Rev. Danny Fisher

Lama Zopa Rinpoche (right) with His Holiness Sakya Trizin (left) in Dehradun, India, September 2008. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang for the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahāyāna Tradition.
Via Go Beyond Words: Wisdom Publications’ Buddhist Blog: Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahāyāna Tradition, recently received a set of initiations known as the Wangya Norbu Tangwa (Garlands of Jewels of Hundreds of Initiations) from His Holiness Sakya Trizin, supreme head of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, in India. Wisdom explains the importance of this transmission:

The lineage of these practices had completely died out in the Gelug tradition, so Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been working on having these empowerments happen since 1990 and requested and arranged for these transmissions to happen in order to them back into the Gelug tradition, thus helping to preserve the Mahāyāna tradition in general.

This is a wonderful example of H.H. Sakya Trizin and Lama Zopa Rinpoche fostering a truly non-sectarian attitude for the benefit of the Dharma.

Phayul brings us the news that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has “officially inaugurated and unveiled the name of the first Tibetan college of the exile Tibetan community set up in India.”

The first Tibetan college of its kind established by the Tibetan Children’s Village is named “The Dalai Lama Institute for Higher Education” and is located near the South Indian city of Bangalore.

Read the full report here.

[Photo via Phayul.]

Over at her eponymous blog, Susan Piver offer “five marriage vows [Buddhists] can say ‘I do’ to.”

Awhile back, I posted about Buddhism, love, and relationships in response to a reader question. You can read that here.

This from Amnesty International:

If the peace process in the DRC is to succeed, it requires, as a fundamental first step, an immediate end to sexual violence, the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and the immediate and unconditional release of children from the armed groups. The US Government can play a key role in making these measures a priority via the International Facilitation Team and its own diplomatic relations with the DRC. Write to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and urge the US government to:
• Provide full support to MONUC’s Senior Adviser/Coordinator on Sexual Violence in the development of a comprehensive strategy to strengthen UN prevention, protection and response to sexual violence, in line with Security Council resolutions 1794 (2007) and 1820 (2008).
  
• Press and assist the DRC government to provide aid to survivors of rape and other sexual violence and former child soldiers through programs of medical and psychosocial care, community reintegration and social welfare, which should be free of charge.
  
• Ensure that elimination of violence against women and children and the ending of impunity are key priorities in any program to support security forces and judicial reform.
  
• Urge the DRC government to prioritize rehabilitation and reform of the DRC’s civilian justice system to enable effective and independent investigations and trying of cases of human rights violations, with special emphasis on sexual violence and violence against children.

Write to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here. You can also watch a video about this issue below.

Photo by Gurinder Osan for the Associated Press.
On fiftieth anniversary of his parents’ pilgrimage to India, Martin Luther King III marks the occasion by retracing their steps. The Washington Post has the story.