Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 11, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Shinnyo-En Buddhist temple in Yorba Linda, California will be host to the Sito Homa, a Buddhist bonfire ritual, on April 14th and 15th. About 5,000 people from all over the world are expected to attend the ritual, which will be the first time the Sito Homa is performed in the United States. The ritual will be conducted by priests from Tokyo and it will take place outside the temple for most of the day in order to accommodate the crowds. Naruhiko Yoshida, the temple's...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On March 3, 2000, The San Francisco Chronicle published an article entitled, https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/The-DHARMA-BUMS-GROW-UP-Spirit-Rock-in-West-3304676.php

Source: The New York Times

On February 18, 2000, The New York Times published an article on the hopeful arrival of the 14-year-old monk Ugyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa, to the Woodstock, NY monastery Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Center. The Karmapa is the leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Dorje was officially recognized as the 17th Karmapa in 1992 by not only a majority of the school, but also the Dalai Lama. The 16th Karmapa, in a visit to the Woodstock monastery in 1981, declared it to be his home away from Tibet. The 17th...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On February 10, 2000, The Times-Picayune reported that the Bo De Buddhist Temple in Algiers, Louisiana rang in Tet Nguyen Dan, the Vietnamese New Year, at midnight on Friday, February 4th. The Vietnamese New Year, which this year falls on February 5th, is on the first new moon after the winter solstice. This year is the Year of the Dragon according to both the Vietnamese and Chinese calendars. Thong Pham, chairman of the board of Bo De Temple, stated: "In Vietnam we celebrate for seven days...This is the big ceremony in our...

Source: Naples Daily News

On February 5, 2000, the Naples Daily News reprinted an article from The New York Times entitled, https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/29/us/religion-journal-buddhism-...

Source: The Freedom Forum Online

On January 4, 2000, The Freedom Forum Online reprinted an article from The Associated Press entitled, "Federal Appeals Court Sides with Buddhist Inmate Seeking Vegan Meals."

Source: The Detroit News

On December 25, 1999, The Detroit News reported that a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks, who live in exile at the Drepung Loseling Monastery in India, will construct a sand mandala at the Detroit Institute of Arts from Monday, December 27th through Friday, December 31st. The monastic group plans to make the mandala of the Amitayush Buddha, which symbolizes boundless life. A typical mandala has four corners in white, gold, red, blue, and green, which symbolize the elements of water, earth, fire, wind, and space. Geshe Lobsang Tenzin,...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 21, 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported that Bhikkhu Buddha Dhatu, a Buddhist monk, is walking barefoot from San Francisco to Los Angeles to promote world peace. He began in San Francisco on November 26th and plans to be in Los Angeles on Thursday, December 23rd for a millennial peace ceremony that will include a release of doves from a cage and prayers for peace in the next century. Dhatu's journey is being funded by thousands of followers worldwide, including a number of Hollywood celebrities. Dhatu began walking...

Source: The Seattle Times

On November 20, 1999, The Seattle Times published an article on the opening of a new Cambodian Buddhist center in Lynnwood, Washington in a building that was formerly a business plant. The new center, which is to be dedicated on November 20th, will primarily serve the Cambodian Buddhist community in Puget Sound and throughout Northwest Washington, providing support services and cultural education to its members. Thoeuy Kong, a bilingual-education instructor who bought the abandoned business plant with his own savings and headed...

Source: The New York Times

On October 16, 1999, The New York Times published an article on Thich Nhat Hanh's efforts to return to Vietnam. In his words, "I have offered teachings and practices in 35 countries...And yet in Vietnam, my books are still banned." Many efforts have been attempted to allow Thich Nhat Hanh and other Buddhist teachers to enter the country, but now Thich Nhat Hanh is speaking publicly to increase support in the United States and Europe to persuade the Vietnamese government to allow him and other monks and nuns entrance as...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On October 9, 1999, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution profiled the Loseling Institute, which is a center for Tibetan Buddhist studies and practice. Founded in 1991 by Geshe Lobsang Tenzin while he was a graduate student at Emory University, the Loseling Institute became the North American seat of the Drepung Loseling Monastery in 1995 following a visit by the Dalai Lama that solidified ties between the Monastery and Emory University. The Drepung Loseling Monastery, founded in 1416, was one of Tibet's largest...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On October 2, 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported that a new campus of Soka University of America is being built in Aliso Viejo, CA. There is already a campus in Los Angeles. The new campus will eventually accommodate 1,200 undergraduate students, and also graduate students. The campus is being built by Soka Gakkai International, a lay organization of Buddhists based in Japan and drawing from 128 countries. Wendy Harder, director of community relations for Soka in Aliso Viejo, stated that the purpose of the California campuses...

Source: The Arizona Republic

On September 18, 1999, The Arizona Republic published an article on ZaChoeje Rinpoche, named the sixth reincarnation of the first ZaChoeje Rinpoche by the Dalai Lama, who is establishing the Bodhi Heart Center in Arizona. Rinpoche has two goals in establishing the center: to develop inner peace in the Western world and to gather donations from the United States to improve the living conditions of Tibetans exiled in India and those living in Tehor, the eastern region of Tibet. Although the physical location of the center has yet...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On September 14, 1999, The San Francisco Chronicle published an article on the change of course that renowned Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh would like to take. In an interview at the Kim Son Monastery atop Mount Madonna in California, Thich Nhat Hanh stated: "Three years of quiet diplomacy has not worked...I have been away from my country for 34 years. Most of my friends have died. And the young people can't read my books or see me in person." Thich Nhat Hanh left his native Vietnam in 1966 during the Vietnam War...

Source: The Denver Post

On September 10, 1999, The Denver Post reported that Lydia White Calf, a former student at the Naropa Institute in Colorado, has filed a lawsuit against the school for allowing an unqualified teacher to inappropriately practice sacred Lakota rituals and ceremonies as part of a Naropa course. The teacher in question, Weston Aguila 'Eagle' Cruz, claimed to be a member of the Yaqui tribe, but tribal officials said that nobody under that name is a registered member. White Calf's lawsuit claims that she raised her suspicions about Cruz...