New “Buddhist Trends” website launched
New “Buddhist Trends” website launched |
- New “Buddhist Trends” website launched
- 18 year-old monk latest to self-immolate, dies from injuries
- Annual conference shares Buddhist traditions, beliefs
- South Korean Buddhist University Suing Yale For $50M In Fake Degree Lawsuit
- Treasures of Buddhism
- Buddhist-inspired flood relief project marks new wave of development work at Life and Hope Association
- The Tibetan Dilemma
- Prominent activist monk faces legal action in Myanmar
- The Positivity Bias
- Shambhala Sun Foundation seeks Associate Publisher
- China Vies for Primacy Over the World's Buddhists
- Monk's arrest turns into a controversy
| New “Buddhist Trends” website launched Posted: 20 Feb 2012 09:00 AM PST
From the publisher's press release: A sudden growing interest in Buddhism has accord due to the scientific developments and a dissatisfaction that has come about because of excessive access to consumer good. Air travel has helped people from all over the world to come to the east to study Buddhism with qualified teachers. The invasion of Tibet has made many Buddhist masters house hold names in the modern world. The newly launched online information website, Buddhist Trends which spreads the teachings of Lord Buddha and shares information on Buddhism have its aim to use the online media and technology tools to help spread the teaching and support Buddhist communities. Buddhist infomation website, Buddhist Trends also offers free subscription for this readers. Buddha's teachings are about being peaceful, righteous and thoughtful. The Five Precepts of Buddhism are actually the gist of the teachings and a moral guideline that people can follow. Buddhism is said to be a religion, but it is also a science of the mind and a philosophy that has challenged its followers to question even what their teachers say. This growing interest is the reason why Buddhist trends has come into birth. With a lot of tension in Buddhist countries, Buddhist Trends hopes to help to get support from the western world so that these issues can be resolved in a peaceful way. Buddhist Trends is a progressive Dharma media resource networking site founded in 2012 by Jasmilhe Saldron with her Dharma brother, Dorje FireArt. This is a powerful online information exchange site which wishes to link Buddha Dharma and related subjects for a better understanding of the current Buddhist trends in order to build bridges connecting Buddhists and inspiring Buddhists from all over the world. With the growing interest of Buddha Dharma and the current changes in the world today, Buddhist trends is trying to get the dharma in a way that is accessible to present generation. Buddhist Trends has its aim in providing updated information on latest buddhist news, interviews book reviews. Buddhist Trends is a non-profit organization. Buddhist Trends has its heart set creating friendliness in the world by promoting peaceful approach to the way we deal with our problems in the modern world. More information about the services Buddhist Trends offers and the information they share can be found at their website, www.buddhisttrends.com Read More @ SourceJon Kabat-Zinn: Coming to Our Senses 
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| 18 year-old monk latest to self-immolate, dies from injuries Posted: 20 Feb 2012 08:00 AM PST  Photo via Tibet Post International On Sunday, another Tibetan teen set fire to himself in protest of Chinese rule in Tibet, succumbing to his injuries on the spot. The 18 year-old monk, Nangdrol, self-immolated at around 2:00 pm in Tibet in front of Zamthang Jonang Monastery in Barma Village, Zamthang County, Ngaba, eastern Tibet, dying from his injuries. This news comes after another monk, 38 years-old, self-immolated on Friday. According to reports, Chinese authorities tried to retrieve the body but monks from the monastery took possession of it before they could do so, performing rituals and prayers for the deceased after. Nangdrol is the 21st Tibetan to self-immolate since March of 2011. For all up-to-date Buddhadharma coverage of the self-immolation phenomena happening in Tibet, see here. Read More @ SourceControl and Freedom 
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| Annual conference shares Buddhist traditions, beliefs Posted: 19 Feb 2012 09:00 PM PST by Chelsea Bannach, The Spokesman-Review, February 19, 2012Spokane, WA (USA) -- There's a lot more to Buddhist than monks in flowing orange robes who eschew society in the pursuit of the meaning of life.
