Steven Seagal To Rebuild Buddhist Temple In Serbia

Recently granted Serbian citizenship, Hollywood action star, musician, and Buddhist Steven Seagal has expressed a strong interest in reconstructing Europe’s oldest Buddhist temple in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

Seagal was granted Serbian citizenship in a special decree signed by the country’s prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, on 8 January. The decree followed several visits to Serbia in recent months, during which the 63-year-old martial artist met the prime minister and President Tomislav Nikolic, and suggested that he could open an aikido school in Belgrade. The government also invited Seagal to train Serbian police in aikido. The actor, a friend of Russian president Vladimir Putin, said in a recent interview that he has big plans in Serbia: “I can do a lot here . . . I really want to bring Hollywood to Serbia. I want to bring the whole film community here. I want to build great, sort of a Hollywood-film infrastructure here.”

Europe’s oldest Buddhist temple, which was consecrated in December 1929, was constructed in Belgrade by political refugees from Buddhist Kalmykia in southwestern European Russia. Two years later, the street on which the temple was built was renamed Buddhist Street, and in 1934, the temple was presented with a golden statue of the Buddha from Japan. The temple was heavily damaged during World War II, and later demolished. The modern-day Republic of Kalmykia, a Russian federal subject of less than 300,000 people, is the only European region in which Buddhism is practiced by the majority of the population. As Tibetan Buddhists, the Kalmyks regard His Holiness the Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader.

In February 1997, Kyabje Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche (Penor Rinpoche), a lama from Palyul Monastery in eastern Tibet (one of the six mother monasteries of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism) and head of the Nyingma school from 1991 to 2001, announced that Seagal was a tulku, specifically an incarnation of Chungdrag Dorje, a 17th-century tertön (treasure revealer) of the Nyingma tradition.

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Robot Monk Unveiled In China

A buddhist temple, Dragon Spring Temple in Beijing, China has developed a robot monk named "XianEr" which was unveiled at the temple's National Day Gala celebration earlier this month.

The robot monk the protagonist of cartoon series "Trouble, you seek for yourself" published by Longquan (Dragon Spring) Temple, is developed by the temple with artificial intelligence experts. “The 50cm tall, Xian’er” is able to sense his surroundings and answer deep questions about Buddhism.

Their aim is to engage with new and contemporary audiences, continuing a trend by the Longquan Temple to take a modern approach to promoting Buddhism, including through social media. The temple’s Master Xuecheng was the first monk on the Chinese mainland to start a blog, and in a similar fashion the tech savvy Xian’er has done away with traditional educational materials, clutching a snazzy iPad-like device instead (albeit with a slightly bewildered expression).

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Monk Slaps Foreigner On Train

A video showing a monk slapping a foreigner on a train in Thailand has gone viral. Apparently the foreigner was seated on another seat when he was asked by two women to move to the seat next to the monk as women are not allowed to have contact with a monk. The foreigner obliged and asked the monk if he could sit next to him. The monk for unknown reason was angry and told the foreigner that he did not know what he was talking about. The foreigner then answered "fine" and took up the seat. It was believed the monk thought the foreigner had uttered a deroggatory at hm as the word sounded like "fai", meaning "buffalo". The monk was angry , stood up and slapped the foreigner.

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Buddhist Personality - Andrie Wongso

Name : Andrie Wongso
Nationality : Indonesia
Profession : Motivator / Businessman

As a young man, he was very interested in martial arts and even established his own martial art school "Hap Kun Do". His interest in this art eventually led him to Taiwan. In 1980, he went to Taiwan after signing a three year contract with a film company there. He appeared in several martial arts during that period but never as the main actors. After seeing the ups and downs of the entertainment world, he decided that the acting profession was not for him.

He returned to Indonesia and started a few small businesses. He loved writing motivational words in his personal diary to motivate himself. After getting the idea from a friend, he started a business selling motivational greeting cards and at the same time studied Buddhism deeper. This business of his led him to several other businesses but the one that established himself as a No.1 motivator in Indonesia was a company dealing with motivational talks and publications.

