The Panchen Lama and his family live in Tibet, according to the Chinese-appointed governor of  the "Tibetan Autonomous Region." This is being reported in news media as "confirmation" that Gendun Choekyi Nyima, the boy recognized  by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the Panchen Lama in 1995, is still alive. However, I am skeptical.

Gillian Wong reports what the governor said for the Associated Press:

"As far as I know, his family and he are now living a very good life in Tibet," Padma Choling said at a news conference on the sidelines of China's annual legislative session. "He and his family are reluctant to be disturbed, they want to live an ordinary life."

To me, this is not a firm confirmation. Padma Choling sounds as if he is passing on a rumor, not presenting actual knowledge.

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China Says Real Panchen Lama Is Alive in Tibet originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 09:12:19.

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Occasionally people comment that they visited a dharma center -- or were reading Buddhist blogs -- and were disappointed that Buddhists were not perfectly agreeable and free of conflict. I've also heard people say they won't work with a teacher because even highly regarded teachers have been caught being less than perfect -- drinking too much, having affairs, etc.

To the first complaint, I'd say -- get real. Nobody achieves perfection of character by walking through a door. People go into practice dragging all of their pain and fear and anger and issues with them. Why should that be less true for others than for you?

If you are looking for a happy place where everyone else has achieved Perfection of Niceness and charitably overlooks how screwed up you are, you will be looking for a long time. On the other hand, when you're open to helping other people with their pain and fear and anger and issues, a dharma center might be just the place for you.

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Nobody's Perfect / Everybody's Perfect originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 15:39:45.

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Bitterroot, a blogger at Bitterroot Badger's Bozeman Buddhist Blog, has two recent posts on monasticism in the West. These are "Western Monastic Life Part I: Off the Bleachers, Into the Game" and "Western Monasticism II: Important? Useless? Or Both?" The question considered in these posts is "How important is the monastic path for Western Buddhism?"

The answer to this question might vary by tradition. The Nichiren-based lay organization Soka Gakkai International (SGI) seems to be thriving without ordained clergy of any sort, for example. For other traditions, however, monasticism has served as the container in which the dharma was carried forward through the centuries.

So,  big part of establishing Buddhism in the West involves finding a place for monasticism in Western life. And this, to put it mildly, is swimming against the tide. As Bitterroot points out in the second post, long-established Catholic monastic traditions are having a hard time of it also. In the West, nuns and monks ain't gettin' no respect.

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Buddhist Monasticism in the West originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 11:35:40.

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Comedian Bill Maher made some disparaging remarks about Buddhism recently. I was going to ignore them, because (1) mostly his remarks are the same uninformed things malicious people who are ignorant of Buddhism always say, and (2) Maher is a comedian. I doubt even he would mistake what he said for serious, critical commentary.  (I'll come back to this in a bit.) But the episode stirred up a lot of other commentary on other blogs, so I decided to wade in, a bit late.

I very much like the response from Noah Yuttadhammo, a Theravada monk who lives in Los Angeles. He begins with these words of the Buddha, from the Pali Brahmajala Sutta

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The Bill Maher Flap originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 13:02:32.

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Nearly 19 years ago, six Thai Buddhist monks, a nun and two novices were shot to death in Wat Promkunaram, a temple in Phoenix, Arizona. The August 1991 homicides have been called the worst in Arizona history. In 1994 two young men were convicted of the murders and sentenced to prison.

Now a full panel of the 9th Circuit Court has overturned the conviction of one of the young men, Jonathan Doody, because his confession was coerced. "We can readily discern from the audiotapes an extraordinarily lengthy interrogation of a sleep-deprived and unresponsive juvenile under relentless questioning for nearly 13 hours by a tag team of detectives, without the presence of an attorney, and without the protections of proper Miranda warnings," one judge wrote.

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The Wat Promkunaram Homicides, Update originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 10:12:28.

