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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Buddhist teacher shares insight on compassion

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Battle Creek, Michigan (USA) -- Sometimes love comes easily, springing from the bonds of family and friendship. Loving kindness toward all sentient beings, however, requires a little more work.

As a Buddhist teacher, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche knows about turning good intentions toward the world at large. He will be in Battle Creek to talk about compassion as the heart of spiritual practice on Sept. 21. The event is free and open to everyone.

Bardor is a “tulku” - a title given to a reincarnated lama - and a “rinpoche,” a title of respect and achievement.

When Bardor Rinpoche was a young boy, his family had to flee occupied Tibet and he was the only one to survive. His trek ended with the 16th Karmapa, who instantly recognized him as the third incarnation of a Tibetan sage.

Rinpoche studied in a monastery in the Indian state of Sikkim. In the 1970s, he was sent to the United States to teach Buddhism, where he established the Kunzang Palchen Ling center in Red Hook, N.Y.

Matt Willis of Battle Creek first crossed paths with Bardor Rinpoche back in 1990. Willis was studying the tenets of Buddhism from books, but he said the lama’s authenticity spoke to him beyond what any text could offer.

“Oh, this is my teacher,” Willis remembered feeling.

Now, Willis is part of the Palchen Study Group, six to 10 people who meet in Battle Creek to study Tibetan Buddhism and meditation. Bardor Rinpoche is their spiritual director, and his visit to Battle Creek is part of a weekend of workshops.

Bardor Rinpoche took time on Thursday to speak to the Enquirer about genuine motivations, spirituality and happiness. He was assisted by a translator, Peter O’Hearn, also known as Lama Yeshe Gyamtso.

Is there an example of a time in your life when you wanted to react negatively, but you were able to be compassionate and found that had the better result?

“Unless you are some kind of buddha, or bodhisattva, you’re not going to be free of anger. But what we can all try to do is not be reactive and not automatically respond with anger to anger, or hatred to hatred, or a verbal abuse to verbal abuse - but to consider the other person’s needs as well as our own, and respond motivated by concern not only for ourselves, but for them. So that we act appropriately, but out of kindness, not out of hatred.”

So, it’s about the action?

“It’s actually equally about the motivation and the action.”

Did religion help Rinpoche get through losing his family, losing his home?

“Dharma — or spirituality, religion — was of great help at that time. It helped me not only face the difficulties that I underwent, but also face them in a healthy and responsible way.”

What do you think “happiness” is?

“From a mundane, worldly point of view, we usually define happiness as things going well. Like, having a long life, free of illness, free of mishap, being sufficiently affluent, having everything we need and getting along with the people around us. And of course, these things are very conducive to happiness. But, from a spiritual point of view, we define happiness as being more concerned with others than we are with ourselves. That the more concerned you are with the well-being of others, somehow, the more happy you will be. And the more you are concerned only with yourself, the more suffering you will have. So, when someone is actively involved in helping others, they’re usually pretty happy.”

How is teaching Buddhism in the West different than it would be if you were still in the East?

“There is a great difference in that people born in those Asian countries which have a long history of Buddhism, are from early life are in a fairly Buddhist environment. So, it’s sort of part of their fundamental upbringing. And often part of their education, all the way through higher education. So therefore, it’s familiar to them, it’s not foreign, and they take to it quite naturally. In this country, people interested in Buddhism are coming from a place where it’s not that well known, it’s not that mainstream. So therefore, they need to step into it very, very gradually. They need to start by learning the most basic things, and then practicing very straightforward, simple form of meditation. And it has to be taken very, very step-by-step.”

What was your training like? Did you find it a struggle at all?

“It certainly required effort. Both the learning of the ritual details and practices, and also the great amount of memorization that is required in the Tibetan religious educational system. That takes work. I mean, you have to put the work in. But, I didn’t find any of it impossible or beyond my reach.”


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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Buddhist temple thrives in the heart of Montrose

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Houston, TX (USA) -- You'd be forgiven if, driving past Dawn Mountain, you thought it was a creatively named architecture firm. Though it's housed in a neat brick building on busy Richmond Avenue near South Shepherd, it's a Tibetan Buddhist temple and community center.

<< Dawn Mountain founders Harvey Aronson and Anne Klein say a sense of joy and hope are central to Buddhism.

Founded in 1996, Dawn Mountain is the creation of Anne Klein, a professor of religious studies at Rice University, and her husband, Harvey Aronson, a therapist, and it is the outcome of an unlikely life journey for a girl from Albany, N.Y., and a boy from Brooklyn.

If you are sitting and sipping tea with the pair, surrounded by brightly colored paintings and statues and wall hangings, it's impossible not to think: These are two of the most serene people you'll ever meet.

For Klein, the story began in college on a semester abroad in France, when she had a sudden, inexplicable desire to travel to India. "I knew nothing about Buddhism or graduate school," she says, but decided a Ph.D. program in Buddhism at the University of Wisconsin was her best ticket to India.

There she met Aronson, who was also in the doctoral program. And she discovered the intricacies of Buddhism. "I was astounded at how sophisticated it was," she says.

The pair traveled to India, "and I just fell in love with the whole thing - the great open-hearted and mystery-oriented nature of it," Klein says.

One of Aronson's earliest influences was Richard Alpert, later known as Baba Ram Dass. "Going all the way back, Richard Alpert said we are all mired in repetitive behavior that obstructs our spiritual nature," he says. Becoming aware of those patterns, through practice and guidance, begins the process of becoming free of them and allows love, peace, joy and kindness to emerge. "There really is a kind of deeper possibility for human nature," he says.

Americans are plagued with self-hatred, but one of the teachings of Buddhism is that a person should have "a good dollop of compassion for myself and others," Aronson says.

Central to their teachings is the concept of mindfulness, or being absolutely in touch with the present moment. If you are mindful, you can recognize negative thoughts as just what they are: thoughts.

The process isn't easy, and it requires a commitment to a lifetime of learning. (Both Klein and Aronson still have teachers they rely on. So does the Dalai Lama.) Klein likens it to digging for gold in the ground. The gold is there, even if you can't see it, even if you have to get dirty and do a lot of digging to find it. Everyone has a perfect space within.

Houston is a tough place to be a Buddhist. "It's a very success-oriented city, where more money means more satisfaction," Aronson says. Except that, in the end, it doesn't.

He acknowledges that some of this introspection can sound a bit like therapy. "Buddhism is very, very early cognitive therapy," he says, but with a vision that is vast and deep, and with a spiritual dimension therapy can't touch.

The pair are open about their belief in reincarnation, which Buddhism shares with Hinduism. But they are perhaps a bit more reticent about discussing what they may know about their own past lives. It's a personal question, after all. These are not flighty movie stars who think they were once Nefertiti.

Also central to their practice is meditation. (Guided meditation is offered 11 a.m. to noon Sundays, and "Teaching Tuesdays" are 7 to 9 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of the month. There's a welcome event at 10 a.m. Oct. 7.)

Meditation may seem like a difficult skill to develop, but the key is to start to try, even if you're very bad at it at first and your thoughts fly all over the place. "You don't sit down at a piano and play Mozart right off," Klein says.

The name of the temple, Dawn Mountain, was chosen with great care. First, they decided they wanted an American name. "Dawn" is a key word in Buddhism, and "mountain" seemed to balance it out nicely. It was also the name of the daughter of their friend Dr. Gail Gross, who had died the first year the couple was in Houston. "We wanted a sense of balance, groundedness, spaciousness," Klein says. "And light," says Aronson, finishing her sentence in the great tradition of married couples everywhere.

But most of all, they want to convey the overriding sense of joy and hope that are central to Buddhism. "The Buddhist nature has an intrinsic quality of joy," Klein says. "The pain you have is not all you are."


