Special EVMs for Sikkim’s Buddhist monks, nuns

September 24th, 2009 SAMDRUPTSE - Hundreds of Buddhist monks and devotees have converged at the altar of Guru Padmasambhava at Samdruptse in Sikkim to offer mass collective prayers for universal peace during the ongoing 12-day long spiritual event. The Vajra Guru Dhungrup (recitation of 12 crore vajra guru mantra) began on Tuesday at Samdruptse, around four kilometres in Namchi district, where 135 feet tall statue of Lord Padmasambhava, believed to be the biggest of its kind in the world, is located.

September 16th, 2009 DHARAMSALA - Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama gave sermons on Buddhism here on Tuesday. Dalai Lama began the three-day sermons on Buddhist teachings at the Main Tibetan Temple (Tsuglagkhang) at the request of a Korean group, which he referred to as 'our Korean Dharma friends'.

September 3rd, 2009 GANGTOK - An art school is preserving the oldest form of traditional and religious art of statue making, influenced by Buddhist teaching in Sikkim. The Traditional Arts School for Thangka Painting at 5th mile, a half an hour drive from state capital Gangtok, is under the supervision of Ecclesiastical Affairs Department, Government of Sikkim.

July 6th, 2009 DHARAMSALA - Tibetans living in exile in Dharamsala celebrated the 74th birthday of Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama today. Born in 1935 in Tibet, Lhamo Thondup was recognized as the reincarnation of 13th Dalai Lama, at the age of 2.

June 30th, 2009 KINNAUR - Buddhist monks, nuns and civilians assembled at the Drugtharpa Choeiling Buddhist monastery in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur District and prayed for the long life of Yulgyula Rinpoche, a revered Buddhist monk. 71-year-old Rinpoche is the head of the Drugtharpa Choeiling Buddhist monastery, situated at Tashigang in Kinnaur district.

June 24th, 2009 DHARAMSHALA - Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Wednesday started a two-day special teaching session for Buddhist students in Dharamsala. Thousands of Buddhist students from across the world gathered at the Tibetan Children Villa School for the teachings on the text of thirty-seven practices of Bodhisattvas.

June 4th, 2009 BODH GAYA - Buddhist monks and nuns here offered prayer for the victims of Air France Flight 447, which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday night en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 passengers on board. Devotees also joined the monks and nuns in their prayer meet, who were seen praying at the premises of the Mahabodhi Temple.

April 27th, 2009 BANGKOK - Disturbed by reports that Thai monks have taken to wearing make-up, carrying pinks purses and other forms of public 'homosexual expression', a leading preacher plans to launch a 'good manners' course for novices, a news report said Monday. Senior monk Maha Wudhijaya Vajiramedhi is to introduce Thailand's first etiquette course at the Novice Demonstration School in Chiang Rai province, 600 km north of Bangkok, next month, The Nation newspaper reported.

April 25th, 2009 DHARAMSALA - On the occasion of the 20th birth anniversary of the 11th Panchen Lama, which falls on April 25, Tibetans from all walks of life have demanded that China to free him immediately. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, also known as the 11th Panchen Lama, is said to be under captivity of the Chinese authorities for the last 13 years.

April 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A growing number of women are taking to Buddhism in India like in the West where two-thirds of the practitioners of the faith are women, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, the first Tibetan Buddhist woman master, said. 'Many young girls in Himachal Pradesh are opting to study Buddhism and become nuns, shunning the traditional role of housewives.

April 20th, 2009 VARANASI - Buddhist monks and other religious leaders from all across the country gathered here for an all-faith meeting. The one-day conference on Sunday mainly deliberated on the similarities between Buddhist and Vedic cultures.

April 13th, 2009 KATHMANDU - The 800-year-old Tibetan Drukpa lineage of Buddhism - based in Nepal and practised in Bhutan and India - is empowering women, reviving the ancient tradition of women masters and monks that the Buddha encouraged. Its head, the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, has set a precedent by giving the order to its first ever woman master.

March 13th, 2009 DHARAMSALA - Tibetans living in India, accompanied by foreigners, took out a candlelight vigil rally here last evening to express their solidarity with victims of Chinese atrocities. A large number of Tibetans, including Buddhist monks and nuns, holding banners and flags, took part in this candlelight vigil.

February 18th, 2009 JAKARTA - Nine people, including eight nuns, were killed when the car they were travelling in plunged into a ravine in Indonesia's South Sumatra province, an official said Thursday. Another nun was critically injured in the accident Wednesday, said Ani Mariani, an official at the Caritas hospital in the provincial capital, Palembang, where the nuns worked.

February 6th, 2009 LONDON - The Catholic church in Britain is attempting to lure would-be monks and nuns into the monastic life with 'taster' weekends in the cloisters, the BBC reported Saturday. The move is a bid to reverse the sharp decline in those taking up religious orders.