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  • Tricycle Community 4 comments

    Join the club -- Or else! Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 29 Aug 2007
    “You just cannot be a meat-eating environmentalist,” says Matt A. Prescott, manager of vegan campaigns for PETA. Many of us have heard by now that cows are worse for the earth than cars. (The carbon cost of ice cream is particularly high, as it must be refrigerated throughout its "lifespan" -- hence just being vegetarian isn't good enough.) None of this nonsense in beef-eating Britain, where they are working instead to change cows' diets to cut down on methane production. More »
  • Tricycle Community 0 comments

    Collateral Damage? Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 29 Aug 2007
    Human Rights Watch says that 89% -- or 2,196 -- of the people killed by the "separatists" and "insurgents" in southern Thailand since January 2004 are civilians. They are careful to say separatist and not use the "T" word -- a good thing, since the word's overuse by the current junta in Washington has rendered it essentially meaningless. Oh, I guess there's two "T" words -- terrorist/m and torture. The obfuscated meaning of both is part of the shining legacy of the Department of Justice under Bush 2. What does it mean when nearly 90% of a separatist or insurgent group's victims are civilians? I guess I'm naive. I guess I just don't understand modern asymmetrical warfare. More »
  • Tricycle Community 0 comments

    Fox News misses some big stories Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 27 Aug 2007
    Check out this screenshot of the Fox News website this evening. (Click the graphic to see it life-size.) I think they missed a big story concerning the attorney general, but I'm not sure. More »
  • Tricycle Community 0 comments

    Bombs and Buddhists Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 27 Aug 2007
    Three bombs were discovered in Sri Lanka on Sunday, one of them in the town of Kandy along the route of a procession to honor the Buddha's Tooth Relic. The 10-day festival will go on regardless. Sri Lanka has lived with terrorism for a very long time, and the Temple housing the Tooth was damaged by a truck bomb in 1998. Meanwhile, a Buddhist delegation arrived in Sri Lanka from another majority-Buddhist country involved in a civil war, Thailand. The fighting there is getting more violent. Visitors from Myanmar / Burma are also due in Sri Lanka. Is it ironic that a Tooth Relic is held in a town called Kandy? Teeth are tough customers. More »
  • Tricycle Community 1 comment

    Still Looking for the Ox under Sacred Mountains Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 23 Aug 2007
    I've always liked the Ten Oxherding Pictures, and I came across these beautiful ones recently, from an artist named Tim Jundo Williams (©2001) on pages belonging to the Boonville One Drop Zendo. This one is the first, Looking for the Ox. Click the picture to see more. The style reminds me of the paintings Tolkien did for the The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Sad news of the Reverend Gyosei Handa, who died in a freak accident involving his rider-mower. Good for him, cutting his own grass. No work, no food. More »
  • Tricycle Community 2 comments

    Jodo Shinshu, the Khampa Festival, and NRO Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 17 Aug 2007
    Interesting posts on D.T. Suzuki and Jodo Shinshu and Other-Power over at The Buddhist Nerd Haven, and a good article on China's (stage) management of Tibet courtesy of the New York Times. Also, the National Review takes note of the controversy over making Buddhism the state religion in Thailand. Funny, the NR telling Thailand, a country with an active and virulent Muslim insurgency within its borders, to exercise patience and discretion in dealing with a terrorist threat. Physician, heal thyself. More »