Buddhist monks

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Thai Temple Cleared of All Its Monks After Drug Test

Buddhist foursome in Phetchabun province came up positive for meth, a major issue in Thailand

(Newser) - Thailand has been trying to crack down on drug trafficking, especially when it comes to the methamphetamine pouring in from neighboring Myanmar, and drug testing has been a part of the nation's campaign against it. The latest group to be busted, however, is a bit of a surprise—and...

Zen Master Preached Compassion, a 'Return to the Breath'

Revered Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has died at the age of 95

(Newser) - Thich Nhat Hanh, the revered Zen Buddhist monk who helped spread the practice of mindfulness in the West and socially engaged Buddhism in the East, has died. He was 95. The death was confirmed by a monk at Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, who said that Nhat Hanh, known...

Monk Meditates in Tiger Reserve, Gets Killed by Leopard

Not a great choice of locale

(Newser) - A Buddhist monk’s monthlong forest meditation was interrupted in a most horrid way Wednesday in India. Rahul Walke, 35, was meditating under a tree in Maharashtra’s Ramdegi forest, home to a Buddhist temple and a protected tiger reserve, when a leopard attacked, reports the Times of India . A...

NYC Tourists Warned of Fake 'Hostile' Monks

Buddhist leaders say men soliciting money are a real problem

(Newser) - New York City Buddhist leaders are sounding the alarm to tourists: Beware the "fake monks." Men in orange robes claiming to be Buddhist monks are approaching visitors to some of the city's most popular attractions, handing them shiny medallions and offering greetings of peace. They then hit...

137 Tigers Evicted From Buddhist Temple

Monks caused 'mayhem,' Thai officials say

(Newser) - Wildlife officials in Thailand have begun removing some of the 137 tigers held at a Buddhist temple following accusations that the monks were involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals. The director of Thailand's Wildlife Conservation Office, Teunjai Noochdumrong, says three tigers were tranquilized and transported Monday...

Shandling Will Be Made Buddhist Monk Posthumously

Sources give TMZ details of comedian's funeral

(Newser) - Garry Shandling didn't speak much about it publicly, but he was Buddhist, and he had planned what TMZ calls an "elaborate" Buddhist funeral before his death. Sources tell the gossip site Shandling's head will be shaved by a monk, a symbolic gesture that ordains Shandling as a...

Monk Embezzled $200K From Temple to Fuel Gambling Habit

Khang Nguyen Le pleaded guilty

(Newser) - A Buddhist monk accused of embezzling more than $200,000 from his Louisiana temple to feed a casino gambling habit has pleaded guilty to fraud, the AP reports. The Advocate reports that 38-year-old Khang Nguyen Le will be sentenced June 27 after his guilty plea Thursday to one count of...

Buddhist Monk Is Philly's Newest Crimefighter

61-year-old tried to take down thief who interrupted his lotto session

(Newser) - Don't mess with Philadelphia's men of the cloth—especially if those cloths are orange. A 61-year-old Buddhist monk at a lottery machine in a Philly gas station Jan. 3 was targeted by a thief who probably assumed the holy man was an easy mark, the Philadelphia Daily News ...

Buddhists: Mummified Monk Is Just in Trance

Lama found in lotus position may not be dead, experts suggest

(Newser) - The 200-year-old Buddhist monk found still seated in the lotus position is not dead, but is rather in a rare spiritual state known as tukdam, Buddhism experts suggest. Dr. Barry Kerzin, a famous fellow monk who is also a physician to the Dalai Lama, tells the Siberian Times that monks...

Man Convicted in 1991 Arizona Monk Massacre

After 3rd trial, Doody guilty of 9 murders

(Newser) - It was one of Arizona's most notorious murder cases: the executions of nine people, including six monks, at a suburban Phoenix Buddhist temple. Two men were imprisoned for life in the 1991 killing but in 2011, an appeals court overturned the conviction of Johnathan Doody, ruling that investigators improperly...

