Buddhist Chaplaincy in the Armed Forces

The Maneuver Center of Excellence and the United States Army have the first Buddhist Chaplain to ever serve in its ranks. Our Ron Andruss sat down with Chaplain Thomas Dyer to learn more about his duty, they way of Buddha and brings us his enlightening story.





Last show we shared with you a story about Captain Thomas Dyer who recently became the first Buddhist Chaplain to serve in the United States Army. In this episode Ron Andruss shows us how Chaplain Dyer provides Zen discipline and training to help Soldiers become Army Strong.

Dharma Talk - A Turtle Picnic

Talk Given By: Bup Mee Sunim
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Duration - 21:02

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‘Buddha’ goes to the hospital

 

The hospital admissions sheet simply read: “Name: Buddha; DOB: 1662.”

The 350-year-old patient’s visit started with a routine x-ray in the summer of 2008. But doctors discovered there were signs of an unknown mass inside his head and yet another inside his stomach – objects that his new caretakers were intent on identifying and extracting if at all possible.

The x-ray wasn’t detailed enough to make a proper diagnosis, so doctors at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville cleared the schedule and ordered a CAT scan....

Continue reading at The Washington Post

The Age of "Outrospection"

Cultural historian Roman Krznaric (Author of The Wonderbox: Curious Histories of How to Live) reveals how the art of empathy can not only enrich one's own life but also help to create social change.


Source: RSA


http://www.romankrznaric.com/

Morning Alms Offering to 1,000,000 Monks

Bangkok, Thailand: The Morning Alms Offering to 1,000,000 Monks is a ceremony to worship the Lord Buddha and celebrate the Anniversary of the Lord Buddha's 2,600th Enlightenment Day.

Buddhist Monks Protest Against US Resolution on Sri Lanka

Hundreds of Buddhist monks march to the U.S. embassy in Colombo calling on Washington to stay out of Sri Lanka's affairs.

They're protesting a U.S. led resolution against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Brad Warner - "The Mafia Precepts"

A well thought and well written opinion by Brad Warner.


"...It occurred to me (as I said it this time) that perhaps even mafia hit men have a role in society. They kill other mafia guys. And the fewer mafia guys there are, the better. Probably. Or maybe not. 


Because it was the Japanese mafia, the yakuza, who were among the first to deliver aid to the people hardest hit by last year's earthquakes in Japan. Governments -- especially the Japanese one -- move slowly and inefficiently. The yakuza can move quickly.

What I'm getting at is that this karmic stuff is very complex. I think it's a mistake to imagine we know what's good in every instance. Sometimes things that appear to be evil really aren't evil. Sometimes they really are evil...."


Read the full article at his blog, Hardcore Zen 

"We Don't Worship Buddha!!"

“We don’t worship Buddha,” says pastor Dennis Terry, introducing Rick Santorum while preaching to the choir in the newly posted video below.

'...and if you do worship Buddha, Allah, Muhammad, or aren't Christian then get out of America.' (Paraphrase)


 But perhaps more frightening than the rhetoric of fundamentalist evangelical pastors are the politicians that accept their endorsements and consent to their intolerance. 



Source: Shambhala Sun

Source: HuffPost

$7 million Korean temple planned for Salisbury Mills, NY

In Salisbury Mills, New York, Won Kak Sa (est. 1986) is looking to expand its current location in to a traditional Korean Buddhist temple complex. The new facility would be built on the 228 acres of land currently maintained by Won Kak Sa and would host lectures, meditation practice, and Korean cultural events (all overlooking a lake on the property).

Wha Sup Chung, who oversees the fundraising and construction committees for this project, says, “One thing we want to emphasize is that this is not just for Koreans — this is for all the people.”

If completed, the $7 million dollar expansion will include a 2800 square foot prayer hall, a building to house monks, and a meditation hall. All of the woods for the new construction would be imported from South Korea, and the buildings would be constructed in a traditional Korean style, without nails.

Source: Buddhadharma 

Source: RecordOnline

Video Coverage of Tibetan Self-Immolations

(Recommend viewing in full screen to make it easier to read the subtitles.)

[© NTDTV] (ChinaForbiddenNews)
http://www.youtube.com/user/ChinaForbiddenNews?feature=watch
03/17/2012

Dharma Talk - Bear Burrito

 Talk Given By: Bup Chon Sunim
Sunday, March 18, 2012.
 Duration - 16:30

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ReligionMatters Show interviews Bishop Jongmae Kunsunim

The Institute for Religious Tolerance's "ReligionMatters" Show interview Bishop Jongmae Kunsunim.

UPDATE: These videos are back online and available for viewing again. Enjoy! (3/19/12)
Part 1


Part 2

Sravasti Abbey: The Movie

Join us in the vision of a thriving monastic Sangha in the west and a place of Dharma where one and all can come to learn, practice, and live the Buddha's profound teachings. Sravasti Abbey is the Tibetan Buddhist monastery in eastern Washington, USA founded by Ven. Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron.

Al Jazeera English profiles 92-year-old Buddhist scholar

Al Jazeera English has a new video profile of Satya Mohan Joshi, a 92-year-old Buddhist scholar and cultural preservationist in Nepal with no plans to retire.

