Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 6, 1999, the Los Angeles Times published an article on a Vietnamese Buddhist monk named "C.E.", who has recently departed from the monastery he opened to the public in Long Beach, CA. About a year ago, C.E. opened the monastery up to the public for lessons on the dharma. A Vietnamese immigrant who has turned to the ascetic tradition of Mahayana Buddhism, C.E. drew the interest of many meditators and students in Southern California with his teachings on Buddhist scripture and his fluidity in speaking English, Chinese,...

Source: New Age

In the January/February 1999 issue of New Age, an article was published about the Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE), which is a social help organization based on the model of the Catholic Worker movement. Founded in 1995 by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, BASE has attracted more than 90 participants aged 18 to 65 to programs in Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Arcata and Santa Cruz, California.

Source: Newsday

On January 20, 1999, Newsday published an article on the Flushing branch of Tzu-Chi, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Foundation, which is committed to teaching and helping the poor. Tzu-Chi, which was founded in Taiwan in 1966, has grown to more than 4 million members in 17 countries. The Flushing branch, which has 2,000 volunteers, has flourished in the area by visiting hospitals and nursing homes, shoveling snow, street cleaning, helping the homeless, and offering classes in Chinese culture, language, and philosophy. Tzu-Chi relies on...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On January 9, 1999, the Los Angeles Times published an article on the Tibetan Buddhist community in the small town of Ojai, CA. Ojai, which is also home to the Krishnamurti Foundation, the Krotona Institute and Meditation Mount, has been home to the Tibetan Buddhist Dharma Center since 1989. The Tibetan Buddhist community in Ojai consists of roughly 40 members, who have a total of 37 children.

Source: Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

In the Winter 1998 issue of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, an article reported on the struggle by the Myanmar Buddhist Society of America to establish a monastery and worship center in Chino, CA. In January of 1998, Chino City officials said that they would not grant a sewer connection to the proposed worship center because it would produce unmanageable traffic volumes for the small community. In a public hearing in April, the planning commission concluded that the concern over increased traffic was exaggerated and...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On November 14, 1998, the Los Angeles Times published an article on the growth of Buddhism in Southern California. According to J. Gordon Melton of the Institute for the Study of Religion at UC Santa Barbara, Southern California is the only place in the world where all of the more than 100 types of Buddhism are practiced. Melton states: "Over the past 10 years, we've had a fairly high level of immigration from Buddhist countries to the Southern California area...What this means is that 40% of all Buddhists in the U.S. live in...

Source: Chicago Tribune

On October 23, 1998, the Chicago Tribune published an article concerning the official transmission of Sherry Chayat as "roshi" in the Rinzai Zen sect of Buddhism at a special ceremony at the Syracuse Zen Center on October 18th, 1998. Sherry Chayat is an adjunct art instructor at Syracuse University, an affiliate Buddhist chaplain at the university, and the abbot at the Syracuse Zen Center. Her transmission as roshi, a "venerable teacher" who is able to pass down the teachings of Rinzai Zen, marks the first time an American woman...

Source: Sun-Sentinel

On October 23, 1998, the Sun-Sentinel issued an article about a series of events to take place at the Temple Beth El of Hollywood, Florida from October 30th - November 5th exploring the relationship between Judaism and Tibetan Buddhism. The events will be based around a set of screenings for a new film entitled, "The Jew in the Lotus," which is based on a 1995 book by poet Rodger Kamenetz. The book tells of a 1990 journey of eight Jewish leaders to meet with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. On October 31st, Temple Beth El hosted...

Source: The Plain Dealer

On October 7, 1998, The Plain Dealer reported that the Cleveland Buddhist Temple is experiencing an upsurge of student participation in Buddhist meditation classes. Dennis Edwards, a part-time volunteer instructor at the Cleveland Buddhist Temple, leads a beginners class on Buddhist meditation and says that the class attracts students studying religion at area colleges and an increasing number of high school students from local private schools.

Source: The Tampa Tribune

On October 3, 1998, The Tampa Tribune reported that Soka Gakkai International-USA, an American-based Buddhist movement that is grounded in the Nichiren school of Mahayana Buddhism, is sponsoring a conference on October 10th, 1998 entitled, "Share the Planet, Share the Responsibility" at the Florida Nature and Culture Center, 25 miles west of Fort Lauderdale. The conference was organized to discuss the Earth Charter, which is a two-page document setting out 21 principles in order to "reinvent an industrial-technological...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On October 3, 1998, The Los Angeles Times reported that a national-level Buddhist-Catholic dialogue was taking place at the Serra Retreat in Malibu on the weekend of October 3rd and 4th. James Fredericks, a professor of comparative theology at Loyola Marymount University, stated that the meeting was "historically important" for the understanding of Buddhism and Catholicism in this country. The event, sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern California, will hopefully spark...

Source: The New York Times

On July 12, 1998, the New York Times Sunday Book Review section included an article about Robert Thurman's book, Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness. Thurman is a professor in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. Rev. Gomes writes that in this book, Thurman asserts that "America is the place and that this is the time in which the Buddha's vision may have its most opportune moment" for an "exhausted culture eager to go from "me" to meaning."

Source: Press Journal

World Tibet Day, founded by Ma Jaya Bhagavati, the spiritual leader of Kashi Ashram, was celebrated in religious services across the world, and at Central Park in New York City. The effort is part of an Interfaith Call for Freedom of Worship in Tibet and Universal Religious Freedom. The intention is to raise awareness of human rights abuses and religious freedom abuses in Tibet, and to eventually convince the Chinese to respect the Tibetan people, the Tibetan religion, and the Dalai Lama.

Source: The Boston Globe

On March 8, 1998 The Boston Globe reported, "To measure this city's ethnic transformation, the Francis W. Parker elementary school in North Quincy is a good place to start. For generations, the students who filled the Parker's classrooms reflected the overwhelmingly white neighborhood around it. But Quincy has become a different city. An Asian migration that began as a trickle in the late 1970s picked up speed in the '80s and continues to gain momentum through the '90s has dramatically changed the look of the city. At the Parker...

Source: Orange County Register

On March 1, 1998, the Orange County Register ran an article entitled "The Way of Tea: An Ancient Japanese Ceremony Becomes a Modern Refuge for Seekers of Tranquillity."