PBS has an interesting piece on the environmental movement that’s growing in Thailand and the role of the “tree monks,” a group of Thai monks who are championing ecological conservation in the country.

Watch the video here

Below is an excerpt from  Barbra O’ Brien’s Blog on Buddhism – Barb’s words were a bit twisted by the Family Research Council to defend Brit “If It Ain’t Christian…It’s Crap” Hume.  It’s a good read.

Today I was disappointed to learn that the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian organization, has quoted from my “Let’s Forgive Brit Hume” post to “prove” the superior forgiveness/redemption power of Christianity over Buddhism.  Peter Sprigg of the FRC writes,

Has Brit Hume slandered Buddhists by mischaracterizing their theology? Not really. Barbara O’Brien, author of “Barbara’s Buddhism Blog,” admits, “Mr. Hume is right, in a sense, that Buddhism doesn’t offer redemption and forgiveness in the same way Christianity does. Buddhism has no concept of sin; therefore, redemption and forgiveness in the Christian sense are meaningless in Buddhism.”

From here, Mr. Sprigg proceeds to slander Buddhism by mischaracterizing our “theology.”

Read the rest of this entry

Loved Barb O’ Brien’s (About.com) take on the Brit Hume comment about Tiger’s need to convert to Christianity in order to find salvation.  You can read it here.  I’ve always admired Tiger’s golf game…but man oh man did he screw up.  I’m not sure any faith is ready to take on the task of clearing his name.  That’s a pretty tall order.  I think he’ll just have to wait it out and hope for a scandal of biblical proportions.

Related articles

• Brit Hume has some advice for Tiger Woods (tvsquad.com)
• Telling Tiger Woods to Become Christian is ‘Not Proselytizing’: Brit Hume [Proselytizing] (gawker.com)
• Convert to Christianity and Receive a Complimentary “Get Out of Adultery Free Card” (slog.thestranger.com)

A group of Buddhist monks are on a hunger strike to demand control over Bodh Gaya’s 1,500-year-old Mahabodhi temple, days after Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan backed the move and sought the amendment of an act relating to the shrine.

Read More at Bihar Times

Related articles

• Can you be polite for entire day? Send us the evidence! (ireport.com)
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• Turning the Wheel of Dharma – An examination (article)

This episode is the first half of a lecture by Dr. Eric Hauber, Vice General Director of SGI-USA. The topic is “The Unique Buddhist Perspective of Life and Death” and the lecture was given at Viento y Agua Coffeehouse and Art Gallery in Long Beach, CA.

We have decided to release the second half of the lecture as Episode 3, to be posted in the next day or two. Let us know what you think about the shows so far!

From Barabara O’ Brien’s Buddhism Column at About.com

I’ve written a new feature article on the Three Pure Precepts.  These are Mahayana precepts featured in Zen, Pure Land, and probably some other schools. A standard translation:

To do no evil;
To do good;
To save all beings.

However, as I explained in the article, there are lots of interesting variations. One that I didn’t discuss in the article is from Reb Tenshin Anderson Roshi, from his book Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts:

Embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies
Embrace and sustain all good
Embrace and sustain all beings

Read the full article

Spotted in the Gaylord (Michigan) Herald Times — some ethnic Japanese celebrating Christmas in Los Angeles substitute Hotei — sometimes called the "Laughing Buddha" — for Santa Claus. This doesn’t…

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A blanket of snow covers a large part of North America today.  This made for an unusually quiet morning where I am. I thought of a haiku by Masaoka Shiki…