Thich Nhat Hahn awarded Pacem in Terris

by Thomas Geyer, QC Times, Apr 2, 2016

Davenport, CA (USA) -- It was 50 years ago that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award in Davenport.

On Saturday, King’s friend, the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, founder of Socially Engaged Buddhism and father of the Mindfulness movement in Western culture, was honored with the same award during a ceremony at Christ the King Chapel on the campus of St. Ambrose University in Davenport.

Hanh was not present, but his accomplishments were celebrated nevertheless.

In October, the Rev. Martin Amos, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Davenport, traveled to the Deer Park Monastery, in California. The monastery was founded by Hanh, whose followers call Thay, or Teacher.
There, Amos presented the 2015 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award to more than 100 monastics, who accepted it for the 89-year-old Hanh, who is recovering from a stroke.

Itivuttaka 1.27

"This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard:............

Those gurus and priests who sacrifice life, objects, or fire, who bathe ceremoniously, devoted to mere forms and empty ritual, blindly attached to and obsessed by culture and traditions of primitive and often unknown origin, do never experience even a 16th of this release of mind by friendliness fully brought into being, just like the vagueness of even all the stars cannot ever outshine the moon! "

How Buddhist Nuns Restored This War Correspondent’s Faith In Humanity

03/28/2016 Antonia BlumbergAssociate Religion Editor, The Huffington Post

In a remote Buddhist nunnery outside Kathmandu, Nepal, a group 
of young nuns wakes up at 3 a.m. every day to practice kung fu, a 
form of martial arts used both for exercise and spiritual growth.

The kung fu nuns at Druk Gawa Khilwa Buddhist nunnery are just 
one community among the dozens that journalist and author 
Christine Toomey describes in her book, In Search of Buddha’s 
Daughters: A Modern Journey Down Ancient Roads.

Published in the UK in 2015 and released in the U.S. in March by 
The Experiment Publishing, Toomey’s book depicts the lives of 
Buddhist nuns around the globe, from San Francisco to Dharamshala. 
Along the way, she dispels some of the misconceptions people have 
about these spiritual women. 

See both sides, the good and the bad

"People often become attached to what they’re good at, to what they’ve achieved; they only want to see their good sides. Therefore they often don’t acknowledge their weaknesses. They become proud and conceited because they don’t see their negative sides. But if you cannot see both sides, the good and the bad, you can’t say the picture is complete. If you do not observe the defilements wisdom cannot grow." ~ Sayadaw Tejaniya

Starting new beginnings with wisdom

by Ajahn Jayasaro, The Buddhist Channel, April 13,

Reflection from Ajahn Jayasaro on the occasion of Songkran 2016
Bangkok, Thailand -- A new year makes us think of new beginnings.

But we can only truly move forward when we know where we have come from, how we have got to where we are now, and what destination we hope to reach.

This means we need to know how to take a step back from all our daily activities and spend a little time considering the big picture of our life.
Start the new year with wisdom.

Move to revive Buddhist pilgrimage trails

Pranav Chaudhary | TNN | Mar 16, 2016

Stupa no. 3, Sanchi

Patna: Nav Nalanda Mahavihara (NNM), the Nalanda-based deemed university, is organizing a one-day event on March 19 to celebrate 1352nd death anniversary of seventh CE Chinese monk scholar Xuanzang at Xuanzang Memorial, located in the vicinity of the ancient ruins of Nalanda Mahavihar. Master Ji Jing, an eminent monk of China, and his 300 disciples will take part in this event.

Tao & Zen

Yoda painting by Andrew McIntosh Art

The greatest achievement is selflessness. 
The greatest worth is self-mastery. 
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. 
The greatest precept is continual awareness. 
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything. 
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions. 
The greatest generosity is non-attachment. 
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind. 
The greatest patience is humility. 
The greatest effort is not concerned with results. 
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go. 
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.
The greatest action is not conforming with the world's ways.

