Bangladeshi Buddhist families resettle to Arakan state

?The Bangladeshi Buddhist families entered Burma with the help of District Administration Officer Aung Myint Soe on Jan.10, and stayed at the central monastery until resettling in Maungdaw south (on Jan.13).?

The Rakhine community in Arakan State organized one Buddhist Marmagyi family and 29 Bangladeshi Rakhine families to resettle to Burma after they were facing difficulties earning a living in Bangladesh, according to one Bangladeshi Rakhine who didn?t want his name used.

The man said the families moved because they were promised homes and support from authorities and international aid groups.

There are more than 100,000 Rakhines living in Bangladesh. Many moved to the area in the 18th century to escape persecution from the Burman kingdom.

Nearly all of the Maungdaw high officials are Rakhine, according to a Muslim Maungdaw school teacher who didn?t want their name used. They want to populate the area that is 90% Rohingya with more Bangladesh Rakhine,

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Opting for a simple life

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More people are walking away from wealth and embracing a simple lifestyle, among them the son of a billionaire.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- IT'S time for New Year resolutions again when the enough of the rat race I'm burnt out' groan is oft-repeated and Malaysians sigh about not having the courage to leave stable, conventional jobs to follow their hearts.

<< Ven Dhammavuddho: “It’s about striking a balance between worldly duties and spiritual pursuits’

However, for those who have taken the leap for the simple life, there's no turning back as they ditch their branded suits and hi-tech gadgets, dictated by needs not wants.

While the choices may seem radical to some, those who have done it report happier and more contented lives. Indeed, snubbing materialism for a more meaningful life is more common these days than you think.

Perhaps the most prolific is Ven Siripanyo, the son of T. Ananda Krishnan, Malaysia's second richest man with an estimated wealth of US$9.9bil (RM30bil) according to Forbes' latest list of wealthiest people.

The Buddhist monk who grew up in London, walked away from his father's multimedia empire at age 18 after he was ordained in Thailand. In a YouTube video posted on a Buddhist website, Ven Siripanyo, sharing his early experiences, says “the most valuable thing we can do is to make our minds peaceful.”

His father, nicknamed AK, is the man behind two telecommunication companies Maxis Communications and Measat Broadcast Network Systems (Astro) and three communication satellites orbiting the earth.

Like Ven Siripanyo, electrical engineer-turned-businessman Kenny Ng, 51, too walked away from the concrete jungle five years ago, uprooting his family from Penang to embrace life as an organic farmer in Chenderiang, Perak.

“My engineering business was profitable but it was a hectic lifestyle filled with constant pressure,” he shares.

“My wife and I were looking forward to changing our lifestyle, having been influenced by Dr Lai Chiu-Nan, the founder of the Lapis Lazuli Light' philosophy of a simple life.

“Now, we enjoy ourselves every day as we have more time for each other and the nature that surrounds us. Life is good. I believe I've made the right decision. I've not bought new clothing for myself in the last seven years and am still using a Nokia 1280 handphone which I guess is obsolete now,” he laughs.

His two daughters, who are pursuing their tertiary education, are equally supportive.

“I have some reserve put aside for their education and my wife and I do not need much,” says Ng, a caving enthusiast whose conviction on sustainable living brought him back to the basics.

After volunteering at an organic exhibition, he was hooked. Convinced that answering his new calling was a noble thing to do, Ng sold his engineering and trading company in 2007 to buy a 1.4ha plot of land in Chenderiang where he started his Green Wish Vegi Garden.

A vegetarian, Ng started with zero farming knowledge. He never even tried growing a potted plant in his garden!

Working on a farm is hard labour but for Ng, it's double the effort because he started farming from scratch. Besides producing organic vegetables and fruits, Ng also runs eco-farm tours and homestays to raise public awareness on sustainable living.

He says there aren't many challenges in farming as he is not ambitious about making a profit. “I'm just aiming for a financially sustainable farm.”

Like Ng, lecturer Rozana Hamid Merican, 38, dreams of one day owning a sustainable organic farm which would house an interfaith and learning centre.

“I cannot just be learning and teaching about sustainability and faith and not live by it,” she says.

The former lawyer remembers shocking and disappointing her father with her decision to leave the legal profession.

“It was difficult to walk away because standing up against injustices and inequality was very much what I wanted to do from a young age. When I finally made it, there was a sense of disconnectedness.

“Those in the legal fraternity were selling me the idea of intellectual property law as it was the in thing' and where the money was. It took me a while and a lot of courage to quit because my parents had paid for my legal education which I knew took a toll on them, plus I had slogged hard for my Certificate of Legal Practice,” she recalls.

Scared and confused, not knowing what to do next, she worried about her depleting savings but decided to leave it to fate. Her mother was always supportive and her father came around eventually.

“My friends are a mixed bags of marbles some of them still think I'm a loser but my close friends were supportive and believed in me,” she shares.

A double masters holder, Rozana is currently pursuing her doctorate.

“I'm more focused on the things that matter the bigger picture. And I'm slowly letting go of things that I don't need and channelling my energy into sustainable living and understanding the essence of Islam which is love, compassion, justice and equality. Materialism is something that I'm slowly but surely removing from my life,” she says.

Rozana insists that her values have not changed despite the different lifestyle. Trading in her suits for simple cotton tops, sarongs and slippers, she often rides a rickety old bicycle on errands.

“I'm still the same but with little extras now which I attribute to the blessings of experiences, learning, people, animals, plants and everything around me.

“I've never been a person who puts money, luxury and branded stuff as goals. There's not been a moment of regret for me. I am happy and I don't look back at the past because it's gone,” she says matter-of-fact.

The only material luxury she holds on to these days are her smartphone and a second hand compact luxury sportscar.

She says her 19-year-old Honda Integra was purchased at a very reasonable price and served her purpose when she worked as a lawyer.

“I was travelling quite a bit on the highways then and the car's road handling is good,” she shrugs.

For Penang-born journalist Sharon Cheah, leaving her full-time job in Singapore after being with the Business Times for nine years, was necessary for her “family, a bit of sanity and to regain some sense of balance”.

Feeling burnt out, she decided to pack up and return home. At the end of her three-month resignation notice period, the company proposed a part-time arrangement for Cheah to write from Penang which she accepted. The new arrangement allowed her to work on her pet project a travelogue that was left on the backburner for “far too long”.

Cheah, 43, embarked on the legwork for the travelogue in 2007 covering thousands of kilometres by car, train and plane through the country's 13 states. She had initially intended to complete her book within a year while holding down a full-time job. One year eventually stretched to five before the 231-page travelogue was published some five months ago.

“It (journalism) sounds glamorous, but there are pressure cooker moments (which was every week). It's a rat race for sure in Singapore work dominated much of my time. I now have a bit more leeway over my time which is something I'm grateful for and am now very used to.

“Switching to the part-time arrangement allowed me to really focus on writing Malaysia Bagus! Travels Through My Homeland'.

“Writing isn't lucrative at all, except for a lucky few, so one really has to have a passion for it. (But) it was a goal I'd set for myself and I was so indebted to all those who'd helped me that I would be forever guilty if I didn't complete the book,” says Cheah, who now leads a simpler life with a “bit more (personal) time but also less money”.

She says one can't compare the then and now' quality of life as it's all about adjusting and trade offs but laments not being able to volunteer as often for Habitat for Humanity.

“I don't like travelling for the sake of it. I usually pick a country I haven't been to before, and then organise a team of people to go and build a house there under the auspices of Habitat for Humanity.

“It costs the same as if I went on a holiday but I haven't been on a Habitat for Humanity trip since 2009,” she says.

Vihara Buddha Gotama abbot Ven Dhammavuddho (Mahathera), 65, had just been promoted by the Public Works Department when he decided to renounce all worldly possessions.

The Universiti Malaya engineering graduate worked in the civil service for 12 years until he had saved up enough to make sure that his parents had a home to live in and were taken care of.

“I didn't just wake up one day and decide to be a monk. I stumbled upon Buddhism at age 29, and it was like a jigsaw puzzle coming together. I knew then that I wanted to be a monk but it was only six years later that I fulfilled my life's purpose because it was frightening to think that I would have to give up not just everything I own but also all worldly pleasures I was used to as a bachelor,” he says.

Though he was the youngest of eight siblings, Ven Dhammavuddho was the first to graduate. Understandably, his parents had great expectations and he was especially close to his mother.

“When I told my mother of my intention to be a monk, she told me to wait until her death. My father was shocked his eyes were red as tears welled up. He could not understand why someone with a bright future would just give it all up,” he recalls.

