Kagyu Nl

A common assumption about personal happiness is that it can only be obtained through external factors such as obtaining wealth, fame, physical beauty, finding a perfect love relationship, perfect family, etc. But from a Buddhist perspective, when we place so much dependence on external circumstances for our emotional and mental well being, we face problems: 1) We spend much of our lives working towards these goals that are hard to control (accidents, delays, break-ups, etc.) 2) Everything is subject to impermanence. Whatever we have obtained this current moment - wealth, fame, beauty - it is a guarantee that you will have to part with it eventually. Think about our experiences with loss. Every time...

Bangkok is the transportation and financial hub of Southeast Asia and the metropolitan hub of Thailand. A study abroad experience in Bangkok shows students how history and modernity can fuse into a culture and city rich in temples, modern and ancient architecture, canals with floating shops and wonderful religious history. The temples and palaces in Bangkok that can be visited during a study abroad in Bangkok are breathtaking. Among the most renowned is the Wat Phra Kaeo which contains a huge emerald Buddha that only the king is allowed to get close to. The Royal Palace has three halls made of gold and offers daily tours. The study abroad Bangkok program allows students the chance to see not only a...

Well, the popular believe says that Hindus are not united and that's why suffer...Look Muslims and see how united they are. We should learn from them and unite!! Is it really true?...or just a misconception of Hindus for Hindus? Lets compare two civilizations here....Indian civilization and Arabian civilization. Indian civilization is far more diverse, far more complex compared to Arabian civilization. Indian civilization is divided into numerous languages, foods, dresses, cultures....only one thing in common .i.e It is under umbrella of complex but Dominant religion Hinduism whereas Arabian civilization is much more uniform under umbrella of uniform religion Islam. Now look at the state of these...

The Tibet House in New Delhi provides glimpses of Tibetan culture to the visitors. It is situated at the Institutional Area at Lodhi Road. It is an excellent resource centre for those who look for information about the history of Tibet or Tibetan culture. The activities of Tibet House have been shaped by the long-standing issue of the alleged Chinese intervention of Tibet. The Chinese government officials always maintain that Tibet is a part of China. They never liked the fact that India provided political asylum to the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, Dalai Lama. But Tibet House largely managed to steer clear of controversies that occasionally surface between China and Dalai Lama, on various...

past several centuries in Europe, most of the great cathedrals have at least one stained glass rose window that is place in a primary architectural location on the building. Though people admire the great expanse of these incredible stained glass windows (some are up to 45 feet diameter, or 8 stories tall), plus the beautiful colors of the glass, few are aware of the deeper significance of why rose windows were put there in the first place. The builders of the cathedrals were the master Masons who at the time still had the esoteric knowledge of sacred geometry, and how to use its effects to elevate the spiritual nature of man. Unfortunately, most people today, and even back then, believed the...

Hindus have an interest in theology and often a passion for it. Few works of art or literature are purely secular: the intellectual and aesthetic efforts of India, long, continuous and distinguished as they are, are monotonous inasmuch as they are almost all the expression of some religious phase. But the religion itself is extraordinarily full and varied. The love of discussion and speculation creates considerable variety in practice and almost unlimited variety in creed and theory. There are few dogmas known to the theologies of the world which are not held by some of India's multitudinous sects, and it is perhaps impossible to make a single general statement about Hinduism, to which some sects...

To give you a tiny sampling, a flavor of what Theravada Buddhist monks chant every morning, following are a few stanzas of the Buddha's exact teachings in his native Pali language (with translations), which have been precisely kept intact by his order of monks for over 2500 years, or since three months after the Buddha's death. Chanting these words as a group insures that the words never become altered or embellished over the centuries, assuring that these words are what the Buddha actually spoke. Jatipi dukkha jarapi dukkha maranampi dukkham. Birth is stressful, ageing is stressful, death is stressful, Soka-parideva-dukkha-domanassupayasapi dukkha, Sorrow, lamentation. Pain, distress, and despair...

