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Vipassana Forum and Awakening 101
There's a new site out called the Vipassana Meditation Forum, run by the Irreverent Buddhist. Looks like it's getting a lot of action after only a few days alone, which is great.
Also came across the site Awakening 101, a self-guided tour of the Dharma. It included the cool pic below, from the Illustrated History of Buddhism.
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HHDL in NYC
This weekend, Tricycle's hometown of New York City was lucky (or big and rich) enough to host His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. In lieu of his usual barnstorming, His Holiness gave three full days of teachings at a Manhattan landmark, Radio City Music Hall, home of the Rockettes (yes, they're alive and... kicking). Did they welcome him to town with a saffron kick-line? Sadly, no, but Radio City made for a magnificent venue, the huge arched ceiling lit a subtle orange. (Here's a photo from flickr that gives you an idea, despite the biblical scene.)
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"There must be no justice or good people in the world"
No, that headline is not some disillusioned do-gooder decrying the world's lack of action on the Burma situation, but rather a petulant Chinese official mad at the US for dealing with the Dalai Lama. Big Red's hopping mad over the DL's visit to Washington, DC, where he'll trade pleasantries with the Prez for the third time. He'll also visit Capital Hill and be honored by the US Congress with the Congressional Gold medal.
“Such a person who basely splits his motherland and doesn’t even love his motherland has been welcomed by some countries and has even been receiving this or that award,” Tibet’s Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, told reporters during the [Communist Party] congress.
“We are furious,” Mr. Zhang said.
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Lopez on the term "aryan"
Donald S. Lopez Jr.'s article on the term "aryan" from the Winter 2006 issue of Tricycle is available here.
Buddhist extremists gang up on Catholics in Sri Lanka. Those Sri Lankan Buddhists aren't playing, either. Many monks have been militarized by the long, brutal civil war with Tamil rebels in the north.
Buddhist movie plot #427: Tiny Jodo Shu church represented by a spunky little law firm fights the big mother church in Japan, which is of course backed by a huge faceless corporate Firm.
Buddhist Relics do Edmonton. A photo would have been nice but maybe is verboten.
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Who Said What on Burma
Danny Fisher points us to the Buddhist Peace Fellowship's collection of statements on Burma, and also what Buddhist leaders Thich Nhat Hanh and Jack Kornfield said recently.
And for all the coffee fiends out there pouring their hard-earned money into the crowded coffers of Starbucks, Urban Monk shows the way to CoffeeTao, a blog on coffee and the politics thereof.
Peter of the Buddha Diaries spoke with Thanissaro Bhikkhu recently on pacifism and whether it was ever ok f
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Burma and Boycotts
Big Buddhist week in New York last week: Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama were in town (see the Worst Horse tracking Gawker Stalker as HH rolls through the Village), and the Tricycle office had a little gathering attended by many fine readers from the area plus Sharon Salzberg and Lama Surya Das.
British PM Gordon Brown is working to put pressure on Burma. He will press for tough sanctions in the UK and the EU and asks those countries that trade most with Burma to cut ties.
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Islamists Deface Another Buddha
Literally defaced. Great. More of this here
The Zennist discusses the term "aryan" in its Buddhist context. And no, he doesn't discuss the swastika.
UPDATE: Donald Lopez discussed the term "aryan" in Tricycle's Winter 2006 issue. We'll put this article online later so everyone can read it.
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Blood, Robes, and Tears
TIME has a piece on the Burmese protests from which comes the title of this post. When in our recent past have Buddhist monks other than the Dalai Lama been so prominent in the American consciousness? Maybe not since Vietnam.
Apparently Mandalay didn't suffer the same treatment the rest of the country did. Read about it in "Buddha's Peace Prevailed."
ASEAN issues a statement condemning violence to Buddhist monks in Burma. From the article by George Yao, foreign minister of Singapore:
When Western countries cheered us for speaking out, it worried us. Strident calls to bring down the regime showed a lack of understanding of the problem.
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Does China Have Religion?
Slavoj Zizek, author of The Parallax View, writes on "How China Got Religion" in the New York Times. He discusses Communism avowed atheism as it relates to Falun Gong, the ukase regulating reincarnation, Burmese monks, and the commodification of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism:
In recent years, the Chinese have changed their strategy in Tibet: in addition to military coercion, they increasingly rely on ethnic and economic colonization. Lhasa is transforming into a Chinese version of the capitalist Wild West, with karaoke bars and Disney-like Buddhist theme parks.