Nearly 300 adherents gathered at the 65th Annual Northwest Buddhist Convention this weekend in Spokane to share the Dharma – the teachings of Buddha. While most of the participants adhere to the traditions of Japanese Shin Buddhist, the religion has grown to encompass people from many different backgrounds. Adherents are young and old, single or with families – people who live simultaneously in the material and spiritual worlds – all brought together by the Dharma. So, what is a Buddhist?
He explained being smart embodies truth and compassion; the three are interconnected and dependent on one another. "The more you're smart, the more you see the truth," he said. "The smarter you are, the more caring you become. You cannot be smart without being nice." "Because you know as a smart person, if you upset your wife, you're going to have bad luck," he joked. The convention, Under Amida's Umbrella of Compassion, was held at the Davenport Hotel and was organized by a small team of volunteers from the Spokane Buddhist Temple. Each year the event occurs in a different city. Most in attendance were Buddhists, but some were just curious to learn a little more about the many traditions, beliefs and practices of Buddhist. One common misconception is that Buddha is worshipped as a God. "Buddha was a real person," said Anne Paulin, an event organizer. "He's not a deity to us." The Rev. Don Castro, the supervising minister for the Spokane Buddhist Temple, said the Buddha – a man named Siddhartha Gautama, who taught in the Indian subcontinent sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries B.C. – was a like a doctor. He identified the causes of suffering and prescribed a means to alleviate them by liberating humanity from selfish attachments. Another misconception is that Buddhist is all about sacrifice and suffering. Castro said it's about curing the cause of suffering. "It's really symptom, diagnosis, prognosis and cure," he said. "It would be the equivalent of saying Christianity is all about sin. When you realize the sinful nature of human beings, you're looking for salvation. In Buddhist, you're looking for a cure." For many in attendance Saturday – and for millions of adherents around the world – Buddhist in its many forms has done just that. "I think Buddhist really helped me understand better how I fit into the world," said Paulin, who was raised Catholic. "It gave me peace while I was going through tumultuous times." On the Web: www.spokanebuddhisttemple.org Information: Call (509) 534-7954 or email SpokaneBuddhistTemple@gmail.com. Read More @ Source
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| South Korean Buddhist University Suing Yale For $50M In Fake Degree Lawsuit Posted: 19 Feb 2012 08:00 PM PST AP, February 13, 2012HARTFORD, Conn. (USA) -- A federal judge in Connecticut has rejected a second bid by Yale University to throw out all the allegations in a lawsuit filed by a South Korean university that claims it lost tens of millions of dollars after Yale damaged its reputation.
Dongguk, a Buddhist-affiliated university in Seoul, is suing Yale for more than $ 50 million, saying it lost that amount in government grants, alumni donations and costs of building a law school the government later refused to approve because of the scandal. U.S. District Judge Tucker Melancon on Friday rejected most of Yale's motion for summary judgment. While the judge granted Yale's request to dismiss a civil charge of reckless and wanton conduct, he let stand allegations of defamation and negligence. A trial is set for June. Yale previously lost a bid to get the lawsuit dismissed. "We were very pleased with the decision," said Robert Weiner, a New York City lawyer for Dongguk. "We believe we have lots of damages we can establish at trial." Weiner said Dongguk is the most prestigious Buddhist university in the world and it suffered a huge blow to its reputation with the Shin scandal. Lawyers for Yale didn't return messages Monday. University officials have said the lawsuit is without merit and they would defend against it. Shin was sentenced to 18 months in a South Korean jail in March 2008 for using fake Yale credentials to get the professor's job at Dongguk and for embezzling museum funds. Officials said she also faked two degrees from the University of Kansas in getting the job in 2005. The former presidential aide, Byeon Yang-kyoon, was accused of using his influence to get Shin hired by Dongguk. He was forced to step down as an aide to then-President Roh Moo-hyun because of the scandal. Byeon was sentenced to a suspended one-year jail term and 160 hours of community service in 2008 for exercising his influence to provide state tax benefits to a Buddhist temple founded by a former Dongguk official who helped hire Shin as a professor, South Korean officials said. Yale told Dongguk in June 2007 that Shin didn't receive a doctorate there, saying a letter confirming the degree that Shin presented to Dongguk was bogus and forged. Yale also told Korean media that it never received a registered letter in 2005 from Dongguk asking whether Shin had received a doctorate, even though it did receive the letter, the lawsuit said. Yale later apologized to Dongguk in late 2007 for what it called an administrative error. But Dongguk officials said by that time the damage to its reputation had been done. South Korean media reported in the summer and fall of 2007 that Shin's academic degrees were a fraud, that Dongguk failed to verify Shin's degrees, that Shin had an affair with Byeon and that Byeon had recommended to Dongguk officials that they hire Shin, court records say. Read More @ Source
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| Posted: 19 Feb 2012 07:00 PM PST RIR, February 17, 2012
A Buddhist art exhibit arrives in Saint-Petersburg for Days of Tibetan Culture St. Petersburg, Russia -- Russia's only travelling exhibition of Buddhist art has returned to the city in a new and bigger format, nearly 10 years after it was first unveiled in St. Petersburg.