In Part I, my Article focused on Spirituality and touched briefly on Meditation. In this Article, we'll talk about the four levels of Meditation. Meditation is essential for anyone who wishes to grow Spiritual. But, not all people want to grow Spiritual and therefore, miss the connection between a lack of Spirituality and dis-ease. I hope that after these two Articles, it will be easier to understand the intricate relationship between dis-ease, illness, and happiness, which result from our spirit, mind, body, and emotions being re-connected from their dis-connection with God. It's that process of re-connecting our soul with God that's called: "Spiritual Growth". Part II - The Power of Meditation...

For many people hip hop proves the existence of a higher power, because it has allowed them to rise from something to nothing through having faith, being persistent, and by pursuing a gift or passion that was given to them by the Most High. As a result, it is safe to assume that religion or spirituality has played a part in the development of careers of these artists and executives alike. Followers of Christ for instance, are well aware that no sin is greater than the next and as long as you profess your love of God and ask for forgiveness his love will endure forever. One thing is for sure, unlike the music industry, your Most High will be around, no matter how many nominations you get or what your...

Swami Vivekananda presented the talk, Real Religion at the World's Parliament of Religions in 1893. With this speech, he introduced Vedanta (AKA Hinduism) to the West. It is more than 100 years later and the Christian West continues to struggle with the world's religions. This is a brief opportunity to comment on Vivekananda's speech. "Religion does not consist in doctrines or dogmas." What simple and wise words. However, the religion of the West, Christianity, is devoted to its doctrines and dogmas. Doctrines about Christianity as the exclusive path to salvation are the roots of Christian evangelization and, sadly, of Christian intolerance. Such intolerance extends to the ends of the earth. The...

Everyone has their own beliefs and religion and that’s good, what ever works for you. But what I feel is that a belief is something which you are given, not something you really choose for yourselves and I feel that even religion is a false hope. We all have some amazing leaders in our life’s, but from how they started off initially and what they seemed to have changed to along the way, are two completely different things altogether don’t you think? How can something what we believe in which is meant to be so good for us be causing so much destruction, violence and war in the world? I used to believe in god I suppose, but for a long time even though I still know that something exists, that is...

Tam Giao (i.e. Three traditional religions, including Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism) Temple, also known as Tam Giao Pagoda together with Nhi Thanh Grotto is one of the eight beauty spots in Lang Son. According to the documents left, this temple was established by Ngo Thi Si - the commander administering Lang Son in order to worship all three special ones: Khong Tu (Confucius) of Taoism, Phat Thich Ca (Sakyamuni) of Buddhism, and Lao Tu (Lao-tzu) of Confucianism. In May 1779, Ngo Thi Si hired masons to embellish the grotto area. The left grotto is high and has better ground position; hence, Tam Giao Temple was built on this ground. The grotto Nhi Thanh under the pagoda is a natural rocky cave...

There is no exact connection between religion and <a rel="nofollow" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/article_exit_link');" href= paranormal beliefs </a>. There are people who are religious but don’t believe in things like Bigfoot or UFOs while others believe in many paranormal events but who are not part of any religious tradition. Then, one does not anything to do with the other. Those people who show obedience to religious traditions may often be eager to renounce any correspondence since paranormal beliefs are often portrayed as less sane and reliable than religious beliefs. In some cases, conservative and other religious believer often regard paranormal...

It seems logical to reason that one can achieve spiritual enlightenment through the acceptance and practice of the good aspects of every religion. However, like any other discipline, religion has a foundation of core teachings that determine if one is even permitted to accept instruction from other belief systems. It's interesting to note that the Protestant Bible actually aligns the building of faith in God to the construction of an invisible, but very real, building into which the believer is to move permanently. Scripture even advises one to sit down and think over such a task before undertaking it, to determine if he really wants to construct a sound structure that must not fail him later...

Religion started reformation? Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate. If we go deep and trace the history of this man, we come to the conclusion that the man had gone astray and the people who started reforming this man and giving him right directions are really the founders of religion. They prepared codes for the people and the people who started following those codes turned into a separate unit and the people who were not coming to that code were forming a separate unit. At a later stage, more and more people had been establishing these codes of conducts and they started giving these units separate names. Today, we call these units as religions and sub religions. It is on record that the people who...

