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Archaeologists in Afghanistan, where Taliban Islamists are fighting the Western-backed government, have uncovered Buddhist-era remains in an area south of Kabul, an official said on Tuesday. "There is a temple, stupas, beautiful rooms, big and small statues, two with the length of seven and nine meters, colorful frescos ornamented with gold and some coins," said Mohammad Nader Rasouli, head of the Afghan Archaeological Department... We need foreign assistance to preserve these and their expertise to help us with further excavations." The excavation site extends over 12 km (7.5 miles) in the Aynak region of Logar province just south of Kabul,...

It's a bit like our Lassi Festival. Ok, so we don't have a Lassi Festival, but the lines of people winding their way up to the Drepung monastery to celebrate Shoton, the Tibetan Yogurt Festival, have all the signs of a Kumbh. Most of those walking from Lhasa in the 6.20 am darkness are pilgrims to In Tibet, only Lonely Planet carries a statutory warning Drepung, some 20 minutes by road from central Lhasa. The remainder are like Confucian me are curious folks getting a glimpse into the heart of Tibetan culture in Tibet. The climb up the steps, not...

It’s a princess. Khandro Tseyang, the queen of Shambhala, a branch of Buddhism, gave birth to a girl Wednesday morning at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax. “Apparently the birth was very smooth,” Richard Reoch, president of the Shambhala Centre in Halifax, said in an interview Wednesday. Besides king Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the birth was attended by immediate family members, a midwife and the family’s personal physician, Mitchell Levy of the Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. “The birth was cheerful, uplifted and free of complications. Both mother and child are healthy and resting well,” Levy said...

The Dalai Lama has sent a message of support for Armed Forces Day, which is next Saturday. In it, he writes of his admiration for the military. That is perhaps not so surprising. As he explains, there are many parallels between being a monk and being a soldier – the need for discipline, companionship, and inner strength. But his support will take some of his western admirers by surprise, not least when it comes to his thoughts on non-violence. Attitudes towards violence in Buddhism are enormously complex. There are some traditions that argue aggression, and killing in particular, is always...

In the popular imagination, Tibet is a land of snow-capped mountains and sweeping vistas, fluttering prayer flags, crystal blue skies, saffron-robed monks spinning prayer wheels... SNIP Tibet's enduring hold on Western minds -- together with the energetic, globe-trotting advocacy of the Dalai Lama -- helps explain why the concerns of the region's minority population are so familiar to so many so far away. (By comparison, it took violence in the streets of Urumqi to awaken foreign readers to the agitation of another of China's minority groups, the Uighurs.) In the Washington, D.C., neighborhood where I live, more than a few...

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama urged Japanese youth to "study English, and see the world" during a speech and Q&A session at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on Saturday. The Dalai Lama, currently visiting Japan, made the remarks, when he touched on the problem of the increasing number of Japanese youth committing suicide. "Now, you should participate, wisely, (in) the outside world. But, the youth of Japan remain here, and (having) some problems here. Go (to the) outside world! To Arabia, Africa, Latin America ... You can make many contributions," the Dalai Lama said. The Dalai Lama...

DHARMSALA, India (AP) — The question looms over this raggedy hillside town, a place where ancient mysticism constantly brushes against the realities of modern geopolitics. The monks who fled across the Himalayas ask it quietly, as do the exile politicians. Even the angry young activists are careful how they raise the issue. But as the man at the center of the Tibetan exile movement approaches his 75th birthday, the question has become impossible to escape: What happens after the Dalai Lama dies?

OK, a lot of y'all will freak on this, but I am not a Christian. Not that I have any problem at all with His teachings, but I decided a long time ago I didn't want Jesus to die on that cross to expunge my sins. I'll take the hit to my own Karma. Laugh if you want, but this is what I believe: Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism. I was raised Southern Baptist. My grandfather was a deacon in the church in Shawnee, Oklahoma. I remember unlocking the church with him before the sun came up, and going to Sunday School....

When Tiger Woods badly missed a shot Sunday during his Career Revival Tour at The Masters, CBS microphones clearly recorded him cursing the name of "Jesus Christ." I thought Tiger was a Buddhist? Asked about two strings that Tiger wears near his watch, "It's Buddhist. It's for protection and strength and I certainly need that," he told the Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman. He said he began wearing the Buddhist bracelet before he went into therapy treatment and said he will "absolutely" be wearing it at the Masters and forever. In fact, Tiger attributes straying from Buddhism for losing control in...

Julian Huxley, the head of UNESCO in 1947, wrote a book titled, “UNESCO: Its Purpose and Its Philosophy.” His book was a blueprint for a New World Order that called for a single 'new' spirituality---a mixture of Buddhist materialist-pantheism, Liberalized 'pantheistic' Christianity, Gnosticism, and other occult traditions--- one language, and one way of thinking. He believed a global order could be brought about through the universal implementation of Hegel’s Dialectic process. Huxley observed, “The task before UNESCO…is to help the emergence of a single world culture with its own philosophy and background of ideas and with its own broad purpose.”...

