Boundless Way Zen, IMCW open new practice locations in Northeast

Boundless Way Zen (BoWZ) and the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW) have new practice locations.

The Greater Boston Zen Center, part of Boundless Way Zen — whose Guiding Teachers are James Ishmael Ford, David Dayan Rynick, and Melissa Myozen Blacker — opened its doors last night in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The new location is now home to two preexisting BoWZ sitting groups: the Ralph Waldo Emerson Zen sangha & Spring Hill Zen.  Read More »

Posted on: May 16, 2012 – 1:43 pm

Melvyn C. Goldstein awarded 2012 Frank and Dorothy Humel Hovorka Prize

Photo via www.case.edu

Melvyn C. Goldstein, the first American to earn a doctorate in Tibetan anthropology, will receive the 2012 Frank and Dorothy Humel Hovorka Prize at a ceremony to be held on Sunday, May 20, at Case Western Reserve University’s Veale Center.

The award is given to those who have made “extraordinary contributions to their academic field and to Case Western Reserve.” According to the university’s website, the prize is the highest form of honor a faculty member can receive. Goldstein is the John Reynolds Harkness Professor of Anthropology at CWRU and Co-Director of the Center for Research on Tibet, which he founded. Read More »

Posted on: May 16, 2012 – 11:06 am

Buddhists and Christians gather to discuss greed

Graymoor Spiritual Life Center (www.atonementfriars.org)

Earlier this month in Garrison, New York, Buddhist and Christian clergy gathered at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center for the ninth annual interreligious dialogue between members of both traditions (sponsored by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement). “A Buddhist & Christian Understanding of Greed: Personal and Structural” was the topic for the day. All in attendance agreed that Christian scriptures and Buddhist sutras decry greed, though each offered different solutions to the problem.

“Greed, anger and ignorance are three poisons which control us sometimes,” said Rev. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, a Jodo Shinsu priest and the vice chairman of the Interfaith Center of New York. Read More »

Posted on: May 16, 2012 – 10:04 am

“Nothing & Everything” book launch Wednesday at the Rubin Museum

Tomorrow, May 16, the Rubin Museum of Art in New York is hosting a book launch for Ellen Pearlman’s new book Nothing and Everything: The Influence of Buddhism on the American Avant Garde, 1942-1962.

The book, which Michael Sheehy reviews in the upcoming Summer 2012 issue of Buddhadharma, largely focuses on Japanese Buddhist scholar D. T. Suzuki and his interactions with composer John Cage, who spawned the experimental art movement Fluxus and the “happenings” of the 1960s. Pearlman studies the interactions between Fluxus and Japanese art groups The Hi Red Center and Gutai, and the New York-based abstract expressionist group The Club, which held lectures on Zen Buddhism. And on the literary front, Pearlman chronicles how Beat writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac explored Buddhism in their search for new literary forms. Read More »

Posted on: May 15, 2012 – 2:35 pm

Dalai Lama to donate Templeton Prize money to charity

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has announced that he will donate his £1.1 million ($1.1 million) Templeton Prize to charities supporting children’s rights, meditation research, and science education. The Templeton Prize, which His Holiness received in a ceremony held at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on Monday, is bestowed upon those deemed to have made an “exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.” Read More »

Posted on: May 14, 2012 – 2:38 pm

Dalai Lama discusses possible poison plot in upcoming interview

In an interview that will be published in full tomorrow at the Sunday Telegraph, His Holiness the Dalai Lama talks about reports he has received that the Chinese may be trying to poison him. Tensions between His Holiness and China have long been strained, particularly with the increasing number of self-immolations happening in Tibet. Asked whether the Chinese were sending female devotees to poison him, the Dalai Lama responded:

“Oh yes. In their hair, poisoned, and scarf, poisoned. So you see, they are sick; supposed to receive blessing from me, and my hand touch. That kind of sort of thing — information we received. I don’t know whether it’s 100% correct or not. There is no possibility to crosscheck like that.”

To see a video clip of His Holiness discussing this (and also his relationship with Desmond Tutu), follow this link to the Telegraph: Dalai Lama reveals Chinese plot to poison him.

