Praises to the Twenty-One Taras—aspects of the Swift Savioress, the feminine manifestations of enlightenment, who protect living beings from epidemics, wars, famines, bad dreams, insanity, and other malefic forces of the world—have been chanted by Tibetan Buddhists for centuries. Scroll paintings (T. thangkas) and statues support their visualization, although it is difficult for a flat representation or a single statue to convey fully the sense that Tara’s benefit radiates from a celestial pure realm. In meditation, this is discovered in the practitioner's own mind. 

Rome, Italy, 14 December 2014 - Today, Nobel Peace Laureates gathered in the Giulio Cesar Hall on Rome’s Capitol Hill for the final session of their 14th World Summit. Proceedings opened with Ekaterina Zagladina, President of Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, delivering a message from President Mikhail Gorbachev. He was one of the instigators of the first summits. He expressed concern about ongoing conflicts in the world and the neglect of climate change. Amongst his hopes was an appeal for the Ukraine crisis to be settled. 

On 14 November, the first book was published in the Routledge Studies in Religion and Digital Culture series, and will look at the interface of Buddhism and digital media culture. Titled Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media: The Pixel in the Lotus, the book is a collection of discussions from a symposium held in 2011 in Chico, California, called “Coding Silence: Online Buddhist Meditation.” The book consists of the dialogue between the ten guests at the symposium, and is the first published book on the fascinating contemporary subject of Buddhism and the internet.

NEW DELHI, India -- While transgressions by Chinese soldiers in Ladakh in September and the resultant standoff were widely reported, an incursion of another kind shrouded in mystery is said to have taken place in Tibet at around the same time.

The 10th International Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony is currently under way under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, India, where the Buddha attained enlightenment. The ceremony, which began on 2 December and will continue until 12 December, is sponsored by the Light of Buddhadharma Foundation International (LBDFI) and organized by the International Tipitaka Chanting Council (ITCC), and is led this year by the Cambodian sangha. The International Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony was inaugurated in 2006 in Bodhgaya on the occasion of the 2,550th Buddha Jyanti. The event’s organizers state on the website: “The aim of the Ceremony is to chant sequential sections from the Pali Canon each year, so that the entire Canon is chanted by the international Sangha under the Bodhi tree.” This year’s program features the recitation of the 8th, 9th, and 10th sections of the Anguttara Nikaya of the canon, dedicated to “World Peace and Inner Harmony.”

To the south of Los Angeles is a lively independent suburb named Garden Grove. This small city with a population of around 170,000 is home to the Little Saigon of the Los Angeles region, named for the large number of Vietnamese refugees that immigrated there during the 1970s. Garden Grove has long been known as a conservative bastion with a well-run political machine that kept a tight leash on who ran the city. On 4 November by a margin of just 15 votes, Bao Nguyen beat incumbent mayor Bruce Broadwater to become one of a growing number of Buddhists now engaging in public political service in America.

Seoul’s National Museum of Korea is presently holding the ninth in its series of large Buddhist painting exhibitions, “The Buddhist Hanging Scroll at Gaeamsa Temple,” which will run until 26 April 2015. The scroll is on loan from Gaeamsa Temple on Mt. Neungpa in South Jeolla Province, and is one of a group of paintings called gwaebul, which are rarely exhibited due to their size. The museum hopes that this unique opportunity will provide a good introduction to Buddhist ritual within the Korean context. Buddhism has played an essential part in the country’s culture and religious practice since its arrival in the 4th century.

Gyuto Tantric College, Sidhbari, Himachal Pradesh, India - 29 November 2014 - Auspicious symbols drawn on the long driveway, freshly repainted buildings and long strings of Tibetan and Buddhist flags fluttering in the breeze all contributed to the grandeur at Gyuto Monastery this morning. As the sun caught the peaks of the majestic Dhauladhar Mountains in the backdrop, His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived to take part in the inaugural session of a conference to commemorate the 600th anniversary of Je Tsongkhapa’s giving the Fourfold Interwoven Commentary on Guhyasamaja Tantra at Sera Chöding and entrusting his tantric teachings to the care of Jetsun Sherab Sengey. Hundreds of monks, officials of the Central Tibetan Administration and ordinary Tibetans gathered to welcome His Holiness. He entered the extensive assembly hall, the well of which was hung with appliqué banners depicting the peaceful and wrathful deities of Guhyasamaja and, in the northern quarter, lamas of the lineage. After lighting the ceremonial lamp His Holiness took his seat on the throne and verses from the Guhyasamaja lineage prayer were chanted.

Over the last few months, the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii has been celebrating a century and a quarter of Jodo Shinshu (Shin) Buddhism in Hawaii. One of Japan’s most popular forms of Buddhism, Shin was first practiced in Hawaii in 1889, and is therefore among the oldest continuous living Buddhist traditions in America. Celebrations have already been held on the islands of Maui and Kauai, and on 23 November, took place on Hawaii itself.

Myanmar has been ranked one of the two most generous nations in the 2014 World Giving Index, which included 135 countries. Myanmar shared the top position with the United States according to the survey, which was conducted by the UK-based Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) based on three criteria: donating money to charity, volunteering time, and helping strangers. In his foreword to this year’s report, CAF’s chief executive Dr. John Low states: “The index shows high levels of generosity in countries facing turmoil – reflecting a pattern of giving in post-conflict nations as people help others through the most difficult of times. And it shows people’s innate desire to help others, even in nations which do not have anything like the standard of living enjoyed in the West.”