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The full moon of February 28 marks Sangha Day, or Magha Puja (in Thai, Makha Bucha) for most Theravada Buddhists.  In particular, this is a day for laypeople to show special appreciation for the monastic sangha. The photograph, taken on Sangha Day 2008, shows  monks of Wat Suthat, Bangkok, Thailand, engaged in the traditional candlelight procession.

The recent massive earthquake in Chile and subsequent tsunamis are making this a terrible day for many today. Please keep all suffering beings in your thoughts.

Photo Credit:

Sangha Day 2010 originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at 15:18:54.

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Here's a happy announcement: His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, is planning to visit Europe in June.The tour will include Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Spain and The Netherlands.

I'm not sure if the trip is 100 percent certain -- His Holiness's website says there is an ongoing process of "official approval" that isn't quite finished. He may still be waiting to learn if the government of India will let him travel.

Photo courtesy of Karmapa's Office of Administration.

17th Karmapa European Tour originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 12:52:38.

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I want to share with you this wonderful blog post by the Rev. James Ford, Soto Zen priest and Unitarian Universalist minister, titled "All Religions Are False, or Confessing My Faith."

Please read do read it all. I'm just going to discuss the title, "All Religions Are False." The Reverend Ford said,

I believe all religions are false. And I believe some are a little bit less false than others. That is in varying degree each also contains pointers to our liberation, which is our direct, visceral insight into this now separate, now one, and how our choices count.

Sometimes people complain that Buddhism is too dogmatic, by which (I think) they mean there's all those pesky doctrines in LIST AFTER LIST, and why do we have to bother about that? Isn't it all just about chanting or meditating so we can be happier and more compassionate?

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All Religions Are False originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 13:38:46.

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Again by way of the Rev. Danny -- at USA Today, Boston University professor Stephen Prothero writes an excellent column on the recent Tiger Woods public apology. The entire column is worth reading, but here is the last paragraph:

In calling Woods to Christ in January, Brit Hume imagined that there was only one way to fall, and only one way to be redeemed. In his statement on Friday, Woods intimated that he fell not because he wandered away from Christ but because he wandered away from the Buddha. Equally important, he suggested that the way forward, at least for him, is through the teachings of a man who, two-and-a-half millennia ago, sat down beneath a Bodhi tree in north India and saw through the illusions of endlessly craving after the next new thing. You don't need to be a Buddhist to say "Amen" (or "Om") to that.

It's so nice to see something intelligent about Buddhism in a national publication.

Buddhism Described Accurately in U.S. Newspaper; Pigs Must Be Flying originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 11:26:45.

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First, a media note: Per the Reverend Danny, tomorrow night His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be on Larry King Live. Anyone care to guess how much of the program will be taken up with talking about Tiger Woods?

Which leads me to the second item -- Tiger Woods's statement that he plans to apply Buddhist teachings to his life. "It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught," he said. I'm sure we all wish him well with that.

I want to commend the Associated Press for providing a brief but accurate explanation of Buddhism in its story on the Woods statement. Also, many thanks to John Pappas at Elephant Journal for his Buddhist Blogger Round-Up.

Buddhist Media Notes originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 13:18:05.

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This is a photograph of His Holiness the Dalai Lama leaving the White House after meeting with President Obama yesterday. Notice the 75-year-old Dalai Lama is wearing flip-flops instead of shoes. It was cold in Washington yesterday! (See the snow?) Or is keeping your feet cold the secret to good health for seniors? (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Dalai Lama: Warm Heart, Cold Feet originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 12:50:33.

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This morning His Holiness the Dalai Lama is scheduled to meet with President Obama in the map room of the White House. I take it the time-space continuum would be ruptured if His Holiness is allowed into the Oval Office.

No reporters will be present, but later today the White House is expected to release photographs of the President and Dalai Lama together, in bold defiance of China. In retaliation, the sputtering and sulking China has snubbed the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, currently docked at Hong Kong.

News of the meeting has reached Tibet, and celebration of the event has been mixed into Losar observances. Tania Branigan of The Guardian reports Tibetans are setting off fireworks in celebration.

Update: And here's the Official White House photograph of the Dalai Lama and President Obama together. Enjoy.

