Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On July 29, 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that ten "Tibetan Buddhist monks from India will offer a healing service...in the East Suburban Unitarian-Universalist Church...[They] are touring North America to raise awareness of their faith and culture and to raise money to care for Tibetan orphans and refugees in India."

Source: Messenger-Inquirer

http://www.messenger-inquirer.com/columnists/owen/3382699.htm

On July 28, 2001, the Messenger-Inquirer reported on the growing religious diversity in the Bible Belt. "About 200 Jains and about as many Sikhs live in west-central Kentucky and Tennessee now... Bowling Green has 2,000 actively practicing Muslims, mostly Bosnian immigrants... Nashville has about 24,000 Hispanics, compared to 2,700 a decade ago." Thomas Russell and...

Source: The Arizona Republic

On July 28, 2001, The Arizona Republic reported on Torkom Saraydarian. "Through his philosophy, which he called Ageless Wisdom, he drew from the teachings of the world's religions to help others fulfill their destinies. He died at age 80 in 1997...Today in Cave Creek, his daughter, Gita Saraydarian, carries on her father's legacy by publishing his books and teaching classes...'It's a blend of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Sufi,'" she said.

Source: The Boston Globe

On July 28, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that Harvard Divinity School "is poised to hire its first chair of Buddhist studies. The school has chosen Janet B. Gyatso, a professor of religion at Amherst College. " The Globe published an interview with Gyatso, who is currently researching issues relating to sex and gender in Buddhism.

Source: The New York Times

On July 25, 2001, The New York Times printed a front-page article about Soka University of America, "the first new private liberal arts college to be built in California in 25 years...Some [enrolled] students turned down admission to the likes of Bryn Mawr and Brown to be pioneers in a Buddhist-inspired experiment where everyone from the president to a janitor has the same-size office." The principal architect has designed projects for Stanford. Phillip Hammond, a professor of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara and author of...

Source: The News India Times

http://www.newsindia-times.com/community10.htm

The News India Times reported that "the organizing committee of the 11th annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York has announced that this year’s competition, scheduled for Aug. 11 and 12, will have the largest number of participants in the festival’s history...For 10 years, the celebration has attracted a culturally diverse audience...

Source: The Hartford Courant

On July 14, 2001, The Hartford Courant reported on Diana Eck's new book, A New Religious America. "'The religious landscape of America has changed radically in the past 30 years,' Eck writes, 'but most of us have not yet begun to see the dimensions and scope of that change.'" The main part of the book focuses on Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam in America.

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On July 7, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that Venerable Thich Nguyen Hanh, head monk of the Vietnam Buddhist Center in Sugar Land [Texas], commissioned a 72-foot-tall statue of the divinity Quan Am. "Quan Am - literally, Regarder of the Cries of the World - is one of the most revered bodhisattvas (divine enlightened beings) in Buddhism...The figure is the largest such tribute to Quan Am in the United States."

Source: INDIA New England

On July 1, 2001, INDIA New England reported that "reflecting...the community's growth across the United States, New England's Indian-American population has more than doubled in the past 10 years...The availability of work visas, the lure of academic institutions and the vitality of the region's high-tech industry have fueled this increase locally...The...2000 census reported 76,157 Indian-Americans in New England," up from 36,282 in 1990. "In New England, Massachusetts has the largest Indian-American population -- increasing from...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On July 1, 2001, The San Francisco Chronicle reported on "William Claassen, a self-described 'nomadic pilgrim.'...Claassen spent 2 1/2 years traveling around the world, visiting 40 monasteries in 12 countries. He broke bread with Greek Orthodox monks on Mount Athos, walked with Catholic brothers in Spain, watched whirling dervishes in Turkey, meditated with Zen monks in Japan and sat at the feet of Hindu gurus and Jain pujaris in India."

Source: The Spokesman-Review

On June 30, 2001, The Spokesman-Review reported that "the highest-ranking Therevada Buddhist monk in the United States [Bhante Madawala Seelawimala] is in Spokane this weekend to teach and lead worship services at the Spokane Buddhist Church...During two three-hour seminars...he plans to focus on the meaning, benefits and methods of meditation. Non-Buddhists are welcome."

Source: The Times Union

On June 28, 2001, The Times Union reported on the Grafton Peace Pagoda in Albany, New York. The pagoda is a "monument to peace developed after the horrors of war...[It] is a symbol of nonviolence that dates as far back as 2,000 years ago...There are two peace pagodas in the United States...A Japanese Buddhist nun, Jun Yasuda, is the reason the Grafton Peace Pagoda was built."

Source: The Dallas Morning News

https://archives.dallasnews.com/uncategorized/IO_c744f3b3-2c17-4b65-a066-a4461a231e9a/

On June 24, 2001, The Dallas Morning News reported on the Introduction to Buddhism and Meditation...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On June 23, 2001, the Los Angeles Times published a book review of Saffron Days in L.A.: Tales of a Buddhist Monk in America by Bhante Walpola Piyananda, a Sri Lankan "who has been abbot of the Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara, a meditation center in Los Angeles, for the last quarter-century...A storyteller gifted with great compassion, wisdom and humor, Piyananda engages us in his pastoral adventures." The book "teaches the basics of Buddhism in an orderly progression."

Source: Religion and Ethics Newsweekly

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week443/pluralism.html

On June 22, 2001 Religion and Ethics Newsweekly reported, "R. Scott Hanson wrote his doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago on 'City of Gods: Religious Freedom, Immigration, and Pluralism in Flushing, New York.' He is a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University. Flushing, Queens is the most religiously and ethnically diverse...