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A fire in a 1,000-year-old Buddhist temple in a remote valley of Himachal Pradesh has reduced the pinewood-structure to ashes and also destroyed a number of scriptures, artefacts and murals, officials said. The fire at the temple in Ribba in Kinnaur valley, about 200 km from Shimla, started late on Friday and caused losses of nearly Rs 125 million, they said. Besides, 170 Buddhist scriptures written over centuries by monks on birch paper rolls, many murals of Lord Buddha, antique jewellery and other artefacts have been reduced to ashes. Himalayan pinewood planks that were used to construct the temple only...

The country may be busy celebrating the 2550th year of Buddha's Mahaparinirvana, but grey areas abound on how Buddhism spread across the globe after the first sermon at Sarnath. Which is why the state's archaeology department has finally decided to track the route taken by Buddha's disciples—Kumar Jeev, Kashyap and Matang— to spread his message of peace and harmony. The project, titled "The Buddha Sandesh Yatra", will span 11 countries. Beginning from Sarnath, the team will travel to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afganistan, Pakistan and Tibet.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Dalai Lama urged religious leaders Saturday to reach out to Muslims, saying Islam is a compassionate faith that has been unfairly maligned because of a few extremists. 'snip' He said all human beings are prone to violence if they lose control of their emotions and not to judge an entire faith based on a few people. "A few mischievous people are always there," he said.

Chairman Mao’s features are to gaze over Tibet for the first time. A 7.5m (24½ft) statue of Mao Zedong, whose Red Armies entered the deeply Buddhist Himalayan region in 1951 to extend Communist Party rule, is to stand in the newly built Changsha Square in Gongga. The figure, which weighs 35 tonnes, is a gift to the small Tibetan town from Mao’s birthplace, the Chinese city of Changsha, where it is seen standing before transportation by lorry. A government official said: “Tibet does not need only material development. It must also meet the more spiritual needs of its people.” Though...

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali police began hunting on Saturday for a teenaged boy who some people believe is an reincarnation of Buddha after he disappeared from the site where he had been meditating for almost 10 months. Fifteen-year-old Ram Bahadur Bamjon has not been seen since early Saturday, said Hari Krishna Khatiwada, a district official of Bara, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Kathmandu. The boy had been meditating there without food or water since May. Some of his followers are also missing. "So far we have found no trace of them," Khatiwada said. Sitting cross-legged beneath a "pipal" tree,...

Ladakhis are not used to this: religious tension, clamping of curfew and the army marching through the place better known for its Buddhist chants, prayer flags fluttering between mountains and the arid, pristine moonscape. Old timers say Ladakh has not seen communal tension since the 1970s when Buddhists and Muslims went for each other's throat over minor incidents. This time, as the world burns in the Prophet cartoon row, the division between the two communities happened over the reported desecration of the Holy Koran in Bodh Kharbu. The picturesque village, which is mainly populated by Buddhists, is located in the...

Tuesday November 20 4:04 PM ET Groups Want to Rebuild Buddha Statue By CLARE NULLIS, Associated Press Writer GENEVA (AP) - The Taliban's destruction of two ancient Buddha statues shocked the world. Now there's a plan to rebuild the larger one. The plan is the work of an Internet-based group called the New 7 Wonders Society and a U.N.-recognized institute in Switzerland dedicated to preserving Afghan cultural treasures. The desire is to show that ``an act of international destruction cannot erase the memory of those things which are valuable to humanity and its heritage,'' said Bernard Weber, the founder of ...

When the U.S. Supreme Court convenes in Washington, the justices sit in their grand courtroom beneath a carved marble frieze depicting 18 great lawgivers from the ages. On the south wall are the ancients - Confucius, Octavian, and Moses holding the Ten Commandments. And on the north wall, along with Justice John Marshall and Napoleon Bonaparte, standing between Charlemagne and Justinian, is Muhammad, cradling a sword and a copy of the Holy Koran. In the furor caused by the Danish cartoons of Muhammad, many stories have circulated about Islam's prohibitions about artistic depictions of the prophet, or any human figures....

Curfew was imposed Thursday in Leh town and the army staged a flag march following clashes between Muslims and Buddhists triggered by reports of alleged desecration of the Quran at a mosque in Kargil. Thirty-one people have been arrested so far in connection with the clashes, Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) K Rajendra told PTI over phone from the Ladakhi capital. Kumar said curfew has been imposed and the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police were deployed as a precautionary measure. A defence spokesman said the civil administration Thursday sought army assistance in maintaining law and order in Leh following...

When this Indian monk chanted, the West wondered how he created a choral effect. Ngawang Tashi Bapu or Lama Tashi—who mesmerised music lovers with his multi-phonic chanting—found a place in Grammy nominations and triggered a chain of vocal experiments, is changing track. He will now sing in monotone, in his “normal voice”. Last year, Lama Tashi took the US by storm with his solo album Tibetan Master Chants comprising 12 Buddhist mantras of compassion and tranquillity. On the eve of the 48th Grammy Award presentation — the “world’s biggest music show” — the 38-year-old Monpa monk from Arunachal Pradesh has...

