Members of an "illegal" Buddhist group in communist Vietnam who took refuge in a temple for three months have left the pagoda in accordance with a deadline, the temple's head said on Wednesday. Their departure from Phuoc Hue pagoda follows what Human Rights Watch, a US-based watchdog, alleged was a year of intensified government efforts to disband the community of young monks and nuns. They are devotees of the French-based Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen monk who was a confidant of slain US civil... Read Full Story
Followers of an "illegal" Buddhist group in communist Vietnam have dispersed ahead of a Thursday deadline to leave a temple where they had sought shelter, the head of the pagoda said Wednesday. Their departure from Phuoc Hue pagoda follows what Human Rights Watch, a US-based watchdog, alleged was a year of intensified government effort to disband the community of young monks and nuns. They are devotees of the French-based Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen monk who was a confidant of slain US civil... Read Full Story
This Zen story really resonates for me around a holiday time. The story is about showing compassion, something that is part of the eight noble truths. Buddha picture with cobras from bearspace.baylor.edu One day, Ch'an Master K'ung-yeh was travelling on the road and met some bandits who wanted to rob him. Tears fell from the Master's eyes. The bandits started laughing and exclaimed, "What a coward!" Master K'ung-yeh then said, "Don't think that I'm crying because I'm afraid... Read Full Story
December 29, 2009 Michael Imperioli, like all the cast members of HBO"s wildly popular "The Sopranos," has, for the last decade, been a darling of the entertainment media. From electronic to gloss to newsprint, he and his fellow cast members have been the stuff that sells the stuff that tells all of that celebrity dish. Amid all that stuff, Imperioli has actually been on a serious journey of self-evaluation, a journey of self-realization, a journey that led him to Tibetan Buddhism….. Full... Read Full Story
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan has come out in support of Buddhist monks who are demanding control over the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, the religion's holiest shrine. Read Full Story
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
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
Buddhist religious head Karmapa Lama has called for the protection of environment across the globe.
In his address beginning Thursday at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, the 17th Karmapa Lama, Ogyen Thrinley Dorje, a spiritual leader of the Kagyu sect Buddhists, said there was a need to improve the environment in Tibet and Himalayas.
Karmapa asked his followers to protect the earth and live simply. He also revealed his vision of building environment management capacity for all Kagyu monasteries... 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
