Mass Buddhist prayer service held in NW China

Xinhua, December 29, 2012

Qinghai, China -- More than 5,100 monks from Jyegu Monastery in a Tibetan region of northwest China's Qinghai Province on Friday held a mass prayer service, ending a six-day gathering for world peace.

Legal action underway against self-immolations

CCTV, Dec 12, 2012

Beijing, China -- In order to combat the growing number of self-immolations in Tibetan communities across China, the country’s top court and public security authorities have now issued a directive that allows for criminal charges, including intentional homicide, to be filed against people who organize, plot or incite others to commit such suicidal acts.

Zenkoji Temple

Asian Age, Oct 28, 2012

Nagano, Japan -- Situated in Nagano, Japan is one of the oldest temples dedicated to the Buddha. Built in the 7th century, it is believed to house the first Buddhist statue brought to Japan and is therefore visited by millions of pilgrims every year.

China wants to stop profiteering at temple sites

By LOUISE WATT, Associated Press, Oct 27, 2012

BEIJING, China -- China is telling tourist-favored Buddhist temples: Don't let money be your mantra.

The Price of Faith: Chinese Buddhist Sites Plan IPOs

By CHENGCHENG JIANG, Time, September 27, 2012

China’s four most sacred Buddhist mountains are hatching plans to list on the Shanghai stock exchange.

Beijing, China -- In China today, there’s little that money can’t buy — even when it comes to faith. Many of the country’s most popular Buddhist sites are chock-full of cure-all tonics and overpriced incense.

Buddhist Mount Wutai listed World Heritage

China Daily, Sept 24, 2012

Mt. Wutai, China -- China's Mount Wutai became China's 38th site to join UNESCO's World Heritage List as a cultural landscape.

Starbucks near Buddhist temple triggers debate

Xinhua, Sept 24, 2012

HANGZHOU, China -- International coffee company and coffeehouse Starbucks has again brewed debate over business versus historical interests in China after its opening of an outlet near a famed Buddhist temple in east China.

A Monk Sentenced in Eastern Tibet, Another Presumed Dead

The Tibet Post International , 17 September 2012

Dharamshala, India -- Shonu, a monk as well as a staff member of Drakgo Monastery, Drakgo county, eastern Tibet whose whereabouts remained unknown since his arrest in February 2012, is in Mianyang Prison (Sichuan Province), according to Dharamshala based Tibetan Human Rights group.

Taiwanese vegetable seller is a philanthropist

By Jocelyn R. Uy, Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network, Sep 3, 2012

Taipei, Taiwan -- Every day for the past four decades, 60-year-old Chen Shu-Jiu wakes up at 2:30 a.m. to set up her stall at the busy central market in Taitung, a county in eastern Taiwan. With her fresh merchandise-about a hundred varieties of vegetables-towering over her, she works until dark.

IPO on Buddhist mountain makes business of religion

by Li Yao, China Daily, Aug 23, 2012

Putuo Mountain, China -- The Buddhist Association of China is strongly opposed to a plan for a public offering by a tourism development company that provides services around a sacred Buddhist mountain in East China.