Steve Braff To find that place beyond judgment beyond fear a place of presence the simple clarity of knowing this most gentle unveiling of the sacred in this moment of the whole in which I am forever no longer apart.
Passing Through the Hands of Time
Grace Ko In October 2016, ancient Buddhist statues were a major presence at the season’s art fairs and auctions in Hong Kong, Beijing, and New York. There was an impressive range. Audiences could view Buddhist art from the Eastern Wei Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, originally from Tibet, Mongolia to Nepal and Central Asia, were […]
Wagging the Tail at Digital Dilemmas
Ratnadevi Last week I had a Skype call with Raymond Lam, Buddhistdoor’s senior writer, to discuss my new blogging venture. At some point I mentioned that I have trouble attracting interest for some of my courses. He replied that Facebook is now what the telephone and email have been in previous decades: if you don’t […]
Reflections on a Bengali Community in California
In June this year, I was invited to present a paper to the 10th International Conference on Conflict Education at the Ohio State University in Ohio, USA. En route to my destination, I made a stop to call on the Bengali Buddhist community at Long Beach in Los Angeles, California. This was on the recommendation […]
Songs of the Ocean’s Tides
Pixie Take a walk on the beach, holding a friend’s hand, and relax. Feel the sand squeezed between your toes and listen to the gently lapping waves. Peaceful, isn’t it? Well, maybe not. Choose a different beach, and the surface might be sharp edges of volcanic rock, a foam frozen in time and cut by […]
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 Dung Beetle
Nina Müller Inspired by the Pilahaka Sutta Ronnie stood at the mirror and beamed at the pristine reflection that shone back at him. He had greased his hair and parted it down the middle and was wearing his trendiest suit, which he had ironed himself last night. He straightened himself and grinned at the thought […]
Conference: “The Inexplicable and the Unfathomable: China and Britain, 1600–1900”
The “Chinese character seems at present inexplicable,” observed Lord Macartney during his celebrated embassy to China in the 1790s, while the Chinese themselves at this time often described “western ocean barbarians” as “unfathomable.” The failure of Macartney’s embassy is well known, not least the Emperor Qianlong’s dismissive comment that “we possess all things. I set […]
Good Question, Good Quest
Steve Braff A sense of ease this settling down wonderfully absent worry. Till I feel the old hunger to capture and codify to make it all ways always mine. And in this very grasp to witness the diminution of that subtle grace.
On Reading David Loy’s “A New Buddhist Path”
Graham Lock I have recently finished David R. Loy’s latest book A New Buddhist Path: Enlightenment, Evolution and Ethics in the Modern World (2015, Boston: Wisdom Publications). While reading it I found myself frequently saying, “Yes! yes!” and furiously underlining passages to read again later (though, knowing me, I probably won’t). I’ll try to briefly […]