SEATTLE—The Burmese-American organization Saddha: Buddhists for Peace, which describes itself as “a group dedicated to anti-racism and interfaith solidarity efforts,” has issued “An Open Letter to Burmese Buddhists Concerning the Rohingya” detailing their concern about the ongoing repression of the mostly Muslim ethnic group in eastern Myanmar. The organization is led by a diverse cross-section of Burmese from Buddhist backgrounds, some living in Burma and others outside the country.

THIMPHU—Speaking at the International Vajrayana Conference held in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu last week,* the prime minister of Bhutan, Lyonchhen Dasho Tshering Tobgay, proffered a new vision aimed at ensuring the preservation and development of the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition in the 21st century, proposing the establishment of an international center of Vajrayana Buddhism.

Archeologists working at an excavation at the Tuyugou Grottoes in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwest China, have announced the discovery of a large fragment of ancient text believed to be a copy of the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra, translated into Chinese by the renowned Tang dynasty (618–907) Buddhist monk, scholar, and traveler Xuanzang.

Today is International Women’s Day, and although gender equality and inclusion should be on the agenda every day of the year, we will pay some extra attention today to the women in and of Buddhism.

Buddhists across the globe have gathered to mark the Lunar New Year in recent days, from Hong Kong to Houston, and Sydney to Singapore, festivities and Buddhist rituals were observed and shared across Chinese, Korean, Tibetan, and Vietnamese communities, and more.

The first Amaravati Buddhist Heritage Festival was held in the southeastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on 3–5 February, The opening ceremony began with a collective chant for world peace and harmony by more than a 1,000 monks representing the Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana schools, with more than 45,000 people from around the world participating via the Internet, setting a world record for the largest global chant.

SEATTLE—The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama has issued a statement clarifying a recent media report alleging that the Tibetan spiritual leader had received a US$1 million donation from the controversial NXIVM* organization in the United States in 2009. The Daily Mail,** a British tabloid newspaper, reported on 24 January that the His holiness had received the donation in connection with a 2009 personal appearance in Albany, New York.

Before the convulsions of postcolonial state making, what is now the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and West Bengal (a state of what is today India) once formed an undivided eastern portion of the Indian subcontinent. In Bangladesh, Buddhist heritage sites can be found at Paharpur in Naogaon District, Mahasthangarh in Chittagong District, Mainamati in Comilla District, and Bikrampur in Dhaka District. Old Bengal was a rich cultural and Buddhist region, the mother to medieval Buddhist master Atisha (982–1054) as well as seminal poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941). Today, archeologists and scholars alike are drawn to the many Buddhist sites that dot the landscape.

Japanese Buddhist monk Shoukei Matsumoto takes cleaning very seriously. In fact, he views it as an essential part of a healthy, positive life and Buddhist practice, going so far as to author a book on the subject that has become a bestseller in his native Japan and has recently been translated into English. 

Maia Duerr has worked as a qualitative researcher, an anthropologist, a writer, and an editor. She served as the research director of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society (CMIND) from 2002–04 and as the executive director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship from 2004–07. In 2010, she wrote an introduction to engaged Buddhism for the PBS movie The Buddha, and launched a blog called the Liberated Life Project that same year. This past December she released the book, Work that Matters: Create a Livelihood That Reflects Your Core Intention (Parallax Press, 2017). This month we interviewed Maia about her life and her new book.