He admits it wasn't easy. One day you are somebody holding a respected post, and the next you are a nobody relying on the goodwill of others for something as basic as food. But the decision is one that he is now at peace with.

“I don't see giving up my engineering job to be a monk as a sacrifice at all especially when I see friends my age still struggling to discover the meaning of life.

“As an engineer, I was contented in a worldly sense but inside, I was still searching. Now I've found my purpose in life,” he shares.

In 1998, he founded a 6ha forest monastery in Temoh, Perak. He notes that these days, dharma talks and meditation sessions are seeing younger attendees.

“More youngsters are seeking answers as opposed to a mainly older crowd previously. But listening is one thing, letting go is another.

“Ultimately, regardless of which religion you embrace, it's about striking a balance between worldly duties and spiritual pursuits.

“Be careful that you are not too caught up in the rat race until you are too busy to ask yourself what's important in life,” the abbot who has written several books advises.

He warns of the danger of leading a “careless life” as worldly things are fleeting and in the end, it's the wealth inside that matters.

“Most of us live for ourselves but life's greatest joy can only come from acts that benefit others”.

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Mass Buddhist prayer service held in NW China

The monks from 74 monasteries chanted Tibetan Buddhist scriptures alongside thousands of believers in a new scripture hall built after a 2010 earthquake.

"The service is to pray for world peace, the nation's prosperity and and people's health and safety," said Khenpo Ngangor, an abbot of the monastery.

"We hope the natural disasters threatening people in the world will end, and that all families live happily and stay healthy," the abbot said.

The 2,100-year-old Jyegu Monastery is the largest and most influential temple of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. It is located in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu.

The monastery has held the mass prayer service for the past 14 years around Oct. 15 on the Tibetan calendar.

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Russian Buddhists' Newly Found Link with Tibet and India

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New Delhi, India -- The brand new, upmarket Hotel Kempinsky in East Delhi has suddenly morphed into a Buddhist monastery -- though temporarily for four days this week. Its lobbies and convention halls are reverberating with Buddhist mantras, teachings and laughter of the most celebrated man of our era -- Dalai Lama. Over 800 Buddhist devotees from the three republics of Russia namely Kalmykia, Buryatia and Tuva are here to have teachings from their supreme spiritual Guru. Over a hundred more from other parts of the world too have joined in.

To the politically uninitiated, this gathering of Russian Buddhists might look like an advance party of President Vladimir Putin whose two-day visit falls precisely in the middle of these teachings. However, the reality is that the Buddhist Russians have travelled all the distance to India for Dalai Lama's teachings because Putin's government has been persistently shying away from issuing visa to the Tibetan leader for past ten years just to ensure that Beijing leaders are not enraged.

Dalai Lama has been to Russia five times since 1979. In 1992 he went to all the three Buddhist republics. But in 1991 he could go only to Buryatia. In 1996 he could visit Kalmykia only on a transit visit while flying to Mongolia. In 2004 too he could visit Kalmykia only for a day and half. On one occasion all Russian flights were cancelled just to ensure that Dalai Lama could not stop in Russia on his way to Mongolia. Changed status of Russia vis-a-vis China in the post USSR period has obliged Kremlin to keep the Chinese sensitivities on Tibet and Dalai Lama at top priority.

In current political scenario when economic depression in Europe has taken its toll on European governments along with the US pressure, Russia has lost a huge business in supply of oil to Western Europe. China's emergence as a major buyer of Russian oil, gas and military equipment has pushed Kremlin further at the mercy of Beijing. With Syria and Iran being on hot pursuit of the US and its western allies, Russia finds itself badly squeezed with China in a tight corner. All this has left hardly any elbow room for Russia to take any independent step which China does not approve of. That explains Putin's predicament with the three Buddhist republics.

This keenness of the Russian Buddhists to receive blessings and teachings from the Dalai Lama can be fathomed from the fact that following persistent denial of visa to him by their government, they have, of late, started an annual pilgrimage to India. In 2009 about 800 Russian Buddhist devotees came to India to seek blessings and teachings from Dalai Lama. This number increased to 1300 in 2010 and to 1600 in 2011. Erdne Ombadykow (39) the energetic Head of Buddhism in the Republic of Kalmyikia has played important role in this new movement of reviving Buddhism in Kalmykia. In Mahayana Buddhist parlance he is popularly known as Telo Rinpoche as he was recognized as the reincarnation of Telopa, a great Indian Buddhist scholar of 11th century.

Telo Rinpoche had planned to meet President Putin during his Delhi visit and to present him a jointly signed petition from the Russian Buddhists. This petition calls upon the President to review his government's decision on the issue of visa to the Dalai Lama. President Putin had recently indicated in a youth camp in at Lake Seliger in Tver region of Russia, that his government intended to do something in this direction.

Answering a question from a Kalmykian youth during his question-answer session with the participants of the camp on 31st July this year, President Putin made it clear that it was the Chinese pressure which was stopping the Kremlin government from letting Dalai Lama visit Russia. “For those who are not familiar with the details of this issue, I can say that this problem is related to the fact that the Dalai Lama is viewed more as a political leader than a religious one,” Putin said.

Outgoing and pro-active in his approach, Telo Rinpoche is at the forefront of reviving and rehabilitating Buddhism to its past glory of days before Communists destroyed Buddhism and the Kalmykian identity. He presents an interesting mix of traits which reflect his multi coloured background. He was born to a Kalmykian refugee couple in Philadelphia, who had settled in USA after being uprooted from the erstwhile USSR in post-second World War months. In 1979 when the Dalai Lama visited Philadelphia, he came across this 7-year-old baby who had walked into his lap during a public audience. Later Dalai Lama recognised him as the reincarnation of Telopa.

The previous incarnation of Telopa was a Mongolian who played an important political role in resisting the Bolsheviks who destroyed over 2000 Buddhist temples and killed about 30,000 Buddhist monks in Mongolia in 1939. Following the failed Mongolian resistance, he had migrated to the USA and later established a Buddhist temple in Philadelphia where he died in 1965.

Following his recognition as an incarnate Tulku, Telo Rinpoche was sent to the Tibetan monastery Drepung in Mundgod town of Karnataka in Southern India where he studied Buddhism. Later following the fall of communism and disintegration of USSR, he decided to work in Mongolia and Kalmykia to revive Buddhism on the advice of the Dalai Lama.

Telo Tulku Rinpoche
"Before the communists occupied Kalmykia, there were over 100 monasteries and about 7000 monks. They destroyed everything and we lost most of it during 70 years of communist rule. Buddhism met same fate in Buryatia and Tuva. In past 20 years we have rebuilt 27 monasteries and revived Buddhism to a good extent in Kalmykia. Same process has been going on in the other two Buddhist republics," says Telo Rinpoche.

Buddhism arrived in these three republics of Russia 400 years ago from Tibet via Mongolia. Most of these followers are of Mongolian origin. Today there are about 1.5 million Buddhists in the three republics. New opportunities to travel abroad and international exposure has attracted millions of Russians towards many new spiritual ideas and philosophies. The number of neo-Buddhists among Russians today is estimated around 0.5 million. Buddhism is a constitutionally recognised religion along with the Orthodox Christian church, Islam and Judaism.

"We have all freedoms and liberties in practicing Buddhism provided we don't mix religion and politics," says Telo Rinpoche. Other Buddhists communities of Buryatia and Tuva too have common motivations as the Kalmykians. A new surge of Buddhist temples, learning centres and visits of Tibetan Buddhist scholars from India reflects this enthusiasm.

Kalmykian experience during the communist days in USSR, especially under Joseph Stalin, has so many parallels like the Nazi holocaust which now work as a motivator. Nazis invaded USSR from the Caspian Sea direction. Kalmykia was the first region to fall. Nazis enrolled the Kalmykians and Chechens to fight the Russian communists. There was no shortage of enthusiasts among the two races who took it as a chance to get rid of the communist occupation and slavery. But following the fall of Germany, Stalin branded the Kalmykians as 'traitors' and ordered entire Kalmykian population to be deported to distant labour camps of Siberia. Over a million Kalmykians were pushed into railway cattle wagons to be further tortured in Siberian labour camps.

"About half of our population died in the process. All this happened within thirteen years. Following the death of Stalin, Khrushchev ordered repatriation of Kalmykians to their homeland. But all good lands, houses and jobs had since been occupied by the Russian communists in our homeland. Ban on our language and religious practices almost finished our identity until the USSR collapsed in early 1990s," says Telo Rinpoche.

