Afghanistan rebuilds Buddhist statues destroyed by Taliban

The Taliban destroyed the historic statues a decade ago. But in a painstaking process, the two giant carvings of Buddha are being reconstructed on the side of a cliff in central Afghanistan.

When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan a decade ago, they were fanatical about eliminating everything they considered un-Islamic.

Their biggest targets — literally and figuratively — were the two monumental Buddha statues carved out of the sandstone cliffs in central Afghanistan. One stood nearly 180 feet tall and the other about 120 feet high, and together they had watched over the dusty Bamiyan Valley since the sixth century, several centuries before Islam reached the region.

Despite international opposition, the Taliban destroyed the statues with massive explosions in 2001. At the time they were blown up, the statues were the largest Buddha carvings in the world, and it seemed they were gone for good.

But today, teams from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, along with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, are engaged in the painstaking process of putting the broken Buddhas back together.

Up to half of the Buddha pieces can be recovered, according to Bert Praxenthaler, a German art historian and sculptor, who has been working at the site for the past eight years. He and his crew have sifted through 400 tons of rubble and have recovered many parts of the statues along with shrapnel, land mines and explosives that were used in their demolition.

But how do you rebuild the Buddhas from the rubble?

"The archaeological term is 'anastylosis,' but most people think it's some kind of strange disease," said Praxenthaler.

For those in the archaeology world, "anastylosis" is actually a familiar term. It was the process used to restore the Parthenon of Athens. It involves combining the monument's original pieces with modern material.

On a recent day, Praxenthaler was leading a group through a tunnel behind the niche where the smaller of the two statues once stood.

"We are now on top of the Buddha," he explained. "There was just a wall and a small opening to sit on the top, or the head, of the Buddha. But now there is no head."

The workers were busy removing scaffolding after months spent reinforcing the wall where the Buddha's head once was.

Mixed Feelings About Project

Bamiyan is an extremely poor and remote land in one of the world's most underdeveloped countries. The Buddha statues were once a major tourist attraction, but Afghanistan has been at war virtually nonstop for more than three decades. The fighting drove away the tourists years before the Taliban blew up the statues.

The restoration project is designed to rebuild the historic site, as well as bring back the tourists. The project has the support of Habiba Sarabi, the popular provincial governor. And there are reasons to be hopeful. Bamiyan is now considered one of the less dangerous places in Afghanistan.

Yet others, like human rights activist Abdullah Hamadi, say the empty niches where the Buddhas stood are a reminder of the Taliban's fanaticism, and should be left as they are.

"The Buddha was destroyed," said Hamadi. "If you made it, rebuilt it, that is not the history. The history is the broken Buddha."

Hamadi is from the nearby district of Yakawlang, where the Taliban massacred more than 300 members of a minority group, called the Hazaras, in 2001. Those killings took place just two months before the Taliban blew up the Buddha statues.

While Bamiyan is much safer today, the Taliban can still strike. Recently, Taliban insurgents kidnapped and beheaded Jawad Zahak, the head of the Bamiyan provincial council, while he was driving his family toward Kabul, about 150 miles to the southeast.

Some in Bamiyan say they would rather see the money for the restoration project go toward services like electricity and housing, which are in desperately short supply.

Homeless Take Shelter In Caves

In fact, the caves at the site of the Buddha statues are the only shelter some Bamiyan residents can find. Homeless villagers like Marzia and her six children are living in one of the caves, while the family's goats bleat nearby. Marzia, who like many Afghans uses only one name, said she has no use for the statues.

"We don't have a house, so where else can we live?" she said.

A few enterprising villagers have found ways to make money off the story surrounding the Buddhas. One is Said Merza Husain, known around town as the man who was forced to help the Taliban blow up the statues.

He said he had no choice but to obey the Taliban a decade ago. If he had resisted, they would have killed him. One of his friends refused to take part, and the Taliban shot him.

But that is the only information Husain will share for free. To hear more of the story, he charges anywhere between $20 and $100.

Meanwhile, Bert Praxenthaler's team was about to halt their work temporarily during the scorching Afghan summer. One longtime worker, Ali Reza, was picking up his pay. He signed his name and received a wad of Afghanis.

Praxenthaler also handed him a certificate and thanked him first in Dari, then in English. Piecing together Bamiyan's Buddhas will take many more years. After a summer break, Praxenthaler's team plans to resume their work in the fall.

This story was partly funded by a Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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Hindus hail inclusion of Pagan/Wicca holy days on Vanderbilt University calendar

Nevada (US), August 21 (ANI): The Hindus have commended prestigious Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee, US) for including Wicca/Pagan holy days on its calendar on "religious holy days and observances" for 2011-2012.

Vanderbilt has mentioned Samhain-Beltane, Yule, Ostara Equinox, Mabon, and Beltane-Samhain as Wicca/Pagan holy days on this calendar. It also mentions Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Baha'i, Taoist and Confucian holy days. Hindu holy days mentioned are Diwali (Deepavali) and Maha Shivaratri.

Welcoming this inclusion and calling it "a step in the right direction", distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) on Sunday, said that all religions were different ways to relate to the Divine, different responses to the Reality and were a positive sign of God's generosity.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, stated that a more inclusive understanding of religion was needed and we should learn to live together with mutual loyalty despite our seriously different faiths.

He urged world religious leaders to leave behind selfish motives and work together for greater ideals.

Zed pointed out that awareness about other religions thus created by this calendar would make Vanderbilt students well-nurtured, well-balanced, and enlightened citizens of tomorrow.

A policy manual of Vanderbilt says: "A goal of Vanderbilt University is to foster an open and diverse society where the rights of all members of the community are respected."

Vanderbilt, an internationally recognized research university founded in 1873 under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, has consistently ranked as one of the nation's top 20 universities, with several programs and disciplines ranking in the top 10.

With total net assets of 4.3 billion dollars and five Nobel Laureates, its 330 acres campus is home to more than 300 tree/shrub varieties and a registered National Historic Landmark.

It has about 13,000 students with women outnumbering men, admission selection rate of less than eight percent, over 300 clubs/organizations, over 120,000 living alumni, a library containing over eight million items, and its annual undergraduate tuition is about 39,000 dollars. Mark F. Dalton is Chairman of its Board of Trust, while Nicholas S. Zeppos is the Chancellor.

Hinduism is oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.

TheFreeDictionary.com defines Pagan as "An adherent of a polytheistic religion in antiquity...", while it defines Wicca as "A polytheistic Neo-Pagan nature religion inspired by various pre-Christian western European beliefs..." (ANI)

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Don’t worry, be happy

A spiritual leader expounds on his ideas for finding true contentment in life.

HAPPINESS has to come from within us. When a jolly monk says this, people tend to listen.

Gharwang Rinpochea, a Tibetan Buddhist monk from Sikkim, India, who heads the Zurmang Whispering lineage, was in Malaysia recently to talk about joy and how to achieve it in our busy modern lives.

In an interview after the talk, he jovially declares: ?I?m happy with who I am now, with my life. I try my best every day, give my best shot and have low expectations.?

Jolly monk: If you want to be happy, look within, advises Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche.

So when things turn out better than expected, he says, ?I rejoice. I feel so happy! It?s better than I expected.?

The Rinpochea, 46, shares how the small nation of Bhutan was once one of the happiest countries on earth.

?The Bhutan government declared that the Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, not the Gross Domestic Product index, would be the measure of success in their country.

?In an attempt to preserve GNH, the government restricted tourism and didn?t even allow television or Internet services. For a long time, happiness levels were very high.?

In 2000, Bhutan?s king allowed television and Internet services into the country and the Bhutanese discovered an entire world they had never known before.

Since then, says the Rinpochea, happiness levels in Bhutan have declined severely as the people continually compare their meagre existence with the materialistic lives of people in more developed nations.

It?s unrealistic to have high expectations, he says, to impose a lot of standards in your life and compare your situation with other people?s.

?That?s the biggest problem. It will always make us unhappy because someone, somewhere, will always be better off than us.

?There are people who do not have anything, they have nothing ? and they?re happy.

?When you visit workers from Nepal and India (the Rinpochea visited some construction workers at his monastery) at night, you find that they?re singing, drinking and dancing.

?They are enjoying their life so much. They don?t have high expectations, they are living for today and from moment to moment.?

Besides, having a lot of things isn?t guaranteed to bring you contentment. Says the Rinpochea, wealth, power and fame contributes only a fraction, ?5%?, towards happiness: ?In the United States, salaries have steadily increased since the 1940s but the happiness level hasn?t.

?Wealth doesn?t bring happiness. Happiness comes from within you,? he repeats.

And you can find that joy inside by learning to love yourself: ?When you truly love yourself, you don?t want to be anybody else. You stop comparing with others. You will be happy at any income level and you will have true confidence without narcissism.

?When you truly love living, you?re able to find beauty and happiness in even the smallest moments. You?re able to enjoy life on a moment-to-moment basis.?

And when you truly love others, the Rinpoche adds, it comes through in your words, your actions and your smile.

?People will naturally like to be around you and forming social connections is easy.?

This in turn will further feed your own happiness.

All this advice comes from hard-earned experience ? for Gharwang Rinpochea himself had to learn to accept his lot in life and love who he is.

He was born into an aristocratic family in Gangtok, Sikkim. His mother was Princess Sonam Peden Namgyal, but he was recognised as the next reincarnation (the 12th) of the Zurmang Gharwang lineage while in his mother?s womb.

The Rinpochea thinks his mother was not happy when she learnt that she had to give up her son to the monkhood.

