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An Iranian newspaper is reporting that government authorities are confiscating Buddha statues from shops in Tehran to stop the promotion of Buddhism in the country. … Iran has long fought against items, such as Barbie dolls and Simpsons cartoon characters, to defuse Western influence, but this appears to be the first time that Iranian authorities are showing an opposition to symbols from the East. …

It sounds like a mash-up of Indiana Jones' plots, but German researchers say a heavy Buddha statue brought to Europe by the Nazis was carved from a meteorite that likely fell 10,000 years ago along the Siberia-Mongolia border.

Published: July 20, 2012 at 5:54 PM BODH GAYA, India, July 20 (UPI) -- The 2,500-year-old tree under which Gautama Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment is alive and healthy, Indian scientists said Thursday. The Bodhi tree, a large Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa,) is in Bodh Gaya in India's eastern state of Bihar, about 60 miles from the state capital of Patna. "The Bodhi tree is fully healthy," Subhash Nautiyal of the Forest Research Institute in India's northern state of Uttarakhand said. Nautiyal and colleagues examined the tree after removing the cement slabs around its base, China's Xinhua News...

Zen master tells curious to embrace a new faithRIDGEWOOD - The two-hour lecture at the Old Paramus Church Education Center began with several minutes of silent meditation.  And for many who attended, participating in meditation was a first step in understanding the basic teachings of Buddhism and Eastern philosophy.  "All attempts at mutual education are important to help us grow," said Robert Kennedy, the noted Jesuit priest and Zen master. "It widens our vision."Kennedy Roshi, as he is known to Buddhists, was the key speaker at Saturday's event, which was attended by more than 100 people of varied faiths. It...

Rush Limbaugh and Adolph Hitler get mentioned together a lot by "progressives," but this latest example tops them all. Two New Age practitioners writing for The Huffington Post speculate on "What Buddha Might Say to Rush Limbaugh." After explaining that even Hitler must be forgiven if one wishes to attain enlightenment, the authors add in the very next paragraph: "Fast forward and apply this teaching to Rush Limbaugh. We can see his ignorance (it's pretty unavoidable) and hope that he'll become aware of the suffering he is causing and the ignorance he is perpetuating. We can hope that he'll change...

A Chinese company digging an unexploited copper mine in Afghanistan has unearthed ancient statues of Buddha in a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery. Archaeologists are rushing to salvage what they can from a major 7th century B.C. religious site along the famed Silk Road connecting Asia and the Middle East.

U.S. President Barack Obama (C) eats ice cream as he visits the Great Buddha statue in Kamakura, on the sidelines of the APEC summit, November 14, 2010

President Obama reacquainted himself with a piece of his childhood on Sunday before heading back to Washington at the end of his nine-day, four-country trip across Asia. Obama visited the Great Buddha in Japan's small coastal city of Kamakura. He had stood in front of the imposing bronze statue, one of this country's most famous sites, as a 6-year-old boy. His mother had brought him there and then taken him for green tea ice cream, a memory he has reflected on fondly. “It is wonderful to return to this great treasure of Japanese culture,” Obama wrote in a guest book...

Obama visits Buddha statue in Japan before returning home on his 10 day Asia trip. The question is why? AP video

Between processions of nuns and monks leading chants and prayers, tens of thousands of Buddhists have come to a warehouse in San Jose to pray before the Jade Buddha and pose before the popular statue for family snapshots. "I came here to just pray for good things to happen, especially to the community of San Jose," Pauline Bui said Sunday morning at the makeshift temple. "It's for universal peace. That's what this Buddha is for." A financial analyst who lives in San Jose, Bui has brought her mother and two children six or seven times. On a previous visit, she...

