Happy New Year!

This blog is officially two years old. Our first post in 2008 marked the Other Lunar New Year. (I write “lunar” although several countries time their celebrations in line with the Gregorian calendar.) I’d like to think of this date as a most auspicious anniversary. As I wrote then:

This festival is widely celebrated in nations that are predominantly Theravada Buddhist, so this theme is both fitting and auspicious for our first post! You may often hear/see this celebration called Songkran in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, Thingyan in Burma and Aluth Avurudhu in Sri Lanka. This new year is also celebrated in Nepal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, Punjab and Bengal (including Bangladesh). Apparently it’s not as much of a fest elsewhere in South Asia.

Similar posts from the past are here and here. I couldn’t find any writing on this holiday hanging around the anglophonic Buddhist blogosphere—save a background mention in a Tricycle post. Can’t say I’m surprised! It’s a sad and disappointing sort of vindication—if it weren’t for the Angry Asian Buddhist, I wonder how many self-styled “Western” Buddhists would recognize this holiday at all.

Read Full Post »

Strung Up Buddhists

What’s that on your wrist?

You get used to hearing this question frequently if, like me, you sport a string bracelet. Tiger Woods has one too, so I’ve heard. I often give a non-response—I wear it because I’m Buddhist—a phrase which is far too often unsuccessful at repelling the dreaded follow-up question: What does it mean?

The string I wear is tied on my wrist by monks, usually following a brief ceremony where blessings and protections are chanted. This simple string has ancient roots that span nations, cultures and religions. But you won’t learn any of that here. I’m just going to tell you what the string means to me.

Read Full Post »