Hemis Festival Celebrated by Drukpa Buddhists with Much Fanfare

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LEH, India -- The 2-day annual celebration by the Drukpa Buddhists - the Hemis festival began today at the Hemis Monastery, Ladakh with much fanfare.

The festival was blessed by the spiritual head, His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, and was attended by over 25000 guests from across the world. The courtyard of Hemis Gompa-the biggest Buddhist monastery in Ladakh is the permanent venue for the famous festival which commemorates the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava, the 8th century Indian guru revered for spreading Tantrayana Buddhism throughout the entire Himalayas.

Drukpa Buddhists celebrate the legendary Hemis Festival with great enthusiasm annually. The colourful two-day pageant falls on the 10th day (Tse-Chu) of the Tibetan lunar month. The festival duration is marked as a local holiday, and involves the entire city. Locals dress up in their finest traditional garb for the occasion and throng the festival venue.

On the first day, People from a cross section of societies and countries jostled with each other to watch Lamas called 'chhams' perform splendid masked dances and sacred plays to the accompaniment of cymbals, drums and long horns. Sacred plays accompanied by cymbals, long horns and drums were also performed. The highlight of the Hemis Festival is the Masked Dance, performed by the monks, demonstrating good prevailing over evil.

The performers wear elaborate and colourful costumes and brightly painted masks. These masks are the most vital part of the dance. The dance movements are slow, and the expressions grotesque. The music is characteristically punctuated with sounds of cymbals, drums, and unwieldy trumpets. The monks with trumpets, Rgyaling i.e. pipe drums, cymbals, rounded shaped bells enthralled the gathering.  The entire festival arena smelled heavenly because of incense sticks and other sweet smelling herbs.  The first dance was setting limit or 13 black hat dancers, followed by sixteen dancers wearing copper gilded masks. Then there was the eight different forms of Padmasambhava followed by Guru Padma Vadjra .

On the second day, the monks will continue their traditional performances on various instruments, put on exhibition the thanka-painting of silk patwork of great Gyelsey Rimpoche. The monks afterwards assembled in hall & started the worship of Maharaja Pehara, a protector of Buddhist teaching. At 11 am the eleven Acharyas came out in the retinue of Maharaja Pehara.

About Drukpa Buddhists

The Drukpa Buddhists follow the Mahayana Buddhist tradition in philosophy, i.e. the philosophy of "getting enlightened for the benefit of others" and the methods are based on the Tantrayana teachings passed down from the great Indian saint Naropa, who was born in 1016 in West Bengal royal family. "Druk" in Tibetan means "Dragon" and it also refers to the sound of thunder. In 1206, more than 800 years ago, the first Gyalwang Drukpa Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje saw nine dragons fly up into the sky from the ground of Namdruk, and he named his lineage "Drukpa" or "lineage of the Dragons" after this auspicious event.

For more details, please visit: http://www.drukpa.org or http://www.drukpa-hemis.org

Some of the pictures for the same may be accessed at
https://www.yousendit.com/download/QlVqbUpmcGtUME5vZE1UQw

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Thai society rediscovers the values of the Buddha to combat materialism and economic crisis

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Bangkok, Thailand -- In June, celebrations were held to commemorate 2600 years of illumination of the "Awakened One". In a conference, hundreds of faithful, monks and nuns discuss the value of faith and the challenges of modernity. The risks of globalization, promoting an education system capable of forming good citizens.

Against the materialism prevalent in society, the obsessive search for money, worldly possessions and the pervasive spiritual crisis, Thai Buddhists state that "the path to enlightenment" indicated by the "awakened" is the only way to create "a world of peace."

Coinciding with the celebrations for Buddha's enlightenment 2600 years, better known as "Buddha Chayatee (BC)," the faithful wanted to promote meetings and events aimed at reinforcing the centrality of faith and religion in the life of the nation. Even Thailand, in fact, in recent years has promoted a politics focused on economics, personal success, while neglecting the spiritual and religious element.

The scandals that have hit some monasteries and leading figures of Buddhism has emphasised local fractures and increased dropouts. For groups and individuals that seek to raise the value of religion, the teachings of Buddha are still essential for peace and harmony locally and internationally.

From June 4 to 30 across Thailand events and commemorations of the 2600 remember the enlightenment of Buddha were held. On the final day, the "Public Stage" movement opened a meeting at Buddhamondhol Buddhist Center in Bangkok, attended by hundreds of people, including monks, nuns and faithful.

At the heart of the encounter, the value of religion past and present, along with ways to encourage and promote Buddhism in Thai society. The role of schools and educational establishments need to be stepped up however, called to promote among students the teachings of the Buddha and their value for contemporary life.

62.8 million people live in Thailand, of which 10 million are concentrated in Bangkok. The vast majority, almost 95% profess Buddhism, while 4% are Muslims (especially in the south) and 1% Christian, of which 300 thousand Catholics. For this reason the country is still considered the world centre of religion, with over 33 thousand monasteries and institutes across the area, even if it is going through a period of deep crisis in vocations and practice of worship.

For famous columnist Somchai Preeechasilp the cause lies in a growing materialism, combined with the severe economic crisis. Globalization, he said, poses challenges to the principles of Buddhism, to the values and morals that people should use concretely strengthen their spirituality.

Prapapatra Niyom, director of the Buddhist Path School (BPS), explains that the institutions are responsible for developing all aspects of the person in the students: physical, mental, emotional and social. It has launched a pre-school for children, with the aim of forming children who are educated and formed and able to best represent the future of the nation. From an early age pupils are called to recite morning prayers, meditate on the teachings of the Buddha for at least five minutes a day and use it as a maximum in the resolution of everyday problems.

As is the case with little Saifon, whose name means "drop of rain", blind since birth, but who has wanted to be "illuminated" by following the example of the "master". A college student named Yarnapatra Yodkaew finally remembers that every good Buddhist faithful must develop three characteristics: discipline in preserving the teachings of the enlightened, the search of solitude for personal meditation and intelligence to understand the way forward when called to address a problem or a challenge.

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Can Buddhist training de-stress teachers?

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BOULDER, CO (USA) -- What Angie Mays remembers most about last Thursday’s lunch was not so much how it tasted, but how it sounded.

She and her fellow students in her “Mindful Teacher” class at Naropa University were honing their sensory awareness skills by having a “mindful” lunch together. They ate in silence, carefully chewing and chewing and chewing each bite, noticing the subtle flavors and textures of their foods.

But what struck Mays was the sound. Without the distracting noise of conversation around her, she heard the chewing going on all around her in a way she’d never noticed before.

“I also found I couldn’t really look at anybody, because to look was to want to engage in conversation,” said Mays, an instructional coach and new teacher mentor for Weld County RE-8 school district.

Stressed teachers in need of contemplative practices

Mays acknowledges she’s got a long way to go to become really skilled in this whole mindfulness business. Other than practicing a little yoga, she’s a newbie.

But she’s certain it’s worth doing, and worth sharing with her colleagues in Fort Lupton. That’s why she’s enrolled in a two-year Contemplative Education program at Naropa.

“In my experiences in working with teachers the last few years, I’ve seen a lot of burnout, pressure, stress. There’s something missing,” she said. “This program feels to me like it’s not just the latest fad, but something that can reach people.”

Few groups are more in need of stress relief than the nation’s teachers. Studies consistently show teaching to be one of the most stressful occupations, and the resulting physical and emotional ailments can be debilitating and costly.

Programs such as Naropa’s Master of Arts in Contemplative Education and the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience or CARE program at the Garrison Institute in Garrison, N.Y., aim to arm teachers with the Buddhist-inspired practices of mindfulness and body awareness as a means to counteract the stress of today’s classroom.
$3.5 million federal study underway of stress relief in classrooms

They’ve reached only a minuscule fraction of America’s classroom teachers. There have been about a hundred graduates of the Naropa program over the past decade, and fewer than 500 have taken CARE training.

But practitioners believe they eventually will be able to provide empirical data on the success of such practices in keeping teachers healthy. Once they can show school administrators how the training can boost the bottom line, they expect more educators will get serious about getting mindful.

