As police say lama found in lotus positon was destined for sale on black market, there are claims it was one step away from becoming a Buddha.

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin is currently holding an exhibition of artworks from the Dunhuang caves in northwest China, a rich repository of paintings, sculptures, texts, and other artifacts spanning the 4th–14th century. Titled “Dunhuang – Untold Tales, Untold Riches,” the exhibition will conclude on 16 March 2015. 

The 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje has announced his support for restoring nuns’ vows in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The announcement was made during this year’s Arya Kshema Winter Gathering for nuns, which took place at Tergar Monastery in Bodhgaya from 8–24 January. There is currently no bhikshuni or full ordination for nuns in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which follows the Mulasarvastivada vinaya, or monastic code of conduct.

Sankisa, UP, India, 31 January 2015 - When representatives of the organizers, the Youth Buddhist Society of India, came to see him this morning, His Holiness the Dalai Lama first of all thanked them for inviting him to this important Buddhist place.

The ash-colored man was reportedly discovered sitting in a lotus position with no visible decay. The haunting figure is suggested to be a teacher of the Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov, whose own body was found preserved after his death in 1927.

On Sunday 4 January, Quang Minh (Bright Light) Temple (QMT), located in Braybrook, Victoria, held a special ceremony to receive the Buddha relics donated to them by Wat Monglkodhammakayaram in Thailand.

The Taiwan-based Buddhist charitable organization Fo Guang Shan has set up a free college in the Philippines. Launched just last year, according to its website the new college currently runs two courses: Buddhist Studies and the Performing Arts. Thirty-nine students are enrolled in the academic year 2014–15, all of whom have been given grants to meet the costs of their lodging, food, and other needs.

San Francisco, CA (USA) -- George Takei is an actor, a social media star, and a gay rights activist. He’s also a longtime Buddhist whose faith has helped him get through the rough patches in his life -- like coming to terms with his sexual orientation and making sense of his Japanese family’s internment during World War II.

Murder is abhorrent. Whatever one’s opinion of the Charlie Hebdo satirists and their line of work, the lethal violence against them was appalling. Yet, while Buddhism respects the protection of life as a cardinal value, alongside this vow stands a commitment to practice loving speech. Satire is an industry built around derision, mockery, and the intent to shame. This can involve techniques like irony, sarcasm, or even exaggeration of others’ weaknesses, and taking the opinions of others to logical extremes. In some senses, this is harmful speech, which Buddhists seek to avoid. Even so, satire (sometimes validly) purports to hold a mirror to the problems and hypocrisies of society and established structures—a form of tough love to embarrass the complacent to do better.

From 13–14 January, the University of Calcutta in India honored the 125th anniversary of the birth of Benimadhab Barua (1888–1948), the great Indologist and internationally recognized scholar of Buddhism. To mark the occasion, the Department of Pali of the University of Calcutta also organized an international seminar, “Revival of Theravada Buddhism in Bengal,” which was held at the Centre for Research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Kolkata.