The Official UWest Buddhist Chaplaincy Program Blog

NPR has the story.

This from Yale Divinity School:

Yale Divinity School and Yale Law School will co-sponsor a working conference on religion in the military Nov. 13-14, bringing together religious and military leaders from across the country to address thorny issues that challenge chaplains, commanders and policy makers who are charged with providing spiritual and religious support in intentionally pluralistic communities.

The conference, free and open to the public, is entitled Faith and Arms in a Democratic Society: A Working Conference on Religion in the Military. It will be held at YDS on Friday night, Nov. 13, and at the Law School on Saturday, Nov. 14.

Organizing the conference are Kristen Leslie, associate professor of pastoral care and counseling at YDS, and Eugene Fidell, senior research scholar in law and the Florence Rogatz Lecturer in Law at the Law School. Several years ago Leslie was instrumental in raising questions about Christian proselytizing at the United States Air Force Academy based on observations during visits there. Fidell is among the most prominent attorneys in the country on issues relating to religion in the military.

The Conference will begin Friday night at the Divinity School with a keynote address by Anne C. Loveland, faculty emerita from Louisiana State University, who will address “Military Chaplains in Cultural Transition, 1946 to the Present.” The conference continues on Saturday at the Law School with a series of three panel discussions: The State and the Church: Constitutional Issues; Pastor to Some, Chaplains to All: Pastoral Implications for Chaplains; and The Path Ahead for Chaplaincy: Issues for the Future. Jeff Sharlet, visiting research scholar with the Center for Religion and Media at New York University will deliver a lunchtime lecture on “When Democracy is Not Enough.”

A letter of invitation sent by Leslie and Fidell refers to the “challenging” environment facing chaplains, commanders and policy makers, fueled in significant measure by the growth of the Evangelical community within the armed forces.

“The result has been to turn what should be a source of spiritual support and a constructive component of national defense personnel policy into a series of challenges and, at times, divisive litigation. The program will explore these issues in a setting that facilitates mutual understanding and respect.”

The invitation notes that there is no intention to reach conclusions or to frame recommendations.

This from MahaSangha News:

A Consensus Conference was held in 2009 based on the belief that spiritual care is an essential ingredient of quality palliative care. The Journal of Palliative Medicine published a special report including guidelines and recommendations derived from that conference. Thanks to the Upaya Newsletter for pointing out this report.

Just a quick reminder that UWest’s Religion & Film Series will continue tonight with a screening of Water–Deepa Mehta's hugely controversial 2005 Academy Award-nominee for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. The film is described by the All Movie Guide in this way:

Following the sudden and unexpected death of her husband, a widowed child bride lashes out against her fate in the Hindu ashram where she is expected to atone for her sins in this humanistic drama, the third installment of filmmaker Deepa Mehta's Elemental Trilogy. Chuyia's husband has died, and religious doctrine dictates that she now retire to an ashram to atone for the sins that caused her husband's untimely death. As Chuyia bides her time among widows both young and old -- some accepting of their fate and some bitterly resentful -- the preadolescent widow's spirit remains unbroken and hopeful for a brighter future.

A trailer for the film is at the end of the post.

The screening starts at 7 p.m. in Room ED309. It is free and open to the public. A discussion will follow. We hope to see you there!

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an interesting article this week about police chaplains and death notification. It's well worth reading.

The U.S. Army published a press release recently about chaplains' assistants. As they note, these are military personnel who are "more than just bodyguards." Take a look.

Just a quick reminder that UWest’s Religion & Film Series will continue tonight with a screening of Le Grand Voyage–Ismaël Ferroukhi’s multi-award-winning film festival favorite from 2004. The film stars Nicolas Cazale and Mohamed Madj (both honored with Best Actor prizes for their work—from the Newport International Film Festival and Mar del Plata Film Festival, respectively) and is described by the All Movie Guide in this way:

Réda (Nicolas Cazale) is determined to better himself by pursuing a higher education. When Réda's headstrong father (Mohamed Madj) arrives demanding that his son drive him to Mecca for a religious pilgrimage, the troubled young man's resentment towards grows more powerful than ever as a result of the elder's demand for respect for both himself and his journey. Now, as the reluctant pair wind their way from France to Saudi Arabia, the bond shared between them will be tested and their lives forever changed.

A trailer for the film is at the end of the post.

The screening starts at 7 p.m. in Room ED309. It is free and open to the public. A discussion will follow. We hope to see you there!