Newly established link with the Mongolians and Tibetans has helped the three Russian republics in a big way to revive and rehabilitate their lost Buddhist identity. Underling the significance of this relationship, Telo Rinpoche says, "Kalmykians and Tibetans have a lot to learn from each other. We lost our language but Tibetan refugees still read and speak their language even fifty years after their exile to India. We have to learn in this field from them. But we saved our determination to save our identity despite 70 years of ruthless communist rule. I am sure Tibetans can learn from us."

No doubt, the process of learning from each other is already on the rails. Buddhists of the three Russian Buddhist republics now keenly took towards Mr. Putin to allow Dalai Lama to visit their republics.

-----
The author is a New Delhi based senior Indian journalist and well known Tibetologist. He can be contacted at v.kranti@gmail.com. Website & Blog : www.vijaykranti.com

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Pre-dawn calls and hard beds – South Korea’s spiritual tourism

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SEOUL, South Korea -- As a paying guest at Mihwangsa, there’s no need to book a morning wake-up call.
It’s provided well before sunrise, at 4am to be precise... and it isn’t optional.

<< Participants and monks taking meditating sessions during a temple stay at a yard of Mihwangsa temple in Haenam, 350km south of Seoul. – AFP pic

Instead of a phone call - none of the rooms have phones - guests are roused by a monk walking past their rooms, knocking on a wooden block to call them for a round of pre-breakfast chanting and meditation.

The dozen guests who make their sleepy way to the temple’s main hall - clad in identical grey loose-fitting outfits - are all taking part in Mihwangsa’s Templestay programme.

Ranging from middle school students to housewives in their late 30s, and including Koreans and foreigners, they were attracted by what has become a thriving mini-tourist industry in temples across South Korea.

“I wanted to be isolated in the mountains while experiencing the traditional life,” said Helena Ranneberg, a Danish web consultant.

Mihwangsa temple is undoubtedly isolated, located halfway up a mountain in coastal Haenam county around 320km southwest of Seoul.

The Templestay programme has its unlikely origins in the 2002 football World Cup which was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.

When the government made a general appeal for help in overcoming a shortage of hotel accommodation, the Jogye Order, the country’s largest Buddhism sect, saw an opportunity and began opening its temples to short-term paying guests.

“There were shared voices within Buddhism that we needed to interact with the outside world by opening ourselves to the public,” said Kumgang, the head monk of Mihwangsa.

The rates are relatively cheap, ranging from 50,000-80,000 won (RM138 to RM230) a night, and the amenities are spartan compared to any mainstream hotel.

Guests are obliged to sleep on thin cotton mattresses on a hardwood floor, eat vegetarian food and participate in classes on Buddhism, morning meditation and evening chanting of scriptures — all led by monks.

“The most difficult part for me was to sit and lie on the wooden floor,” confessed Ranneberg.

“I just couldn’t sleep at night.”

In their free time, they can hike in the surrounding area, read books, drink tea and participate in much of the temple’s daily life. Drinking and smoking are forbidden and mobile phone use actively discouraged.

“Other than ceremonies, I can relax, drink tea with the monks and have discussions on life... It’s all I could wish for,” said Park Seung-Kyung, a housewife from Gwangju who had booked in for three days.

None of the monks at Mihwangsa speak English, but a lay Buddhist living in the temple helps interpret for foreign guests.

For Ranneberg, the language barrier was not an issue.

“Before dawn, I had time on my own in complete darkness, just sitting in front of the traditional architecture... And that really was something different, something I would never be able to experience anywhere else,” she said.

Since the programme began a decade ago, the number of participating temples has risen from 33 to 109 and close to two million people have stayed in them.

Last year, the number of Templestay guests was 212,437, of which around 12 per cent were foreigners.

Since 2004 the government has provided subsidies totalling around US$100 million (RM306 million) to the programme which the government sees as a force for promoting traditional Korean culture.

But not everybody is happy.

Last year, the Korean Association of Church Communication issued a statement arguing that there was “room for conflict” in the government subsidising a programme associated with one particular religion.

“There clearly is a problem with financially supporting missionary events by specific religion,” it said.

The official Templestay website stresses that the programme is mainly aimed at providing a cultural experience, rather than an effort to promote religious belief.

Tensions between Buddhism and the Christian Church have deep roots in South Korea.

Historically the dominant religion, Buddhism has been eclipsed by Christianity which grew at an incredible pace in the 20th century, especially after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Thirty percent of the population describe themselves as Christian, making South Korea one of the most Christian countries in Asia, ranking third after the traditionally Catholic Philippines and East Timor.

Buddhists now comprise a little over 20 per cent, and there is some resentment in the Buddhist community over South Korea’s embrace of a particularly evangelical style of Christianity that places a strong emphasis on proselytising and missionary work.

The Jogye Order plans to designate more temples as Templestay hosts next year and head monk Kumgang says Mihwangsa will continue to participate in the programme.

“Templestay can provide people who live a busy life with a place to relax and refresh... like a realm of peace and spiritual growth,” he said.

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Newtown shooting and gun violence: A Buddhist response

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Losang Tendrol is a nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She teaches meditation at the Guhyasamaja Buddhist Center in Fairfax, Va.

Fairfax, Va. (US'A) -- In a press release issued on Dec 19 after the shooting in Newton, Conn., New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated that 34 Americans fall victim to gun violence every day. They are our parents, children, friends, neighbors, and our police officers, managers, teachers –  perhaps indirectly we all know someone who has met a violent end. Every death tears a hole in the intricate network of relationships that unites us.

The Buddha taught that from birth, each of us has an instinctive gentleness towards others – a desire to protect those around us from harm and a willingness to make sacrifices to help even strangers. Cultivating and nurturing this love gives meaning to our short lives. Yet looking within ourselves we also find our innate self-focus.

This self-awareness is a sense that we exist apart from others. Rather than being a negative factor, it is this very self-focus that enables us to feel empathy because it is the basis for our common humanity. It is only because we experience suffering first hand that we generate the motivation to eliminate the suffering of others. As a nation, we deeply mourn the loss of the 20 school children and their teachers at Sandy Hook because of this deep seated connection.

In contrast, many believe that human nature is malevolent, so we need to guard ourselves from others.  We invest in many defense systems ranging from security systems, door locks, firewalls, antivirus software, passwords, all the way to what some consider the ultimate protection – possessing guns.

Some own guns based on the conviction that the world will end and we need guns in order to survive. Others feel that guns are necessary to stand up against a tyrannical government, or to rid society of undesirable people. The underlying rationale is the need for protection against an external threat, an outside enemy who intends to injure us.

In response the to the Sandy Hook shooting, Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Association advocated for putting armed police officers in every school in America. More guns, however, is not the solution. Instead as a society we need to address the underlying causes of violence in our nation. As many have proposed, we need to increase expenditures for public mental health care so that the mentally ill receive appropriate treatment, supervision and care. It must be terrifying for someone who is delusional to be left to survive on the streets all alone.  Strict measures should be taken to ensure the mentally ill are unable to obtain guns.

Likewise, we need to tone down the violence in the entertainment industry so that our children do not grow up thinking that aggression is an acceptable means of resolving problem.  Violence breeds more violence, today's killers may be tomorrow's victims. According to the Buddha's teaching about karma, actions always have related consequences. Murder is a misdeed because it harms others and the result is that the killer will experience tremendous suffering in the future and may even die in a similar manner. As such, all guns should be illegal as they only serve one purpose – to end lives.

Still, many shootings in America are not committed by people who are mentally ill, but instead by people who are angry and restless, and who lack the ability to regulate their emotions. So what is the long-term solution? The Buddha taught that the only real medicine to cure the disease of harming others is by transforming our own minds. Through meditation, we discover that the true source of our problems is not external enemies; instead, it is our own negative emotions and ignorance. Each of us needs to address the underlying malaise and discontent that give rise to our hatred, attachment, fear, and self-centeredness.

By cultivating bodhicitta, the mind that seeks to benefit others, we find meaning and joy in life.  Lama Zopa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, explains how to we should set our motivation: “In the West, millions of people suffer from depression, but if you dedicate your life in the morning to numberless sentient beings, you will have unbelievable joy and happiness the whole day. Cherishing the I opens the door to all suffering, while cherishing others opens the door to all happiness. When you live your life every day for others, the door to depression, relationship problems and all such things is closed and instead there is incredible joy and excitement.”

The benefits of the mind of compassion, bodhicitta, are described in this verse:

Bodhicitta makes you abandon all harms,
Bodhicitta rids you of all sufferings,
Bodhicitta frees you from all fears,
Bodhicitta stops all negative conduct,
~ Khunu Lama Rinpoche

In his book “Beyond Religion: Ethics for a whole world,” the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, stresses the need for secular ethics grounded in compassion that transcend the confines of religious traditions. Such ethical principles celebrate our shared humanity and interdependence.

