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Against the backdrop of postponement of the India-China boundary talks due to his presence at a global Buddhist conclave here, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama Wednesday avoided commenting on this contentious issue, saying it's 'a political question '. 'It's a political question. No comments,' said the Tibetan leader , who has been living in India since 1959 after fleeing from Lhasa, when TV news channels asked for his comment on Chinese objections to his participation at the Global Buddhist Conference here. In his valedictory address at the four-day conference that ended Wednesday evening, the Dalai Lama focused primarily on the importance of Buddhist values of compassion and harmonious living in a world beset by stress. The boundary talks between special representatives of India and China, scheduled for Nov 28-29, got postponed last week over differences over the Dalai Lama's participation in the Buddhist conference in New Delhi. China, wh

Dr. C. George Boeree Shippensburg University Samsara Samsara is this world, filled as it is with so much pain and sorrow. All beings in this world are subject to the law of karma. Karma means volitional act, that is, something you do, say, or think that is in fact in your control. Any such act has moral consequences, called vipaka , which means fruit. In traditional Buddhism, this consequences can occur in this life, or in a future life. Most Buddhists believe in rebirth . For many, rebirth is no different from what the Hindus believed, i.e. reincarnation or transmigration -- moving from one's old body at death to a new body at birth or conception. A little more precisely, rebirth is nothing more than the transmission of one's karma. Buddha likened it to the flame that passes from one candle to another. So the idea of an immortal soul, a continuing personality, is definitely not part of the rebirth idea. Rebirth and similar concepts are not a part of most westerners&#

Tibet 's Karmapa Lama is revered by followers as a 900-year-old soul in the body of a youth, and tipped to assume the mantle of Tibetan spiritual leadership when the present Dalai Lama dies. But the 26-year-old who is the current embodiment of the Karmapa Lama, a sacred role in Tibetan Buddhism, shies from the expectations that surround him. "I don't want to put on anybody's shoes," said the shaven-headed Karmapa Lama, whose youth, religious standing and daring escape across the Himalayas mean many young Tibetans see him as a natural successor to the Dalai Lama as figurehead. "His Holiness is the overall spiritual leadership, no one can replace him," the Karmapa Lama said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, referring to the Dalai Lama. "My brain is not made for politics," he said in stilted English. He also speaks Mandarin Chinese and Tibetan. Yet this shy young man in thick glasses could become a key player in shaping the politica

The four-day Global Buddhist Congregation in the capital came to a close Wednesday with the constitution of a new international Buddhist body to complement worldwide efforts to carry forward the faith - and preserve Buddhist relics in India and Nepal. A resolution adopted by the Global Buddhist Congregation 2011 said a new international body called the International Buddhist Confederation ( IBC ) will serve as a common platform for Buddhists worldwide, wherein Buddhists traditions will be well represented. The confederation will be headquartered in the Indian capital . The resolution said the 'body will operate under the over-arching themes of collective wisdom, united voice and universal responsibility'. The confederation will 'not compete with the work of existing Buddhist organisations '. A representative working committee with 40 members has been formed to prepare a draft constitution of the IBC and convene the first general conference to ratify it, the res

Dr. C. George Boeree Shippensburg University Soon after Buddha's death or parinirvana, five hundred monks met at the first council at Rajagrha, under the leadership of Kashyapa. Upali recited the monastic code (Vinaya) as he remembered it. Ananda, Buddha's cousin, friend, and favorite disciple -- and a man of prodigious memory! -- recited Buddha's lessons (the Sutras). The monks debated details and voted on final versions. These were then committed to memory by other monks, to be translated into the many languages of the Indian plains. It should be noted that Buddhism remained an oral tradition for over 200 years. In the next few centuries, the original unity of Buddhism began to fragment. The most significant split occurred after the second council, held at Vaishali 100 years after the first. After debates between a more liberal group and traditionalists, the liberal group left and labeled themselves the Mahasangha -- "the great sangha." They would eventu

