Listen to the singer-songwriter's Buddhist-legend-checking song, "Leaving LA," found on his new LP, Pure Comedy. He performed and talked about the song for BBC Radio 6. The famed music outlet NME says about the song that it's: either a remarkable 13-minute portrait of the artist as a self-loathing middle-aged man or, as the song describes itself, “some 10-verse, [...]
Listen: Lion’s Roar’s Melvin McLeod talks Buddhist “Stand Against Suffering” on CBC’s “Tapestry”
After the release of the May 2017 Lion's Roar magazine and its unprecedented "Buddhist call to action" authored by 13 Buddhist teachers (and signed by 140 more additional signatories), Lion's Roar editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod was invited to speak about it all on the CBC-Radio Canada program Tapestry. As Tapestry playfully explains itself: "Tapestry exists to go deep. We [...]
SGI-USA convenes “urgent” D.C. conference on changing nuclear weapons policy
The Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International-USA (SGI-USA) on April 27 convened “Toward a Fundamental Change in Nuclear Weapons Policy,” a one-day conference that SGI-USA characterizes as "an urgent call for all nuclear-armed nations to accelerate action toward nuclear disarmament and avoid a new nuclear arms race." “The goal of this conference was to educate civil [...]
Dalai Lama congratulates France’s Macron on presidential win
DalaiLama.com reports today that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has issued a letter to Emmanuel Macron in response to Macron's win of the French presidency yesterday. In the letter, the Dalai Lama recalls his previous meeting with Macron, and offers prayers and good wishes, saying, "Since France is one of the pillars of the European Union, I am confident that you will be able [...]
His Holiness the 17th Karmapa to begin first-ever Canadian tour
The Karma Kagyu Association of Canada is now hosting information about a tour of Canada, his first, being undertaken by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje: This visit, to last nearly a month, will begin in Toronto, proceeding to Calgary and reach Vancouver as its final Canadian destination in mid-June. Activities planned during His Holiness’ visit in Vancouver [...]
Buddhists for Racial Justice becomes North American Buddhist Alliance initiative
After 2015's historic gathering of Buddhists at the White House, Buddhists for Racial Justice (BRJ) was quickly launched, sharing resources and issuing both a "Call for Buddhist Practitioners of Color to Solidarity" and a "Call to White Buddhists." Described initially as “an emerging national network of Buddhist practitioners and communities from across Buddhist traditions and [...]
Robert Pirsig, author of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” dies at 88
Robert Maynard Pirsig, author of the famed 1974 novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values, died Monday at his home in Maine. He was at 88. Pirsig's book captured and expanded upon ideas of Eastern spirituality and, specifically, Zen that were in increasingly in the zeitgeist of the time. As the Zen teacher James Ishmael Ford, noting Pirsig's [...]
Spiritual leader of Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, 103rd Gaden Tripa Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche, dies
The Central Tibetan Administration is reporting today on the death of Kyabje Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin, who was appointed last year to 103rd Gaden Tripa, the spiritual head of Gelug order of the Tibetan Buddhism. This is an appointment that takes place every seven years. Kyabje Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche, who was born in Eastern Tibet in 1937, died yesterday in Delhi, India, [...]
“Right Now, It’s Like This” — How to make this increasingly used Buddhist phrase work for you
Meditation teacher Vinny Ferraro explains the simple but powerful phrase "Right now, it's like this" — and provides simple, helpful meditation instructions to go with it. "Right Now, It's Like This": It’s a phrase whose usage is catching on, especially among members of the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society community, and related groups like Dharma Punx and [...]
Richard Gere tells Hollywood Reporter how defending Tibet has affected his career
In a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter, actor and Buddhist Richard Gere opens up about how his outspoken defense of Tibet has affected his career. From the article by Tatiana Siegel: [...] now that Hollywood is cozying up ever closer to the authoritarian superpower, and studios are careful not to offend the government that oversees what has become the world's [...]