Chandigarh, Pakistan -- Buddhist sites left to ruin in Pakistan could get a fresh lease of life as a Haryana-based NGO -The Buddhist Forum (TBF) - ventures on an ambitious mission to save and highlight the lost glory of the age-old monuments.

For really fresh news about the past, the Met’s temporary, often tucked-away collection shows are a sure bet. “Buddhism Along the Silk Road: 5th-8th Century” is exemplary. With more than a hundred petite, gorgeous, soul-filled objects culled from storage and assembled in the small, high-perched mezzanine gallery of the South and Southeast Asian wing, it tells the story of how art, which we think of as static, is ever on the move.

Kyoto, Japan - The Temple of Sanjusangen-do located in Kyoto, Japan, housing over 1000 wood-carved, gold-leaf-covered, statues of religious figures dating from the Thirteen Century, is one of the most outstanding cultural treasures of Japanese Buddhism.

Siem Reap, Cambodia -- Ta Prohm is the modern name for one of the temples of Angkor, Cambodia. Built in the Bayon style, largely in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, it was founded by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university and was originally called Rajavihara.

Bac Lieu Province, Vietnam -- Being considered one of the most beautiful Khmer Theravada Buddhist temples in the Mekong Delta, Ghositaram pagoda in Bac Lieu province has unique decorations, reflecting unique Buddhism cultural identity of the Khmer.

In Tibetan Buddhism, the mandala is a ritual instrument, much like a mantra, used to assist meditation and concentration. Throughout history, these pictorial temples--intricate, two-dimensional, multi-colored patterns of concentric circles, squares, and other shapes--have signified the human need for wholeness, order, and balance. But while many people of the West accept mandalas as representative of a cosmic force, few understand they are meant to be blueprints as well. Indeed, a Tantric Buddhist meditator studies a two-dimensional mandala like an architect, building up in his mind the image of a palace encompassing the sacred principles of Buddhist philosophy.

Shanghai, China -- Three replicas of the restored Mogao Grottoes fresco paintings is to be built and exhibited along with ancient Buddhist sutras, replica of colorful sculptures and other relics of Dunhuang culture, which dates back to the 4th to 14th century in northwestern China's Gansu province.

My experience with Chinese Buddhist music exemplifies the hybrid principle. Having immersed myself in Chinese Buddhist sacred music for three decades I have learned that at heart, in terms of music appreciation, I’m deeply a product of my Western upbringing. But I have discovered riches in Chinese sacred music that I intend to carry across the bridge into the West.

In most countries music has developed in close affinity with religious observances. But the Theravada ideology does not encourage sensual arts like music and dancing. That when Buddhism was not only a religion. but the way of the life for the people. such performing arts received little patronage from the temple. The Buddhist clergy, who constituted the main literati of the country.