MUSICTHERAPY

29-9-2012

Friso Woudstra is a young musician who just finished his study musictherapy after working a year as an apprentice with traumatic refugees, depressed elderly and pychiatric patients. Emotionally hard work with only gradual results but that doesn't diminish his enthousiasm about music therapy nor his conviction that it can be a useful form of psychotherapie especcially when it is combined with mindfullness.

The Goldfish

8-9-2012

The Dutch Zen master Nico Tydeman published a book with collected essays and articles which cover four decades of Zen experiences. Although not auto-biographical it still gives an insight in his personal development and also the slow institutionalisation of Zen in the Netherlands, starting from a 'hippie' youth center in Amsterdam till his rediscovery of the importance of ritual and prayers in the last years.

THE MEDITATING REVEREND

25-8-2012

Florus Kruyne is a reverend of the 'Remonstrantse Gemeente' in the Dutch town of Utrecht. His liberal protestant denomination which dates back to the days of Jacob Arminius in the early 16th century, forms part of the early wave of protestant communities who wanted to decide among themselves how to live and what to believe among which also were the Moravian Brothers or the Unitarians in Hungary. They have always be open to the outside world and Florus Kruyne has in this tradition since his student days experimented with other faiths and spiritual practices. They Thai monk Mettavihari introduced him to vipassana meditation which he has kept on practising since the 1980's and has integrated with his work as reverend in the form of meditation courses and retreats for his parishioners. A rebroadcast of 3-3-2012

JAN MARIJNISSEN

11-8-2012

As a prelude to the september elections Jan Marijnissen of the Socialist Party talks about his ideals and a better world.

DAVID LOY

28-7-2012

An interview with the Zen philosopher David Loy on engaged Buddhism. A rebroadcast of 24-9-2011

SUMI-E

14-7-2012

The Indonesian born artist Rob Komala is a Sumi-e veteran, a Chinese-Japanese artform closely related to Zen Buddhism in which the artist tries to express the essence of reality in afew brush strokes.

CREMATION IN THE NETHERLANDS

23-6-2012

A short history of cremation in the Netherlands as told by the director of the Dutch funeral museum G. Sluiter.

BUDDHISM AND SHAMANISM

16-6-2012

Jeroen Boekhoven wrote his thesis in the religious sciences, 'Genealogies of Shamanism' on the development of modern shamanism in the west and discovered also a common ground in the popularization of both in the west in the sixties and the seventies by people as Alan Watts and Joan Halifax who were involved simultaneously in both movements. Boekhoven poits also to the loose way in which the term shamanism is and was used and which has almost nothing to do with the original form of shamanism in Central Asia.

DEATH

9-6-2012

If one looks at the different schools of Buddhism and the services they perform for the lay people it seems that most them are related to death and dying. Especially in Tibetan Buddhism there is an extensive expertise how on how to guide people through this key moment in their live. But what are the causes of this phenomenon and what can we learn from it and use in the modern care for the dying. Henk Blezer, lecturer in Buddhism at the University of Leiden studied these questions and has some preliminary answers.

 

TIBETAN REFUGEES

26-5-2012

A reportage on Tibetan refugees in the Netherlands who are not recognised as being Tibetan and threathened with expulsion to China they will be arrested immediately and punished heavily. Many of the refugees after being not recognised as a genuine refugee will stay on and live illegally in the country. One of the few organisations which gives any support to them is the foundation Khorlo which through political lobbying and juridical procedures tries to alleviate the fate of these illegals. A rebroadcast of 25-2-2012

DALAI LAMA

19-5-2012

A portrait of the Dalai Lama by three Dutch people who collaborated with the Dalai Lama for many years. Michael Walt van Praag, Princeton professor and lawyer of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile, Paula de Wijs, founder of the Maitreya Institute in the Netherlands who was involved with the visits of the Dalai Lama to the west for many years and Frits Hesselink who organised the visit of the Dalai Lama to the Netherlands in 1986.

DREAMS OF NATURE

28-4-2012

During the exhibition Dreams of Nature in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam Maarten van Buuren, professor French literature at the University of Utrecht held a lecture on symbolism and spiritual themes in the literature and visual arts around the beginning of the 20th century or as indicated in the exhibition from Van Gogh till Kandinsky.

IN MEMORIAM FRITS STAAL

14-4-2012

In februari 2012 the eminent linguist and philosopher Frits Staal died in Chiang Mai in Thailand where he lived since his retirement as a professor. He was en is known about his work on vedic rituals, the sankrit languages, the functions of mantra's and recitations and his scientific study of mysticism. He was also active in the academic world and as an advisor of the Dutch government and instrumental in the survial of the Oriental studies including the scientific study of Buddhism in Leiden. One of his students now professor at the Sorbonne in Paris and himself a leadng researcher in Vedic studies, Jan Houben remembers.

IN MEMORIAM MARGOT KOOL

31-3-2012

Margot Kool was one of the founders of the Maitreya Institute in the Netherlands, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist Sangha's in the Netherlands. Co-founder Paula de Wijs talks about her memories of this remarkable woman and her sudden death.

MAANHOEVE

24-3-2012

De Maanhoeve - The 'moon farm' is a combination of an agricultural company and meditation center in the line of Thich Nath Hanh run by Wim Heusinkveld and Ida te Lindert. Wim has been a farmer all his life with an interest in spiritual matters and Ida comes from psychotherapy. Both believe in the combination of practical work with spiritual matters and its a fixed part of the courses they give for teachers, nurses and children as an antidote against burnout and stress.