It is up to each of us as individuals to make these principles the rules we live by and thereby to fulfill our full potential as human beings. While this may seem impossible,  it is in fact realistic because the inner peace that arises from such ethics lies hidden in our minds waiting for us to reveal it through study and contemplation.

By caring for others with compassion, we create vast amounts of positive karma and this gives rise to a feeling of safety and ease. We don't need guns because we understand how a strong community is a reflection of close ties with our neighbors forged through mutual respect and kindness. We are no longer paranoid that everyone is out to get us because we have looked deep within ourselves and expelled our inner enemy - self-cherishing.

Gradually, as more people choose to practice the path of peace, killings such as the incident in Newton, Conn. will no longer occur.

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A Zen Monk’s Letter to Adam Lanza

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Douglas Bachman - now a Buddhist monk, named Phap Luu, pens an open letter to Adam Lanza. Phap Luu teaches applied ethics and the art of mindful living to students and school teachers. He lives in Plum Village Monastery, in Thenac, France.

Dear Adam,

Let me start by saying that I wish for you to find peace. It would be easy just to call you a monster and condemn you for evermore, but I don’t think that would help either of us. Given what you have done, I realize that peace may not be easy to find. In a fit of rage, delusion and fear - yes, above all else, I think, fear - you thought that killing was a way out. It was clearly a powerful emotion that drove you from your mother’s dead body to massacre children and staff of Sandy Hook School and to turn the gun in the end on yourself. You decided that the game was over.

But the game is not over, though you are dead. You didn’t find a way out of your anger and loneliness. You live on in other forms, in the torn families and their despair, in the violation of their trust, in the gaping wound in a community, and in the countless articles and news reports spilling across the country and the world - yes, you live on even in me. I was also a young boy who grew up in Newtown. Now I am a Zen Buddhist monk. I see you quite clearly in me now, continued in the legacy of your actions, and I see that in death you have not become free.

You know, I used to play soccer on the school field outside the room where you died, when I was the age of the children you killed. Our team was the Eagles, and we won our division that year. My mom still keeps the trophy stashed in a box. To be honest, I was and am not much of a soccer player. I’ve known winning, but I’ve also known losing, and being picked last for a spot on the team. I think you’ve known this too - the pain of rejection, isolation and loneliness.

Loneliness too strong to bear.

You are not alone in feeling this. When loneliness comes up it is so easy to seek refuge in a virtual world of computers and films, but do these really help or only increase our isolation? In our drive to be more connected, have we lost our true connection?

I want to know what you did with your loneliness. Did you ever, like me, cope by walking in the forests that cover our town? I know well the slope that cuts from that school to the stream, shrouded by beech and white pine. It makes up the landscape of my mind. I remember well the thrill of heading out alone on a path winding its way - to Treadwell Park! At that time it felt like a magical path, one of many secrets I discovered throughout those forests, some still hidden. Did you ever lean your face on the rough furrows of an oak’s bark, feeling its solid heartwood and tranquil vibrancy? Did you ever play in the course of a stream, making pools with the stones as if of this stretch you were king? Did you ever experience the healing, connection and peace that comes with such moments, like I often did?

Or did your loneliness know only screens, with dancing figures of light at the bid of your will? How many false lives have you lived, how many shots fired, bombs exploded and lives lost in video games and movies?

By killing yourself at the age of 20, you never gave yourself the chance to grow up and experience a sense of how life’s wonders can bring happiness. I know at your age I hadn’t yet seen how to do this.

I am 37 now, about the age my teacher, the Buddha, realized there was a way out of suffering. I am not enlightened. This morning, when I heard the news, and read the words of my shocked classmates, within minutes a wave of sorrow arose, and I wept. Then I walked a bit further, into the woods skirting our monastery, and in the wet, winter cold of France, beside the laurel, I cried again. I cried for the children, for the teachers, for their families. But I also cried for you, Adam, because I think that I know you, though I know we have never met. I think that I know the landscape of your mind, because it is the landscape of my mind.

I don’t think you hated those children, or that you even hated your mother. I think you hated your loneliness.

I cried because I have failed you. I have failed to show you how to cry. I have failed to sit and listen to you without judging or reacting. Like many of my peers, I left Newtown at seventeen, brimming with confidence and purpose, with the congratulations of friends and the approbation of my elders. I was one of the many young people who left, and in leaving we left others, including you, just born, behind. In that sense I am a part of the culture that failed you. I didn’t know yet what a community was, or that I was a part of one, until I no longer had it, and so desperately needed it.

I have failed to be one of the ones who could have been there to sit and listen to you. I was not there to help you to breathe and become aware of your strong emotions, to help you to see that you are more than just an emotion.

But I am also certain that others in the community cared for you, loved you. Did you know it?

In eighth grade I lived in terror of a classmate and his anger. It was the first time I knew aggression. No computer screen or television gave a way out, but my imagination and books. I dreamt myself a great wizard, blasting fireballs down the school corridor, so he would fear and respect me. Did you dream like this too?
The way out of being a victim is not to become the destroyer. No matter how great your loneliness, how heavy your despair, you, like each one of us, still have the capacity to be awake, to be free, to be happy, without being the cause of anyone’s sorrow. You didn’t know that, or couldn’t see that, and so you chose to destroy. We were not skillful enough to help you see a way out.

With this terrible act you have let us know. Now I am listening, we are all listening, to you crying out from the hell of your misunderstanding. You are not alone, and you are not gone. And you may not be at peace until we can stop all our busyness, our quest for power, money or sex, our lives of fear and worry, and really listen to you, Adam, to be a friend, a brother, to you. With a good friend like that your loneliness might not have overwhelmed you.

But we needed your help too, Adam. You needed to let us know that you were suffering, and that is not easy to do. It means overcoming pride, and that takes courage and humility. Because you were unable to do this, you have left a heavy legacy for generations to come. If we cannot learn how to connect with you and understand the loneliness, rage and despair you felt - which also lie deep and sometimes hidden within each one of us - not by connecting through Facebook or Twitter or email or telephone, but by really sitting with you and opening our hearts to you, your rage will manifest again in yet unforeseen forms.

Now we know you are there. You are not random, or an aberration. Let your action move us to find a path out of the loneliness within each one of us. I have learned to use awareness of my breath to recognize and transform these overwhelming emotions, but I hope that every man, woman or child does not need to go halfway across the world to become a monk to learn how to do this. As a community we need to sit down and learn how to cherish life, not with gun-checks and security, but by being fully present for one another, by being truly there for one another. For me, this is the way to restore harmony to our communion.

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Buddhist temple doesn't always inspire peaceful reactions

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A Buddhist temple in a Westminster neighborhood has some residents grousing about increased traffic and other annoyances.

Los Angeles, CA (USA) -- The sound of chanting echoed through the makeshift temple, to the slow steady pulse of a drum.

<< The congregation of Tinh Xa Giac Ly gathers for worship and other activities in the converted garage of a former single-family home in a residential neighborhood in Westminster. (Anne Cusack, Los Angeles Times / December 2, 2012)

Forty-nine days had passed since Jonathan Van's uncle had died in Vietnam, and he and his family gathered at Tinh Xa Giac Ly in Westminster, chanting so that his spirit might find its path. The puffs of incense dancing in the air would serve as the vehicle to carry his spirit to the next life, according to Buddhist tradition.

The relatives knelt on the floor of the two-car garage, high heels and sandals scattered outside on the driveway, as other loved ones spilled out to the patio, reciting from yellow songbooks.

The sound, for Van, calmed his own spirit.

"For me the chanting is very soothing," Van said. "Relieves stress."

Less so for some of the neighbors, however.

The temple sits among the suburban tract homes at Titus Street and Hazard Avenue, just steps from Little Saigon, converted about 26 years ago from a typical family home to a house of worship.

The sound of the chanting and the unfamiliar smells and rituals are an unwelcome intrusion to some in the neighborhood in the heart of Orange County, the traffic an inconvenience.

Officials said misunderstandings between the start-up temples and residents who find their neighborhoods transformed are an ongoing issue in the Asian communities that sprawl across Westminster, Garden Grove and Santa Ana.

Rita Leon and her brother Rudy Lastra live across the street from Tinh Xa Giac Ly and say their conflicts with the temple's worshipers have almost turned physical.

And traffic generated by visitors, they said, has turned their residential street into a bustling thoroughfare.

