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Credit: Roberto Trm | flickr
Robes and Swords in Myanmar, Tibetan Dream Yoga, and More
July 16, 2013
Summary: Buddhism is known for its commitment to non-violence, but that hasn't stopped machete-wielding Buddhists from killing more than 200 Muslims in Myanmar in the past year. Also, lucid dreaming as a spiritual practice, and Modern-Day Mystics: the new generation.
Credit: Hmuu Zaw | Wikimedia Commons
Radical Buddhism July 16, 2013
In Myanmar, an unlikely group of people is inciting violence against Muslims--Buddhist monks. Buddhist nationalists have now killed more than 200 Rohingya Muslims, inspired in part by a Buddhist monk with shorn hair, a saffron robe and a gentle voice: Ashin Wirathu. Though he denies any role in the riots, critics say his racist preaching has heightened resentment towards the growing Muslim minority.

Pictured: A house being burned during the 2012 Rohingya riots in Rakhine, Myanmar.

Michael Jerryson and Mark Juergensmeyer, co-editors of Buddhist Warfare
Credit: Shambalah Publication
Lucid Dreaming--And Awakening July 16, 2013
For Tibetan Buddhists, dreams can be a perfect laboratory for investigating the nature of reality. If you can learn how to awaken inside your dream--that is, become aware that you're dreaming and even take control of your dream--you can learn how to "wake up" in the rest of your life.

B. Alan Wallace, author of Dreaming Yourself Awake: Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Dream Yoga for Insight and Transformation
Credit: Kino Lorber
How A Fake Guru Earned a Real Following July 18, 2013
Kumare looks just like you might imagine a Hindu guru. He has long hair, a stringy beard and wears a sarong. But his real name is Vikram Gandhi....and he grew up in New Jersey. Gandhi talks about his documentary, Kumare, in which he impersonates a guru whose message to students is that they don't really need him. From September 2012.

Vikram Gandhi, director and star of the documentary Kumare
Courtesy Adam Elenbaas
Modern-Day Mystics: The New Generation July 18, 2013
Preeti Harris and Adam Elenbaas came along after the so-called hippie generation, but their ways of accessing the mystical are age-old. Raised in a Hindu household, Preeti Harris has found her spiritual sustenance in meditation. Adam Elenbaas has traveled down many mystical paths. In this segment, he takes us on on a journey to Peru and introduces us to the mind-altering Amazonian plant known as ayahuasca. 

Pictured: Adam Elenbaas breathes in a brew of ayahuasca tea.

Click here for the rest of the series and web extras.


Produced by Tali Singer

Preeti Harris, transportation planner and practitioner of sahaja yoga meditation
Adam Elenbaas, author and ayahuasca adventurer