And so, seventy years later, it begins again.
“We have been given these badges with different colours for those who have agreed to convert to Christianity and those who have not,” he said.
Tricycle are pleased to announce their upcoming pilgrimage to India, In the Footsteps of the Buddha, taking place January 5-20, 2009. This exciting trip, Tricycle’s fourth to India, will focus on Buddhism’s beginnings and the places where the Buddha lived, taught, and practiced. To request an Information Packet, or to register, please contact Development Assistant Alison Spiegel at 212-645-1143 or pilgrimage@tricycle.com. Early registration is encouraged, as space is limited.
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly . PROFILE . Karmapa Lama . July 11, 2008 | PBS
The Dalai Lama, who turned 73 last Sunday, leads one of the four schools, or denominations within Tibetan Buddhism. The 23-year-old Karmapa Lama, leads another. His supporters believe he may one day succeed the older man as Buddhism’s leading international voice. Recently the Karmapa visited the U.S. for the first time, and Kim Lawton talked with him….
James Carse: “The Religious Case Against Belief” | Salon Books
Carse dismisses attempts to find some underlying unity to all religions. He says the major religions differ radically from each other. He also shrugs off 2,000 years of Christian debate over who the real Jesus was, claiming “it says nothing.” He even speculates that this religious tradition, with its 2 billion followers, may be unraveling. “Christianity is losing its resonance,” he writes. “Its history looks to be more a matter of decades than millennia.”Is Carse the man to save religion from its enemies and false prophets? I found him to be charming and good-humored in conversation, even as he lobbed grenades into our conventional ideas about religion ….
Cargo cult – encyclopedia article about Cargo cult.
A cargo cult is any of a group of unorthodox religious movements appearing in tribal societies in the wake of Western impact, especially in New Guinea and Melanesia. Cargo cults sometimes maintain that manufactured western goods (“cargo”) have been created by divine spirits and are intended for the local indigenous people, but that Westerners have unfairly gained control of these objects. Cargo cults thus focus on overcoming what they perceive as undue ‘white’ influences by conducting rituals similar to the white behavior they have observed, presuming that the ancestors will at last recognize their own and send them cargo. ….
by Bill
I was just on another site where someone remarked that a quotation cited was partially Dharma and partially dualism. I found that I had to agree with that.
Then I started thinking: if I see that parts of the remarks are acceptable (to my way of thinking) and others are not, am I not being dualistic myself? This brings out the difficulty of discussing Dharma or, more specifically, the impossibility of expressing the inexpressible. Continue reading
I’ve been a teacher of Zen for years, yet when people ask me if I’m a Buddhist, I don’t know what to say. Any answer I might give somehow seems irrelevant to what’s actually taking place. I’ve lost any convincing identification and seem to be a prospect for a missing persons alert. It’s as if I’ve awakened to the company of a stranger, or as if I’ve reached out at last and taken hold of my own unfamiliar hand.
Unification Church Founder Hurt in Crash – AOL News
A helicopter carrying the Rev. Sun Myung Moon crashed into a mountainside Saturday as it attempted an emergency landing, injuring the founder of the Unification Church and 15 others, officials said.
Condomizing Jesse Helms’ House – Yahoo! News
In the summer of 1991, we were sharing a house in the Fire Island Pines, along with Kevin Sessums, the journalist and writer who was then Staley’s boyfriend, and several others. Sessums was a close friend of mogul David Geffen, who was also on the island that summer.One day shortly after Staley began planning the action, Geffen walked up to Staley on the beach and pressed a wad of $100 bills into his hand. It totaled $3,000. “Be careful” Geffen advised. Then Geffen made Staley promise not to divulge Geffen’s role in financing the action.
Q. Some scholars have reported that more young people are turning to Buddhism. Why is that?A. The young people are attracted to Buddhism because it is interesting to them and useful. Young people find Buddhism to be honest and helpful. …
BBC NEWS | UK | Lambeth Conference: Anglican voices
Homosexuality and the ordination of women bishops are two of the key issues dividing Anglicans as the communion gathers for the 10-yearly Lambeth Conference.Here six Anglicans from across the world discuss the key topics facing the Church.
OGA, Japan — The Japanese have long taken an easygoing, buffetlike approach to religion, ringing out the old year at Buddhist temples and welcoming the new year, several hours later, at Shinto shrines. Weddings hew to Shinto rituals or, just as easily, to Christian ones.
When it comes to funerals, though, the Japanese have traditionally been inflexibly Buddhist — so much so that Buddhism in Japan is often called “funeral Buddhism,” a reference to the religion’s former near-monopoly on the elaborate, and lucrative, ceremonies surrounding deaths and memorial services.
But that expression also describes a religion that, by appearing to cater more to the needs of the dead than to those of the living, is losing its standing in Japanese society….
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/world/asia/14japan.html?ref=asia
The Prairie Preacher has some pointed comments to make about the issue of Christian charity and modern “Christians.”
Too often Churches practise ‘cheque book charity’ wherein they offer a small cash donation to appease their conscience while hunkering down in their “homes” taking stock of their toys and investments and hoping the poor among us will stay away … I don’t have to even ask – “what would Jesus do?” … I know the answer … he would deal with our modern Churches and their stinginess in the same way he spoke to the people of Nazareth, Chorazim and Bethsaida … his words would sting … but the truth would be undeniable …
Massachusetts Senate votes to end gay marriage restriction – Los Angeles Times
The Massachusetts Senate on Tuesday voted to repeal an obscure 1913 law that has been used to keep out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying there.Legislators in the state House of Representatives in Boston are expected to take similar action today, and Gov. Deval Patrick has promised to sign the repeal. The move could allow gays and lesbians from other states to marry in Massachusetts within weeks.
