New Delhi, India, 22 November 2014 - This morning, after a short drive across Delhi, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was received at Springdales School by the Principal, Mrs Ameeta Mulla Wattal. She escorted him to a brief reception and meeting with other principals and staff, including the Founding Principal, 90 year old Mrs Rajni Kumar. She established the first Springdales School in 1955 with a view to giving students a broad progressive holistic curriculum and a strong value system that included the universal values of love, truth and goodness.

“The Cost of Illusion” series of teachings is a step-by-step psychological journey of discovery. It reveals how the illusion of our ego is constructed and maintained so that what is now actually a very intelligent and sophisticated fantasy appears to be our reality. At present, it is difficult for us to appreciate how we personally construct our experiences of life moment by moment.

Monk with a Camera, a documentary about the life and photographic artwork of the Tibetan Buddhist monk Nicholas Vreeland (Khen Rinpoche), will premiere on 21 November at New York City’s Lincoln Center. The 7.20 p.m. screening will include a Q&A session with Khen Rinpoche and directors Tina Mascara and Guido Santi, while at the 5.20 p.m. screening the following day Khen Rinpoche and Richard Gere will have a public conversation about the film. Khen Rinpoche is the name that Nicholas Vreeland has gone by since 2012.

In the first week of December, the Bihar government’s Department of Tourism will launch a new scheme to popularize and generate awareness of the state’s Buddhist monuments. Called “walking tourism,” the pilgrimage will start in Bodh Gaya and take in other “Buddha’s footprints” circuit sites in the state. It is expected that both monks and tourists will participate.

Shang Longrik Gyatso Rinpoche is currently in Melbourne giving Dharma transmissions and teachings. A highly esteemed Buddhist master from Taiwan, Shang Rinpoche has been teaching Buddhism to tens of thousands of students at all levels of experience all over the world for more than 30 years.

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh is receiving 24-hour intensive care in hospital after suffering a sudden brain hemorrhage on 11 November. 

On the weekend of 8–9 November, the Tibetan Buddhist Society in Australia held their annual spring festival at the Peaceful Land of Joy Meditation Centre in Yuroke, one hour north of Melbourne. The society has held the festival annually for over 20 years.

New York, NY, USA, 5 November 2014 - Under grey skies, the New York streets wore a sombre look as His Holiness the Dalai Lama drove to the Javits Convention Center for almost his last engagement of this visit to the USA. Inside it was colourful and 5000 assembled Tibetans were full of smiles as His Holiness took the stage before a backdrop of the Potala Palace. Everyone stood for the Tibetan National Anthem, and then the President of the New York & New Jersey Tibetan Association (NYNJTA) presented a report to His Holiness. He explained that the association began in 1979, that it is non-sectarian and acknowledges no regional bias either. Its objective is to provide a platform for all Tibetans to have a sense of community and to participate is a cultural life. It also concerns itself with offering opportunities for Tibetan children to study Tibetan and so on. The association meets the cost of such classes. By keeping up the Green Book contributions, members of the association contribute $200,000 per year to the CTA.

New York, NY, USA, 4 November 2014 - His Holiness the Dalai Lama lost no time after arriving in the historic Beacon Theater this morning. He saluted the Buddha, took his seat in a comfortable chair and recited the Heart Sutra at a crisp pace before resuming his reading of extracts from Tsongkhapa’s ‘Essence of True Eloquence’.

New York, NY, USA, 2 November 2014 - Strong cold winds blew under the steely light of early winter as His Holiness the Dalai Lama drove through New York, down along the Hudson River, to the Manhattan Center this morning. He had been invited by the Danang Foundation led by Karma Kagyu Lama, Tsewang Tashi Rinpoche, to teach Nagarjuna’s ‘Commentary on the Awakening Mind’ and bestow a One-thousand Armed Avalokiteshvara Empowerment. Of the 1100 people filling the theater, 800 were Chinese from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and North America. They were joined by Tibetans, Mongolians and Americans.