I take it as some cosmic law of exchange that if Disneyland pops up in Hong Kong and Tokyo, Buddhist temples can sprout up in Los Angeles. Indeed, it comes as no surprise to many Californians the most complex Buddhist city in the world is here. Read more: Buddhism, Bill Clinton, Globalization, Enlightenment, Los Angeles, Meditation, Religion in America, Prayer and Meditatio...

BANGKOK -- Thailand's Culture Ministry says foreign tourists should be barred from getting Buddhist tattoos while visiting because the practice is culturally insensitive. Culture Minister Niphit Intharasombat said in a statement that his ministry has been receiving complaints from residents that tattoo parlors are etching sacred images of Buddha and other religious images onto the skin o...

BANGKOK -- Thailand's Culture Ministry says foreign tourists should be barred from getting Buddhist tattoos while visiting because the practice is culturally insensitive. Culture Minister Niphit Intharasombat said in a statement that his ministry has been receiving complaints from residents that tattoo parlors are etching sacred images of Buddha and other religious images onto the skin o...

Japan, heretofore a land unto itself, soothed by a unique combination of geographic isolation and Zen-Buddhist equanimity, has discovered the world can be kind. If the nation's leaders take this opportunity to encourage citizens to "open up," to emerge from their spiritual shell, Japan will become more confident, more productive and forward leaning. If not, she will retreat even deeper ...

When the Dalai Lama talks about his health, as he did with me one day less than two years ago, he often recounts with a giggle how physicians say his body is that of a much younger man. Despite his 75 years, he's had only minor bouts of ill health. One came in October 2008, when doctors in India operated on his gall bladder. Afterward, he delighted in telling listeners that he was less o...

"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?" -- Rabbi Hillel "The problem which divides people today is not a political problem; it is a social one. It is a matter of knowing which will get the upper hand, the spirit of selfishness or the spirit of sacrifice; whether society will go for ever-increasing enjoyment...

By Vishal Arora Religion News Service NEW DELHI -- In an unprecedented probe of exiled Tibetan Buddhist monks, Indian officials want to know why top Buddhist leaders had $1.5 million in cash stashed away at their headquarters in Dharamsala. Police seized $1.5 million of cash in Indian and foreign currencies, including Chinese yuan, in a recent raid on the monastery of the Karmapa Lama, ...

A decade ago, having recently begun Buddhist meditation practice, I attended a lecture/Q&A with a Tibetan master at a Buddhist center in Hollywood. The warm vibes and the stunning icons and paintings suggested a sacred, healing space. The speaker -- I knew so little at the time, I thought his name was "Sri" -- seemed the embodiment of enlightenment. He described how we can foster spiritua...

So who are "you" anyway? By "you" I am referring to your identity, or the thoughts, beliefs, ideas and positions that are the basis of your sense of yourself. These are the things that the brain uses to create the experience of being unique, an individual separate from everything and everyone. It is what allows me to say, "I am Mark, and you are you." Zen Buddhists refer to this as the...

It's not easy to wipe out a culture. Huge forces must be brought to bear with such a powerful assault that survival is almost impossible. Sometimes a natural disaster is the culprit. Approximately 65.5 million years ago, an asteroid collided with the earth in the area of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, creating the Chicxulub Crater and triggering a mass extinction. Although man was not yet p...

This past Sunday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak endorsed the work and mission of the Inter-faith Relations Working Committee. It's a group of Malaysia's religious leaders, representative of the many faiths that make the country such a remarkable society in both the Asian and Islamic worlds. Between Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and ,of course Muslims, the Committee is truly...

The "Shimano Problem" and its recent resolution make this an opportune time to briefly explore the subject of Buddhism's integration into the West. Eido Shimano Roshi had been the abbot of the New York Zen Studies Society, one of the oldest Buddhist institutions in the West, and its 1,400-acre Dai Bosatsu retreat in the Catskills until he resigned from both earlier this week. Even though ...

This lifetime of ours is transient as autumn clouds. To watch the birth and death of beings Is like looking at the movements of a dance. A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky. Rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain. --Buddha Over the last two decades I have occasionally taken a week of silence to renew my spirit. A few years ago, I found out that there was a tra...

I think that many of us these days are trying to figure out how to be more compassionate -- both toward ourselves and others, while also realizing that it's sometimes not that easy to accomplish. It can often feel "easy to be hard," and it seems to really require focus and discipline to be genuinely helpful to others. Even with the solid intention to develop a more compassionate attitu...

No matter how many times a day I meditate, I will never be as calm as President Obama appears to be. How does he keep his cool? Does he meditate? Does he practice yoga? Has he tried any of the therapies I've experimented with over the last year, as I've tried calming my anxious brain? What kind of medicinal herbs is Michelle growing for him in that garden behind the White House...

Religion is a growing factor in world affairs, but the U.S. government views it through the lens of counterterrorism. That's the conclusion of a two-year study by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Read more: Hinduism, Extremists, Religion, Islam, Terrorists, Judaism, Chicago Council, Muslims, Christianity, US Foreign Policy, International Relations, Buddhism, Huffpost Rel...