The collection on show includes over 200 items, both ancient and modern, created in the workshops and monasteries of India, Nepal, Tibet and Mongolia, as well as closer to home - in the Russian republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia, where Buddhist culture has been developing for centuries. Visitors to the Books and Graphics Center, where the exhibit is being held, have the chance to study paintings on cloth, or thangka (a linear image of Buddha, a painting made by mineral natural paints preserving proportions and canons), sculptures and ritual objects. The show is accompanied by music and guided tours. The project aims on the one hand to celebrate the cultural and historical heritage of Buddhism - both on Russian territory and further afield - and on the other hand to present the phenomenon of modern Buddhism. For these purposes, the exhibit is accompanied wherever it goes by a program of meditation classes, thematic lectures and documentary and feature film screenings, which, in light of the growing popularity in contemporary Russia of spiritual practices that have roots in Buddhism, such as yoga and meditation, look set to be very popular. The "Treasures of Buddhism" project also comprises a photography exhibit titled "Stupa, Wish Fulfilling," depicting images of stupas (Buddhist places of worship) in the Republic of Kalmykia, Tibet, Nepal, India and Europe. The photography exhibit has been organized to support the construction of the Enlightenment Stupa due to be inaugurated this summer in the village of Mork in Russia's Republic of Mari El. "Treasures of Buddhism" was first held in St. Petersburg back in 2003 to celebrate the city's 300th birthday, before setting off on a journey around the country. This time around, the exhibit comes just in time to help interested parties prepare for the celebration of the Tibetan New Year with Buddhists on Feb. 22. Read More @ SourceTribute to the Buddha Shakyamuni 
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| Posted: 19 Feb 2012 06:00 PM PST World Faiths Development Dialogue, January 13, 2012Phnom Penh, Cambodia -- This fall, Cambodia was hit by its worst floods in recent history, with over a million people displaced and countless crops ruined. In the aftermath of this natural disaster, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, cancelled the 2011 Water Festival, one of the most important holidays in Cambodia.