“This is a really new area,” said Tish Jennings, senior director of the Initiative on Contemplation and Education at the Garrison Institute. Jennings was in Denver this spring to share with others involved in contemplative studies some ways to gather evidence about the impact of their work and advance the knowledge base of the field.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Education awarded a $3.5 million grant to fund a four-year randomized controlled trial of the CARE for Teachers program in New York City schools. It will assess not only CARE’s impact on teachers but also on classroom climate and student outcomes.

“I was a teacher for 22 years,” said Jennings. “I found myself dealing with some strong emotions in the classroom. It can be an emotionally demanding profession.”

Jennings also supervised student teachers, and it was through those experiences that she began to see how emotional reactivity not only creates stress, but can impair a teacher’s ability to be effective.

“As teachers get stressed, children get stressed,” she said.

When office workers get stressed, they usually have the option of stepping away for a few minutes, having a cup of coffee, speaking to another adult to help them calm down. But in a classroom, teachers must not only figure out what to do when they’re upset, they must do it in a way that manages the situation and doesn’t derail learning.

“And they’re doing it in front of a lot of children who may be highly critical of them, or not even paying any attention to them,” she said. “It can be incredibly challenging.”
Mindfulness helps teachers regulate emotions

Mindfulness practices can help teachers better regulate their emotions. It helps them to step back, calm themselves, and respond to situations intentionally, not flying off the handle.

“It seems like a paradox, but when we psychologically slow down, we can get a lot more done,” Jennings said. “When teachers experience that effectiveness and calming, it’s positive reinforcement for them to continue. It’s very subtle, but it’s really foundational.”

Richard Brown is the founder of the Contemplative Education program at Naropa, and is a co-developer of the CARE program.

“It came to be because of my own experiences in the 1980s teaching most third and fourth grades in a Buddhist-inspired K-12 school in Boulder,” Brown said. “I realized that a lot of insights from Buddhism could be translated to non-sectarian teacher education programs.”

Students in the two-year Contemplative Education program at Naropa do most of their coursework online, taking classes in such subjects as contemplative teaching, compassionate teaching, transforming instruction and curriculum.

But they also spend three and a half weeks together during each summer to form a contemplative learning community. They take classes in mindfulness, embodied wisdom and creating community. Much of that time is spent learning about self-care and body awareness, Brown said.

Teachers learning to take care of themselves first

“Teachers need to take care of themselves first,” he said. “It’s like the notion of putting the air mask on yourself in the airplane before you help your child put theirs on. When teachers develop that kind of emotional maturity, then they can create an atmosphere in the classroom that allows them to better serve the needs of their students.”

Step one of mindfulness in the classroom is being aware of what’s going on in their own bodies, he said.

“Teachers are constantly in their heads, but their bodies are giving them stress signals,” he said. “Maybe it’s a tightness in the stomach or throat. But they just soldier through rather than noticing that their body is tense, paying attention, and beginning to relax and let go.”

It also means really listening, hearing the sound of a child’s voice rather than just the words the child may be saying.

“When a child says ‘I’m upset,’ a mindful teacher will allow himself a second to hear that,” Brown said. “But if you immediately come up with a solution, the child may not feel heard. And feeling heard is as important as any answer.

“So we spend a lot of time training teachers to listen to the children before they speak. Take a moment to feel it. So if a child says ‘I’m upset,’ if we actually register genuine concern, then that child will trust us more than if we just say ‘Oh, what’s that all about?’”
Understanding the value of just sitting still

Brown instructs teachers in just sitting still, in noticing how they are breathing, in grounding themselves.

“When you are being still, you start to notice the kind of thoughts and feelings you have,” he said. “Things come up. You start to get familiar with how your mind works and how your emotional responses work.”

This week, he had students engage in some mindful reading – reading a descriptive passage very slowly, examining each word and noticing how different words created different emotional reactions in them.

“Before, I could have given you a synopsis of the passage, but when I read it mindfully, it was like savoring each word,” said Teresa Sedano, a Sacramento teacher who works with sign language interpreters. “It was like seeing a newsreel in my mind. And when we got to the word ‘pain,’ it took me to my own pain from an injury.”

Brown nodded his agreement. “When you make that personal connection, you remember it better, and you have a more meaningful experience of learning.”

Michele Blumberg, who is co-teaching the Mindful Teacher class with Brown, does some simple yoga-style bodywork with the students, helping them to relax and to become more aware of their bodies.

After class, Mays expressed her approval of what she’s learning, and how she will use it.

“You know, it’s not just teachers’ belief in their students that will cause them to succeed or get in their way,” she said. “It’s teachers’ belief in themselves that also matters.”

Source: http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/07/02/39676-can-buddhist-training-de-stress-teachers

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Shrine's IPO plan sparks public outcry

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Shanghai, China -- The latest effort to float on the capital market by Putuo Mountain, a Buddhist site, has renewed discussions over whether religious venues should turn into high-profile commercial entities through initial public offerings.

<< Visitors gather near the Goddess of Mercy statue at Putuo Mountain, known as a holy Buddhist mountain, in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. Putuo Mountain Tourism Development Co Ltd is gearing up to go public on the domestic capital market. [Photo / China Daily]

Putuo Mountain Tourism Development Co Ltd, a subsidiary company under the Putuo Mountain Scenic Management Committee, is gearing up to go public on the domestic capital market after prudent considerations and a year of preparation, a committee official told China Daily on Monday.

"We are set to raise around 750 million yuan ($118 million) to bolster the site's development," said Zhang Shaolei, who works for the committee, which is affiliated to the Zhoushan municipal government in East China's Zhejiang province.

The local authority is the driving force of the listing, Zhang added.

But he declined to reveal the timetable or comment on the revenue source or composition of the planned listed company.

Putuo Mountain Tourism Development Co Ltd was unavailable for comment.

The listing of companies linked to world-famous Chinese heritage sites is not new in the country's capital market.

For instance, Emei Shan Tourism Co Ltd, which is primarily engaged in the sales of admission tickets and the operation of tramways and hotels in Emei Mountain, another renowned Buddhist mountain, was listed in Shenzhen in 1997.

A more recent example is Famen Temple, another high-profile temple in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, which put the brakes on its IPO in May after preparing for a Hong Kong listing, according to the China Securities Journal.

The issues seemed to have touched the nerves of the government, which has criticized plans to promote tourism via temples, or temples banding together to go public for fundraising.

Xinhua News Agency quoted Liu Wei, an official with the State Administration for Religious Affairs, as saying last month that such plans violate the legitimate rights of religious circles, damage the image of religion and hurt the feelings of the majority of religious people.

"Looking at the rest of the world, no venues for religious activities have ever been packaged for listing before," he said.

Besides, the authorities are drafting documents to regulate policy boundaries that differentiate philanthropic endeavors from profit-driven activities, said Wang Zuo'an, head of the bureau.

Attempts to list religious sites have apparently crossed the line because it is overly money-minded to misuse public assets for profit-driven activities, said Liu Yuanchun, a researcher on Buddhist culture with Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

According to Article 24 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics, no State-owned sites protected for their historical and cultural value, which are established as museums or cultural relics preservation institutes or used as tourist sites, may be made assets for business operations, Liu said.

"A Buddhist temple is a public asset that belongs to the whole country, not the so-called temple managers or the local government," he said.

Reports about Shaolin Temple, famous for its kung fu monks in Henan province, planning a listing sparked a public outcry when they surfaced three years ago.

The temple has made huge profits in recent years from tourist visits, international stage shows, film productions and online stores.

Most local governments have an inherent desire to make temples more attractive and lucrative, as the tourism industry can help boost employment and become a vital source of income, said Ling Xiao, an IPO specialist at Zhong Yin Law Firm.

For example, Emei Shan Tourism Co received approximately 2.6 million visitors to Emei Mountain last year. Net profits rose 31.6 percent year-on-year to reach 145 million yuan, a majority of which came from admission and cable car fees.

But it is highly "inappropriate" for the companies, which rely solely on natural and religious resources, to seek funding on the stock market, as it contradicts current laws on public listing and religious regulations.

"According to the Regulations on Religious Affairs, the land legally used by a religious body or a site for religious activities is protected by law. Therefore it is impossible for the listed company to claim ownership," he said.

