Dr. Jon Kolkin’s photographic volume Inner Harmony: Living in Balance exudes creative ambition and heart. A cursory look at the time it took for him to compile this collection of images – seventeen extended visits to Asia from 2007 to 2018 – attests to the time, patience, and toil that the distinguished and globe-trotting creator […]
japan
Wall art, to age, abandoned house
The game: you give me a Buddhist-themed noun, an action, and a location, and I create the story. Today, I was given the noun “wall art,” the action “to age,” and a location “abandoned home.” Hope you enjoy the read! Two loud knocks, a pause, followed by another three loud knocks; Hiroshi went through the […]
Frederik L. Schodt’s “My Heart Sutra: A World in 260 Characters”
The pithy Heart Sutra is celebrated as perhaps the most profound Mahayana Buddhist scripture that remains relatively famous and accessible, frequently appearing not just onstage at pop stars’ concerts in China but also referenced in East Asian films and Japanese manga. For forty years, this Buddhist text has hung on the bedroom wall of Frederik […]
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 […]
A Circle of Buddhist Democracies: India’s Buddhist Strategy for Asia
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, […]
Bridging China and Japan, the Buddhist Way
It’s the rawest of sensitive matters, the heaviest of historical burdens. I am referring to the shadow of past pain, bloodshed, and war crimes inflicted by Japan against China during the Pacific War that raged from 1937 until 1945. Yet behind the scenes of turbulent political relations and unhealed wounds, influential Buddhist forces in China […]
Kyoto’s Incredible Treasures: Roaming from Buddhist Temples to Shinto Shrines
On 25 and 26 March, I made a short visit to Kyoto, a city home to many atmospheric gardens, traditional teahouses, Buddhist temples, and Shinto shrines of wondrous ambience and architectural beauty. Behind the seemingly similar designs of the temples and shrines are a diverse constellation of Buddhist and Shinto religious practices.
Exploring Todai-ji Temple, Kofuku-ji, and Deer Park in Nara
Nara, the capital city of Japan’s Nara Prefecture, is one of Japan’s most popular tourist destinations. In March 2018, when I was in Japan for a second time (I was attending a conference), I had an opportunity to visit this ancient capital. On 25 March, three of my friends came to Kobe from Tokyo to […]
Buddhism and the Tea Leaf: One Fine Marriage
From this month till December, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto is running a workshop series on the relationship between tea and Buddhist culture, history, and practice, along with tasting and sampling sessions with tea sommeliers. In the diverse regions covered in this series (the […]
Myanmar: Another Square on the Buddhist Chessboard
From 5-6 August, the Vivekananda Foundation and the Tokyo Foundation will be hosting the second Samvad conference* at Sitagu International Buddhist Academy (SIBA), Yangon. I reported on Samvad’s first symposium two years ago in New Delhi, and it was then that it became clear India’s government was trying to manoeuvre among different Asian countries – […]