Dharamshala, India. First, it’s in India. Second, it’s spelled four ways. And third, it’s His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s hometown. At least, for now. We arrived in Dharamshala (also spelled Dharamsala, etc.) last month to have an audience with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has been in residence there since about the time he […]
Tag Archives: Buddhism
In Himalayas: Once Greater Tibet, Now Tragically Divided
Delhi, India. With its original capital in Lhasa, Tibet and Tibetan influence once reached from India to Mongolia and included Mount Everest. The Tibetan Empire (Tibetan: བོད་ཆེན་པོ, Wylie: bod chen po, “Great Tibet”) existed from the 7th to 9th centuries A.D. when Tibet was unified as a large and powerful empire, and ruled an area considerably larger than the Tibetan Plateau, stretching to parts of East […]
Himalayas: From India/Pakistan to Bhutan & Nepal + Chinese Tibet
Tawang, India. As I sit here at 10,000 feet on the veranda overlooking the cloud-covered mountain range before me, I study over my books on this spectacular mountain range. I am a long way from New York. Let me share with you what I am learning! The Himalayas is a mountain range in Asia, separating […]
NYC: Sixty Years Ago, Dalai Lama Crossed Mountains, Cultures to West
Dalai Lama July Gathering Set to Sell Out at Essex House NYC New York, N.Y. “In 1959 — sixty years ago this year — His Holiness the Dalai Lama crossed the snow-covered Himalayan Mountains from Tibet into India to escape Chinese Communist persecution,” states Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura-Hillyer, founder of Gaia Holistic Foundation. “No one really knew of […]
Following in the Footsteps of His Ancestor at Harvard
Cambridge, MA. Sir Thomas Dudley (1576-1653) was the colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He is the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of Jim Luce and is the ‘Dudley’ of The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation. Sir Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, renamed Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he built the town’s […]
As U.N. Marks Buddhist Holiday, Ban Pays Tribute to Victims of Nepal Earthquake
New York, N.Y. On the Day of Vesak, which acknowledges the contribution of Buddhism to the spirituality of humanity, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is paying special tribute to the victims of the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal over a month ago. A Buddhist monk takes snapshots during the UN’s special event for the Day […]
Thich Nhat Hanh’s New, Passionate Love Letter to the Earth
Paris, France. At this very moment, the Earth is above you, below you, all around you, and even inside you. The Earth is everywhere. You may be used to thinking of the Earth as only the ground beneath your feet. But the water, the sea, the sky, and everything around us comes from the Earth. […]
Essay Five Years Ago: Will a Vow of Poverty Fill the Void In My Soul?
New York, N.Y. As I approach my fiftieth birthday, I am feeling incomplete. Part of me – my soul? – is still missing. In secular terms, I think I am not yet in touch with the best way to serve humanity. In theological terms, I would say I have yet to stumble upon God’s full […]
