Video: Self-importance, happiness, and “The Emotional Rollercoaster”

At the recent TEDxMiddlebury conference, Polly Young-Eisendrath gave this talk on happiness. The key to being happy, she says, is getting free of self-importance.

A Jungian analyst in private practice and a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont, Young-Eisendrath is attuned to how we deal (or don’t deal) with our emotions. So it’s fitting that she’ll be co-leading — along with John Tarrant and Anyen Rinpoche –”Getting Off the Emotional Rollercoaster,” a weekend program co-presented by the Shambhala Sun Foundation at Omega Institute this summer. Read More »

Tickets for Dalai Lama’s October visit to Atlanta on sale Friday morning

Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s October visit to Emory University in Atlanta. On October 8, the Dalai Lama will give a public talk at the Gwinnett Center called “The Pillars of Responsible Citizenship in the 21st Century Global Village,” followed by a panel discussion on secular ethics in education. Along with His Holiness, the panel will feature psychologist Frans B.M. de Waal, neuroscientist Richard Davidson, and religion professor Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, and will be moderated by physicist and Mind and Life Institute president Arthur Zajonc. Read more about both events here. Read More »

Profound Treasury panel discussions coming up in New York, Boston, and Halifax

To celebrate the launch of The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, panel discussions have been planned in New York, Boston, and Halifax to explore the relevance of Chogyam Trungpa’s teachings and their impact on Buddhism in the West. The events are listed below; more information about all of them is available here. Read More »

Two Tibetan monks die in double self-immolation; possible third immolation unconfirmed

Lobsang Dawa and Kunchok Woeser

Two young monks are dead after self-immolating at the Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Zoege, Eastern Tibet, on Wednesday evening, Phayul reports. Lobsang Dawa, 20, and Kunchok Woeser, 22, set themselves alight outside the monastery’s main prayer hall. Both of them died at the scene, and their bodies were taken back to their rooms for prayer services. Chinese police have reportedly ordered that both bodies be cremated by Thursday morning.

There are also reports that a young mother self-immolated on Wednesday in Zamthang, Eastern Tibet, but these have not been confirmed. Read More »

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche touring East Coast in May

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche will kick off his East Coast tour with two talks in New York, followed by stops in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. He’ll give a public talk called “Independence and Interdependence” on May 11 and 12 at Tibet House in New York, followed by a talk aimed more specifically at the Asian community, called “Buddhism as a Science of Mind.”

On May 17 and 19, he’ll be teaching in Bloomfield, Connecticut, on “The Altruistic Heart: Training in the Four Immeasurables,” followed by “Emotions as the Path, Not the Problem” in Philadelphia on May 25. For more information about all four events, click here.

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche announces summer teaching schedule

Mangala Shri Bhuti has announced Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche’s summer teaching schedule. On June 8 and 9, he’ll lead a Modern Day Bodhisattva seminar at Pema Osel Do Ngak Choling, in Vermont. The program — which includes teachings, question-and-answer periods, discussions, meditation, and a chance to take refuge and bodhisattva vows — focuses on developing happiness from looking inward with honest self-reflection and outward with a deep care for others. Read More »

Video: The monk who calls himself “the Burmese Bin Laden”

Over the past year, fighting between Buddhists and Muslims in Burma has intensified, with the Muslim Rohingya being persecuted in the country’s Western Rakhine state and dozens killed in sectarian riots last month in the central city of Meiktila. Some of the violence has been incited by Buddhist monks. The Guardian has a video interview with Wirathu, a monk who calls himself “the Burmese Bin Laden.” Wirathu and his controversial 969 movement have been inciting violence throughout Burma by spreading rumors and racist stereotypes about Muslims.

Burmese writer Swe Win also reports on Burma’s radicalized monks in the New York Times, noting the corruption present in many of Burma’s monasteries. Many other Buddhists, including the Dalai Lama, have spoken out against the violence and condemned the Burmese monks. Watch a new interview with His Holiness after the jump. Read More »