?When I was seven days old, my parents reluctantly surrendered me to the monkhood,? says Rinpoche, who recollects that he was sent to live with his paternal uncle.

He still had a regular childhood and could play with his uncle?s five sons. But he also had a ?personal trainer monk?. When he was 11, Rinpoche entered the monastery; at 15, he took his vow of celibacy as a novice monk.

He went on to study under many great Buddhist scholars and travelled extensively in Asia, America and Europe, expounding on Buddhist teachings. He was awarded the keys of the city by the governor of Los Angeles in recognition of his works in promoting harmony and humanity.

In 1992, Gharwang Rinpochea founded the Zurmang Kagyud Buddhist Foundation, a non-profit international charitable organisation that has been involved in setting up homes for the aged and building roads, schools and clinics in deprived areas. The foundation has also established various Buddhist centres such as institutes for higher learning, retreat centres, monasteries and nunneries. Over the years, Rinpochea has set up centres in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur and (in Indonesia) in Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya and Pekan Baru.

Rinpochea also writes in his free time. He has authored 10 books, including Seven Points Mind Training (on meditation), Essence Of The Buddha, Opening The Door To Dharma and Teaching On Bardo (teachings on living and dying).

Currently, while lecturing in America, he is taking an intensive English Language programme at Harvard University in preparation of eventually gaining a degree either in comparative religion or environment studies ? yes, the monk is green! He plants ?a few thousand trees every year? and educates the monks at his monastery on not throwing garbage everywhere, using less plastic, and saving trees.

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Buddhist nuns rally behind rape victim

Buddhist nuns rally behind rape victimWhile established organisations dragged their feet on the fate of a 21-year-old Buddhist nun who had been gangraped, the republic’s ignored community of nuns came forward to throw a mantle of protection over her.
Choying Drolma, a 40-year-old nun who today is also one of the best-loved singers of Nepal and a philanthropist, said she had opened the doors of Arya Tara, the school she founded for educating neglected nuns, to the victim so that she could be healed.
Choying, who herself chose to embrace the life of a nun when she was still a child to escape her violent, abusive father, became an eminent figure in Nepal after she used her earnings from concerts at home and abroad to open the school for nuns and recently, a centre to treat kidney diseases in Kathmandu valley.
On Tuesday, Nepal’s National Women’s Commission (NWC) and other NGOs, who have taken up cudgels on behalf of the raped nun, escorted her to the nuns’ school in Pharping where Choying said she would be happy to look after the distraught young woman.
Though discharged by the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital on Tuesday, the 21-year-old is still in deep
trauma.
“I told the nuns at the school, this could have happened to any of us,” Choying told IANS. “We can’t treat this as a case of so and so being attacked. It’s our own sister who’s been attacked and it’s our duty to go to her aid.”
Choying said the attack on the nun was also an attack against all women.
“All of us might have to travel alone some time,” she said. “This becomes an issue of safety and security for all women and we have to raise this issue.”
Along with the NWC, Forum for Women, Law and Development, and Nepal Adivasi Janajati Mahasangh, Choying is now lobbying politicians, police officials and rights organisations to ensure that the five men arrested for the attack are not set free.
“The worst is yet to come,” she said. “It will come when the trial starts and the accused hire lawyers to get them acquitted. They will then try to say that the nun incited them. You see it in the movies all the time.
“My prime concern is how this will affect her emotionally.”
The nun was raped last month while travelling home in eastern Nepal. The bus she was travelling in was stuck due to bad weather and she was persuaded to spend the night in the vehicle.
She was attacked by the driver, his two helpers and two other men, who also looted her
belongings.
Later, orthodox Buddhist organisations, while condemning the incident, said she had lost her religion as she had lost her celibacy.
But the stand triggered condemnation worldwide with Buddhists from abroad citing incidents from the Buddhist scriptures to show how the Buddha absolved a nun of blame after she was drugged and raped by a monk.
Pressured by the outcry, Buddhist bodies in Nepal said they would take her back as a nun.

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Buddhist wonks? No, Buddhist Geeks

Vincent Horn, a 28-year-old podcaster and blogger, meditates at his Santa Monica Home. He organized the first Buddhist Geeks Conference in Rosemead last weekend. He's representative of the new kind of young American Buddhist who's intertwining religious practice with a 21st century techie sensibility. (Lawrence K. Ho, Los Angeles Times / August 3, 2011)

AlsoFranklin Graham hopes to launch Latino religious revivalAt troubled Crystal Cathedral, a tale of two ministries By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times August 8, 2011

Vincent Horn opened his eyes after a moment of meditation, scanned the room and smiled. About 150 other people were emerging from their own states of dead-silent, self-induced tranquillity. They shuffled a bit in their seats.

"Hello, Buddhist geeks!" Horn said from his perch onstage. "This is the most geeks I've seen in one place, I think, ever."

His statement brought to mind a moment in the documentary "Woodstock," when folk singer Arlo Guthrie takes in the crowd of several hundred thousand young people and cackles, "Lotta freaks!" But this was a very different time and place.

Horn, a 28-year-old podcaster, blogger and meditation teacher, is a new kind of American Buddhist, young and U.S.-born, a convert to Buddhism as a teenager who has intertwined his religious practice with a certain 21st century techie sensibility. There are plenty more like him, as a spin through the Buddhist blogosphere will confirm — and as the first Buddhist Geeks Conference last weekend demonstrated.

The conference — organized by Horn, sponsored by the Santa Monica-based InsightLA organization and held at the Buddhist-affiliated University of the West in Rosemead — brought together bloggers, tweeters, scholars, teachers and just plain Buddhist practitioners for two and a half days of talk about such topics as "the science of enlightenment," "the emerging face of Buddhism," and "the Dharma and the Internet."

The themes were characteristic of those Horn has discussed in his popular Buddhist Geek podcasts since the beginning of 2007 and reflect the concerns of at least one slice of young American Buddhists.

There was talk at the conference of the ways in which the digital revolution has helped spread the teachings of the Buddha, once accessible to Americans only through pilgrimages to Asia. There was talk about how science is being used to measure the effectiveness of Buddhist mindfulness practice (i.e., meditation), and how that practice has continued to spread, often along a secular path, to society as a whole.

There was talk, too, of a generation gap that has emerged between older and younger American Buddhists — between the "pioneer" generation of native-born Americans who turned to Buddhism in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, and the Gen X and Y acolytes like Horn who bring slightly different values and worldviews to the sangha (a Buddhist community).

Besides Horn, the younger generation was represented by people such as computer game designer Jane McGonigal, who described herself as "23% Buddhist, 77% geek," and compared Buddhist "awakening" to an "epic win" in a video game. The older generation was represented in part by Jack Kornfield, a teacher in Northern California who admitted being "in a little bit of a remove" from the digital world. "It's not my language," he said.

One issue, Horn said in an interview after the conference, is that the older generation came to Buddhism through the counterculture of the time, and many younger Buddhists see themselves as part of mainstream culture.

Less discussed at the conference was the gap between immigrant and non-immigrant Buddhists, or that between new converts and Asian Americans whose Buddhism is part of a family heritage.

Charles S. Prebish, a scholar whose books include "Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America," said he sees Buddhist Geeks as part of a popular movement built around speakers "who are on what I'd call the pro tour of Buddhism," not all of whom have serious scholarly credentials.

Still, Prebish, who did not attend the Buddhist Geeks conference, said he was impressed by the names of some speakers at the gathering and agreed that a generation gap exists among American Buddhists. He also spoke about the importance of technology to shape the future of the religion.

"I used to say I was a sangha of one, because there's no Buddhist community here," said Prebish, a professor emeritus at Penn State who lives in State College, Penn. Now, he said, "technology has enabled us to connect to other Buddhists; it's enabled us to connect to Buddhist teaching online … and that changes everything."

mitchell.landsberg@latimes.com Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Buddhism originated in India! Looks like it's worked out real well, the rats eat 40% of the grain because they're protected, the cattle run free and the children starve!  The quality of your god, determines the quality of your life! 70% of America considers themselves Christian and we have the highest quality of life-ok, it's changing because of secularization of church and state and the macro evolution faith movement-I'll give ya that, turn on the news! Lat thing we need is another cult!

blackdragon at 8:56 AM August 12, 2011

Buddhism in the west is the most mixed up fast food version in the world.   They want to gain followers and money.   I highly doubt I would see any of these people renunciating their worldly possessions to go meditate under a tree for years at a time like the founder of Buddhism said to do.   

DharmaT at 8:11 AM August 09, 2011

I think Mr. Horn is contributing greatly to the growth of Buddhism among young Americans who are also in the hi-tech field.  He is definitely very ambitious and creative.  Good job!  I would love to attend his conference one day.

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Buddhist Temple of Salinas' Obon Festival celebrates ancestors, religion

Unique scents, sights and sounds filled the grounds of the Buddhist Temple of Salinas on Sunday as about 1,000 people ate Asian cuisine, played games and watched a variety of traditional Japanese cultural performances.

As part of the congregation's annual Obon Festival ? the temple's largest fundraiser ? families gathered to celebrate a 500-year-old Japanese tradition of honoring the departed spirits of their ancestors. The Buddhist custom has turned into a family reunion during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves.

Kathy Dairokuno-Smith drove with her husband and two children from San Jose to visit the temple and Salinas ? her hometown.

"We come [to the festival] every year to see family and people we haven't seen in a while," said Dairokuno-Smith. The Obon Festival this year is the Temple's 85th celebration in Salinas.

