Money, sex scandal at Shaolin Temple

China's head of Shaolin Temple arrested

(China Insider with David Zhang) July 28, 2025: Capitalism is good, just like America taught us. If it's good enough for Protestant Christian televangelists and  One product from China Insider with David Zhang tagged products below in the commodification of sea creatures. Learn more (pre-sale, shipping at the end of September) and get a bonus pack of Taiwan Yushan High-Mountain Oolong Tea (150g).

China's genocide of Muslim Uyghurs

What about the next Dalai Lama, sir?

14th Dalai Lama speaks about the 15th Dalai Lama's rebirth

(Religion for Breakfast) The battle to control the next Dalai Lama

(ReligionForBreakfast) June 19, 2025:  As the 14th Dalai Lama turns 90, a global power struggle looms. Who gets to choose his [rebirth] successor? This video explores the battle over reincarnation, politics, Chinese rule, and the future of Tibetan Vajrayana/Bon Buddhism.

• Check out earlier video explaining the Dalai Lama: The Dalai Lama Explained: The Last Lama? (now that YouTube has restricted Last Week Tonight with John Oliver's interview)

Who in the world are the Han Chinese?

What do modern genetics say about the ancient Han Chinese, the dominant group in modern China?

• Millet farming over rice farming among Han Chinese?

Compare news coverage. Spot media bias. Avoid algorithms. Try Ground News today and get 40% off subscription by going to ground.news/religionforbreakfast.

What China found on the Moon (video)

What China found on the Moon

Somewhere up there, Chinese lunar rovers race.

(The Space Race) May 17, 2025: Chinese robots [like China's superior electric cars on Earth not covered by the Western media] have discovered something new on the far side of the Moon.

• First Lesson: I am proud of you, my national flag (CGTN)
• Last video: Something big is happening with China's Tiangong Space Station

How does China have better electric cars?

ABOUT: The Space Race is dedicated to the exploration of outer space and humans' mission to explore the universe. It provides news and updates from everything in space, including the SpaceX and NASA mission to colonize Mars and the Moon. It focuses on news and updates from SpaceX, NASA, Starlink, Blue Origin, the James Webb Space Telescope, and more. If interested in space exploration, Mars colonization, and everything to do with space travel and the space race, this is the right channel. The Space Race loves space and hopes to inspire others to learn more.

► Subscribe to The Tesla Space newsletter: https://www.theteslaspace.com. Business Email: sean@creatormill.com #Spacex #Space #Mars

►Sign up for weekly Space Race newsletter: thespacerace.news/subscribe ► Become a member today: @thespaceraceyt ► Support the channel by purchasing from merch store: shop.theteslaspace.com ► Join Discord server: discord ► Patreon: thespacerace ► X/Twitter: thespaceraceyt ► Subscribe to other channel, The Tesla Space: theteslaspace. Mars colonization news and updates. SpaceX news and updates. •

• Sean, The Space Race, May 17, 2025; CC Liu, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Happy National Panda Day (3/16)

Don't harass me, Big Panda. I do NOT consent. No means no, not maybe, so back off.

.

China loves mythological figures like pandas

Although pandas, a kind of creature like the tiny sun bear but subsisting almost exclusively on nutritious bamboo shoots (as served in good Chinese restaurants), are best known for their opposition to sexual harassment, it wasn't always that way. They were an utter myth, like Sasquatch, until someone trudged out into the woods, killed a specimen, and conclusively proved they really exist in more than just the locals' lore.

No, Panda, you're getting too excited! (Ali Ex)

Now, numerous Sasquatch have been gunned down, and it didn't "prove" anything because the U.S. government already knows without a doubt that these hominids exist in every state but are keeping the secret anyway, even if some USFS material says otherwise. Unlike the charismatic megafauna of U.S. forests, these creatures, which come in many varieties around the world, can be dangerous, monstrous, all too human, and best kept under wraps since they are entering and exiting this dimension by various means (portals, prison planet ships, and their own preternatural super abilities).

Petey the Sexual Harassment Panda debuts on South Park, mm'kay?

• China loves mythological figures who are bigger than life: Cosmic Buddhas like Amitabha and Vairocana, Indian missionary Bodhidharma, Goddess Kwan Yin, Ksitigarbha in Hell, Yeren (Wild Man in the woods), and big pandas.

National Panda Day: March 16

Baby panda boy on Pinterest

Every year on March 16th, we celebrate the fluffiest, bamboo-munching bears that are a source of national pride for China.

There are two subspecies of panda, the Giant, black-and-white panda, and the golden ‘Qinling panda’ – a much smaller, brown subspecies of panda, discovered in 1985 in the mountain ranges of the southern Shaanxi Province in China.

In the wilderness, giant pandas live only in the remote, mountainous regions of China [like some kind of hiding Smallfoot no one used to seriously believe in].