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Friday, September 28, 2012

Sanchi Buddhist varsity gets Cabinet approval

The ordinance on Sanchi university includes six major provisions, including teaching of Dharma/ Dhamma in the context of varied knowledge traditions and contemporary context without negating the views and practices prevailing in other countries.

The ordinance provides for maximum interaction among Asian countries with forceful historic similarities in religion, philosophy and folk culture. There are also provisions for understanding mutual viewpoints on Asian cultures and civilizations and promoting world peace and harmony by understanding each other?s roles.

The ordinance also provides for ensuring participation of scholars and willing persons of Asia and the world for fulfilling the university?s objectives, contribution to reforms in Indian and Asian countries? educational systems, making efforts for evolving a new viewpoint on alternative educational system, imparting teaching and training in various Asian arts, sculpture and skills.

Buddhist University will have five major departments on Buddhist philosophy, Sanatan Dharm and Indian Science Studies, international Buddhism studies, comparison of religions and department of linguistics, literature and arts.

Notably, the State government is scheduled to convene International Dharma-Dhamma Sammelan to at Bhopal on September 22 and 23. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and scholars and philosophers from about 22 countries, including Britain, Netherlands, Vietnam, China, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, etc will participate in the religious congregation.

This function is being organised jointly by Madhya Pradesh Culture department, Centre for the Study of Religion and Society (CSRS), New Delhi and Mahabodhi Society, Sri Lanka.


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Thursday, September 27, 2012

"Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan" opens in New York

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NEW YORK, NY (USA) -- A groundbreaking exhibition that unites masterpieces of Chinese sculpture from the famed sixth century cave temples at Xiangtangshan with the first ever digitized reconstructions of their original setting opened on September 11, 2012, at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University (ISAW).

<< Standing Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin), Xiangtangshan: Southern Group of Caves, Attributed to Cave 2, 565-577 ce. Limestone freestanding sculpture with lacquerlike coating, 74 x 20 1/16 x 14 9/16 in. (188 x 51 x 37 cm). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Purchased from C.T. Loo, 1916 (C113).

Based on the most recent scholarship and utilizing advanced imaging technology, the installation provides new insights into the history and original appearance of one of China's most remarkable Buddhist devotional sites. The majestic temples at Xiangtangshan - carved into mountains in northern China and lavishly decorated with sculpted images of Buddha and other celestial beings - were damaged during the early twentieth century, when many of the carvings were removed.

Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan brings together twelve of the finest of these temple sculptures, on loan from American and British museums, and features a full scale, digital, 3D reconstruction of the interior of one of the site's most impressive caves.

The exhibition is the result of a ten year research project on the Xiangtangshan temples and their carvings by an international team of scholars based at the University of Chicago's Center for the Art of East Asia. Echoes of the Past remains on view through January 6, 2013. ISAW Exhibitions Director and Chief Curator Jennifer Chi states: "While the sculptures from Xiangtangshan can - as indeed they have for many years - stand alone as powerfully impressive works of art, this exhibition is a rare and tremendously exciting opportunity to experience the carvings in their original context and to better understand the sacred meanings they were meant to convey."

Echoes of the Past is a superb example of the enormous potential of digital technology in the public presentation of ancient sites and objects. Carved into the limestone mountains of Hebei province in northern China, the Buddhist cave temples of Xiangtangshan (which translates as "Mountain of Echoing Halls") were the crowning cultural achievement of the Northern Qi dynasty (550-577 C.E.), whose rulers established Buddhism as the official religion of their realm.

The interiors of these vast, multistoried structures, intended as replications of paradise itself, were lavishly decorated with hundreds of carved and painted images of Buddhist deities, disciples, and crouching monsters.

Notwithstanding the enormous scale of the project, the carvings are among the most artistically refined surviving examples of Chinese medieval sculpture. Collectively, they are considered fundamental to our understanding of the history of Chinese Buddhist style and iconography. Unfortunately, during the early twentieth century, the outstanding quality and remote location of the temple carvings made them an attractive target for removal.

Heads and hands of figures, as well as freestanding sculptures, were removed.

Exhibition Overview Echoes of the Past reunites twelve of the sculptures that are representative of the imagery, iconography, style, and scale of the sculptural program at Xiangtangshan. Of supreme importance were the images of Buddha, in his many and varied manifestations. A magnificent head of Buddha, measuring nearly three feet high, likely belonged to a colossal seated figure of Prabhutaratna, Buddha of the Past, that is still in situ in the caves.

Gently smiling, with downcast eyes, the head exudes an aura of serenity and calm. A smaller, exquisitely carved freestanding figure of a seated Buddha was apparently removed intact, and even retains its large and elaborately worked halo of floral and vegetal motifs.

The exhibition also reunites the left and right hands of a colossal Maitreya, Buddha of the Future; although only fragments, the hands are highly expressive, with the creases in the flesh and such details as the fingernails all finely observed. Also on view are several superb examples of the bodhisattvas and pratyekabuddhas (enlightened spiritual beings worshipped as deities) that abounded in the sculptural program of the caves.

A life size head of the Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta, with its symmetrical but sensitively carved features, exemplifies the wonderful balance of abstraction and naturalism that characterizes the finest Xiangtangshan sculptures. The figure of a standing pratyekabuddha, his mouth slightly open, as if reciting a prayer, has been hailed as one of the most majestic Chinese sculptures of any period. In contrast to the serenely elegant Buddhist deities are the grotesque and grimacing monsters found in the caves, probably representing evil spirits vanquished by Buddhist wisdom.

The exhibition's example is a fearsome creature, with a leonine head, curving horns, and wings rising from a corpulent humanoid body. The exhibition also includes rubbings of the sacred inscriptions that were a distinctive feature of the complex at Xiangtangshan. In addition, visitors to the exhibition have the unprecedented opportunity to virtually walk through one of the caves, experiencing it as it might have appeared in the sixth century, thanks to an enveloping media installation that layers 3D laser scans of dispersed sculptures onto digitized scans of the existing temple walls and ceiling.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=57679#.UFCZcK7fu3Y[/url]

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Shaolin Temple’s identity quandary

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Berlin, Germany -- If the word "Shaolin Temple" comes up and you picture monks ringing bell and chanting scriptures in a reclusive temple removed from the secular world, your image needs an update. Shaolin temples, home of Shaolin Kungfu, are spreading Shaolin culture abroad by relating to modern society.

The 2012 European Shaolin Culture Festival, held in Germany and Austria on September 7, was organized by Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, Henan Province and the World Shaolin Association.

The first of this kind in Europe, Shaolin Kungfu institutions and practitioners across the globe participated. Lectures about Shaolin tradition, Kungfu performances, Shaolin Zen philosophy and medicinal sciences were introduced.

The festival is a test of Shaolin popularity abroad. But some worry that Shaolin tradition is becoming overly commercialized.  

Revamping an image

Shi Yongxin, the Shaolin Temple abbot, told Xinhua News Agency that Shaolin is an easy way for Westerners to learn about Chinese traditional culture.

"We hope more foreigners learn about Chinese culture and religion through the festival," said Shi.

According to Shi, over 1,000 people attended the conferences. Among them, over 400 were apprentices of Shaolin Kungfu, from 20 countries.

Shaolin Kungfu is one of the most recognizable aspects of Shaolin tradition, popularized through movies, attracting thousands of apprentices to the 1,500-year-old culture.

Six-year-old monk Shi Xiaosong, the youngest warrior monk in the temple, performed traditional Shaolin Kungfu at the festival.

Li Xudong, his father, told the Global Times that two years ago, Shi fell ill. Doctors suggested the child practice Wushu to gain back his health.

Though Shi doesn't have a typical education or childhood, Li said that Shi is content and takes courses at the temple, in lieu of normal study at school.

Shaolin Temple emphasizes educating its monks and disciples. Half the monks at the temple are born in the 1980s. Though Buddhist disciples were once isolated from the outside world, modern monks study in Buddhist institutions and universities while teaching Buddhism, religion and philosophy.

