American Buddhist Net

Situated on a hill on the banks of Baghani river at Bagh village, about-2,200-year-old Buddhist-era caves are facing threat to their existence due to seepage and erosion.

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The world's population will increase inexorably, swelling from 6.89 billion to 9.49 billion, and India is expected to hit 1.75 billion becoming the largest country in the world by overtaking China by 2050, according to the Population Reference Bureau, a US body which supplies data to governments and institutions around the world.

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Dharamsala, July 30 – The Secretary of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile Mr. Phurbu Tsering passed away Thursday at 1502hrs at the Delek hospital here.

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BANGALORE - Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe ended a five-day visit to India on Thursday having sealed several pacts that will boost security and economic cooperation between the two countries. A treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters will enable India to get access to insurgents from its northeastern states who are taking sanctuary along the India-Myanmar border. The treaty will also boost bilateral efforts to combat terrorism and drug trafficking.

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Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama visited an old Buddhist monastery in Ladakh's Nubra valley of Jammu and Kashmir in the course of his nine-day visit to the region.

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The paintings of the Ellora caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, are losing their gleam due to rainwater seepage in the caves.part from seepage and rock falls, even the lights installed inside the Ellora caves are damaging the sculptures. The paintings are being affected by moisture, and with the immediate effect that the paintings are turning black.

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Tadao Kagaya kept coming from Tokyo to Bangalore, for the same reason that made Veerappan infamous: sandalwood and timber – but with a crucial difference. “My methods were rule-bound and so slightly different from him, though,” winks the now-retired timber trader, who ran a business in sourcing the wood and supplying handmade Buddhist statues to Japan. “The entire process of doing trade with Indians, from getting the delivery to the government permission to supply timber and sandalwood to , opened my eyes to Indian society. That’s why I stayed back.”

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By M K Bhadrakumar

The Greeks have a saying that the past is the vista that lies ahead while the future lurks furtively. The improbable symbolism sums up the Indian perspective on the announcement by the Pakistani civilian leadership last Thursday to extend the term of army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani for another three years.

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NEW DELHI (AP)—Snr-Gen Than Shwe, Burma's junta chief, began a five-day visit to India on Sunday for talks with senior leaders aimed at deepening ties between the two South Asian neighbors. Pro-democracy advocates protested his arrival and promised to step up demonstrations.

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Myanmar's reclusive military ruler Than Shwe toured one of Buddhism's holiest shrines Monday on a state visit to India amid protests in New Delhi and condemnation from rights groups.

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July 24, 2010 : Antara Mali, the onetime Bollywood hottie, is making a comeback, in a very unconventional manner.

...Antara has got a makeover that most Bollywood actresses wouldn’t even dare to think. Antara would be playing the role of a Buddhist monk and has shaven her head. She would be seen essaying this role in acclaimed yesteryear actor and presently director Amol Palekar’s film And Once Again.

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In the backdrop of China's growing clout in the neighbourhood, India will Sunday roll out the red carpet for Myanmar's General Than Shwe, the ruler of the energy-rich country who comes on a five-day state visit.

Before the 77-year-old Than Shwe touches down in Delhi for talks, he goes to Bihar's Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. He will also be seeking India's help to restore the famous Buddhist pagoda, Ananda Temple, in Myanmar.

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At the end of a cold Himalayan December in 1999, a 14-year old monk made a phenomenal escape from a monastery in Tibet where his every move was patrolled by the Chinese. Fleeing by car, on foot and by horseback, he crossed some of Nepal's most forbidding terrain and found his way to India, where he settled at the feet of the Dalai Lama, seeking teaching.

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Nubra, Ladakh: His Holiness the Dalai Lama has commended the growing interest among both the monastic and lay communities in the Himalayan regions in studying Buddhism.

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New Delhi, July 18 (IANS) In India’s hierarchical society even an unsuspecting dog must have a caste. So it seemed when in Mirchpur village of Haryana, some dogs of a Dalit ‘basti’ dared to bark at Jat boys. There was an angry backlash by the Jat boys and counter protests by the Dalit owners of the dogs.

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By Jigmet, Gangtok, July 21 : Buddhist monks and devotees participated in a procession to commemorate the birth anniversary of Buddhist patron saint, Guru Padmasambhava, in Gangtok, Sikkim.

Guru Padmasambhava is adored in Sikkim and is also referred to as Guru Rinpoche.

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Chennai: 'Fake' is a big industry in Indian cities. But while fake medicine or fake mark sheets are common place, a bunch of conmen took the art of faking to quite another level. They ran a fake police station and a fake court in the heart of Chennai.

The modus operandi was to target innocent victims looking for legal succour. Pretending to help them, the gang would extort money from the other party threatening police and legal action. The gang had even appointed inspectors and a judge to fool gullible people.

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GANGTOK, July 18: Calls for the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorjee to take his seat of power at Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre located in East Sikkim have intensified with three major monasteries of Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism here collectively taking a lead.

The Gyalwa Karmapa is the head of Kaygu School of Tibetan Buddhism while Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre is the headquarters of this School.

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Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, will visit forward areas in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir bordering China this week to attend religious functions, an aide said here Monday.

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An Indian court has ruled that Hindu gods cannot deal in stocks and shares, reports said Saturday, after an application for trading accounts to be set up in their names.

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MALANG, India — Buddhi Devi was 14 when she was betrothed. In India, that is not unusual: many marry young. Her intended was a boy from her village who was two years younger — that, too, was not strange. But she was also supposed to marry her future husband’s younger brother, once he was old enough.

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Dharamsala, July 15: Tibet activist and Hollywood’s most famous Buddhist, Richard Gere, will be shooting for his next movie in Leh, Ladakh, next month, according to a media report.

The story of the movie revolves around Tibet and Buddhism, a subject which is very close to his heart, Times of India reported.

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Millennium Development Goals could push India back to a "sterilization first" policy.

NEW DELHI, India — Every year in India, shanty towns mushroom in the cities, cities sprawl into farmland and the country increases by the population of Australia.

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BIHAR, INDIA, June 15, 2010: In India, where traditionally boys have been preferred over girls, a village in Bihar state has been setting an example by planting trees to celebrate the birth of a girl child. In Dharhara village, Bhagalpur district, families plant a minimum of 10 trees whenever a girl child is born. And this practice is paying off, financing the dowry and lessening the worries families have when trying to marry a daugther.

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DHARAMSALA: India has denied permission to Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa who is the third most respected Tibetan monk reincarnate and is recognised by both the Dalai Lama and China, to go on a two-week religious tour to the US this month.

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MUMBAI: Can Hindu deities have demat accounts to enable them transact in shares and debentures on the stock market?

The Bombay High Court will decide the issue after a religious trust filed a petition challenging the decision of National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) to refuse it permission for opening demat accounts in the names of five Hindu deities.

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NEW DELHI / SRINAGAR: Kashmir made some progress towards peace on Sunday, with the authorities lifting curfew across the troubled region.

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