Burma, Monks 'Encouraging' Ethnic Cleansing: Report

125K Muslims displaced after last year's violence: Human Rights Watch

(Newser) - Burma and its Buddhist monks have "organized and encouraged" ethnic cleansing in the country, asserts Human Rights Watch in a new report . Some 125,000 of the country's minority Rohingya Muslims have been displaced, in what amounts to "crimes against humanity," per the report. It's...

Thailand's Tubby Monks to Get Nutrition Lessons

Study finds nearly half of country's monks are obese

(Newser) - Thailand's monks have been piling on too many pounds on their way to enlightenment. Authorities plan to educate the country's hundreds of thousands of Buddhist monks about healthy eating following a study that found 45% of them are obese and 40% of them suffer from diseases such as...

Tenth Tibetan Monk Sets Himself on Fire

China calls it a form of 'terrorist activity'

(Newser) - The recent self-immolation craze may have started in Tunisia, but no one’s been as devoted to it as Tibet’s Buddhist monks. Yet another monk reportedly set himself on fire yesterday in protest of Chinese rule, making him the tenth to do so since March, according to the AP...

South Korean Monks Pray for 1.9M Culled Animals

Foot-and-mouth disease outbreak worst in country's history

(Newser) - Buddhist monks in South Korea held a massive memorial service today for the more than 1.9 million animals killed in a desperate attempt to halt the country’s foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. Surrounded by the faithful, the monks bowed before photos of the culled animals, offering them chrysanthemums as a...

Thais Take Coffin Naps to Fix Karma

$5 buys a few minutes in monastery's gaudy pink boxes

(Newser) - As Thailand's economy slows and its government falters, growing numbers of deeply superstitious citizens are jostling into a pink coffin to "die," the Telegraph reports. At about $5 a head, monks in a monastery outside Bangkok officiate over the "dead bodies" in the coffins, before ushering in...

Young Burmese Monks Ready to Take Up Arms

Buddhist movement gets bolder; some suggest stockpiling weapons

(Newser) - After seeing nonviolent protesters killed or detained in last year’s protests against the ruling junta, younger segments of Burma’s Buddhist monks are becoming more radical, embracing armed resistance and overt dissent, the Christian Science Monitor reports. "We need weapons,” one young monk said. “That is...

50 Years On, Tibet's Secret War Simmers

Dalai Lama's brother was key to CIA-backed anti-China insurgency

(Newser) - The little-known Tibetan resistance struggle after China's 1950 invasion still affects its politics today, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dalai Lama's brother played a vital role in the CIA-backed armed movement, largely made up of Buddhist monks, and Chinese suspicion still lingers over how much the spiritual leader himself...

1,000 Tibetan Monks Jailed to Prevent Protests

Entire monasteries cleared as Olympics start date approaches

(Newser) - The Chinese government has jailed more than 1,000 monks in an effort to prevent protests during the Olympic Games, reports the Times of London. Three large monasteries are empty near Lhasa, where hundreds of monks and supporters held protests amid gunfire in March. The government is holding the monks—...

Dalai Lama's Advice Runs to Earthier Tones

Exile's Indian headquarters draws seekers of celestial, and not-so-celestial, guidance

(Newser) - Driven by questions both spiritual and secular, more Westerners are heading to the Dalai Lama's headquarters-in-exile, the Wall Street Journal reports. Humble despite being proclaimed a “God-King,” Tibet's spiritual leader has sought “opportunities to be interactive” in the Indian town of Dharmsala—seeing a wide variety of...

Monks Provide Myanmar Relief
 Monks Provide Myanmar Relief 
May 31, 2008 10:50 AM CDT

Monks Provide Myanmar Relief

They offer comfort to 2.4 million struggling to survive

(Newser) - In the wake of Burma’s cyclone, Buddhist monks have become the only source of comfort—both “material” and “spiritual”—for many thousands of homeless and destitute who have been abandoned by the government, the New York Times reports. “Monks are like parents to us. The...

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