Source: The New York Times

On May 30, 2001, The New York Times reported that "Buddhist meditative practices have...begun to take root inside the nation's prison system. Some organizations, beginning with Zen Mountain Monastery [in the Catskill town of Mount Tremper], have moved to help...Buddhism's foundational principles...seem well suited to prison life. The teachings, in brief, declare that life is characterized by suffering and that suffering has a cause (which is desire), but an individual can be freed from suffering."

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On May 28, 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that "dozens of Midwestern Buddhists received sarana, or Buddhist names, Sunday from their religious leader, Gomonshu Koshin Ohtani." Ohtani is the spiritual leader of Japan's Jodo Shin Shu branch of Buddhism. "'If you are enclosed in self-centered desires, be released into an awakening of indiscriminate wisdom and endless compassion,' Ohtani told the crowd."

Source: The Washington Post

On May 27, 2001, The Washington Post reported on "an all-day Buddhist festival celebrated...by an estimated 2,000 people at the Fauquier County Buddhist temple...As Buddhists from across the region streamed into the Wat Lao Buddhavong center yesterday, organizers said the attendance was a sign that their religion is growing and has become a united community of many nations...[The] Buddhist festival was just one of three Asian religious festivals this weekend, a sign of the growing religious and ethnic diversity in the Washington...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On May 26, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported on the Chung Mei Buddhist Temple. Outreach to the greater Houston community is one main focus of the temple. "To accommodate their English-speaking guests, the temple this month began offering four-week courses on meditation and vegetarian cooking in English. Buddhist chanting classes and flower arrangement classes, also in English, are in the works. The temple also offers a practical course in Buddhism for those interested in the religion."

Source: Star Tribune

On May 19, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on an interfaith dialogue with seven local clergy and the Dalai Lama. The topic of the panel was "'How Can Diverse Religions Communities Create Peace in the World?' In their response, the Dalai Lama and this distinguished panel promoted the idea that religions can be diverse without being a lot different. 'All religions carry same teaching, same goal, same potential,' the Dalai Lama said."

Source: The Boston Globe

On May 18, 2001, The Boston Globe reported on a talk called "Peace Is the Way" given by Thich Nhat Hanh, a 74-year-old exiled Vietnamese monk and former anti-Vietnam War activist. The talk was given at the Hynes Auditorium in Boston and was expected to attract a crowd estimated at 3,000. "A vast array of Americans...have adopted Nhat Hanh's teachings of 'engaged Buddhism,' simple meditation practices that he says can help ordinary people experience the beauty of life."

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On May 5, 2001, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Lama Jinpa Tharchin, who "is certainly a rarity, a Buddhist lama who grew up [as a Roman Catholic] in Overland and University City. Jinpa will be the main teacher...at the second annual Vesak Day celebration at the Chinese Buddhist monastery in Augusta. His appearance is another measure of the maturing role of European-Americans among the nation's five million Buddhists...Vesak Day marks the birthday of Buddha."

Source: Star Tribune

On May 2, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that "a 'protest and dissent' statement that scolds state Rep. Arlon Lindner for criticizing the Dalai Lama and Buddhism was signed by more than 60 House members...The statement, a form of protest that is provided for in the Minnesota Constitution, faults Lindner for showing 'a lack of respect and tolerance for other religions.' It also describes his comments as 'bigoted.'"

Source: Star Tribune

On May 1, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that "Rep. Arlon Lindner...told colleagues in an e-mail...that he is offended by the Dalai Lama's planned speech to the Legislature and that he views Buddhism as a cult that is 'incompatible with Christian principles.' The Corcoran [Minnesota] Republican, who has a Baptist seminary degree, said he will not attend the Dalai Lama's speech to a joint meeting of the House and Senate on May 9."

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 30, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "at the Cultural Court in Little Saigon, hundreds gathered...to mark the 26th anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam. Political and religious leaders took the podium to remember the April 30 surrender of the Saigon Government in 1975 and to call for religious freedom and basic human rights...Local Catholics, Protestants and two Buddhist sects, Hoa Hao and Cao Dai, lit incense at an altar during the program."

Source: The Chicago Tribune

On April 21, 2001, The Chicago Tribune reported that two dozen dissidents have charged the Unitarian Universalist Association of being "extremely intolerant" of people who want to talk about God. They "will meet in Virginia to discuss plans for a new church body for Unitarians who want more God and less politics in church...In time, the Unitarian tradition, which has no creed, [has] shed its exclusively Christian focus and embraced other forms of religious expression, including humanism and Buddhism." The group of dissidents is "...

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On April 19, 2001, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that many in San Diego's Laotian-American community would be celebrating the start of their new year by attending an annual two-day festival. "During the official start of Pi Mai -- the year 2544, according to the Buddhist calendar -- the city's three Lao Buddhist temples were filled with people reflecting and praying in the company of monks...Some 20,000 Laotian-Americans now call the San Diego area home."

Source: No source given.

Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 30, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Buddhists reacted with restraint" to the Taliban's destruction of two historic stone statues of the Buddha. "American Buddhists and scholars of Buddhism are still piecing together the meaning of" the destruction of the statues.

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

https://sfchronicle.newsbank.com/browse/SFCB/2001/march/26/1

On March 26, 2001, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "results of the 2000 U.S. Census will begin revealing the impact of two of the most powerful forces of demographic change in the Bay Area...