The Dalai Lama spoke at Ithaca College.
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Germans Love Buddhism. Christopher Hitchens Hates It.
Interesting article on how hard Cubans must work in order to blog. They have to pretend to be foreign and sneak into the big hotels that have unfiltered -- or at least more open than elsewhere on the island -- internet pipelines to the rest of the world. (The blog mentioned, in Spanish of course, is here.) This is a small part of what our fellow humans living under totalitarianism must do to have their voices heard. Be thankful for your political freedom and don't take it for granted!
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Burmese Days Continued
The situation in Burma has exposed links with the dictatorship all over the world. Obviously, most of Burma's trading partners will be neighbors, just as the U.S.'s largest trading partner is Canada. This has put southeast Asia -- already a troubled area with two Communist countries (Vietnam and Laos) and two other military dictatorships (Burma and Thailand, which has a virulent Muslim insurgency in its south) -- in a tight spot. As a result, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations opposes sanctions on Burma, and Singapore is said to be "a crucial ally" of the junta.
The Western Powers (The U.S., France, and Britain) have issued a "softened" UN statement decrying the crackdown in Burma.
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Even More Asian Classics
As reported here previously, the Asian Classics Input Project is doing great work making classic Buddhist texts available, in a searchable database, no less-- they're now on Release number 6 -- check it out.
The junta claims weapons were found in Buddhist monasteries after the crackdown on the democratic protests Maybe they were and maybe they weren't but no one believes the Bulldog and his clowns anyway.
The Dalai Lama spoke with the fine folks at the Ithaca Journal about his book, The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the teachings of Jesus.
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Who Isn't Doing Enough for Burma?
Bill Kristol, who is a vociferous supporter of the Surge and everything else the U.S. is doing so well in Iraq, says in the Washington Post that the U.S. ought to lean on China re: Burma. Fair enough. (China opposes U.N. sanctions against Myanmar and is widely perceived to be the regime's biggest -- or only -- friend.) But then he goes on to wonder if "limited military actions, overt or covert" might be directed against the Myanmar junta.
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Burma Headlines
As long as there is attention on Burma, there's hope, from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Malaysia presses its southeast Aisan neighbors for talks on Burma, from the BBC.
Authorities are still rounding up dissidents in Burma, says the Bangkok Post.
Forget conflict diamonds -- here come the blood-red rubies of Mogok.
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The regime's view
We know what's going on with the Free Burma side. But here's a poster that allows us to glimpse into the propaganda of the regime ruling Myanmar.
- Philip Ryan, Web Editor
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Buddhists for Burma
Russia and China vote to take no action on Burma in the Security Council. Again, if the U.S. hadn't abused and exploited the U.N., it would be easier to benefit from the good things the Security Council can actually do.
The Myanmar state media says 2,093 people had been arrested in the crackdown and that 692 of them have been released. Human Rights Watch calls these numbers "very plausible."
The Wall Street Journal discusses politically active monks and says the junta has used Buddhism to its own ends over the years.
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Aung San Suu Kyi says 'No' to talks with Bulldog
From Reuters, Junta rounds up scores more, and
Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party dismissed a Myanmar junta offer of talks as unreal on Friday, while China said the ruthless suppression of pro-democracy protests did not require international action.
Does the international community agree with China on this?
One City / the Interdependence Project has a post recommending action for Burma.
Danny Fisher points us to Amnesty International's efforts on Burma -- They are organizing demonstrations across the globe.
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Keep Your Eyes on Burma
We can't look away. News today:
Junta sets terms for talk with opposition. This is good news. Talking is better than shooting. Without pressure the junta wouldn't have consented to anything.
Myanmar media lashes out at foreigners. Xenophobia serves tyrants well.
More arrests and climate of fear in Burma. Fear also works well for tyrants.
The inimitable Christopher Hitchens draws links between Beijing and the junta.
And "The Bulldog" will meet with Aun San Suu Kyi.
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Bloggers Speak Out on Burma (Free Burma!)
Here's Jeff Alworth, no longer avoiding writing about Burma:
I have avoided writing about Burma because ... well, because I really don't have anything substantive to add to the discussion. How do you comment on a train wreck?
anthropologi.info calls attention to the suffering of the Muslim minority in Myanmar:
Burma’s protesters may have been silenced, but we must continue to support them, writes Brendan Barber in The Guardian. But maybe we should not focus too much upon the courage of the monks.
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