My friend Venerable Benkong took this photo of a lotus pond last year in Beijing's Haidian district. Photo © Venerable Benkong, 2019

"A highly individualized spiritual belief system composed of selected elements drawn from various doctrines." — Judie Sigdel
My friend Venerable Benkong took this photo of a lotus pond last year in Beijing's Haidian district. Photo © Venerable Benkong, 2019
Yesterday, one of coworkers, T., who is twenty-something and was raised in China, asked me if I had "seen the parade" on the way to work. I said that I had not and asked what the parade was for. T. said, "I don't know how to say it in English." I said, "Tell me in …