Thai foreign minister prays at Bodh Gaya temple

Indo-Asian News Service, Nov 7, 2004

Gaya, India -- Thai foreign minister Sathirathai arrived in Bodh Gaya with an 18-member delegation Friday by a special flight and will stay there till Sunday, sources said.

India 's Buddhist circuit to woo Japanese tourists

by Soma Mookherjee, The Statesman, Nov 4, 2004

Kolkata, India -- The state tourism department has decided to create a Buddhist circuit for Japanese tourists frequenting Bodh Gaya. And to get such tourists to also visit Buddhist sites in West Bengal, the state tourism department is planning to retrieve the Buddhist links of Tamluk or erstwhile Tamralipta in Midnapore East. The department has also planned to rope in Jaggibanpur in Malda in the Buddhist circuit as many relics and figurines were excavated from this area in the early nineties.

A Workshop on 'Methods and Problems of Translation' in Dharamsala

by Tenzin Yangdak, Times of Tibet, Nov 3, 2004

Dhramsala, India -- How true it is that the more we learn, the more unknown objects of knowledge we get to know. The great Indian Buddhist master Atisha states:

Our life-span is short where as the number of    knowable objects are manifold, Since, we lack the understanding of our life limit
We should enthusiastically practice our choice (of engagement and not everything), Just as swan (skillfully) extracts milk from water.

Massive Buddhist programme at Nalanda College

By Chamikara Weerasinghe, Lanka Daily News, Nov 1, 2004

Colombo, Sri Lanka -- One hundred Buddhist monks of the Asgiriya Chapter will call on Nalanda College, Colombo today to preach the dhamma to its students in the school's one hundred classrooms in a massive Buddhist programme, organised by the Old Nalandians' Buddhist Association, to mark the school's 80th anniversary.

Monks willingly agreed to comply with security protocols

Lanka Daily News, Oct 30, 2004

Colombo, Sri Lanka -- The Canadian High Commission in Sri Lanka responding to various media reports which the Commission considers erroneous, states that the "monks willingly agreed to comply with the security protocols, provided them with a private changing facility with private shower along with new robes."

Canadian mission in Sri Lanka to reopen amid protests over disrobing monks

Khaleej Times, (AFP), October 29, 2004

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Canada's mission in Sri Lanka is to re-open, a week after an anthrax scare sparked a diplomatic crisis, which deepened Friday after Buddhist monks described how they were forced to strip.

Suspended sentence for blaspheming Buddha

by Sarath Malalasekera, Lanka Daily News, Oct 29, 2004

Colombo, Sri Lanka -- Chief Magistrate and Additional District Judge Ms. Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena yesterday sentenced Gamini Ranawaka of Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo, who was charged with superimposing the Buddha's image on women's clothing through the Internet, to two years rigorous imprisonment, suspended for five years.

Sri Lanka angered over Canada's disrobing of Buddhist monks

PTI, Oct 28, 2004

Colombo, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka lodged a strong protest with Canada after its diplomats allegedly disrobed three Buddhist monks and forced them under a shower during an anthrax scare, a senior Minister said today, as Canada denied that the monks, seeking visas at the Canadian embassy in Colombo, were forced to strip.

Monks forced to disrobe in anthrax scare

Borneo Bulletin (AFP), Oct 27, 2004

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's influential Buddhist clergy Tuesday protested to the Canadian High Commission (embassy) here after staff members disrobed three monks who had triggered an anthrax scare.

Buddhist monk gets driving licence

by Wasantha Ramanayake, Lanka Daily News, Oct 23, 2004

Colombo, Sri Lanka -- The Court of Appeal yesterday issued notice on the Commissioner of Motor Traffic in the writ application compelling the commissioner to issue a driving licence to a Buddhist monk.