Dalai Lama Meets Obama, China Drama originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 08:06:20.

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And now for a rare treat -- Buddhist celebrity news! Woo HOO!

Actress Goldie Hawn wants to establish a "Buddhist school" in Britain, some headlines say. Another headline says Hawn wants to "teach Buddhism to British kids." The story under the headline says, "The actress' Hawn Foundation already teaches kids Buddhist techniques in schools across America."

Goldie Hawn Teaching Buddhism? originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 14:42:51.

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Nichiren, founder of the Nichiren school of Buddhism, was born on February 16, 1222, in Kominato, Japan. Nichiren Daishonin ("great priest") was a man of firm conviction who often butted heads with "the Establishment." This caused him to spend much of his life in prison or in exile. He attracted a significant number of followers in spite of his predicaments, and  today Nichiren Buddhism has millions of followers worldwide.

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Happy Birthday, Nichiren Daishonin originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 16:57:59.

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A reclining Buddha, representing parinirvana, carved in granite in Polannaruwa, Sri Lanka. The smaller figure may represent the Buddha's cousin and attendant, Ananda.

Photo Credit:

Parinirvana Day originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 10:51:56.

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Today is the first day of the Tibetan year 2137, so tashi dalek (which means, I understand, may auspicious blessings come to you).  This is an male iron tiger year, and if anyone can explain the significance of a male iron tiger, please do so. It is also Chinese new year, which in China is a day for religious observances as well as parties, parades and fireworks.

In other news -- President Obama will meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the White House on February 18, finally.  His Holiness will be received in the map room instead of the Oval Office, however. The Dalai Lama has never been allowed into the Oval Office.

Tashi Dalek! originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 23:16:35.

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In some schools of Mahayana Buddhism, February 15 (or sometimes February 8) is the observance of the historical Buddha's parinirvana, or complete nirvana, which he entered upon his death. Which brings me to something about which many of us, including me, are pretty hazy -- what is nirvana?

You probably know the Sanskrit word nirvana (in Pali, nibbana) means "to extinguish," which causes many people to mistake nirvana is annihilation. I've been told that in the culture in which the historical Buddha lived and taught, fire was thought to be an element that is always present, but which becomes visible as flame only when attached to fuel. Access to Insight -- a great resource I use frequently, btw -- says that "nibanna" means "unbinding,"which can refer to the "unbinding" of the mind from mental defilements.

As far as whether enlightenment and nirvana are the same thing -- I have to remind myself that they or it are/is beyond ordinary conceptual understanding, and that "same" is a concept. Maybe it's best to keep it hazy.

Hazy About Nirvana originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 14:52:30.

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According to my desk calendar, today is Bodhidharma's birthday.  I don't know how anyone decided it was Bodhidharma's birthday, but I guess one day is as good as the next.

Bodhidharma is, of course, the fabled first patriarch of Zen. He came to China from India early in the 6th century. According to legend he insulted the Emperor, sat in meditation without ceasing for 9 years, ripped off his eyelids (which sprouted into the first tea plants) so that he wouldn't fall asleep, and meditated so much that his arms and legs atrophied and fell off, but was able to invent kung fu anyway. After his death and burial he was spotted walking back to India wearing one sandal; his grave was found to be empty except for one sandal.

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Happy Birthday Bodhidharma originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 10:18:56.

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I just discovered the Kala Kula Sutta, which is very brief. According to this Pali sutra, there are four reasons why a wealthy family cannot hold onto its wealth --

1. They don't look for things that are lost.
2. They don't repair things that are old.
3. They are immoderate in consuming food and drink.
4. An un-virtuous person is placed in charge.

Since I'm nominally the only one in charge of my household (Miss Lucy, the household cat, is really in charge, but she doesn't handle money), I can't really speak to #4. As for #3 -- I'm working on it. As a culture, probably few of us are good at #2, getting things repaired. Small things especially are far more likely to be replaced than repaired. However, I frequently look for things that are lost, mostly because I tend to lose things.

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The Kula Sutta originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 14:01:32.

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