Rev. Danny Fisher

If you have a moment, take a look at Roanoke College’s Marwood Larson-Harris’ review of filmmaker Edward A. Burger’s documentary Amongst White Clouds in the newest issue of the Journal of Religion and Film. I previously mentioned the film, which looks at Chinese Buddhist hermits in the Zhongnan Mountains, in this post. Interested readers can find another review of the film (by Joanna Kirkpatrick) in the last issue of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics. You can also watch a trailer for the film below, and buy a copy of the film through Festival Media, the distribution service of the Buddhist Film Society, Inc., here.

Via the great Phil Ryan over at the Tricycle Editors’ Blog: According to Reuters, the International Olympic Committee and Chinese organizers have agreed to lift internet restrictions for visiting reporters after all. On the down side, though reporters will have unfettered access to the worldwide web, Chinese citizen use will still be “tightly controlled.”

At her terrific blog Buddhist Military Sangha this morning, Lt. Jeanette Shin, CHC, USN (who is the first and so far only active-duty Buddhist chaplain in the U.S. Armed Forces), has an informative and potentially helpful post for those Buddhist practitioners interested in serving the U.S. Army, Navy/Marines/Coast Guard, or Air Force as chaplains. She goes through the various requirements and competencies for candidates, and offers some useful links.

Via theworsthorse.net: horsefeed: Over at CNN.com, correspondent Christiane Amanpour has a reflection about her time spent with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Also, don’t forget about Amanpour’s Special Investigations Unit report “Buddha’s Warriors”, which premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on the network, and then shows again at the same time on Sunday.

Over at Beliefnet’s new blog Progressive Revival, Robert Thurman writes that if Chinese President Hu Jintao want to solve problems by “[showing] mutual respect, narrowing differences and expanding the common ground,” then he must apply those things to his policy on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.