Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh believes that putting an economic value on nature is not enough. Fundamental change can happen only if we fall back in love with our planet. Read more: Banking Crisis, Climate Change, Dalai Lama, Free Market, Economics, Buddhism, Eco-Buddhism

It may seem impossible to imagine that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing. --Elizabeth Kolbert, Field Notes from a Catastrophe Looking again and again at that which cannot be looked at, Unseeable reality is seen just as it is. --Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, Mahamudra Aspiration Prayer The firs...

The news coverage of the World Economic Forum at Davos was overshadowed with stories of power, money, celebrity and conjecture. There is another face to this gathering. There is what I will call the Compassionate Heart of the World Economic Forum at Davos. The World Economic Forum describes itself an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world...

Author's Note: On February 21st the Des Moines Register announced that a bill proposing to force the sale of Jackson Pollock's "Mural," in the collection of the University of Iowa's Art Museum, had died. This blog, about the controversy generated by the bill, and also about the cultural forces surrounding it, was composed while the bill was still under consideration. It is hopefully sti...

This interview is part of a series of conversations with faith-inspired activists, based on interviews led by Katherine Marshall for the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University and the World Faiths Development Dialogue. The full interview can be found here. Since founding Buddhism for Development 20 years ago, Heng Monychenda has trained hundreds of...

Wearied by the decline and fall of trust relations in most sectors of society, many have had to seek energy from beyond the headlines. Politics, economics, religion, commerce and family life are zones where trust is so broken that for many the temptation to feel defeatist or to grow

Seven years ago I was swimming in a lake in Tuscany. Nearby a small boy appeared to need help getting into his little boat --- naturally I gave him a hand and he paddled off like a pro. As he made his way toward the deeper water, his father rushed at me screaming in Italian as if to say "what have you done, pushing my son unprotected into the middle of this lake?" I felt really helpless ...

Seven years ago I was swimming in a lake in Tuscany. Nearby a small boy appeared to need help getting into his little boat --- naturally I gave him a hand and he paddled off like a pro. As he made his way toward the deeper water, his father rushed at me screaming in Italian as if to say "what have you done, pushing my son unprotected into the middle of this lake?" I felt really helpless ...

In a widely viewed article on CNN last week, Professor Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics announced the results of a study which he claims proves that atheists are smarter than believers. Despite the obvious flaws of the study -- that the subjects were all American

In a widely viewed article on CNN last week, Professor Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics announced the results of a study which he claims proves that atheists are smarter than believers. Despite the obvious flaws of the study -- that the subjects were all American