The use of AI and robotic technology in worship is raising profound questions about its long-term consequences. Will it lead to the betterment of society or replace practitioners?
Compassionate listening is the practice of shifting our focus from talking to listening. In so doing, we overcome egocentricity.
(Shutterstock)
The Seven Lucky Gods usher in good fortune in the new year in Japan. Among them, Hotei plays the most prominent role, for he is considered not just a lucky god, but also a buddha.
Novice Buddhist monks during a mass ordination at Dhamagaya Temple in central Thailand in 2010.
AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong
Traditional ordination into a Buddhist monastic life requires meeting guidelines based on male and female genders.
The vast majority of Buddhists in historical and contemporary times have been followers of Mahāyāna Buddhism.
Fred de Noyelle / Godong/Stone via Getty Images
The Mahāyāna branch of Buddhism likely emerged around the first centuries A.D. and was most readily carried through the Silk Road and maritime trade routes.
Monsters and spirits –including ‘tsukumogami,’ which are made of everyday objects – in the ‘Hyakki-Yagyō-Emaki’ scroll, painted between the 14th and 16th centuries.
Wikimedia Commons
Shinto and Buddhist ideas about interconnectedness have deeply influenced Japan, shaping centuries-old rituals and stories whose impact continues today.
Rosaries are meant for praying anywhere and anytime.
Anderson Mouzinho/EyeEm via Getty Images
Scholars explain why many see abortion access as a religious freedom issue and what the views of different faiths are on ‘ensoulment,’ the point at which the soul is believed to enter the fetus.
Demonstrators stand outside the Supreme Court in 2014.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
From talk of a ‘poisonous doctrine’ to mistaken beliefs that he hailed from Africa, Western thinkers got Buddhism wrong for a long time.
Buddhist monks march through Saigon streets in 1963, during the early stages of a protest demonstration that ended in the self-immolation of Thích Quảng Đức.
(AP Photo/Malcolm Browne)
The self-immolation of Wynn Bruce on Earth Day in Washington, D.C., not only raises questions about climate grief but also about intercultural understanding.
Tibetan monks at Sera Jey Monastery in Mysore, India, experience using microscopes for the first time.
Courtesy of Dan Pierce
Religious beliefs and modern biology sometimes seem to collide. But exploring those ideas with compassion and an open mind can lead to deeper learning across cultures.
Thich Nhat Hanh leads a walking meditation in Paris.
Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The late Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh popularized the contemplative practice around the world.
Grandparents are teaching Chinese calligraphy to their granddaughter and how to write Chinese New Year auspicious messages.
AsiaVision/E+ via Getty Images
The Lunar New Year celebrations that start on Feb. 1 will go on for a week. It is the year of the tiger, considered in Chinese culture as the foremost among all beasts.