When I was younger, I believed in Christianity and everything it stood for, because I hadn't ever been exposed to anything else. Once I started to learn that there were a few problems with Christianity, it wasn't long before I wasn't a Christian anymore. There are other religions around the world that seem to have the same effect on people. Do you belong to a particular religion, because your choices are limited for some reason? There are a lot of people through out history and living today who follow certain religious guidelines and beliefs, simply because of the people that they are surrounded by. Think about this for a moment, I believed that Jesus was God and that he died for our sins until I...

If you say that Christianity is a peaceful religion according to scripture then it can be said that Islam, according to scripture is peaceful. In reality, both the Koran and the Bible present a dichotomy, promoting peace and violence. They both contain quotes that are peaceful and some not so peaceful quotes. In Luke 19:27, Jesus himself says, "But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them - bring them here and kill them in front of me." Now the popular phrase...what would Jesus do?...doesn't sound to good, does it? The Koran also has many quotes like 2:190, "The believer is called upon to fight in the way of God with those that fight with you...but aggress not. God loves...

Organ donation is an act of individual will, but donors often ask the question - "Does my religion approve?" Different religions often have different moral codes, practices, values, institutions, and rituals associated with their beliefs. When it comes to organ donation, the majority of religions actually encourage organ donation. From Amish to Catholicism, they feel that it is a generous act of charity. One of the largest religions that welcomes organ donation is the United Methodists. This church is aware of the meaning behind donating your organs. By allowing doctors to use your body parts if something were to happen to you, you could help a victim that is relying on organ transplant to give...

One God one Religion Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate. All the people in this world accept that there is one and only one God and we all are the children of the same one God and therefore, we are not different, but members of one and same family. This admissions is just formal because where-ever we go we find the people divided in religions, in castes, in economic groups, in sub castes and in countries and at the same time we find that the people are not one but they think differently, they eat differently, they speak differently and they wear on clothes differently just to establish that they are not one with all, but they are different people. And the whole history of this mankind is written with the...

ANIMAL LOVE AND CARE IN ISLAM AND OTHER RELIGIONS          BY                   PROF DR GHULAM MOHYUDDIN WANI             The love of the animals is not the new slogan of the modern ethics alone .Many years before the first Bishop of Athens has said that truth does not enter the soul which loved not animals. I had heard of some tales of the Muslim lord and nawabs having spent thousands of rupees on the marriage of their pet dogs .            When they were ridiculed on this spending he has made a legend. He took his son on the top of the place which was few stories above the ground.Closed all the doors and windows and asked him to jump from the top. All...

"Did God create all these religions?" Doesn’t this sound a rather unusual question? But its something, which has kept me, busy for quite sometime now. If there’s only one God why do we have so many religions! Doesn’t the word religion invoke a sense of unity between a particular community, hatred towards another, misunderstandings and discrimination between the society as a whole? So do we really need a religion? Well, this question has say two answers, many may say YES, few others NO. But let’s just discuss about this and then come to a conclusion. On Christmas eve, on Ramzan or any other festival for that matter, people hug each other, exchange gifts, dance, sing and so on. All this only...

It's a world of diversity. So diverse that of all the billions of people in this world, not any of us are the same. Not one person is exactly like another. That's the beautiful thing about our world. But, it is getting scarier and scarier with each new day that approaches and each new war that erupts. It seems that we can't seem to get along because of our differences. I admit that some differences are intolerable. People who consciously commit crimes cannot be tolerated. People who intend to hurt others cannot be tolerated. People with differences such as these are not the kind of differences I am referring. What I am talking about are the various people of different religions, cultures, belief...

