Perhaps best known for prioritizing Gross National Happiness over the acquisitiveness of economic growth and as one of the Earth’s rare but essential carbon sinks,* the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, nestled in the rarified air of the eastern Himalayas, has another, perhaps less widely admired reputation as home to a large population of stray dogs. While dogs have traditionally played an important role in day-to-day Bhutanese life, helping yak herders protect their cattle and guarding farms from strangers and wild animals, with increasing urbanization, these hardy canines have had to adapt to a new way of life.

California resident and Buddhist practitioner Melissa McCarthy has transformed her frustration over humanity’s careless treatment of the environment into a determination to raise awareness through a unique act of social activism—a pilgrimage on foot across the United States. Following the west-to-east convolutions of the historic Route 6, once the country’s longest highway, McCarthy says she has undertaken the task with the parallel intentions of “paying respect to the earth, engaging in conversation about climate concerns with people . . . along the way, and as a healing meditation for . . . my intermittently misanthropic heart.” (One Earth Walk-project)

Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women will host its next conference from 22–28 June 2017 at The University of Hong Kong, with support from the university’s Centre of Buddhist Studies (CBS).

The authorities in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province are reportedly planning a major reduction of the burgeoning monastic population at the famed Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in the Larung Valley near the town of Sertar, Garze Prefecture. The reported decision follows similar moves in 2001, when state authorities organized a mass eviction of residents from the institute, and late last year, when further evictions were accompanied by an order to reduce admissions to curb the rapid growth of the monastic population.

Essex, UK -- A BUDDHIST Centre in Brentwood is offering children and their families the chance to experience meditation on Saturday.

Veteran Burmese leader and state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi is to head a high-level committee to address the ongoing concerns about peace and coexistence between the Buddhist majority and the effectively stateless Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State.

Two professors from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have employed creative investigation and deduction to pinpoint 121 locations that could contain previously undiscovered transcribed proclamations of the Indian emperor Ashoka. Working with the latest predictive modeling techniques, the researchers hope their work will enable local researchers to uncover more ancient inscriptions by the Buddhist ruler.

Marking the celebration of Vesak, the government of Pakistan has loaned sacred bone relics of the Buddha to Sri Lanka, now on public display in a series of expositions at temples across the island nation. Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena and prime minster Ranil Wickramasinghe inaugurated the expositions at a ceremony on 21 May at Temple Trees, the prime minister’s official residence in Colombo, in the presence of monks, Buddhist scholars, government officials, and dignitaries from Pakistan.

Archaeologists in China and India are in talks to establish a collaborative project that will investigate key archaeological sites in the northeastern Indian city of Sarnath, a major pilgrimage destination for Buddhists around the world.

Hanoi, Vietnam -- President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan yesterday visited the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS)’s Executive Council on the occasion of Buddha’s 2,560th birthday.