"Times have changed. Monks must learn communication and technology skills, study foreign languages and study abroad," Shi Yongxin told Xinhua.

Overseas notoriety

There are around 10 Shaolin temples in China. Shaolin Temple, in Songshan Mountain, Henan Province, is the oldest and most influential.

The first overseas culture center was established in 1995 in New York. Shaolin culture centers are now found in German, France, Russia and Australia, providing information about Buddhist culture and Wushu.

There are Shaolin Kungfu teaching institutions and organizations in over 50 countries and regions, boasting over 3 million foreign apprentices. Shaolin Kungfu courses are offered at universities overseas.

In the 1970s, the temple accepted visits from Buddhist, Wushu and cultural institutions from Japan, South Korea, Europe and the US. Meanwhile, monks from the temple gradually left China, participating in religious forums and related activities abroad. Since 1987, Kungfu performing groups were sent overseas, in over 80 countries and regions. In 2004, California set aside March 21 as the commemorative "China Songshan Shaolin Temple Day."

Shaolin Temple has a magazine, film company and office for Wushu promotion. Shaolin tradition is promoted through performances, films, TV series and Buddhist activities.

Shaolin temples accept foreign apprentices who study Kungfu, accepting hundreds each year.

Shi told Beijing News that before 2000, Shaolin culture popularity relied on Kungfu. Following it, Zen culture spread. 

Commercial aspects 

With Shaolin culture spreading abroad, some worry an inaccurate portrait is being painted in the West. In recent years, the temple has been scrutinized  for its bold commercial moves.

In 1989, the establishment of Warrior Monks Group, a tour performance group, was criticized as a pure commercial movie. In 1996, Shaolin Temple became the first temple in China to utilize the Internet. Shi Yongxin set up Henan Shaolinsi Television Co. In 1997, then Shaolin Temple Industrial Development Company in 1998.

In 2006, a Shaolin food company was established. The temple opened a medicinal company in 2007, taking advantage of ancient Shaolin medicinal sciences. And in 2008, the first online shop to sell products related to Shaolin Temple opened on taobao.com, a step towards the  e-business and commerce industry.

At a forum at Peking University last year, Shi Yongxin said that Shaolin Temple opened over 40 companies abroad and had nearly 130 martial arts clubs. The temple profits abroad mainly through three channels: tuition from apprentices, performances and film production.

Many find this contradictory to traditional images of temples as reclusive shrines with monks living off donations. Some criticize Shi's attempts to popularize Buddhist culture, calling it exploitative.

Shi said that criticism is understandable. But monks need food and electricity, and the temple has expenditures.

"Times have changed. We need to adapt and earn a living, otherwise, we could be eliminated," Shi told Beijing News, "We commercialize some parts to support our livelihood and spread Shaolin culture."

"Shaolin is known world wide. It will be tarnished by others if we don't spread it ourselves. We need to take initiative before the commercial tide takes us over," Shi said. He added that they will never cater to the mass market.

Ren Liang, a modern Buddhist expert, told the Global Times that the commercial activities aim to spread Shaolin and Buddhism culture, and this follows a natural course.


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How to commute without going bonkers

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NEW YORK, USA -- If you’re wondering how to trek to work without losing your mind, Emmy Award-winner and New York City-based meditation teacher David Nichtern offers up a few pointers on curbing commuter stress.

<< File photo of people commuting to work in New York. — Picture courtesy of shutterstock

“People think of spiritual practice as a tranquiliser,” Nichtern told fitness blog Well+Good NYC recently. “But I’m not from the school of ‘Let’s just chant something.’ My school is awareness. The more aware you are, the more likely you’re headed to a positive outcome.”

So, how to make your commute more mindful? He offers up a few ways to respond to common commute scenarios, as per his interview with Well+Good NYC.

Q: It’s sweltering on the subway, there is no air conditioning, and someone on the train is standing right next to you. How do you stay calm?

Nichtern: “The simple answer is to just relax. If you can and want to move away, then do it. But if not, don’t worry about it. Relax your attitude and energy and don’t fight how things are.”

Q: You’re late and the train is running slow or you’re stuck in traffic. How to not stress out?

Nichtern: “I think we can look more at the whole attitude of situations. There’s an ancient Mayan quote that I love: ‘Change your attitude and relax as it is.’ One time, on the way to tai chi, I was late and stuck in a traffic jam with a siren blaring in my ear. I was frustrated until I realised that I was going to tai chi for the practice of calming down!”

Q: So what’s the best way to channel your energy toward something positive?

Nichtern: “Energy is neutral, and we tip it towards a negative or positive outcome with our attitudes. Each individual has to create their own positive environment by being mindful and aware.”

Q: Any calming audiobooks or podcasts you’d recommend during the commute?

Nichtern: “My Facebook page is loaded with stuff like that. And [leading meditation teacher] Pema Chodron has a lot of great audiobooks you can download.”


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Monday, September 24, 2012

Berkeley Buddhist organizations hold open house Downtown

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Berkeley, CA (USA) -- Dharma College opened its doors for the first time this weekend, marking the completion of a set of four Buddhist-inspired sister organizations in Downtown Berkeley.

<< The Dharma School held a ribbon cutting ceremony this past weekend, and classes will start on October 3rd.

The Buddhist-inspired educational center - located on 2222 Harold Way - held an open house event on Saturday to publicize its fall classes to prospective adult students. The organization is offering three courses that will begin Oct. 3 and run for six weeks, where students will study the mental state in an interactive learning environment.

“The process of teaching and studying is going to be our own experiment,” said Dharma College co-director Robin Caton.

Inspiration for the curriculum comes largely from Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche - a Buddhist refugee who left Tibet in 1959 and settled in Berkeley in 1969, and then established the Tibetan Nyingma Institute in Berkeley in 1972. Though Rinpoche no longer resides in Berkeley, he is still noted as the founder of the sister organizations on the block.

“It’s all about bringing people Downtown - whether it’s (for) arts, culture, shopping, commerce - and then staying Downtown,” said John Caner, CEO of the Downtown Berkeley Association, who attended the organization’s ribbon-cutting event on Friday. “The idea is that you come down to have class at Dharma and then you have lunch or dinner, or go to a show.”

The Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages was the first to inhabit the block in 2008, followed by Tibetan Aid Project and Dharma Publishing Bookstore. Though these sister organizations were not founded together, they have a similar mission and hope to collaborate with Dharma College in the future, Caton said.

As part of the Downtown Area Plan, the opening of Dharma College is one in a series of business renovations and openings in recent years. The plan seeks to revitalize the area economically to increase traffic and sustainability.

Being both a teaching center and a business, Dharma College has joined the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, which will help the center as it progresses.

“We’re thrilled that (Dharma College is) part of the Chamber of Commerce because that indicates that they are both a place to be peaceful and learn, but they’re a business,” said Berkeley Chamber of Commerce CEO Polly Armstrong.

Dorothee Mitrani-Bell, owner of the recently opened Cafe Clem across the street from the Buddhist center, said she chose the location partially for the surrounding area.

“I like the neighborhood - I feel like it’s a great community,” Mitrani-Bell said. “I’ve been in the community working with my other business for 15 years, so this is sort of a really nice extension of it.”


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Sunday, September 23, 2012

International Buddhist conclave on Sept 29-30

Chief secretary Jawed Usmani has said all preparations should be completed by September 26.

The two-day conclave is likely to be attended by many foreign delegates and ministers from other state governments.

Saying that the conclave was being organised to promote tourism in the Buddhist Circuit, Usmani also instructed officials to ensure encroachment-free roads, clear of garbage and traffic congestion.

He also advised officials to invite officials from the ministry of tourism to ensure that preparations for the event were carried out smoothly.