A three-time recipient of the Madan Puraskar (an award given by Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, the library of Nepali books and periodicals) for his books “Our Folk Culture” (1956), “The Coinage of Nepal” (1957) and “Folk Culture of the Far-Western Zone Karnali” (1971), he is also a life member of the Royal Nepal Academy and Chancellor of the Nepal Bhasha Academy.

Watch the video coverage here.

Source: Buddhadharma

Shinnyo-en conducts historic first Fire and Water ceremony in Africa

Her Holiness Shinso Ito, Head Priest of Shinnyo-en, performed a religious Fire and Water ceremony at the Gallmann Africa Conservancy in Kenya–the first such event Shinnyo-en has performed in Africa.

The ceremony was part of the Global Peace Initiative of Women conference held last week in Nairobi and Laikipia, which brought together over 300 religious and spiritual leaders from around the world.

You can watch video of the event online at Youtube (linked below).



Source: Shambhala Sun

Separating religion from politics in Korea

Seven out of ten people are against religious people participating in political affairs

According to the polls, 67.2% agreed that the church and state should be separated, 12.9% disagreed, and 20% answered “doesn’t matter.”

The Religious Freedom Policy Research Center stated, “Most of our people would like to have the church and state to be separated so these results should serve as an caution to the recent religious people who stated that they will participate in Politics, or to the politicians who use religion as their campaign tactics.”

Source: Buddhist Channel

Pilgrimage - 600 kilometers, 150 chanted sutras, and 20,000 written sutras

Renjo Miura, a Buddhist priest of the Nichiren sect, made a 600-kilometer pilgrimage on foot, starting on June 18 last year, and finishing on August 1.

His purpose was to comfort the souls of those who died in last year’s earthquake and tsunami, where nearly 16,000 people perished, and more than 3,700 are still missing. He also helped to bring peace to the traumatized survivors as he made his way through the disaster zones.

“I walked north for 44 days along the Pacific coastline 100 days after the earthquake, through the devastated areas, and skirting the no-entry zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Thirteen other Buddhist priests joined me at different sections on my route,” he said, speaking recently about his experiences....

Continue reading here at Buddhist Channel.

Meditation's Impact on the Bottom Line

As the saying goes, "Money makes the world go ‘round." Whether you believe this to be true or not, I think we'd all agree that money plays a fundamental role in our lives. In this blog post, I'll explore the financial benefits of meditation.
A Short (Very Short) Economic Lesson

Meditation as an Income Generator

Meditation as Means to Spend Less

Continue reading from Psychology Today Blog here.

Dharma Talk - Speaking in Dharanis

Talk Given By: Hae Doh Sunim
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Duration - 27:04

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The Most Astounding Fact About The Universe

   

In an interview with Time magazine, astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked the question: "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the universe?"


"We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us," he explains.


Source: Huffington Post

Effects of Japan’s Disaster Are Still Unfolding

As grieving families across the nation gathered Sunday to mark the one-year anniversary of Japan’s 3/11 disasters — an earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the northeastern coast, killed almost 20,000 people and caused a huge nuclear radiation leak — some communities are still coming to terms with the calamity’s scale, complexity and lasting effects, and painful new revelations have shed light on how some of the victims died.

Last week, the police in the Futaba-gun region of Fukushima, which includes the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and the town of Namie, confirmed that a handful of tsunami survivors trapped in the rubble probably starved to death as rescuers fled the scene for fear of radiation.

“If only there was no nuclear power station, lives could have been saved,” Mr. Yokoyama said. He thinks, and hopes, that his parents were quickly overpowered by the waves, and avoided the drawn-out deaths that some around them may have suffered....

Continue reading from the NYTimes

Japanese monk guards remains of tsunami unknown

One year ago yesterday, Sunday, March 11, marks the 1 year anniversary of the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami...

Hundreds of the 19,000 people killed by Japan's horrific quake-tsunami remain unmourned, their bodies never claimed because there is no one left to notice they have gone.

But one Buddhist monk has lovingly stored the ashes and bones of some of those whose names no one knows in the hope that one day they can be reunited with their families.

Every day for the last year, Ryushin Miyabe has offered prayers and lit incense for the souls in his care at the Myokoin temple in Yamamoto, a small town on Japan's tsunami-wrecked coast.

Buddhist tradition dictates that a body is cremated and the ashes are placed in an urn, along with the bones that remain.

The urn is put in a family grave, which Japanese traditionally believe to be the gateway to the next world, one through which souls can return every year during the summer festival of Obon.

The grave must be cared for by surviving family, who in return, expect spiritual protection from their deceased relatives.

Nationwide, 500 bodies recovered after the huge waves swept ashore have still not been identified, and more than 3,000 of those who died have never been found....

Buddhist Channel

Recalibrate Your Reality

From Lifehacker:

We open our eyes and we think we're seeing the whole world out there. But what has become clear—and really just in the last few centuries—is that when you look at the electro-magnetic spectrum we are seeing less than 1/10 Billionth of the information that's riding on there. So we call that visible light. But everything else passing through our bodies is completely invisible to us.

