Two young Tibetans self-immolate in Kham region
Two young Tibetans self-immolate in Kham region |
- Two young Tibetans self-immolate in Kham region
- Photo: The Dalai Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi meet in London
- Katherine Sobun Thanas, Abbot of Santa Cruz Zen Center, in coma
- HH Dalai Lama meets Aung San Suu Kyi, June 19 2012
- Over 300 Tibetan texts digitally preserved in Lhasa
- David Rynick — “Spiraling Toward God”
- Protection ceremony this afternoon for Shambhala Mountain Center
| Two young Tibetans self-immolate in Kham region Posted: 20 Jun 2012 07:00 AM PDT  Photo: Tibet Post Internationl Phayul and Tibet Post International are reporting that two young Tibetan men immolated themselves Wednesday afternoon in the Kham region of Tibet. Phayul reports that one of the men, 24-year-old Tenzin Khedup, died in the protest, while the condition of Ngawang Norphel, 22, is still unknown. The two men held Tibetan national flags in their hands as they set themselves on fire in a street, calling for Tibetan independence. The Tibet Post reports that police have shut down Internet cafes in the village of Dsadhu, Tridu, where the immolation happened, though photos and a video clip of the immolations have surfaced. According to some counts, 42 Tibetans have self-immolated in protest since 2009. For all past coverage on the waves of self-immolation protests throughout Tibet, see the Buddhadharma News archive. Read More @ SourceThe Fly meditation 
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| Photo: The Dalai Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi meet in London Posted: 20 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT Via DalaiLama.com comes this photo from yesterday's momentous private meeting between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the recently freed Aung San Suu Kyi.  Photo: Jeremy Russell / OHHDL For most of us, that would be enough for one day. But Tuesday also saw His Holiness give a lecture ("Values of Democracy and Tibet"), sit for an interview with the BBC, give a second talk called "Real Change Happens in the Heart" — at the Royal Albert Hall, no less — and more. And His Holiness has a whole second day in London today. Click here to see more photos from Tuesday at DalaiLama.com. Read More @ Source
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| Katherine Sobun Thanas, Abbot of Santa Cruz Zen Center, in coma Posted: 20 Jun 2012 04:00 AM PDT
From the Santa Cruz Zen Center: "Katherine is not expected to live more than a few days. It is possible to visit her at Dominican, two people at a time. "All regular zazen periods are happening at Zen Center to sit with the sangha. Well-being chanting services will be held every morning at 6:25am and at any other time when a group of people wish to chant. "Please keep Katherine in your hearts at this time. "Gassho." Thanas has four dharma successors: Gene Bush, Robert Reese, Patrick Teverbaugh and Kathy Whilde. Read More @ SourceHuman Rights Defender in Cambodia: Part 1 
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| HH Dalai Lama meets Aung San Suu Kyi, June 19 2012 Posted: 20 Jun 2012 01:00 AM PDT Photo via Damchoe Wangmo and Gurbum Tibet Gyalo (མགུར་འབུམ་རྒྱལ།)  Read More @ Source Diamond Sutra 101 - Part 4 
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| Over 300 Tibetan texts digitally preserved in Lhasa Posted: 19 Jun 2012 02:00 PM PDT  Sera Monastery. Photo: McKay Savage via Flickr, CC-BY license. A collection of more than three hundred Tibetan scriptures housed at Sera Monastery in Lhasa has been digitally preserved and published, thanks to funding from the monastery and Jokhang Temple. Fourteen specialists worked on the preservation project, most of which were collected from monasteries and libraries throughout Tibet. Most of the manuscripts covered obscure subject matter. While some pieces in the collection had been previously preserved, others were badly damaged due to "human activity and natural disasters." Some were illegible, leading the team to discuss ways in which the missing text could be supplanted, sometimes leading to consultations with high lamas for advice. According to today's piece in the Global Times, "The center's work has not only provided valuable materials for monks, Tibetologists and religious scholars, but also made the texts available for a wider range of readers." Read More @ Source
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| David Rynick — “Spiraling Toward God” Posted: 19 Jun 2012 01:00 PM PDT