The women visited the hospital themselves in order to deliver the parcels: donations which had been solicited and collected by the sewing school and PAGE students. Food emergency packs were distributed to 500 patients across four hospitals, comprised of 15kg of rice, 2 cans of fish, 1kg of sugar, and 1 bottle of soy sauce. I read about this display of empathy and kindness demonstrated by the women from LHA this fall and, knowing that LHA was housed on the grounds of Wat Damnak in Siem Reap, I was eager to learn about the religious values behind their flood relief work. I arrived at Life and Hope Association (LHA) at Wat Damnak, and was greeted by a smiling Venerable Somnieng, the most charismatic monk with whom I have had the pleasure to speak since arriving in Cambodia. Over the course of our conversation, he displayed an enormous capacity for empathy, telling me that he impresses upon the students to work hard, be kind, and become better citizens. The inspiration for these two LHA-run schools, he explained, was strongly tied to his Buddhist beliefs. Through LHA's first program, Food for Education – a program that provides food to poor families as an incentive to send their children to school – Venerable Somnieng came into contact with many young women who had never had the opportunity to receive an education or a vocational training. He saw these women and, practicing a long held Buddhist tradition, he imagined his mother in their place - a woman who also lacked education and gave birth to him and his three brothers at a young age. Empathizing with the cycle of poverty illustrated in their lives, Venerable Somnieng realized that these women would have children at a young age and, in turn, those children would become young parents, unable to provide for their children. With the aim of breaking this cycle, he created the Hotel De la Paix Sewing School, and, after presenting the idea to the hotel management, they agreed to fund the project in its entirety. Today, Hotel de la Paix Sewing School teaches sewing skills as well as basic life and work skills to young women from disadvantaged backgrounds. It also provides room and board on the grounds of Wat Damnak for all students, providing a safe and stable environment in which these young women can learn. Upon graduation, students are provided with a sewing machine and starter pack with which to commence their work and a brighter future. PAGE, on the other hand, has a different target. It is a total educational support system: providing room, board, and school supplies for young women who were attending secondary school, but had to stop due to financial circumstances. Although the two programs have distinct structures, targeting different young women, the students of Hotel de Paix and PAGE schools are very close and worked together admirably on the Emergency Flood Relief project. Having the opportunity to sit down and talk with some of the students from each school, I spoke first with two young women from the Hotel de la Paix Sewing School, Chang Trey, 17 and Khan, 22. Both women told me that they had applied to the sewing school because they had no schooling and saw the sewing school as a means of "catching up," a way to make up for their missed opportunities. A similar story was told by the young women from PAGE, Sovanna, 19, and Srey Na, 20. They recounted stories of having been forced to quit their secondary schooling due to a lack of money and were referred to Venerable Somnieng. Both were accepted at PAGE and began their studies. The fall floods gravely affected these young women's families; they received phone calls from home describing flooded rice fields, ruined crops, and ill livestock. They wanted to do as much as possible to help their families but felt that their hands were tied with their commitment to the sewing school and to PAGE, respectively. Feeling like the only way to help their families was in the long-term, they were frustrated that they were unable to send funds to their families. All four women explained to me that they saw the connection between their families' suffering and that of others in the region, just as Venerable Somnieng saw his mother in them. When they saw how people's animals were dying, roads were underwater, and the rice crop was ruined, the young women were reminded of the difficulties of their early youth and wanted to help out in any way they could. They met with Venerable Somnieng, telling him that they were heartbroken and wanted to share with others the kindness they had received at LHA; helping those affected by the floods was a way to follow the example taught to them by the monks. In their discussion, they suggested providing food to those worst affected by the floods as a means of reducing expenses for flood victims. The idea emerged to collect and procure donations for emergency relief packs, and the students quickly mobilized. The young women handed out flyers in Siem Reap and collected goods for the emergency food relief. Upon delivering their packs to the hospitals, they described a feeling of happiness in spending time with the flood victims. LHA had been generous to its students through the Buddhist principles of compassion and kindness, and now, having internalized those same principles, these young women were thrilled to be able to extend loving kindness to others. Seeing them glow from the generosity they had received as well as given to others, I was impressed by their deep empathy and quest to give back to their communities. As such, Life and Hope Association is a great example of how faith-inspired development can inspire those it aims to help to undertake their own development projects, remaining true to the religious principles imparted to them. Read More @ SourcePema Chodron - All in the Same Boat 
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| Posted: 19 Feb 2012 05:00 PM PST by Theng Chong Aik, The Buddhist Channel, Feb 19, 2012Singapore -- China blames the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 for much of the unrest in Tibetan inhabited regions. Among others, he is vilified as a 'separatist' and a 'splittist'. Beijing accuses him and his so-called 'clique' for fanning the flames of protest in the current self immolation cases.