NEW DELHI — Buddhists from around the world chose India on Wednesday as the headquarters of a new international Buddhist organization and united in their criticism of the Chinese government for trying to prevent the Dalai Lama from speaking at their meeting here in New Delhi. It was something of a victory for India in what observers increasingly see as a contest with China for the hearts and minds of the global Buddhist community. India is the land where Buddha gained enlightenment and taught, but China has the largest population of Buddhists today. The communist government in Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of trying to split Tibet from China, and such is its distaste for the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism that it demanded the Indian government prevent him from speaking at the Global Buddhist Congregation, held in New Delhi this week . When the Indian government rejected the demand, Beijing called off talks between leading diplomats from the two countries. "The Dalai

He strides through the suburban jungle, alert, and glad and proud to be a CAT! And just as glad to rest, relax, knowing if cats could talk amazing stories would abound. Well I will speak for Matti. He who out on the prowl one night entered a home via the cat flap. Trespass! Where he found a live mouse. Theft? He brought the mouse back home in the small cage it was living in. Dragging it noisily through his own cat flap, which wasn't that easy. Matti then had a pet mouse! Matti's person, Angie, was not amused, not in the slightest. Matti could NOT HAVE a pet mouse in the house, in side or outside of a cage. He may have pulled this trick more than once. I can't remember how the story ends.... And speaking of stories and story telling. I recently heard of Spoken Word Poetry, or simply Spoken Word . It's rather an attractive form. If we could understand what cats are saying I'd imagine it would be akin to Spoken Word Poetry. Thanks to Julius for sending the lin

Every minute of every day, while we sit in the relative comfort of our homes, Buddhist monks in Burma are being tortured in prisons. And when they aren't being beaten, they are huddled in dirty, dark and disease ridden cells. All this they endure because they wouldn't sit by and watch the people of Burma be treated like garbage by the dictatorial regime. Their courage was driven, in part, by the deep compassion developed from practicing the Dharma. They are the conscience of the world standing up and saying, "enough!!" The monks have gotten the most attention in the international news, but a lesser known campaign of ethnic cleansing is occurring in remote, ethnic areas. The remoteness of some of these regions is a curse for some ethnic minorities because less people know they are even there, let alone being killed, tortured and raped. If revered monks in Burma aren't treated well, then no one is safe. But, thanks to concerned citizens around the world, attention c

Amy Logan of The Coaches Training Institute shares an inspiring story of how Co-Active leadership training and coaching is empowering some Tibetan Buddhist refugees in India to help people, animals and their environment thrive. It started when Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, a Buddhist monk ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, saw a need for empowering young first-and second-generation Tibetan refugees. He perceived in these refugees an often defeatist and helpless attitude about their situation and wondered: Would they benefit from an introduction to themselves as leaders ? With Tenzin and another friend from the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, Co-Active Coach and Yale School of Management professor Erica Dawson co-developed and co-led a five-day workshop in March 2010. Their participants study at the Central University for Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, and are half Buddhist monks and nuns and half lay students. The co-leaders found the monks and

Movie Review by Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics, Nov 28, 2011 Los Angeles, CA (USA) -- Whether the viewer adheres to, or even grasps, Eastern religion, or not, this look inside the guru entertains. Chogyam Trungpa (1939-1987) was the culmination of Buddhist lineage going back nearly to the beginning of Buddhism, several hundred years before the birth of Christ. He was Buddhist royalty. What made him famous was his embracing of Western civilization and his work is translating Buddhist doctrine into practical guidance for Western audiences. He founded both Vajradhatu and Naropa Universities to explore and develop the Shambhala Training method, a secular approach to meditation. Shambhala teaches that a peaceful, meditative approach to self-awareness is a way towards an enlightened society. It teaches that enlightenment is not something solely for the Gods or a chosen few. Rather, that it is possible for any person to achieve it through respectful discipline and self-examination.

Hindustan Times, November 29, 2011 New Delhi, India -- The first-ever Buddhist Art Festival was inaugurated in New Delhi on Monday. The three-day-long fest, organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), will acquaint residents with the lesser known Buddhist culture and performing arts of six nations. The event coincides with the Global Buddhist Congregation 2011, which celebrates the completion of 2,600 years of the enlightenment of the Buddha. The festival focuses on the influence of Buddhist in performing arts and traditions and the impact it has left across the globe, especially in countries where a majority of the followers are Buddhists. Foreign groups from Nepal, Sri lanka, Cambodia, the Republic of Korea and Bhutan are participating in the event. "It is the first attempt by a cultural body like the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to reinforce Buddhist traditions through the performing arts. Buddhist originated in India and travelled throughout