China refuses visa for INEB Founder

The Bangkok Post, 11 Apr 2014

Bangkok, Thailand -- Prominent social critic and founder of the International Network of Engaged Buddhist (INEB) Sulak Sivaraksa says he has been denied an entry visa to China.

Another Tibetan Buddhist nun sets herself on fire to protest China policies

WNN, Apr 2, 2104

31-year-old Tibetan Buddhist nun named Dolma committed self-immolation in March 2014. Since she was taken away to a regional hospital Chinese officials have placed communication restrictions on the region and have not released any information about Dolma.

Sichuan, CHINA -- Another Tibetan Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Autonomous Region in Sichuan, China has set herself on fire outside the monastery where she was on retreat as a part of a string of ongoing self-immolation protests made against China’s continuing clamp down on indigenous Tibetans. 31-years of age and identified only as Dolma, the nun has essentially disappeared with no other information about her condition released to date by Chinese officials.

'Tantric sex rituals' of notorious Buddhist retreat revealed

by James Nye, The Daily Mail, 10 March 2014

Ex-member of mysterious 'cult' lifts lid on head monk whose secret wife left him for love rival who died in desert

Arizona, USA -- A new investigation into a mysterious Arizona yoga retreat - likened to cult - and the death of one of its members alleges the Princeton-educated leader condoned bizarre tantric sex rituals at his camp.

A Buddhist Ritual Gets an Ecologically Correct Update

By Rachel Nuwer, Audobon Society, January-February 2014

"Release life," the practice of freeing caged animals into the wild to generate good karma, is now an environmentally friendly act of kindness.

New York, USA -- On a bright November day in Central Park, nine Buddhist nuns and monks with their poofy winter coats over their gray and beige robes joined representatives from New York City's Wild Bird Fund for a little karmic cleansing. Gathered around boxes labeled "thrush," "sapsucker," and "flicker," the group read and sang from prayer books in Mandarin and Sanskrit, wishing the birds well and praying that they find enlightenment in future lives.

Recent discovery of “earliest Buddhist shrine” a sham?

by Dr Richard Gombrich, The Buddhist Channel, December 17, 2013

London, UK -- The story that garnered international headlines made numerous unfounded and misinformed claims