As of 2019, due to rapidly growing population numbers, the status of pandas was upgraded from “endangered” species to “vulnerable” species. Still, it is reported that there are fewer than 2,000 pandas left in the wild, due to habitat loss, farming, fur hunting, and other factors [like trying to teach them kung fu and getting them killed by Hollywood in the process, with drug and alcohol abuse for the ones who find fame ;,)].

Thrilling fight between two real Zoo Kung Fu Pandas | iPanda

The Dragon Warrior Tournament | Kung Fu Panda (2008) | Family Flicks

Pandas only live about 15 to 20 years in the wild, but those in captivity may live even longer. Panda bears play an important part in the ecosystem of China’s bamboo forests, by spreading seeds, and therefore, growing new vegetation, which serves humans, animals, and humanimals (like the Yeren), and animals.

That’s why it is important to protect the panda and its environment, aside from their intrinsic right to live and exist on the animal plane, which is shared with humans and the human plane in Buddhism.

• Animals in Buddhism
• 12 adorable and unbelievable facts about panda bears we never knew

Extinction events are possible as in the past

One factor contributing to their endangered status is the low birth rate for pandas. Considering that female pandas are only fertile two or three days of the year, it makes sense that reproduction in the wild is more difficult for this species.

There are about 27 zoos worldwide that imprison or indefinitely detain protect giant pandas and foster artificial environments to encourage reproduction.

The most important factor for preserving wild pandas is to protect their environment, especially bamboo forests, their main source of nutrition. More

• National Today, March 16, 2025; South Park (Comedy Central); CC Liu, Crystal Q., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Music in the Chinese Garden (The Huntington)

Music in the Chinese Garden | The Huntington; CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Period instruments produce the best sound.

Enjoy Traditional Chinese Music every Wednesday afternoon (FREE with admission) in the Garden of Flowing Fragrance. A different solo musician performs each week, playing unamplified melodies on classical instruments including the dizi (笛子), pipa (琵琶), and erhu (二胡). Let the music do what it does -- transport listeners to another time and place while strolling through one of the most magical landscapes in Southern California. (Canceled in the event of rain). Free with general admission. Generous support for this music series is provided by the Justin Vajna Memorial Fund for Educational Programs in the Chinese Garden. More

• Botanical Gardens | The Huntington

Buddhist world: Last Women's Kingdom (video)

Brent Huffman, PBS Frontline; CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

SHANGRI LA adjacent, China - Free love culture? Tantric sex for all with no marriage? A Han Chinese (Mahayana) tourist haven in a Tibetan Buddhist (Vajrayana) outpost? Not exactly, but close.

 

Keepers of one of the last matriarchal societies in the world, Mosuo women (Moso, Na) in this remote area of southwest China live beyond the strictures of mainstream Chinese culture -- enjoying great freedoms and shouldering heavy responsibilities.

Mosuo woman tailor (Gisling)

Beautifully shot and featuring intimate interviews, this short documentary offers a rare glimpse into a society virtually unheard of ten years ago and now often misrepresented in the media.
 

Mosuo women control their own finances and do not marry or live with partners. They engage in sex freely in a practice they call "walking marriage." A man may be invited into a woman's hut to spend a "sweet night," but he must leave by daybreak. The woman is in charge.
 

Women and men are equal.

While tourism has brought wealth and 21st century conveniences to this remote area, it has also introduced difficult challenges to the Mosuo culture -- from pollution in the lake, to the establishment of brothels, to mainstream ideas about women, beauty, and family.

This finely wrought film by Xiaoli Zhou and Brent E. Huffman. is a sensitive portrayal of extraordinary women struggling to hold on to their extraordinary society.

• VIDEO: Frontline (pbs.org)

News of the Day

Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Nermeen Shaikh (DemocracyNow.org)

HEADLINES (June 8, 2015)

• Thousands protest G7 Summit in Germany 
• UN: 20 million Yemenis need aid; Saudi strikes kill dozens
• Turkey’s ruling AKP loses Parliamentary majority 
• Pakistan cleared 8 of 10 accused in Malala Yousafzai 
• Mexico: Ruling PRI keeps majority amid protests 
• Thousands call for Honduran president’s resignation over corruption scandal 
• Lashing, prison sentence upheld for Saudi activist, blogger
• Republican homosexuality: sister, friend identify former high school student as victim of former Republican House Leader Dennis Hastert
• Thousands march against Tar Sands pipelines in St. Paul 
• 2 convicts escape maximum-security NY prison

Protesters press secluded G7 leaders on harmful policies, from crippling austerity to dirty coal. G7 leaders: Obama, Merkel, Cameron in Bavaria, Germany, a favorite location of Hitler.