When I was a young man, my parents told me about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Every Christmas, there would be presents underneath the tree from Santa Claus and on Easter I would get a basket full of candy and eggs. However, when I was 11 years old, my parents broke the devastating news to me, there was no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny. As you can imagine, I cried for hours over the frustration and disappointment. For one, I thought that I wasn't going to get any more Christmas gifts, but my parents provided me with the needed psychological relief and told me that they were going to provide Christmas gifts for me, until I died. Even though I was upset, I was relieved and confused. If my parents...

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Exodus, 3:2 Sanskrit, the language used long ago by religious scribes and wise men, nowadays conveying ancient messages to us from holy texts, is presently only a liturgical language like Latin. The Indian Vedas were written in Sanskrit. In addition to liturgical purposes, this language is spoken at some places even today, particularly in some institutions where people feel the need to reinvigorate it. In the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, there are villages where ordinary people speak Sanskrit. Sanskrit is used also in...

We cannot reach God through religions                        Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate.               We shall have to accept one thing that God could be there, but we believe in the existence of God only for one thing and that is our prayer. Each one of us has got so many wishes, desires and demands which are not fulfilled in spite of all our efforts and our elders had been telling us that we should place our demands before God and pray for their fulfillment.  The other two things which most of the prayers contain are praise for God and our thanks for God and these two things the man may recite, but all these are formal in character and actually we are busy in...

If you look around at most people, they will tell you that the most important thing to them is their family. Think about what's most important to you and if it's along the lines of relationships, you probably fit right into this relational group of people. It's hard to imagine, all the different religions in the world. It seems like there's thousands of them, everywhere you turn, there is a different church in your community. It's even harder to imagine, that there are so many different Christian denominations. Here's a group of people, that's supposedly started from one man and one book. Why are there so many different religions, to believe in? Getting to the bottom of this question, would probably...

Witchcraft is a religion that wasn't founded by any single individual. It was a natural development in a world that was controlled by unknown forces of mysterious origins. It is believed that magick in its original form existed in the Paleolithic times that is almost twenty five thousand years ago! Recent research has proved that Africa was the cradle of civilization. When people spread to other parts of the world, they began to develop different styles of worship and culture. As a result we have many different types of magickal religions that probably co-existed and thrived in different parts of the world. In ancient times, people used to depend on crops and hunting for sustenance. As they worried...

Religions from God God Almighty, revealed the religion to the entire mankind through his prophets who lived in different ages, in different parts of the world and in different societies, right from the period of creation of the first man Adam who is the first prophet until Muhammad who is the last prophet. The existing religions such as Hinduism/Vedism, Zoroastrianism/Mazdayasni, Taoism, Judaism, Islam are the ones revealed by and originated from God who is one and only one. Jainism, Budhism and Christianity are not separate religions. When Jainism and Budhism are a part of Hinduism, Christianity is a part of Judaism. This is because Mahaveer, Gautama Buddha or Jesus were not sent by God to...

India has been the source of all religions. India has been the basic source of even those religions which are against Hinduism. Why has it happened that India has been the basic source of all religions? India is the oldest civilization, and the whole mind of India has been working and working in the dimension of religion. It has come upon all the secrets of religion – no secret is unknown. Infect, for thousands of years you have not been able to teach any secret to India about religion, because they know all. They have discovered all; they have completed the whole journey in the way. So all that is beautiful in religion, wherever it is, you can be certain that some how it comes from India. And...

Islam is one of the worlds largest religions with millions of followers from every single nation in the world. Islam has never been the most accessible religion to the West as there are fewer Muslims in the USA then there are in countries in Africa or in the Middle East for example. This inability for Westerners to be able to experience Islam from true Muslims has often lead to many misconceptions about this tolerant religion. The title of this article and the fact that you are reading it right now shows how little true Islam is taught around the world as being a major religion. According to the Council on American-Islamic relations there are approximately 1.2 billion [in 1999] Muslims in the world...

During the last 20 years, the number of Muslims in the world has been increasing steadily. Statistics for the year 1973 indicate that the world population of Muslims was 500 million; now, it has reached 1.5 billion. Today, every fourth person is a Muslim. It is probable that the Muslim population will continue to increase and that Islam will become the world's largest religion. The reason for this steady rise is not only the increasing population in Muslim countries, but also the growing numbers of people who are turning to Islam, a phenomenon that has gained momentum, especially after the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 (hereinafter referred to as 9/11). This attack, deplored...

