Wealthy Buddhists

I just put up (at my other blog) a provocative little post that analyzes Buddhist wealth as opposed to American wealth, in case you’re intrested in clicking on over there….

One New Earth (O.N.E.)

Here’s a worthy effort to which I’d like to draw everyone’s attention:

O.N.E. is a non-profit, social organization that seeks to unite human rights efforts worldwide.

The purpose of O.N.E. is to spread positive change through unifying the principles of consciousness and action. Our world is overwhelmed with a plethora of issues that seem so immense that we feel paralyzed in our reactions. Many of us either want to do something or are already doing something to remedy the world’s ills, yet still feel that the struggle toward justice is fragmented. A major objective of O.N.E. is to create a strong network of humanitarians whose talents and knowledge can be called upon to address various issues in society.

They’ve got a wonderful website, ready for your exploration.

It’s what this blog is all about: seeking a positive response to what may otherwise depress us, in the interest of creating a world we all would prefer to inhabit.

Peace Refuses to Die

Our friend Sadiq brings the good news of a worthy Nobel laureate:

Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus has urged world leaders to get on with the fight against poverty, upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. He has called on world leaders to stop spending money on wars like the one in Iraq.

The 63-year-old and the Grameen Bank he founded have won the peace prize for their work to lift millions out of poverty by granting tiny loans to the poorest of the poor, especially women in rural Bangladesh.

Mr Yunus and Grameen Bank representative Mosammat Taslima Begum have received gold medals and diplomas at a ceremony at Oslo’s City Hall to applause from about 1,000 guests.

Sadiq supplies part of Mr. Yunus’ prepared speech, in which he states plainly, “Poverty is a threat to peace.”

War, on the other hand, increases and deepens poverty, which is a protracted state of suffering that should long ago have been irradicated from the collective human experience.

Thank God for people like Mr. Yunus, whose organization sets a shining example of what can be accomplished when our hearts are in the right place.

And thanks to Sadiq, who hails from Bangladesh himself (at least part of the time), for giving coverage to this inspiring story.