Japan is the land of the rising sun and hopelessly polite people. On the surface, it appears to be a secular country, but if one looks closely one finds the citizens to be surprisingly spiritual. This spirituality is influenced by both Buddhism—brought to the court of Emperor Kinmei by a Korean mission (c. 552)—and Shintoism, the indigenous religion of Japan.

A rare collection of Buddhist carvings dating to the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) on a hill near the Chinese port city of Lianyungang serves as a lasting record of the arrival of Buddhism in China along the maritime Silk Road. They also offer a tangible link between those ancient trade routes and modern China’s ambitions to draw upon this legacy through the economic and trade development initiative known as “One Belt, One Road”—a plan to resurrect the Silk Road for the 21st century.

The “1st World Encounter Teresian Mysticism and Interreligious Dialogue: Theravada Buddhism and Teresian Mysticism – Meditation and Contemplation Pathways to Peace” was held from 27–30 July at the International Centre of Teresian and Sanjuanist Studies (CITeS) of the University of Mysticism in Avila, Spain. The conference was organized with the Centre of Buddhist Studies (CBS) of The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Venerable Dr. Amrita Nanda and I participated in this conference to lead the Buddhist chanting ceremony conducted every morning after the Christian mass. It was, for me, a true experience in interfaith friendship and mutual respect.  

I was introduced to the Chan Meditation Center in New York in 1997, when I came to work as a volunteer for almost a month. I arrived in the late afternoon just before the evening service had ended. When the door opened, I saw Master Sheng Yen (later, I called him shifu) walk into the reception area. We met each other face to face and he seemed to know that I was coming. I put down my luggage and stood before him. Without knowing any Buddhist etiquette, I simply nodded my head with smile, no prostration or bow, nor even joined palms. He looked at me kindly and told me in an encouraging tone, “You need to develop a good affinity with more people.” He then invited me to join them for supper.

From 5–6 August, 135 religious leaders and diplomats from 32 countries gathered at Sitagu International Buddhist Academy (SIBA) in Yangon, Myanmar, for an interfaith dialogue to promote global peace, harmony, and security. Notable participants included government officials such as Thura U Aung Ko, Myanmar’s union minister for religious affairs and culture, Ramachandra Damodar Naik, governor of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Nobuo Kishi, Japanese state minster for foreign affairs.

Recent years have seen a steady increase in scientific research into Buddhist beliefs and practices, in particular, research on mindfulness, which was pioneered more than 30 year ago, continues to attract mainstream attention. The large majority of this research, however, is conducted by Western researchers or Western Buddhists at universities in the West, and one starts to wonder whether the pursuit of finding scientific evidence for Buddhism’s religious claims is in fact a Western pursuit. It certainly ties in with the often-discussed observation of Tibetan masters who have taught in the West, that Western Buddhist are very good with knowledge, with trying to understand the teachings, but are somewhat lacking in the area of practice.

Lying at an elevation of 4,587 meters, the Himalayan village of Komik in India’s mountainous far north is no doubt justified in laying claim to be the world’s highest village accessible by a motorable road. Yet, isolated as it is, even this remote settlement is not immune to the growing impact of climate change, which is having a profound effect on the village’s way of life and, on a larger scale, the fragile ecosystems of the Himalayas, sometimes known as the world’s “third pole.”

When it seems that the entire world is steadily being buried beneath a growing mountain of refuse, one resourceful man in Buddhist-majority Cambodia has taken matters into his own hands, building an entire school out of discarded waste materials. 

The mummified remains of a Buddhist monk who died some 1,000 years ago have been discovered inside a golden seated image at a Buddhist temple in the northern Chinese province of of Hebei. Remarkably well preserved, the remains reportedly include many intact bones and even a complete brain. The find was made in early July after the gilded figure, which has been stored at Ding Hui Temple, underwent an X-ray scan, revealing the hidden remains within.

Recently published data from Australia’s 2016 census offers a revealing insight into the country’s rapidly evolving religious landscape, with an encouraging outlook for Buddhist communities in the antipodean nation. While overall the data indicated a marked shift toward no religious affiliation among the population over the last 25 years, the number of people identifying as Buddhists continued to grow steadily as the third most common religion in the nation of more than 23 million.