Giving the gift of education in Indonesia

Samaneri Gautami on her path to becoming a bhikkhuni

Editor’s note: Ven. Analayo has kindly given Buddhistdoor International permission to republish his recent, groundbreaking, Vinaya-based study of nuns’ higher ordination. Because it is Vin

In the years after the Buddha and the conquest of Asoka, the sasana moved east and became widespread throughout the contiguous area made up of the modern states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal

If you were a traveler interested in the history of Vajrayana Buddhism, where would you go?

Interview with the first secretary general of the IBC

For millennia, awesome structures have reached for the sky and the stars beyond heaven. Religious towers like ziggurats or pyramids were believed to embody an adored ideal. Even today's skyscrapers ar

Editor's note: This feature was first published in the now-retired Bodhi Journal, Issue 7, March 2008.  Introduction The Exegetical (Commentarial) Literature or Aṭṭhakathā, wh

Editor's note: This feature was first published in the now-retired Bodhi Journal, Issue 1, October 2006. In which sense can we speak of a characteristically Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition? In answering

Music from Bhutan is ambient while creatively carving out an ethereal dimension for dance and song. Such an arresting kind of music is only natural coming from one of the most dazzling artistic entour

One of the mysteries of Buddhist history is the 400-year absence of an anthropomorphic image of the Buddha.  Early scholars argued for a period of defacto aniconism, in which artisans decorated Buddhi

  Beginning in the mid-1980’s, American scholars John and Susan Huntington turned Buddhist art history on its head with claims that the first Buddha images were made shortly after the Buddha’s death,

I remember watching a friend perform once in a play. My friend played an ordinary pedestrian on the street, was in a scene where he handed over some money to a grateful beggar, played by ano

Few realms have captured the romantic imagination of both East and West than Central Asia. Central Asia is home to an invaluable chapter of Buddhism’s heritage and pilgrimage. And as muted as it is to