October 20, 2008
Beijing is building a general Tibetan Buddhist Academy in Tibet. It's claimed to be the first of its kind but the real idea is to continue the process of wresting control of Buddhism from the lamas and into the hands of the "appalling old waxworks" in Beijing. One of the government's newspapers discusses it here.
The people of Burma have shown incredible resilience in the wake of cyclone Nargis, but more help is needed, says David Hockaday of Emergencies Adviser Burma (Myanmar) for Save the Children UK.
And a temple in Thailand is using old bottles to build, well, everything. It's a refuge from refuse, or rather, a refuge made of some people's refuse. They're using beer bottles een though monks are supposed to abstain.