but had also gone through some well defined Hellenistic and Parthian periods as well.

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8/2/2008

The Olympic Games start Friday in Beijing. Religion is a complex and tense issue in China. Here are five basics about religion in China:

China is officially atheist. It's a communist country, but its constitution allows religious practice, and the government regulates five major religions: Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism and Islam.

Buddhists make up the largest group of Chinese faithful. Believers number in the tens of millions, according to government estimates. The country has more than 13,000 Buddhist temples. The religion came to China early in the Common Era.

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Fri Aug 1, 2008
By Chor Sokunthea

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (Reuters) - The wife of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen led Buddhist monks and soldiers in prayers at a 900-year-old Hindu border temple on Friday amid a three-week military stand-off with Thailand.

With Thai troops and artillery dug in only meters away, Bun Rany thanked the soldiers, mostly battle-hardened ex-Khmer Rouge guerrillas, for resisting what Cambodia says is Thai encroachment on a disputed patch of land next to the ruins.

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By Christiane Amanpour and Andrew Tkach
CNN

DHARAMSALA, India (CNN) -- Gedun Gyatso, a 27-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monk, is so devoted to the Dalai Lama that when he was in prison, he placed a picture of him next to his pillow in open defiance of his jailers. The gesture earned Gyatso another month of incarceration on top of the three years he had served for his political activity.

But today, Gyatso stands in defiance of the Dalai Lama's "middle way" approach to the long struggle between China and Tibetans over the fate of their homeland. The Tibetan spiritual leader's moderation is being challenged by a new generation at odds with his willingness to accept Tibetan autonomy within China rather than push for full independence.

"His Holiness says it's up to the Tibetans to choose their future, and I choose complete independence, and so do most Tibetans. As we saw in the uprising last March," Gyatso said.

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Thursday, Jul. 31, 2008
By TIM KINDSETH

...The 28 cantos of the Buddhacarita are spectacularly imagined. The theologian Ashvaghosha's ancient epic courses over 80 years, the entirety of the Buddha's journey toward nirvana and death. It fleshes out, warts and all, the more popular image of the Buddha as an eternally serene spiritual master. First, there's his auspicious birth, as Siddhartha Gautama, in the 6th century B.C. in what is now Nepal. His family is so obscenely rich ("like the Indus with the rush of waters") that they sacrifice 100,000 milk cows for the occasion. A diviner foretells Siddhartha's salvific destiny: "This sun of knowledge will blaze forth/ in this world to dispel/ the darkness of delusion."

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Nobel Laureate His Holiness Dalai Lama today consecrated the ancient Thungyur Lakhang Buddhist Gompa amidst enchanting of holy ‘Mantras’, prayers and traditional musical instruments in the presence of Shri Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, Smt. Pratibha Singh, MP and senior monks assembled from a number of prominent monasteries to mark the ceremony at Rampur Bushehar coinciding with 2550th year of Enlightenment when Prince Sidhartha attained Budhisatva and become Lord Budha.

Delivering the sermon to the devotees assembled from different parts of the State, His Holiness Dalai Lama dedicated the centuries old restored Thungyur Lakhung Monastery to the devotees of the Buddhism and congratulated them on the 2550th year of enlightenment of Lord Buddha which was being celebrated in a big way in the State. He said that the restored monastery would attract more devotees to undertake their devotional duties in a more holy manner.

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Wednesday, Jul. 30, 2008
Ian MacKinnon

Worship is generally not a life-threatening pursuit. But devotees across Asia could be taking their life into their hands every time they go to a temple to pray, according to a study by a Thai doctor.

Burning joss sticks lit as an offering in shrines and temples fill the air with cancer-causing toxins that are every bit as deadly as traffic fumes and cigarette smoke, says Dr Manoon Leechawengwong.

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July 29, 2008

The United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (UNMACA) has announced plans to clear a total of 1,800,000 square metres of land in the historic city of Bamiyan that is contaminated with mines and unexploded ordinance (UXOs) by October.

Bamiyan contains a number of Buddhist monastic ensembles and sanctuaries, as well as fortified edifices from the Islamic period. It is also where the Taliban destroyed two standing Buddha statues in March 2001.

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San Mateo, CA (PRWEB) July 29, 2008 -- Come August, the world's eyes will be on China as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad take place in Beijing. For those who want to complement daily media accounts of swim times, medal ceremonies and gymnastics scores with a late-summer read, "The Dharma King" will hit the shelves just in time.

Described as a thrilling novel of one man's quest to save Tibet - and himself - "The Dharma King" is an epic chase to find and bring the baby Panchen Lama, the spiritual counterpart to the Dalai Lama, to safety.

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Half of the population of North Korea doesn’t have enough to eat, according to 55-year-old South Korean Buddhist monk Pomnyun, who has been fasting since May 26.

July 29, 2008

Famine is estimated to have killed 2 million people in North Korea since the 1990s – nearly as many as the 2.5 million people reported killed during the Korean War.

Now food aid, which represents most of North Korea’s imports, might decrease because of higher costs of food and transportation.

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