Americans are changing religious affiliation in record numbers, according to the study released this week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which I blogged about earlier this ... Read More

The lotus is rooted in deep mud and its stem grows through murky water. But the blossom rises above the muck and opens in the sun, beautiful and fragrant. In ... Read More

A study released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life presents a couple of unanswered questions about Buddhism in America. The first question is, What is a Buddhist? ... Read More

This week, nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates called on the United Nations and the international community to impose sanctions, including a ban on arms sales, on Myanmar (Burma). The petition ... Read More

Whitney Joiner writes in Salon about mixing Buddhism with urban pop culture to reach younger seekers. Ethan Nichtern and Noah Levine "are working to inaugurate a more contemporary and secular ... Read More

Last month, Tibetan lama and filmmaker Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche spoke at Yale about "Projecting the Dharma: Film and the Transmission of Buddhism to the West." The Rinpoche joked to his ... Read More

At the Washington Post's On Faith site, Dustin Eaton writes a lovely essay about not being a Buddhist. "I am not a Buddhist," he says. "I've never told anyone that ... Read More

Awhile back I read an interview of Steven Pinker and Rebecca Goldstein, called "America's brainiest couple," by Steve Paulson in Salon. I was struck by what the brainy Ms. Goldstein ... Read More

Reuters reports that thousands of Buddhist monks and villagers gathered in northwest China over the weekend to commemorate the birthday of the 10th Panchen Lama of Tibet, Choekyi Gyaltsen. The ... Read More

The U.S. Campaign for Burma will be hosting a National Planning and Training Meeting in Washington DC, March 7 and 8, on the American University campus. The meeting is open ... Read More

A beauty salon seems an unlikely place to reflect on the Buddha's teachings of renunciation. This morning while I waited for a haircut I watched other ladies get permed, foiled, ... Read More

Chinese New Year is not, strictly speaking, a Buddhist holiday. However, Chinese Buddhists do begin the New Year with religious observation. In today's New York Times,  Ann Farmer describes New Year activities ... Read More

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that hundreds of Myanmar residents in Singapore gathered on Sunday for a screening of the new "Rambo" film starring Sylvester Stallone. "The filmgoers, including Buddhist monks in ... Read More

At The Guardian, Mark Vernon writes that "positive psychology" has taught us very little about happiness. "The science of happiness barely grasps the things that the average sage of antiquity ... Read More