Courtesy Buddhistdoor On the 9th of March, Fo Guang Shan Jin Guangming Temple held a lucky lecture on the eight-pass fasting and human Buddhism, and invited the Master of the Faculty of the Faculty of Buddhism and the Ministry of Education to teach “quantum mechanics and emptiness.” Despite the continuous rain and cold weather, the scene […]

Bodhi  Dhanapala,  Quebec, Canada. The Island newspaper has published several accounts of the Anatta doctrine by a number of writers, including Dr. Carlo Fonseka, an ex-Marxist free thinker who has an excellent  grasp of  Buddhism, as well as Dr. Upul Wijayawardena, an ex-cardiac surgeon with a deep critical mind. The learned Bhanthe Dhammika from Australia […]

By Panduka Senanayake A milk white dome with a long conical object pointing skyward from its apex sits partly hidden from view amidst trees and buildings in a dip beside a junction of two main arterial roads, the  Athlon and Drakeford Drives at Tuggeranong in the Australian `Bush Capital’ of Canberra. Unique to Canberra it […]

බලංගොඩ  නළුවෙල ශ්‍රී  ප්‍රියදර්ශනාරාම මහ විහාරයේ අභිනවයෙන් ඉදිකළ චෛත්‍යයේ  තැන්පත් කිරිම සදහා දඹදිව බුද්ධගයාවෙන් සහ ඉසිපතන මිගදායෙන් පූජාවස්තුන් මෙම මස 10වෙනි දින ශ්‍රී  ලංකාවට වැඩම කෙරේ. බෝසතාණන්  වහන්සේ බුද්ධත්වයට පත් බුද්ධගයාවේ වජ්‍රාසනය මත පිහිටි බුද්ධ ප්‍රතිමාවට පැළදවු රන් සළුවක් හා පූජාවස්තු මෙන්ම බුදුරදුන් ප්‍රථම ධර්ම  දේශනාව පැවැත්වු ඉසිපතන මිගදායෙන් ලබාගත් පුජා වස්තුන් 10 වෙනි දින […]

Public Seminar on the Kandyan Convention of 1815 March 09, 2019 ( Saturday) Venue: University of Peradeniya, Arts Theatre, Galaha Road, Peradeniya Tentative Programme 8.15 am – Registration 8.45 am – Inauguration Introduction and objectives: Dr. C.M. Madduma Bandara, Emeritus Professor, University of Peradeniya Speakers & Panelists Dr. Palitha Kohona, Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative […]

Lotus News Feature By Natcha Lim BANGKOK (IDN) – Buddhist scholars attending the 1st Makhapuja International Conference on ‘The Future of Buddhism in Asia’ have warned that consumerist trends within the monastic order and aggressive proselytism by Islamic and Christian groups are a threat to the future of Buddhism in Asia. Governments in the region lack adequate […]

By Kalinga Seneviratne BODHGAYA (IDN) – In recent years the Indian government has been promoting the concept of a ‘Buddhist Tourism Circuit’ (BTC) with Bodhgaya – the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment under a Bo-Tree – as its centrepiece. Yet, with less than 1 percent of India’s population Buddhist today, lack of Buddhist communities around […]

Siri Sadaham Ashramaya

By Buddhistdoor International Janaka Perera When examining the influence of Mahayana Buddhism in Sri Lanka it would be appropriate to approach the topic from a human interest angle before moving into history, archaeology and the academic sphere. A glance at the role of Mahayana in contemporary Sri Lankan society, I believe, will be a guide to the […]

Rajendra Alwis We come across evidence in the annals of history that the flag (Dhaja) has been in use since the dawn of civilization. Dhajagga Sutta of Samyutta Nikaya, sermonized by the Buddha is a case in point. In this sutta, the Buddha has made references to the flag of the Sakka, the King of […]

Palitha Mapatuna It appears that attempts are being made by some individuals to distort the Buddha’s teaching through arbitrary interpretation of certain of its crucial technical terms. One such term is anicca, impermanence, an experiential characteristic, and directly related to two other characteristics of existence: dukkha, suffering, and anatta, not-self. This term anicca is correctly […]

Courtesy Collective Evolution IN BRIEF The Facts:Scientists have discovered the presence of biophotons in the brain that suggest there could be a relationship between these biophotons and consciousness. Reflect On:Does consciousness originate from inside the brain as modern science believes? Or does originate outside the brain? Meaning we are not simply a brain in a […]

MATTHIEU RICARDWOLF SINGER Courtesy The Atlatic.com DEC 17, 2017A scientist and a monk compare notes on meditation, therapy, and their effects on the brain Can training the mind make us more attentive, altruistic, and serene? Can we learn to manage our disturbing emotions in an optimal way? What are the transformations that occur in the brain […]

BY SAM LITTLEFAIR Courtesy  LION’S ROAR Neuroscientist Christof Koch discusses scientific theories of consciousness with the Dalai Lama. New theories in neuroscience suggest consciousness is an intrinsic property of everything, just like gravity. That development opens a world of opportunity for collaboration between Buddhists and neuroscientists. The heart of consciousness,” says neuroscientist Christof Koch, is that it feels likesomething. […]