"It's like the 405 Freeway on a Monday at rush hour," Lastra said.

Temple organizers also clashed with the city, which after receiving numerous complaints from residents cited them for code violations involving outdoor cooking equipment as well as gas, electrical and plumbing lines, said Art Bashmakian, Westminster's planning manager.

The temple's leader, the Most Venerable Thich Giác Si, said he is mindful of his neighbors' concerns and reminds visitors to park outside the neighborhood to reduce the number of cars streaming along the residential streets.

"Whatever they like to say or express to us, we like to listen," he said.

Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, said budding religious groups often set up shop in suburban areas, and such clashes can be expected.

"In many religious communities you will see this tradition of starting a congregation in your home before you're able to buy or build," Kennedy said.

Even though the face of central Orange County began changing decades ago with the arrival of Vietnamese immigrants, the tiny neighborhood temples sometimes seem foreign to residents when they spring up.

"There's no question where you're confronted with something you don't understand or are unfamiliar with, you're uncomfortable," Kennedy said.

Often stereotypes about a culture or its images — such as the Buddhist swastika or Sikh turbans — can "color our thinking" about a neighbor, Kennedy said. But the conflicts, he said, sometimes sort themselves out.

Van agreed, saying some may feel uncomfortable with the chanting because of a language barrier, but the sound can comfort even those unfamiliar with it.

"You don't have to understand it for it to be soothing to your ears," he said.

For the recent gathering, Van's relatives came from as far as North Hollywood and West Covina to visit the temple to participate in the final day of prayer for his uncle's spirit, 49 days being the period a spirit needs to find its new life, according to Buddhist tradition.

The next time the family will pray for their uncle will be at the one-year anniversary of his death.

In addition to hosting ceremonies for the dead, Van said the temple gives back too — donating clothes and vegetarian food to the homeless and helping with construction of water wells in Vietnam. The temple also sends money to 120 handicapped people in Vietnam, Thich Giác Si said.

Thich Giác Si, who said he made his way through temples across the state before arriving in Westminster, said visitors may be drawn to his temple more than to others because its focus is on service and religious growth rather than a pressurized environment where fundraising is a priority.

Dressed in saffron yellow and orange robes, he said he came here with the idea of working to create a sense of community.

The temple has flourished over time, providing a haven for as many as 160 youth members and 1,000 families, he said.

"We offer support and peace."

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Admire the unique beauty of a Khmer Buddhist temple

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Bac Lieu Province, Vietnam -- Being considered one of the most beautiful Khmer Theravada Buddhist temples in the Mekong Delta, Ghositaram pagoda in Bac Lieu province has unique decorations, reflecting unique Buddhism cultural identity of the Khmer.

Ghositaram temple is located in the village of Cu Lao, Hung Hoi commune, Vinh Loi district, around 5km from Bac Lieu city center.

The temple was built in 1860-1872. After more than 150 years, Ghositaram temple was rebuilt at the end of 2001.

After about 10 years of construction, the main hall of the temple was inaugurated in mid-2010. The main hall has an area of more than 400m2, about 40m high, has many relieves, sculptural works and mural paintings with unique patterns of high artistic value.

In addition, in the temple campus there are two columns of over 40m high and two towers preserving remains of Buddhists, which also have beautiful decorative features.

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Sri Lanka's Buddhist Monks' Health At Risk

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Worshippers are being told to give fewer sweet treats to monks amid fears that their diet is too rich.

Colombo, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lankans are being urged to cut down on offerings of sweets and cakes to the country's Buddhist monks after it was found that half the nation's holy men are at risk of poor health due to a diet rich in sugar and oil.

Devotees provide the monks with their food - and book up to a year in advance for the chance to cook for them.

The food is made with great care and is often extremely rich, but this has led to the alarming statistic that 50% of the island's 40,000 monks are at risk of diabetes, compared to the national average of 10%.

The venerated monks are also at higher risk of heart disease, the health ministry says.

Officials have now come up with new guidelines to encourage devotees to donate low-sugar, healthier food for the monks' diet instead.

The average daily intake of 12 teaspoons of sugar should be reduced to a maximum of eight, according to the new guidelines, while salt should also be sharply reduced.

Alms should not include more than one dish containing cooking oil, the ministry added.

"Diabetes and other non-communicable diseases among Buddhist monks can be reduced if the faithful follow the new diet guidelines," it said.

Buddhism is the majority religion amongst Sri Lanka's 20 million people, who believe offering meals, cakes, biscuits and sweets to monks will bring them good karma in this life as well as in the next.

Buddhists who believe in reincarnation also offer food to monks in an attempt to transfer good luck to departed loved ones.

But the ministry says the offerings should consist of long-grain rice, three vegetables and two types of fruit rather than cakes and sweet things.

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Buddhist University to become medium of service to humanity: Chief minister

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BHOPAL, India -- Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that Sanchi Buddhist and Indic Studies University will pave way for world peace by becoming a medium of serving humanity. Chouhan was discussing issues of university's studies, teaching and research with members of the university's advisory committee here on Wednesday.

Chouhan, committee members Gese Semten, Dr Siddheshwar Rameshwar Bhatt, Prof Shrikant Kondapalli, Prof Jiyo Liang, Dr Lokesh Chandra, Prof Mithila Prasad Tripathi, Prof Krishna Bihari Pandey and Nirmala Sharma and principal secretary culture Basant Pratap Singh were present at the meeting.

Chouhan said that dimension of Sanchi Buddhist and Indic Studies University should be such that the institution is able to give new vision and direction for welfare of human beings. He said that scholars from all over the world should be consulted for this. The conclusions drawn from their brainstorming will be implemented by the state government. There will be no paucity of funds for this work.

He said that university's academic session should be started with studies and teaching of Buddhist and Indian philosophies. He said that human values are declining in the indiscriminate race for development. Only Indian philosophy can give a new direction towards prevention of human values' decline.

It was informed during discussions that outlines have been drawn to start teaching work of the university from next academic session. A meeting to this effect will be held in February where decisions about syllabus and teaching activities will be taken.

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Buddhist group helps quake victims in northern Italy

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Rome, Italy -- Members of Taiwan's Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation from Germany, France and the United Kingdom braved snow in northern Italy Saturday to distribute shopping vouchers to residents struck by an earthquake earlier this year.

The 37 volunteers distributed the shopping vouchers, worth 100 euros each, to about 400 residents of the Bondeno and Finale Emilia townships to help them through the winter.

Residents in the two areas, part of the Emilia Romagna region hit by a magnitude-5.9 quake May 20, are in desperate need of help, and the charity drive mainly targeted families with elderly members and children, or those struggling for money, Chen Shu-wei, a Taiwanese volunteer based in Germany, told CNA.

The foundation currently does not have a branch in Italy and the volunteers traveled across borders to the affected areas in tour buses, despite heavy snow that had begun days before.

Chen said the people coming in for the vouchers were quite shy or even cold at the start, but began to soften when they knew better what the group was doing.

"You could tell that some of them were brimming over with happiness by the looks on their faces, while others even hugged us or shook our hands," Chen said.

The volunteers also screened a video in which Tzu Chi founder Dharma Master Cheng Yen prayed for and encouraged the earthquake victims.

Angelo d'Aiello, an official of Finale Emilia, said the township authorities had to turn to charities for help, given limited government resources.

Claudio Sabatini, a local entrepreneur and coordinator of the charity drive, said the events marked a good start for cooperation with the Buddhist group.

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Korean Buddhist monks pay tribute at Sandy Hook memorial

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NEWTWON, CT (USA) -- A group of Korean Buddhist monks came to pay tribute at the memorial in front of the firehouse near Sandy Hook Elementary Tuesday.

They arrived the same way everyone else had, walking between the grass and the traffic cones that line Riverside Road — the most obvious difference between them and the countless other pilgrims arriving that day being their distinctive orange and white robes. The hand bells they rang sounded their arrival.

Haejin, a monk ordained in 2006, said the group of five monks arrived with an entourage of 20 to 30, from the Borisa temple in Teaneck, New Jersey, Bul Kwang in Tappan, New York, and Tageo Zen Center in Bogota, New Jersey. The reason for their journey? To let everybody who died during the tragic attack know they are loved, Haejin said. The prayers they recited were meant for those passed.

“It lets us say to them, “We will digest your pain, we will live your experiences, and we will suffer them for you.”” Haejin said. “Let our love and our mind become your mind. Let our thoughts become your thoughts. May you know how much we love you, know how much we understand your suffering, and how much we pray that in your next manifestation, that wherever you're at, that they’re able to ease the earth in a world of suffering.”