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Thai Buddhist film festival seeks to spark faith

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BANGKOK, Thailand -- Religion can be a tough sell nowadays, so instead of waiting for disciples to make their way to temple, some promoters brought 36 films with Buddhist themes to the heart of modern Thailand earlier this month.

The International Buddhism Film Festival was an effort by the government and private religious groups to popularize Buddhism among the younger generations.

"It's like prescribing medicine to children, you have to add a little sweetener there," said Somchai Seanglai, the permanent secretary of Thailand's Culture Ministry. "City dwellers or our young people are not used to the traditional way of practicing Buddhism, so we insert Buddhist dharma into art and culture that people love to consume." Dharma refers to the Buddha's teachings on the meaning of existence.

Initiated by the California-based Buddhism Film Foundation, the movie festival came to Bangkok for the first time this year since its debut in Los Angeles in 2003, and pulled in 3,700 visitors.

"Now many youngsters think of Buddhism as a religion for old people, so the film festival is trying to engage Buddhism with the contemporary world," said Santi Opaspakornkij, executive director of the Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives, an education center dedicated to promoting Buddhism through new channels in Thailand.

About 90 percent of Thailand's population is Buddhist, but many view the religion simply as a rough guide to social do's and don'ts, with vague notions encouraging good behavior.

"I don't go to temples very often," said Napasamon Jeeramaneemai, a third-year architecture student at Bangkok's Thammasat University attending the festival. "Buddhism for me is just a better way to resolve bad situations. Sometimes when you blame them on 'karma,' it's easier to accept them." Buddhists believe "Karma" rules a person's destiny depending on their deeds throughout their existence, which can span many lifetimes.

To make sure the films would cause no major offense, the Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives sought support from three leading Thai monks in the forefront of popularizing Buddhism, including the popular young preacher, Phra Maha Vudhijaya Vajiramedhi, who posts his teachings on his Twitter account for more than 500,000 followers.

The films included "Crazy Wisdom," a documentary released in 2011 by American filmmaker Johanna Demetrakas. It portrays Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a controversial Tibetan monk who preached to thousands of students when he lived in the West but whose lifestyle was in defiance of many of Buddhism's ethical principles.

But many people considered his unconventional style a challenging but effective way of presenting Buddhist concepts.

"I personally don't agree with the way Trungpa Rinpoche teaches," Nittaya Weera, a freelance writer on telecommunication, commented on "Crazy Wisdom." ''But I understand the real essence of Buddhism is in the belief itself. The way to get there doesn't really matter."

"Crazy Wisdom" turned out to be the most popular films. Other crowd-pleasers included "Abraxas," a Japanese film about a married punk rocker turned Buddhist, and "Karma," a lighthearted Nepali film about two Tibetan nuns on a journey to get repayment of a loan.

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15 Austrians awarded Diploma in Buddhism

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Vienna, Austria -- The first batch of students from the University of Vienna who completed the inaugural Diploma in Buddhism was felicitated in Austria today.

The 15 Austrians were conferred with a Diploma after passing the examination conducted by the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka through the Academy of Buddhism and Christianity of the University of Vienna.

In honor of the students who were awarded the Diploma, the Embassy of Sri Lanka organized a ceremony to invoke blessings on the students and staff of the Embassy. The Most Venerable Wijayarajapura Seelawansa Thero, Chief Prelate of the Vienna Buddhist Centrum, conducted the ceremony, followed by a sermon delivered by The Venerable Wilachchiye Kassapa Thero from Sri Lanka.

Having invoked blessings on the participants, the Venerable Wilachchiye Kassapa Thero explained to the audience the Buddhist concept of humanity, which emphasised mutual understanding and accommodation, reaching out to people of all communities and from all walks of life.

The Chief Prelate of the Vienna Buddhist Centrum stressed the importance of working towards achieving peace and harmony among different religions and traditions. The Most Venerable Wijayarajapura Seelawansa Thero had pioneered the course of study in Buddhism at the Academy, following an agreement signed between the two Universities, facilitated by the Embassy.

The 15 Austrian students, who were awarded the Diploma in Buddhism, have expressed interest in pursuing higher studies in this field at the Buddhist and Pali University.

Earlier on, the students had been presented with Diploma certificates by Ambassador Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Austria at a Certificate Awarding Ceremony that was held at the Academy of Buddhism and Christianity.

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Buddhists march in Bangkok to speak out to the world to stop disrespecting Buddha

After being quiet for a long time on how the world uses Buddha's images and name in a disrespectful way, reportedly, Buddhists will be no be longer be queit. The Knowing Buddha organization is gathering a large group of Buddhists who don't want to be quiet any longer, and there message to the world is "Stop Disrespecting Buddha."

The March will contain signs to show that Buddha is their father religion, and they will show how the world should treats Buddha with a variety of signs. The high light of the March will be the enormous size signs depicting "Enough" on the Buddha Bar picture also the sign "No!" on the Disney movie "Snow Buddies" which use Buddha's name as a Dog.

Reportedly, there are many others business who using Buddha' images in commerce, and this will be reflected in the march. The KnowingBudda organization's purpose of the march is to improve awareness in the world, about how not to treat Buddha's images and name improperly. The KnowinBudda organization is non-profit charity, based in Thailand.

Mrs Acaharavadee Wongsakon, the foundation president, indicates that Buddha is the prophet of their religion and that it's fairly common that people should give respect to Buddha like other religious leaders - but if not, there should be no disrespect.

Mrs. Acharavadee Wongsakon, the Meditation master who is the founder and the President of Knowing Buddha organization said, "As a Buddhist, to love peace and tranquility dosen't mean you should not do what's right. We've been too quiet on these matters until the world misunderstood or forgot who Buddha is. The Buddha image is not meant for tattoo, furniture, any kind of logo, or to be used as merchandise. Once Buddhists see Buddha's image or sculptures they will immediately be reminded of his teachings and compassion; not how much money they can make or how much joy they can receive."

The organization notes that the Buddha Bar is the worst example that they have come across of shameless disrespect that encourages the world to follow their path. They urge them to stop using his name and symbol in their business.At the same time, the organization asks Disney to ask o stop using Buddha as a dog's name in their movie.

The KnowingBuddha foundation, indicates that the world have gone too far on these matters, but they have just started their work, and we will persist until the world is no longer using Buddha's image improperly.

The march is called 'Dharma Gratitude' and it will start at 5pm on Saturday at June 30th, at Khao San Road in Bngkok Thailand. The multi-nation tourists and the world will witness the Buddhist march in a way they have never seen. It will be truly unique and loud.

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Little to cheer for Chakma refugees in India

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Nearly 35,000 Chakmas migrated to Arunachal Pradesh after being persecuted in both Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, Chakma refugees have no rights in India and are unable to vote or call themselves citizens.

Arunachal Pradesh, India -- Villagers in Diyun, a farming hamlet in India's remote northeast state of Arunachal Pradesh, wake up to the crack of dawn. They peep out of their huts and look at the sky. With clear weather, they set out for work.

<< Chakma children

It's just another routine day for the villagers -- tilling on their farms and running household chores. Not many are aware of the fact that it is World Refugee Day. That's ironic because 80 percent of this village, which houses 500 families, belongs to a refugee community, the Chakmas.

Since 2001, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has marked World Refugee Day on June 20 to draw attention to the plight of all those forced to leave home. According to the UN refugee agency, there are 42.5 million refugees in the world. The Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh make up only a tiny percentage of that figure -- which is perhaps the reason why their story is forgotten.

According to the East-West Center Washington, about 100,000 Chakmas, a tribal group from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, fled erstwhile East Pakistan between 1964 and 1969 for two reasons -- communal violence and displacement.

A minority Buddhist tribe, they faced oppression on grounds of religion and ethnicity at the hands of the East Pakistan government. (Religious and ethnic persecution of tribal groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts continues to this day.) Secondly, the construction of the Kaptai hydroelectric dam rendered many thousands of Chakmas landless.

As a result, 35,000 Chakmas migrated to Arunachal Pradesh that borders China and Myanmar. Hemantolal Chakma's family was among those who left in search of refuge. The 48-year-old farmer from Diyun was a toddler when he undertook the arduous journey.

