Facing what scares us is Pema Chödrön's signature topic. A glance at the book and audio titles of the most beloved female Western Buddhist teacher provides a first-aid kit for handling life: When Things Fall Apart, we have No Time to Lose so that we Start Where We Are, and...

Empowering girls to access higher education, Lotus Outreach works to replenish educated citizenry 30 years after it was decimated during Khmer Rouge genocide and celebrates its first graduating class of college students in Cambodia, marking a turning point in Cambodia's decades-long tumultuous history.

This June, approximately 800,000 college seniors will...

Recently ,His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama made headlines when he enthusiastically supported the idea of choosing a female successor.

The first Western Buddhist woman who swore to attain enlightenment in a female body was Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who became famous worldwide through...

Venerable Thubten Chodron is the author of "Buddhism for Beginners" and founding abbess of Sravasti Abbey in Washington State, the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery for Westerners in America. Thubten Chodron gave this short teaching well before the Boston Marathon Tragedy, but her words about "The True...

There is no hope for a female pope, but there might be one for a female Buddhist leader.

When Pope Francis washed the feet of two young women during Easter, this provoked the criticism of conservative Catholics who pointed out that the liturgies only allow men's feet...

On April 4, 2013, the world will mark the 8th annual United Nations International Day of Mine Awareness, a global observance designed to grow the movement to ban anti-personnel landmines, promote disarmament and clearance, and provide victim services. Lotus Outreach International, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicating to enhancing education...

Many of us dream of exchanging our day-to-day responsibilities for a heartfelt life full of purpose, but few of us ever get around to doing something about it. The women featured here are the exception. They followed their intuition against all odds, made dramatic and unusual decisions and sometimes had...

On 20th Anniversary of World Water Day, Lotus Outreach Works to Increase Awareness on Linkages Between Waterborne Illness and Open Defecation, Poor Hygiene in Rural Cambodia

On May 22, 2013, the international community marks the 20th anniversary of World Water Day, established at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment...

A recent global poll by UK-based research firm Globescan suggests that when it comes to environmental crises, people around the world are becoming less worried. Oddly, the general level of concern in the 22 countries polled seems to be going down, just as the problems are rising. Air...

This International Women's Day, First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry will honor ten courageous women, some of which have risked their lives to expose abuse and injustice.

Among these women is one fearless Tibetan poet, Tsering Woeser. As the U.S. Department of State acknowledges:...

Patricia Zenn already had a religion when she grew up in Malibu: surfing. But as she was constantly teased by her classmates about her family name ("Are you Buddhist or what?"), curiosity led her to borrow a book about Buddhism when she was only 11 years old. To her surprise,...

A visit with Sister Margaret Farrell at the Covenant House in Los Angeles.

On a bright sunny afternoon at two o'clock, a half-naked young man breaks through the electronically secured doors of the Covenant House in North Hollywood. Blood gushes from wounds on his shaved head and neck....

This summer, we conducted an unofficial (and involuntary) experiment: Take one unsocialized Rottweiler and see what five different dog trainers will do with it! When we first met three-year-old Molly at a local rescue group, she was wild and completely untrained, but she seemed sweet and longing to please. Apparently,...

Recently The New York Times highlighted a subject that, though considered taboo in the West, represents a critical human rights issue in the East: lack of access to toilets. The article, written by Jim Yardley, showcased the novel "Right to Pee" campaign in Mumbai which is working to...

Now it is scientifically proven: Money doesn't buy happiness. Giving does. This is one conclusion to draw from a number of recent studies and surveys. The World Giving Index shows a greater correlation between a person's degree of happiness and giving than happiness and wealth.

Similarly, the University...

Many of us in the charitable community have already heard about the Girl Effect, a ground-breaking campaign launched by the Nike Foundation to bring attention to the unique role adolescent girls play in facilitating the development of third world economics.

But a recap never hurts, so...

In America, every 15 seconds a woman is beaten by her husband or domestic partner. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 -- more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. I always thought these figures were shocking, especially since...

Every morning, a small yellow school bus stops in front of my house to pick up the neighbors' kids. Grabbing their new book bags, they lament the end of the summer break, while showing off this year's school clothes to their friends.

At the same time but on the...

If you could only have one child, would you prefer it to be a boy or a girl? Honestly? Here it is: 40 percent of Americans prefer to have a son and only 26 percent a daughter. This is the result of the Gallup poll of 1947 and...

On World Day Against Child Labor on June 12, the international nonprofit Lotus Outreach will celebrate 400 child workers in India who enrolled in school for the first time in their lives. While Lotus Outreach has many projects designed to keep children in school and out of work, the brick...