A Buddhist monastery dating back to 2nd century has been discovered by the State Archaeological Department (ASD) in Gujarat's Mehsana district.

The structure was found during excavation near the Ghaskol Darwaja in the southern part of Vadnagar town, officials of ASD said.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

"Since this enforced ban by the Dalai Lama is causing so much spiritual, emotional and physical harm to practitioners both in India and now in the West, and for years he has refused to engage in dialog around this issue, we have no choice but to ask for the help of fair-minded citizens of the west to rectify this inhumane action by drawing attention to it with demonstrations and hoping that the press will investigate," Pema continues.

The only aim of the WSS is to have the Dalai Lama lift the ban on this prayer so that millions of practitioners across the world can live again without fear or harassment.

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.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

The Tibetan spiritual leader, appearing at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, offered a defense of Islam in response to a question about the rise of violent religious fundamentalism. He added that he has made a point of reaching out to Muslims since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

The recent outburst of Tibetan rage against the Chinese government not only demonstrated once again the fear and anger among Himalayan Buddhists living under the cultural insensitivity of Beijing, it also illuminated the crucial role of the Dalai Lama, navigating skillfully between restive Tibetan exiles and an Indian government under Chinese pressures to stifle their protests. What will happen when he is gone?

The West is about to get its first glimpse of that possible future.

Violence, death, rioting. The words ricocheting in headlines from Tibet this week seem starkly at odds with many Westerners' image of Buddhism as a religion — the dominant one in that Himalayan land — that embraces nonviolence.

Indeed, a core precept laid down by Buddhism's founder, Siddhartha Gautama, some 2,500 years ago is a prohibition on killing. But the tradition goes even further, endorsing active nonviolence.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

Wollongong people are becoming less religious, according to the 2006 Census, but Buddhism is defying the trend.

In 2006 more than 27,000 (14.9 per cent) Wollongong residents chose the "no religion" option, up almost 6000 from 2001.

Meantime, back in 1996 - one year after the Nan Tien temple at Berkeley opened its gates - just 716 people in the Wollongong Local Government Area identified themselves as Buddhists. By 2006 that number had jumped to 1958.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

Buddhism's holiest tree in Sri Lanka's ancient capital, tightly guarded by monks and security forces after Tamil rebels attacked it 23 years ago, is under threat again -- this time from monkeys.

Pilgrims are frisked and scanned by metal detectors before being allowed to worship the "Sri Maha Bodi," grown from a sapling of a tree in India that sheltered the Buddha when he attained enlightenment more than 2,550 years ago.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

A Buddhist monk from Bhutan has burnt himself to death at Buddhism's holiest shrine in India, police said on Friday.

Hundreds watched the octogenarian monk sit in meditation at the Mahabodhi temple in Bihar on Thursday and then set himself alight after daubing his body with a flammable substance.   FULL ARTICLE LINK