Author: Benjamin Kang Lim

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSPEK23024220080311

China on Tuesday officially approved a Taiwan Buddhist group which has been quietly conducting charity work for almost two decades, a landmark concession to religion by the country's atheist Communist rulers.

China maintains tight control over religion but has sought to use Buddhism to help curb rising social unrest and help...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7289508.stm

Religious and faith organisations contribute more than £100m in economic benefits to Wales, a report says.

But the groups have little in return, with barely a quarter of faith communities getting public funding, the research found.

According to the study, around 40,000 unpaid volunteers do 80,000 hours of community work a week

...

Author: Janaka Perera

Source: The Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,6027,0,0,1,0

Sri Lankan Buddhist monks on Mahasivarathri Day March 7 blessed a site situated in Berlin, Germany, on which is planned the construction of Europe's second largest Hindu temple.

The proposed temple's custodians are Indian Hindus who have received land in the city of Berlin free of charge from the German Government for building...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Tibetan_exiles_set_off_from_India_on_symbolic_march_home/articleshow/2851139.cms

More than 100 Tibetan exiles in India were flagged off to loud applause on Monday as they started a symbolic march home as part of pro-independence protests ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Thousands lined the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Buddhist Channel/TNA

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,6026,0,0,1,0

Five senior Thai Buddhist monks arrived in the Egyptian capital on Sunday for an official visit in which they will hold talks with the Sunni Muslims’ highest spiritual leader later in the week.

The Thai monks, led by Phra Dhramakosajarn, rector of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, were welcomed by Thai...

Author: Charles Haviland

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7286160.stm

After more than 15 years of waiting, the first Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have started to leave for a new life in other countries.

More than 100,000 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese people have been in refugee camps in Nepal since the early 1990s.

The mainly Hindu people were forced out of Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom which has a code of...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The TImes of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Gujarat_to_withdraw_Freedom_of_Religion_Amendment_Bill/articleshow/2848531.cms

The Gujarat government has decided to withdraw the controversial Freedom of Religion Amendment Bill 2006 after Governor Nawal Kishor Sharma returned it to the Assembly for reconsideration.

The bill will be...

Author: Mark Sappenfield

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0307/p04s01-wogn.html

Sakena Yacoobi well knows the hardships of Afghan women, caught between a war and the hopelessness of poverty and illiteracy.

Yet on International Women's Day Saturday, the Afghan educator will not ask the world to help Afghan women. Instead, she will ask Afghan women to help the world.

In a time of growing conflict...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Buddhist Channel/Scarborough Evening News

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,6014,0,0,1,0

A FORMER nun is devastated after her son was turned away from Scarborough's only faith secondary school.

Caroline Brookes, of St Mary's Walk, applied for 10-year-old Soony to attend St Augustine's School in September – only to learn he will be starting Raincliffe School instead.

The...

Author: John Lyon

Source: The Buddhist Channel/The Morning News

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=61,6012,0,0,1,0

A Sebastian County circuit judge did not violate the U.S. Constitution when he decided who could vote in an election at a Buddhist temple in Fort Smith, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The Supreme Court upheld the results of the temple's September 2006 election of its board of directors, rejecting...

Author: Kathy Berlin

Source: The Buddhist Channel/Rockford Independent

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=62,6022,0,0,1,0

Many times I've pulled up to the four-way stop sign at Belmont and Rogue River roads and - no matter how rushed I am - my eyes and thoughts wander to the Linh Son Temple on the southeast corner of the intersection.

In spring and summer the landscape blossoms with greenery and flowers surrounding a tall...

Author: CATHY REDFERN

Source: The Buddhist Channel/The Californian

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=65,6019,0,0,1,0

It's an unlikely setting for Buddhist monks native to Southeast Asia. In a rural neighborhood near Leon and Scott roads - between a recreational vehicle storage lot, horse corrals and an empty field - two monks live a devotional existence, their days full of meditation, study and prayer.

The temple of these...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Buddhist Channel/Prague Monitor

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,6001,0,0,1,0

Local members of the Diamond Path Buddhist form have applied for an EU subsidy in support of the new centre they want to build in Brno, the capital of Moravia, as the capacity of their current seat is no longer sufficient, Marketa Blazejovska from the Diamond Path told CTK Tuesday.

The number of Buddhists and...