American monk communicates meaning of Buddhism to Korean kids

By Jung Dae-ha, The Hankyoreh, Jul 6,2015 Gwangju, South Korea -- It was the morning of July 5 at Mugak Temple in downtown Gwangju. “We do yoga, too. It isn’t hard, it’s fun,” said Lee Ji-won, 12, a student in the sixth grade of elementary school. Gyeong-bon Temple in Gwangju will also open to visiting athletes and staff during the Universiade Lee was taking part in an English-language Zen meditation program at the temple, which is affiliated with the Jogye Order of Buddhism. The meditation program takes place at the Meditation and Practice Center on the 3rd floor of the culture building at the temple at 10 am on the first and third Sunday of each month. Gyeong-bon, 29, the monk in charge of the program, comes down the stairs surrounded by children. After the meditation is over, Gyeong-bon, who is from Missouri, takes the 14 children to the temple’s cafeteria and teaches them the American way to make tasty sandwiches. “Children have a hard time doing things while sitting down. We just do meditation for five or ten minutes and then have conversation and play games in English,” the monk said.

The real miracle

Buddhist Philosophy Eric Fromm’s views

By Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D., Lanka Daily News, May 30, 2015 ‘Buddhism helps man to find an answer to the question of his existence, an answer which is essentially the same as that given in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and yet which does not contradict the rationality, realism, and independence which are modern man’s precious achievements. Paradoxically, Eastern religious thought turns out to be more congenial to Western rational thought than does Western religious thought itself’ – Erich Fromm Colombo, Sri Lanka -- The social psychologist and humanistic philosopher, Eric Fromm was vastly influenced by Freud and Karl Heinrich Marx. He became a follower of Neoanalytic tradition. In later years, Fromm started reading Zen Buddhism in depth.  He saw Buddhism as a philosophical-anthropological system based on observation of facts and their rational explanation. (Buddhism and the Mode of Having  vs. Being – Erick Fromm 1975). Fromm believed that Buddhism is a completely rational system which demands no intellectual sacrifice. Fromm’s interest towards Buddhism was obvious. Among the Western scholars, Caroline A F Rhys Davids was one of the pioneers to conceptualize canonical Buddhist writings in terms of psychology. Professor William James was making some comparisons between the consciousness and thought process that was described in the Western Psychology and what the Buddha had taught two millenniums ago.  Many former members of the Freud’s Psychoanalytic society were reading Buddhist philosophy and making evaluations. By this time Carl Jung had highlighted the mind analysis in Buddhism. Therefore Fromm’s interest towards Buddhism was not an abrupt event.

10 benefits of meditation

Larung Gar Buddhist Academy

A view shows the settlements of Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Sertar County of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China. The academy, founded in the 1980s among the mountains of the remote prefecture, is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhism institutes of the world, housing tens of thousands of monks and nuns, say local media. – Reuters pic, July 31, 2015.

 

Buddhism in China

With growing pressure in their rapidly changing society, people in China are increasingly turning to Buddhism. But while a lot of money has been poured into rebuilding temples destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and the temples have collected a vast amount in entrance fees or donations, they don't have the practice of giving back to society, said Fu Xinyi, a Nanjing University academic who specialises in Buddhism.

"They build temples for tourism, for money, but they don't know how to spread Buddhism's ideology," Mr Fu said. "This is regrettable. Society has so many problems, Buddhism should play its role in helping people and giving them spiritual guidance."

How western Buddhism has changed in 50 years

Vishvapani Blomfield Friday 16 March 2012

It's 50 years since Buddhist teachers started arriving in the west in the early 60s and Buddhism crash-landed into the counter culture. So what have we learned about western Buddhism?