It would be unsophisticated to say that religion causes violence. However, the question at hand is phrased beautifully, since it merely suggests that religion can lead to violence. With what we have seen in radical Islam and the activities of the Christian Right in America, it may be true to say that religion can lead to violence. Organised religion may lead to violence by providing certain pre-requisites for violence. Religion forms a powerful ideological basis for group identity. It is one of the main catalysts for inter-group conflict, next to nationality and ethnicity. The power of religion over other bases of group formation is that it is ideological. It appeals to the core of existence and...

I recently enjoyed reading an excellent summary by a talented and free-thinking author, expressing the serious limitations imposed upon the thoughts and life style of millions of decent, ordinary people by a variety of organized religions and faith systems which stubbornly refuse to update their dogmas to accommodate the pressing needs and more advanced knowledge of today. I must say that I concur with most, possibly all of the sentiments expressed by this writer but may I raise one small voice in the defense of the religion into which I was born and which sustained and kept me safe through childhood, adolescence and early manhood until, gradually the questions began to outnumber the answers and I...

This book is a collection of articles on a variety of topics such as resurrection, astrological implications of the Star of Bethlehem, the Templars, and Newton and the Bible. Many of the articles discuss extreme views, but others reinforce current research. The one article I wish review is Spreading the Goddess Gospel: Thanks to The DaVinci Code, Maragret Starbird Finds Herself with a Worldwide Audience by Cynthis Logan. Margaret Starbird's works, The Woman with the Alabaster and The Goddess in the Gospels provided Dan Brown in The DaVinci Code with the idea of Jesus having married Mary Magdalen, an idea she got from Holy Grail, Holy Blood by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln. One concept that Starbird...

There are so many online portals that are being developed nowadays in the hope of providing a one stop shop for someone who wants to learn about the place and its features. Most have failed however because the idea of bringing together everything, meaning all that one will need, is really a daunting task. There is one site however that remains committed to this business. That is The site is not like others that only cater to a specific area. This one has a really wide array of features which includes travel guides, business locators, latest local, international and celebrity news and of course things that deal with the Jewish faith and religion. All these are in recognition of the million of fans...

Holy Communion is central to the Christian Religion. While it is a central component to Christian religious denominations, the emphasis and meaning of Holy Communion varies among the various Christian denominations. There is big difference in how for example the Roman Catholic Church treats and views communion and how the Baptist Church or the Evangelical churches view the importance and role of Holy Communion in the church. Prior to the arrest of Jesus and his eventual crucifixion, Jesus used a meal as a way to commune with his apostles during the Passover feast. The meal was a traditional Passover meal During this meal he predicted his eventual arrest and even identified his betrayer. The primary...

All aggression happening in the world around us, based on any religious belief systems clearly show that the difference between ‘religion' and ‘belief' is not well-understood. We all look out for a spiritual awe or expereince in our lives. Inorder to express any experiences we confide or believe in, we need a system. A belief system. Religion in my opinion, is an attempt to codify and formalize a spiritual experience. But that formalization distorts and destroys what it was attempting to preserve or control, in the first place.   Take butterfly collecting for example. When I see the brightly colored wings fluttering by, full of life and beauty, I say that it is a wonderful butterfly. Then...

Lhasa, translated to "Land of the Gods" is the capital of Tibet. Nestled on the northern slopes of the Himalaya Mountains, it is the true heart of Tibet. It is an extraordinary city which should be high on your list of travel destinations. More than 1,300 years old, Lhasa is situated right next to the river with the same name, affording it stunning views. Visiting this city is nothing less but a spiritual experience, not just because of the natural beauty of the region, but also because of the Tibetan influence. For a more orthodox Tibetan feel, the eastern end of Lhasa is ideal. Visit the Jokhang and the Barkhor to see traditional dress, locals engaged on a kora, and spinning prayer wheels. The...