After their first prayer, the monks lit incense and placed the smoking sticks in a candle that already held a bundle of burning, scented stalks placed by others throughout the day. Haejin said incense and its use has a long history in his tradition.

“One of the reasons that we burn incense is to represent our intentions,” Haejin said, “our intentions and our wills for the people that have deceased. That our wishes spread not only just in the smell - in wind - but around the whole universe, symbolically speaking.”

The memorial, Haejin said, and the monks visit to it, is a gesture to Newtown that they are not alone.

“People from all over the world are praying for this town — all over the nation, all over the state, continuously, continuously,” Haejin said. “They are loved and supported. We are all here. There is a world and universe to be there for them.”

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Franklin Buddhist monastery seeks expansion approval

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FRANKLIN, NJ (USA) -- A Buddhist monastery has applied to the township for permission to expand its buildings to bring its worshippers more programs.

<< Artist's conception of the proposed new temple. NJ Buddhist Vihara 

The New Jersey Buddhist Vihara and Meditation Center at 4299 Route 27 is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 17 to come before the Franklin Township Zoning Board of Adjustment at 475 DeMott Lane in Somerset to present its application for a new three-story worship building on its property. The public hearing was originally scheduled for Dec. 6.

Vihara is a Sanskrit term for an early type of Buddhist monastery which originally meant "a secluded place in which to walk", constructed to shelter monks during the rainy season, according to Encyclopædia Britannica.

The center, established in 2003 on almost 10 acres of wooded land, features a 30-foot-tall statue of the Buddha which is the largest in the Western hemisphere, according to the center's website.

Since the unveiling of the statue in 2009, the center has become a landmark attracting a steady stream of visitors throughout the year for the the practice of Buddhism & meditation, according to the center.

The new 11,000 square-foot temple, which will eventually replace the existing 1,500-square-foot house, will house a library, meditation room, areas for community gatherings, a school for children and living facilities for clergy, as well as a meditation trail through the woods.

The estimated project costs for plans, infrastructure, building and landscaping is expected to reach approximately $2.3 million, all of which is to be raised by donations.

The Vihara has met on several occasions with township engineering committee, and first applied to the board for the proposed expansion in early September, Carol Kuehn, secretary for the fundraising committee, said.

Once the Vihara's application is approved by the township, groundbreaking should take place within a few months, with initial construction focusing on the new building and parking lot expansion, Kuehn said. The goal is to complete the project within a year but the speed of construction depends on the results of fundraising efforts, she said.

Kuehn said that once construction is completed, the Vihara will be able to expand its offerings of mediation, social, educational and religious programs to the community and to open its current offerings to a greater number of people. She said that the Vihara's neighbors and the community have been very supportive of their plans.

"The Vihara’s mission is to offer guidance and moral support to the community and members," Kuehn said. "As a member of the Franklin Township Interfaith Council, the Vihara would also be able to host interfaith programs."

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Chinese copper mine triggers nationwide protests led by Buddhist clergy

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Yangon, Myanmar -- Protests against a China-backed copper mine have spread throughout the South-east Asian nation of Myanmar, with members of the Buddhist clergy at the fore of demonstrations.

The Global Post reports that the protest movement against the Letpadaung copper mine has been inflamed by a brutal government crackdown on local demonstrations at the end of November, spreading far beyond the cluster of farming villages directly affected by the project.

Demonstrators led by Buddhist monks have staged hundreds of rallies throughout the country, with protests also held in the major cities of Yangon and Mandalay.

Local residents have long expressed concern over the environmental and health impact of the project, with many claiming that the mine's operation has left well water unfit for consumption and led to an increase in birth defects.

The extensive land grabs entailed by the project also inflamed local sentiment. Eurasia Review reports that 7,800 acres of farmland in the area have been confiscated and farmers from 66 villages forcibly relocated.

The development of the Letpadaung copper mine has seen the excavation of ore-rich mountains in the area, as well as the construction of a sulfuric acid factory near local communities and the dumping of contaminated waste soil from copper processing.

The mine is a joint venture between China's Wangbao and the military-controlled Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings.

Following the staging of twenty-four hour protests by both monks and local villagers at the end of November, the government said explicitly to demonstrators that it was scared of compromising Chinese interests in Myanmar. Authorities then imposed a harsh crackdown on protests using water cannons and incendiary devices, leaving dozens of people injured.

The protest movement is a major blow to Chinese interests in the region, who have sought to deploy "soft power" to shore up access to minerals and energy.

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Shooting victims focus of service at Buddhist center

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Palm Springs, California (USA) -- A Buddhist center will dedicate its monthly service for those who have recently died to the victims of last week’s shooting rampage at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.

“I decided as soon as I heard,” said Saundra Young, resident teacher at the Dharmachakra Buddhist Center. “I was as shocked as everyone else. I was so happy we already had this powa scheduled.”

The ceremony is set for 7 to 8 p.m. Friday at the center, 1445 N. Sunrise Way. The center has offered such ceremonies around the end of each month since it opened in February.

Powas offer a series of prayers for people who have passed away, but according to Buddhist beliefs, their soul may not have completely departed the body.

“Buddhists believe that when consciousness leaves the body, it can take up to 49 days to happen,” said Jack Todd, another teacher at the center.

Powa participants use prayer to help those souls complete that journey.

“The main part of the ceremony is that we imagine the minds of the dead going on to a better place, and we meditate on that,” Young said. “It’s very moving.”

The services are conducted in English and accompanied by Westernized music, and prayer booklets are handed out to guide newcomers through the ritual. The size of the crowds attracted vary widely, and she’s not sure what to expect Friday.

“Sometimes there’s 50, sometimes there’s six. It all depends on who has a need,” she said.

The center also has prayers for world peace every Sunday, Young said, and last week’s drew quite a few people shaken by the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, which left 20 children, six adult staffers, gunman Adam Lanza and his mother, Nancy Lanza, dead.

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Local Buddhist community mark four years since the planting of the Bonnyrigg Bodhi Tree

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Fairfield, Australia -- MEMBERS of the local Buddhist community have held a ceremony to mark four years since the planting of the Bonnyrigg Bodhi Tree.

The tree, located in the Bonnyrigg Town Centre Park, represents the Buddhist belief that Buddha found enlightenment under a bodhi tree.

More than 200 Lao Buddhists and members of local interfaith groups took part in the Contemplating Peace Under the Bodhi Tree event late last month.

"Prayers were made by members of the Christian, Muslim and Buddhist faiths, new robes were offered to the Buddhist monks and a parade was held in honour of the tree," a Fairfield Council spokeswoman said.

The council planted the tree in 2008 to coincide with the launch of the Bonnyrigg logo, which features a bodhi leaf alongside a gumleaf.

The Lao Buddhist Society of NSW has taken guardianship of the tree since then.

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Monks Lose Relevance as Thailand Grows Richer

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BAAN PA CHI, Thailand -- The monks of this northern Thai village no longer perform one of the defining rituals of Buddhism, the early-morning walk through the community to collect food. Instead, the temple’s abbot dials a local restaurant and has takeout delivered.

<< Commercial Buddhism in Thailand: Buddhism has been a way of life in Thailand for centuries, but inside the most popular temples is a trend that critics call “fast-food Buddhism.”
Young monks rehearsed an evening candlelight ceremony at Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai, Thailand. More Photos »
“Most of the time, I stay inside,” said the abbot, Phra Nipan Marawichayo, who is one of only two monks living in what was once a thriving temple. “Values have changed with time.”

The gilded roofs of Buddhist temples are as much a part of Thailand’s landscape as rice paddies and palm trees. The temples were once the heart of village life, serving as meeting places, guesthouses and community centers. But many have become little more than ornaments of the past, marginalized by a shortage of monks and an increasingly secular society.

“Consumerism is now the Thai religion,” said Phra Paisan Visalo, one of the country’s most respected monks. “In the past, people went to temple on every holy day. Now, they go to shopping malls.”

The meditative lifestyle of the monkhood offers little allure to the iPhone generation. The number of monks and novices relative to the population has fallen by more than half over the last three decades. There are five monks and novices for every 1,000 people today, compared with 11 in 1980, when governments began keeping nationwide records.

Although it is still relatively rare for temples to close, many districts are so short on monks that abbots here in northern Thailand recruit across the border from impoverished Myanmar, where monasteries are overflowing with novices.

Many societies have witnessed a gradual shift from the sacred toward the profane as they have modernized. What is striking in Thailand is the compressed time frame, a vertiginous pace of change brought on by the country’s rapid economic rise. In a relatively short time, the local Buddhist monk has gone from being a moral authority, teacher and community leader fulfilling important spiritual and secular roles to someone whose job is often limited to presiding over periodic ceremonies.