The chief secretary added that at least 267 rooms should be booked in advance, to accommodate all the travelling dignitaries from within the country and outside.


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Saturday, September 22, 2012

Zen Buddhism, art subject of McClung exhibit

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University of Tennessee, USA -- An exhibit opening Sept. 15 at the University of Tennessee's Frank H. McClung Museum explores both the simple yet elegant beauty and the deeper meanings of art developed around Zen Buddhism.

<< This tea bowl was made in China during the Song dynasty (960-1279) of stoneware. These bowls with the subdued colors preferred for the tea ceremony were produced mainly for export to Japan. The bowl is part of a new exhibit opening at the Frank H. McClung Museum called "Zen Buddhism and the Arts of Japan."

"Zen Buddhism and the Arts of Japan" is at the museum, located at 1327 Circle Park Drive on the UT campus, through Dec. 31.

The display includes such objects as tea bowls, robes, bronze memorial plaques and a wooden sculpture of the guardian figure called Fudo Myoo. "Zen Buddhism" also shows more than 40 hanging scrolls whose paintings and calligraphy were created by Zen Buddhist monks from 1600 to 1868.

The beliefs and practices of Zen Buddhists were the motivation for the works of art. The items were used by those who practiced the religion and also reflected aspects of it.

Zen is one of many schools of Buddhism, the religion founded more than 2,000 years ago by Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha.

The tea bowls and other objects used in the tea ceremony are loaned to the exhibit from the Morikami Museum and Gardens in Delray Beach, Fla. The tea ceremony is a Zen ritual.

Other objects in the exhibit, including the scrolls, are from the collection of Dr. John Fong, a retired Boston physician and the exhibit curator.

"Zen Buddhism and the Arts of Japan" also includes a small meditation rock garden constructed by the museum.

Zen art is known for its elegant simplicity. Many of the paintings and calligraphies in the exhibit are done in black ink on white silk or paper.

This 35-inch wooden statue is of Fudo Myoo, the "Brilliant King Immovable." The statue held a sword in his right hand to cut through ignorance and a rope in his left hand to subdue demons. He stands on a rock, representing his steadfast nature. Statues of the guardian of Buddhist teachings were enshrined in temples. This painting on a hanging silk scroll was done of an unidentified Obaku monk. Such portraits hung in the halls of monasteries. This one is from the 18th or 19th century.   >>

The images were created, the museum says in information about the exhibit, as expressions of enlightenment. The works also were considered forms of meditation as they were created and objects of meditation after they were finished. Their artists were Zen masters who were teachers and often abbots of monasteries.

The museum hosts special events in conjunction with the exhibit. Dr. Megan Bryson, a UT religious studies professor and the exhibit's associate curator, speaks on "From Zen Art to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" at 2 p.m. Sept. 23. Her talk will look at what aspects are related to Zen Buddhism and what is just part of the popular culture. On Oct. 28, the museum will host a 1:30 p.m. demonstration of Japanese flower arranging as well as a 3:30 p.m. Zen tea ceremony.

The exhibit and the events are free.

Buddhism spread from India to China. According to Zen legend, the Indian monk Bodhidharma introduced a new school of Buddhism to China between 420 and 589. That form of the religion was called Chan in China and Zen in Japan, where it became the dominant form of Buddhism by the twelfth century. Seated meditation or zazen is the core practice of Zen Buddhism.

---

Zen Buddhism and the Arts of Japan

- What: Exhibit focusing on art,rituals, meanings of works related to Zen Buddhism

- Where: Frank H. McClung Museum, 1327 Circle Park Drive, University of Tennessee

- When: Sept. 15-Dec. 31, 9 a.m.-5 pm. Monday through Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday

- Admission: Free

- Special events: 2 p.m. Sept. 23 Dr. Megan Bryson speaks on "From Zen Art to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; 1:30 p.m. Oct. 28 Japanese flower arranging demonstration and 3:30 p.m. tea ceremony


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Friday, September 21, 2012

Rescuing Afghanistan's Buddhist History

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Kabul, Afghanistan -- Even as once-secure parts of Afghanistan succumb to criminality and the insurgency, and the Afghan financial system hovers on the brink of failure, there are small signs of hope here. A spectacular Buddhist archaeological site is now being excavated by the Afghan government's National Institute of Archaeology, near where Al Qaeda ran a training camp in the 1990s.

<< One of the many Buddhist statues found at the Mes Aynak site in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Work on Mes Aynak ("Little copper well") has proceeded at a rapid pace since it began in May, because the archaeologists - 16 Afghans and two Frenchmen from DAFA (Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan) - are racing against time.

Within a year, the site is slated to be destroyed by Afghanistan's largest single foreign investment, a Chinese-run copper mine not 900 yards away. The plan is to document the site thoroughly and attempt to remove as many of the smaller stupas and statues as possible for conservation in the National Museum or possibly a future local museum. Because the buildings are mudbrick and schist, a wholesale relocation isn't possible.

Visiting the main 262-by-131-foot Buddhist temple, which once boasted a stupa 32 to 50 feet high, it was hard not to gasp. The head of DAFA, Philippe Marquis, pulled back plastic protective sheets to reveal statue after statue of Buddhas and donors. In many niches, large hands and feet peeked out, the rest of the bodies still obscured under mudbrick. Some statues were intact except for their heads, removed by looters. There are wall paintings in still-vibrant reds and black, and even the stump of a wooden pillar.

Mes Aynak is impressively large. Scattered in the hills around the ruined temple are dozens of areas where the archaeologists will do test digs. "Every mound is an archaeological site," says Mr. Marquis. There was a civic and commercial area - I saw two places where Afghan workers were confidently clearing the dirt away from finely worked terra-cotta storage jars - and ancient mining remains. "The question is whether the mining drew the monastery, because of its wealth, or whether the monastery worked the mine," Mr. Marquis explained. Areas where the ground is blackened are sites of ancient copper smelting and will be investigated thoroughly. (The mine was abandoned some time in the early Islamic period when deforestation made it impossible to continue smelting.)

At just over one square mile, Mes Aynak is one of the country's largest Buddhist sites, equal in importance to the famous ruins in Bamiyan and the looted site of Hadda. Mr. Marquis says that it's likely Mes Aynak was begun in the first century, but most of the ruins he showed me date from the fourth and fifth centuries.

During that period, and for the next century or two, he says, it's possible that Afghanistan was ruled by a theocratic Buddhist kingdom, "like Tibet."

Must the site be destroyed? Mr. Marquis says the site survey now taking place is aimed at providing the Afghan government with the means to make an informed decision about Mes Aynak's fate.

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"Our job is to help Afghans set up this operation. Our budget of $10 million will be spread over three years. The Chinese have an obligation for excavating, but not for restoration of the clay statues. We are asking the U.S., Italy, China and the U.N. for money - we are trying to create an international coalition like the one fighting in Afghanistan."

Mr. Marquis is convinced of the significance of the site for our knowledge of the Buddhist world and argues that Mes Aynak, if properly excavated and preserved, could offer "a reward a hundred times bigger than the copper mine. The copper mine is for 20 or 30 years. But this will be around for much, much longer."

The mine is supposed to bring about $880 million to the government before production, but the payments depend on contractual benchmarks that have not been met. The Afghan government didn't accept the Chinese plans for waste storage - which is a good thing - but this will delay the series of payments.

The $880 million is equal to the annual customs and tax revenue of Afghanistan, but given the realities of corruption, it is questionable what impact it will actually have on Afghans' lives. By contrast, the ruins, Mr. Marquis says, "are for everybody. This is for the future of Afghanistan."

The unequivocal good news is that the work is proceeding under the efficient Afghan supervision of Nadir Rasouli, with Afghans doing all of the excavation. Mr. Marquis is doing the documentation only. The Afghans I met, who are working under Mir Zakir, deputy director of the National Institute of Archaeology, were enthusiastic about their labor and eager to show me their finds. "They are very proud of their work," Mr. Marquis says. "They are not working only for money. "

-----------
Ms. Marlowe is a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute who blogs for World Affairs. She reports frequently from Afghanistan.


