Photo by Tim Liu A classic critique of environmental activism is that it is the preserve of middle-class people from industrialized economies preaching to others to radically change their lifestyles. While this perception is not entirely true (and is promoted often by those who conveniently argue against the need for industry reform in the face […]
Raymond Lam
Should I Keep Coming Back in the Same Form?
Last Saturday I went to see an evening screening of A Dog’s Journey. The cinematic sequel to A Dog’s Purpose, the film is unapologetically sappy and supernatural, with—to irreligious minds—an implausible premise of a dog returning in multiple canine bodies to try and find the same family. Having made a promise to its owner, Ethan, […]
Modi’s Triumph: What it Means for Buddhism
Narendra Modi has been re-elected as prime minister of India in a landslide, with the BJP winning sweeping victories across the states. Perhaps the Hindu gods smiled upon him, rewarding his party’s fierce Hindu nationalism. He should also pleased that the Buddha, or at least the Buddhist acolytes and spokespeople Modi appealed to for the […]
Dharamshala’s Cafe129: A Haven of Indo-Korean-Tibetan Friendship
Although I’ve visited India several times, I’ve never been to Dharamshala before. This cramped but beautiful city, which shot to international fame as a community for Tibetans, is home to a cozy new café called Café129. This beautiful establishment is under the stewardship of journalist-turned-restaurateur Yeonsuk Ka, who in the short span of less than […]
Spiritual Melodies: Tully MacKay-Tisbert
The landscape of America is dotted with Christian influences, from the lamentations of oppression and hope of liberation that fused with African influences to form the melancholy blues, to the Christian rock that arose in the 1960s to become a formidable force of conversion in mega-churches. It is extraordinary that the culture of a republic […]
The Vigil of Silence
Photo by Poorna Jayasinghe The media deals in words as a trade. Words are what media professionals sell, in a sense. Words are penned in a paper or on a website, broadcast through radio and podcasts, or spoken by a personality through the telly, smartphone and tablet, or YouTube. Yet there are those occasions in […]
M. R. Pimpare: A Full Life and a Rich Legacy
On Monday morning I received the sad news of M. R. Pimpare’s passing just the evening before, on 7 April. He and his family had been fresh on my mind, as we had done an interview for Buddhistdoor Global only a few weeks ago. His life’s passion and enduring love, the ancient caves of Ajanta and […]
United State of Buddhist Minds
Buddhistdoor Global is presently in New York, accompanying representatives from Woodenfish Foundation and Amitofo Care Centre officers from both Hong Kong and elsewhere for the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63), which begins today on the 11th and finishes on the 22nd of March at the UN headquarters in Manhattan.
Exemplary Buddhists: Hong Kong’s Sri Lankan Community
I was unfortunately out of Hong Kong and missed my chance to attend the Sri Lankan community’s 71st celebration of Independence Day. 4 February, like the equivalent commemorations of so many postcolonial societies, is critical to modern Sri Lankan identity, and in many ways the opinion makers and influencers of Hong Kong—scholars, journalists, writers—have not […]
Oyungerel Tsedevdamba’s “The Green-Eyed Lama”: A Literary Window into Mongolia’s Pain and Healing
One does not usually expect a politician and policymaker to be a breakout novelist, but that is exactly what Oyungerel Tsedevdamba has managed to achieve. Her novel, The Green-Eyed Lama, is for many Mongolians the first novel about Mongolia itself, specifically the Mongolian experience of a particularly painful period: the 1930s purges under Stalin. Ms. […]