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    Sri Lanka's "blend of faiths" a cause for hope Paid Member

    Posted by James Shaheen on 16 Aug 2009
    In the September issue of the Atlantic, Robert Kaplan writes that any hope for a lasting peace in Sri Lanka will depend on its ability to reconnect to the "blend of faiths" that lay at the very foundation of the ancient Kingdom of Kandy, from which the famous city in the island's heartland takes its name: [E]ven if the artistic grandeur of Kandy has helped form the emotional source of Buddhist nationalism, which has proved itself as bloody as other religious nationalisms, Kandy’s religious monuments also offer a much deeper lesson: the affinity—rather than the hostility—between Buddhism and Hinduism. Buddhism arrived in Sri Lanka from India as part of the missionary activity of the great Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the third century B.C. More »
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    Aung San Suu Kyi Convicted Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 11 Aug 2009
    Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years' hard labor for violating the terms of her house arrest, but that sentence was quickly commuted with the result that her existing sentence of house arrest was effectively extended. “The outcome of this trial has never been in doubt,” Jared Genser, her international counsel in Washington, said Tuesday after the verdict was announced. “The real question is how the international community will react — will it do more than simply condemn this latest injustice?” An American, John Yettaw, who trespassed on the property where Aung San Suu Kyi was held and was accused of violating immigration laws, was given a seven-year sentence, including four years' hard labor. More »
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    64 years ago today Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 06 Aug 2009
    64 years ago today the crew of the B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb, code-named "Little Boy," onto Hiroshima, Japan. This action has come to stand for the horror of war and the deliberate killing of civilians (of which this was not an isolated instance, but it was a new way to do it) and continues to cast a long shadow over the entire world, telling every man, woman, and child: You are not safe. You can be killed at any time, without warning, without reason. This has always been true, but Hiroshima brought it home to the most comfortable, the most secure, the most secluded. Death is at your elbow. More »
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    Growing support for Tibet in China Paid Member

    Posted by James Shaheen on 04 Aug 2009
    According to a report by the Associated Press, there is growing support for Tibet in China. Speaking today of the estimated 4,000 Tibetans imprisoned in the wake of last year's anti-Chinese riots in Lhasa, the Dalai Lama, quoted in the report, claims that sympathy for Tibet is growing: "Many Chinese are showing solidarity with us," the Dalai Lama said in a hockey arena in Lausanne, where he was giving two days of public teachings on Buddhism to up to 6,000 spectators. More »
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    Sharon Salzberg turns up on Daily Kos Paid Member

    Posted by James Shaheen on 27 Jul 2009
    Daily Kos diarist "Geenius at Wrok" has an affinity for vipassana meditation, and today writes at some length on his introduction to Sharon Salzberg's teachings on metta (loving-kindness) practice. GaW even manages to send good thoughts to Sen. Chuck Grassley (überR-Iowa, pictured here)—no mean feat for a Daily Kos diarist. He also adds a political touch of his own, though, which some may consider cheating: May you be free of pain and sorrow. May you also help end needless pain and sorrow caused by pvt health ins. More »
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    Gay Marriage: What Would Buddha Do? Paid Member

    Posted by Philip Ryan on 13 Jul 2009
    Tricycle editor & publisher James Shaheen has a blog post up over at The Huffington Post. You'll have to go there to read the whole thing, but here's a taste: A lot of people ask me what the "Buddhist take" on gay marriage is. Well, it depends on who you talk to. A few years back, in an interview with the CBC, the Dalai Lama rejected same-sex relationships to the surprise of many convert Buddhists, who sometimes too easily assume that Buddhist ethics are consistent with their typically progressive views. As the Canadian interview bounced around the internet, some people were shocked and perplexed, but the Dalai Lama's position shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the issue. More »