Another great post by Danny Fisher on The Buddhist Scholars Information Network (H-Buddhism)’s take on the Pew Study. Check it out, it’s a great piece of work, and points out some major failings of the study as it relates to Buddhists.

Please read some of the Samadhi Sutta in l33tspeak on the Level 8th Buddhist. This is the best synthesis of Buddhism and the web in a long time!

And The Worst Horse points out that the rumors of Paris Hilton being spotted with a Buddhist monk were greatly exaggerated (deliberately.)

The Dorje Shugden controversy goes on. Were monks devoted to Dorje Shugden discriminated against at Sera Monastery in India?

Buddha Wild - The Monk in a Hut, directed by Anna Wilding, will screen at Tibet House on March 19th. The film is up for a major award in India.

Buddha Wild” journeys to and provides an “affectionate glimpse” into the cultural and monastic lives of Thai and Sir Lankan missionary monks living on a remote monastery in the Western world. The film explores the basic tenets of Buddhism, celibacy, politics, the role of women in Asian society and the day to day lives of monks. New Yorkers get their first chance to see this “fascinating” film in a special screening at Tibet House in New York on 19 March 2008. Tickets to the screening can be purchased online at www.tibethouse.org. Anna Wilding will be in attendance for a discussion following the screening. Tibet House was founded by the Dalai Lama and Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman and holds amongst its trustees Philip Glass, Uma Thurman and other notable New York luminaries. Executive Director of Tibet House Ganden Thurman organized the screening.

Our Winter ‘07 article, Gifts That Keep on Giving, has attracted some attention for its praise of Heifer International, a charitable foundation dedicated to providing international communities in need with livestock. Some livestock are used to help with farming and transportation, while others provide families with food and an opportunity to earn money through their milk, eggs, cheese, wool, and — yes — meat.

In our Spring ‘08 issue, we published a letter from reader Kate Lawrence, who wrote,

For Buddhists, a donation through Heifer violates the First Precept about not killing. These animals and their offspring will be killed, and killed specifically at the request of the donor. Do we really want to celebrate the holidays by sending animals to slaughter? Even if the donated animal is kept for milk or egg production, there is still killing involved: the female animals’ unwanted male siblings have most likely been slaughtered sooner rather than later. (more…)

This story seems quite inflammatory. Cyberwars are already happening, so this would mean declaration of cyberwar by China (in the year of their Olympic triumph) if true. But remember it’s all according to a Pentagon annual report. And to put it as mildly as possible, opinions vary on the trustworthiness of reports from Bush’s Pentagon.

Andrea Bernstein of WNYC spent a week in Bhutan, training local reporters to cover the nation’s first-ever election on March 24th. Bernstein blogged her interesting and amusing experiences here.

Hmmm, some gift. Welcome to the wonderful world of political journalism, Bhutan! A free and disinterested press is very important, of course. But there’s little enough of that on these shores when it comes to covering the current U.S. campaign.

China has apparently changed its mind and now says Beijing’s Panchen Lama is too young for politics. The Dalai Lama’s choice for Panchen Lama remains hidden somewhere, probably under arrest. having undergone years of “re-education.”

U.N> special envoy Ibrahim Gambari heads back to Burma. Will he diplomatically express his dissatisfaction with Burma’s “roadmap to democracy?”

India, the world’s largest democracy, is tightening ties with Burma. They are neighbors after all. Can India use its considerable leverage to ameliorate the situation? Time will tell, but first the money has to start flowing. Imagine your next-door neighbor beats up his wife. But he sells you lots of things you want very cheaply and lets you park your RV in his driveway. This is India’s dilemma.

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, on behalf of the National Council of the Union of Burma, calls out Burma’s proposed new constitution as a mockery of democracy.

Three days of fighting have left 99 Sri Lankans dead — 90 rebels and 9 government soldiers. Sri Lankan army chief G. S. Fonseka is in northern India to talk about arms deals. The death toll in 2008 in the Sri Lankan conflict may approach 2,000. The Sri Lankan navy picked up a drifting boast full of Burmese and Bangladeshi passengers. Officials believe the vessel may be linked to a human smuggling operation.

It seems Thai Buddhist monks are clued in on how to use and misuse social networking sites.

An interesting account of four UNESCO sites in Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located. Portuguese soldiers used to use the Elephanta caves, in an island in Mumbai’s harbor, for target practice.

You may have noticed some intense activity on the blog post Gandhi. The complicated issue of how Gandhi is viewed by various constituencies in India and around the world is a big topic, one that will perhaps be addressed in a future issue of Tricycle. But it certainly has been educational to hear from those, especially the Ambedkarite Buddhists, who have posted here on this issue, so thank you for that.