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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Japanese Buddhists celebrate 100 years in Utah

Home The Americas US West

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (USA) -- Japanese Buddhist filled the Jodo Shinshu temples of Utah on Saturday to celebrate 100 years of Buddhism in the state.

Japanese Buddhism arrived in Utah with migrant workers who took jobs with Utah farms, mines and railroads. Over the years, many Japanese Buddhist church popped up across the state with increasing membership.

They gathered at the Salt Palace Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City to celebrate the centennial with the “Walking the Path of Enlightenment” event.

Japanese Buddhists say that while their religion stays the same, their diversity continues to grow.

“I think originally that most of them were Japanese Buddhists and now the diversity of Buddhists here…is a very welcomed diversity of people,” said Karie Minaga-Miya, Buddhist Centennial Celebration chair.

Some local Buddhists say they hope for a unique American form of Buddhism to evolve over the next century.


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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Proposed Buddhist temple in Greenfield expected to draw opposition

The Phuoc Hau Buddhist Temple, which has worshipped at 1575 W. Oklahoma Ave. for 15 years, wants to build an 8,100-square-foot temple on 1.5 acres at S. 44th St. and W. Edgerton Ave.

Temple vice president Tu Mai says theirs is a quiet, contemplative community.

"It's mostly meditation and praying; it's not a lot of noise and all of that to the neighors," he said.

But nearby residents complain that the building is too large for the site and that their narrow stretch of Edgerton could not carry the extra traffic.

"It's not that we don't want the Buddhists - what would be more peaceful?" said Leah Brueckner, who lives across the street from the proposed site.

"It's all about the space," she said. "We'd love to work with them to find a better place."

Phuoc Hau first proposed a temple at the site in 2010 but withdrew its application, in part because of neighborhood opposition.

Tuesday's Plan Commission meeting, starting at 6:30 p.m., is the first of several hurdles temple members would have to clear.

The $850,000 project would require the city to vacate a half-acre portion of S. 44th St., which would be combined with the acre the temple already owns. It would also require a change in zoning, from residential to institutional, and an amendment to the city's master plan.

Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke, who chairs the plan commission, did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Fifth District Ald. Shirley Saryan acknowledged the neighbors' concerns but declined to share her position on the project.

If approved, Mai said the temple would break ground in summer 2013, with completion in 2015.


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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Meditation marathon in Brunswick

The Melbourne Buddhist Centre in Brunswick will stage a 12-hour "meditation marathon" to help raise money to buy a new home in Moreland.

Centre chairwoman Dharma Charini Sudaya said everyone was welcome to join the marathon, even those who had never tried meditation.

"Anybody can come along and have a go," Ms Sudaya said.

"It's a 12-hour program of meditation, but nobody is expected to meditate for the whole time."

Forty-minute guided "taster" meditation sessions will run hourly for beginners while a continuous 12-hour meditation, chanting and puja (devotional ritual) program will run in a second shrine room.

"There have been a lot of recent studies on how beneficial mindfulness meditation is," Ms Sudaya said.

"One study found you can increase the grey matter in your brain, particularly in areas of empathy and memory, and most people know the connection between meditating daily and general stress relief."

A traditional Japanese paper folding workshop and a Japanese tea ceremony will also be held.

The event will be held at 1 Pitt St, Brunswick, on Saturday, August 25, 9am to 9pm.


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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Bill Clinton Turns to Buddhism to Improve His Health

"Ever since his heart scare, Bill has looked for ways to help him relax," a source told RadarOnline in an exclusive report.

"He has a hectic life, he travels a lot on business as an ambassador for the U.S. and needs something to keep him sane," the person presumably close to Clinton added. "Meditation offers him that, he has a mantra that he likes to chant and after every session he feels transformed and full of positive energy."

"It's definitely doing him the world of good – he feels fitter and stronger than ever," the source concluded.

According to the Times of India, Clinton has even hired a Buddhist monk to aid him in his spiritual studies.

Clinton reportedly has sought to improve himself both spiritually and physically after surviving a wave of health scares, relating mostly to his poor diet and weight, in the mid-2000s.

The former president also has become an advocate for veganism after he underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 to unblock four clogged arteries. He also received two stents, or mesh scaffolds, in a fifth artery in 2010 at the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

"I essentially concluded that I had played Russian roulette," Clinton told CNN's Sanjay Gupta regarding his previous poor health in an Aug. 2011 interview.
"I was lucky I did not die of a heart attack," the 42nd president added.
Clinton's current diet consists primarily of fresh fruit and vegetables, although he reportedly occasionally eats fish.

The former president, 65, currently travels the world speaking on the importance of international diplomacy and environmental responsibility through the Clinton Foundation, established with the stated mission to "strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence."
Clinton was raised a Southern Baptist, and many critics claim that he ebbed and flowed in his religious beliefs throughout his terms as president.

"You know, Bill Clinton knew the language. Bill Clinton could talk like a Southern Baptist evangelist when he wanted to. But they hated what he was doing with it, because they were in fundamental disagreement with him about so many very important social issues," Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, has told PBS Frontline.

Read more at http://global.christianpost.com/news/bill-clinton-turns-to-buddhism-to-improve-his-health-79617/#b5PzK53eQiG0Kmkw.99


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Thailand's Buddhist monks to get food lessons after study

Home Asia Pacific South East Asia Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand -- The Buddhist monks of Thailand are not known to be an especially active bunch. Prayers, chanting and the collecting of alms take up much of their time.

<< The monastic lifestyle isn't as healthy as one might expect, researchers found.

But a new study suggests this lack of activity is not as healthy as one would assume. The investigation by Thai academics has discovered that 45 per cent of monks are obese while a full 40 per cent of them suffer from congenital diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Many of them also suffer from various allergies.

The reason for this dismal situation, the scientists concurred, was an unhealthy diet and insufficient exercise. Much of the food donated to monks when they interact with the public is rich and oily and often contains too much sugar. In the evenings, when they are not supposed to eat, many of them will enjoy sweet soft drinks, usually also laden with sugar.

Some monks told the researchers they may sip as many as three such drinks a night.

Along with this is an unhealthy lifestyle. A report in The Nation newspaper said that apart from making their walks for alms, their only real exercise was sweeping the courtyards of their temples. Just over 20 per cent of the monks have annual health check-ups.

The survey's participants were 246 monks from the Dhammayuttika Nikaya and Mahayana movements in 11 of Thailand’s provinces.

The newspaper reported that following the investigation by Dr Pinij Larpthananon and Prof Jongjit Angkatavanich from Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, and Dr Phramaha Suthit Aphakaro, director of the Buddhist research institute at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, a dual track plan had been put into place.

Not only will monks be educated about the sort of food they should be collecting, but a public education campaign will seek to advise people on healthy options they can give to the men in saffron robes.


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Monday, September 10, 2012

Taiwan holds same-sex Buddhist wedding

<< You Ya-ting (2nd L) and Huang Mei-yu (2nd R) take a photograph with their friends and the Buddhist host Shih Chao-hwei (C) after casting their stamps during their symbolic same-sex Buddhist wedding ceremony at a temple in Taoyuan county, northern Taiwan.

Fish Huang and her partner You Ya-ting, both wearing traditional white bridal gowns, said I do in front of a Buddha statue and exchanged prayer beads rather than rings in a monastery in Taoyuan, in northern Taiwan.

Nearly 300 Buddhists chanted sutras to seek blessings for the couple, both aged 30.

Shih Chao-hui, a female Buddhist master who presided over the ritual, hailed it as a historic moment.

We are witnessing history. The two women are willing to stand out and fight for their fate... to overcome social discrimination,said Shih, a well-known advocate for social justice.