On one side of the Temple, near an outdoor stage decorated with pink, green and blue hanging lanterns, people lined up at the game booths to toss a ball into a bowl, a bean bag into a hole or a ring onto a one-liter soda bottle to win tickets for prizes.

People who were hungry followed the aroma of beef shish kabobs, lumpia, sushi, teriyaki chicken and noodles outside and inside of the Temple's gymnasium. The smell of fresh flower arrangements filled the outdoors.

Meanwhile some paid for raffle tickets to win a variety of home electronics. Festival organizers said the money generated from the raffle and other sales will be used to pay for temple and gymnasium repairs.

"This event demonstrates the vibrant Asian community that lived on the other side of the tracks," said Larry Hirahara, a member of the congregation. Hirahara said a significant Asian community lived in the neighborhood in the 1920s where the temple was established in 1924.

One of the Japanese dances demonstrated Sunday included the Bon-Odori dance ? long a part of the Obon tradition.

"The dance shows our happiness to our ancestors, especially those who passed away in the last year," said Reverend Shousei Hanayama, of Watsonville. Hanayama has been the temple's reverend for two years.

"The dance is also a symbol of recovery from sadness and grief of losing a loved one," said Hanayama.

Back by the game booths hundreds of people gathered around the outdoor stage to watch the San Jose Taiko performance, a group of professional drummers and dancers who wore traditional Japanese outfits.

Brandi Irwin of Salinas held her 14-month-old baby, Jack, as she danced to the festive beats of drums, the sounds of a flute, cymbals and shakers.

"I've came to the festival every year since I was a little girl," Irwin said. "When I was little my favorite part of the festival was the flower arrangements."

Irwin said she has a kimono ready for Jack to wear once he starts walking. Irwin's husband, Darin Irwin, and her mother, Marilyn Morris, stood by her side.

"Earlier my son and other grandchildren, who wore kimonos, were at the festival," said Morris. "They had a great time too."

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Tibetan Buddhist Teacher Acts as Spiritual Leader

By Cindy Atoji Keene

Patients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center can choose to have a chaplain visit for spiritual guidance or comfort. As one of the on-call interfaith chaplains who are available, Tsering Ngodup said he finds patients are surprised when they hear he is also a Tibetian Buddhist teacher or lama. ?They think I should be wearing a yellow robe and have a shaved head,? said Ngodup, who is also known as Chiring, another interpretation of his name. But Ngodup said because lamas are not required to renounce worldly life as Tiebetian monks are, he is free to wear t-shirts and jeans, his usual attire. Although he has many followers who come to him to listen to Buddhist teachings and practice meditation, Ngodup said, ?I am not a guru but a spiritual friend.?

Ngodup, 57, also the spiritual director of the Bodhi Path Institute in Cambridge, was born in Tibet in 1954, and like many Tibetans, escaped across the Himalayan mountains into exile. He was educated in Nepal and India, where he learned English and other foreign languages, and found himself in demand as an interpreter for Tibetan lamas traveling through Europe giving teachings. In 1983, Ngodup was authorized by an eminent Tibetian leader to start his own spiritual practice, beginning years of study and mentorship at religious centers. But he laughs when asked when he will reach enlightenment. ?I have no idea, but I wish it would be soon,? said Ngodup. ?How do you know when pride, jealously, greed, and desire is replaced by wisdom that has a very wholesome and positive impact on others??

Q: Tibetian Buddhism is a very complex religion. Where should Americans start if they want to understand it?
A: For those with no connection with Buddhism, they think it is an obscure Asian religion with different rituals and ceremony, but those are mostly the ethical and cultural components. True Buddhism is a way of life, understanding how to change your mind from fear, anxiety and doubt to reach a state of freedom and peace.

Q: Your mentor or teacher is named HH ShaMar Rinpoche and comes from a long lineage holder of Tibetian Buddhism. You would not be able to be a lama without the blessing of such a person. Why is it so important to be ?authorized? by someone else?
A: Lamas like myself have to go through years of studying Buddhist philosophy then receive the endorsement of a spiritual master, which means you can then be viewed as a teacher or guru. But no matter how informed or learned you are, we need someone there to constantly guide and correct your path.

Q: Does being a lama mean that you can?t have a cell phone and other material possessions?
A: Of course I have a cell phone. You cannot reject what comes along the way because you will miss many things. Of course technology is not necessary but the point is not to covet and desire because of greed. Otherwise it?s like sitting in a cave meditating while your car is parked outside.

Q: Have you ever fallen asleep while meditating?
A: I meditate often during the day, and of course, if I have had a heavy meal, I might catch myself dozing off. It?s only human.

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Tawu tense after monk’s self-immolation

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DHARAMSHALA, India -- Over a thousand Chinese armed security personnel have locked down Tawu Nyitso monastery, cutting off electricity and water supply as schools in the region remained closed following Monday’s self immolation of monk Tsewang Norbu.

<< The monk identified as Tsewang Norbu, 29 set himself ablaze on Monday in Ganzi, Sichuan (China)

Tsewang Norbu, 29, had set himself ablaze, raising slogans for the Dalai Lama’s return and freedom in Tibet in Tawu town. Defying the Chinese authorities, monks carried Tsewang Norbu’s charred body to his monastery where almost 10,000 local Tibetan gathered overnight to pay their respects.

Chinese police stopped the gathered people from entering the monastery resulting in the severe beating and arrests of an unspecified number of people. Sensing trouble, Chinese authorities ordered the immediate cremation of Tsewang Norbu’s body.

Speaking to Phayul, Khenrab a monk in Dharamshala with links inside Tawu said that Chinese authorities had cordoned off the funeral site with a three-layered security blanket, barring local Tibetans from attending the funeral.

“Tsewang Norbu’s last rites were carried out at 7 in the morning on August 17 but the local Tibetans who had come in their thousands were not allowed to attend the funeral,” Khenrab said. “They had to pay their last respects from the top of a far away hill overlooking the funeral site”.

In exile, Tibetans and supporters from New York to Dharamshala to Taiwan organised prayers and protests to mark Tsewang Norbu’s sacrifice.

The Dharamshala based Tibetan Parliament-in-exile while paying homage to Tsewang Norbu said, “Such tragic incidents which happen frequently in Tibet are a clear indication of the Tibetan people's deep-seated resentment against the Chinese government's wrong policy on Tibet”.

Social networking sites have been rife with messages of respect and calls for campaigns and protests rallies.
Tendor, the executive director of the Students for a Free Tibet, on his facebook page made an open call of support for a protest rally on August 19 in honour of Tsewang Norbu in front of the New York Chinese Consulate.

Reaching out through his facebook page, Tsewang Rigzin, president of the largest pro-independence organisation in exile, the Tibetan Youth Congress, wrote, “the precious sacrifice by Pawo Tsewang Norbu will give inspiration and rebirth to thousands of more Pawos and Pamos to continue our struggle and ultimately regain Tibet's Independence.”

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When Mao came face to face with his destiny at Buddhist temple

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Mt Wutai, China -- Mao Zedong, founder of China's Communist Party, rarely visited temples as he remained steadfast with his atheist ideology, but his visit to the sacred Buddhist Mountain here left a legend of how a fortune card he picked accurately predicted his destiny.

On a relaxed tour of this 1200 years old Buddhist shrine after successfully leading the revolution in 1949, Mao picked up a fortune card no: 8341 out of the pack offered to him by Buddhist monks and insisted on knowing what it foretold.

Much to his chagrin the monks maintained stony silence.

Their refusal to speak despite his persistence made him leave the place in a huff.

It later turned out that the card predicted that he would live for 83 years and his rule as a leader of the party would last 41 years.

Mao was born in 1893 and died in 1976 on the 83rd year of his life. He took over the leadership of the ruling Communist Party of China, (CPC) and the Red Army in 1935 during the Long March and remained its leader till his death, which makes it a leadership of 41 years.

True or false, this legend of Mao's destiny is on the lips of scores of official tourist guides here on this picturesque mountain. It is interesting to note how much China has moved away from Mao's era and has aggressively marketed the spiritual importance of the Buddhist shrine using his own legend.

For over 1200 years, Wutai Mountain has been China's most sacred Buddhist place because it was where the highly revered "Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom", one of prominent disciples of Lord Buddha, once lived and taught Buddhism.

The atmosphere in the shrines easily reminds one of any Indian temple, with hundreds of devotees seen going around it chanting prayers, while others lighting fragrant sticks before the giant bronze statues of Lord Buddha.

This mountain is regarded as one of the four holy Buddhist Mountains in China, with 360 temples built on it dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) after Buddhism came to China from India.

Currently only 47 temples exist here. Broadly imbibing the Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist traditions is a massive white pagoda which can be seen from several miles.

The pagoda, in Nepalese style, has a base circumference of 83.3 meters and is 75.3 meters high.

It reportedly contained a small India-made iron stupa, where some remains of Sakyamuni (One of the names of Lord Buddha) are kept.

Mt Wutai lies in Wutai County in Xinzhou Region of China's flourishing Shanxi Province which has taken a prominent spot on China's burgeoning tourist map.

Besides the temple, the province which has emerged as the power house of China catering power supply to top cities like Beijing, also houses the famous 'Pingyao' -- the ancient city which is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The city dating back to 557 BC-532 BC is regarded as the

"outstanding city model" of Han nationality styled during Ming and Qing dynasties. Hans constitute over 95 per cent of Chinese population.

Plush with houses and places built with ancient Chinese style architecture, the walled city has age-old Buddhist temples, China's first Bank as well as an old prison, depicting torture kits extensively used by the rulers to keep the population under check.

