Last spring, dharma centers across the United States made the difficult decision to close their doors due to COVID-19. Unable to host in-person gatherings, Buddhist centers quickly adapted to the confinement of the pandemic by shifting their offerings online. Through virtual events, Zoom meditations, and live-stream talks, sanghas were able to stay connected while practicing apart. 

Now, as restrictions ease and more people get vaccinated, some centers have begun the careful process of reopening for in-person events. For those who have missed sitting alongside fellow...

A group of firefighting monks was ready to defend a Buddhist monastery being threatened Tuesday by a wildfire burning in the rugged central coast mountains south of Big Sur.

The seven monks have been clearing brush from around the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and running a sprinkler system dubbed “Dharma rain,” which helps keep a layer of moister around the buildings, said Sozan Miglioli, president of San Francisco Zen Center, which operates the monastery.

“The blaze is about a mile away but we’ve been lucky with the weather, it has really cooled down,” Miglioli...

Namgyal Monastery announced plans to build a Dalai Lama library, learning center, and museum on its property in Ithaca, New York in a statement released Thursday. The monastery is His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s personal monastery and North American seat.

“Our vision – one that is supported and shared by the Dalai Lama – is to encourage genuine human interconnection and unity in an increasingly divided world,” said Tenzin Choesang, President of the Namgyal Monastery, in a statement.

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A quiet Buddhist temple that sits 4 miles up a winding one-lane road high in the Fremont hills seems an unlikely place for a fight over discrimination and freedom of religion. But it became the focus of a civil rights lawsuit Thursday filed by San Francisco attorney Angela Alioto.

The suit contends that the city of Fremont violated the constitutional rights of the Temple of 1001 Buddhas and its founder, MiaoLan Lee, a Buddhist master, who bought the 29-acre property in 2010 on remote Mill Creek Road and began improving it. The temple consists of several buildings and serves as...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Rochester residents from all walks of life gathered at Wat Pa Lao Buddhadham Sunday, for the temple’s annual food festival. The event best known for its diverse food selection, also acts as a fundraiser for the expansion of the temple.

Located on 135 Martin Road in West Henrietta, the Buddhist temple has served Monroe County for nearly 20 years. This year’s festival featured both Laotian and Thai food, beginning with culture-favorites such as chicken red curry with jasmine rice to famous deserts like the sesame balls.

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Wednesday, May 26, 2021 marked a historic moment for Buddhists in the US. For the first time ever, the White House celebrated Vesak, the holiday that commemorates the Buddha’s birthday, death, and enlightenment.

Wangmo Dixey, Executive Director of Dharma College and President of the International Buddhist Association of America, coordinated the event with the offices of Mr. Shekar Narasimhan, President of the Dharma Into Action Foundation. The celebration included candle lighting with the Second Gentleman, Mr. Douglas Emhoff, and prayers by leaders from the three major Buddist...

(RNS) — In all Zen traditions, meditation is the backbone of the practice. Students sit with a tall spine, hands loosely interlocked and eyes half-closed. At Chosei Zen in Madison, Wisconsin, though, new students are never quite prepared for the rigor of Rinzai Zen, which asks participants to remain motionless for up to 45 minutes — twice a day.

“It was so challenging, exhausting and painful,” said Kristi Crymes, 47, a family doctor in Springfield, Missouri, who attended an intensive retreat at the dojo in October 2017.

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For the first time in nearly three decades, Alabama will allow yoga to be taught in its public schools, but the ancient practice will be missing some of its hallmarks: Teachers will be barred from saying the traditional salutation “namaste” and using Sanskrit names for poses.

Chanting is forbidden. And the sound of “om,” one of the most popular mantras associated with the practice, which combines breathing exercises and stretches, is a no-no.

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Every morning and every night at 8 o’clock, a strike of the gong echoes through the Thai Temple off of Palm River Road in Tampa.

Then, robed in the color of saffron, Buddhist monks bow in front of Buddha and begin an hour of chanting and meditation. 

“Chanting makes me feel better, feel good,” said Thai monk Suphat Kongkham.

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GLEN — The Western Supreme Buddha Temple is seeking approval from the Planning Board to construct several new structures at its Auriesville site.

The Western Supreme Buddha Temple is located at 174 Shrine Road, the site of the former Jesuit Retreat House the organization purchased from the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in 2006. The group later constructed an archway and another temple structure on the lower portion of the roughly 29 acre site off of Route 5S.

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NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. — Inside the Watlaodohammavanoo Buddhist Temple in North Fort Myers, locals gather to find what so many us also seek during this time: peace.

Nearly a year ago, Governor Ron Desantis issued a Safer At Home executive order.

But, there were a few exceptions - including houses of worship.

Source: Local Buddhist temple...

D. Anthony Alvarez ’21, a member of the Harvard Latter-day Saints Student Association, has attended religious services at the same congregation off campus since he arrived at Harvard as a freshman.

This semester, Alvarez said he still attends services at that same congregation. Amid Covid-19, though, he must sign up to attend ahead of time, don a mask, and eschew singing, which can spread infectious particles.

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Brent Beavers, a Buddhist hospital chaplain in the San Francisco Bay Area, had been on the job for less than a year when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The virus upended routines at the intensive care unit where he was completing his residency, even as restrictions on visitors, meanwhile, changed how he did his job. 

Unable to be together, patients and families needed more help with the heightened anxiety, sorrow and grief that come with illness and death. He was often a patient’s only human contact besides the busy doctors and nurses.

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Thai Viet Phan, who was recently elected to the Santa Ana City Council, was stunned when she received the advisory notice from the Buddhist temple she attended growing up.

Huong Tich Temple had been vandalized and Santa Ana police had deemed it a hate crime. It was the sixth temple to be vandalized in the area in the last month.

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At the saw-toothed edge of autumn, violent forest fires obscured the noonday sun at Green Gulch Farm. Ominous clouds of charcoal soot and thick, vermilion smoke darkened the Pacific Northwest, covering the last rows of butter lettuce with ghost-gray ash.

Source: A Zen Harvest - Tricycle