Buddhist Communities Around the World Mark the Lunar New Year
20/02/2018 19:10 (GMT+7)
Buddhists across the globe have gathered to mark the Lunar New Year in recent days, from Hong Kong to Houston, and Sydney to Singapore, festivities and Buddhist rituals were observed and shared across Chinese, Korean, Tibetan, and Vietnamese communities, and more.
Courage and Compassion: Johanne Lauktien and Remedial Yoga for Cancer Patients
10/02/2018 18:47 (GMT+7)
“I’m not a cancer survivor,” is one of the first things Johanne Lauktien feels compelled to tell me, because she teaches remedial yoga for cancer patients and survivors. This often emotionally challenging career has been her calling for the past few years, during which she went on a multifaceted spiritual journey and emerged a changed person. Her Instagram account, as well as her Facebook page, reveal a holistic health instructor passionate about engaging with life fully.

Taiwan Launches New Initiative to Promote Green Funerals
08/02/2018 16:11 (GMT+7)
HONG KONG—The Civil Affairs Bureau of Taichung City in western Taiwan has launched a “Card of a Fulfilled Life” as part of an initiative to promote environmentally friendly funerals and to encourage funeral autonomy—enabling people to express funerary preferences that may differ from traditional expectations.
Greens and Garlic Frittata to Go
07/02/2018 11:02 (GMT+7)
Chop the greens super-fine to achieve the prettiest color. Use whatever looks best in the market (spinach and chard are brightest when it comes to color), or you can use bagged baby spinach. You only need 1/2 cup of chopped greens, but you could use twice that amount.

Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy
06/02/2018 20:23 (GMT+7)
Gorgeous glazed shiitake mushrooms and tender green bok choy sparked with ginger, sesame and hot pepper work beautifully against more staid flavors, so consider serving them next to a traditional roast chicken or turkey. They also are delicious draped over a pile of rice.
Japanese Monk Promotes Cleaning as a Path to Well-being
26/01/2018 11:41 (GMT+7)
Japanese Buddhist monk Shoukei Matsumoto takes cleaning very seriously. In fact, he views it as an essential part of a healthy, positive life and Buddhist practice, going so far as to author a book on the subject that has become a bestseller in his native Japan and has recently been translated into English. 

Regaining Our Simplicity and Humanity: Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche on Practice in Modern Times
25/01/2018 19:01 (GMT+7)
On 1 November, Buddhistdoor Global caught up with Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche for a conversation about the authentic practice of Buddhism in today’s ever more complex world. Born on 30 June 1993 in Nepal, Rinpoche is the incarnation of the late Vajrayana master and Nyingma head Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910–91). Educated in Bhutan and having all the empowerments that Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche received, he is intimately aware of the challenges facing Buddhism in today’s times. He is a deeply compassionate and perceptive teacher committed to the future of Buddhism.
Jhamtse Gatsal: Fostering Seeds of Compassion
23/01/2018 18:56 (GMT+7)
In the late 1990s, Lobsang Phuntsok was one of 10 Buddhist monks selected by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to undertake a two-year training program in India specifically for monks that would then travel to the West to teach Buddhism. A teacher from the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism with exceptional language skills, Lobsang was invited by one of the rinpoches from Sera Jay Monastery in India in 2000 to translate for him during the UN Millennium Peace Conference in New York.

Monastics in White: The Medical Monks and Nuns of Vietnam
08/01/2018 13:44 (GMT+7)
For most outsiders, especially those in the West, Vietnamese Buddhism is typically synonymous with Thich Nhat Hanh (who incidentally resides not in Vietnam but in France). Or, going back a few decades, the now-iconic image of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc, who set himself on fire at a busy Saigon intersection in 1963 to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese regime led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
The Big Uncertainty
03/01/2018 12:50 (GMT+7)
Imagine that you lived a few hundred or even a few thousand years ago. If you had told people then that there are going to be bad times for a while and that good times will follow, and the ups and down will continue, it’s almost certain that your words would withstand the test of time and you might be remembered as a wise person who could predict the future of nations. This has to do with fact that almost every country in the world goes through ebbs and flows of well-being. Today, we are facing an unprecedented situation in which no one can predict the future of humanity at large. It’s not a great time for anyone who wants to be a wise man or woman giving predictions to dispel the public’s fear of the unknown. It seems that our brains have a bias against the unknown and constantly seek certainty. These neurological traits are very difficult to change. By comparison being a fortune teller or palm reader in the modern day would be a much easier job since their work only involves predicting the future for individuals.

The Unskillful Use of Social Media
02/01/2018 20:03 (GMT+7)
From as early as the Frankfurt School, dialectic philosopher Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) pondered what role technology would play in human emancipation. Conversely, because it was developed within a certain ideological structure and culture, technology itself could be an oppressive form of ideology that contributes to domination more than freedom. Marcuse specifically identified the American culture of his age as one of domination, violence, and consumption as people’s compensation for alienation as cogs in the capitalist machine.
The Buddha’s Four New Year’s Resolutions
01/01/2018 12:50 (GMT+7)
Most New Year’s resolutions are predicated on not being happy enough, or not having what we want, or needing to be prettier, or thinner, or more organized. But what if we began with accepting ourselves with maitri, or loving-kindness, and extended that genuine happiness outward?