It has taken upon itself to choose the Panchen Lama, also putting in place new regulations and laws, accord itself the final right to approve and recognize all new reincarnated high Lamas and the next Dalai Lama. These steps are taken presumably to pre-empt the future selection process for the next Dalai Lama. If successful, it should
In their effort to integrate the Tibetans into the Motherland, the Chinese government had tried to influence local cultural practices, erode the usage of the Tibetan as a language by introduction Chinese and English languages into the school curriculum even at primary school level. Never mind the thousands of Buddhist temples and shrines it has since destroyed from the late 1950. However, one should also point out that Beijing have spent billions in development projects in Tibet over the past several decades and living standards of ethnic Tibetans have undoubtedly been raised as a result of these developments. It has also given ethnic minorities the advantage to a place in the nation universities by giving them What all these doings and practices have done is to cause nothing but simmering resentment in the mind of the Tibetan peoples and without doubt, being passed on to future generations as well. One wonders when the Communists will wake up to the reality that some of such policies and practices just do not work in winning over the heart and mind of anyone on the receiving end. On the other hand, what we hear from the Tibetan government-in-exile and it's so called 'clique' of Human Rights Watch, Free Tibet movement and other interest groups is the inevitable condemnation of the Chinese government policies with words such as 'repressive', 'regulated', 'eradicate', 'isolate' and 'vicious cycle of radicalization'. Other than these words and telling the Chinese government to do what they considered as appropriate and necessary; one have yet to see such rhetoric achieving any substantive good or better rights for ethnic Tibetans. We can expect to see all things continuing to remain the same in Tibet as ever before. Frankly, the fate of the Tibetan people now and in the near future lies solely in the hand of the Chinese government. All others that come into the picture are nothing but just 'side shows'. Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile commented that one Buddhist lesson he have learned is that 'one who is born has to die'. Quote - 'that means what you do is what you leave behind. If you live for yourself, you won't make much difference. I, as a Buddhist, as a Tibetan, want to live for a cause greater than What is this greater cause he is referring to, one wonders? But for sure in the Dhammapada verse 6, it is states that 'There are those who do not realize that one day we all must die. But those who do realize this settle their quarrels'. If that is exactly what the Honourable Lobsang Sangay has in mind, than I would say, yea, it is certainly a In the meantime the self-immolations and violent are likely to continue but hopefully it will not reach the point where the religious order of monks and nuns will become a rarity in Tibet. All we can do for now is to give our fellow Tibetan Buddhists and non-Buddhists Beyond EPK (Tina Turner, Regula Curti and Dechen Shak-Dagsay) 
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| Prominent activist monk faces legal action in Myanmar Posted: 19 Feb 2012 04:00 PM PST Reuters, February 19, 2012YANGON, Myanmar -- Shin Gambira, a Myanmar monk jailed for his role in protests in 2007 and released in a January amnesty, faces action by the authorities because he has "repeatedly broken Buddhist monks' code of conduct and the law", state newspapers said on Sunday.
The reports accused him of rejoining the religious order without requesting authorisation after the Jan. 13 amnesty, of being in the Magin Monastery, which has been sealed by the government, and breaking the locks of two other monasteries. Monks from Magin, in the eastern suburbs of the main city of Yangon, were involved in opposition activity under the military regime that ruled Myanmar for almost 50 years until a nominally civilian government took over in March last year. The civilian government, while full of former generals, has initiated a series of political and economic reforms at a speed that has taken the outside world by surprise, although some observers remain sceptical of its motives.
