SUMERU

The Sumeru Press is pleased to announce publication of Rebirth as Empirical Basis for The Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, by Prof. Suwanda Sugunasiri, PhD.

Rebirth is a chronological analysis of Buddha’s enlightenment meditation and how Buddha’s growing awareness of the rebirth process was congruent with his opening to the Four Noble Truths.

The book is available for free download in PDF format from the Sumeru website. Just click on the “Latest Releases” tab at the top of this page. Then click on the book cover or the text link below it to begin your transfer.

US Fulbright Scholar Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri is Founding Editor of the Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, and is the author of You are What You Sense: a BuddhianScientific Dialogue and Embryo as Person: Buddhism, Bioethics and Society. His seminal paper, “The Whole Body, not Heart, as ‘Seat of Consciousness’: the Buddha’s View” (Philosophy East and West, 45.3) challenges the traditional view. Founder of Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies, Toronto, Canada, and Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College, University of Toronto, he is also Editor of Thus Spake the Sangha, presenting the life stories of five Sangha Elders of Toronto. Columnist in the Toronto Star from a Buddhist perspective, he is Past President of the Buddhist Council of Canada.

Prominent Edmonton Buddhist (and former Edmonton co-ordinator for the Buddhist Council of Canada in the 1980s) was recently in the news. Here’s the link… http://www.canmoreleader.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2462751

The Saskatchewan Leader-Post catches up with Heather Damcho on one of her Canadian visits. http://www.leaderpost.com/life/road+Buddhism/2595281/story.html

This remarkable statue was sculpted in the image of the Shakyamuni Buddha rupa in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya. It is carved from a single piece of Polar Pride jade, found in Canada in 2000. The statue is the largest Buddha statue in the world that is carved from a single piece of gem-quality jade. It is 2.7 metres tall.

The statue is currently touring the world, and will be in various Canadian cities this summer. All details can be found at this website: http://www.jadebuddha.org.au/en/

Here is the official website…

http://www.dalailamatoronto2010.org/

The University of Toronto is hosting a conference on Saturday, March 6, 2010 , 9:30 am – 4:00 pm, at the Munk Centre (St. George Campus), entitled “Asian Diaspora Conference 2010.”

Approximately 15 speakers will be present, covering a wide range of topics.

List of Co-Sponsors / Strategic Partners
Asian Institute
Asian Diaspora Group
Hart House Good Ideas Fund
East Asian Studies Students’ Union
Tibetan-Chinese Youth and Dialogue Project
University of Toronto China Conference
Arts and Science Students’ Union

A research study by the Université de Montréal recently reported in the January issue of Psychosomatic Medicine that Zen meditation practitioners have 18% better pain resistance than average folk. That’s not how I remember sesshin!

http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/press-releases/study-finds-zen-meditation-alleviates-pain.html

This new film by Canadian film-makers Pierre Mignault and Hélène Magny explores the face of non-violent resistance in Burma today. They recently received accolades for their work after the film’s first English-language presentation in Thailand recently.

More on this story at: http://www.mizzima.com/edop/commentary/3441-the-face-of-burmas-non-violent-resistance.html

The Canada Tibet Committee announced on Saturday that they are launching a new resource centre.

Here is the press release, from PR-Inside.com:

Canada Tibet Committee launches resource centre for Buddhists with message from Dalai Lama

You can also find out more at CTC’s own website:

Canada Tibet Committee

Find out more on the web at: http://www.mindandlife.org/

Find out more on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mindandlife?ref=nf

Integration is the name of the game in this initiative. Buddhism is about facing and understanding reality.

http://scienceformonks.org/

According to United Airlines’ Hemispheres magazine, Buddhist psychology is one of the hot new trends for 2010 – specifically, the Mind & Life Institute in Boulder, CO. Here’s a link to the article…

Mind & Life Institute in Tech Trends 2010

I wonder if they missed the implied connection to the title of the publication: United Hemispheres.

The CJBS was published annually in paper form by Nalanda College in Toronto for four years. The Journal is now moving online at the following URL: Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies

According to editor Prof. Suwanda Sugunasiri, the journal will offer its archived content for free, along with free access to current content for a limited period. Subscriptions to the online version may be done through the website.

The journal is running on Open Journal System, a content management system developed by a consortium of Canadian Universities and currently used by more than 2000 scholarly journals around the world.

Just a quick note to say we’ve registered a sister site. Details and launch to follow. Sarva mangalam.

Ayya Medhanandi, Canada’s (only?) Theravada Bhikkuni, operates a center near Perth, Ontario. She was recently profiled in the Ottawa Citizen on Dec 29, 2009. The article discusses not only her practice, but some of the larger issues around bhikkuni ordination that are swirling around the global Buddhist community right now. For the record, we support full bhikkuni ordination!

Here’s the article: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/monastery+path+change/2387235/story.html

Thank you to everyone for your support since our launch this year. This is our 100th post!

We are looking forward to 2010… and the upcoming publication of two books: Rebirth as Empirical Basis for the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, by Prof. Suwanda Sugunasiri; and Understanding the Chinese Buddhist Temple, by Karma Yönten Gyatso.

We will also keep you updated on Canadian Buddhist news as it comes our way, on the progress toward the launch of the International Journal for Buddhism and Psychology, and on other initiatives we aren’t quite ready yet to announce.

Tashi delek! May a thousand blessings support your endeavours for a better world in 2010.

Keep up to date with Aung San Suu Kyi, the monk-led democratic resistance, and all things Burmese… http://www.mizzima.com/