by Vishvapani | Apr 1, 2012 | Buddhism, Buddhist World, Interviews
Tibetan Buddhist monk, Palden Gyatso, spent 33 years imprisoned by the Chinese and drew deep on his Buddhist practice to survive his brutal treatment. He escaped to the West to tell his story and I met him in London to discuss his experiences his searing memoir, Fire...
by Vishvapani | Mar 28, 2012 | Buddhist World
Many Buddhist traditions claim that they are reliable and authoritative because they inherit a lineage of realised masters dating back to prestigious teachers of the ancient past. That sounds impressive and appealing but the Buddha advised us to check out the truth of...
by Vishvapani | Mar 17, 2012 | Buddhism in the West, Buddhist World, Featured
It’s 50 years since Buddhist teachers started arriving in the west in the early 60s and Buddhism crash-landed into the counterculture. So what have we learned about western Buddhism? This piece appeared in The Guardian (Saturday 17 March 2012). These thoughts...
by Vishvapani | Mar 14, 2012 | Buddhist World, Featured
The young Kalu Rinpoche, the reborn ‘tulku’ of a respected Tibetan Buddhist teacher, has posted a video detailing his sexual abuse at the hands of Buddhist monks, his tutor’s attempt to murder him and his descent into drug addiction and alcoholism....
by Vishvapani | Mar 7, 2012 | Buddhist World, Reviews
Vishvapani reviews Schettini’s heartfelt and vivid account of becoming a Tibetan Buddhist monk and his valuable reflections on what it means for westerners to practice Buddhism When I first encountered Buddhism in the UK around 1980 there was already a generation of...
by Vishvapani | Feb 28, 2012 | Buddhism in the West, Buddhist World
In my last post I wrote about current issues within the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT). As promised, to fill out my attitude to the NKT I am posting an article I wrote in 1996 in the second issue of Dharma Life magazine, just as the dispute over Dorje Shugden was...