The papers said the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee (SSMNC), the highest level of a state-sponsored Buddhist monks' organisation, had summoned Shin Gambira three times but he failed to show up, so the police were asked to bring him in on Feb. 10. According to the newspapers, Shin Gambira had said in a statement to the SSMNC that he did not need permission to rejoin the order of monks so he would not ask for it. The United States, which has made the freeing of political prisoners one of its conditions for easing sanctions on Myanmar imposed when the junta was in power, had expressed concern at his brief detention this month. Shin Gambira was arrested in November 2007 and sentenced to 68 years in jail. He told Reuters after his release that he had been badly treated, both physically and mentally, during his interrogation and in jail. In his statement to the SSMNC, Shin Gambira had also objected to the body's ordering another prominent monk, Shwenyawa Sayadaw, to leave his monastery for political activities including giving a speech at the opening of an office of the opposition National League for Democracy party of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung Kyaw Kyaw, the elder brother of Shin Gambira, told Reuters on Sunday they had no news of the developments reported in the state press. "I last met him yesterday evening. I heard he had gone to have lunch with a monk friend of his this morning," he said. Buddhist monks have a long tradition of standing up to authorities in the country, which is also known as Burma. They were often at the forefront of opposition to British colonial rule, which ended in 1948. Read More @ SourceMeditation Bells 
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| Posted: 19 Feb 2012 03:00 PM PST I wrote the word Dystopia on Twitter today. The spellcheck for my browser didn't recognize that word. It suggested I use the word Utopia instead. I was using the US English dictionary supplied with the browser. So I downloaded a British English dictionary add on. Dystopia is part of the default word set in that. [...]  Read More @ Source 
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| Shambhala Sun Foundation seeks Associate Publisher Posted: 19 Feb 2012 02:00 PM PST Here's the job posting: http://careers.poynter.org/jobs/4673304/associate-publisher-shambhala-sun The organization hopes to have the position filled by April of this year. Read More @ Source
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| China Vies for Primacy Over the World's Buddhists Posted: 19 Feb 2012 01:00 PM PST by Raymond Lam, Asian Sentinel, February 17, 2012
Religion as geopolitics Bodhgaya, India -- The Buddhist holy sites of Bodh Gaya in India and Lumbini in Nepal - two of the religion's most sacred pilgrimage locales, are becoming the dual epicenters of a Great Game between India and China.
Bodh Gaya is considered the undisputed heartland of the Buddhist world. However, Bodh Gaya's eminence is being challenged by the Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Exchange and Co-operation Foundation, which is backing Lumbini as Prince Siddhartha Gautama's birthplace. The foundation's executive vice chairman, the Beijing-born Xiao Wunan, has described developing Lumbini into a Mecca as part of scheduled Chinese US$ 3 billion investment in Nepal. For hundreds of years the faithful have flocked to Bodh Gaya, a small town some 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital of the Northeastern Indian state of Bihar, bordering the Himalayas. Known in the Buddha's time as Uruvela, it is the place where all Buddhas have become enlightened.
Growing Chinese influence is something that New Delhi and Moscow both admire and fear. Chinese displeasure was enough to force the cancellation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's planned speech at the Global Buddhist Congregation conference in Delhi in November 2011 conference (along with all major Indian MPs), although Delhi drew the line at cancelling the event altogether, which was what Beijing really wanted. Lumbini, 171 km. southeast of Kathmandu, is a key component in the Chinese objective to dislodge Nepal from India's orbit as a satellite state. The Chinese investment is designed to transform the currently sleepy town into a first-class tourist destination including a new airport and highway, hotels, a convention center, a Buddhist university and place of pilgrimage for Buddhists from around the world. According to the Xinhua News Agency, in July, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing in Beijing to begin the development of Lumbini. The Nepalese government was irritated over not being consulted, eventually prompting Beijing to deny reports in the Nepali media of a secret pact with elements of the country's Maoists and instead saying they had signed the MOU with Tourism Minister Khagda Bahadur, also a Maoist leader. Pushpa Kamal, who goes by the nom de guerre Prachanda, the head of the Maoist party, is a co-chairman of the APEC Foundation along with Steven Clark Rockefeller Jr, a fifth-generation member of the Rockefeller family; Jack Rosen, chairman of the American Jewish Congress, and Leon Charney, a real estate tycoon and former US presidential adviser Executive vice chairman Xiao has said publicly that he hopes Lumbini will bring together all Buddhist schools -- Mahayana as practiced in China, Japan, and South Korea, Hinayana as practiced in Southeast Asia; and Tibetan