"I don't remember anything from those days. But my mother and father told me that it was very tough. Our land had submerged under water because of the dam. We were stranded without any possessions and had to leave. We entered India through Mizoram and settled here in Arunachal Pradesh. I hear it was very difficult in those days. No food to eat, no shelter," he says.

Hemantolal lives with his wife in a thatched hut. There's no furniture in their dimly-lit home. One corner of their single-room hut functions as a kitchen and another as sleeping area. "This is how a poor person's house looks," he apologizes.

Although he's lived most of his life within these four walls, Hemantolal doesn't feel at home here. "It's a sorry state of affairs. I don't have any rights in this place. I can't vote, I can't call myself a citizen," he explains.

Like Hemantolal, most Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh have been denied Indian citizenship or refugee status despite having migrated legally, with valid migration certificates issued by the government of India. Moreover, after signing an agreement with Bangladesh in 1972, the government of India accepted all responsibility for the Chakmas who migrated before March 1971.

Twenty years later, the central government declared that the Chakmas have a legitimate claim to Indian citizenship. However, in April 2004, the state government granted voting rights only to 1,500 Chakmas, leaving 50-60,000 of them still stranded.

Apart from the lack of legal rights, the Chakmas also face discrimination on a daily basis. Sanjay Chakma, 35, who was born in India, regrets belonging to his tribe. "Sometimes I am sad that I was born a Chakma. I wonder why I am one. The other tribes in the region view us with such disdain. We are humans too, but we are denied the rights of humans," he says.

Sanjay says that many of his friends and acquaintances have been assaulted in broad daylight by members of other tribes. "You will hear cases of Chakmas being beaten up in public places. There is an image of Chakmas being criminals, doing wrong things. There's not always an element of truth in it. We don't get respect at work place. We have no other option but to endure how we are treated," he says.

The South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) has not only accused the state government of Arunachal Pradesh of human rights abuses against the Chakmas but also of denying educational and employment opportunities to them.

"In September 1994 the Government began a campaign of school closings, burnings, and relocations which has effectively denied the Chakmas their right to education under international law," the SAHDRC says. Even today, studies point out that schools in Chakma-dominated areas have an abysmal student-teacher ratio of 300:1.

Sanjay lives with his wife and three kids. Five-month-old Joshua is Sanjay's youngest son. It's a lazy afternoon and Joshua is crawling on the floor. Sanjay points to him worriedly and says he isn't sure of what his son's future has in store. "I haven't been able to get a birth certificate for him. The authorities make it very difficult to legally register newborn Chakmas," he says.

Sanjay claims to have made repeated rounds to the local registration office in Diyun district to acquire a birth certificate for Joshua. "There are two days in the week to register for birth certificates. Every time I went to the office on these days, they would send me back and ask me to return again. After many attempts, I got tired of it," he says.

Sanjay thinks it is a deliberate attempt by the state government to deny the Chakmas an identity. "Most of us have no proof that we exist. Isn't it easy to erase records that never existed?" he says, adding, "I'm surprised you know about us. Nobody has bothered to find out."

Members belonging to other tribes in the region accuse Chakmas of criminal activities. Shivumso Chikro, who belongs to the Mishmi tribe, is an assistant professor of history at a college in the state's capital of Itanagar. He believes that the Chakmas should have legal rights but also expresses his apprehensions.

"The Chakmas are involved in a lot of criminal activities. They have expanded their territories. They have taken over land that belongs to other tribes and inhabited them. They should live in the land that has been allotted to them and not take over other people's land," Shivumso says.

He goes on to cite a close encounter: "Where my grandmother lives, there are also some Chakmas residing. One night she got looted by some Chakma miscreants who took away her traditional silver jewelry and everything she had. How do you justify that?" he asks, agitated.

The state government of Arunachal Pradesh seems to share Shivumso's fears. An academic paper published in 1996 says: "The government officially notes the Chakmas' 'propensity towards crimes and other anti-social activities.'

The Chakmas are still hopeful of a better future. Two years ago, a parliamentary committee set up by the Indian government vowed to look into their citizenship issue. Bimal Kanthi Chakma, an executive member of the Committee for Citizenship Rights of Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh (CCRCAP), says they are now in negotiations with the state and central governments.

"I hope that the dialogue will be fruitful. Right now only a very few of us have voting rights. But this right has to cover many more people. We are also fighting to have the right to contest elections here," Bimal Kanthi says. He refrains from sharing more thoughts on the issue, fearing it will affect the outcome of the negotiations.

On being asked by Al Jazeera what progress had been made on the Chakma citizenship issue in the past 60 years, the state government gave no comments. It therefore remains unclear when the negotiations will have an outcome that will decide the fate of thousands of Chakmas.

As part of its World Refugee Day project, the UNHCR is running a campaign titled "No one chooses to be a refugee". The Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh know little about the campaign, but there's no doubt that it matches their sentiment.

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More than 70,000 Buddhists live in Mizoram

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Aizawl, India -- More than 70 thousand Buddhists live in Christian-dominated Mizoram and they constitute the second largest religious group in the state, Statistical Abstract of Mizoram, 2011 said.

Recently approved by the Centre, the report says that a total of 70,494 Buddhists live in Mizoram. State Economics and Statistics department officials said that Buddhists were mainly Chakmas inhabiting the western belt of the state.

They mostly live in the south western part of the state where Chakmas were given a separate autonomous district council in 1972, sources said.

The population was based on the Census 2001 in which the number of Christians was placed at 7,72,809. Buddhist community was followed by Hindus at 31,562 and by Muslims at 19,326, the report said.

There were 326 Sikhs, and 179 people following Jainism and 3,105 classified as others.

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For Belgrave Buddhist monks, it's the rite way to celebrate

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Maroondah, Australia -- It's not every day you get offered the chance to celebrate the Dalai Lama's birthday - and certainly not an invitation you'd expect in the outer east of Melbourne.

<< Celebration: The Tibetan Buddhist Rime Institute in Belgrave is celebrating the Dalai Lama's birthday this weekend. Kimga and Tamkey are monks at the institute. Picture: Wayne Hawkins.

But this weekend you can do exactly that when the Tibetan Buddhist Rime Institute in Belgrave opens its doors to the general public for the Dalai Lama's 77th birthday.

Public officer for the institute Julie O'Donnell said the celebrations would provide an opportunity for people to witness monks chanting and using traditional instruments.

"It is just a nice thing for people to see because you don't often get to see Tibetan rituals."

Ms O'Donnell said people were embracing more of Buddhism and meditation. "I think a lot of people are looking to find a bit more meaning in their lives. They are embracing alternative ways to do this and Buddhism is one of those ways."

The institute has been operating in Belgrave for more than four years and has about 50 members.

Ms O'Donnell said no prior knowledge of the religion was required to enjoy the weekend. "It is for the community to come and celebrate with us. You don't need to do anything - you can just come and watch if you like."

It begins at 7.30pm on Friday with a traditional offering for the Dalai Lama.

On Saturday, events start at 11am with a lunch offering to monks of different Buddhist traditions and a longlife puja for the Dalai Lama. A puja is a ceremony involving prayers, chants and rituals to generate blessings.

In the afternoon, Tibetan films and a documentary about the Dalai Lama will be screened and handicraft and book stalls will be open. There is no need to book and entry is free, but donations for the temple are welcome.

The Rime Institute is at 1584 Burwood Highway, Belgrave. Details: rimebudhism.com.

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Ancestor worship goes hi-tech

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Penang, Malaysia -- Ancestor worship prayer has gone digital with a Buddhist temple in Bayan Lepas putting up two 50-inch LCD screens to display names of the deceased.

<< Modern method: Than Hsiang Temple abbot Ven Wei Wu showing the digital ancestral tablets on a 50-inch LCD screen

The LCD screens are set up on both sides of the prayer hall displaying ancestral tablets to replace traditional ones.

The traditional way of ancestor worship is where names are written on pieces of paper and pasted on a wall.

The slides on the screen change every three seconds to display different names and the digitalised ancestral tablets take the form of lotuses which float towards the palm of Lord Buddha to symbolise the deceased having a rebirth in the Pureland of Buddha.
Than Hsiang Temple

Ven Wei Wu said the temple decided to launch the digital version of the worship prayer this year in a move to protect the environment.

