by Vishvapani | May 19, 2012 | Buddhism in the West
Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh recently visited Northern Ireland and addressed members of the Northern Ireland Assembly where former enemies work together in the Power-Sharing Executive. They listened respectfully to ideas that were influential in the province’s...
by Vishvapani | May 16, 2012 | Buddhism in the West, Interviews
In the 1990s the American Zen teacher Bernie Glassman ditched traditional forms of practice and plunged into the poor, black community that surrounded his Center in Yonkers, New York. In 1997 I travelled there to witness this remarkable experiment in Buddhist social...
by Vishvapani | May 5, 2012 | Thought for the Day
Edward Munch’s The Scream has just become the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. Meanwhile, Buddhists around the world are celebrating the Buddha’s Enlightenment by contemplating images of the Buddha. What is the mysterious power that images...
by Vishvapani | May 1, 2012 | Interviews
As the Iraq war waged meditation teacher Christopher Titmuss wrote Transforming our Terror, exploring the response to 9/11 and the drive to war: ‘They decided that the way to combat their fear was to hit out.’ Vishvapani met him in Totnes to discuss the...
by Vishvapani | Apr 25, 2012 | Thought for the Day
When I spent a week at Auschwitz Concentration Camp with a Buddhist-led interfaith group, I confronted the question, is such a visit meaningful or morbid? We may not be able to make sense of such places, but ‘bearing witness’ to their horrors retains a...