..."The subject I wanted to share with you is related to a trip Barack Obama is planning for March 22 (3-22). Even as God’s ministers need a greater anointing for the days ahead, so too do the ministers of Satan. Satan has many things to accomplish in this last hour of this age, things which the Scriptures have prophesied. Both the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan will be progressing to a great climax at the end of this age, which we are now walking in. We will see the ministers of Satan bearing a greater anointing of...

The saddest part of the Tiger Woods statement last Friday was his public announcement of his Buddhist faith. Woods mother is from Thailand and a Buddhist. Woods claimed that he has been a practicing Buddhist all of his life, though strayed from its' teachings years ago, helping to lead him to make the choices that caused his downfall. Sadly for Tiger, even if his marriage is restored, he goes on to win a hundred more golf tournaments, ends up winning more majors than Jack Nicklaus, and earns 5 billion dollars over his lifetime, when he takes his last breath he...

The Dalai Lama said Saturday that he had - somehow - never heard of Tiger Woods. When Woods' sex scandal was explained to him, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader emphasized the importance of self-discipline. All religions have the same idea "when it comes to adultery," he said. "Whether you call it Buddhism or another religion, self-discipline, that's important. . . . Self-discipline with awareness of consequences." Woods, in his carefully scripted apology on Friday, struck a similar line. He said that in recent years he had "drifted away" from the Buddhist values of his upbringing. "Buddhism," he said, "teaches that a...

Buddhism embraces reincarnation, which has so many problems theologically and very few if any answers to those problems. Consider the following: 1) If Reincarnation is true, mankind should be progressing. Human nature should be improving. However, the truth is, moral depravity is worsening as the Bible anticipates. 2) The vast majority of the population has no memory of their prior lives. If we’re all a product of previous life-cycles, why don’t we remember our previous lives? How can we work off bad karma if we don’t recognize our prior mistakes? 3) Though there are some who claim to recall past...

Vadodara: His Holiness the Dalai Lama is known for his wisdom and witty remarks so no one was surprised when he declared on Friday that he cannot say that Buddhism is the best religion. Speaking at International Convention on Buddhism in Vadodara, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet said, “We cannot say that one religion is best. I am a Buddhist but I can’t say Buddhism is the best religion. It depends on a person’s perception that what is best for him.” He further added that, “We should respect all religions. India is a secular country where all the religions...

Journalist Brit Hume who urged Tiger Woods to “turn to the Christian faith” was right when he drew distinction between Buddhism and Christianity in terms of the concept of forgiveness and redemption, said a prominent evangelical theologian. “I admire Brit Hume for saying something that was at the risk of bringing on this controversy because it really puts on the table the fundamental distinction of worldview: worldview A being Buddhism, worldview B being Christianity,” said Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., on his eponymous radio program last week. Mohler, a sought-after commentator who...

... of some essential differences between Christianity and Buddhism: In his Fundamentals of the Faith, Peter Kreeft writes that "there have only been two people in history who so astonished people that they asked not 'Who are you?' but 'What are you? A man or a god' They were Jesus and Buddha." He then contrasts the striking differences between the two men: "Buddha's clear answer to this question was: 'I am a man, not a god'; Christ's clear answer was: 'I am both son of Man and Son of God.' Buddha said, 'Look not to me, look to my dharma...

January 07, 2010 Google Suggests Christianity is "Bullshit", But Islam is ..... So, a buddy of mine sent me this link to a Blame it on The Voices demotivational poster. I'll send you over there to see the whole thing, but here's a partial of it. It goes on and on like that with Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism all with similar Google suggestions. Like, "Judaism is false" and "Hinduism is wrong". But what of Islam? Islam is .... And yes, I double checked Google to see if it was real. It is. I'm pretty sure people have sent me...

IF YOU CAN FIND A BETTER DEAL, TAKE IT!January 6, 2010 Someone mentioned Christianity on television recently and liberals reacted with their usual howls of rage and blinking incomprehension. On a Fox News panel discussing Tiger Woods, Brit Hume said, perfectly accurately: "The extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So, my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make...

During the 3PM ET hour of live coverage on MSNBC, anchor David Shuster claimed that Fox News political analyst Brit Hume "denigrated Christianity" when suggesting that scandal-ridden golfer Tiger Woods convert to the faith. Shuster made the comments while discussing the issue with MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan, asking: "Doesn’t it also denigrate Christianity when you do that on a Sunday political talk show? This isn’t church, this isn’t some sort of holy setting, this is a political talk show....Doesn’t that minimize the significance of Christianity, when you bring a discussion of Christianity into a conversation about politics?" Buchanan replied:...