BY TONY STULTZ   Courtesy  LION’S ROAR Rev. Tony Stultz on the brilliant mind who models a rich exchange between Buddhism and scientific thought — for the benefit of all beings. The famous Penrose Triangle is an impossible object devised by Sir Roger Penrose and his father Lionel Penrose in the 1950s. Roger described it as impossibility in its […]

Senaka Weeraratna

BY SAM LITTLEFAIR  Courtesy LION’S ROAR Physics and Buddhism both posit that it’s hard, if not impossible, to pinpoint you.” Harrison Blum, the Buddhist spiritual advisor at Northeastern University, has created a new guided meditation that allows practitioners to experience that truth. In three sessions last fall, participants sat and danced in meditation, while watching molecules and energy […]

Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.  The word ‘conciousness’ is derived from Latin, having its roots in conscio formed by the coalescence of cum meaning ‘with’ and scio meaning ‘know’ (Sousa, 2013).  Consciousness has been one of the most important and tantalizing issues ever since the origin of philosophy and medicine (Facco et al., 2017). The understanding of consciousness has been one of […]

උපුටාගැණීම ලංකාදීප දේශපාලන ඕනෑ එපාකම් මත උතුරු හා නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වල බලහත්කාරයෙන් සිදුකෙරෙන බෞද්ධාගමීකරණ කටයුතු වහාම නතර කළ යුතු යැයි උතුරු පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර ආචාර්ය සුරේන් රාඝවන් මහතා පවසයි. එම පළාත්වල සිදුකෙරෙන බෞද්ධාගමීකරණය නතර කර ගැනීම සඳහා තමා මහානායක හිමිවරුන් හමුවී සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වන බව ද ඔහු කියයි. දේශපාලන වුවමනා එපාකම් මත මෙවැනි කටයුතුවල යෙදෙන පිරිස් […]

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 26th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. YANGON, Myanmar (IDN) – When I checked into a hotel at 10.00 pm in Central Yangon near the iconic Sule Pagoda, seeing a lot of South Asian Muslims around […]

Bhante Y. Wimala Dear friends and students, The new year 2019 has arrived. It is that time again to take a few moments to relax, reflect and make some positive choices. Following are my affirmations for 2019. Please join me. 1. I will not allow the negativity of others to pollute my mind or disturb […]

Punsara Amarasinghe Institute of Law and Politics Sant Anna Scuola Superiore Pisa, Italy. In the realm of sociology and cultural anthropology academia in Sri Lanka writings of Gananath Obeyesekere has been mainly confined to sociology department of University of Colombo or among few intellectuals who are exclusively working in English. None of his main writings have been translated […]

Senaka Weeraratna Not a single Annual Christmas Day passes without an appeal by the heads of the Christian Churches to the good Lord for his benevolent intervention to establish peace on earth. That appeal is also joined by the current political establishment of Sri Lanka both from the Government and the Opposition. That is a nice […]

German Dharmaduta Society In commemoration of the Birth Centenary of Asoka Weeraratna (Ven. Mitirigala Dhammanissanti Thera), who played a pioneering role in the dissemination of Buddhism in post – war Germany by establishing the Berlin Buddhist Vihara in 1957, the Philatelic Bureau of Sri Lanka’s Department of Post, released a Commemorative Postage stamp in the […]

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge  The term mindfulness” has been used to refer to a psychological state of awareness, a practice that promotes this awareness, a mode of processing information, and a characterological trait (Brown et al., 2007; Davis & Hayes, 2011).  According to Bodhi (2000) the word mindfulness originally comes from the Pali word sati, […]

By Charunya Rajakaruna Courtesy Adaderana Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that it is the responsibility of the government to give the proper place to Buddhism. He mentioned this to the media following an event held in Ambalangoda. Through the 20th Amendment to the Constitution the status and the protection of Buddhism is being removed, Rajapaksa said. Meanwhile […]

Modern Buddhism The history of the embodied approach in cognitive science (sometimes misleadingly called Embodied Cognitive Science) is woven with Buddhist links and references. There were indications that perception, language, thought and consciousness are fundamentally embedded in living bodies and in their relations with their environments. Although the conditions for moving into a second phase […]

A Seminar on Mindfulness  SPEAKERS Ajhan Amaro Ven. Ajahn Amaro (Jeremy Horner) was awarded a B.Sc. in Psychology and Physiology by the University of London. He ordained in 1979. He served as a Bhikkhu in England at Chithurst, Amaravati and Harnham Monasteries for several years. In 1996 he together with Ajahn Pasanno established the Abhayagiri Monastery […]

Courtesy Berliner Morgenpost Sri Lanka’s Ambassador and nine monks presented the Buddhist house in Frohnau with an offshoot of the historic Bodhi tree. Berlin Quickly the glass of the yellow box is cleaned again and flowers draped in it. Children swing Buddhist flags. Women in white robes wear colorful flower baskets and sing devoutly. Nine […]

Courtesy BI INDIA BUREAU IRCTC to launch special train to attract international tourists from Buddhist countries like Japan, China, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The first rake of the train will roll out by the end of October although the train will be functional from December. The train’s route will include important Buddhist destinations like Bodh Gaya, […]