The place which has emerged on top of China's tourist map with modern hotel facilities designed to give the experience of living in the ancient houses is attracting lakhs of tourists every year.

Places such as this helped China emerge as one of the top three tourist destinations in the world last year raking up billions of dollars in tourist inflows.

With 56 million tourist arrivals last year, China edged out Spain, to become the world's third most visited country, behind France (79 million) and the United States (61 million).

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Dalai Lama Begins 3-Day Visit to France

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Paris, France -- Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, began a three-day visit to France Saturday to attend a two-day conference on meditation and the art of happiness.

Thousands of Buddhist followers from France and other countries poured into the Zenith theater in the southwestern city of Toulouse to listen to his teachings.

On Monday, the 76-year-old Dalai Lama gave up his role as head of the Tibetan government-in-exile when Harvard-trained scholar Lobsang Sangay was sworn in as the new leader and pledged to sustain the exile movement until freedom is achieved in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, who presided over the ceremony in Dharamsala, India, will remain as the Tibetan people's spiritual leader.

The 42-year-old Mr. Sangay said his election by Tibetans around the world sent a clear message to the Chinese leadership that the movement is far from dying out. He said the system in Chinese-ruled Tibet is not socialism but colonialism.

But despite the tough language, Mr. Sangay said he would continue the Dalai Lama's pursuit of a middle-way policy seeking only autonomy for Tibet rather than outright independence.

He said his struggle is not against China or its people, but against hardliners in the Chinese government who seek to deny justice, freedom and dignity to the Tibetan people. He said he remains firmly committed to non-violence.

The ceremony ended months of transition within the exile government, sparked by the Dalai Lama's decision to step away from political affairs. Tens of thousands of exiled Tibetans from across the globe elected Mr. Sangay in April.

The exile government has operated from Dharamsala since 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

China has routinely accused the Dalai Lama and his followers of advocating Tibetan secession, despite repeated assurances from the Nobel laureate that he is seeking dialogue with Beijing aimed at establishing Tibetan autonomy.

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Why the Buddha Touched the Earth

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San Francisco, CA (USA) -- "The entire cosmos is a cooperative. The sun, the moon, and the stars live together as a cooperative. The same is true for humans and animals, trees, and the Earth. When we realize that the world is a mutual, interdependent, cooperative enterprise -- then we can build a noble environment. If our lives are not based on this truth, then we shall perish." --Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

"The term 'engaged Buddhism' was created to restore the true meaning of Buddhism. Engaged Buddhism is simply Buddhism applied in our daily lives. If it's not engaged, it can't be called Buddhism. Buddhist practice takes place not only in monasteries, meditation halls and Buddhist institutes, but in whatever situation we find ourselves. Engaged Buddhism means the activities of daily life combined with the practice of mindfulness. --Thich Nhat Hanh

In one of Buddhism's iconic images, Gautama Buddha sits in meditation with his left palm upright on his lap, while his right hand touches the earth. Demonic forces have tried to unseat him, because their king, Mara, claims that place under the bodhi tree. As they proclaim their leader's powers, Mara demands that Gautama produce a witness to confirm his spiritual awakening. The Buddha simply touches the earth with his right hand, and the Earth itself immediately responds: "I am your witness." Mara and his minions vanish. The morning star appears in the sky. This moment of supreme enlightenment is the central experience from which the whole of the Buddhist tradition unfolds.

The great 20th-century Vedantin, Ramana Maharshi said that the Earth is in a constant state of dhyana. The Buddha's earth-witness mudra (hand position) is a beautiful example of "embodied cognition." His posture and gesture embody unshakeable self-realization. He does not ask heavenly beings for assistance. Instead, without using any words, the Buddha calls on the Earth to bear witness.

The Earth has observed much more than the Buddha's awakening. For the last 3 billion years the Earth has borne witness to the evolution of its innumerable life-forms, from unicellular creatures to the extraordinary diversity and complexity of plant and animal life that flourishes today. We not only observe this multiplicity, we are part of it -- even as our species continues to damage it. Many biologists predict that half the Earth's plant and animal species could disappear by the end of this century, on the current growth trajectories of human population, economy and pollution. This sobering fact reminds us that global warming is the primary, but not the only, extraordinary ecological crisis confronting us today.

Has Mara taken a new form today -- as our own species? Just as Mara claimed the Buddha's sitting-place as his own, Homo sapiens today claims, in effect, that the only really important species is itself. All other species have meaning and value only insofar as they serve our purposes. Indeed, powerful elements of our economic system (notably Big Oil and its enablers) seem to have relocated to the state of "zero empathy," a characteristic of psychopathic or narcissistic personalities.

The Earth community has a self-emergent, interdependent, cooperative nature. We humans have no substance or reality that is separate from this community. Thich Nhat Hanh refers to this as our "inter-being": we and other species "inter-are." If we base our life and conduct on this truth, we transcend the notion that Buddhist practice takes place within a religious framework that promotes only our own individual awakening. We realize the importance of integrating the practice of mindfulness into the activities of daily life. And if we really consider Mother Earth as an integral community and a witness of enlightenment, don't we have a responsibility to protect her through mindful "sacred activism"?

This year the U.S. president will determine whether or not to approve a proposed pipeline, which will extend from the "great American carbon bomb" of the Alberta Tar Sands to the Texas oil refineries. The implications are enormous. The devastation that would result from processing and burning even half the Tar Sands oil is literally incalculable: the resulting increase in atmospheric carbon would trigger "tipping points" for runaway global warming. Our best climate scientist, NASA's James Hansen, states that if this project alone goes ahead, it will be "game over" for the Earth's climate. This is a challenge we cannot evade. It is crucial for Buddhists to join forces with other concerned people in creative and resolute opposition to this potentially fatal new folly.

As the Buddha's enlightenment reminds us, our awakening too is linked to the Earth. The Earth bore witness to the Buddha, and now the Earth needs us to bear witness -- to its dhyana, its steadfastness, the matrix of support it continually provides for living beings. New types of bodhisattvas -- "ecosattvas" -- are needed, who combine the practice of self-transformation with devotion to social and ecological transformation. Yes, we need to write letters and emails to the President, hopefully to influence his decision. But we may also need to consider other strategies if such appeals are ignored, such as nonviolent civil disobedience. That's because this decision isn't just about a financial debt ceiling. This is about the Earth's carbon ceiling. This is about humanity's survival ceiling. As the Earth is our witness.

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John Stanley & David Loy are part of the Ecobuddhism Project.
http://www.ecobuddhism.org/index.php?cID=1

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"I wanted to murder whoever did this to my daughter"

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Kathmandu, Nepal -- Krishna Tamang had taken his cattle out to graze on a meadow near his farm in Bhojpur in eastern Nepal. Dark clouds were gathering over the mountains beyond, and he had a sense of foreboding. At 2 pm, a neighbour ran up to tell him his daughter had fallen sick in Chainpur. Krishna borrowed some money and headed off with his brother.

<< BY HER SIDE: Krishna Tamang tends to his daughter at the Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu. She hasn't spoken to anyone since the rape a month ago.

Krishna says he felt like he had fallen off a cliff when police in Chainpur told him what had happened to his daughter. A 21-year-old apprentice at the Laligurans Rimthen Chholing Boudha Gumba in Dilkharka, the nun had been raped repeatedly by the driver and crew of a bus she was travelling in. They also stole the Rs 130,000 she was carrying that her sister Kabita Tamang, who lives in India, had sent home for constructing a new house in the village.

She was travelling from Khandbari to Dharan on 24 June, but a flooded river on the way forced the bus to make an unscheduled night stop. All the lodges in the village were full because of stranded passengers.

Although some passengers offered to share their room, the crew convinced her to spend the night in the bus. At 11pm, Drona Rai, sleeping in a bus parked nearby heard a scream and went to help. He was beaten up by the rapists.

The next morning there was commotion as word spread about what had happened. Members of the Limbuwan Volunteers were alerted, they caught the culprits in a place called Kharang and handed them over to Chainpur police.

By the time Krishna reached Chainpur the next day his daughter had been taken by relatives to Paramount Hospital in Siliguri in India after initial treatment at a local health centre. It took Krishna two more days to reach Siliguri and be by his daughter's side.

"She was in a terrible state," Krishna recalls, "she was still unconscious in the ICU. I wanted to murder whoever did this to my daughter."

When her family couldn't pay and the bills had exceeded INR 200,000, the Siliguri hospital evicted her. The family flew her back to Kathmandu on 15 July, but the Teaching Hospital refused to admit her despite request from members of National Women's Commission.

"We were told that the government hospital does not take this kind of case," recalls the nun's uncle, Surya Tamang. "We returned got to a relative's house at 9pm after waiting at the hospital all day."

After much lobbying with politicians, Teaching Hospital finally took the nun in the next day. Doctors told us she is suffering from extreme post-traumatic stress disorder. "She needs psychological and social support at this time more than medical treatment," Vidya Dev Sharma of the hospital's psychiatry wing, said.

The nun's sister, Kabita, watches as she tosses and turns in bed, moaning. Her bed is near the door of a large ward full of patients. She covers her face with her blanket every time someone walks past. Kabita says her sister hasn't spoken a word to her family, or to the doctors. She says: "Look at what those demons did to her, a young woman who has devoted her life to god."

The family is now worried about her future. Although there were initial reports that the nunnery where she studied in Pharping had excommunicated her, the Nepal Buddhist Federation (NBF) has denied this. "I was misquoted in the Indian media, she was never expelled, there is no provision in Buddhism for excommunication," said the NBF's Norbu Sherpa.