Initially his talks were based on Buddhist philosophies but as his popularity grew, he ventured into more universal talks, extending his audiences from Buddhist to people of all faiths. Today, he is regarded as the No.1 motivator in Indonesia. He has his own show on national TV and has given countless talks to various niversities and companies across Indonesia. He is also a regular motivator for the Indonesian National Badminton Team.

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The Little Monk Who Becomes Viral On Social Media

In May 2014,   a Weibo  posted photos of his son, dressed up as a little monk in a temple photoshoot in Fuzhou, China. In just one night, his post was shared more than 1 million times. Below are the said photos. 

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Buddhists Clean Up Streets For New President

To celebrate the appointment of new Indonesian President, Joko Widodo (Jokowi),on October 20, 2014 a group consisting of 65 volunteers from the Buddhist Tzu Chi Fellowship held a rubbish collection session on the streets leading to the National Palace, the venue where the appointment of the new appointment would be held

Clad in their blue and white uniforms and a cap, the volunteers put on hand gloves and went around picking up rubbish in the streets of the country's capital city. According to the group's coordinator, Joe Riady, " We want to keep the capital city clean on the date of the appointment of the President "

They started their work at 10.00am and by they called it a day, 180 bags fulled of rubbish were collected.

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Buddhist Story - The Boy And The Pet Shop Owner

One day as he was walking home after school, a boy passed by a pet shop. There he saw some puppies up for sale. As he liked dogs very much, he went inside the shop to take a look at the puppies. The puppies wagged their tails upon seeing the boy. The boy played with each and every puppies there. He wanted to buy one of them.

He pointed to a particular puppy and asked the shop owner " Sir, how much does this puppy cost ? ". The shop owner answered " $200, this puppy is of good breed, so it's a little expensive ".

Shocked at the high price of the puppy, the boy then asked the shop owner again " Sir, do you have a cheaper one ? ". The shop owner answered " No, all the puppies here cost that much ". As he could not afford to buy the puppy , the boy waved goodbye to the puppies and started to leave. As he was leaving the shop, the shop owner shout " Wait ! young boy. I have another dog at the back of the shop. Do you want to take a look at him ? " The boy jumped in excitement and said " Yes, i want to look at that puppy ". The shop owner went to the back of his shop and brought a little puppy. The puppy wagged its tail non-stop at the boy. The puppy crawled to the boy and licked his shoes. The boy bent down to take a closer look at the puppy and then said to the shop owner " Sir, i like this puppy, how much does this puppy cost ? ".

The shop owner looking suprised answered the boy " The hind legs of this puppy are deformed. He can't run and jump like a normal puppy. Are you sure you like this one ? ". Without any hesitation, the boy said to the shop owner, " Yes, yes i like this one. How much does he cost ? ". The bewildered shop owner said to the boy, " My dear, no one wants this puppy, so you can't have this puppy for free ".


Upon hearing this, the boy told the shop owner " No, sir, i won't take this puppy from you for free. OK i will pay you $200 but can you allow me to pay in installments " The confused shop owner answered " Eeerh, i can allow you to pay instalmment but why ? With $200 you can have a normal puppy ".

Answering in firm tone the boy said " Thank you sir, i want this puppy. I don't want the other puppies ". He then pulled up his pants and show his left leg to the shop owner. He said " Sir, look at my left leg. It is also deformed just like the puppy's. I use artificial leg to walk. Eventhough I can't run and jump like other boys but i am not useless. I can go to school on my own, i can help my father to pick woods from the forest, i can help my mother at home, i can do many things that other boys do. Despite my handicapped, i am a normal boy. This puppy is just like me. Sir, i will pay you $200 for this puppy. It does not worth any lesser than the other puppies.

The shop owner was so touched after hearing the boy's words. Tears began flowing out from his eyes as he went down to his kness and hugged the boy. He said to the boy " My dear, i am sorry. I have done wrong. I shouldn't have shown disrespect to the puppy. Take this puppy home. You can pay me the $200 in installments. He thought to himself " This puppy will lead a happy life with the boy ".

Moral of the story, do not judge a book by it's cover and do not show disrespect to people who have physical weaknesses.

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