Buddhism. Apparently, however, according to media reports, the one Buddhist that Beijing intends to have nothing to do with the Lumbini project may well be the most influential one in the world today – the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, who heads the Gelug, or Yellow Hat branch of Buddhism. It seems thaty no one connected with the Lumbini project has contacted the Buddhist leader's Dharmasala, India office to invite him to participate. China regards him as an outlaw and a renegade out to foment rebellion in Tibet. After decades of professing atheism as the state's official policy by the Communist Party, whose official stance is that religion is the opiate of the masses, President Hu Jintao declared a "harmonious society" policy in 2006. Since that time, Chinese influence in religion has been growing, with the proviso that Beijing effectively gets to pick the leaders, as it does with the Catholic Church branch in China. Thus Beijing's influence in Buddhist affairs in particular has been growing. The party selected its own Panchen Lama, the religion's second highest official, after spiriting away the Tibetan religion's own reincarnated child, and vainly attempting to educate the Karmapa Lama in socialist doctrine until he made his dramatic escape from China and joined the Dalai Lama in India. This is post-Cultural Revolution, face-saving code for "ally yourself to Beijing, and you will enjoy freedom and benefits." It has paid off for most Buddhist institutions in China. The bid to co-opt the Buddhist faith is considered a part of dominating the Himalayan region, which Beijing considers essential if China is to continue reaping the benefits of its influence over the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a mutual security organization founded in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Although Russia is nominally an equal member, Moscow worries that it is losing out to its onetime protégé's economic allure and soft power. This is especially so with the establishment of Confucius Institutes in many Central Asian nations save Tajikistan, and training its young, bright and promising youth in Mandarin. In a throwback to the Han and Tang dominance of the Silk Road and the imperialist Qing, China's hydroelectric and manufacturing clout in post-Soviet breakup countries are prompting Russia to reengage with the Central Asian and Eastern European power blocs. China also enjoys with the Central Asian countries the benefit of buffering the impoverished zone of Xinjiang, which is likely to be politically volatile in future due to the Tibetan Buddhist and Uighur Muslim mix (China's elite counterinsurgency forces, the Snow Leopards, are currently deployed in the region). Buddhism also forms a second front of religious diplomacy between China and a different power bloc, and that is the Pacific-Atlantic superpower of the United States. Since the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Dalai Lama has been a promoter of "universal" values - a word that translates in Beijingese as "Western" or "American." This has resulted in a worst-case scenario for Chinese Buddhists as well as Chinese people who practice Tibetan Buddhism: having to choose between condemning a perfectly legitimate Tibetan religious leader or falling into the media trap of Tibet as an enlightened Shangri-la with bouncing bodhisattva bunnies before the PLA occupation. This choice grows more agonizing with each Tibetan that sets herself or himself alight. After appointing its own Panchen Lama, all reincarnations of Tibetan Buddhist leaders are now to be approved by the state, raising concerns that this means the future Dalai Lama must be chosen by Beijing. The story on the Tibetan side, of course, is much more complex and private, and the Dalai Lama is far more long-term thinking than Beijing wants him to be. Seen in this light, China's paranoia about Tibet is no ill-thought out choice but a reluctant one, made by the party despite knowing it makes them look immature and out of touch. It fits quite well into the bigger picture that we shall see this century. This curious chess game has led to am ironic observation on my part at the Global Buddhist Congregation conference in Delhi that the Chinese sought to stop, there were plenty of Taiwanese Buddhists there as well as Malaysian, Singaporean, ones, etc., almost all of whom are Chinese Buddhists, but almost not a single Buddhist from the mainland. I was one of the few Buddhists from Hong Kong. The institution of the temple and monastery - the sangha - is above the ever-fluctuating fortunes of secular politics. 2600 years of watching over sentient beings is what it will forever do. In the meantime, however, innocents are dying as sacrifices in the Great Games of superpowers. Buddhists struggle as much as anyone else to find solutions, having been swept up as diplomatic pawns that could checkmate the king, or at least trap the queen. Read More @ Source
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| Monk's arrest turns into a controversy Posted: 19 Feb 2012 12:00 PM PST The Buddhist Channel / The Hindu, Feb 15, 2012Gulbarga, India -- The arrest of Buddhist monk Bhante Bodhidharma and four leaders of Dalit organisations on February 6 in Gulbarga district is snowballing into a major controversy with Dalit groupsand Buddhist monks from different parts of the country increasing pressure on the Government to withdraw the cases filed against them and release them unconditionally.
