Buddhist Jihad

Four Thoughts That Turn One's Mind Toward the Dharma

The Four Reminders

Joyful to have
Such a human birth,
Difficult to find,
Free and well-favored.

But death is real,
Comes without warning.
This body
Will be a corpse.

Unalterable,
The laws of karma;
Cause and effect
Cannot be escaped.

Samsara
Is an ocean of suffering,
Unendurable,
Unbearably intense.

Recalling this, may my mind turn to the dharma.

Translated teaching on the four reminders by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Photo of the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

Translator, Practitioner Robin Kornman Dies

Tibetan translator and dharma brother Robin Kornman passed away on July 31.

Send him off in good style.

Aussies Embrace Buddhadharma

More Buddhists than Muslims in Australia.  Who knew?

Buddhism, Australia's Fastest-growing Religion

By Phil Mercer The Dalai Lama has just completed a tour of Australia, boosting what is the country's fastest-growing religion. Australia has more Buddhists per capita than anywhere else in the Western world. Buddhism has moved beyond Asian immigrant communities and into the mainstream. Tibetan nuns chant traditional prayers - an increasingly common sight in Australia. There are about 350 thousand Buddhists in the country in this mainly Christian nation, and government census data indicate that number is up almost 80 percent from 1996. The Buddhist population eclipses the size of Australia's Muslim population.

Link here.

Not to mention:  Teachings of Some Christian Churches Drives Some to Convert to Buddhism, here.

Just for fun: another "Buddhism is Satanic" self-described Christian, link here.  He says "Buddhism is of the Devil."  Hmm.  Project much, o holy one?

And don't miss Advice from Abu Shri  on teaching mindfulness to schoolkids, as well as a fine piece on -- you guessed it -- Paris Hilton.

Meditating Mind Affects Matter

Age-Related Changes In Gray Matter Volume, Attentional Performance Associated With The Practice Of Zen Meditation

Zen meditation, a Buddhist practice centered on attentional and postural self-regulation, has been speculated to bring about beneficial long-term effects for the individual, ranging from stress reduction to improvement of cognitive function.

In this study, we examined how the regular practice of meditation may affect the normal age-related decline of cerebral gray matter volume and attentional performance observed in healthy individuals.

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM), a recent technique to measure gray matter changes from MRI brain scans, and a computerized task of sustained attention were employed in 13 regular practitioners of Zen meditation and 13 control subjects matched for age and education level who never practiced meditation.

While both total gray matter volume and attentional performance displayed the expected decrease with age in control subjects, meditators did not show such a trend.

Furthermore, the difference in volumetric decline between meditators and controls was most prominent in the putamen, a basal ganglia structure that has been implicated in attentional processing in general and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in particular.

While results will need to be confirmed by a longitudinal study on a larger sample, these findings suggest that the regular practice of meditation may have neuroprotective effects and reduce the cognitive decline associated with normal aging.

Full link here.