It was no coincidence that just a fortnight after the third Samvad conclave from 6–7 September in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga paid a state visit to India from the 19th to 23rd. This month has seen, from the perspectives of both Mongolia and India, a significant diplomatic victory over some years in the making.
Nirvana
Nothing to blow. Nowhere to hide. Just white-hotslashes in your eyes. Strong to the core. Driftingon the edge. Savaging the twisted wreckage,leaving only a statue of Diana, the Roman goddessof the hunt. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry […]
Design for Wisdom: 84000 hosts a “Doodle” Contest
Preservationists of Tibetan Buddhist Canon crowdsource a doodle to Milton Glaser logo New York: August 26, 2019— The year 2020 will mark 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha’s first 10 year anniversary, and in a two-month contest respectfully inspired by Google’s homepage doodles, 84000 is crowdsourcing a temporary “doodle” for their existing logo, designed by the globally […]
Soul Cliche
The growling thunder of my soul. That’s a cliche, isn’t it? But even clichescan tell the truth. In wild isolation, my soul feels crowded by thespecial conditions of living. As if it’s under a crateof cinderblocks, eighty thousand metric tons. I know. Never to use the word ‘soul’-not if you want to be a good poet. […]
Mongolia’s Buddhist Diplomacy and India’s Union of Religious and Foreign Policy
The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), along with Indian, Japanese, and Mongolian partners, hosted its third Samvad (which, in Hindi, means “dialogue”) conference in Ulaanbaatar over last Friday and the weekend. As reported in BDG’s news article on the conclave, Mongolian political and religious leaders took this event very seriously. In his closing speech on the […]
Daydreamers
Despite my urgent need to tap into somethingthat is necessary for my time, I am left with a visionof numbers. My pagan blood and sleeping momentson the beach. Why do I still want to be Jimmy Buffett? Idle and brutal from all eternity, like Rimbaud, sittingon a park bench with my two best friends. The wind blowing. The […]
Different Abilities, Different Individuals: Shifting Perceptions About Disability
In most schools with a progressive curriculum and solid ethics, students living with disabilities are welcomed, their needs accommodated, and encouraged to participate as fully as they can in the life of the school. However, once they graduate, many feel thrown into a world where diverse institutions neither have nor care to have the kind […]
Even a Full Moon Needs Sunlight
Understand that even a solar burpis bigger than Planet Earth. And the corona shone. In 250 million yearsit will come around again, even though it is right here, all of the time. The vital Sun. Trapped in a beltor aurorae. Solar winds. Nothinglives without it. Even a full moon needs sunlight. George Cassidy Payne is a […]
Falling Into the Well
While looking for the way, we fall into the only placewhere we can quench our thirst. The way is not out there. It is notaround the corner. The way is whatwe need and do not give into. The way is what we are and do notallow others to know. The way falls into us,like an open-eyed man […]
Woodenfish and Shenzhen: Building Networks with Researchers in Buddhism and Science
On 22 August, I travelled with my wife from Hong Kong to Shenzhen in Mainland China to present a paper at a conference titled, Buddhism, Science, and Future: Brain Science and Mental Well-Being. The Woodenfish Foundation, an international Buddhist educational NGO, organized this conference at the Interlaken OCT Hotel Shenzhen from 23–24 August. Woodenfish was an […]