There is a common misconception that Buddhism encourages people to adopt an austere attitude, and the fact that many Buddhists have a deep sense of humor is not widely known. Of course, comedy is subjective and what I call a joke may not appear as such to the general reader. In fact, my sense of humor has […]
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The Multifaceted Nature of Buddhist Yakshinis
The different faces of the yakshini. Drawing by the author Yakshini are mythical creatures in the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions, effectively representing the female counterparts of the male magical nature spirits, yaksha. The Sanskrit term yakshini is customarily translated as demoness. They are a class of demigoddesses, primarily tied to natural phenomena of growth and […]
Dharma Dispatch, 12-17 March 2018: Sri Lankan Conflict, International Women’s Day, FGS Celebrations
Good morning! We start with some encouraging news amidst a sad backdrop of religious and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Buddhist monks and activists gathered in their hundreds on the streets of Colombo on Friday to protest violence between Buddhists and Muslims. The protesting monks were joined by activists that included academics, artists, and representatives of civil society […]
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 […]
Am I a Buddhist?
Graham Lock I have recently seen a few YouTube vids of talks and discussions in which renowned Dharma teachers assert that there can be no Buddhism without rebirth, and in a couple of cases they go as far as to say that those who don’t believe in rebirth shouldn’t call themselves Buddhists. Debates about this […]
Ani Choying Drolma’s Arya Tara School of Dancing Nuns
LiAnne Hunt In 1998, on my first pilgrimage to Nepal, I met Ani Choying Drolma. She had just come out with the Cho CD with Steve Tibbetts. I was a long-time fan of Tibbetts’s music, owning several of his eclectic Jazz fusion albums on vinyl. As a Vajrayana practitioner, the blending of Steve’s music and […]