The state archaeology department has found a limestone statue of Gautam Buddha that dates back to at least 1,800 years. "It was a chance discovery," said the director of archaeology and museums, Prof. P. Chenna Reddy. The limestone statue from the second century CE was discovered at Chada village in the Atmakur mandal of Nalgonda district when labourers were tilling the fields. In addition to the idol, Buddhist sculptural panels and a few large bricks were also unearthed. "The finds reveal the existence of a new Buddhist site in the Telangana region. This evidence adds to the cluster of Buddhist...

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,...

For centuries, the Swat River valley was a Buddhist haven. According to tradition, Buddha himself journeyed to Swat during his last reincarnation, and preached to the local villagers. And by the 6th-century A.D, Buddhist pilgrims from as far away as China flocked to the Swat valley, a beautiful lush land of orchards and rushing mountain streams. One early Chinese account describes as many as 1400 Buddhist monasteries perched along the valley walls in the 7th century. Devout Buddhist artists left an incredibly rich legacy in Swat. Since the valley lay along a major route of the Silk Road -- which...

RATANPUR, Nepal – The teenage boy revered by many as a reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in the jungle as he blessed his devotees Wednesday with a light tap on the head, which they consider the touch of the divine. His face was still, his long hair spilled over his white robe, and he never said a word. The followers of Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005, when believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes closed...

RATANPUR, Nepal — The teenage boy revered as a reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in the jungle as he blessed his devotees Wednesday with a light tap on the head, which they consider the touch of the divine. The followers of Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005, when believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes closed beneath a tree. Where is your Obama now ...

Archaeologists have discovered a 19-metre (62-foot) Buddha statue along with scores of other historical relics in central Afghanistan near the ruins of giant statues destroyed by the Islamist Taliban seven years ago. The team was searching for a giant sleeping Buddha believed to have been seen by a Chinese pilgrim centuries ago when it came upon the relics in the central province of Bamiyan, an official said on Monday. "In total, 89 relics such as coins, ceramics and a 19 meters statue have been unearthed," Mohammad Zia Afshar, adviser in the information and culture ministry, told Reuters. He said the...

Strife at St Mary's over "Buddha" statue Published: August 21, 2008 Brisbane Archbishop John Bathersby is considering whether the controversial St Mary's parish at South Brisbane "is in communion with the Catholic Church" after a parishioner protested to the Vatican over a Buddha-like statue. A member of St Mary's South Brisbane Church told The Courier-Mail that it was understood Archbishop John Bathersby was weighing up the future of the church, after complaints were forwarded from the Vatican. "A very right wing parishioner came and was offended by some of the artwork in the church, including some indigenous art, and an...

Of the 800 or so caves created here from the 5th to 14th centuries, nearly half had some form of decoration. What survives adds up to a developmental timeline of Buddhist art in China... But of course much of it has not survived. By the 11th century Dunhuang's fortunes were in decline. Sea trade had cut into Silk Road traffic. Regional wars left the town isolated. Monks, possibly panicked by rumors of an Islamic invasion, sealed up tens of thousands of manuscript scrolls in a small cave. The invasion didn't happen, but the books, many of them already ancient, stayed...

[emphasis added --ed.] [N.B. "Kill the Buddha" is a metaphysical metaphor not to be construed as a literal. --ed.]   There's an old saying, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." Who's that Buddha? What does it mean to "meet" the Buddha? What does killing the Buddha imply? The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, on attaining enlightenment, is said to have realized that all beings, just as they are, are Buddhas. If that's so, meeting a Buddha on the road should be a pretty commonplace event! So should being a Buddha on the road! But that's where the word...

The monument comprises a series of 29 caves that have been carved deep into this sheer face of a horseshoe-shaped cliff a few miles from the old walled town of Ajanta, hidden away in the deep gorge gouged in the high Deccan plains by the Waghora River about 300 miles inland from Mumbai. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site, designated as such back in 1983 as one of India's first, along with the Taj Mahal. And though Shah Jahan's famous memorial in Agra is far better known, the Ajanta Caves are hugely popular, particularly with Indians, who see them...