The Department of Pastoral Services at the Duke University Medical Center provides spiritual services for individuals experiencing health crises.

A list of resources for the study of Buddhism compiled by Ron Epstein, who is now retired as a professor from San Francisco State University. It includes links to background information on Buddhist history, teachings in the Theravada and Mahayana traditions, Buddhist texts and such subjects as Buddhism and children and Buddhism and science.

Read the Basic Buddhism Guide posted by BuddhaNet, the website of the Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc., based in Australia. BuddhaNet is an effort to create a nonprofit, online “cyber sangha” of people committed to the Buddha’s teachings and lifestyle — an effort to combine an ancient tradition with the information superhighway.

Buddhistdoor is an online site published by the Tung Lin Kok Yuen charitable foundation. It provides information about Buddhist teaching and the impact of Buddhist culture on the global community.

BuddhaZine is an online magazine associated with BuddhaNet. It provides Buddhist teachings, news, art and a variety of other current and interactive features relating to Buddhism.

Lion’s Roar is one of the world’s best-selling and most widely read Buddhist magazines, providing Buddhist teachings and ways to apply Buddhist wisdom to modern life issues. It was formerly known as Shambhala Sun.

Helping Hand is an Islamic global humanitarian relief and development organization that focuses on Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Kenya and Iraq. Its American office is in Detroit.

The Islamic Medical Association of North America aims to provide a forum and resource for Muslim physicians and other health-care professionals, to promote a greater awareness of Islamic medical ethics and values among Muslims and the community at large, to provide humanitarian and medical relief and to be an advocate in health-care policy.

Read a Nov. 9, 2005, Washington Post story describing the controversy linked to the Buddhist leader’s involvement with such scientific work.