The great international temples founded by Master Hsing Yun in his global mission to share the message of humanistic Buddhism
hispanophone
She Speaks: Argentine Literary Engagement with Buddhism, with Sonia Betancort
Dr. Sonia Betancort of Camilo José Cela University in Spain looks at how two Argentinian authors redefined Buddhism for postcolonial literature and society
A Meditative Smile in a Dark Place: Learning the Dharma in a Bolivian Prison
Liliana Arias Romero’s BDE article on teaching meditation inside a Bolivian women’s prison
The Noble Fight: The Dharma in Colombia
When the country of Colombia is mentioned, media stereotypes conjure vibrant and romantic communities, passionate dancing and pleasant beaches, and less savory images like high crime rates and drug abuse. Neither stereotype reflects accurately the complexity and nuances of this country of 50.88 million. If there is someone that embodies the fearless, hopeful, and life-loving spirit […]
Mexican Buddhism: A Meeting of Cultures, Beliefs, and Perspectives
In our last Hispanophone Buddhism post, we spotlighted Ezer R. May May, a pioneering scholar of the Mahayana Buddhist presence in Mexico. Although Mexico is the most populous nation in Central America and the second-most populous in Latin America, the number of scholars examining the life of Buddhism in the country is extremely low. It […]
Women-led Buddha-dharma, from Brazil to Breda
Despite having been excluded from the upper echelons of religious leadership in many traditions, women play a core part in religious communities. Women tend to attend religious rituals more regularly than men, and bring their male relations and spouses to these events. In more traditional societies, women facilitate community cohesion and assist the integration of […]
Building Community: Local Concerns for Local Buddhist Women
BDE’s special issue on women, Mujeres y budismo en los países de habla hispana, is a unique project. Since it tells the story of Buddhist women in Spanish-speaking countries, it highlights problems specific to these women that might have been overlooked in English-language media. In Anglophone Buddhist feminist circles, including the broader Sakyadhita community, discourse […]
Circles of Practice: Spanish-speaking Buddhist Women
In the previous entry on our series introducing Hispanophone Buddhism, we covered Montse Castellà Olivé, founding president of the Spain chapter of Sakyadhita. Sakyadhita is commonly known as one of Buddhism’s most prominent women’s advocacy and research organizations. Since 2020, Sakyadhita Spain has hosted ten “circles of practice,” known in Spanish as círculo de práctica […]
Havana Zen: A Japanese Tradition Arises in Cuba
One of the fastest-growing schools of Buddhism in Cuba is that of Japanese Zen, which has enjoyed a long and rich history in Latin America. It found roots in other countries earlier, most famously Brazil thanks to waves of immigration by Japanese people since the early 20th Century. However, thanks to a visionary pair of […]
Mahayana in Cuba: Chinese Forebears
Lined by small restaurants, shops, laundromats, cultural societies, medicinal establishments, and leisure and education clubs, Barrío Chino in Havana is perhaps the largest “Chinatown” in the Latin American world, with a history dating to the 19th Century. This is the locus where the earliest recorded presence of people practicing Buddhist customs in Cuba can be […]