Phra Anil Sakya, the assistant secretary to the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, the country’s governing body of Buddhism, said that Thai Buddhism needed “new packaging” to match the country’s fast-paced lifestyle. (Phra is the honorific title for monks in Thailand.)

“People today love high-speed things,” he said in an interview. “We didn’t have instant noodles in the past, but now people love them. For the sake of presentation, we have to change the way we teach Buddhism and make it easy and digestible like instant noodles.”

He says Buddhist leaders should make Buddhism more relevant by emphasizing the importance of meditation as a salve for stressful urban lifestyles. The teaching of Buddhism, or dharma, does not need to be tethered to the temple, he said.

“You can get dharma in department stores, or even over the Internet,” he said.

But Phra Paisan is markedly more pessimistic about what is sometimes called “fast-food Buddhism.” He is encouraged by the embrace of meditation among many affluent Thais and the healthy sales of Buddhist books, but he sees basic incompatibilities between modern life and Buddhism.

His life is a portrait of traditional Buddhist asceticism. He lives in a remote part of central Thailand in a stilt house on a lake, connected to the shore by a rickety wooden bridge. He has no furniture, sleeps on the floor and is surrounded by books. He requested that a reporter meet him for an interview at 6 a.m., before he led his fellow monks in prayer, when mist on the lake was still evaporating.

Monks are suffering a decline in “quantity and quality,” he said, partly because young people are drawn to the riches and fast-paced life of the cities. The monastic education of young boys, once widespread in rural areas, has been almost entirely replaced by the secular education provided by the state.

Government figures put the number of monks in the country at 290,000 last year, but Phra Paisan said that Thailand, in fact, had no more than 70,000 full-time monks — about the same as the number of villages in Thailand.
Scandals surrounding some monks have contributed to the decline. Social media has helped spread videos of monks partying in monasteries, imbibing alcohol, watching pornographic videos and cavorting with women and men, all forbidden activities. There have also been controversies involving allegations of embezzlement of donations at temples.

William Klausner, a law and anthropology professor who spent a year living in a village in northeastern Thailand in the 1950s, described the declining influence of Buddhist monks as a “dramatic transformation.” Monks once played a crucial role in the community where he lived, helping settle disputes among neighbors and counseling troubled children, he wrote in “Thai Culture in Transition.”

Today, most villages in the area “have only two or three full-time monks in residence, and they are elderly and often sick,” he wrote.

Here in Baan Pa Chi, about an hour’s drive from the northern city of Chiang Mai, villagers describe a paradox. The monastery now has plenty of money, unlike decades ago, because locals and villagers who have moved to cities donate cash for new buildings, ornaments and statues, believing that they can “make merit” and improve their karmic status. But the monastery feels empty on most days.

“People used to leave their children here,” said Anand Buchanet, a 54-year-old construction worker who as a boy was a novice in the temple. “Now, they just leave stray pets.”

Novices once spent months in a monastery as part of what was considered an essential step for boys along the way to adulthood. Today, if they are ordained at all, boys typically spend a week in monk’s robes, giving rise to the term “factory monks” because they are churned out so quickly.

Phra Nipan, the abbot, said his only real role today was to preside over rituals like funerals, weddings and the blessing of a new home. “People today have telephones,” he said wistfully. “If they have troubles, they call their friends.”

---------
Poypiti Amatatham contributed reporting from Bangkok.

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Chief monk survives ouster attempt

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Ven. K Sri Dhammaratana found support from among the Buddhist temple committee members to defeat resolutions to remove him as the chief monk.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malayssia -- An attempt by several disgruntled members of the Sasana Abhiwurdi Wardhana Society to remove their chief monk failed today after they were defeated in their own extraordinary general meeting.

The disgruntled members had called for the EGM to pass resolutions to remove Ven. K Sri Dhammaratana from being the chief monk of the Buddhist Maha Vihara temple in Brickfields, and to ask him to leave the temple premises within seven days.

The Sasana Abhiwurdi Wardhana Society manages the temple and had obtained a court order to hold the EGM today.

The three-hour meeting however ended with a dramatic twist as 76 of the temple management committee members voted against proceeding with the meeting to discuss the resolutions, with only eight voting in favour.

Dhammaratana has come under fire for wearing a suit – and not his robe – when attending the conferment ceremony of his Datukship title in 2010. Buddhists have the general belief that a monk should never don the layman’s attire unless he resumes a secular life.

Some members of temple management committees also claimed that Dhammaratana have “misbehaved” in several circumstances and thus should be removed.

As the committee’s constitution does not allow discussions of chief monk’s removal in its annual assembly, the disgruntled members obtained the court order in October to conduct the EGM.

“Should the chief monk continue to stay, the other monks residing in the temple must think it is okay to behave inappropriately in public,” they noted in the statement for the resolutions.

However, other members of the society who supported the chief monk said the group was merely finding faults to remove Dhammaratana who was installed in 2006.

Speaking to reporters after EGM today, the temple management committee president Leslie J Tilak said the committee decided that it was best for them to hold a dialogue instead of voting for the resolutions to remove the chief monk.

He claimed that some members of disgruntled group have changed their mind to support the monk at the eleventh hour.

Meanwhile, Dhammaratana praised the members for using the Buddha teaching to act wisely in the meeting.

He urged everyone to work together after this instead of criticising each other.

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His Holiness Urges Tibetans From Tibet to Study Buddhist Philosophy

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Dharamshala, India -- The spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has urged Tibetans who have recently arrived in India to study Buddhist philosophy, rather than simply familiarizing themselves with prayer.

The 77-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader made his point in front of around 30,000 people from 53 countries, who are currently attending his 14 day teaching on the 18 Great Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lam Rim) at Gaden Changtse monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka, on December 1.

The crowd included monks from Karnataka's great university monasteries, Drepung, Ganden and Sera, which were all resurrected in the south Indian state after their Tibetan predecessors were overrun and controlled by Chinese forces following China's occupation of the country in 1959.

“In Tibet, many Tibetans feel that studying Buddhism is only the responsibility of monks,” he said.

“Some monasteries offer only prayer, no philosophical study, and many lay people are good at prayer, but have no concern about studying Buddhist philosophy. This is a big mistake.

“Nowadays in Tibet the situation is very critical and many people who have studied Buddhism, the older generation, have passed away, and it is very rare to see a new generation of Buddhist practitioners.

“Usually nowadays I’m not only talking to Tibetans, but to Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Burmese, Sri-Lankan and Taiwanese Buddhist friends. We are all the same Buddhists as our grandparents, and now we should all be 21st Century Buddhists.

“We should study and understand what Buddhism is,” he continued.

“Buddhism is different from other religions which believe that God created everything, as the Buddha said that we are all our own protectors.

“Everything we do, we do by ourselves, so studying Buddhist philosophy is very important.”

The Dalai Lama arrived in India's largest Tibetan settlement on November 29, before commencing the teaching the following day.

Upon arrival he visited Drepung monastery, where he met with the head of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, Gadan Tri Rinpoche, and the monastery's abbot, Lobsang Tenpa, who made long life offerings in his honour, before he visited a stupa containing the relics of his former tutor, the sixth Ling Rinpoche.

Alluding to his decision last year to retire from his role as Tibetan political leader, after which Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay was democratically elected to lead Tibet's exiled community, His Holiness the Dalai Lama explained how the Gadang Podrang, part of the original Drepung monastery in Lhasa, had been the traditional seat of the Dalai Lamas until 1642, when the fifth Dalai Lama became Tibet's political and spiritual leader and established the city's iconic Potala Palace, where they remained until the current Dalai Lama's escape from the country following Chinese occupation.

“When I was 16, I took political responsibility for Tibet from Sikyong Tadrak Rinpoche (who ran the country while he was still considered a minor,)” he said.

“Sixty years later, I was able to proudly and happily hand over that responsibility to a political leader elected by a majority of Tibetan people.

“When we first arrived in India we tried to establish a democratic system and now this has happened my long term wishes and hopes have been fulfilled.

“If I were in Tibet it would now be time for me to return to Drepung monastery.”

He then visited the nearby Gaden Chartse monastery, where he opened a scholar's debate on the Jangchup Lam Rim Chemo text (Atisha's lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.) 

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Movement Seeks Freedom for Revolutionary Buddhist Monk in Myanmar

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U Gambira released but not free, pending trial without medical treatment.

