A Buddhist Analysis of Mayan Doomsday
Millions of tourists flocked to Mexico and Central America on December 21, 2012 to celebrate the completion of the 13th (and, some said, final) “baktun” or nearly 400-year period of the Mayan “long count” calendar. While doomsday profiteers peddled end of the world paranoia throughout cyberspace in an effort to sell books and videos to [...]
Has the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill Given Rise to Christian Guarantors of Global Gay Rights?
In 2009, Ugandan lawmaker David Bahati introduced an Anti-Homosexuality Bill that carried the death penalty for “serial offenders” of the “offense of homosexuality.” Under intense international pressure including threats to withhold foreign development aid, the bill was defeated in May 2011. The defeat was widely perceived as a case study of power politics in the [...]
Daniel Hall
As a staff member of the Soka Gakkai International-USA Buddhist Association, Daniel directs awareness raising initiatives centered on the U.N. Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. In May 2012, he completed a Master of Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California and has since conducted research in this area as an independent scholar. His research interests include faith diplomacy, media and religion, and the role of transnational non-state actors in global affairs. In 2013, Palgrave Macmillan will publish his article titled "Pope John Paul II, Radio Free Europe and Faith Diplomacy" as part of a new volume on religion and public diplomacy.
Subscribe to this author
Contributing Scholars
Bhikshuni LozangBhikshuni Lozang Trinlae, B.Sc., Ed.M., (भिक्षुणी लोजाङ् त्रिन्ले) is presently a doctoral student in practical theology at Claremont Lincoln University, where she is conducting research in formal vajrayana meditation practice. She was ordained a novice Buddhist nun in Mysore in 1991; took full-ordination Bhikshuni precepts in 1998 in Bodhgaya, India; and is also a priest in the Buddhist vajrayana tradition (Drukpa Kagyu and Gelug lineages primarily).
A summa-cum-laude graduate in physics, she earned her master's degree in education from Harvard University, where she also studied Tibetan language in the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies. She taught science and English in India and in Tibet while undertaking contemplative training in vajrayana Buddhism. After teaching Buddhism in Taiwan in the mid-1990's, she founded Mahaprajapati Hermitage in Sagarmartha Mt. Everest National Park in Nepal, where she completed ten years of cloistered, intensive, vajrayana retreat, including two great approaching retreats (शतलक्ष मन्त्र इष्टदेव पुरश्चरण/བསྙེན་ཆེན།). Bhikshuni Lozang is also a trained chaplain and certified instructor in relationship education.
More details of her present research, and hermitage, including texts and photo album, can be found at bhikshuni.insightdeliverysystems.com,
research.insightdeliverysystems.com, and mahaprajapativihar.insightdeliverysystems.com.
Junaid SulahryJunaid Sulahry is a lawyer and graduate student of Islamic Studies at Hartford Seminary, where he focuses on Islamic Law.
Prashant ParikhAn Industrial Engineering Graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology, now working as a Systems Analyst, Prashant considers himself first and foremost a student of traditional Advaita Vedānta, from the Ārsha Vidyā Gurukulam. Born and brought up in Mumbai, India, he has been living in USA since 2005, thereafter gaining a subtle appreciation for the Vedic scriptures and Indian/Hindu culture.
In the face of myriad faulty interpretations of the Vedic scriptures, Prashant recognizes the imminent need of not only promoting, but also preserving these teachings. This, he believes, can be achieved by unfolding them in a traditional manner, as this kind of nuanced treatment alone can ensure posterity.
Additionally, he is involved in writing articles, facilitating study groups- online or otherwise- and always looking for new opportunities to share his enthusiasm for the subject.