Category Archives: Blog

If you have a chance to visit the exquisite 16th century Amber Fort in Rajasthan, hop on an elephant for a splendid ride up to the palace through the mighty Sun Gate. As you make your way up the long passageway to the yellow and pink sandstone palace, enjoy the beautiful view of the saffron gardens and glistening water below. Participating in this spirited elephant caravan is an experience unlike any other.

Once you arrive within the fort’s massive walls, you’ll be free to explore the fort’s breathtaking palace buildings, gardens, and temples. The first building I visited after hopping off my elephant (in my never-ending search for shakti) was the Shila Devi Temple–dedicated to the goddess Kali. If you’re planning on visiting India, Amber Fort should be at the top of your list of places to explore.

This week in Beirut, my students and I are discussing Aramaic, Syriac, and Hebrew. In our last class, we supplemented our study of Aramaic in Syria with this video–which my students really enjoyed.

Today in Botswana, experts at a major conservation summit warned that African elephants could be extinct in the wild within a few decades. The Africa Elephant Summit brought together delegates from Europe, Africa and Asia–including China (which is accused of fuelling the illegal poaching trade).

If you’re connected to Columbia University and looking for a grand summer adventure, then sign up for this spectacular safari in Tanzania and Zanzibar. Grab a spot before they’re gone!

This week-end, Al Amal Institute for the Disabled in Beirut invited me to conduct a disability awareness workshop for high school students in Lebanon. It was very humbling and inspiring to speak with young compassionate students interested in becoming vocal advocates for the rights of people with disabilities in Lebanon and the region. After my lecture, the students enthusiastically participated in a “blindfold” exercise I created with the help of my friend Laila Atshan, a blind Palestinian psychosocial therapist and activist educated at Harvard who does trauma therapy in war zones (including with Yazidi victims of ISIS). When the exercise concluded, the students said that they felt even more passionate about making Lebanon an accessible and accepting place for people with disabilities. At the end of our workshop, I was very touched to receive a small bag decorated with a beautiful Palestinian design, which was sewn together by young people with disabilities in Lebanon.

One of the greatest joys I’ve experienced in Beirut has been volunteering at the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon/St. Jude’s. Recently, it was announced that a clinical trials program in Michigan for children with cancer will be expanding to include young cancer patients at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. To learn more about this new partnership on precision medicine between Grand Rapids and Beirut, please click here. To make an online donation to support the cancer treatment of children in Lebanon, please visit this link.

When I was exploring the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan in Mongolia, I had the opportunity to photograph all of the beautiful Buddhist statues displayed in the peaceful temples of the palace…

RADICAL DHARMA: TALKING RACE, LOVE & LIBERATION
Rev. angel Kyodo williams Sensei & Lama Rod Owens
Shambhala Center Atlanta
Saturday, March 21st 7 pm

This event will continue a series of conversations that are building towards the creation of a book in the prophetic tradition of Cornel West’s and bell hooks’s Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life, which is a pivotal book by the two prevailing black intellectuals of our day. Radical Dharma is a joint project in which Lama Rod and Rev. angel Sensei will be bringing the teachings of the Dharma to bear on the white supremacy and racism we encounter in our lives, in our practice centers, and in our relationships to liberation. For more information, please click here.

Inside/Out: Creative Mask Making
The Rubin Museum
Course begins April 1
Wednesdays from 6:00–8:00 PM
Five Sessions: April 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29

Inspired by the exhibition Becoming Another: The Power of Masks, this new class will be lead by artist and author Barbara Diane Barry and will examine the use of masks as tools for storytelling and personal transformation. Through gallery visits, image-based discussions, and mask-making workshops, the class will examine the psychological role of the figurative masks we wear in public, as well as the potential masks hold as tools for insight. Each participant will create two masks—one representing the outer self, and one the inner self—and reflect on the process with the group. For more information, please click here.

When I was in Mongolia over the summer, I had the opportunity to visit and study the 8th-9th century remains of the old Uighur capital of Ordu-Baliq (Khar Balgas) with other archaeologists from the Society for East Asian Archaeology and the National University of Mongolia. We spent most of our time exploring and photographing the city’s outer walls and Buddhist stupa.

Khar Balgas is just one section of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape which includes numerous archaeological remains dating back to the 6th century. The Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape is located in the central part of Mongolia–approximately 360 km from the capital of Ulaanbaatar. According to UNESCO: “Collectively the remains in the site reflect the symbiotic links between nomadic, pastoral societies and their administrative and religious centres, and the importance of the Orkhon valley in the history of Central Asia.” The Orkhon Valley today is still marked by the long-standing traditions of Central Asian nomadic pastoralism. Surveying the remarkable archaeological remains in the Orkhon Valley with fellow archaeologists was truly the adventure of a lifetime…

Recently, when I was in India to speak at a conference on Sufism in India and Central Asia, I had the chance to visit Fatehpur Sikri–a 16th century city built by Emperor Akbar to honor the revered Sufi saint Salim Chishti. If you journey to India, the immense size and awesome beauty of this Sufi-inspired city will set your senses awhirl…