Even though we accept the reality that's presented to us, we're really only seeing a little window of what's happening. There's so many examples of this, but one that's interesting to third-graders, but also neuroscience is optical illusions. [Illusions demonstrate] that these really simple things that you think are going on in front of you are not actually representing physical reality but instead your brain is constructing something....

Continue reading here. 

Animals in Buddhist Art

From Shravasti Dhammika's blog at Dhamma Musings:

Animals played a role in several events in the life of both the historical and legendry Buddha. Usually their appearance is incidental – the white elephant in Mahamaya’s dream, and the steed Khantaka carrying Prince Siddhattha away into the night, being examples of this. In a few other incidents they play a more important role – Prince Siddhattha rescuing the goose from Devadattha, the Buddha being looked after by an elephant (and a monkey according to the commentary) during his stay in the Parileyya Forest, and his calming of the infuriated elephant Nalagiri....

Click here to read the full article...

Windy Week

Abstruse Goose

Buddhist Feminism on International Women's Day

By J. Hughes at Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies

"Buddhism, as a way of living with compassion and insight, is radically liberating for women. Yet Buddhism as a historical institution reflects both 2500 years of men’s power over women, “patriarchy”, and women’s struggle for empowerment. One can find within the Buddhist tradition women who prefigure modern feminism by two and a half millennia, and yet writings which equal the worst anti-woman polemics of any religion.

The liberative project of dharma-practice, as opposed to historical Buddhist culture, is intrinsically opposed to patriarchy. Patriarchy, as the limiting of human potential, is rejected by those who cut through habitual, socialized thoughts and behaviors. Patriarchy, as the institutionalization of violence against women is rejected by those who practice peace. Patriarchy, as the proprietary relationship of the sexes in the patriarchal family, where men own women’s sexuality, their labor-power, and children, their product, is rejected by those who eschew the illusion of self in property. Throughout history spiritual radicals have been driven from everyday patriarchal society, “the householder life”, into radical sexual alternatives such as celibacy...."

Continue reading PART 1 here. 

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo: The Beauty of Educating Buddhist Nuns

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo left England for India at the age of 20 to pursue her Buddhist training and becoming one of the first westerners to be ordained a Buddhist Nun.

Tenzin Palmo was encouraged to start a nunnery for young Buddhist girls and in 2000 the construction ofDongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery began and now welcomes over seventy nuns.

In these videos Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo talks about her own path as a Buddhist nun, and the importance of offering religious training to young women.

International Women’s Day 2012: Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi on addressing the often “subordinate status of girls and women”

From Buddhadharma:

Today, Thursday, March 8, is International Women’s Day 2012. With its service projects in Cambodia and Vietnam, where the vast majority of farmers are women, Buddhist Global Relief is marking this 101st such event with a video in support of Oxfam America’s GROW campaign.


Follow link to read a interview with Bhikkhu Bodhi by Danny Fisher here. 

Dharma Talk - The Blue Devils

Talk Given By: Hae Doh Sunim
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Duration - 17:32


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Listen to other previous Dharma Talks here.

The Deception of Memory

From BigThink:

Researchers in the UK have just completed one of the largest ever studies of human memory and preliminary results indicate our recall of even basic events is quite fallible. In the study, individuals were shown pairs of words like CUPCAKE and CARDBOARD. Later, they were shown a new but similar word like CUPBOARD and a new dissimilar word like SAWDUST. About 71 percent of the time, individuals would state correctly they had not seen the third and unrelated word before. Only 53 percent of the time would they state correctly they had not seen the third and similar word. 


Read the full article and report from The Guardian

What does this have to do with Buddhism? Check out "In the Mirror of Memory"

This book studies the diverse array of species of memory in Buddhism. Contributors focus on a particular school, group of texts, terms, or practices and identify a considerable range of types of mnemonic faculties in Buddhism. Included are discussions of Buddhist teaching, meditation, visualization, prayer, commemoration of the Buddha, dhārani practice, the use of mnemonic lists to condense lengthy scriptures, and the purported recollection of infinite previous lives that immediately preceded Sakyamuni's attainment of Buddhahood. Even enlightened awareness itself is said by some Buddhist schools to consist in a “mnemic engagement” with reality as such.

The authors explore Buddhist views on mundane acts of memory such as recognizing, reminding, memorizing, and storing data as well as special types of memory that are cultivated in religious practice.One of the most striking discoveries is that perception is intimately related to certain types of memory. Several essays investigate if, and if so, how, meditative mindfulness and recollection of the past—both of which can be designated by the term smrti—are connected within the Buddhist tradition. The question of whether recollection of the past can be explained without violating the foundational Buddhist notions of radical impermanence and no-self is addressed by several of the contributing scholars.

SNL's "Rude Buddha"

This was caught by The Worst Horse earlier.

A light-hearted humorous parody or over the line offensive skit?

Korean Temple Cuisine

Korean temple cuisine is an example of Buddhist monks' simple and frugal lives. Also, it has very unique tastes of natural ingredients.