~ Atisha ~

Thailand digitizes ancient Buddhist manuscripts for online use

By SravanthVerma     Mar 28, 2016 in Internet

The government of Thailand has digitized and made available online several thousand historical manuscripts from the northern Thailand region.

The digital manuscripts are hosted at the new Digital Library of Northern Thai Manuscripts. The manuscripts are essentially strips of leaves from the palm tree, tied together with string to form a book. The digitization will make them more accessible, as well protect the content in case the originals are destroyed by fire or termites. Borrowed manuscripts that are never returned is another cause for the loss of originals.

Thai Buddhism's unholy mess

by DENIS D. GRAY, Asia Nikkei, March 14, 2016

BANGKOK, Thailand - For devout Buddhists in Thailand, the images were unsettling: a burly monk grabbing a soldier in a headlock while other saffron-robed clergy scuffled with troopers in what one Thailand-based columnist called "an unholy mess."

Buddhist monks take part in a protest against state interference in religious affairs at a temple in Nakhon Pathom province on the outskirts of Bangkok on Feb. 15. © Reuters

What made the events even more troubling was the man at the center of the protest: an aged abbot seeking the country's highest Buddhist office despite being investigated for a tax evasion scam and linked to a controversial religious sect.

Sedaka Sutta (SN 47.19)

"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself, one protects others.

And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others, one protects oneself."

Building Bridges of Loving-Kindness: Mongolia’s Rich History and Culture of Buddhism

by Michael Fouts, The Buddhist Channel, March 3 2016

Ulan Baator, Mongolia -- Under the spiritual direction of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama the Grand Maitreya Project is working to re-build Mongolia's ancient culture and history of Tibetan Buddhism. While at the same time constructing the worlds largest beacon of Loving - Kindness for peace on Earth.

Mongolia is currently experiencing a nationwide cultural re-connection with their spiritual roots of Buddhism. After many years of occupation, 200 brave Mongolian people staged a peaceful protest that eventually sparked into a nationwide cultural revolution. By 1990 occupying forces retreated and Mongolia once again re-gained their spiritual freedoms. Hoping to re-build and re-connect fully with their ancient culture of Tibetan Buddhism, the Mongolian people have turned to HH 14th Dalai Lama for guidance during this time.

Buddhaghosa , Visuddhimagga 16:90

"For there is suffering, but none who suffers; 

Doing exists although there is no doer; 

Extinction is but no extinguished person; 

Although there is a path, there is no goer."

How an alcoholic monk founded her own monastery

By Linda Pressly BBC News, Thailand 30 March 2016

Fifty years ago, Luang Poh Yaai lived as a Buddhist monk - a first for a woman in Thailand where religious authorities bar females from the monkhood. Today some get round the ban by getting ordained abroad and returning to live in monasteries for women.

The temple of Wat Thamkrabok sits at the foot of a sweeping, craggy outcrop in the countryside north of Bangkok. Its courtyard is shaded by ancient trees.

Once a day, its temporary residents kneel alongside a grate that covers a deep drain, and breathe deeply. Next to each of them is a metal bucket full of drinking water. In turn, they are offered a small glass of dark liquid, poured by a monk from an ancient bottle. They drink.

Dhammapada V 85-86

Why the Four Foundations of the Satipatthana covers the Mind, the Body and Feelings

Why the Four Foundations of the Satipatthana covers the Mind (Dhammanupassana and Cittanupassana) , the Body (Kayanupassana) and Feelings (Vedananupassana).

"We have to divide, dissect and disintegrate the entire structure to understand how mind and matter are interrelated. If you work only with the mind and forget the body, you are not practising the Buddha’s teaching. If you work only with the body and forget the mind, again you are not understanding the Buddha properly.

"Anything that arises in the mind turns into matter, into a sensation in the material field. This was the Buddha’s discovery. People forgot this truth, which can only be understood through proper practice. The Buddha said, "Sabbe dhammā vedanā samosaraṇā:, anything that arises in the mind starts flowing as a sensation on the body. (AN 8 83: Kim Mulaka Sutta)" 
~ S N Goenka