Posted on: May 12, 2012 – 6:15 pm

Shambhala Publications acquires Snow Lion

From top left: Snow Lion President Jeff Cox, Shambhala Publications President Nikko Odiseos. From bottom left: Snow Lion Cofounder Sidney Piburn, Shambhala Editor and owner Ivan Bercholz, Shambhala Executive Vice-President and owner Sara Bercholz

Shambhala Publications has announced that, as of May 10, dedicated Tibetan Buddhist publisher Snow Lion Publications is “a part of the Shambhala Publications family.” This will add some 300 titles, including many by the Dalai Lama, to the Shambhala catalog. The acquisition was announced via posts at the websites of both Shambhala and Snow Lion.

According to Shambhala, the move will allow the Boston-based publisher to “offer the widest selection of Tibetan Buddhist books from a single publisher,” and was “in some ways more like a marriage than a business deal, since [Snow Lion had] been our esteemed colleagues in Buddhist publishing for well over twenty years.” Read More »

Posted on: May 11, 2012 – 2:10 pm

Video surfaces showing Jogye monks engaged in high-stakes poker

Screenshot

A video (below) has surfaced showing eight senior South Korean Jogye Order monks engaging in high-stakes poker, with some one billion won (approx. $875,300) being gambled. While it is still unclear where the funds came from, one news item suggests that the money might have been charitable donations. Ven. Seongho, a Jogye monk speaking to Reuters, said, “Basically, Buddhist rules say don’t steal. Look at what they did, they abused money from Buddhists for gambling.”

Six of the eight monks have offered to resign because of the video, and the order has launched an internal investigation to determine how to discipline the monks. Read More »

Posted on: May 11, 2012 – 1:47 pm

Video: New online program makes Zen accessible to everyone

Eshu Martin

The Victoria Zen Centre, based on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, now offers an online training program to help practitioners develop a consistent and stable Zen practice. Their new “Online Orientation to Zen” program offers a combination of videos and training resources that are accessible for free to the public, with an option to pay for personalized support, via Skype, with a trained Victoria Zen Centre practitioner.

“One of my primary motivators in developing the Victoria Zen Centre has been an effort to make Zen practice accessible to as many people as possible,” says Zen Centre’s Eshu Martin. Read More »

Posted on: May 11, 2012 – 9:15 am

Video: Tonight on PBS, “Summer Pasture” shows Tibetan nomads at a crossroads

Making its television premiere on PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Summer Pasture is a documentary about the rapid changes happening in the Dzachukha grasslands in eastern Tibet. Locally, the area is known as “the five-most” — it’s the highest, largest, coldest, poorest, and most remote area in Sichuan province.

The film focuses on Locho and Yama, a young couple living a traditional nomadic lifestyle herding yaks and horses. But as Dzachukha becomes increasingly modernized, many people in their community have been moving to cities and towns to find work. Read More »

Posted on: May 10, 2012 – 6:05 pm

May 10 in NYC: Nicholas Vreeland’s historic appointment to be celebrated

Photo via the Tibet Center

The Tibet Center in New York City will host a reception in celebration of Ven. Nicholas Vreeland’s appointment to position of abbot of Rato Monastery, becoming the first Westerner to take over leadership of a Tibetan monastery. Vreeland was appointed to this leadership position by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and will assume the office on July 6, 2012.

The reception will be held at 145 Ave of Americas, #2A, at Spring St., New York City, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. For more information on this reception and historic appointment, see the Religion News Service press release.

Posted on: May 10, 2012 – 7:22 am

Chikudo Lew Richmond names two dharma successors

Kuzan Peter Schireson and Chikudo Lew Richmond

Earlier this month, Kuzan Peter Schireson and Rinso Ed Sattizahn went through the dharma transmission ceremony with their teacher, Chikudo Lew Richmond, in the Soto Zen lineage of the late Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. In an article published at Sweeping Zen, Schireson said this about his teacher:

“I’ve worked closely with Lew for about five years now, so there’s lots to thank him for, but the one thing I must say is this: if it not for Lew, I really don’t know if I would have ordained as a priest and completed my training in the Suzuki Roshi lineage.” Read More »

Posted on: May 9, 2012 – 4:50 pm

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center honors Suzuki Roshi with a torii gate

Photo by Shundo David Haye

During the most recent practice period at Tassajara, a torii gate was built to mark the path leading to the onsite ashes of the late Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, founder of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) and Tassajara. While torii are often found in Japan at Shinto shrines, where they mark the entrance to a sacred place, they are also common at Buddhist temples. Read More »

Posted on: May 9, 2012 – 9:15 am