Riots in China's Xinjiang region

Many die during riots in China's Xinjiang region: state media
Marianne Barriaux (AFP)

BEIJING, China — Three people were killed and more than 20 others injured as rioters swept through the capital of China's mainly Muslim Xinjiang region on Sunday, state media reported.

• China says 140 killed in riots in west
  
  The dead were from China's majority Han Chinese ethnic group, according to the official Xinhua news agency, with activist groups and a witness saying the violence in Urumqi city pitted thousands of Muslim Uighurs [prounounced wee-gurs] against police. The unrest is the latest in more than a year of violence to hit Xinjiang, home to about eight million Uighurs -- many of whom say they have suffered political and religious persecution under Han Chinese rule for decades.
  
  Citing local government officials, Xinhua said the rioters "illegally gathered in several downtown places and engaged in beating, smashing, looting, and burning." It said many motor vehicles were burned in the unrest on Sunday afternoon.

In a parallel to accusations about the Dalai Lama, the regional government said the unrest was "masterminded" by the World Uighur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in exile in the United States, Xinhua reported early Monday. The government did not say how many people were involved or how many had been arrested, it said.

But the eyewitness, a Han Chinese bar owner in the city center where the riots took place, who refused to be named, told AFP there were around 3,000 Uighur protesters and some were armed with wooden batons and knives. More>>

Tibetan Buddhism's Permanent Home

(Saransh Sehgal, April 13, 2009, AsiaSentinel.com)

With hope of return to Tibet diminishing, India's Dharamsala takes on the trappings of permanency.

After 50 years of exile and an uncertain future at best, the Indian hill city of Dharamsala (shown at right) in the North Indian state of Himal Pradesh is increasingly looking like the last stop for the thousands of Tibetans who settled here after their 1959 flight to escape Chinese domination.

Many in Dharamsala hoped that 2009 would be a watershed year in which some form of relaxation would take place with the Han Chinese. But if anything the Chinese have become more intractable than ever over any hint of negotiations. The Dalai Lama himself, who can often be seen on the streets, said recently that: "I have spent most of my life in this hill station. Now I feel like a citizen of Himachal Pradesh." More>>

• Chinese Civilization and Democracy
• Is "Unhappy China" Just A Show?
• Satire Lost In A Foreign Language

Tibet protesters jailed for life

"Tibet protesters jailed for life for deadly riots that killed 18 'innocent civilians'" (4/29/08)

Ruling: A Chinese court sentenced 17 Tibetans for riots China brutally cracked down (dailymail.co.uk)

A Chinese court today sentenced 17 Tibetans, including six monks, to jail terms ranging from three years to life for their roles in last month's riots. The Intermediate People's Court of Lhasa announced the sentences at an open session, after convicting the men of being responsible for the deaths of 18 "innocent civilians."

Two men, including a Buddhist monk identified as Basang, received life sentences. Basang allegedly led 10 people, including five other monks, who destroyed local government offices, burned down shops and attacked policemen. Two of the monks were sentenced to 20 years and the three others to 15 years, Xinhua said.

• Tensions Rise in Tibet as Monks disrupt Journalists VIDEO (1:51)

The other man who received a life sentence was Soi'nam Norbu, a driver for a Lhasa real estate company who joined in the mobs that burned vehicles, smashed police stations and assaulted firefighters during the riot. He was convicted of arson and disrupting public services, but no details were given about the 10 other people sentenced. China's state broadcaster reported that 200 people attended the trial, the first since the mid-March riots.

The massive anti-government protests that turned violent in Lhasa on March 14 were the largest challenge to Chinese rule in the Himalayan region in nearly two decades.

• Civilian Head-Shaving Protest for Tibet VIDEO (0:36)

China has said 22 people died in the riots while Tibetan exile groups say many times that number were killed in the violence and the ensuing crackdown. Xinhua said the Lhasa violence left seven schools, five hospitals and 120 homes torched and more than 900 shops looted. Total damage was more than 244 million yuan (£17 million). Tibet and the surrounding provinces where protests broke out have been closed to foreigners since the unrest.

The sentences came a day after Tibetan authorities announced the reopening of the Sera Monastery, which was closed after the riots. "Monks have been taught legal knowledge in recent days and the monastery has resumed normal religious activities," Tenzin Namgyal, deputy director of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee said. Other monasteries that were closed will be reopened soon, he said.

Chinese authorities have increased patriotic education classes that require monks to make ritual denunciations of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, accept the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama, and pledge allegiance to Beijing.

The protests, initially led by Buddhist monks, started peacefully on March 10, the anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. They became violent four days later as Tibetans attacked cars and shops run by Han Chinese, China's majority ethnic group. Police and armed troops surrounded Lhasa's three main monasteries -- Sera, Drepung, and Ganden -- along with the sacred Jokhang Temple during the demonstrations. They were then closed off as authorities investigated which monks had been involved in the unrest.