"Spiraling Toward God — A Story in Two Parts" Yesterday I made my daily pilgrimage to the morning glory seedlings in the planters under the bare pergola on the access ramp. A week and a half ago, I carefully ran ten lines of brown twine from a horizontal wire near the planters to the top of the pergola. My plan was that each of the ten morning glory plants would climb up one of the strings. The seedlings have been getting nearly big enough to train onto these strings. The taller ones, I lean over toward the appropriate string — like bringing a newborn to her mother's breast. You can't really "teach" a baby to suck on the breast but you can awaken their inborn knowing. The infants without this sucking knowledge inscribed in their DNA did not survive to pass on their genes. So I have been bringing the sprouting runners over to touch the string — hoping they will get the idea—hoping the touch of the string—like how gentle rubbing of the baby's cheek makes her turn her head and "look for" the breast. Most days, when I have gone back to check, the plants have righted themselves — spurning the string support for the free-form vertical. But yesterday, two of them finally got the idea. They had each made one spiral trip around the string and were headed for the top. I was unreasonably proud and delighted to see the results of my careful planning and coaxing. And I was amazed by the intelligence of these plants. How was this rising wisdom contained in the small round seed I planted in damp soil a month ago? I suppose the leaves themselves are miracle enough — but this capacity to sense the string and to begin the climb is a dumb intelligence beyond understanding. I went out again this morning to look. Now there are three beginning the climb and two have made several trips around—are now spiraling upward. And I pray that our lives too may be spiraling upward in ways beyond our knowing. Is there a string that is set for each of us that runs toward God, toward the source of our lives? I suspect that the aliveness of our lives is the string. We can't really "know" what the string is — just like I don't think the morning glory has any conception of "string" or "pergola" or "David is such a clever gardener." But the growing tip of the plant knows enough to curl around whatever it meets. I pray that I have the same cellular intelligence and can respond appropriately when the universe gently rubs my cheek so that I can turn toward what nourishes me. —————————————————————The morning glories have now climbed from the shallow rectangular boxes to the top of the pergola. Reaching the summit, they keep on climbing. Failing to find support other than each other, the tendrils fall in graceful arcs back to their original rising string and climb once again. The neat preliminary geometry of my ten strings has been wonderfully overgrown with the green energy of twisting and climbing. It turns out that along with rising up toward the sun, the morning glories also know how to circumambulate. There must be some biological message that happens on contact — the cells that are touched by the string begin to grow more slowly or the cells on the other side to grow more quickly. This seemingly small wisdom allows the morning glories to enlist whatever is at hand to support their upward mission of sun gathering. I imagine the ten small round black seeds I started with are quite proud of themselves. With no legs or hands, no prefrontal cortex or apparent income stream, they have accomplished amazing things. First was enlisting the commercial grower to tend, select, and package them. Then they dreamed themselves into my head to convince me buy the package (it was their alluring blue photo on the front that made me do it) then to tenderly put them in little wet homes of dirt to allow them to sprout. Then was the building of the handicap access ramp and the pergola (which of course had to start long before.) And finally transplanting them to the flower boxes and the stringing of the twine supports — carefully secured near the sprouts and to the top of the pergola that allowed them to rise and turn. I like the tangled mass of green with tendrils flaying out like unruly wisps of hair. And I'm still waiting to see the deep blue morning glory blossoms that are planted in my mind. Read More @ Source Shantideva's Guide - 19/03/10 - Day 1 
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| Protection ceremony this afternoon for Shambhala Mountain Center Posted: 19 Jun 2012 11:00 AM PDT  Photo: Richard Swaback, from SMC's Facebook page Richard Reoch, president of Shambhala International, will lead a traditional protection ceremony this afternoon at the Shambhala Mountain Center in northern Colorado, which has been under threat from a brush fire since last week. The ceremony, open to members of the media, is scheduled for 3 p.m. MDT at the center in Red Feather Lakes. Though guests and most staff were evacuated to Boulder last week, a few staff members who are trained in firefighting have remained at the center, where they're working with local fire officials to protect the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya and the rest of the center. Many sacred relics are being moved into the concrete stupa for protection, SMC staff said in a press release. "There was little expansion of the fire yesterday and the expected high winds never materialized. The tone remains cautious and some progress is acknowledged," said Shambhala Mountain Center Executive Director Jon Barbieri said in an update on the center's Facebook page Tuesday. "When we receive the news that the wind is blowing east that is good for us but one cannot help but think of the others affected by this." Read More @ SourceNoah Levine "Anger" 
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