Source: Star Bulletin

http://starbulletin.com/2007/02/03/features/story01.html

The sound of chanting sets a serene scene at the Buddhist temple. But the low volume at the Honpa Hongwanji Betsuin Sunday services is not a thoroughly wonderful thing, since it reflects the diminishing energy of an aging congregation whose numbers are shrinking.

The good news is that it gets boomingly noisy on the grounds of the Pali Highway landmark on weekdays when students at the...

Author: Deepa Bharath

Source: Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/homepage/article_1562545.php

GARDEN GROVE - The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation of the city in connection with a lawsuit filed last year by a Buddhist temple challenging the constitutionality of the city's zoning code, officials said today.

City Attorney Thomas Nixon said he...

Author: Pamela J. Podger

Source: The Roanoke Times

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/102291

Candlelight bathed seven Buddha figures on the shrine at the Dharmapala Buddhist Center during last week's opening at its new Roanoke County location.

A jumble of clogs, sneakers and boots splayed on the stairs while about 25 sock-footed owners padded around upstairs before settling into their chairs for the evening's meditation.

Wearing a...

Author: Prakash Dubey

Source: Asia News

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=8331&size=A

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) – Nepalis have welcomed the decision by Nepal’s caretaker government to replace the king’s effigy with the Buddha, the apostle of non-violence and peace, on the country’s 500 and 100 rupees banknotes. Buddha will take the place of King Gyanendra, who considered himself a reincarnation of the Hindu god, Lord...

Author: Peter C. Phan

Source: Commonweal Magazine

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php3?id_article=1828

In 2000, twenty-five members of my family returned to Vietnam, many for the first time since leaving the country as refugees a quarter of a century earlier. Our nostalgic tour included a visit to the buildings of the Catholic high school where I used to teach. That visit was disappointing because the school had been seized years...

Author: DEEPA BHARATH

Source: Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/homepage/article_1552971.php

WESTMINSTER - Hung Vuong will never forget the day his mother died - for more than one reason. Vuong and his father drove throughout Orange County looking for a funeral home that would allow them to burn incense - a ritual that cannot be skipped or ignored in any Buddhist service. But in most...

Author: Tim Funk

Source: The Charlotte Observer

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/living/16501833.htm

As director of Harvard University's Pluralism Project, Diana Eck is the leading authority on America's changing religious landscape. She'll be in Charlotte next week in connection with "Families of Abraham," a photo exhibit at the Levine Museum of the New South that spotlights local Jewish, Christian and Muslim families. Eck, author of "A...

Author: Debra Duncan

Source: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_489573.html

The small white house along Route 908 in Harrison Township, Allegheny County, looks like any other home in the area except for the pure white Buddha statue standing against a bright red curtain visible through the front picture window.

This is the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center, which...

Author: JULIA O'MALLEY

Source: Anchorage Daily News/Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=65,3650,0,0,1,0

Kneeling before a towering, gilded Buddha, Phouvong Soneoulay lifted a morsel of sticky rice and placed it in a metal offering bowl. As it left her fingers, she prayed the nourishment would reach her husband, Soulideth, who died at this time last year.

Along with six children and close to a hundred others,...

Author: Soumitro Sen

Source: The Union

http://www.theunion.com/article/20070117/NEWS/101170183

Tibetan Buddhist monks from south India are arriving in Nevada County next week, the seventh year they've been coming as guests of the local nonprofit, Sierra Friends of Tibet.

As part of their visit, from Jan. 25 through Feb. 10, the monks will visit some schools and share their culture - sing, dance, chant and interact with the students....

Author: Cameron Weston

Source: Star News Group

http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/33435

ANCIENT Buddhist dances and rituals were performed in Williamstown last week, in a captivating blaze of colour, sound and movement.

The Drati Khangsen monks, one of the largest congregations of Tibetan monks, living at the Sera Je Monastery in India, visited the Williamstown Mechanics Institute for three performances, part of a six-month Australian tour....

Author: Kristin Bender

Source: The Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=65,3631,0,0,1,0

Berkeley, CA (USA) -- It took 40 years, but Sady Hayashida finally saw his dream come true when a Buddhist learning center he designed recently opened in Berkeley.

The Jodo Shinshu Center for Buddhist Studies, a $12 million educational development center in downtown Berkeley, is now open, four decades after Hayashida's...

Author: Pamela J. Podger

Source: The Roanoke Times

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/100163

For Buddhists, a reincarnation usually lasts a lifetime. But the Dharmapala Buddhist Center has found itself reborn six times since its inception in 2003.

In the latest transformation, they've unpacked their boxes from Troutville and moved to 4119 Franklin Road in Roanoke County in preparation for classes starting Jan. 24. Their new location offers a...

Source: The Buddhist Channel/The Korean Times

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=45,3619,0,0,1,0

Seoul, South Korea -- The dispute over entrance charges to Buddhist temples in national parks is intensifying. The head of those temples issued a statement Saturday asking the government to exclude temples from the parks. The move was touched off by the difficulty of collecting admission fees to the temples since the government abolished admission charges at 19...

Author: Ewen Callaway

Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/January/14/local/stories/07local.htm

SANTA CRUZ -- Change is fundamental to Buddhism, but a meditation group that has gathered in living rooms, the Santa Cruz Zen Center and even a church is glad to finally have its own space.

Vipassana Santa Cruz started 20 years ago as a group of a half dozen who met...