Rare 15th–16th Century Murals and Sculptures Found in Sichuan Province Shed New Light on Tibetan Art
30/12/2017 19:44 (GMT+7)
In March 2017, Buddhistdoor Global interviewed Professor Luo Wenhua, a research fellow at the Palace Museum in Beijing and director of the Research Center for Tibetan Buddhist Heritage.* In the interview, Prof. Luo introduced their project of digitizing artifacts and wall paintings in Tibetan Buddhist regions of China, which started in 2013. In August 2017, just a few months after the interview, Prof. Luo and his team made an important discovery at Badha Monastery (嘛达寺) (32°52.256N, 097°23.462E) in Serxu County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in China’s Sichuan Province. In a small hall attached to the tulku’s residence (gungbar labrang), which had been closed off and forgotten after the Cultural Revolution, Prof. Luo and his team uncovered various wall paintings and clay sculptures. Owing to their relatively good condition and unique artistic style, these artifacts are considered rare examples of Tibetan Buddhist art. This article is intended as the first English-language report on the discovery.
myMe: Hope on Wheels for Myanmar’s “Lost” Generation
26/12/2017 09:47 (GMT+7)
It has been a year since I first met Win Win in the teashop where he works in Myanmar’s former capital, Yangon. Surprised and delighted that I actually kept my promise to visit him again, he muttered shyly in English, “How are you?” as he served me a cup of tea.

Happiness Before Profit: Bhutan Seeks to Redefine Business Using Buddhist Values
16/12/2017 15:26 (GMT+7)
Bhutan, a remote Vajrayana Buddhist kingdom perched in the rarified air of the eastern Himalayas, is regularly ranked among the happiest countries in the world. With a population of fewer than 800,000 people, it is also one of the world’s smallest and least industrialized countries, yet it has significant experience in maintaining the delicate balance of managing economic growth in a sustainable manner, famously encapsulated in its conservative “Gross National Happiness” (GNH) approach to economic development.
Filling the Emptiness with Love at the Duc Son Orphanage
24/11/2017 17:28 (GMT+7)
The open fields of Thuy Bang village offer a refreshing change from the busy traffic and the crowds of tourists one can find just 7 kilometres north of the village in the city of Hue in Central Vietnam. Up a little side road lined with huge shady trees you can find the Duc Son Pagoda. Inside the compound stands a sprawling Bodhi tree, which provides shade and a cool place for a break in the summer heat. It was at the foot of this tree that head nun Thich Nu Minh Tu found baby Tranh, wrapped in a blanket, cold and hungry. Barely two weeks old, the chances of baby Tranh surviving were low. But Thich Nu Minh Tu did not give up. Today, the sight of Thanh sleeping soundly in her crib warms the heart. Nursed by the nuns’ tender care and love, Thanh is now a healthy 3 month old baby.

The Daily Practice of a Modern Chinese Buddhist Nun: Facing the Discomfort
10/10/2017 13:10 (GMT+7)
The first challenge I encountered during the first year of my monastic training as a postulant was overcoming the discomfort from the clothes we wore. We had a special uniform—a long-sleeved, loose grey midi robe with long pants. In the winter, we could put on more layers inside and a black coat while outside. But in the hot summer, even when it was over 35ºC (about 95ºF, but it felt like 100ºF due to the humidity), we still needed to wear our uniform day and night without air conditioning. This was really too much for me, especially after I had become so used to the comfortable weather in the Westwood/Santa Monica area of California. We were sweating all the time—it felt like our bodies were soaking in salty water. It was even worse during morning/evening services and chanting ceremonies because we were required to wear another black maxi robe with long sleeves. I could not imagine how I would tolerate the habit after ordination, which has the additional layer of a long-sleeved maxi robe and long grey tube socks. Because of this, I also felt sympathy for Roman Catholic nuns!
Traveling Light and Lighter: The Life-changing Magic of Lightening Up
27/09/2017 17:56 (GMT+7)
The previous articles in this series on my seven years of lily padding—a combination of location-independence and letting the Dhamma take the lead—described how the practice of tonglen, metta, and shoshin can help dissolve various fears encountered along the way.  This month, I look at how lily padding has taught me to travel light, both physically and metaphorically; or, in other words, how it taught me to embrace the fear of emptiness.

It All Matters: On Metta, Feelings, and Forgiveness
23/09/2017 12:04 (GMT+7)
In our monastery, there is a practice for those who are really upset with someone else. They’re told to give the other person a gift. It’s usually the last thing that anyone in this situation wants to do, yet it can bring about great transformation. I haven’t had to do this—I don't know if it’s that I’m able to keep good relationships for the most part, or if I’m simply conflict-avoidant—but there are plenty of times that I’ve felt irritation, anger, or ill will mount up in great piles until I feel lost in it. The version of gift giving that I've taken on in these circumstances is to offer the gift of loving-kindness, called metta in the earliest recorded discourses of the Buddha. It may take me a while, but once I notice that I’m stuck in ill will I make a point, during either our sitting or walking meditation periods, to send that person the energy of loving-kindness.
Reviving a Vietnamese Family Tradition – The Trantien Foundation
15/09/2017 17:09 (GMT+7)
In a remote village in Hue, central Vietnam, Ha Len’s parents only wish was for their daughter to have surgery for her cleft palate so that she could look like the other children. But it is something they could never afford. And even if Ha Len received the surgery, they knew that she might not live long anyway—by some cruel twist of fate, in addition to a completely cleft lip and palate, Ha Len was born with a congenital malformation of the heart known as Tetralogy of Fallot that left her heart with four anatomical abnormalities that hindered the normal flow of blood to the lungs, resulting in a blue tint to the skin and lips. Although a palliative shunting procedure was performed when she was very young, Ha Len still had “blue lips,” but because of the severity of her conditions, even charity surgical teams from Europe and the United States had declined to attempt a permanent surgical correction of her heart.

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