Some people might find it astounding (a woman performing the ceremony) but Buddhism does not engage in ideological struggles and I am used to strange looks from my own experience in the social movement, she said.

The couple's parents were notably absent from the ceremony, in an indication of the pressure facing some homosexuals and their families.

Our parents initially agreed to attend and they regret that they couldn't be here. We understand that people have different acceptance of media exposure and we want to give them more space, Huang said shortly before the wedding.

We hope with the master's support, the wedding will change many people's perspective even though it is not legally binding, said the social worker. We hope the government can legalise same-sex marriage soon.

Taiwan is one of the most culturally liberal societies in East Asia, and gay and lesbian groups have been urging the government for years to make same-sex unions legal.

Aiming to create awareness about the issue, about 80 lesbian couples tied the knot last year in Taiwan's biggest same-sex wedding party, attracting about 1,000 friends, relatives and curious onlookers.

Taiwan's cabinet in 2003 drafted a controversial bill to legalise same-sex marriage and allow homosexual couples to adopt children.

However, President Ma Ying-jeou has said public consensus was needed before the government can move ahead with the law.

Gay rights groups drafted a new bill earlier this year and urged Ma to push for its legislation before his term ends in 2016.


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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Bamiyan Buddhas: Should they be rebuilt?

When the Taliban were at the height of their power in Afghanistan, leader Mullah Omar waged a war against idolatry.

His biggest victims, in size as well as symbolism, were two standing stone Buddhist statues. Once the largest in the world - one measured 55 metres in height - they were carved into the sandstone cliff face of the Bamiyan valley in central Afghanistan during the 6th Century.

When the Taliban were overthrown in 2003, Unesco declared the valley a world heritage site and archaeologists flocked to it. What they found were two enormous empty caverns and a pile of debris littered with unexploded mines.


One of the Buddhas was 55 metres high
Since then, they have been surveying the rubble of the two stone structures to determine whether the Buddhas should be rebuilt.

The Bamiyan valley marked the most westerly point of Buddhist expansion and was a crucial hub of trade for much of the last millennium. It was a place where East met West and its archaeology reveals a blend of Greek, Turkish, Persian, Chinese and Indian influence that is found nowhere else in the world.

But last year, Unesco announced that it was no longer considering reconstruction. In the case of the bigger Buddha, it was decided there wasn't enough left to rebuild and though rebuilding the smaller one is possible, they said it is unlikely to happen.

Instead they are working with teams from Japan and Italy to secure the cracking cliff face and keep the cliffs and any of the remaining wall paintings that once covered the caves and niches intact.

But a German group of archaeological conservationists, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos), are still pushing for the Buddha to be rebuilt.

Bert Praxenthaler works alongside Icomos and since 2004 he has been working on the site to salvage any remaining fragments of the sculpture, some weighing up to 40 tonnes and putting them under a protective covering to preserve them as best he can.

He is interested in a process called anastylois which involves putting these fragments back together using a minimal amount of new materials.

"It's a jigsaw puzzle with missing links but with geological methods we can discover where those fragments have been before," says Praxenthaler.

The method has been used on the Parthenon and the Acropolis in Athens but it would be the first time it is used to reconstruct a monument that was intentionally destroyed and arguments against reconstruction abound.

Not least is money. Rebuilding just the small Buddha would cost millions of dollars in a region that lacks basic infrastructure such as roads and electricity. It would require the manufacture or import of a huge amounts of metal which would have to travel along the dangerous road from Kabul.

"Of course the counter argument to that is that jaw-dropping sums of money are spent in Afghanistan every day," says Dr Llewelyn Morgan, author of The Buddhas of Bamiyan, a history of the sculptures. "This would be a drop in the ocean."

Still, Morgan says, there are more pressing issues that archaeologists need to look at in Afghanistan. "Bamiyan has a tendency to draw all archaeological resources to it," he says. "But in Afghanistan you are looking at an astonishing archaeological treasure trove."


Families living in the valley remain impoverished
Looting is a very big problem and artefacts from around the country often end up in art markets in Pakistan. Morgan believes that resources would be better spent on creating an infrastructure to protect the breadth of Afghanistan's ancient treasures.

In a recent Huffington Post article he publicised the case of Chehel Burj, a medieval fortress in the mountains to the west of Bamiyan that is suffering from degradation.

"Give it time and illicit treasure hunting, earthquakes and old-fashioned freeze-thaw action will destroy more than the most single-minded iconoclast could ever dream of," he said.

But whatever the reason, the Bamiyan Buddhas have captured the international imagination and ideas for what to do with the site still pour in from archaeologists, architects, artists and historians.

One that has gained quite a lot of attention is a proposal from Italian architect Andrea Bruno to construct a small underground sanctuary at the foot of the Great Buddha which would allow visitors to look up at and appreciate the immensity of the empty niche.

Bruno believes the niches should be preserved as a monument to the crime of their destruction. "It is a kind of victory for the monument and a defeat for those who tried to obliterate its memory with dynamite," he says.

He argues that reconstruction would be culturally insensitive. "Here the Muslims strictly oppose images - to recreate the Buddhas would be an insult even to non-Taliban Afghans. We must show good manners," he says.

But Praxenthaler believes that reconstruction is a matter of local pride for the Hazara people, Shia Muslims who were targeted and persecuted by the Taliban.


Access to where the statues once stood has revealed much about the region
"It wasn't just a religious fatwa, to destroy all the idols, it was also an attempt to destroy the culture and the background and the pride of the people," he says. "The Hazara people appreciated that we were going to help them do something with their destroyed Buddhas."

He also says that reconstruction would enrich the local economy. His project has already employed over 50 people for salvaging and has also helped to train students from Bamiyan University in ancient stone-cutting techniques.

"People are building homes and they are employed by us, they are working and they get a decent salary."

Llewelyn Morgan, who last visited the site a year ago, also found reconstruction to be popular among locals for whom the Buddhas were once a great source of income from tourists.

"The impression you get in Bamiyan is that they are almost too naively positive about the reconstruction of the Buddha," says Morgan. "I've spoken to people who would like to see it go up in concrete, which of course Unesco would never countenance."

But the reception to rebuilding in the rest of the country is unpredictable.

"Afghanistan is a great melting pot of cultures but the one thing many of them share is they are very pious," says Morgan.

"Though many clerics and religious leaders may not have agreed with the destruction of religious idols, building them again is an entirely different matter."


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Self-immolation cases spread beyond monks, nuns in Tibet over Chinese repression

On Wednesday, two more young Tibetans, a mother and a monk, set themselves on fire in protest against the continued exile of the Dalai Lama and the lack of freedom in Tibet, raising the number of Tibetan self-immolations to 45, most of them having taken place since March 2011.
The immolations started with Buddhist monks and nuns, who see themselves in an increasingly desperate struggle for the ancient land and its people, and who say that their Tibetan identity and faith is being stamped out by aggressive Chinese policies and actions.

Yet, 13 of the self-immolations in Tibet this year suggest that ordinary Tibetans are starting to torch themselves, and that the cases appear to be spreading geographically and are less confined to a few dissident monasteries.
"The self-immolations have now jumped a number of fences. There are more of them and they are more diverse," Christian Science Monitor quoted Steven Marshall, a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in Washington, who had extensive experience in Tibet in the 1980s and 1990s, as saying.

"We are seeing immolations in the lay community, not only among monks and nuns where it started. It is also spreading into a greater area, not just the [Tibet Autonomous Region], but Qinghai and Gansu [provinces abutting the Tibet Autonomous Region]."

While the Dalai Lama has consistently opposed self-immolations as a violation of the sacredness of life, Tibetans are continuing to do it in an act seen as indicative of their depth of desperation."They are calling for Dalai Lama's return because they are in this very serious moment, very serious, in which the Tibetan nation, identity, culture, the spiritual tradition, are all being closed down by Chinese aggression," Kate Saunders, the spokeswoman for International Campaign for Tibet in London, said.

