The Two Buddhist Participants In Muhammad Ali’s Inter-Faith Funeral Service.
Their names are Venerable Utsumi and Sister Denise (who I think is the one on the right in the YouTube video below).
The Sister by definition is not a Buddhist monk. She would be the equivalent of a nun. Not sure whether the other one is a bona fide monk. He is not dressed in the dark saffron robes we normally associate with Buddhist monks.
I could be wrong but I think these two represent Nepalese, Tibetan or Bhutan Buddhism — which is not mainstream Theravada or Mahāyāna Buddhism (my background and expertise being in the former, Sri Lanka considered the spiritual home for that school). I haven’t, as yet, been able to find anything more about these two other than that they participated in Ali’s funeral! IF you can help me here I will be most grateful. [Thanks, in advance.]
Increasingly folks in the U.S. are gravitating towards and identifying with Tibetan and Nepalese Buddhism, and creating the impression that this school represents most Buddhist worldwide. Not so. I happened to look up Buddhist temples in Louisville and discovered that they are all Tibetan-centric. C’est la vie.
One thing ironic that Ali, who is said to have arranged how this service was to conducted, may have overlooked. Tibetan and Nepalese Buddhist have zero-experience dealing with Muslims! Not so if he turned to Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka. Just something to think about.

Click to access the 4 minute YouTube video of the drum-embellished chanting. Most Buddhists would not recognize this as a standard Buddhist ritual.

Click to ENLARGE and view here. From my alltime favorite newspaper (so often referenced in this blog), the U.K. “Daily Mail”. The two Buddhists, Venerable Utsumi and Sister Denise appear as the last entry against the “Speakers” — ahead of the “Reading”.
Related Posts:
>> Google Footnote, June 10, for Ali.
>> Muhammad Ali “In His Own Words”.
**** Check Category ‘Religion’ or search on ‘Buddhism’ for many other posts >>>>
6 Fuji X-E2s Images Of The Day — June 11, 2016.
Us From Sri Lanka Sure Have A way With Elephants — Domesticated Or Wild.

Click to watch YouTube video. She is talking in Sinhalese and you can hear quite a few adults behind her.
Click here to access the U.K. “Daily Mail” original
from June 10, 2016.
Click image to ENLARGE and enjoy here.
To be honest this did not disturb or surprise me. We, Sri Lankans, have a way with elephants. Not sure what the situation is like now but when I was growing up in Ceylon (before the name got changed) elephants were not strangers to us. We would see and interact with domesticated elephants, especially at Buddhist temples, on a fairly regular basis and I, thanks to all the travelling we did, year around, had seen wild elephants.
Not 100% sure about this incident. Seems slightly staged. Lot of adults standing behind her and there is no true indication that this was a wild elephant per se. A very well paved road (though you can come across elephants in Sri Lanka in many areas). Elephants are NOT killers. Why would they attack a human if they didn’t have to? The little girl is obviously not a threat.
This is cool. This is Ceylon.
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Have You Heard Of The ‘Bilderberg Conference’ — This Year With A $35 Million Security Operation?
Click here to access the U.K. “Daily Mail” original
from June 10, 2016.
Click image to ENLARGE and enjoy here.
Click image to ENLARGE and read here.
Despite all the years I spent in Europe and my penchant for following European news this was the first time I have heard of this Conference.
What caught my eye was the £25 million ($35 million) security operation. Wow. Who is paying for that? If they can spend that much on security they must have a huge, unconstrained budget. Interesting. The Daily Mail article, cited above, has a list of attendees for the 2016 conference. Check it out.
Deaths In Acadia National Park — There Is A Blog Just On This Topic.
I found out about this blog when it’s author, J.R. Libby kindly left a comment against my June 8, 2016 posts about the ‘Fatal Fall At Acadia‘.
Interesting. I am, however, struck by the paucity of incidents. I expected to see at least two per year. I will have to check with the author. Not sure how comprehensive this is. But a good start.
Thank YOU Mr. Libby.
Related Posts:
>> Fatal fall at Acadia.
>> 3 Obscure facts about Acadia.
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**** Search ‘parks’ for MANY other related posts >>>>
‘Naked Restaurants’ Don’t Sound That Appetizing — Though Weight Restriction Is A Good Idea.
Click here to access the U.K. “Daily Mail” original
from June 10, 2016.
Click image to ENLARGE and enjoy here.
This just seems taking a cliché notion to the extreme. And then you find out that they make you wear paper underwear! Ah! Seems like an oxymoron. Don’t get it.
I could just about understand and condone topless restaurants — gender independent. But naked with paper underwear seems distinctingly unappetizing.
But love the notion of keeping the obese out. I wish they would do that at U.S. all-you-can-eat buffets! I had heard stories that some planned to charge overweight folks more. But something has to be done. Definitely puts me off my food — which is NOT a bad thing. Smile.
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++++ Check Category ‘Restaurants’ >>>>
++++ Search on ‘overweight’, ‘obese’ and/or ‘diet’ for posts >>>>