Just a quick announcement that University of the West's Religion & Film Series will continue tonight with a screening of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt--the Oscar-nominated adaptation of his Pulitizer Prize-winning play. The film stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis (all Academy Award-nominated for their work), and is described by the All Movie Guide in this way:

1964, St. Nicholas, the Bronx: The winds of change are sweeping through this tight-knit religious community, and charismatic priest Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is doing his best to adapt by revisiting the school's notoriously strict disciplinary practices. Unfortunately Father Flynn's progressive ideas stand in stark contrast to the longstanding beliefs of Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the iron-willed principal, who believes that an oppressive environment of punishment and fear is the only way to keep the student body in line. Suddenly into this tempestuous environment appears young Donald Miller, St. Nicholas' first black student. When hopeful innocent Sister James (Amy Adams) reluctantly reveals to Sister Beauvier that Father Flynn and Donald have been spending an unusual amount of time together in the church rectory, the unrelentingly righteous headmistress begins a merciless crusade to reveal the beloved clergyman as a lecherous child molester and have him permanently expunged from the school. Yet despite her moral certainty that Father Flynn has committed such an unspeakable transgression, Sister Beauvier has not a shred of actual evidence to back up her audacious claim. Now, as Sister Beauvier and Father Flynn enter into an epic battle of wills, the shock waves set into motion by their explosive confrontation threaten to destroy one man's reputation and tear apart the entire surrounding community.

A trailer for the film is at the end of the post.

I've previously blogged about my affinity for Shanley's play, and you can read those thoughts here.

The screening starts at 7 p.m. in Room ED309. It is free and open to the public. A discussion will follow with Corrine Hinton, Coordinator of the Learning Center, and myself. We hope to see you there!



[Photo from Miramax Films.]

Via our pal in the Buddhoblogosphere Dr. Scott A. Mitchell of the buddha is my dj and the DharmaRealm podcast: the "Buddhism without Borders: Contemporary Buddhism in the West" conference at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, CA, is nearing--register now!

Buddhism without Borders: Contemporary Buddhism in the West

Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, Ca

March 18-21, 2010

Registration is now open for the conference "Buddhism without Borders: Contemporary Buddhism in the West," March 18-21, 2010 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, CA. Conference schedule, details, and registration are available at http://www.shin-ibs.edu/eventreg/Berkeley2010.php.

How has Buddhism outside Asia been shaped by diaspora and immigration? How has the increase in global tourism, communication, and capitalism affected the way Buddhism is understood, taught, and practiced? These and other themes will be explored in a four-day conference hosted by the Institute of Buddhist Studies, in Berkeley, California.

Keynote Address by Prof. Thomas Tweed, author of The American Encounter with Buddhism and Crossing and Dwelling. Panelists include Galen Amstutz, Franz Metcalf, Charles Prebish, Richard Hughes Seager, Duncan Ryuken Williams, and others.

The Washington Post reports that several weeks after her reflection on attending to Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting victim Stephen T. Johns ran at their On Faith blog, Rabbi Tamara Miller has been fired from her post as head of the spiritual care department at George Washington University Hospital.

The Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at University of the West is pleased to announced that a new Religion & Film Series, sponsored by us, will officially begin tomorrow night. The series is part of a new bunch of activities on campus for both students and members of the local community. This being the case, we're excited and hoping for a good turnout. You can find out more about the series (including the full line-up of films) at MahaSangha News.

Films will be shown on video, using either an LCD projector or a large screen television. So, the screenings will be decidedly low-key, but it's open to the public and we hope to see you there.

Tomorrow at 7 p.m., we will start the series off in ED309 with a screening of Peter Weir's 1985 classic Witness. The film stars Harrison Ford as a police detective in hiding with the Pennsylvania Amish. Program Coordinator Danny Fisher will lead an informal discussion about the film right after the screening. The trailer is embedded below.

CNN did a feature last week about how Buddhism and "the art of meditation... has found a growing number of unlikely followers behind prison bars."

The work of our friend (and a past interviewee at my personal blog) Kobutsu Malone is mentioned. Take a look.

National Public Radio has a feature this week about a special space at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO: "the only Buddhist chapel on a U.S. military base."

I've previously blogged about religious controversy at the Air Force Academy. NPR explains how that played into the decision to build this chapel:

The controversy prompted the Air Force to issue guidelines for religious expression. The military also has made efforts to accommodate all faiths. These include the construction of the 300-square-foot Buddhist chapel at the Air Force Academy paid for by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism.

The floor is bamboo, and the walls are Port Orford cedar. The focal point is a cherry and ash altar with a Burmese Buddha statue on top.

Read the rest here.

[Photo by Jeffy Brady for National Public Radio. "Steve Honda, an Air Force Academy military trainer, kneels before the altar in the base's Buddhist chapel."]

The Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at University of the West is extremely honored and happy to welcome Gary Gach, the American Book Award-winning author and Zen teacher, to campus for a lecture this coming Monday, September 28^th, at 7:00 p.m. in the WASC Room of the ED Building. Gary will speak to us on the topic “Free Nirvana: Buddhist Wisdom in Uncertain Times,” and take questions from the audience. (If you have copies of his books, bring them along—he’s happy to sign them.) The public is encouraged to attend.

