Shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a small group of Buddhists, affiliated with the Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga, gathered in Kyiv’s majestic Mikhailovska Square to pray for peace, chant the Lotus Sutra in the Nichiren tradition of “Namo myoho-renge-kyo,” and call for an end to Russo-Ukrainian hostilities. The Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga is a Nichiren-aligned movement founded in 1917, consisting […]
peace
“The Extraordinary Life of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An Illuminated Journey”
“As I have often said, I am a simple Buddhist monk. Nothing more, nothing less.” This is a famous catchphrase by His Holiness, which had it been from the lips of anyone less than a holy figure, would probably have turned into a meme on social media a long time ago. In more world-weary eyes, […]
Godzilla of Peace
This morning on the toilet I daydreamed about the Godzilla of Peace. He comes out of the ocean fifty-five stories tall, blue and fluffy with a party hat and sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt. At first the city people are afraid of the deep rumbling he makes as he goes along. But he seems nice, […]
Weightless Noises
Wounded, we feel witnessedby time-by 200 years of war,a theater of bitter clouds and the breeze rippling the surface. When we glint at the sun, we sail through the carnage. That electrical charge. Thatslanderous appetite of a morning’suncertain future. When we glint, we are back in time.The sound of piercing skin, thunder and other weightless noises. George Cassidy […]
Spiritual Colossi: Buddhism and Christianity in China and America
As the United States launches its long-awaited trade war against China, I wonder whether something subtler, but just as significant, is bubbling under the already tumultuous surface. I pondered for a short while whether this observation held any water. After all, indirect pressures or persuasions, rather than outright pronunciations and their enforcement, characterize the influence […]
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 Killing People
Graham Lock Watching scenes of barbarity on the news or reading about them in the newspaper, I have sometimes wondered whether there are any circumstances in which I would be willing to kill someone, or more realistically in my case (if I had a gun in my hand I would probably shoot myself in the […]