In Tibetan monasteries, China continues to oversee aspects of religious instruction, control the appointment of teachers, give patriotic loyalty tests-actions that many Tibetans protest as serious infringements by Beijing on the faith.
Photos of the Dalai Lama in Tibet are forbidden.

"All monasteries must display pictures of Mao Zedong and Chinese President Hu Jintao and fly the Chinese flag. In numerous monasteries, forced patriotic reeducation campaigns are under way," states Lobsang Sangay, who now heads a newly democratic government in exile in Dharamsala, India, in a statement this week.

Some Tibetan experts say the past year of self-immolations represent a "tipping point" in the deepening clashes between locals and Chinese authorities.
The region, meanwhile, is shut off from most foreign and Western journalists, NGOs, and human rights groups.


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Friday, September 7, 2012

Buddha relic likely to displayed at state museum

"ASI authorities have assured us that they will hand over the bone relic to the state government soon," Mohanty said

The relic, considered sacred for Buddhist followers, was unearthed during an ASI excavation at Lalitgiri, a Buddhist site in Jajpur, in 1985.

"We first found a stone pot during excavation. When we opened it, a silver cup was found and finally the bone relic was seen in a gold cover," an ASI official said.

When the state government attempted to collect the relic from the ASI in 1985, it was opposed by some political leaders of Jajpur district.

While the leaders demanded that the relic be housed at Lalitgiri museum, the ASI refused to hand it over to them on security reason.

Meanwhile, Mohanty motivated the Jajpur leaders and got their support to keep the relic at the state Museum here.

"I took one MP, who had earlier opposed the transfer of the relic to the state government, along with me to convince the ASI authorities at Delhi," the minister said.

"The relic will initially be displayed at the state museum and later shifted to Lalitgiri, the place from where it was discovered," Mohanty said.

Meanwhile, the state government has engaged experts to design the box in which the relic would be kept for public viewing. "We are also not ignoring the security aspect

of the relic at the meuseum here," the minister said.

Stating that objective of displaying the relic at the state museum here was to attract Buddihist tourists to the state, the minister said the state government was keen

on bringing the Buddihist special train to the city.

"The state government has requested the Railways to extend the route of the Mahaparinirvan Express till Odisha so that more tourists can visit the Buddhist circuits in the state," he said.


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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Buddhists outraged at Buddha's images on shoes

Tibetans and Bhutanese Buddhists have written to the company, Icon Shoes, to express their disgust. They have flooded the company's Facebook page with protest notes.

"Unfortunately, it is a basic Buddhist tradition to treat images of Buddhist deities with reverence. Having the images on shoes is disrespect to the Buddhists," wrote Bhuchung Tsering form International Campaign for Tibet.

"Could you kindly consider this and withdraw the shoes from your catalogue," the Tibetan leader demanded.

The North American member of the Tibetan Parliament, Tashi Namgyal, wrote a protest letter to Icon Shoe.

"I came across shoes with image of Lord Buddha on it, manufactured by your company. I was totally shocked and dismayed at being so insensitive," wrote Namgyal.

"Lord Buddha is worshiped by millions of people around the world including the writer of this letter... Therefore, I would like to strongly urge your company to recall every merchandise sold with Buddha's image and stop not only selling such merchandises but manufacture of such products. Above all, I want you to tender unqualified apology posted on your website," Tashi demanded.

Based out of Palm Desert, California, ICON was launched in 1999 by a Hollywood filmmaker and art collector.

"Icon is for the art lover and the woman who loves shoes and handbags. We support artists by paying royalty for the use of their art," the company says on its Facebook page.

"I really think you should stop manufacturing the shoes with Buddha's imprint... it is totally against Buddhist sentiment," wrote one Tshewant Gyeltshen on the company's Facebook page.

"I am Buddhist. Your idea of putting Lord Buddha's image on footwear is unethical," said one Yoezer Gempo.

"Why do they have to put Lord Buddha's image on shoes? Among Buddhist we don't even let our shadow fall on His image. It cannot be ignorance since they had the guts to run a company and even call the pattern 'Thangka of the Buddha'," wrote an angry Passang Tshering on his blog.


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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

New generation emerges at Shaolin Temple

Master Yanpei, 29, a 2005 computer science graduate from Chongqing University, became an acolyte in 2006 at the 1,500-year-old Buddhist temple after becoming disillusioned with his previous place of employment.

With support from Abbot Shi Yongxin, he went to the Buddhist Academy of China to further his study of Buddhism theory in 2007. Now he is a personal assistant to the abbot and a potential candidate to take up his mantle.

"I learned knowledge from college and gained an understanding of life from the Buddhist academy," he said. "The combination creates wisdom."

Master Yanti, a 28-year-old monk studying at the temple, has fused his own studies of Buddhism and martial arts with more disparate fields, such as psychology and English.

The man started his martial arts studies at the age of 16, leaving his school for the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Chinese kungfu, just two years later. Yanti became a formal "fighting monk" in 2004, demonstrating his skills in countries around the world before returning to his studies.

Yanti studied at Nanjing University and Buddhist College Singapore in 2008 and 2009, respectively, supplanting his study of Buddhist theory with classes on calligraphy and sociology.

"Overseas study allows me to teach the essence of Chinese Buddhism to our western trainees, "he said.

He now teaches martial arts to 20 Italians who came to the temple after applying at the Shaolin Culture Center in Italy.

The Shaolin Temple has more than 40 overseas culture centers, mainly in Europe and the United States. The centers, as well as the practice of sending its monks to study foreign languages and religious theories, is just another way in which the temple has attempted to expand its reach globally.

"Training the monks is a tradition of Shaolin Temple," said 47-year-old Abbot Shi Yongxin.

"Overseas training is good for the inheritance and development of Buddhism in a globalized world," Shi said.

Only by broadening their knowledge and vision can Buddhists communicate well with their followers, he said.

Shi said more than 40 Shaolin monks are currently pursuing degrees at institutes of higher education both home and abroad, adding that every monk who wishes to study can be sponsored.

More than half of the temple's 300 registered monks were born after 1980. The younger monks are more educated and more likely to embrace the modern world, Shi said.

Master Yanzheng, a 27-year-old monk who dropped out of an economics program at Anhui Normal University in 2001, might be the temple's most studious monk. After studying for five years at Buddhist College Singapore, he was able to achieve a high score on his IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam. He plans to go to the University of Hong Kong to complete a master's degree in religion.

"The era of sitting in meditation by the light of an oil lamp has gone. We need to keep pace with the times," said Yanzheng, iPhone in hand.
Yanzheng opened a Facebook account in 2006 in Singapore and his own Chinese microblogging account last year.

"The Internet is a good tool with which to disseminate Buddhism," he said.
"If we are not well educated and do not know what's going on in the world, how can we preach to our followers?" he said.


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Monday, September 3, 2012

Miscreants trying to provoke conflict between Buddhists & Muslims

Home Asia Pacific South Asia India

Dharamsala/Jammu, India -- The Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamsala deeply disturbed and concerned over the circulation of a misleading photograph in some section of the media showing Tibetan monks in their reports on the recent violence in Myanmar involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, said in a statement issued from Dharamsala.

Statement said that a photograph of Tibetan monks standing in front of a pile of dead bodies appeared in many websites in the Muslim countries, especially Pakistan. This photo of Tibetan monks was actually taken during their relief work in Kyegudo (Yushul), eastern Tibet, after a devastating earthquake hit the region on 14 April 2010. The Tibetan monks extended remarkable service in the rescue and relief operations at the time.

