In her book Comfortable with Uncertainty,Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön states that by practicing four limitless qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity can help to free all beings from their suffering.
Read more: “Buddhism and the Four Limitless Qualities: Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity”
Source:Buddhism and the Four Limitless Qualities
Leh-Ladakh is a part of India’s northernmost state Jammu and Kashmir. It’s an area that is known for its unique landscape (it’s a cold desert) and culture. For those of you interested in Buddhism, it’s a good place to visit. The large number of Buddhist population of the region ensures that you will get a lot to learn and experience while roaming around in the area. The monasteries of the region are the highlights for any visitor. These are Hemis Monastery, Thiksey Monastery, Likir Monastery, Lamayuru Monastery, Spituk Monastery, just to name a few.
Hemis is famous for its two day annual festival by the same name while Thiksey is considered the most beautiful of all monasteries in the region. Actually, there are two well marked out monastery circuits that help tourists to explore the monasteries more conveniently.
Tourists visiting the area can also keep a few days to explore the other two parts of the state – Jammu and Kashmir. The beauty of Kashmir is awesome. Staying in houseboats of the Dal Lake is what many people come to enjoy. Also, high on the list of tourists are the beautiful Mughal Gardens.
You can fly to Leh airport from Delhi, however, a more interesting way to reach Leh is by driving through the Manali-Leh highway. Manali is a beautiful hill station in the state of Himachal Pradesh, just south of Jammu Kashmir. The route is only open between June to October when the weather is good so plan your trip accordingly if this route is what you would like to take to reach Leh.
Source:Buddhist Tour to Leh-Ladakh
This is one place to which a visit cannot be missed out if anyone is interested in exploring Buddhism in India. Bodhgaya is a town in the noth Indian state of Bihar and is regarded the place where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment. The Mahabodhi temple complex here is the centre of interest. The bodhi tree here is the first to be visited by any tourist. This tree is considered the fifth descendant of the original bodhi tree under which lord Buddha achieved nirvana. Apart from this, the temple complex also houses the huge Mahabodhi temple and the Vajrasana (seat of stability).
The environment in the temple complex is one of tranquility and spirituality. Anyone can sit there and spend some time meditating. Or else they can also watch monks performing prostrations to the tree. For those who would like to have some guidance, there are recorded commentary in Hindi, English,Japanese and Korean that can be heard via headphones. These are available on hire in the complex itself.
A number of monasteries and temples have also been built by the Buddhist community of various countries. These temples and monasteries serve as the place of worship for the people of the respective countries and also provide tourists an opportunity o enjoy different architectural style.
Bodhgaya is easily accessible. Gaya, 14 kms away, is the nearest airport and railhead. People also use the Patna (state capital) airport (182 kms away) to reach Bodhgaya. By road also, Bodhgaya is well connected to other parts of the country.
Source:Bodhgaya
Here is a good news for the Buddhist follower the first ever arts and cultural festival drawing on Buddhist cultural traditions has been unveiled in Britain. Get the detail in Focus on Tibet
Source:First Buddhist cultural festival launched in Britain
The first is about Emperor Ashoka, the one who was so much appalled by bloodshed in a war raged by him that he renounced violence and took to the preachings of Lord Buddha. This Mauryan Emperor had a great role to play in the spread of Buddhism in both India and abroad. For so many years nobody was sure of how this powerful emperor looked like but now two statues recovered from Langudi, Orissa have been decalred to be that of the king. The statues were recovered some years back but the confirmation that are of Emperor Ashoka has come now.
I would have liked to provide more details but could not find more recent updates on this news on net. Instead I found this – link which is an old one ut still very relevant.
I am also providing another link which has more details on -Langudi in general
The other news is about the movie of Lord Buddha which reputed Indian film maker Shyam Benegal is going to make. As per reports, he is very keen that Bollywood superstar Hritik Roshan play the role of the Buddha in his film. If Hritik Roshan agrees to do this film, it would be interetsing to see him in a new avtaar. He is also playing Emperor Akbar in soon to be released movie, Jodha Akbar which will show whether the Indian audience will accept the hero in a historical character or not.
You can have more news on this topic – here
Source:Two Interesting Piece of News
The most sacred, most important, and the most special Buddha festival is the Buddha purnima or Buddha Jayanti. The birth anniversary of Gautama Buddha is celebrated as the Buddha Jayanti through out the world. There are several events and celebrations take place in the Buddhist temples through out the world. But the as usual grand celebration will take place at Bodh Gaya near Varanasi.
Followers from across the world throng the holy place to commemorate Buddha Jayanti. The day is celebrated with prayer meetings, religious services, group meditation sessions and a huge procession
with peaceful and joyous manner with great piety. The roads, streets, houses and temples are decorated with colorful lanterns and lights. Bodh Gaya in Bihar and Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh are the main areas where this festival is celebrated the most. These are the places one must visit during the festivities.
The prayers and meditation of the devotees are amazing. People gather under the Bodhi tree for special prayer where the adorers pray for the world peace. It must mention here that devotees all over the world pray for the world peace.
The procession that take place during the festival is also a eye catching thing. The devotees take a procession with a huge portrait of Lord Buddha and event progress with different colourful dance performances.
The worshipper of Buddha who witnessed the grand festival in Bod
h Gaya expressed that the experience is like once in a life time achievements which is undoubtedly inspiring and harmonious.
The importance and gaiety of the celebration in Bodh Gaya is described by one British devotee thus -
“It is wonderful to be here today on this wonderful day, the day of Buddha’s enlightenment in this holy land under the Bodhi tree. It was very inspiring to be here and to see the gathering of people who have come here to worship Lord Buddha. Today particularly it was so peaceful and so very harmonious I feel honoured,” said Richard Thero.
