I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve begun doing a weekly round-up of news from the Buddhist world for Shambhala SunSpace: “On the Buddhism Beat”. You can read the first post here. I hope you’ll keep up with it.
As you might expect, this means the end of the “news” posts here at this blog. From now on, I’ll just refer you to my posts and the others at Shambhala SunSpace.
It was a big news day for Buddhist chaplains today.
First, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review‘s marvelous editor and publisher James Sheehan points us to The Commercial Appeal‘s profile of Buddhist Army National Guard chaplain Thomas Dyer (pictured).
Next, over at Shambhala SunSpace, web editor Rod Meade Sperry blogs about Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s “promised financial support to the Buddhist community and to place Buddhist chaplains in the military.”
Lastly, Lt. Jeanette Shin at the Buddhist Military Sangha shares with us the news that “U.S. Air Force SSGT Henry Sims has just begun a new blog chronicling his attempt to become a military chaplain of Buddhist faith.” Take a look!
[Photo by Mike Brown for The Commercial Appeal. "Chaplain Thomas Dyer of the Tennessee National Guard is the first Buddhist chaplain in the Army. According to Army Chaplain Carleton Birch, spokesman for the Office of Chief of Army Chaplains in Washington, there are at least 3,300 Buddhists in the Army."]
Check out PBS’s Wide Angle recently ran a film entitled “Eye of the Storm” about the lives of Burmese orphans in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. You can watch the full episode online here. A clip is embedded below.
UCLA Today talks to Diana Winston, former Buddhist nun and current Director of Mindfulness Education at the prestigious institution’s Mindfulness Awareness Research Center (MARC), about “the spiritual evolution that brought her…to a large university where researchers are discovering that the practice of mindfulness meditation has many physical and psychological benefits, including slowing the progression of HIV in patients suffering from stress and helping ADHD teens focus.” Take a look.
Ms. Winston is also a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, founder of the Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE) program, former associate director of Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and the author of Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens.
[Image via UCLA Today.]