On Tuesday, more than 21 Buddhist monks from different parts of the country including Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and different parts of Karnataka including Bangalore, Bidar and Chamarajanagar, extended their support to the agitation, demanding the release of Bhante Bhodidhamma and Dalit leaders Nagendra Jawali, Kishore Gaekwad, Santosh Melmani and Hanumanth Itagi, who were arrested on February 6. Bail rejected
The bail application of the accused, which came up for hearing before the Fourth Additional District and Sessions Judge on Monday has been posted for hearing the objections of the prosecution on February 16. State general secretary of the Dalit Sena Hanumanth Yelsangi told The Hindu in Gulbarga that eight Buddhist Monks from Gwalior, six from Nagpur in Maharashtra, three from Rajasthan, three from Bidar, two from Chamarajanagar and one from Bangalore participated in the indefinite dharna launched here on Monday.
"We will not rest till the unconditional release of Buddhist monk Bhante Bhodidhamma and four other Dalit leaders, and until the State Government initiates action against the Assistant Commissioner of Sedam Sub-Division D, K. Ravi," he said. The Government should also initiate action against Police Sub-Inspector Shrimant Illal, who was attached to the Wadi police station at the time of the monk's arrest. The Dalit leader demanded that the Government book cases under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes Atrocities (Prevention) Act against Mr. Ravi and Mr. Illal. 'We will not rest until their unconditional release' Backdrop of issue leading to Bhante Bodhidharma's arrest On February 5, 2012, Bhante Bodhidhamma went to a Buddhist site which was excavated some years ago at Sannathi Village, Tq-Chittapur, Gulbarga, Karnataka State. Bhante was stunned by the condition of the site, realizing that the Archeological Survey of India was not properly protecting the archaeological monument. Many Buddhist statues were found missing and many ancient monuments were not properly perserved. The artifacts were found to have been eroded by rain, dust, wind and organic debris, causing the monuments to deteriorate.
It was also found apparent at the site that the Assistant Collector of Sedam Tahsil and the responsible overseers of Archaeological Survey of India have allowed the installation of an idol of a Hindu goddess. Indian law prohibits such action, as the site is clearly demarcated as a historical Buddhist place of devotion. Local Members of Legislative Assembly, Assistant Collector of Sedam Tahsil Mr. D. K. Ravi, and Archeological Survey of India local staff were alleged to have allowed the "Hinduization" of the Sannathi Village site in a manner which was designed to provoke Buddhist Dalits. When Bhante Bodhidhamma protested the desecration by Brahmin forces, he was arrested and jailed without bail by the Chittapur Court under the notoriously misused and abused sections 153 (A), 295 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code. The fact remains that these are the very statutes that were violated in the attempt to convert the Sannathi Village Buddhist site to a Hindu place of worship by the Brahmin worshippers. The Buddhist Dalits of Gulbarga district have conducted many protests in different locations. On February 14, 2012, there was a huge rally in Gulbarga City, Karnataka State, where a group of thirty Buddhist monks have stepped forward in solidarity to protest the incarceration of Bhante Bodhidhamma. Read More @ SourceZen Master Seung Sahn: "Wake up!" (part 2 of 6) 
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<< Sensei Paul Vielle, right, accepts an offering of fruit Saturday during the Buddhist conference.
In trying to stamp the unrest, monks and nuns alike are sent to re-education camps. To marginalize and isolate the Dalai Lama, it refuses to deal with governments who invited the Dalai Lama to their countries and even warning others of a strain in relations.
<< Ashin Gambira
<< Bodhgaya, where Buddha sat
<< 'Let them go':Buddhist monks from different parts of the country and Dalit activists taking out a procession in Gulbarga on Tuesday demanding the release of monk Bhante Bhodidhamma and four other Dalit leaders.— PHOTO: ARUN KULKARNI
<< Bhante Bodhidharma
Broken statue of Buddha at the excavated site in Sannathi Village, Karnataka. The Archeological Survey of India was accused of not properly protecting the site >>| You are subscribed to email updates from BuddhaRocks ☸ Buddhist To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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