“In the past, about 1,000 pieces of A4 size papers would go up in flames after the prayer sessions.

“We’re not against tradition but we have to do our part in protecting the environment.

“The temple also prohibits burning of joss sticks, joss papers and candles,” he said when met at the temple recently.

Ven Wei Wu also said the temple offered devotees LED rechargeable candles as it is not only environmental friendly but also safe.
Buddhism

He also said some traditions have certain values but most times, people blindly followed tradition without fully understanding its meaning.

The temple is believed to be the first in the country to launch the service and its first trial session on April 1 during the Qing Ming Festival puja was well-received by devotees.

Ven Wei Wu said although people were initially hesitant but most had adopted the idea.

He said the digital method doesn’t require a special software and the slides could be done with Microsoft PowerPoint.

Ancestor worship prayers are held twice a year at the temple, the first during the Qing Ming Festival and the other one during the seventh lunar month.

For details, call the temple at 604-6414822

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Hungarian Buddhists fight discriminatory law

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Jai Bhim Network lead Buddhist groups to petition against legislation that illegitimizes non-Christian religions

Budapest, Hungary -- Buddhists in Hungary are faced with a current major political crisis. The issue, if not immediately dealt with will result in Buddhist organisations being deprived of all legal status, thus losing considerable financial benefits and official legitimation enjoyed by other religions.

<< Hungarian Buddhist Gypsy youth

Last year, elections in Hungary brought to power a conservative nationalist party, winning two thirds of the seats in Parliament. The character of this government is illustrated by its share of significant elements of an extreme right wing party in Parliament, which is more or less explicitly racist, anti-Gypsy and anti-Semitic.

With such a substantial majority, the government has been able to write a new constitution for Hungary that gives Christianity a privileged status. On that basis Hungarian legislators have introduced a new law on churches, redefining what is religious congregation, entitlement to legal status and the tax and other benefits that go with it.

In the new law, called "Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion, and on Churches, Religions and Religious Community", or famously known as "the church law" in Hungary, only ‘historic Hungarian churches’ are automatically recognised. These include Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, Orthodox and a few other traditional Christian churches. These denominations are all explicitly accepted in the law, and no other Christian sects are acknowledged.

While some traditional Jewish congregations are included, reformed Jews are not. In this legislation, not a single Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist organisation is accepted.

The law allows for other religious congregations to be recognised in future, if they can prove that they have a membership of at least one thousand and have been in existence for more than twenty years.

However, the law gives the authority of recognition to Parliament and the courts will have no jurisdiction over whether or not any organisation fulfils the criteria and therefore qualifies for recognition.

Since recognition can only be given on the basis of a two thirds majority of votes in Parliament, it is very likely that it will not be awarded to Gypsy Buddhists and others in future. The far-right anti-Gypsy party together with Christian Democrat members of the ruling party will be able to block such a vote in the present Parliament and this situation is likely to continue for some years.

The immediate result of this new law is that all Buddhist organisations will lose their status as religious congregations with effect from January 1, 2012.

Implications of the law

How has such discriminatory laws impact the livelihood of existing Buddhist organizations? Take the Jai Bhim Network for instance.

Integral to Jai Bhim's Buddhist practice is active social work carried out on behalf of the Gypsy communities in Hungary and neighboring countries in Central Europe.

Inspired by the great Indian Buddhist, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, who led millions of former ‘untouchables’ into Buddhism in 1956, the network engages itself in education work mainly for young Gypsies, who are effectively excluded from the secondary school system, as many of them having been declared ‘educationally subnormal’.

Jai Bhim now has close to a thousand students spread out in six schools, all of whom are at the least gaining the benefits that their Buddhist teachers and friends are bringing to them. Through these efforts, these youth have gained a very positive impression of the Buddha and His teachings.

The tax benefits of Jai Bhim's legal status as a religious congregation are crucial to the survival of it's educational work. Next year, it is projected that their income for running the schools will halve because of the new law, making it very difficult for them to provide education to the already highly marginalised young people.

The fact that Jai Bhim is led and run by Gypsies who are Buddhists makes it even more likely that the government will to dismiss their case for appeal. As an illustration of what they are likely to face in time to come, Jai Bhim successfully sued one Member of Parliament from the majority party for racist remarks made in Parliament in an attack on the organization and are preparing a similar case against another from the far-right party.

To this end, Jai Bhim has taken the lead to create awareness of the discriminatory laws passed in Hungary and have appealed for public support to put pressure on the Hungarian Government. Their aim is one and only this: to get the government to repeal the laws and to afford legal recognition to their organisation, as well as to other Buddhist groups.

Details of their petition can be found here: http://www.refuge.hu/

For an analysis of the controversial legislation please see:

http://www.freedomofconscience.eu/2011/06/hungary-the-most-oppressive-religion-law/

About Jai Bhim Network

Jai Bhim Buddhist Network, an organization of Gypsy/Roma Buddhists in Hungary, is affiliated to the Triratna Buddhist Community and a member of the European Buddhist Union.

For more details, please visit: www.jaibhim.hu

Video

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South Korea's Buddhists monks tackle modern challenges

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South Korea's Buddhists monks tackle modern challenges

Seoul, South Korea -- Sitting in the study at Seoul's main Jogyesa Temple, the Venerable Sung Jin wraps his wide grey tunic around him, as his round face cracks into a broad smile.

<< South Korean Buddhists march with lanterns during the Lotus Lantern Festival in downtown Seoul, 19 May 2012 Buddhist communities have been holding events to try to engage the public

Twenty years ago, he tells me, he was a student activist in South Korea's turbulent new democracy. Running from police one day after a demonstration, he took refuge in a temple, and began chatting to the Zen master there.

The rest, as they say, is history: Ven Sung Jin is now head of administration at the Jogyesa Temple.

But the question of why people become monks is a pertinent one in South Korea at the moment.

Last month, the country's main Jogye Order was hit by scandal after video footage showed several of its monks drinking, smoking and gambling in a hotel bedroom.

It was a PR disaster for South Korea's ancient national religion, already struggling to remain relevant in the face of thriving Christianity and capitalism.

Allegations of un-Buddhist-like behaviour - gambling, corruption, even paying for sex - have circled the Joyge Order, fuelled by internal divisions over the organisation's leadership.

The man who leaked the recent video footage, Ven Seong-Ho, told me the order was like "a patient with cancer - it's about to die, and we don't have the doctors who can fix it".

Many South Koreans dismiss that as hyperbole. But the recent scandal has raised new questions about the role Buddhist monks play in modern-day Korea.

Interest declining

In an age of sex, smartphones and social freedoms, what motivates people to give up many of life's pleasures and spend their lives isolated from the world in quiet contemplation?

"There's usually a moment," the smiling, accidental Ven Sung Jin told me. "A turning point, when someone decides to become a monk.

"It could be house burning down, the death of a loved one. A moment when they realise that nothing lasts forever. It's a very personal response."

But, he says, the number of people making that choice has declined.

"Compared to when I became a monk," he said, "there's been a reduction of maybe 50-70% in people coming in."

"I mean, look at this!" He holds up his bat-like sleeves.

"When life is so convenient, when there's so much to enjoy in modern life, why would you want to shave your head, wear clothes like this, and spend time with a 70-year-old Zen master in the mountains?"

Ven Sung Jin spend ten years meditating in a temple in South Korea's mountains, before moving to Seoul.

"Few want to bear the great responsibility of being a monk," he says, "when even the smallest mistakes have huge consequences."

Korea's Buddhist monks sign up for life - something that can create added pressures, says Ven Moo-Shim, an American who's lived here as a monk for almost 30 years.

"People have a different attitude about Buddhism in Korea," he told me. "For example, in Thailand, you can go to be a monk for 3-6 months, and then return to society. But in Korea it's not that simple. Korean people believe you have to give your life to it. So when they see monks squabbling over petty things, they feel sad."

'Feisty'

As a result of the recent scandal, the leaders of the Jogye Order announced 100 days of repentance, and a series of reforms designed to bar monks from running the financial or day-to-day affairs of temples without help.

