The classic Zen concept of "beginner's mind" is finding popularity in American business circles. Minh Do looks at what that means for Buddhism. "Zen" — a Japanese word that comes from the Sanskrit dhyana, meaning “contemplation” or “meditation” — has morphed in colloquial American English to mean everything from “monk-like calm” to “smooth as Michael Jordan.” And just as [...]
New Buddhist app launches with focus on social justice
Founder Ravi Mishra hopes his new app, Awaken, will help meditators examine social issues. A new Buddhist app offering contemplations and guided meditations on social justice is now available in the App Store. Awaken, created by Ravi Mishra, offers meditation instructions to help users explore social issues like race and gender. Content in the app is sorted into individual [...]
5 Ways to Win the Internet
Zen priest Gesshin Greenwood offers five tips for staying safe and sane online. The internet is a scary place these days. Actually, it's always been a scary place. Remember when your kids getting abducted by strangers they met in chatrooms was the most pressing danger of the internet? Now your kids are the ones programming the chatrooms. And yet, since the revelations [...]
Largest collection of Tibetan Buddhist literature now available on Internet Archive
The world’s largest collection of Tibetan Buddhist literature is now available on the Internet Archive. The Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC) and Internet Archive (IA) announced the collection last week, which they say is the "most complete record of the words of the Buddha available in any language." Since its founding in 1999, BDRC has located, digitized, and [...]
How to Read the News
How can we follow the news in ways that nurture – not diminish – wellbeing? Author, Buddhist, and media scholar Holly Stocking offers some guidance. I began to think about the harm that mindless consumption of the news can do after hearing of a spiritual teacher who cautioned his students about going to the mall. The mall can be a place where we feed our afflicted emotions, he [...]
What Do You Put in Your Mind?
Just as you consume food, you consume media. And like food, some media is wholesome and some is unhealthy. Sister True Dedication on why you need to pay attention to what nourishes your mind. You may take care of your body with a healthy and ethical diet, and perhaps a balanced program of exercise. But do you have a similarly intentional diet for your mind? We all want [...]
4 Tips for a Going on a Media Diet
Sister True Dedication, a Buddhist teacher and former BBC journalist, offers tips for keeping your head clear in the modern media landscape. 1. Take a reality check Make use of the clarity and courage you have generated in meditation to reflect honestly on your current media diet. What's coming in? How does it make me feel? What is it triggering? 2. Set your [...]
Middle Way Education launches website to support Buddhist educators
The website serves as a hub where Buddhist educators can access and share lesson plans, articles, videos, teachings, and practices. Middle Way Education has launched a new website to allow institutions and individuals involved in education to share their curricula, knowledge, experience, and resources. Middle Way Education (MWE), a nonprofit organization founded in 2017 [...]
Tsadra Foundation launches online library of translation and transmission conference recordings
The Tsadra Foundation has launched a new website that offers free access to video and audio recordings of conferences, workshops, speeches, meetings, and other events related to the translation and transmission of Tibetan Buddhism. The foundation, a New York-based nonprofit, seeks to support the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism, taking inspiration from the Tibetan [...]
Google digitally preserves ancient Buddhist sites in virtual reality
The project was inspired by the destruction of the monumental Bamiyan Buddha statues by the Taliban in 2001. Google has collaborated with CyArk, a California-based nonprofit, to preserve heritage sites in online 3D libraries. The Open Heritage project has posted 3D models of 26 heritage locations in 18 countries, including ancient Buddhist temples at Bagan in Myanmar and three [...]
