Construction starts on Tzu Chi-funded village in Aceh to house disaster refugees

Taiwan Headlines, September 26, 2005

Taipei, Taiwan -- The tsunami caused by the great earthquake in South Asian seas last December resulted in over 200,000 deaths in the Indonesian province of Aceh. Taiwan's Tzu Chi Foundation for Buddhist compassion relief was among the first organizations on the ground in Aceh after the disaster to provide relief to residents of the area.

Will Mongolia go the way of South Korea?

BY ELIZABETH DALZIEL, AP, September 25, 2005

Christian missionaries flocking to newly open Mongolia

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia -- Mongolia is rife with religion these days -- young Mormons going door-to-door, Korean Christians working with homeless children, Roman Catholic churches sprouting on the grassy steppe.

Buddhist monk finishes running ritual

By KENJI HALL, Associated Press, September 20, 2005

TOKYO, Japan -- A Buddhist priest dubbed the “marathon monk” has completed an ancient running ritual in the remote Japanese mountains that took seven years and covered a distance equivalent to a trip round the globe.

Tzu Chi provides relief aid to over 9,000 hurricane victims

Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, Sept 13, 2005

Taipei, Taiwan -- The Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation continued to provide emergency relief assistance to evacuees of Hurricane Katrina, and as of Sept. 11, Tzu Chi has given US$701,200 to 3,838 households, benefiting 9,183 hurricane victims.

Buddhist monks seek business solutions

AP, September 8, 2005

SHANGHAI, China -- Call it Zen and the art of business management. Proving that in China's booming commercial hub of Shanghai, even Buddhism is big business, a group of 18 Buddhist monks and lay people are taking MBA classes to better manage their temple, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

Open Letter from Master Cheng Yen to Hurricane Katrina Victims

The Buddhist Channel, Sept 7, 2005

Our Dear American Friends,

On behalf of the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation and our volunteers around the world, I wish to convey our deepest condolences. Even though we are in Taiwan, seemingly far away, we deeply empathize with you. Having suffered our share of disasters also, we know how heartrending it is to lose everything. What you have been through and are going through now breaks our hearts. We share your pain and sorrow.

After death, Tibetans still prefer sky burial

New Kerala, Sept 1, 2005

Lhasa, Tibet (China) -- When the grandfather and grandmother of Zhaxi Toinzhub died, they were treated to sky burial according to their own will. It is a traditional Tibetan burial where the bodies are left for vultures, creatures worshiped by the locals as sacred.

Sapling of sacred Buddhist Bodhi Tree from Sri Lanka planted in Taiwan

Middle East Times, August 22, 2005

TAIPEI, Taiwan --  A sapling from Sri Lanka's Maha Bodhi Tree, which is sacred to Buddhists, was planted in Taiwan on Sunday with the hope of bringing blessings to the island.

Women face choice ? nun or prostitute

By Lindsay Beck, Reuters, August 21, 2005

Shigatse, Tibet (China) -- IT'S evening in Shigatse and the lights are coming on. In the Chinese district of the Tibetan mountain town, strings of fairy lights flicker around rows of shopfronts where women perch waiting for customers and men stumble out from backroom corridors.

Revered Dalai Lama still key to Tibet stability

By Lindsay Beck, Reuters, Aug 14, 2005

LHASA, Tibet (China) -- "Have you ever seen the Dalai Lama?" asks a young nun in the narrow, winding streets of the Tibetan capital's old town.