Bringing in financial advisors to do the accounts, they said, would not only prevent wrong-doing, but would confine the monks to their key tasks of meditation and spiritual practice.

But it's not the first time scandal has hit South Korea's main Buddhist order. Just over a decade ago, TV pictures showed monks rioting in Seoul, over internal conflicts within the order itself.

I asked the American Ven Moo-Shim whether Korean monks' reputation for being a bit hot-blooded was deserved.

"They are a bit feisty," he said. "And part of that reputation is that they're willing to fight for what they believe is truly good, and helps the Korean people. But of course if things like this recent scandal carry on, they'll lose that good image."

During earlier Japanese and Chinese invasions of Korea, the monks came out of their monasteries to fight the invaders. But with no military invasion to head off in 21st century South Korea, how does a closeted, meditative order remain relevant now?

"I think it's facing a challenge," says Moo-Shim, "because Buddhism is trying to satisfy a need for scientific learning. But trying to adjust the needs of Buddhism to the needs of this age is not so easy."

There have been attempts, he says, to combine Buddhist teaching with counselling, and to hold street festivals and cultural events to engage the public.

But he says, at the same time "we as monks have to recognise that not everyone's ready to live like we do. And it's the monastic mind that's very interesting to a lot of people."

Ven Sung Jin agrees. Buddhism was banned and repressed in Korea for centuries, and it still survived, he said.

"The decision to become a monk isn't something that can be blown off course too easily," he says. It's about wanting to fill the empty mind.

And for someone to be affected by the recent events? "I don't think they would have been willing to take that decision in the first place."

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Psychiatrist incorporates Buddhist philosophy to heal patients

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Buddhist philosophy and practice is incorporated into psychotherapty by Dr. Loizzo

New York, USA -- In the practice and study of Buddhism, non-duality or wholeness is a binding philosophy and critical to achieving enlightenment. All beings are equal in wanting happiness and not wanting pain; therefore one should protect others as one protects the self. This is called “the exchange of self for others,” or mindfullness.

Joseph Loizzo, founder and director of The Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, has written a book called Sustainable Happiness in which he shares decades of research and clinical practice using traditional psychoanalysis, neuroscience and Buddhism in the practice of achieving wholeness.

“The main problem in our human condition has to do with the fact that our natures were adapted for life in the wild, and that because of civilization, we are living in very unnatural conditions,” says Loizzo, who believes this is the primary source of stress for most people. "The stress instincts are what prepare us to fight or fly or freeze sometimes in dangerous situations. But since civilization began to sort of take over our whole lives, these stress reactions are a less and less useful part of our makeup,” according to an interview with Voice of America.

Controlling involuntary responses in stressful situations result in shortness of breath, sweating, and adrenaline surges alerting the body it is in possible danger.

“And because really what is challenging us is not a predator, but is another human being," he says, "whom we need to cooperate with and we need to negotiate with, essentially we become maladapted.”

Buddhist practices and philosophy have long been used for conflict resolution. Dr. Loizzo says by incorporating Buddhist techniques into his medical practice using meditation and breathing techniques, one can re-train the brain to control the body responses to reduce the stress which can lead to depression, chronic anxiety, hypertension and heart disease.

“The idea is that if you’re mindful, you are able to assess things more clearly, and you are able to catch the misperceptions and over-reactions as they occur and opt out of them and choose the alternative [and] to see what is happening to you. Meditation becomes sort of a teachable simple pragmatic system for strengthening the parts of our mind and our brain that we need to be healthy and happy.”

Personal story-telling

Australian aborigines have practiced story-telling for centuries. An adolescent experiences a rite of passage in which they create their own story by going on a “walkabout.” In this practice they trace the paths, or "songlines", that their ancestors took, and imitate, in a fashion, their heroic deeds in order to build their own life rooted in tradition.

Personal story-telling is also one of the techniques Dr. Loizzo encourages. “That’s the way our minds work. Our minds produce stories and images. And so some of the skills we teach have to do with learning to tell ourselves more constructive stories that empower us and help us to build the life that we really want to live - not the one we are trying to survive, or are afraid of being stuck in forever.”

Such methods have been life-changing for many of Loizzo’s patients.

Depression was a major problem for me," says one patient. "And through Dr. Loizzo’s support and our interaction I’ve been able to connect myself with other people and develop a network of people who support me in more meaningful relationships, things like that. It’s been a revolution in my life the way I think about myself and think about the world. I feel like I still have a long way to go but I’ve come a long way.”

Mindfulness techniques have been effective in other settings. For example, breast cancer patients whose disease has gone into remission often report PTSD-like symptoms long after treatment ends. Western medicine offers little to ease the continued fear and anxiety.

For a pilot study, Loizzo taught 60 women in a 20-week course that included meditation instruction and group discussions. Afterwards, most reported feeling less anxious and more hopeful about their lives. "Apart from curing and treating the disease, it’s important that we improve people’s quality of life.”

Combining Western psychotherapy with Eastern philosophy is the basis for Dr. Loizzo’s book and the direction of his practice.

Like the Australian Aborigines who, by singing the songs they created in walkabout, could navigate vast distances through the deserts of Australia's interior, Loizzo’s patients are learning to navigate or “walkabout” in their own lives through meditation and creating constructive stories to empower them through daily living as well as in crises.

Source: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12500393-psychiatrist-incorporates-buddhist-philosophy-to-heal-patients

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Pakistan: Buddha attacked by Taliban gets facelift

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JAHANABAD, Pakistan -- When the Taliban blew the face off a towering, 1,500-year-old rock carving of Buddha in northwest Pakistan almost five years ago, it fell to an intrepid Italian archaeologist to come to the rescue.

<< In this May 24 photo, people sit near a sculpture of the Buddha whose face was destroyed by Taliban fighters at Jahanabad, Pakistan, in the Swat valley. (AP-Yonhap News)

Thanks to the efforts of Luca Olivieri and his partners, the 6-meter-tall image near the town of Jahanabad is getting a facelift, and many other archaeological treasures in the scenic Swat Valley are being excavated and preserved.

Hard-line Muslims have a history of targeting Buddhist, Hindu and other religious sites they consider heretical to Islam. Six months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the Taliban shocked the world by dynamiting a pair of 1,500-year-old Buddhist statues in central Afghanistan.

The Jahanabad Buddha, etched high on a huge rock face in the 6th or 7th century, is one of the largest such carvings in South Asia. It was attacked in the fall of 2007 when the Pakistani Taliban swarmed across the scenic Swat Valley. The army drove most of them out two years later, but foreign tourists who used to visit the region still tend to stay away.

Olivieri himself had to leave in 2008 after more than two decades of tending to the riches dating back to Alexander the Great and the Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim invaders who followed. The 49-year-old head of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan returned in 2010 and is back at work.

Taliban militants climbed ropes to insert explosives in holes drilled into the face and shoulders of the Jahanabad Buddha, said Olivieri. The explosives in the shoulders failed to detonate, but the others blew off most of the face above the lips and cracked other parts of the carving and surrounding rock.

Olivieri and his team began work this month on fixing the cracks and what’s left of the face. A full reconstruction is impossible because detailed documentation and fragments of the face are lacking.

“Whatever you do in the absence of perfect data is a fake,’’ said Olivieri, who says he has wanted to be an archaeologist since age 6 and still brings a youthful exuberance to his work even as his beard grows gray.

Arriving as a university student in 1987, he was fascinated by Swat, once an important center of Buddhist culture and trade. The monk credited with introducing Buddhism to Tibet, Padmasambhava, was born in Swat.

In more recent decades, the area was known as “the Switzerland of Pakistan,’’ popular with religious tourists from China, Japan and South Korea, and the hope is that restoration of the Jahanabad Buddha will spark a revival of tourism here.

Olivieri’s mission is funded by the Italian government, which works with local Pakistani antiquities authorities. It has uncovered over 120 Buddhist sites among Swat’s soaring hills and rushing rivers. Of roughly 200 Buddhist rock carvings in Swat, the Jahanabad Buddha was among the few to survive with its face intact for so long, said Olivieri. Most were defaced centuries ago by Muslim invaders who, like the Taliban, consider Buddha a false idol.