The Nepal Tamang Lama Ghedung, an organisation of Tamang Lamas, has said it will reinstate the nun in the local Gumba in Sankhuwasabha once she gets well. Palden Lama of the Ghedung said: "Her celibacy was broken against her will, Buddhist philosophy is about protecting, rescuing and rehabilitating the victim instead of adding to the pain."

The Sankhuwasabha District Court has sent all five accused to jail for further investigation. In Khandbari, government lawyer Krishna Bhandari says the court has recommended compensation and medical expenses for the victim. "The court will give its verdict once the legal procedures are complete. All we need now is statement of the victim," Bhandari told Nepali Times.

Two members of the bus crew, bus driver Raj Limbu and conductor Bhuwan Gurung have already confessed to the crime, while the rest have pleaded not guilty. The maximum punishment is a jail term for up to 10 years, but since there is also a robbery charge, they could get an additional six year sentence.

However, the bus syndicates in Sankhuwasabha are lobbying with the local administration to have the accused released. They brought transportation to a halt in four districts in eastern Nepal this week to put pressure on the administration.

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Isan monks helping their communities

Home Asia Pacific South East Asia Thailand

Development monks help their poor communities with economic and educational needs, living examples of why monks still matter.

Bangkok, Thailand -- Fed up with rogue monks? Losing hope in ability of the lax and closed clergy to lead the way? Meet Luang Por Ang, Luang Por Chair, and Phra Kru Somsri. All Isan monks. All dedicated to lift the livelihood and spirituality of their villagers. All are living examples of why monks still matter. Probably more so now than ever.

The three so-called "development monks" were in Bangkok earlier this week to talk about their past work and present challenges at a time when the rural folks' way of life and political awakening have dramatically changed from four decades ago.

Luang Por Ang, or Phra Kru Pattanakijjanuwat, is abbot of Wat Huay Bueng in Nakhon Ratchasima's Dan Khun Thot district.

"I finished only Prathom 4," said the elderly monk. "I never thought of such high words as inequality or development. But scarcity was all around me. Right from when I first became a monk, I kept asking myself what I could do to repay the poor villagers who feed me."

He led the villagers in building roads and bridges so that the sick could go to the hospital and farmers could sell their crops. He set up medicine banks, learned how to use needles and syringes, taught himself to be a mechanic, a house builder, and filled in whenever the rice paddies needed more labour. He helped the villagers set up community savings groups and welfare funds. He also succeeded in convincing the villagers to donate land to build a reservoir for common agricultural use.

When dusk fell, the monk completed his day's mission by talking to the villagers about the use of dharma in one's life.

At the height of the communist insurgency in the '70s, he was accused by the authorities of being a communist. "But that didn't bother me. All I wanted was to help the villagers."

He was not alone. Other development monks, like Luang Ta Chair or Phra Kru Amornchaikhun of Wat Asom Dhamatayat in Korat, faced the same fate when he led the villagers to save their community forests from the local mafia.

Fast-forward 40 years. Isan has now changed. So have the Isan people's aspirations.

Transportation, public health and electricity are no longer a concern. The region is now deep in the cash economy with all its urbanisation benefits and pitfalls. Modern telecommunications have connected the villagers with the world, reshaping the villagers' world-views, consumption patterns and life dreams. Farming, meanwhile, is still a losing business. Perennial debt and extra off-farm work have left the villagers little time for the community as before. Like the rest of the country, many villages have also slipped into the deep political divide.

How have development monks dealt with the new challenges?

Knowledge - both in technical skills and management - is now the key, said Phra Kru Somsri, whose official title is Phra Kru Bhodhivirakhun, abbot of Wat Bhodhikaram in Roi Et.

His temple operates as a non-formal education centre offering a wide range of occupational training free of charge so as to give the youth new skills and opportunities.

The temple has also set up a community grocery store, managed by the villagers as a cooperative. The community savings has also grown into a community bank, run transparently by elected village committees to provide low-interest loans, with profits going back to community welfare funds.

Working together is at the heart of these activities. And when the communal, open management structure is already in place, the community can deal with any new challenge, he said, including the political divide which is bridged only when the villagers have to rely on kinship and communal ties to solve common problems.

"When in the temple, they also have the chance to pray, to reflect, to be close to dharma to guide their lives," he added with a smile

More changes are coming. "But don't be alarmed," said Luang Ta Chair pensively. "You can't stop change. Nothing stays the same. It's part of dharma, the way things are. Our duty is to help the villagers be ready to cope with it."

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Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor, Bangkok Post

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‘Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes’ & Conscience?

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Singapore -- ‘Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes’ is a terrific wake-up call, and a timely one too, for highlighting the impending dangers of cross-tampering with human and animal genes. What happens when human intelligence evolves faster than wisdom?

This could be it. But it would be a big mistake to assume that this is what the movie is all about, for it challenges our perspective of humans’ relationship with animals in other multiple ways too.

Because Caesar the ape out-evolves his counterparts in terms of intelligence and sensitivity, it is as if he becomes more of a human and less of a primate – and this forces the audience to confront the issue of speciesism. For animals can indeed be more human in nature than we assume, and if so, who are we to lord over them, and subject them to experimentation, exploitation, and ultimately, slaughter?

Do we need a real-life Caesar, for evolution to become revolution, before we think twice about discrimination against other fellow sentient beings? If otherwise natural evolution is sped up artificially, and if animals out-evolve us, will the karmic tables be eventually turned? Perhaps animals will come to lord over humans instead? In the mean time, is domestication not a form of incarceration, even if those trapped seem compliant or resigned?

Caesar grows up to be smart enough to realise he is discriminated, seen as a dangerous beast, and that he is actually somewhat a pet, to be kept in control. But we are also reminded that the line that divides humans from beasts is indeed blur when Caesar’s fierce animal instincts to protect a human caregiver spins out of his own expectations. This led him to be withheld in an abusive primate compound.

Animal-nature can be tamed, but how much? Then again, some humans behave like savage animals too. Are we more similar or different? Aren’t humans who systematically and continually breed and enslave animals already somewhat savages? At least, animals don’t do this to us. At least, Caesar does become regretful of having harmed a human, and is mindful not to do so again, unless for defence. He is at times more humane than the humans after him!

The problem of discrimination is portrayed realistically, to be more rampant than we might have imagined. Speciesism is indeed an inter-species phenomenon. (Then again, within a single species, such as the human race, there is racism and such too.) Caesar, despite being with more or less of his kind, is discriminated by the other primates at first, before he wins respect with his strategic moves.

Due to his intelligence, Caesar becomes the default leader of the primates. Though they do not share a common language, they all crave their basic right for freedom, and he leads them to it. Self animal liberation! Just when you might assume Caesar to be a nasty ambitious fellow, who might wish to lord over humans, well, all he wanted, at least for this instalment, was to lead his gang to a vast natural reserve – to safety and freedom.

In the Buddha’s teachings, he urges us to see all sentient beings with the eyes of equanimity, with universal kindness. The worthiest and truest form of evolution, surely, is to evolve spiritually, to perfect our compassion and wisdom. The good news is that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature, the potential for perfecting spiritual evolution. All of us, be we humans or animals, can become Buddhas. Eventual as Buddhahood might be, may we evolve in its direction more swiftly!

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Letter: Wrong depiction of Buddhist history in India

Mr. Sharma has changed history of Buddhist India by writing this article without any evidence or supporting data. Mr. Sharma (being ?Brahmin?) is trying to protect his Brahmin ancestor who destroyed Buddhism in India.

The Prince Brahdrad ( the grand-son of King Ashoka) was killed by Brahmin Leader Pushyamitra Shung in a conspiracy and these Brahmins destroyed the monasteries and massacred Buddhist monks. (Reference, see ?Saha Soneri Pane? ? book written by Brahmin scholar Shri. V D Sawarkar).

The Brahmins claims that they are ?Aryans?, people with origins from the North Pole in Europe. They migrated to india and ruled by creating a caste system to maintain their supremacy (Reference, see ?Artic home of theVedas? book by Brahmin scholar Lokmanya Tilak. (available on Wikipedia) .

Let Mr. Sharma give proof of ancient texts where the word ?Hindu? appears. Nowhere in Brahmins religious text book i.e. Vedas, Upanishdas, Manusmruti, etc does the word "Hindu" is written.

The people residing at the banks of the Indus river were called ?Sindhu ? but were pronounced as Hindu by Turkish rulers because they could not pronounce ?S? (accent ?H? instead of ?S?).

In the 16th century when the British came and ruled India they officially recognized these people (OBC, SC & ST) as Hindus. The ?Vedic? is a religion of the Brahmins, which basically is a veil of the Hindus. This is what is called Hindu religion.

Brahmins are always priest of the their gods and non-Brahmins (OBC, SC, ST) were made to worship Brahmins and their gods. Non-brahmins are not allowed to be priest nor given religious privileges.

It is true that Arab, Turk, Afgani, etc came and ruled India but they did not destroy Buddhist temples/monasteries. The Mahabodhi temple is still there in Bihar and Ajantha & Yellora, Sarnath, Sanchi and stupas and chaityas are still existing in India.

It is a fact that Brahmins themselves destroyed ancient Buddhist Universities such as Nalanda ,Takshashila, Vikramshila . Surviving Buddhist monks ran off to Myanmar with a few texts, thus preserving whatever that was left.

Brahmins converted famous Buddhist temple such as Vithoba (Pandharpur), Balaji, Mahabalipuram , Somnath, Jagganath Puri into so called Hindu temples (reference; see ?History of Buddhism? by Brahmin scholar Mr.Apte)

Before the British came, India was ruled by Muslim rulers such as Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan. Mr. Sharma has written false article stating that Hindu king resisted Muslim ruler and Hinduism could not be wiped out.