Buddha Purnima falls on the full moon day in the month of Vaishakh (April to May), this day holds special significance for the followers of Lord Buddha as the three main events of the life of Lord Buddha took place on the same day. His birth, enlightenment and death all three occurred on the same date more than two millennial ago.
In 2009 the date of Buddha Purnima is on 8th May.
Source:Buddha Purnima celebrations in Bodh Gaya
In earlier times when not many people were educated, story telling was the way to instill moral values in them. In Buddhist communities, too, simple stories were used to convey and strengthen moral values. These stories are known as Jataka tales.
Today, I read quiet a few Jataka tales, one of which I am summarizing below.
Once upon a time there was a wealthy old man who had a young wife and a son. The old man had accumulated a lot of wealth and was suspicious that after his death his son would not get it. He suspected that his wife, being young, would get married to another person after his death and all his wealth will go to that another man. To ensure that his son gets all the money after his death, he hid it with the help of his faithful servant. He also directed the servant to reveal the truth to his son at the right time.
Years later after his death, his son inquired the servant about the wealth of his father. The servant took him to the location but every time refused to reveal the truth. The strange attitude puzzled the son and he sought help from his father’s wise friend. His father’s friend told him that the servant was a weak man and was overpowered by a sense of importance since he was the only person who knew the whereabouts of the treasure. He also advised him to send the servant back the moment he starts abusing him after reaching the jungle and dig the very spot to recover his inheritance.
The son followed the instruction and soon found his wealth. The moral of the story here is that even a bit of power can have a negative effect on a person who is not used to it.
Source:Jataka Tales – The Burried Treasure
Dalai Lama is worried about the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. He said the Buddhist nuns from Himalayan region from himalayan regions has an important responsibility to preserve Tibetan Buddhist traditions. He feels that the Tibetan Buddhist traditions is facing an uncertain future in the home land.
Know more about the detail in Buddhist Channel
Source:Himalayan communities better placed to preserve Buddhism: Dalai Lama
by Miroslav Volf
One of the most recognizable pieces of religious architecture in the world is the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, the most significant place of worship of the Sikhs. The upper part of this ornate rectangular marble structure is covered in gold. I saw the gleaming temple early in the morning, before sunrise, when it was bathed in soft artificial light. It stood immovable as a huge gilded rock, its reflected image dancing gently on the surface of the surrounding pool.
I was in Amritsar as a Christian consultant for a meeting of the Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders, organized by my friend Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein. I had written a position paper to serve as a basis for discussions that would include the Dalai Lama and the chief rabbi of Jerusalem. Six writers of position papers representing different world religions had discussed their drafts with one another and with a larger interfaith group of scholars. It was a fascinating exercise. As I was writing, I was aided by wisdom from other faith traditions. What I presented as genuinely my own was in part received from others.
I grew up solidly Protestant in an overwhelmingly Catholic and Orthodox environment controlled by aggressively secular communists. Unlike the communists, those in our Protestant tribe nurtured a sense of the holy. But we differed from the Catholics and the Orthodox in that for us holiness was not to be located in time and space. The eternal and omnipresent God was holy; people could be holy if they made themselves available for God; times and places were not holy. We did not follow a liturgical calendar closely, and we met for worship in remodeled rooms of an ordinary house on an ordinary street. As a child of a pastor, I lived in that house; the neighbor kids and I played soccer in its yard and marbles on the patch of dirt in front of it. As examples of sacred architecture, the places where I experienced God—in restless rebellion and not just in sweet surrender—were the polar opposites of the Golden Temple.
At the temple I walked barefoot and with covered head around the holy pool in which people took ritual baths. I observed the people quietly streaming to the temple and walking by the place where Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is kept, the holy book which ultimately makes the place holy. But I didn’t feel spiritually pulled in. I was a sympathetic observer, learning, questioning, puzzling over things, appreciating. I remained an outsider, not a participant.
Yet I took with me something unforgettable, a nugget of enacted religious wisdom that I cherish more than I would a piece of that temple’s gold.
The next day, as I walked one more time within the temple complex, I wanted to buy a souvenir for my two boys. Then it dawned on me: I hadn’t seen a vendor or a shop anywhere on the temple premises. “Thousands of religious tourists mill around here every day,” I thought. “There must be a place to buy souvenirs!” But there wasn’t.
You had to leave the temple complex and step onto the profane ground of surrounding streets to satisfy your tourist appetite. There peddlers were as busy as anywhere else in the world, and I found what I was looking for—a small kirpan, a ritual sword that all baptized Sikh wear. But not on the holy site—there the only commercial transaction that took place was the purchase of a “ticket” to walk across the bridge to the temple in the middle of the lake. The ticket was a bowl of porridge, the size of which depended on how much you paid. You could eat some of it, but you were expected to put at least a portion of it into large bowls. When the bowls were filled, they were carried off to feed the poor.
The contrast between the Golden Temple and other religious sites I’ve seen could not be greater. Everywhere else, greedy people—often religious leaders with business managers—were trying to cash in on the devotion of visitors. Here that devotion was channeled into feeding the hungry. I was reminded of the story of Jesus’ cleansing of the temple, recorded in all four Gospels. “And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple. . . . ‘Is it not written,’ he said, ‘”My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers.’” The Gospels consistently tie Jesus’ death to the cleansing of the temple. Mark’s account continues, “And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him.”
I came away from the Golden Temple with a nugget of wisdom—houses of worship should not be sites of commercial activity, but places of gift giving to the needy, just as faith itself is not to be bought and sold but freely given. That Sikh wisdom turned out to be buried treasure of my own faith.
with thanks : source : http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=6937
sikhsindia
www.sohnijodi.com
Source:Sikh wisdom
with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videoshow/4566145.cms
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