In May’s Indian elections, PM Narendra Modi’s BJP fared considerably well, indirectly securing a mandate for its Buddhist diplomacy. This “quiet” exercise of power began several years ago in September 2015, with the Vivekananda International Foundation’s (VIF) first Samvad conference. For this event we were taken to the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri in New Delhi, […]
culture
The Image of Sarasvati in Buddhist Art
White Sarasvati, mural at the Namdroling Monastery in South India. Image courtesy of the author Sarasvati (Tib. yang chenma) is the goddess of knowledge, education, music, poetry, and culture. Her name can be found in the Vedic hymns. In these ancient Indian texts, she is worshiped as the divine power of ritual chants and sacrificial […]
Dharma Dispatch, 1-12 October 2018: A Great Rinpoche’s Passing, Amazing Calligraphic Sutra, and Karmapa Resolution
Good morning! The respected Dzogchen master and founder of the Merigar Community, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, has passed away at the age of 79. He breathed his last breath on the evening of 27 September at his residence, Gadeling, at Merigar West Buddhist Center, Italy. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche was one of the pioneering Buddhist masters […]
When Nature Devours Civilization
Last night I watched Wind River, director Taylor Sheridan’s intense film about the disappearance and murder of a Native American woman, Natalie Hanson. The ambience is extraordinary, the motives for violence primal. The movie, whose protagonists are a hunter deeply embedded in the Native American community (Jeremy Renner) and a well-meaning but unprepared FBI agent (Elizabeth […]
Why Hong Kong remains a pulsing hub of Buddhist inspiration
“Who said Hong Kong is too small? In size perhaps but not in its soul and personality. Every corner in this city giving you full of surprises, if not every hour but at least every day….” ― Baris Gencel Some of my favourite cities and towns are Wanaka and Queenstown in New Zealand, Haarlem in the Netherlands, […]
Hong Kong’s Buddhists Plug into the Belt and Road Initiative
By Arun Kumar Yadav Over the past few years, several major Buddhist institutions in Hong Kong, including the famous Chan monastery of Po Lin, have expressed their interest in participating in China’s monumental Belt and Road Initiative. Another such group is the Institute of Maitreya Studies, a non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong. On its […]
Book Review – “Symbols & Symbolism: Embrace Multiculturalism”
What symbols do we recognize most in our corporatized world today? Logos like those of the apple of Apple Inc. or the arched M of McDonald’s? What about images as innocuous as the male and female figures on restroom doors, ingraining in us specific assumptions about reality and directing us to live our lives in […]
Refusing to See Reality in “In the Mood for Love”
In the Mood for Love did for Hong Kong what La Dolce Vita did for Rome. Just as the Trevi Fountain was relatively unknown as a tourist spot before Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni’s iconic embrace, In the Mood for Love is a sensuous, colourful masterpiece that eroticizes cramped living spaces and romanticizes the gritty alleyways […]
Why We’re So Unhappy
The other day I came across a brilliant parody article from the satirical site Newsthump, highlighting how hard a basic task like buying a vacuum cleaner has become in our society. The point is not necessarily that vacuum cleaners are difficult to buy, but how much more effort it seems we must spend on mundane […]
Asian Representation in Pop Culture: A Lifelong Passion
I’m very much interested in exploring Asian philosophies and culture in both my academic and personal life. Of course, in academia today we must be mindful of our contexts and horizons. While I consider myself Chinese, I’ve grown up in an English-speaking environment. English is my first language rather than Cantonese or Mandarin. There are […]