Followers of an "illegal" Buddhist group in Vietnam want temporary asylum in France where their influential head is based, a nun said on Friday. "We have a representative who went to France and asked for us to stay there," the nun, asking not to be identified, told AFP. She said the group no longer felt safe in their home country. Mob pressure last week forced the head of Phuoc Hue pagoda in central Vietnam to sign a document promising that the devotees of French-based Thich Nhat Hanh would... Read Full Story
Followers of a famous Buddhist teacher plan to seek temporary asylum in France after months of pressure from Vietnam's communist authorities to leave pagodas in the country's south. Some 400 disciples of Thich Nhat Hanh, who has popularized Buddhism in the West and sold millions of books worldwide, were forcibly evicted from the Bat Nha monastery in Lam Dong province in late September. Since then, nearly 200 have taken refuge at the nearby Phuoc Hue pagoda, but they have been ordered to... Read Full Story
'Mandalas' are thought to be one of the worlds oldest of all art forms .
The word 'Mandala' is from the Sanskrit and has been defined as "circle", "round" or "wheel". "whole world",
There are many ways to view Mandalas, they could be seen as a sort of landscape of the mind.
They have been described by some people as "expressing a microcosm embodying the various divine powers at work in the universe." Attempting to quantify exactly what a Mandala is, is a very... Read Full Story
The head of a Buddhist pagoda in Central Vietnam said Friday that followers of an influential French-based monk can no longer seek shelter with him following three days of mob pressure. "I had to agree, and I had no choice," Thich Thai Thuan told AFP from Phuoc Hue pagoda in Lam Dong province. He said there has been "strong pressure" from crowds of about 100 people who noisily descended upon the pagoda for three days until Friday, demanding that devotees of the French-based Thich Nhat Hanh... Read Full Story
AYUTHAYA, Thailand (Reuters Life!) - Thai police promised to get tough with criminals who steal historic artifacts for the international market after a spate of thefts from the old capital of Ayuthaya outraged the public in the Buddhist country. At least 20 heads of Buddha statues have recently been reported stolen from temples in the World Heritage province of Ayuthaya, which was the kingdom's capital from 1350 to 1767, said deputy national police chief Jongrak Juthanond. "We believe there... Read Full Story
The forced expulsion of more than 300 followers of one of the world's most influential Buddhists highlights Vietnam's suppression of religious freedom, Human Rights Watch said Monday. "The government views many religious groups, particularly popular ones that it fears it can't control, as a challenge to the Communist Party's authority," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director of the US-based watchdog. HRW said that late last month more than 100 "thugs and undercover police" armed with... Read Full Story
Followers of a world-famous Buddhist teacher say police and an angry mob have forced them out of a monastery in central Vietnam, ending a religious experiment in the communist country that turned into a monthslong standoff with authorities. Followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, an Vietnam-born monk who has popularized Buddhism in the West, said about 150 monks were forced from the Bat Nha monastery in Lam Dong province Sunday, and about 230 nuns left on their own Monday morning. "The Vietnamese... Read Full Story
Coming up in Bodh Gaya in Bihar is a Buddhist monastery that will be run by Mongolia, the land of legendary warrior Chinggis Khan. The envoy of the Central Asian country, Voroshilov Enkhbold, says it will be completed by next year. Read Full Story
One of the things that I have learned about meditation is – there are many more ways to meditate than one could practice in this lifetime. I quite enjoy the Buddhist meditations. Here is one that I thought would be a good one for these times that seem to be creating a lot of stress for people. Read Full Story
Four years ago, Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh drew crowds of thousands on his return to Vietnam after decades in exile -- but now his followers complain of systematic repression by the communist regime. Hanh, who was a confidant of slain US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and has a large following in the West, landed a meeting with then prime minister Phan Van Khai in 2005 even as authorities kept him under watch. Today, his followers say they are the victims of sustained harassment... Read Full Story