CHICAGO, USA -- U Gambira, aka Nyi Nyi Lwin, was released on bail from Insein Prison, Yangon, Myanmar. He is with family and headed back to his family home 3 hours north of Yangon.

<< U Gambira

Despite the good news of this current release, U Gambira is not free. The government still has a trial date set for Friday December 14, 2012. This is the third re-arrest since his conditional release in January 2012 with other high profile political prisoners. The current official reason and charges surround the Feb 2012 U Gambira and other monks accessing their old monasteries, which were locked by the military government after the 2007 Saffron Revolution. U Gambira was arrested and released immediately after this Feb 2012 event.

U Gambira's conditional release is such that he is likely to be sentenced to the remaining years of his 68 year sentence handed down at his 2008 trial for his leadership role in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, in addition to new charges from 2012.

U Gambira's over 4 year political imprisonment included sustained and prolonged psychological and physical torture, no medical attention for injuries or illnesses. He suffered repeated head trauma that caused immediate and persistent traumatic brain injury.

He has been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression directly related to his initial imprisonment and post-conditional release re-arrests, constant military intelligence overt and covert harassment and spying. He was unable to obtain a position in a monastery, which forced him to de-robe in order to live with his family. Health care providers have refused to see him for fear of government retaliation. A doctor family friend saw him and prescribed a medicine that improved his sleep disturbances. This relief was inadequate and short lived as the medicine ran out.

U Gambira has been in need of specific torture survivor and traumatic brain injury evaluation and treatment, which is not available inside Myanmar or nearby Thailand. U Gambira has agreed to specialized treatment for his illnesses overseas. But, he remains dedicated to spreading to increasing the love, understanding and peaceful co-existence and oneness, ie the Buddhist teachings and Metta, inside Myanmar. Therefore, he will not leave Myanmar illegally to pursue treatment that he desperately wants and needs. He cannot apply for a passport without his national identity card, which the government confiscated. June 2012, he first applied for the return of his national identity card, without success as of Dec 1, 2012.

Background

Since their release from prison late last week, Ashin Gambira and Ashin Issariya (aka Daung Dsaw) have moved in to Meggin Monsatery in Rangoon. They plan to rebuild and reopen this monastery that was destroyed by the Burmese regime following the Saffron Revolution of 2007. Both monks are now joined by the abbot of the monastery, Ashin Win Deka. Shortly after the monks started working in the disheveled monastery, authorities arrived and questioned them. U Gambira and U Issariya told them that this is their monastery, and they can not to go another monastery — they do not have any other place to go.

Meggin Monastery was demolished by soldiers during the brutal crackdown on the monks’ uprising in 2007. Most monks were arrested, and the monastery locked. It had been closed ever since. Meggin Monastery is one of the more than 60 monasteries that were raided, closed, and destroyed during the crackdown.

Ashin Gambira insisted in a recent interview that the military regime still needs to apologize to the Buddhist< Sangha.

“The government has transformed its external appearance into a civilian one, but their efforts to implement democracy are still rather weak, while many cases of human rights violations continue,” he told DVB. The alms boycott (Pattanikkujjana) is still in place.

Ashin Issariya (aka King Zero) says the pressure on monks is still very strong. There is no freedom of speech. Shwe Nya Wah Sayadaw, for example, was recently banned from giving Dhamma talks for one year, and was threatened with closure of his monastery.

He was accused of giving a sermon at the Mandalay headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) on November 20, 2011. The Maha Nayaka Sangha Council refused his apology letter with more than 10,000 signatures and asked him to appear in front of the council on January 19.

U Gambira said, “People are talking about change in Burma, but I never see any change. It still is the same as before.”

“We want to see a real change,” adds Ashin Issariya aka King Zero.

Thirty monks have had a re-ordination ceremony in Rangoon since being released recently from prison.

However, it is difficult to find out how many monks are still incarcerated.

“The monks from our network have been released,” says Ashin Issariya. “But there is no reliable data of how many other monks still remain in prison.”

This is due to the fact that Burmese leaders waver on even acknowledging that Burma has political prisoners.

If people are arrested, they are often charged with criminal offenses, such as the Electronics Act. Ashin Pannasiri was arrested shortly after the Saffron Revolution and indicted not for his anti-military and pro- democracy activities, but for holding foreign currency.

When asked about going back to Burma, Ashin Issariya answers: “We don’t know if it is safe to go back now for those who had to flee Burma. I will go back one day. But that needs preparation and will take time.”

Ashin Sopaka remains under village arrest at this time. We have not been able to make contact with him for several weeks now. The only way of contact is through the village phone, but the villagers can’t give us any detailed information. We only know that he is still in the monastery in his home village.

“I am sure if Ashin Sopaka had a chance to leave his village, he would go back to Mandalay to connect with others. He is in a very small village, far away from the city. He can not do anything there. So the fact that he hasn’t come back yet means that he is still under village arrest,” said Ashin Issariya.

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New building for Buddhist College of Singapore

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Singapore -- THE Buddhist College of Singapore located at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery in Bishan will have a new building by 2014.

The new premises at the monastery will include a new library, computer room and student hostel which can house up to 200 students. Currently, the school, which is Singapore's first tertiary college of Buddhist Studies, only has 80 students at a time.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new building as well as for the monastery's new carpark was held today at its grounds.

The new carpark, to be completed by early 2014, will increase the monastery's parking space from 100 to 270 lots.

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Mahabodhi temple plans hospital, medical college

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Patna, India -- Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple, one of Buddhism's holiest shrines plans to set up a world class hospital and medical college with international financial aid in the holy town in Bihar, an official said Wednesday.

"The temple management committee have decided to establish a Buddhist world hospital and medical college in Bodh Gaya with the help of Buddhist countries of southeast Asia," the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee secretary N. Dorjee said.
Dorjee told IANS over telephone that it will be first such development project in Bodh Gaya with the sole aim to serve poor and provide them best medical and health care.

"I am happy to disclose that a number of officials of embassies of Buddhist countries of southeast Asia have shown keen interest to help the proposed project in Bodh Gaya," Dorjee said.

Dorjee said that funding for the project would not be a problem. "Most of the 22 countries of southeast Asia are going to fund the project as it would come up at Bodh Gaya," he said.

The committee has already approached the Gaya district administration for land and other requirements.

"We would start work on the project soon after the land is provided to us by the state government," Dorjee said.
The Mahabodhi temple was declared a World Heritage Site in June 2002 by the UNESCO. Lord Buddha had attained enlightenment 2,500 years ago near this temple.

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Monks Stage Protest in Rangoon

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RANGOON, Burma -- Buddhist monks took to the streets in Burma’s former capital on Saturday to show solidarity with fellow monks who were injured during a crackdown on protests late last month and to demand an apology from the country’s president.

<< Buddhist monks and their supporters march through downtown Rangoon to demonstrate against a crackdown on protests late last month. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

In the latest display of political activism by the Buddhist clergy, more than a dozen Rangoon monks gathered under the shadow of Shwedagon Pagoda and marched to downtown Sule Pagoda at 1:30 pm yesterday.

Joined by nearly 100 laymen, the monks carried Buddhist flags and posters showing graphic pictures of monks suffering from severe burns caused by incendiary devices used by police in a pre-dawn raid on six protest camps near the controversial Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division.

The Nov. 29 crackdown was the most violent response to civil disobedience since reformist President Thein Sein took office last year. More than 90 monks were hospitalized for injuries inflicted during the raid.

“We want to know who was behind the brutal attack on our fellow monks. We want the president say something to restore justice,” said Pyinnya Wuntha, a 62-year-old monk, during the march.

“Burma is a predominantly Buddhist country but we have been inhumanly attacked since 2007 by authorities who boast that they are devout Buddhists,” said another monk, referring to the crackdown on the 2007 monk-led Saffron Revolution.

Since the raid, small protests against the crackdown have erupted across Rangoon, and six people actively involved have been charged with inciting unrest.

However, the police did not interfere with yesterday’s demonstration, nor were there any security forces to be seen during the hour-long rally.

Earlier this month, officials, including the religious affairs minister, apologized to the Sangha Mahanayaka, a senior monks body, for what happened during the raid.

“The government is going in the wrong direction. They are apologizing to those who were not affected by their attack,” said Buddhist monk Aggha, 27, after reading out a five-point statement that included calls for a presidential apology, the immediate release of those detained and medical care for injured monks.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Buddhist monks in Mandalay, Burma’s second largest city, and Monywa, a town near the copper mine, also staged protests yesterday.

In the wake of the raid, the government urgently formed a 16-member investigation commission headed by the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to probe the incident and whether the mine should continue to operate. It has to submit its findings by Dec. 31.

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