A Zen Priest at Harvard Finds the Key to Happiness

From Lion's Roar-

What makes life worth living? What really makes us happy? As a Zen priest and leader of the one of the most important studies of human happiness ever undertaken, Robert Waldinger has sought the answers to these questions.

What he’s discovered is that science and Buddhism arrive at the same basic answer. They both conclude, he says, that “moving beyond the small self is a huge source of both meaning and contentment.”

Waldinger is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and director of the famed Harvard Study of Adult Development. It’s perhaps the longest-running study of adult life ever conducted. For seventy-five continuous years, it has tracked the lives of 724 men in order to understand what makes for a healthy, happy life. Now it’s following the next generation, as it tracks the lives of the original subjects’ children and their families.

More here-

https://www.lionsroar.com/love-its-what-really-makes-us-happy/

The Real Meaning of Original Sin

From Lions Roar-

Mahayana Buddhist traditions affirm the teaching of buddhanature (tathagatagarbha) — that fundamentally all sentient beings possess the same noble qualities as the Buddha. As a student of Mahayana Buddhism, this has been for me the single most inspiring and trenchant teaching. But as a Christian theologian, I am often disappointed by the way Buddhists contrast the teachings on buddhanature with the Christian doctrine of original sin.

It seems the purpose of drawing this contrast is to highlight how much the teaching on buddhanature differs from the despair about human nature that plagues so many of us, for which the doctrine of original sin is supposedly to blame. I have noticed how deeply the contrast resonates with people, and I have no intention of dismissing anyone’s negative experiences of Christian teachings. One can only regret any harm done under a religious guise.

More here-

https://www.lionsroar.com/the-real-meaning-of-original-sin/

Myanmar Buddhist Monk May Have Plans to Build Monastery Near Anglican Church

From Radio Free Asia-

An influential Buddhist monk who has been erecting Buddhist pagodas on the grounds of churches and mosques in eastern Myanmar’s Karen State may begin building a monastery near an Anglican church, said the bishop who oversees Anglicanism in the state and neighboring regions on Tuesday.

Monk Myaing Kyee Ngu, also known as U Thuzana, has been building pagodas—also called stupas—near Christian churches and mosques in an act of defiance to supposedly reclaim ancient Buddhist lands.

Anglican Bishop Saw Stylo told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the monk and his supporters arrived near St. Mark Anglican church in Kondawgyi village of Hlaingbwe township on Monday with eight trucks of bricks.

Another truck arrived near the church on Tuesday morning, although church officials do not know if workers intend to build a monastery or make a fence dividing the two properties, he told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

“We called the state religious officer this morning [to inform him],” Saw Stylo said. “We will send an official letter to the state government tomorrow.”

More here-

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/myanmar-buddhist-monk-may-have-plans-to-build-monastery-near-anglican-church-06072016161747.html

Clergyman defends his Zen Buddhist practices

An Anglican clergyman elected as a bishop has defended his right to use the practices of Zen Buddhism to deepen his Christian faith.

Conservatives in The Episcopal Church of the US are demanding that Rev Kevin Thew Forrester, a priest in the diocese of Northern Michigan, be barred from the episcopate because he received a "lay ordination" from a Buddhist group.

For his election to be ratified, Dr Forrester will need the consent of a majority of bishops in The Episcopal Church as well as of diocesan standing committees.

Conservatives in the US, who have so far failed to unseat the openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, have already begun an internet lobbying campaign in an attempt to undermine support for Dr Forrester by claiming he is a fully-fledged Buddhist.

They are also citing two other recent cases. In 2004, the Rev Bill Melnyk was inhibited by the Bishop of Pennsylvania for proclaiming that he was a practicing Druid as well as an Episcopal priest. In 2007, the Rev Ann Holmes-Redding was inhibited by the Bishop of Rhode Island being a practising Muslim as well a priest.

But in an interview with The Times, Dr Forrester said he was neither a Buddhist nor a Bhuddist priest and that he used Zen meditation simply to deepen his relationship with Christ. It was also a means to deepen understanding of the mystery of suffering, he explained.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5869562.ece