THE WAY DOWN

10-3-2012

Niraya or Naraka is as close as you come to hell in Buddhism, it is 'the way down' and the inevitablke prize you have to pay for choosing this path of cruelty and violence. Although it is only occasionally mentioned in the Pali canon Naraka is usually depicted on temple walls or visualised in Buddhist statue parks throughout South-East Asia. A conversation with translator Jan de Breet on hell in the Pali canon

THE MEDITATING REVEREND

3-3-2012

Florus Kruyne is a reverend of the 'Remonstrantse Gemeente' in the Dutch town of Utrecht. His liberal protestant denomination which dates back to the days of Jacob Arminius in the early 16th century, forms part of the early wave of protestant communities who wanted to decide among themselves how to live and what to believe among which also were the Moravian Brothers or the Unitarians in Hungary. They have always be open to the outside world and Florus Kruyne has in this tradition since his student days experimented with other faiths and spiritual practices. They Thai monk Mettavihari introduced him to vipassana meditation which he has kept on practising since the 1980's and has integrated with his work as reverend in the form of meditation courses and retreats for his parishioners.

TIBETAN REFUGEES

25-2-2012

A reportage on Tibetan refugees in the Netherlands who are not recognised as being Tibetan and threathened with expulsion to China they will be arrested immediately and punished heavily. Many of the refugees after being not recognised as a genuine refugee will stay on and live illegally in the country. One of the few organisations which gives any support to them is the foundation Khorlo which through political lobbying and juridical procedures tries to alleviate the fate of these illegals.

BEAUTY NEARBY

18-2-2012

Kunstfactor the Dutch foundation for amateur art did research on the raltion between the arts and religion and organised an exhibition on religieus art in the Netherlands with the title Beaty from nearby.

BUDDHIST MAGIC

14-1-2012

Tattoos and amulets enjoy a growing popularity among Buddhists in South East Asia. Buddha Magic is an often overseen and little studied aspect of Buddhism that has also spread to the west and in the Netherlands Rodin van Erven with his internet amulet shop is one of the propagators of Buddha Magic.

SELF MUMMIFICATION

7-1-2012

In Japan and some say also in the Himalayas there existed a practice among Buddhist monks to prepare their body for mummification by following a strict but poisenous diet combined with physical exercises and finally seclusion. It is a strange outgrowth of the more common Buddhist ideas that sacrificing yourself for the other is the highest gift and spontaneous mummification is a sign of enlightment but also a source of spiritual power and protection against evil and disaster. It also raises questions about the Buddhist view on suicide and euthanasia. Matters that Lars Scholten wrote a paper on for the University of Leiden.

RELIGION NOW

31-12-2011

The Dutch photographer Eddy Seesing published a book and an exhibition on 70 religious communities in the Netherlands with live sized portraits of the priests, monks or reverends of each community in their religious dress. An interview on his motivation and the difficulties to finish this 7 year long project.

BEGGING AND GIVING

24-12-2011

In the Theravada world monks go out every morning to beg for their daily food and they have to accept and eat what has been given even if they don't like the taste or if there is meat in the food. For the lay people the daily alms rounds of the monks give an opportunity to practice, dana or giving. And dana or freely giving without ties is seen as the first and a very important step on the Buddhist path, more important as meditation or any other contemplative practice. Among western Buddhist the importance of dana has been ignored and it is hardly practised at all. Is this characteristic for Western civilisation ? You hear vipassana teacher Aad Verboom and Zen priest Baldwin Schreurs on dana.

AMITABHA

17-12-2011

The Buddha Amitabha, ruler of the western paradise is the main manifestation of the Buddha in the Pure Land school of Buddhism, in numbers the largest Buddhist denomination in the far east. Als in the other Mahayana schools Amitabha is popular with the lay people and seen as an approachable and friendly protector of the common people.

BUDDHA IMAGES

12-11-2011

Indonesian born Paula Voges has been interested in Buddhism and Asian arts, especially textiles from a young age. She has been working with the Thai National Museum in Bangkok and is nowadays working as a voluntary expert with Nusantara, a museum in the Dutch town of Delft dedicated to Indonesia, its history and its arts. At he occasion of her lecture for the Delft etnographic society on Buddha images Fred Gales spoke with her about Buddha as vehicle for artistic expression.

LOI KRATHONG

5-11-2011

Jataka stories play an important role in the practice of Buddhism in South-East Asia. This has a long history and if we look at the iconography on ancient Buddhist monuments we see that these tales were already popular in ancient times. Marijke Klokke of the University of Leiden is an expert in the history of South East Asia and the visual representations found on Buddhist monuments as the Borobudur in India.

JOOP DE JONG

15-10-2011

Joop de Jong is a leading international researcher in the field of transcultural psychiatry and mental health programmes in war and disaster areas. He has also been working with migrants and refugees.

MONIEK PEEK

1-10-2011

An interview with painter Moniek Peek on the illustrations she made for 'Boeddha's Beestenboek', a children book based on the Jataka stories from the Pali Canon. The interview was made during her solo exhibition in the Anton Pieck Museum in Hattem.

DAVID LOY

24-9-2011

An interview with the Zen philosopher David Loy on engaged Buddhism