Colombo, Sri Lanka -- Thai Prime Minister Ms. Shinawatra is due to visit Buddhist Sri Lanka during the month of Wesak. The bond that Sri Lanka and former Siam (Thailand) share needs to go beyond diplomatic niceties.

THE HISTORY OF BHUTAN By Karma Phuntsho, Random House, Rs 999Such a massive tome (663 pages) on a country that calls itself India's only permanent friend in South Asia demands serious attention. Bhutanese scholarship is so rare and scholarship on Bhutan has been so scanty since Michael Aris's death that Karma Phuntsho's The History of Bhutan is especially welcome. Add to that the author's impressive background as monk, scholar and teacher of Buddhism and Bhutan Studies at home and abroad with Oxford, Cambridge and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris glowing in his provenance. Bhutan's current staggered second general election invests the work with topical interest.

GAYA – For the first time in nearly two decades, Buddha Purnima, the most important event of the Buddhist calendar symbolizing the holy triple coincidence of same summer full moon day birth, enlightenment and salvation passed off without any protest and slogan shouting by the neo Buddhists demanding total control over Bodh Gaya shrine strengthening the impression that the movement for 'liberation' of the Mahabodhi shrine has considerably fizzled out.

Kendrapara (Odisha), May 26 (PTI) – Antique Buddhist sculptures comprising monolithic and votive divinities have been found near a cremation ground in a remote village in Odisha's Kendrapara district, known for its rich Buddhist legacy.

Jakarta, Indonesia -- Different people take different paths in an effort to attain perfection. While a few people are endowed with extraordinary talent or intelligence to invent or create, most people need not worry about that and simply follow or apply what the inventors or creators have discovered for us.

Diane Hittleman was a yoga teacher and Buddhist practitioner who helped introduce and popularize hatha yoga in the U.S. in the 1960s. She died last year. Her son Bret wrote this obituary, which we’re pleased to publish.

Louisville, KY, USA, 21 May 2103 - His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s first meeting on his last day in Louisville was with a group of gentle Vietnamese Buddhists.

Louisville, Kentucky, USA, 20 May 2013 - Returning to the Yum Center for a second day, before beginning his morning teaching session, His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with representatives of the Dalai Lama Fellows, young people working in different parts of the world in peace, justice and ecology. Their declared aim is ‘to build a world that works for every one of us because it’s increasingly clear that, otherwise, it won’t work for any of us.’ His Holiness was impressed by their reports and supportive of their various activities. He also so had a warm conversation with Archbishop Joseph Kurtz before meeting with a group of Tibetans resident in the vicinity of Louisville. 

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 18 May 2013 - Relationships formed between staff and students of the Tulane University School of Social Work over more than twelve years culminated today in His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s presence at the 179th Tulane Unified Commencement Ceremony. This grand celebration for 2800 graduates, who came from all 50 states and 63 countries, the youngest among them being only 19 and the oldest 96, took place before an audience of more than 30,000 in the New Orleans Superdome.

Madison, Wisconsin and New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 16 May 2013 - On his last morning at Deer Park, Madison, as the early sun caught the new leaves on the trees and peacock calls rang through the woods behind the temple and Kalachakra Pavilion, His Holiness met privately with a group of Chinese and afterwards with a group of Tibetan students studying in the USA.