Maha Chedi Bodh Gaya at Wat Jong 10th June 2012 - Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8214Vi79jk

Published on Feb 29, 2016
10th June 2012 Graduation Ceremony, Ground Breaking and Marker Stone Ceremony part 2

Buddha vihar, Cambodia

Maha Chedi Bodh Gaya at Wat Jong Kam 9th June 2012 - Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3VTlzi6_ho

Published on Feb 29, 2016
Ground Breaking and Marker Stone Ceremony part 1- 9th June 2012 

Buddhist temple on the island of Hawaiʻi established near Honalo

How does Thay calm down someone in rage?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRoT9xjoNJE

Published on Jan 18, 2015

Questions and Answers with Thich Nhat Hanh on 12 July 2011. 

Is enlightenment off-limits to laypeople?

Narayan Helen Liebenson, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Sallie Jiko Tisdale. Photos by Mary Lang, Nicolas Gournaropoulos, Kim Campbell.

BY NARAYAN HELEN LIEBENSON, GESHE TENZIN WANGYAL RINPOCHE AND SALLIE JIKO TISDALE|FEBRUARY 9, 2016     

Question: I recently attended a dharma talk in which the teacher said that laypeople, even if they practice sincerely, just don’t have the proper causes and conditions for full enlightenment. I feel that I need to know if this is true or not. What possibilities does this practice hold for me as a layperson? And what is beyond my reach? Please tell me honestly.

The planet belongs to all living creatures, not just to us

Daily Mirror- EDITORIAL 2016-02-27 

Amid the growing incidence of cruelty to animals including the latest multi-million rupee rackets on the capture of a baby elephant, the cabinet has approved the  long-delayed Animal Welfare Bill and sent it to the Legal Draftsman’s Department to include the provisions proposed by animal welfare movements also.  

As for the existing laws against cruelty to animals, the last amendments were made in 1955. The prevention of cruelty to animals Ordinance -- under which the welfare of animals is taken into consideration -- is more than a hundred years old.The Animal Welfare Coalition of Sri Lanka (AWCSL) and other civil society movements working on animal welfare have highlighted the need for major reforms to this law. 

Monks' bad behaviour hotline launched by Thai Buddhist authorities

National Office of Buddhism says hotline idea emerged after Thai coup leader expressed concern about the religion's image

Buddhist monks face censure after Thai religious authorities said they had launched a 24-hour hotline for the public to report unruly acts.

The move follows a cascade of high-profile scandals ranging from monks reportedly taking drugs and drinking to a case in May of five defrocked abbots charged with sexually abusing boys.

The National Office of Buddhism (NOB) said the idea for a hotline had emerged after Thailand's coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha expressed concern about the image of Buddhism, of which an estimated 95% of Thailand's 67 million population are devotees.

Standing, sitting or walking

Ajahn Chah Memorial Day/งานอาจาริยบูชาหลวงพ่อชา สุภัทโท 23.01.15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InunvogUs9E

Published on Aug 27, 2015

Talk and Video of the 2015 Ajahn Chah Memorial Day in Wat Nong Pa Pong, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. 21:00 to jump to English translation.

งานอาจาริยบูชาหลวงพ่อชา สุภัทโท ระหว่ำงวันที่ ๑๒-๑๗ มกราคม ๒๕๕๘ ณ วัดหนองปำพง จ.อุบลราชธานี

จากเทศน์ท่านพระอาจารย์ อนันต์ อกิญจโน วัดมาบจันทร์

From the weekly video conference by Ajahn Anan from Wat Marp Jan. 

Every year from the 10-17 January the tradition of Ajahn Chah will meet at Wat Nong Pa Pong to gather in memory of their beloved teacher. Usually there are a thousand monks and tens of thousands of laypeople to be seen on the 16th January for the candle procession around the Chedi where Ajahn Chah was cremated and where his relics are kept. Activities around this period involve meditation, listening to Dhamma talks, morning and evening chanting. 

Do not be afraid of old age, sickness, and death

"As for old age, sickness, and death, the Buddha instructed us not to be afraid of them. If we do, we would definitely suffer because old age, sickness, and death are matters of the body, not the mind. The mind does not get old, does not get sick, and does not die with the body. But because the mind mistakenly attached itself to the body, it thought that it would get old, sick, and die with the body. If we can stop this fear, we will live in this world with joy and contentment. This is because we know what gets old, gets sick, and dies, and what does not. We can differentiate between the body and the mind. The body naturally gets old, gets sick, and dies. But the mind will not get old, will not get sick, and will not die. When the body dies, the mind will take up a new body." 

~ Ajahn Suchart Abhijato

ALMS BOWLS TO NEWCASTLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jbG7wrG4so

Published on Aug 14, 2014

A longtime student of Ajahn Chah's, G Joseph Kappel flew combat helicopters in 1969-70 during the Vietnam war before becoming Pabhakaro Bhikkhu in 1971 . Filmed in 1988, this is a documentary of his life from Vietnam to Thailand to England. Landing in a rural Buddhist monastery outside of Newcastle England. Follow his journey from War to Peace during those turbulent times.

Angulimala and Tantric Buddhism

Tricycle, April 22, 2011

The British scholar of Buddhism Richard Gombrich has a seemingly endless supply of insightful readings of texts that we as Buddhists assume we know through and through. Take Angulimala (please).

The standard story is one of the most famous in all of Buddhism. A fierce robber and murderer named Angulimala cuts off the fingers of unwary travelers in his forest. He wants to get 1,000 fingers and already has 999 sewn together in a monstrous necklace (hence his name: anga, finger + mala, garland/necklace). Along comes the Buddha. Angulimala chases him and though the Buddha simply walks at a slow and stately pace and Angulimala runs as fast as he can, the villain can't catch up. Amazed by this and by the Buddha's calm in the face of danger, Angulimala renounces his evil ways and becomes a devoted Buddhist.

There is no right and wrong decision.....Ajahn Brahm

Buddhism in Russsia

Historically, Buddhism was incorporated into Russian lands in the early 17th century. Buddhism is considered as one of Russia's traditional religions, legally a part of Russian historical heritage. Besides the historical monastic traditions of Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva, Buddhism is now widespread all over Russia, with many ethnic Russian converts.

The main form of Buddhism in Russia is the Gelukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, with other Tibetan schools as minorities. Although Tibetan Buddhism is most often associated with Tibet, it spread into Mongolia, and via Mongolia into Russia.

It primarily spread into the Russian constituent regions geographically and /or culturally adjacent to Mongolia, or inhabited by Mongolian ethnic groups: Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai, Tuva, and Kalmykia, the latter being the only Buddhist region in Europe, located to the north of the Caucasus. By 1887, there were already 29 publishing houses and numerous datsans. After the Russian Revolution, the datsans were closed down. By the 1930s, Buddhists were suffering more than any other religious community in the Soviet Union with lamas being expelled and accused of being "Japanese spies" and "the people's enemies".

After the fall of the Soviet Union, a Buddhist revival began in Kalmykia with the election of President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. It was also revived in Buryatia and Tuva and began to spread to Russians in other regions.

In 1992, the Dalai Lama made his first visit to Tuva in Russia.

There are several Tibetan Buddhist university-monasteries throughout Russia, concentrated in Siberia, known as Datsans.

Fyodor Shcherbatskoy, a renowned Russian Indologist who traveled to India and Mongolia during the time of the Russian Empire, is widely considered by many to be responsible for laying the foundations for the study of Buddhism in the Western world.