Maulana Shamsur Rehman, a leading Islamist politician in Swat, says the attack on the Buddha should never have happened. Islam preaches freedom and protection for followers of all religions, he told The Associated Press, and “in line with Islamic rules, nobody should have an objection to the repair work on the Buddha statue.’’

In 2001, militants damaged the excavated ruins of a 7th century Hindu temple in Swat overlooking a stronghold conquered by Alexander in the 4th century B.C. Unable to protect the temple, the Italian mission had to rebury it.

Ironically, the site that Olivieri was most worried about during the Taliban’s violent reign in Swat was an Islamic one ? the roughly 1,000-year-old Udegram Ghaznavid mosque, the third oldest in Pakistan. He feared the militants would occupy and damage it, but that never happened.

Pakistani security officials say the Taliban are again trying to infiltrate Swat, but militants are not the only threat to the archaeological sites. Looters are perhaps a bigger problem. Many relics looted from Swat are in private and public collections around the world.

In December police arrested several men in Swat and seized a roughly one-meter-tall, 1,800-year-old Buddhist statue that could have fetched tens of thousands of dollars on the international antiquities market.

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Unconditional Compassion

Home Asia Pacific South Asia Sri Lanka

Colombo, Sri Lanka -- Who is to be held responsible if an aged member of the Sangha, discharged from a government hospital, seeks shelter in the nearby bus stand for several days not knowing where to turn to? Is it the Buddhist laymen of the country, or the disciples of the aged monk? All should share the disgrace, I believe.

<< Ven. Modarawane Amilasiri Thera nursing an ailing monk

But is it of any use to point fingers at others when what should be done is to rise to the occasion and reach out to the needy? This is the very thought that would have crossed the mind of Ven.Maderawane Amilasiri Thera of the Sri Bodhirukkharamaya, Wellawa, Polgahawela when his eyes accidentally fell on the aged monk who was lying in a critical condition at a bus stand in the Kurunegala town on January 20, 2004.

“As I spoke to the Thera I understood that he had been lying there for several days. He was from Galewela. With great difficulty he had managed to come to the bus stand and his feeble physical condition had made him stay there until I found him. His disciples had dropped him to the hospital, but had not returned to take him back. I decided to take him to our temple and look after him.” Amilasiri Thera recollected the incident which inspired him to establish the Amilasiri Centre for the Aged Monks which is located in the temple premises.

The very next day the Thera visited the Kurunegala hospital and told the staff that he is ready to accept aged monks after their discharge if there is nobody to accept them.

Five monks were sent to the centre on the same day. Since that day Amilasiri Thera is engaged in the noble mission of looking after the sick monks who have no where to turn to at their old age.

The Amilasiri Centre for the Aged Monks which is located in the premises of Sri Bodhirukkharamaya, Wellawa, Polgahhawela, today provides shelter to 35 aged Bhikkhus who come from different parts of the country. Though the drive to the temple, which is situated on an elevated land is not easy, the place is surrounded by lush greenery and the serene environment is ideal for the aged monks. However the difficult drive sometimes makes the lives of these ailing monks tedious as it is not so easy for vehicles to reach the place in an emergency to rush them to the hospital.

As children we have heard the story of Puthigaththa Tissa Thera who was nursed by the Buddha when he was lying in his Kuti in a critical condition at the Jethavanarama. “He who attends to the sick, attends to me” said the Buddha emphasising the importance of looking after the sick. Amilasiri Thera, a disciple of the Buddha in the true sense of the word, is fully devoted to these sick monks who seek his assistance throughout the day.

“Three monks have to be fed and some are bedridden and they need full time attention.” It is with great compassion and sympathy that Amilasiri Thera nurses the sick monks who stay in the four wards which are at the temple premises. There are twenty three Sameneras (Novice Monks) in the temple and they help the Thera for preparing Dahna (alms) for the monks and collect firewood cadjan leaves, and coconuts from the temple backyard. The way the Sameneras help the noble mission of Amilasiri Thera is praiseworthy. Amidst all this work and financial difficulties, these Sameneras continue with their Pirivena education as well.

During the early days of its establishment the Thera had to go on alms rounds along with the other monks to collect food for these ailing monks. “The support of the villagers was immense.”said the Thera. But as the number of aged monks increased and also because the type of food required by each monk differ due to their medical conditions, now food is generally prepared in the temple premises by Amilasiri Thera with the support of the Samaneras. “We also get Dhanas on certain days. What we mostly get as donations are dry rations.” No vehicles are owned by the temple to take the sick monks to the hospital. “There is only one trishaw owned by a village boy who rises to the occasion at a considerable rate and helps us out.”

The Thera’s extraordinary compassion towards humanity was appreciated at the Viru Jana Weera award ceremony in June, 2011 where he was awarded with Viru Jana Weera award for donating a kidney to a needy patient by risking his own life. The donation was made to a 22- year old newly married Catholic girl in 2005.

“In two earlier instances I was planning to donate a kidney. But both patients died. My name was registered in the Kandy Hospital donators’ list, so they came looking for me when this girl was in need of a kidney.’

Today she is a mother of two. When asked whether he has any contacts with that family he said that he had asked them not to visit him and that his sole expectation was to give someone else a chance to live. He does not want anything beyond that.

Amilasiri Thera was born as the fifth child in a family of eight. In 1988 he entered the Order at the age of fifteen under Malambe Madurasiri Nayake Thera of the Homagama , Dampe Sri Bodhiwardhanarama. His father Peter Weeresinghe of Embilipitiya, Modarawana passed away three months back at the age of 83. As a grateful son he never forgot to spare a few hours from his busy life to visit his sick father. His mother Misilin Nona is seventy three years old.

Since its establishment in 2004, 40 theras have gone back to their respective temples after curing themselves completely. Twenty six Theras have succumbed to old age and died at the centre.

None of the disciples of Hanguranketha Pungnasara Thera who is taking treatment at the Centre has any contact with him. His only aide is Amilasiri Thera. Pungnasara Thera has been staying here for one year. Handapangoda Sandasiri Thera has been staying at the centre for the past one and half years and is taking treatment for a leg ailment. “Very rarely do the Dayakes call me to inquire about my health.” He said. The stories of the other 33 Theras including the Panawela Gnana Keerthi Thera , Wathuragama Siri Sumana Thera, and Kirama Ananda Thera are more or less the same.

However the most tragic is the story of Thrikunamale Nandasara Thera who was dumped at the Kurunegala hospital by his own driver on whom he had immense trust. According to Amilasiri Thera the driver had been in the habit of handling the Thera’s bank pass books and had access to his money. Once the thera got critically ill he had admitted the thera to the Kurunegala Hospital. “Then he sold the Thera’s car and took his belongings and fled the area.” Today Amilasiri Thera is the sole guardian of Thrikunamale Nandasara Thera. He is completely bed-ridden requiring constant attention.

According to Amilasiri Thera the long- stay in the wards have made most of these theras mentally weak. “Not all are bed ridden. There are monks who can walk around and get their things done. What they want are separate rooms so that they are more free and happy.”

“The free land adjacent to the temple premises is owned by somebody else. Unfortunately the well is also situated there.” If this piece of land could be bought by the temple that will be of immense benefit to these sick monks. “ That land could be used to build a hall where these monks can stay more freely. Confining themselves to beds forever make them mentally weak” the Thera said. In a culture where we had an extended family system which had all the facilities to look after the aged , ‘elders home’ was a remote concept. It is certainly not a concept we should promote. However the truth is so bitter that if these places do not exist most of the elders have to undergo immense suffering at their old age.

The same plight awaits the aged monks if their Dayakes (patrons) and disciples shy stay away from their responsibility. People with golden hearts cannot wait until those who are responsible reach to help their ‘loved ones.’, what they can do is to strengthen the hands of noble people who are ready to accept those who are in distress with open arms for the sheer compassion for humanity.

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Double standards in Buddhist commune’s sale of Tharpaland to Scottish Power for wind farm?

It reports that the ability to concentrate in meditation dropped by 70% within a mile of wind turbines and that head and chest pains were experienced during prayer.