There are evidence that Hindus (OBC, SC, ST) converted to Islam because they were being discriminated in the caste system introduced by Brahmins through their religious text ?manusmruti? (Reference, see ?Gulamgiri? by scholar and social reformer Shri Jyotirao Phule).

May I request that the editorial team from Buddhist Channel to refrain from publishing such misleadings articles with regards to the true history of Buddhist India.

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Note: OBC (other backward classes) , SC (scheduled caste) ST (scheduled tribes). These so called Hindus have now begun to follow Buddhism after knowing their past history . Recently 1.5 million from the "Maratha" community in Maharashtra State, India converted to a new movement called "Shivdharma". The founder Dr. A H Salunke of this new religion and who has written book "The great son of soil - Lord Buddha" said that once their people come out from the mindset of Hinduism under the new religion, then they will further convert them into Buddhism.

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Hindu Survival and Buddhist Disappearance During Medieval India

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New Delhi, India -- No less a person than Mahatma Gandhi once estimated that nearly a quarter of Hindus had converted to Islam over the past on thousand years. How true is this statement ?

<< Buddhist temples span across India

Hinduism has been associated with the Indian subcontinent since time immemorial. The teachings of the sages of the Vedas emanate from the mists of the past with a chain of Gurus and Saints stretching to the modern day. Amongst the myriad of thoughts coming from this ‘land of saints’ range from the pure stream of Vedanta to the mystical experiences of a Mirabai and to the compassion of Guatam Buddha.

By the dawn of the first millennia CE the Hindu world straddled across the same contiguous region as the Buddhist world. Stretching from the islands of the Indonesian archipelago to the wild regions of Central Asia. The Buddhists with an organized priesthood had ranged furthest with missions to the island of the Indian Ocean and across the Himalayas into China and beyond.

A happy coexistence with little conflict to the point where it was common for people of the same region, tribes and even families to be both Hindu and Buddhist. The kings of the nations under Dharma or Dhamma would donate equally to both religious centres and preachers without distinction.

This however all began to change in the seventh century. The Arab tribes erupted from their desert homes armed with the zeal of a new faith Islam burst into the lands of these ancient faiths. The age old faith of Zoarasterism and Eastern Christianity was almost obliterated within a generation up to and including the venerable Persian lands.

After reaching Sindh a decisive repulse from a coalition of Hindu kings in the battle of Rajasthan in 738 AD the Arabs turned their attention to the north. The Chinese empire was defeated in the Battle of Talas in 751 AD and the field of Central Asia with its patchwork of predominantly Buddhist kingdoms was laid open.

What followed was a relentless pressure of Islamisation which lasted for the next two centuries. In this time with the tides of warfare ever changing the Buddhist kingdoms began to fall one by one.

The destruction of the monasteries and murders of their priests led to a leaderless Buddhist community being unable to resist the pressures of the Islamic missionaries and soldiers. A stream of refuges and priests began to head for the spiritual homeland of India lending vigour to the infancy of the much acclaimed bhakti movement. By the end of the millennia the Buddhists had almost been wiped of the map of Central Asia to the borders of India and Tibet and the newly Islamised Turk tribes now eyed the vast Indian subcontinent.

Here meeting sterner resistance after a wave of incursions on an around 1000 AD the Turks eventually broke into the subcontinents around 1200AD leading to a tidal wave of bloodletting that has scarce comparison in human history. The Buddhist regions of Afghanistan and Western Punjab fell rapidly to the Islamic crusaders as did the far flung regions of predominantly Buddhist East Bengal. The same story of Central Asia was repeated with the destruction of the great Buddhist centres like at Nalanda and the slaying of their organised priesthood leaving a confused and leaderless populace.

The Hindus however reacted differently. The existence of numerous tribes and clans and religious groupings led to a deficiency in common action. However each region and tribe despite the destruction of many temples and slaughter of holy men managed to maintain its viability. The absence of an organized priesthood and single doctrine foiled the Turk and Afghan attempted to obliterate the Hindu religion. The defeat of a single Hindu clan in a particular region was quickly replaced by another Hindu tribe/warrior community to fill the vacuum almost instantly. After overwhelming the mainly Buddhist regions the Turks found themselves holding certain urban centres in a sea of Hindu resistance.

The burgeoning bhakti movement helped by the headlong demise of Buddhism, though no Buddhist ideas expanded to cover the entire subcontinent in a challenge to the nascent Islamistation in many regions.

The bloodletting continued. The Muslims historian Firishta in his book Tarikh i Farishta talks of tens and thousands of Muslim solders having to immigrate to India each year to cover the losses in the endless wars with the Hindus. The Hindu kings being pushed back by the heavy Turk Cavalry which had defeated the Crusaders of Western Europe adopted tactics to harry and punish Muslim warriors at each and every opportunity. A bloody stalemate was reached in which it began to dawn on the Muslim armies that the Hindus could not be wiped out in the same manner as the Jews, Zoroastrians, Pharsees, and the erstwhile Buddhists of west and South Asia.

What happened was a regeneration of Hindu thought. A reaction based on dogged resistance backed by religious inspiration. The inspiration allowed the Hindus to stop the Arabic Jihad in its tracks after overwhelming all resistance from the border of India to Spain. It foiled the Turks for three hundred years whilst they beat back the combined might of the Europe in the Crusades. The waves of attacks emanating from central Asia were beaten back on numerous occasions and eve after the plundering and penetrative raids of Mahmud Ghaznnavi and two centuries later of Mohammed Ghori the fighting did not end. Indeed whilst the hapless Buddhists of South Asia were almost wiped from the face of the subcontinent with a large number falling under the flag of the ummah the Hindus crucially proved the ability to regenerate.

The open system of worship without a central authority and a defined priest hood or single place of pilgrimage allowed Hinduism to resist, adapt, regenerate and eventually thrive in the face of genocidal attack. The Muslim historians whilst lauding the achievements of their kings in entering and establishing rule in India lamented their failure to convert the land into the land of Islam. Eventually realising the futility of their operations we have the sight of the Mughal emperor , Akbar renouncing traditional Islam and establishing his own Din i Ilahi in line with the syncretic traditions of the people. When his successor broke this tenuous compromise the Empire was broken into pieces with predominantly Hindu warrior lands rising over its ruins and obliterating the Islamic rule. Indeed by the time of the advent of the British the surviving Muslims kings either had folded to the new Hindu revival or ran into the waiting arms of the British Empire for protection.

Buddhism is happily making a return to India, the land of its origin. Pilgrims from East Asia and the Americas now make pious journeys to the land of Buddha’s Birth. It is however a sober reminder to humanity of the need to preserve an ethos of toleration and acceptance and resistance in the face of genocidal terror. It is the lesson of the history of Hinduism.

The truths of conversion are far more complicated than envisaged by modern day self proclaimed scholars. The idea of a mono religious India prior to the Islamic invasions defies historical truth. A multi cultural, multi religious India was assailed by the determined forces of monotheistic jihad. The end of a millennia of attack saw nearly a quarter of the subcontinent embrace the middle eastern faith but the concept that a uniformly Hindu nation became in part Muslim is a falsehood. The very word for ‘idol breaker’ is but shikan – (lit- breaker of the Buddha) a tragic reference to the obliteration of the once widespread Buddhist faith from the lands of its birth and beyond. In contrast – though suffering terrible pain the Hindus resisted, regenerated and in parts expanded showing clearly that the values of Dharma are essential not only for survival but for the very future of mankind

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Pakistani Buddhist art defies odds to show in NY

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NEW YORK, USA -- A remarkable trove from Pakistan's little-known Buddhist past has gone on show in New York in an art exhibition that defied floods, riots and explosive US-Pakistani relations before finally crossing the world.

The against-the-odds exhibition, "The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara," features sculptures that have mostly never before been seen in the United States.

Unveiled this week at the Asia Society, the works trace the dizzyingly complex pre-Islamic history of the Gandhara region located in the northwest of modern-day Pakistan.

The area includes the Swat Valley, synonymous today with Taliban-linked guerrilla groups and extremist revolts against Pakistan's government.

But as the exhibition makes clear, Gandhara once was a cradle of culture and art, as well as the target of an endless stream of empires, in a flourishing period that ran from the first century BC through the fifth century AD.

"Despite images of Pakistan as a place of violent extremism, the region has an ancient tradition of tolerance and pluralism," said Asia Society Museum director Melissa Chiu.

The stone carvings and works in gold and bronze mirror influences from as far apart as ancient Greece and Rome, India, Persia and, increasingly over time, Buddhism.

The Buddha figures, including one of just three so-called "emaciated Buddhas" in the world, and the other pieces have survived more than a millennium and a half intact, their mixed styles testifying to cultural fusion and experimentation.

But the tale of how they traveled from museums in Lahore and Karachi to Manhattan is hardly less remarkable than their passage through the ages.

Chiu told AFP the Asia Society had been working nearly two years to bring the approximately 70 objects to New York.

With nine or 10 layers of bureaucratic approval required, it was always going to be difficult, and then negotiations became sidelined in the emergency caused by catastrophic flooding last year.

Next, with acres of paperwork already sorted, the country's government dissolved its culture ministry as part of a shake-up. "We'd had an agreement with the ministry of culture," Chiu recalled ruefully.

An opening for March was planned and abandoned -- an unusual move in the international art world -- as tensions, in part linked to a CIA operative's shooting of two Pakistanis, grew between Pakistan and the United States.

The killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan during a May raid by US Special Operations Forces made the hoped-for deal even more tenuous.

Finally, agreement was reached. But even as work began to pack and ship the precious artifacts, the exhibit's fate hung in the balance.

"In Karachi, they had all these riots the week this was being packed," Chiu said. Terrified packers refused to leave their houses and, in the end, "museum staff went around to the houses to collect them."

Chiu called the exhibit "a once in a lifetime opportunity," saying the difficulties in pulling it off should inspire optimism.

"What's interesting is there were so many people in Pakistan who helped, who put their necks on the line to make this happen -- to show Americans another side of Pakistan, its long cultural heritage," she said.

Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations in New York talked with Chiu every day for months. "Then, he called the president and other ministers to get help."

Among the highlights of the show, which opened Tuesday and runs through October 30, is the extraordinarily carving "Vision of Buddha Paradise."

The stele features a crowded scene not only in relief but carved out, so that multiple details stand almost free of the background from which they have been cut.

Although Pakistan is now overwhelmingly Muslim, the artworks are carefully guarded and revered in their home museums. There's another echo that lives on, Chiu noted with a mischievous smile: the twirly mustaches sported by many in the sculptures.

In Pakistan today, "everyone has a mustache. It's de rigeur for men."

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Steering the wheel of life

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Hangzhou, China -- Shi Guangquan once worked behind the wheel of a bus. Now he is a driving force behind the promotion of Buddhism in China.

<< Shi Guangquan, the 50-year-old abbot of Lingyin Temple in Zhejiang's capital Hangzhou, presides over a Buddhist ritual in this file photo. Provided to China Daily

"Buddhism let me know how to understand this world, and it also tells me how to make my life meaningful," said Shi, 50, one of the most revered Buddhist masters in China.

Shi is the abbot of Lingyin Temple, which lies in the cultural West Lake landscape of Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province. Founded in AD 328, it literally means Temple of the Soul's Retreat.

The master said he was not impressed by Buddhism at an early age. From 1979 to 1989, he worked as a bus driver in Hangzhou, and even tried to join the army when he graduated from high school.

"But I was refused due to my poor eyesight," said the bespectacled abbot, smiling.

However, his father's death in 1984, which made him feel the impermanence of human life, changed his future.

"At that time I often went to a local temple to hear the monks chant for my deceased father, and I felt peace of mind in that situation, with the sound of chanting and the aroma of incense."

He then started to learn Buddhist mantras at home and became an ardent volunteer serving a nearby temple.

"I enjoyed the years of being a lay Buddhist, in which I learned many Buddhist doctrines, including doing good things to elevate the soul and accepting whatever happens to you."

As fate would have it, a dream he had in 1989, in which he became a monk of Lingyin Temple, made him determined to convert.

"Things happen for a reason, and I heeded the call of the spirit," the master said.

His decision didn't sit well with his family. His mother cried for three whole days before giving her consent.

"My mother cried because she misunderstood Buddhism, just like lots of Chinese people do," said Shi.

His mother and many Chinese people think that once a person converts to Buddhism, he or she will have no connection with family anymore.

"It is regulated in the Buddhist doctrine that you should take care of your parents," said the abbot.

He now visits his mother once a year, usually on the eve of Spring Festival, the Chinese lunar New Year's eve.

Ordained into the Buddhist order in 1990, Shi studied Buddhist doctrines in Shanghai and returned to Hangzhou seven years later.

"There were almost no Buddhist activities in Hangzhou," recalled the abbot. "I felt it was my responsibility to promote Buddhism."

He founded the first Buddhist seminary in the city, offered courses in Buddhism, held meetings about religious communication and organized the world's first Buddhist forum.

Now as an abbot running a temple of more than 110 monks and the chairman of the Hangzhou Buddhist Association, Shi said that his busy daily life is "different from the previous one".

Besides work from his own temple, he also has to deal with affairs of local and national Buddhist associations, attend meetings in China and abroad, and from time to time welcome foreign heads of state.

However, the abbot said Buddhism faces problems in China, including a lack of religious people, a decline in the number of monks and poor promotion.

"Misunderstandings about monks are still prevalent in China," said Shi. Many people still feel strange when they see monks use cell phones, take public transportation or even read newspapers. Sometimes people even upload pictures of monks buying food or making phone calls.

"It's discrimination against monks and an interference with other's private lives," said the master. "Some people still hold the outdated idea that monks should be pale and live in remote mountains," he said.

"As the abbot of Lingyin Temple, I think my most important task is to help people understand Buddhism and the peace they can obtain through its teachings."

The monastery now often invites lay Buddhists and religious people to enjoy tea and music in the temple and holds a Buddhist cultural festival every year.

"Instead of waiting in temples for religious people to visit, Chinese monasteries should be more active in promoting Buddhism," said Shi. "When you stop moving forward, you're already on your way backward."

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Burnaby Buddhists prepare for visit of Tibetan teacher Kalu Rinpoche

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Burnaby, BC (Canada) -- A small Buddhist centre in Burnaby is getting ready for the visit of the man believed to be the reincarnation of the person who established it nearly 40 years ago.

<< Lama Tsultrim is eagerly anticipating a visit next month of Kalu Rinpoche. Tsultrim says the 20 year-old monk is in touch with more modern methods, including maintaining his own Facebook page. MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

Before the Dalai Lama began bringing Buddhism to the world, the Kalu Rinpoche was assigned the task.

When he arrived in Canada in 1972 he first looked at Toronto but couldn’t find many interested in setting up a centre there.

So he came to the Lower Mainland and formed the Kagyu Kunkyab Chuling, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist Dharma centres in the West, that is based on Sidley Street in South Burnaby. There is also a retreat on Salt Spring Island.

Kalu Rinpoche, who went on to establish more than 100 centres in many corners of the Western world, passed away in 1989, but before he did he asked a lama and his wife to have a child.

He was born on Sept. 17, 1990, and has been recognized as being the reincarnation of the previous Kalu Rinpoche.

Lama Tsultrim has been at the centre for 10 years. He studied under the original Kalu Rinpoche, and also came into contact with the current one.

“Of course,” said Tsultrim, when asked if he believed the 20-year-old who will be visiting the Lower Mainland next month is a reincarnation of the one he grew up with.

“He is the same, pretty much in the way he acts and the way he talks just like the previous one. He cares about people like the previous one. He had a very good relationship with his previous life.”

Tsultrim moved to a monastery when he was seven years old and worked closely with Kalu Rinpoche from 1982 to 1988.

“He was a very, very kind teacher and he really cared about other people. For me, he was like a father,” said Tsultrim.

Patrick Couling, a centre spokesman, said lamas who know both men well all say the two Kalu Rinpoches are one and the same.

However, what is different about them is the young Kalu Rinpoche grew up in the age of the Internet and Facebook, even though he was raised in a monastery 7,000 feet up in the mountains near Darjeeling, India. Part of his mission is trying to integrate modern means to spread Buddhism.

“Spirituality is one thing, but you’ve got to still live in this world,” said Couling.

Kalu Rinpoche will be in British Columbia Sept. 12-25, with the Lower Mainland portion of the visit Sept. 13-17, including his 21st birthday celebration on Sept. 16.

“He’s a man believed to be a direct descendant of people who lived 1,000 to 1,500 years ago, so there’s a tremendous amount of excitement as a result,” said Tsultrim.

For more information on the centre and the events of Kalu Rinpoche’s visit go to kkc-kdol.org.

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Orissa to spend spend 14 crores to develop Buddhist sites to attract tourists

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Jajpur, India -- To attract more tourists to Langudi, Kaima, Neulipur, Tarapur and other hills in Jajpur district, the state government will spend 14 crores within four years, said Ashok Tripathy the secretary of tourism and culture department of Orissa on Saturday.  Tripathy along with senior officials visited these Buddhist sites on Saturday.

For an archeological hotspot, Langudi wears the tag of obscurity well. Located in Dharmasala tahasil of Jajpur district , it is a sleepy hamlet with a sparse population. But things could change, thanks to the discovery of a Buddhist Stupa along with many images of different postures of Lord Buddha. Langudi hit the headlines eight years ago, when several senior historian and archeologists considered it as the ‘Puspagiri’ as described the famous Chinese traveler Huein Tsang . However, very few tourists have since ventured into this remote hamlet for a view of the aretefacts. But the government will spend money to develop the Buddhist site for which more tourists will come soon, said Tripathy.

Targeting Buddhist Tourism, in Jajpur the state government is going to launch Buddhist Circuit involving primary pilgrimage places associated with the life and teachings of Lord Buddha.Lalitagiri, Ratnagiri, Udayagiri, Langudi, Kaima and Neulipur are the primary pilgrimage places along with numerous other sites where Buddha and the saints travelled will be part of the itinerary, Tripathy said .

Global tourism trend has shifted to Asian Tourist market with 40 per cent of total tourists in the international tourism market arriving from Asian Countries. “Trend of tourism is changing with the interval of time and there is a need of new products to be identified,” said Tripathy.
The state government will build a 150 feet high Buddha statute in Neulapur hill and a 85 Buddha statute in Deuli hill to attract more tourists. A 50 feet high Shiva statute will be built in Gokarneswat temple. A 500 meter long ropeway will be connected from Deuli hill to Kaima hill, said Tripathy.

Kalpataru Das the MLA of Dharmasala suggested before the officials to build the statues and we have agreed to abide the decision of the MLA, said Tripathy.

