Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy - 9th April 2013 - After a comfortable flight from India, His Holiness the Dalai Lama stopped briefly in Munich Airport, where he was received by a representative of the local Indian Consulate.

London, UK -- Edith Hope grew up in rural Scotland as part of a large and loving family brought up in the Church of Scotland, attending Sunday school. But in her 30s a chance visit to a Buddhist monastery in Dumfries and Galloway would change her life forever.

Buddhapalooza, a celebration of the Buddha’s birthday, is returning to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the third year. Held at the Barking Legs Theater, Buddhapalooza III is a day of meditation, dharma talks (lectures), and performance on Saturday, April 13. The event is a fundraiser for the Zen Group of Chattanooga.

Karachi: Being a student of archaeology I am in the habit of comparing the past with the present and somehow end up thinking that the ancient people were more advanced, sophisticated, civilised and intellectually sound.

Salugara, West Bengal, India, 29 March 2013 - Making an early and cooler start to the last day of teachings in Salugara, His Holiness arrived at the Kalachakra Phodrang at 7am, where he sat before the mandala to perform the preparations for the Avalokiteshvara empowerment.

Afghanistan plans to put four or five oil and gas extraction and minerals mining projects out to tender for development this year, as the strife-ridden country reaches out to investors to help develop its vast resources.

New Delhi, India, 22 March 2013 - This morning His Holiness addressed a group of class 10-12 Indian students who attend nine different schools within the vicinity of Delhi. He greeted them warmly:“Young brothers and sisters, I’m glad to meet all of you. I’m 78 years old and my life has had its ups and downs, but what I want to tell you is that so many of the problems we face are man-made. We created them and we have the opportunity to reduce them too.”

If we wish to get favorable results from meditation we should be willing to do it carefully. We mentioned earlier the nature that has to arise in the individual in order to perform that meditation in an orderly manner and carefully. From where should that individual start? He must accept the preaching of the Buddha. He must accept the Dhamma preached by the Buddha. Such a person will practise Dhamma and meditation carefully. He will be clever enough to practise Dhamma and meditation in an orderly manner.

According to Buddhism free dom of thought and exercising ones free will are boundless. One need not be a slave to a philosophy, book, tradition, any leader or teacher and super power. All human beings are potential Buddhas and can develop their minds even to the extent of attaining Buddhahood. In the Dhammapada the first stanza itself declares that the mind is the fore-runner in every action. All evidence suggests that our sense of free will is deeply ingrained. In a study involving around 40,000 people from 34 countries more than 70 per cent of the respondents answered in positive terms to the question “Do we make our own fate?”. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1998).

Bangkok, Thailand -- As world governments meet here to discuss global wildlife trade, revered Thai Buddhist leaders today held the first-ever Buddhist merit-making ceremony to pray for the tens of thousands of elephants poached annually. They also called on their congregations and other temples to reject the use and trade of ivory.