Taliban Resumes Blasting Buddha Statues Taliban leader says international appeals to save the statues will fail. By Kathy Gannon ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 9 (AP)--Using cannons and explosives, the Taliban has reportedly resumed blowing up two towering stone statues of Buddha, a task the religious militia began a week ago. The explosions of the 3rd and 5th century statues were part of carrying out an order by Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Mohammed Omar for all statues in Afghanistan to be demolished. The order, meant to discourage idolatry, was given two weeks ago. The Taliban, who rule roughly 95 percent of the...

Authorities in Nepal urged religious groups and scientists on Sunday to help solve the mystery of a meditating teenaged boy who some believe is an incarnation of Buddha. At least 100,000 devotees from Nepal and neighbouring India have flocked in recent weeks to a dense forest in southeastern Nepal to see 15-year-old Ram Bahadur Bamjon, who, his associates say, has been meditating without food or water for six months. Shanta Raj Subedi, district administrator of Bara, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Kathmandu and where the boy is meditating, said he had requested the Lumbini Development Trust, a Buddhist panel,...

KATMANDU, Nepal - A teenage boy has been meditating in a Nepalese jungle for six months, and thousands have flocked to see him, with some believing he is the reincarnation of Buddha, police and media said Wednesday Ram Bahadur Banjan, 15, sits cross-legged and motionless with eyes closed among the roots of a tree in the jungle of Bara, about 100 miles south of the capital, Katmandu. He's supposedly been that way since May 17 — but his followers have been keeping him from public view at night. A reporter for the Kantipur newspaper, Sujit Mahat, said he spent two...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush met at the White House on Wednesday with the Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, ignoring objections from China 10 days before he makes an official visit to Beijing. The private meeting with the president and the first lady came one day after the Bush administration named China a serious violator of religious freedom in a report to Congress. "We've made our views very clear when it comes to our support for religious freedom... And we will continue to speak out on those issues," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The...

A 2,500-year-old fragment of bone believed to be one of Buddha's fingers went on public display in Seoul Friday after arriving from China, officials said. The bone was sent to an indoor stadium in southern Seoul for a temporary exhibit after a ceremony at Jogye Temple, said Jin Yeo-shim, a temple official. The temple is the headquarters of Jogye Order, South Korea's largest Buddhist sect. "I think this event will greatly help solidify friendship and religious faith between Korean and Chinese Buddhism," said the Venerable Jigwan, head of the order, during the ceremony, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency....

Dharamsala, Aug 13 (IANS) Three Tibetans were sentenced to jail by a Chinese court on charges of "instigation to split the country", for carrying Tibetan leader-in-exile Dalai Lama's pictures, along with his preaching in audio and video tapes, into Tibet. The men - two of them in their forties and a youth of 22 - had crossed over from Nepal into Tibet on June 28, 2001, and were arrested for carrying the tapes, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said here Saturday in this Himalayan town, home to the Tibetan government-in-exile. The court sentenced Jigme, the youth,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. KABUL: A Japanese artist is to recreate Afghanistan`s destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas using dozens of laser beam images. Hiro Yamagata says the £34m project will also create electricity for local people. The 1,500-year Buddhas were carved into sandstone cliffs but were destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban regime for being "un-Islamic". The project will see the Buddhas recreated using 240 laser beam images, 120 laser systems, 10 windmills and 11,988 solar energy panels. It is hoped the hi-tech project could turn the area into a tourist attraction and reinvigorate the local economy,...

Are Jesus and Buddha Brothers?"When you are a truly happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist. And vice versa." So concludes best-selling author and Buddhist monk Thich Hhat Hanh near the end of his popular book Living Buddha, Living Christ. Some Catholics agree. For example, Jesuit Father Robert E. Kennedy, a Roshi (Zen master), holds Zen retreats at Morning Star Zendo in Jersey City. He states on his web site: "I ask students to trust themselves and to develop their own self-reliance through the practice of Zen." The St. Francis Chapel at Santa Clara University hosts the weekly practice of...

NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over caste-based political and social conflicts, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has urged Hindus to "get rid of this evil at the earliest". "Hindu society should take all necessary measures to ensure entry and access to every Hindu, irrespective of his caste, to their homes, temples, religious places, public wells, ponds, and other public places," a resolution adopted at the three-day national executive meeting of the RSS said. Around 350 RSS volunteers met in Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh to brainstorm on several issues, including its ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been dogged...

(CNN) -- Afghanistan's Taleban has destroyed two giant Buddhas carved into a cliff centuries ago, pictures obtained by CNN show. United Nations officials confirmed the claims made by the Taleban, which announced last month it would destroy images deemed "offensive to Islam." But no photographs of the demolition were available until Monday. Museums and governments around the world had hoped to save the two Buddhas, the earliest of which is thought to have been carved into the sandstone cliffs of Bamiyan in the third century A.D. At 53 meters (175 feet) and 36 meters (120 feet), the statues were the...