“Resolution” has several meanings. The commonly held definition, particularly at the turn of each New Year, is the idea of committing to doing something differently, to improve oneself. Yet people often forget the other definition that needs to accompany this kind of resolution: the resolution denoting a strong will, the idea of perseverance and tenacity. […]
Raymond Lam
Postcard from Raymond: Merton’s Theology of the Problematic
My colleague Justin Whitaker has just published news about the 50th anniversary of the Catholic monk and writer Thomas Merton. It is no surprise that Buddhists have joined Christians in commemorating his life. I admired Merton to the point of making his work one half of my BA thesis, which was a Buddhist-Christian dialogue between […]
2019: A Year for Pastoral Caregiving to the World
Today we published a Buddhistdoor View advocating a “pastoral” perspective on the world. In the editorial we mean “pastoral” in its broadest, oldest possible sense: the act of listening and bearing witness, beyond even its common religious connotations, modern psychotherapeutic applications, or activist implications. This is the space of the shepherd: ever guiding yet ever open. […]
The Day the Buddha Woke Up – A Book for All Children
I met Andrea Miller, deputy editor of Lion’s Roar magazine, in India, during the 6th International Buddhist Conclave. While we did exchange editorial ideas and matters that affected the future of Buddhism around the world, from politics to culture, we also talked about family: she is a mother while I had married just a couple […]
Buddhist Media: Jesco Puluj’s Search for Paths Less Travelled
What does it mean to be a follower of the Buddha’s path? The Enlightened One was, after all, the Prime Wanderer, the First Monk. His life, no matter how shadowy from a historical perspective, defines how we see Buddhism and its subsequent presence in human history. In theory, he is not really unique at all, […]
Postcard from Raymond: Preservation at its Finest (Cave 26, Ajanta)
Of all the caves at the Ajanta complex, I found Cave 26 to be the most intricate, with the unmistakable sense of, “yes, this is it.” We were looking at the literal, physical transition between the earliest days of itinerant wanderers (sramanas) and the days of settled monastic institutions. Unlike the other caves that I felt […]
Postcard from Raymond: Prayers in the Darkness (Cave 4, Ajanta)
Of the many caves I visited at the Ajanta Caves complex, I felt myself encountering a particularly acute sense of timeless sacrality at Cave 4, one of the earliest cave monasteries. I think it was the vast main chamber that drew me in like a little child, as if I were in the presence of something, […]
Improving Management at Maha Bodhi Temple
As children of the Buddha, we believe that the homeland of this world’s dispensation (sasana) is India. The reason for this grand claim, which Buddhists around the world accept, is because the Buddha attained enlightenment in the spot under the Bo Tree, where Maha Bohi Temple stands today. It is therefore with great reluctance that […]
How Huayan Led Me to Pure Land
Guan Yin Temple. From Planet Lantau (see their temple photo gallery here) The first thing a visitor perceptive in Mahayana aesthetics notices at Guan Yin (or Kwun Yam, officially) Temple on Lantau Island, Hong Kong, is the pervasiveness of Huayan symbolism and imagery in the original hall, which was built in 1910, and the top […]
Postcard from Raymond: Entering a Sanctuary of Sanctity (Cave 2, Ajanta)
It had been about five years since I visited Ajanta, one of the oldest surviving complexes of rock-cut caves carved into the hillside. Apart from ongoing restoration work by the Archaeological Survey of India, little had changed, including the bright and sunny, humid weather and the understandably large crowds that came from all over India […]