Padmasambhava was probably a real person. I understand this is according to most academic scholars who focus on Tibet, which may not be a large group. Real or not, Padmasambhava is one of the most venerated figures in all of Tibetan Buddhist history. I think it could be said that the life and legends of Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, are foundational to Tibetan Buddhism. They also stand as an illustration of the problem of sorting myths from history... Read more
According to the White House Historical Association, one of the first things asked of new U.S. presidents is to provide directions for their funerals. “Traditionally five days in length, U.S. presidential state funerals are meticulously choreographed,’ says the Association. “Coordination for the events is conducted by the army’s Military District of Washington and begins early in each presidential term, when a new president is asked to attend to the strange task of imagining his own funeral service. It is a... Read more
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100, was a progressive evangelical. He also was the most openly religious president in modern U.S. history. And if you find the term “progressive evangelical” confusing, do keep reading. Carter was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, and probably a lot of you are too young to remember those years. You may know of Carter’s post-presidency work with with Habitat for Humanity, an... Read more
Today, Christmas is a family holiday. It didn’t used to be. Through much of the history of Christianity, Christmas involved a raucous, multi-day festival of adult entertainment — drinking, dancing, gambling, indulgences and debauchery. The ribaldry got so out of hand that in the 17th century public observance of Christmas was banned in some places, notably England and its colony Massachusetts. (See “When Christmas Was Banned in Boston.”) Today Christmas is the most wholesome of family holidays. The cultural expressions... Read more
Here’s a question for Bodhi Day. Was the Buddha a verifiable historical person? And was his enlightenment a historical event? The plain truth is that there is no documentation of the life of the Buddha outside Buddhist scriptures. And the earliest physical evidence that there was ever such a person dates to the reign of Ashoka, about 268 to 232 BCE. Dates of the life of the Buddha vary, but they range from about 567 to 487 BCE to as... Read more
The world’s many religions observe many holy days in December other than Christmas and Hanukkah. One December Buddhist holiday is Bodhi Day, which commemorates the enlightenment of the Buddha. (Bodhi is a Sanskrit word that means “awakening.”) Just about any web search will tell you that Bodhi Day is December 8. But before you send a Happy Bodhi Day card to your Thai friends, note that this particular date and holiday generally applies only to Japanese Buddhism. In some parts... Read more
President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a U.S. national holiday for the first time in 1863. This was at the height of the American Civil War, which began in April 1861 and ended in April 1865. It may seem odd that Thanksgiving had suddenly become important in such a tragic time. But President Lincoln had reasons to be thankful. Through 1861 and 1862 the Union lost more battles than it won, and what victories it could claim came at a shocking... Read more
The Thanksgiving myth is the Thanksgiving story that we Americans were taught in school as history. But the story as commonly told isn’t exactly true. And for some Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning. The traditional story is about the Pilgrims, who had sailed to the New World from Europe. Their ship the Mayflower landed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in November 1620. The Pilgrims struggled to survive the winter, but they received help from the local Native Americans.... Read more
The first person in history known to have promoted religious tolerance was Ashoka the Great. Ashoka was emperor of a large portion of Asia from about 268 BCE until his death in 232 BCE. In honor of the International Day of Tolerance — November 16, as designated by the United Nations — l’d like to revisit his edict on religious tolerance, which is as relevant to us now as it was then. Ashoka the Great ruled the Mauryan Empire, which... Read more
Buddhism and the California Gold Rush may be two things that don’t seem to go together. But it was the Gold Rush that first brought Buddhism to California. The California Gold Rush began in 1848, when gold was discovered at a sawmill north of San Francisco. The first Buddhist temple in North America — and possibly the first outside of Asia, as far as I know — was built in San Francisco in 1853. And the second event came about... Read more
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