Via Burma Cyclone: The organization 8-8-08 is soliciting artist design submissions for a t-shirt fundraiser that will benefit Cyclone Nargis relief and Burma advocacy efforts. If you’re interested in submitting a design, follow this link.
If you’ve visited the Buddhist Channel in recent weeks, you’ve probably noticed the ad for the 2008 Wesak International Film Festival on the right-hand side of their home page. You’ve probably also noticed that my buddy, the Buddhist singer-songwriter Ravenna Michalsen, was scheduled to open the festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Well, I heard from her recently, and she was very pleased with how the show went. She also passed along some video clips. I’ve embedded one of her performing her original ditty “The Contemplation Song” below.
If you like what you hear, Ravenna’s new album Dharmasong is available on iTunes, and can be downloaded for $9.99 here. You can also order Dharmasong and her other album Bloom from either Ravenna’s official site or her Myspace page.
Incidentally, as I’ve mentioned before, I recently completed a profile of Ravenna for an upcoming issue of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. I’ll have more on that when it appears.
Happy Birthday to our friend and past interviewee Kobutsu Malone–a powerful and important presence on the Engaged Buddhist scene.
If you’re not familiar with the work of his Engaged Zen Foundation, you should remedy that immediately. Buddhist chaplains of all stripes should also take special note of his writing, particularly his book Prison Chaplaincy Guidelines for Zen Buddhism: A Source Book for Prison Chaplains, Administrators, and Security Personnel and his many articles.
Kobutsu is someone I greatly admire and really look up to as an example in my own Buddhist ministry. I sincerely wish him many happy returns of the day.
(And thanks to Dogo for the tip on this special occasion.)