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Japan tsunami survivors pray in summer Buddhist rite

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OTSUCHICHO, Japan -- In a little room of a small hillside temple that barely survived Japan's tsunami five months ago, Yuko Kikuchi knelt down, quietly sobbing and gently caressing the boxes that hold the bones and ashes of her perished mother and sister-in-law.

"It's harder now," 57-year-old Kikuchi, who came back to her devastated hometown Otsuchicho, about 500 km (300 miles) northeast of Tokyo, on Sunday to observe "obon," a series of annual Buddhist ceremonies in mid-August to honor the spirits of the dead.

"In the beginning, there were so many things I had to do and my feelings were high. But now that things are gradually settling, it's hard and I remember many things that we used to do without thinking deeply ... It was just so sudden."

Many survivors of the magnitude 9 quake and tsunami that struck northeast Japan on March 11 are trying to take a step forward in their shattered lives with obon ceremonies, which involve gatherings of extended family members, welcoming back the spirits of ancestors to homes, and praying.

But residents of Otsuchicho, still surrounded by burned and melted buildings and other reminders of the disaster, know that the annual festive mood they have long embraced won't be back this year.

"We can't celebrate obon like we used to until last year. But even though we can't recognize them in a visible way now, I believe talking about them with everyone and doing our best would help honor them, so I'm trying to stay strong," Kikuchi said.

The March 11 disaster left more than 20,400 dead or missing in Japan, and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

TIME AND SCARS

Kikuchi and her brother was in Dainenji, a Buddhist temple that survived the tsunami and fire that reached its gate. The temple is now temporarily housing cremated bones and ashes of more than 100 washed away by the tsunami and burned by the fire.

A big temple nearby burned down and heavy gravestones were knocked down all around, shattered by the force of the massive tsunami, which brought many followers of that temple to Dainenji.

Nearly 80 boxes containing remains of unidentified bodies lined up in the temple's hallway, while dozens more already identified rested in small rooms in the back of the temple, with relatives offering prayers in front of smiling portraits.

"We are sorry we could not find her until recently. At the weekend, we went around morgues many times. But we are relieved," said Shoetsu Kobayashi, 54, who came with his wife to honor his mother-in-law, identified last month with DNA testing.

A town of about 15,000 before the quake, Otsuchicho lost nearly 800 residents in the disaster, including its mayor, and more than 650 are still missing.

Rebuilding the town has not been easy. Five months on, many residents are still looking for jobs and the town is preparing for a mayoral election later this month so that reconstruction planning can go ahead.

Kobayashi and his wife Masako, who lost their mothers and their home, moved to temporary housing last month with their two sons. He was puzzled about how to prepare an obon altar -- an annual chore his mother took care of -- but said he was determined to observe the ceremonies as in the past.

"I only wish I'd done this before now," he said in front of the three-stage altar, where lilies and greens adorned his mother's photo, fruits and cakes were offered, and candles and incenses were lit. "But I think she would be happy in heaven."

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The Unreality of Time, Space, Duration and Extension

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Singapore -- The Buddhist Theory of Universal Flux explained the world process represented as a motion that is discontinuous, although a compact one.

It is consist of an infinite number of discrete moments following one another almost without intervals. There is no matter at all, just flashes of energy following one another and producing the illusion of stabilized phenomena.

This Universal Momentariness also implies that every duration in time is consist of point-instants following one another, every extension in space is also consists of these point instants arising in close proximity to each other and simultaneously and every motion consists of these point-instants arising in close proximity and in succession.

It is just like a roll of negatives in our cinemas of old, where when set in motion at a certain speed, eventually products the stability of the pictures we see on the screen. There is therefore no Time, no Space and no Motion over and above the point instants of which these imagined entities are constructed by our imagination.

When we look at the Indian Realist interpretation, Time is a substance, eternal and all pervading. Its existence is inferred from the fact on the sequence of events occurring between phenomena. Space is likewise a substance which is eternal and all embracing. It is inferred from the fact that all extended body processes impenetrability and they are beside each other in space. According to them, different times are parts of one and the same time.

When Time and Space are represented as divided in many spaces and different times, it is a metaphor. The objects situated in them, but not Space and Time itself, are divided. They are not general concepts but proper names. They are representation produced by a single object only. To the Realist, Time and Space are two all embracing receptacles contain each of them the entire Universe.

The Buddhist denies the separate reality of these two realities. Real is a thing possessing a separate efficiency of its own. The receptacles of the things have no separate efficiency. Time and Space cannot be separate from the things that exist in them. They are not separate entities.

Every point instants may be viewed as a particle of Time, as a particle of Space and as a sensible quality, but this is only a difference of our mental attitude toward that point-instants. The point instant itself, the ultimate reality cut loose from all imagination is without quality, timeless and indivisible. Only subtle time, the moment, the point instant of efficiency is considered as real.

The notion of substantial Space and Time were not highlighted as it can be deducted by reasoning and where its empirical original is impossible to conceive, but they can be destroyed dialectically on the score that the notions of duration and extension contain
contradictions and cannot be accepted as objectively real.

If we look at reality as a point instant of efficiency, and if we are to said that it possesses extension and duration we will be landed in a contradiction, as each real point instant cannot exist at the same time in many places, neither can the same reality be real at different times. To the realists, empirical things have a limited real duration. They are produced by the creative power of nature or by human will or by the will of God.

For the Buddhist, if a thing exists at moment A, it cannot also exist at some moment B, for to exist at moment A means not to have any real existence at moment B or at any other moment, keeping in mind the reality of a point instant of efficiency. If a thing could have any real duration through several moments, it would represent a real unity existing at once at different times.

It would be either that the enduring unity is a fiction and real is only the moments, or the moments are fiction and real is only duration. For the Buddhist the moments alone are real, duration is a fiction, for if duration is a reality, it would be a reality existing at different time at once, i.e., existing and at the same time non-existing at a given moment.

Thus Ultimate Reality for the Buddhist is timeless, space-less and motionless. But it is not timeless in the sense of eternal being, space-less not in the sense of an ubiquitous being, motionless not in the sense of an all embracing motionless whole, but timeless, space-less and motionless in the sense of having no duration, extension or movement. It is just the mathematical point instant, the moment of an action’s efficiency.

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A Tibetan Monk Goes Up in Flames. Who's to Blame?

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Sichuan, China -- The Tibetan National Martyrs' Memorial is a black obelisk in Dharamsala, the Indian hill station that serves as the headquarters of exiled Tibetans who have fled their Chinese-ruled homeland. Usually the slender monument is surrounded by a colorful tangle of Tibetan prayer flags.

<< A Tibetan exile holds a portrait of Tsewang Norbu, 29, a Buddhist monk who reportedly died Monday after setting himself on fire in China's Sichuan province's Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, during a candle light vigil in Dharmsala, India, Monday, August 15, 2011. (Photo: Ashwini Bhatia / AP)

But on August 16, the base of the memorial was plastered with something new: pictures of Tsewang Norbu, a burly monk wearing sunglasses and a slight smirk. On August 15, the monk from China's Sichuan province set himself on fire. Even as he burned to death, he reportedly shouted slogans supporting freedom for Tibet.

The self-immolation was the second this year by a Tibetan monk in Sichuan. Both clerics, according to exile Tibetan organizations, were driven to desperation by a mounting Chinese crackdown on ethnic minorities and religious expression. (China's official Xinhua News Agency acknowledged that Tsewang Norbu's set himself ablaze but reported that authorities did not know why the 29-year-old had done so.)

Certainly the official reaction toward the monasteries where the two monks lived was swift and harsh. After a monk named Phuntsog fatally doused himself with fuel in March, hundreds of his fellow monks at the Kirti monastery were forced to leave; surveillance continues to this day, according to Tibetan media. Exile groups report that similar events are now unfolding at Tsewang Norbu's Nyitso monastery, where Chinese security forces are ringing the complex and telecommunications have been severed.

In July, the monastery had defied a government ban by trying to celebrate the 76th birthday of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who lives in exile in Dharamsala. Beijing considers the Dalai Lama to be a dangerous secessionist; simply displaying his image can carry heavy repercussions in China. In recent days, Nyitso monastery was essentially under police siege for having dared to venerate the Dalai Lama, say exiled monks with ties to the area, leading to the tinderbox atmosphere in which Tsewang Norbu lit himself on fire. Shortly before his self-immolation, the monk apparently passed out leaflets calling for Tibetan freedom and praising the Dalai Lama.

Since the 1980s, the Dalai Lama has insisted that he is calling for autonomy for Tibet, not outright independence. He has won the Nobel Peace Prize for advocating non-violent resistance against a brutal Chinese rule. But frustration among Tibetans has boiled over on several occasions, most recently in 2008 when protests culminated in deadly clashes between Tibetans and members of China's Han majority. The latter ethnic group has flooded to Tibet in recent years, and Tibetans allege the Han get most of the good jobs created by China's recent investment drive in Tibet.

The monks' fiery displays are just another sign of how deep Tibetan discontent remains, even as China builds roads and other development projects across the vast region. Although self-immolation was a historic mode of protest by monks in places like Vietnam, it is not a tradition in modern Tibetan Buddhism. So while some Tibetans in Dharamsala mourned Tsewang Norbu as a martyr, others were less forgiving. “Committing suicide is against our teachings,” says a monk studying in Dharamsala, who declined to give his name because he plans to return to Tibet. “We are all desperate, but [suicide] is not the solution.”

Read more: http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/08/16/a-tibetan-monk-goes-up-in-flames-whos-to-blame/#ixzz1VEY4b0Bf

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