Raymond Lam On my way to the office I was listening to my favorite podcast, the BBC’s almost-peerless In Our Time. I was on the episode where Melvyn Bragg and his guests were discussing the idiocsyncratic and bonkers novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Written by the clergyman Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy is the 18th-century […]
Raymond Lam
Postcard from Raymond: The View from Afar
Artist Pablo Carlos Budassi has put together a stunning “logarithmic scale conception” of the observable Universe, with the Solar System at the centre. Thanks to discoveries by physicists, mathematicians, and many others in the 20th century, we know that time and space are interrelated, and that the universe is expanding every second, with galaxies, stars, […]
What to Look Forward to This Year
Raymond Lam Our BDG contributors and columnists, our Tea House bloggers, and I wish you a very happy new year (both Gregorian and Lunar!), and all the best of health and happiness for 2017. As I’m writing this, Donald Trump has moved into the Oval Office, fresh off his inauguration ceremony as president of the US. […]
The Harp in the Crisp Wind: Intersections of Buddhism and Celtic Christianity
Raymond Lam In July 2015, I wrote a book review of Laurence Cox’s Buddhism in Ireland: From the Celts to the Counter-Culture and Beyond. “Celtishness” has fascinated European and global culture, from influences in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to historical accounts of sacred places like Lindisfarne. There is an earthly, grassy, hearty beauty about everything Celtic, […]
Weaving Stories of Dharma and Joy
Raymond Lam Stories have been a beloved pastime of mine since I learned to read. In my childhood I devoured fiction of all kinds: from fantasy novels based on pop culture franchises to my favourite genre of world myths and legends retold in modern prose. Odin, Hathor, and Trickster Raven were my companions as much as my high school friends […]
The Sage, the Wayfarer, and the Treasure in the Desert
Raymond Lam Imagine an endless desert, sparsely populated by tribes struggling to survive in a hostile wasteland. Murmuring starts to circulate in the scattered villages about a grotto of incredible treasure so precious that discovering this cave would summon miracles that restore verdant green and life to the desert. Accompanying the rumors about this incredible treasure […]
Reflections on Quality of Life at a Buddhist Studies Conference
Raymond Lam Last Tuesday, the Buddhistdoor team returned to Hong Kong from Vancouver after attending the 6th Annual Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation Conference at The University of British Columbia (UBC). Jessica Main, the intellectually formidable and ever-kind chair of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies and Contemporary Society, kept the conference […]
Friendship and Identity: Who is Reuniting with Who?
Raymond Lam December last year was a delightful conclusion to 2015 for me because my best mates and I had organized a reunion in Ho Chi Minh City. I’ve known one friend since kindergarten, the other two are more or less my best university buddies. What was perhaps most encouraging, and I daresay touching, was that despite having passed so many years apart and living […]
Guan Yin Temple: Flower Ornament and Pure Land Vistas
Raymond Lam “Pay respects to the Buddha first, then to me,” advised my preceptor once, when we visited him at his monastery, Guan Yin Temple. “Because we take refuge in the Buddha first, then in the Dharma, then in the Sangha.” He was implying that compared to the Buddha images of our temple, he was […]
Dark Night of the Sentient Being
Raymond Lam A while ago I read a post on Facebook, titled Dark Night, which was sharing a passage written by the pristine Pure Land master Ven. Jingzong. “In the silent wilds of the mountains, where there is a light from a window, there is vitality, even if the place is surrounded by abandoned graves. […]