The relevant department of the Central Tibetan Administration wrote a letter to a website in Pakistan (ColumPk.com, Urdu Current Affairs Portal) on 30 July to remove the photo from its website, which it did so the next day. But the photo is still in circulation, as some Muslims carrying the photo during their recent protest in Mumbai on 11 August 2012, appeared in Zee News, a leading news channel in India.

Statement appeals to the media across the world not to use this photo, which is being circulated by miscreants to provoke conflict between the Buddhist and Muslim communities.


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Letter: May Loving-Kindness Spread to the Arakan State of Myanmar

That momentous event, although undoubtedly tends to depict the monastic as compassionate heroes who fought for the benefit of the poor peasants and citizens in Myanmar, also raises several issues that pertain to Buddhism. For example, one very prominent question was how could the monks, who have renounced the worldly affairs, interfere in the political arena? But then, when thrown with this question, many Buddhists prefer to justify it as an act of compassion for the suffering Burmese people.

Recently, the Burmese Theravada monastic was thrown into the spotlight again when several monks’ associations played on the nationalist sentiment and aggressively called for the “extermination of the Rohingya Muslim community” due to their “cruel nature.” While monks are not prohibited from having a sense of nationalism and love for their country, it may not appear right in the eyes of Buddhism if the monks start asking or encouraging others to kill, no matter how cruel or wrong others could turn out to be.

Lack of respect for one another is one very common reason how conflict begins. Recall that during the Buddha’s time, there were also many different sects and teachers. Throughout his 45 years of teaching, neither had he proclaimed that those others as evil or cruel, nor he called upon his disciples to exterminate them. He even drew up the “Charter of Free Inquiry” as manifested in the Kalama Sutta where he encouraged individual freedom and respect for others by telling that one should not blindly accept his teaching. Hence, if the Buddha himself had never condoned such act of violence and slander in propagating the Dhamma, his disciples, even from this contemporary generation, should never set the precedence for it.

Even if a conflict breaks out, violence is never the solution. Recall the Buddha’s intervention to stop an imminent war break-out following the quarrel between the Sakyas and the Koliyans over the Rohini river. Respectful compromise, patience and most importantly, non-hatred, should be one’s best armor in dealing with conflict, not anger or violence. Again and again, we are reminded of the Buddha’s timeless message as recorded in Dhammapada v.5: “Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. Only by non-hatred is hatred appeased. This is the eternal law.”

What happen to the famous Karaniya Metta Sutta that has often been chanted during the Saffron Revolution in 2007? The sutta says that one should not deceive, despise or wish any harm to another with insult or ill-will and that one should cultivate a boundless heart toward all beings just like how a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her life. Wouldn’t it be very contradictory if those monks were to chant this sutta but at the same time inflicting harm on the Rohingya community?

At this point, perhaps it is clarifying to emphasize that I do not intend to criticize the Sangha Order in Myanmar. I am not attempting to question the purity of the Sangha there. Rather, I am airing my opinions to only those certain quarters of the Burmese Sangha who subscribed to such violence against the Rohingya community. I personally believe that there are still many blameless bhikkhus who arduously practice the teachings of the Buddha in its true spirit and promote the Buddha-sasana through peaceful and respectful means in Myanmar.

In fact, to help alleviate the current predicament that tarnishes the reputation of Buddhism and the Sangha Order, we would need to rely upon this group of blameless monastic members. It is through their strict adherence to the Dhamma-Vinaya that the members of the Order could be inspired to practice likewise and be less inclined to engage in unskillful deeds. I definitely do not expect all the monks to be saints, but at least I hope they could see and live by the spirit of ahimsa as preached by the Buddha. 


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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Buddhist Activism and Public Policy: The International Network of Engaged

This interview took place via telephone on July 2.

Matt Bieber: Let's start with Think Sangha and the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. You've described Think Sangha as a venue in which you and others analyze social problems through a Buddhist lens, in which you try to "to think like a Buddhist." What does it mean to think like a Buddhist?

Jonathan Watts: We feel like there are a lot of people who are socially engaged who, as another friend said here, "just happen to be Buddhists." They're engaged and they're Buddhists, but their Buddhism is not really informing their social action. They tend to understand social issues using other frameworks, like Marxism for example, and not bringing concepts and ways of thinking unique to Buddhism to their social activism.

A really influential book and essay has been Ajahn Buddhadasa's "Dhammic Socialism," written in the 1970s. In [that book] he talks about the difference between Marxism and the socialism of the day and what he understands as Buddhist socialism.

That kind of spirit and that kind of thinking is what's behind Think Sangha. We're looking at the importance of engaged Buddhism on a certain level -- what's special about Buddhism that we can bring to social issues? We feel like Buddhism brings a lot of different important perspectives, so that's why we try to think like Buddhists.

Diana Winston wrote a good essay on this called "A Socially Engaged Buddhist Methodology." She has these different categories: One is to find textual resources, so can we go back and find something that the Buddha said that's related to the social issue that we're working on and use it as a means for legitimizing our action or developing our thought.

Another one is socializing or applying Buddhist principles and themes. This is something that A.T. Ariyaratne, the founder of the Sarvodaya Movement in Sri Lanka, did a tremendous amount of. An example of this is re-expressing the classic teaching of the Four Noble Truths as: What's the social problem? What are the causes, especially looking at structural and cultural violence? What's the vision? How do we realize it?

And thirdly there's the aspect of radical creativity in Buddhist practice. If I'm a seriously practicing Buddhist, then much of what I do will embody Buddhist principles, so I will act out of my Buddhist creativity.

We've had -- I wouldn't call it a tension; it's sort of more of a different flavor. In our work in Think Sangha, we have people like me and Santikaro (a leading disciple of Buddhadasa) and other people who come from Theravada backgrounds who love to follow the second style, kind of Abidhamma-like -- taking principles and applying them and thinking about modern society using Buddhist conceptual models. And some of our Zen friends dislike that, feeling it is artificial. They tend toward the third style of radical creativity, trying to speak more directly, and not using overly conceptualized models. I think both styles are useful.

Right -- various schools of Buddhism think about social problems pretty differently. So, when you say that you strive to think like a Buddhist, are you calling on what you take to be a common set of resources across all of Buddhism? Or is that statement more aspirational -- that you think this is the best of what Buddhism has to offer and you're therefore claiming the label? I could also see self-identifying in this way for strategic reasons -- knowing that this will have a cachet for a certain sector of the population, that it will lend you credibility and influence.

Well, I think fundamentally we use the word "Buddhist" as an identity marker -- we're proclaiming our identity. We're first and foremost Buddhist, maybe even before we're social activists ("socially engaged" Buddhism is a modifier of "Buddhist"). So I think the common grounding is that we're Buddhists, and then we have become socially active.

Obviously, there are people who became socially active first and then became Buddhists later. I mean, there are plenty examples of that, like our colleague Alan Senauke who was a student radical at Columbia University in the '60s and then came into Buddhism later. But eventually what happens is that Buddhism becomes the core identity, because it's seen as the grounding for social work, and without that grounding, you can lose what we feel are essential aspects of social activism, like non-violence, open-mindedness and holding suffering without over-reacting.

In INEB, almost everyone agrees that if they don't have that Buddhist identity (which means that they're a Buddhist practitioner), then they won't be able to properly do their social work or accomplish what they want to accomplish, because the Buddhist practice offers them a variety of really important tools for grounding themselves and understanding how to deal with others.

We talk about three different levels of engagement. There are the tools that you use for personal practice that help keep you grounded, that can help keep you from burning out and that help to see how to deal with the world. Then there are relational tools that Buddhism has for dealing with others, dealing with enemies, dealing with difficult people. And then at the third level are the Buddhist tools for understanding the world and how to see and understand society.

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Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-bieber/buddhist-activism-the-international-network-of-engaged-buddhists_b_1728546.html
Note: the full interview is available at The Wheat and Chaff (http://www.thewheatandchaff.com/ineb-watts/). Follow Matt Bieber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PMatty_Bieber


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