Gary Gach is an American author, editor, and teacher. A student of Dainin Katagiri Roshi, he was later ordained as a Buddhist minister by the Very Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. He leads mindfulness meditation at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, and serves on the International Advisory Panel of The Buddhist Channel. He writes the blog “Where Buddha Meets Freud” for Psychology Today, and leads the Haiku Corner for the Tricycle Community’s Poetry Club. In addition, Gary is a prolific author, translator, and editor. His many books include the American Book Award-winning What Book!?: Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop (Parallax Press, 1998); translations of Ko Un’s Ten Thousand Lives (Green Integer, 2005), Songs for Tomorrow: A Collection of Poems 1960-2002 (Green Integer, 2009), and Flowers of a Moment (Green Integer, 2006), for which he won the Northern California Book Award; and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buddhism (Alpha Press, 2009), the bestselling guidebook which just last month went into his third printing. Gary and his work have been featured at The Huffington Post, Fora.TV, The Internet Writing Journal, and elsewhere.

University of the West was founded in 1991 and accredited by WASC in 2006. It is one of three accredited Buddhist universities in the United States and the only one of the three offering a Master’s in Business Administration degree. Its current enrollment is approximately 260 students. UWest is located at 1409 N. Walnut Grove Ave., Rosemead, CA 91770.

Driving Directions:

From the west (Los Angeles):
Take CA-60 EAST towards POMONA FWY/POMONA
Take SAN GABRIEL BLVD exit towards ROSEMEAD
Turn left on TOWN CENTER DR
Turn left on SAN GABRIEL BLVD
Turn right on WALNUT GROVE AVE

From the east (Rowland Heights/Hacienda Heights):
Take CA-60 WEST towards LOS ANGELES
Take SAN GABRIEL BLVD exit towards ROSEMEAD
Turn right on SAN GABRIEL BLVD
Turn right on WALNUT GROVE AVE

The Coordinator of the Buddhist Chaplaincy Program and several student at University of the West will be there. You going?

For more information or to register, go to http://www.buddhistchaplainsnetwork.org.

Last week, National Public Radio interviewed Buddhist Army National Guard chaplain Thomas Dyer. Give it a listen!

There's a neat article in the New York Times today about Hmong shamans visiting the sick in hospitals in New York. Not only is the piece really interesting in and of itself, but it points to a larger trend chaplains would do well to take note of:

A recent survey of 60 hospitals in the United States by the Joint Commission, the country’s largest hospital accrediting group, found that the hospitals were increasingly embracing cultural beliefs, driven sometimes by marketing, whether by adding calcium-and iron-rich Korean seaweed soup to the maternity ward menu at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, on the edge of Koreatown, or providing birthing doulas for Somali women in Minneapolis.

Our friend Roshi Joan Halifax was recently a guest on CBC Radio's Tapestry program. Listen here.

I recently posted about Buddhist Army National Guard chaplain Thomas Dyer. Scripps Howard News Service, The Tennessean, and the Buddhist Military Sangha have even more about him. Take a look! (The big news is that Dyer is being deployed to Iraq.)

It was a big news day for Buddhist chaplains today.

First, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review's marvelous editor and publisher James Sheehan points us to The Commercial Appeal's profile of Buddhist Army National Guard chaplain Thomas Dyer (pictured).

Next, over at Shambhala SunSpace, web editor Rod Meade Sperry blogs about Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's "promised financial support to the Buddhist community and to place Buddhist chaplains in the military."

Lastly, Lt. Jeanette Shin at the Buddhist Military Sangha shares with us the news that "U.S. Air Force SSGT Henry Sims has just begun a new blog chronicling his attempt to become a military chaplain of Buddhist faith." Take a look!

[Photo by Mike Brown for The Commercial Appeal. "Chaplain Thomas Dyer of the Tennessee National Guard is the first Buddhist chaplain in the Army. According to Army Chaplain Carleton Birch, spokesman for the Office of Chief of Army Chaplains in Washington, there are at least 3,300 Buddhists in the Army."]

UWest's Danny Fisher (center) with Buddhist Geeks Vince Horn (left) and Ryan Oelke (right) at their studio in Boulder, CO, last week.
I was in Boulder, CO, last week to do an interview those utterly fantastic Buddhist Geeks, and that interview is now online. I hope you'll give it a listen here.

(P.S. I did a "Geeks of the Roundtable" segment with them too, and will post about that once it's up.)

Our friend and UWest colleage Jesse F. Tanner, a Unity minister-in-training and author of Progressive-Practical Christianity, returned to Unity.FM's "World of Spirituality" show this past week. You can listen to the interview online here. This is part two of a two-part series; you can listen to the first interview here.