Quite why it was the occasion of prayer in which head and chest pains were manifest has not been explained. Raised blood pressure, head and chest pains are almost routinely reported in what studies of infrasound have taken place ? along with insomnia and nightmares.

However, while we can understand that low frequency ?noise? might well impact on body and mind as decribed, quite how the specific circumstances of prayer marry with infrasound to be conducive to the appearance of these symptoms is not immediately explicable.

It is, though, easy to see how meditation is a particularly useful test of concentration in the face of the presence of infrasound; and entirely plausible that this sort of constant low level disruption would mess with brain function.

However, having presented their findings and expressed their reasonable consequent view that they could not continue to run the very specific facility of a retreat beside a wind farm, the Buddhists are selling their estate to Scottish Power and moving away.

The move has a defensible pragmatism ? but it comes oddly from a spiritual group to be prepared to save their own operation while bequeathing a potentially enhanced problem to their erstwhile neighbours.

Scottish Power will now own more land in an area where they may wish to extend the 71-turbine farm they are already to build nearby.

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Buddhism tour circuit to woo more visitors

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Karnataka, India -- Karnataka tourism is looking at exploring Buddhist sites in the state for its religious tour circuit. Till now, Jain sites have been much promoted in the religious circuit, and with the new initiative, the department hopes to bring in increased domestic and foreign travellers.

The department plans to promote the Tara Bhagavati temple in Shiralakoppa, Koliwad and Dambal in Gadag district, apart from monuments in historical Aihole in Bijapur district for the tourism initiative.

?We have got approval for setting up the Buddhist circuit. There is also a Jain circuit that has done quite well. For the Buddhist circuit, we are even looking at China for promoting this circuit among Buddhist travellers,? said Mrs Latha Krishna Rao, Principal Secretary, Tourism. For some time now, the state tourism department has found much takers on its Jain circuits such as Shravanabelagola and Karkala.

?We plan to improve accommodation facilities. In Shravanabelagola, there are proposals for adding more medium-level accommodation facilities for tourists,? Ms Rao added. Recently, the tourism department conducted a survey across the state for determining tourism needs and found that the state needs improved accommodation facilities, especially medium and high-end level. In Bengaluru alone, tourist facilities capable of accommodating both medium and high end tourists to the extent of 28,000 persons is required.

With this focus in the global investors' meet, the tourism department had announced that Hyatt Hotels and Resorts will be setting up a five-star hotel at Hampi, while Orange County, Somateeram and Windflower will be setting up resorts around heritage spots like Pattadakal, Aihole, Belur, Bijapur, Jog, Mysore and Anekal.

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Myanmar is reminded of its ethnic realities

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Communal violence flares up even as the country tries to return to democracy

Arakan, Myanmar -- A week ago, a Buddhist woman was raped, allegedly by a Muslim man in the Rakhine province (once known as Arakan) in Myanmar, once known as Burma. Incensed Buddhists stopped a bus which had many Rohingyas, who are Muslim, and killed at least ten, injuring others.

The death toll in the unrest since has risen to 21. Myanmar is sending troops to the region. Rohingyas are fleeing their villages for Bangladesh, which has rushed its own troops to the border. Yesterday, the Bangladeshi border authorities sent back three boats full of civilian Rohingyas fleeing conflict.

The stream of good news coming from Myanmar had to stumble at some point, and this is perhaps the time, where Myanmar’s horrific past and tragic presence have cast a shadow on its future. That this week Aung San Suu Kyi will receive her Nobel Prize 23 years late combines the ironies of the country impeccably.

This reality check doesn’t come from some generals expressing unhappiness with the effortless re-emergence of Aung San Suu Kyi in public life, but it reveals a far older problem, of how the country treats its minorities.

As an ethnic pot, heterogenous is a mild word to describe Myanmar. While Burmans (or Bamars, as they are known in the country) form the majority - and hence the country’s former name, Burma - there are other minorities dominant in specific geographic terrains, such as Kachins, Karens, Chins, Shans, Mons, and Karennis. Many of these groups have fought battles for decades against the army, with some demanding more autonomy and others demanding independence. The government has signed ceasefire agreements with all but one community, although some agreements are fragile. Aung San Suu Kyi has said reconciliation with the ethnic groups is important, and she draws on the Panglong Agreement her father signed, representing the Burmese Army, with three key groups before independence in 1948.

Notice the absence of Rohingya Muslims in the conversation. This group is a minority in Myanmar, and they “look” South Asian and not Southeast Asian. They follow a different faith - Islam - unlike the majority Buddhists. (Some ethnic groups which have fought the Burmese army are majority Christians). Since independence, relations between Rohingyas and the Buddhists have been poor, and in the 1980s the government actively pushed them out, with most of them becoming de facto refugees in Bangladesh. Myanmar denies them citizenship rights and places many restrictions on their personal lives. Over the years, Bangladeshi governments have negotiated with Myanmar and repatriated some Rohingyas. Officially, there are fewer than 30,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh, but there are claims that the real figure is ten times larger.

The unrest has brought out horrendous atavistic emotions. When Irrawady, the independent magazine based in Bangkok that opposes the generals and is cautious about the current reforms, reported the riots, its message board began looking like the worst of the no-holds-barred comments against the Rohingyas. They’re not Myanmar citizens, said one; other epithets and comments were more pejorative. (Myanmar citizens who object to give citizenship to Rohingyas apparently don’t seem to mind Chinese nationals acquiring citizenship in their country. China has invested heavily in Myanmar, creating tens of thousands of jobs - for Chinese migrants in Myanmar. But let that pass.

It is in that context that Bangladesh’s decision to close its border, and turning back Rohingyas leaving Myanmar for Bangladesh, is cruel and unjustified, and possibly a violation of international obligations to refugees. Meghna Guha Thakurta, a peace and reconciliation expert in Dhaka told me at the time of the April by-elections which, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy won, that dealing with the Rohingya issue will be a real challenge for her. That challenge has arrived sooner than she may have wanted.

And yet, Bangladesh’s response flies in the face of its own history. In 1971, nearly 10 million people from the land that became Bangladesh fled for India, as Pakistani troops unleashed brutality on an unprecedented scale, to suppress Bangladeshi nationalism. At that time, India opened its doors. Bangladesh has sought humane treatment of Bangladeshis who continue to cross the Indian border illegally since then. Surely its leaders know, then, that they should open their border with Myanmar, so that those who have well-grounded fears of persecution can feel safe.

More than that, Myanmar’s president Thein Sein has to use his imagination and political capital with the same skill with which he is guiding the country’s return to democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi can help, but the government has to reassure the victims first.

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Bhikkhuni ordination in Vaishali to be historic event

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Vaishali, India -- About 2,600 years ago, the Buddha initiated the Order of bhikkhunis or nuns in Vaishali with the ordination of his aunt and step-mother, Maha Pajapati Gotami in the town of Vaishali, now in the state of Bihar, India.

<< The Vietnam Mahaprajapati Gotami Nunnery in Vaishali

This July, the event will occur again for the first time in modern times when several samaneris or novice nuns take ordination to become bhikkhunis in the Theravada tradition at the Vietnam Mahaprajapati Gotami Nunnery in Vaishali .

The event is the brain-child of Ven Lieu Phap Viditadhamma, a Vietnamese Theravada bhikkhuni and a lecturer with the Department of Buddhist Studies in the University of Delhi, who has been staying in India for almost 14 years.

The ordination ceremony will be held in the Nunnery in Vaishali in recognition of the town's historic connection with the birth of the bhikkhuni sangha more than two millenia ago.

The event is also part of a worldwide effort by Buddhists of the Theravada school to rebuild its order of bhikkhunis after the lineage was discontinued centuries ago in this school of Buddhism, although it continued to thrive in the Mahayana school.

Ven Lieu Phap has already received applications from samaneris from India as well as other countries giving this event an international flavour.  Bhikkhuni ordinations require the participation of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. 

In this regard, senior bhikkhus and bhikkhunis from India and Sri Lanka have been invited to the event. Ven. Nyaninda, a much respected and the most senior Burmese monk of Bodh Gaya is also expected to attend.

The new bhikkhunis are required to stay for at least 3 months to study the Vinaya, or rules of the order, before leaving for their home countries.

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