Can Buddhists Be Time Travellers?

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Singapore -- As we shall see, the Buddhist answer to this interesting question is complex and nuanced… When it comes to travel, we tend to think of it physically. However, it is possible to travel mentally as well. We only need to recall the most vivid memory to know what this means.

If time-travel is possible, there would be the eventuality of a traveller returning to the past to purposely or accidentally kill his then unmarried grandfather, which would annihilate himself, as his grandfather is a crucial cause, a link in the chain of events, towards the eventual effect that is him, his grandson. Yet, this self-destruction is impossible, because if he no longer exists in the present time, he wouldn’t be able to travel back in time, which means he would be alive, able to do the deed, yet unable too… In short, the paradox suggests that time travel is self-contradictory and thus impossible, as it violates the basic law of causality, rendering this pillar of reality malfunctional or even non-existent. There are theories of how time travel might still be possible. However, they necessitate that (1) the past cannot be changed at all, (2) or can only change in ways that do not alter the present, (3) or can only change in possible parallel universes, other worlds with similar attributes, which do not causally affect the one the traveller is from. Even if the last two are possible, we would have to wonder what is the point of actual travel if we are unable to change horrific history in this world that matters most to us. (Mirroring these considerations, they are equally applicable on ideas of time travel to the future.)

The truth is, the Grandfather Paradox is based on gross over-simplification of the vast complexities of reality. It speaks only of linear cause and effect breaking down, while the world operates, as the Buddha taught in the Avatamsaka Sutra, as an intricately interconnected web of interdependence, with each phenomenon linked to every other thing, in an one-in-all and all-in-one way. For instance, the traveller’s grandfather’s life and death have much larger implications than ever imaginable. Thus, interactive time travel would warp the fabric of reality so seriously that a single active trip by one person is enough to send lasting reverberations throughout the universe. That the text and images in our history books are not ‘magically’ and constantly morphing proves that history is not being rewritten as we speak!

Yet, as mentioned, time travel is still possible – albeit only mentally, via the supernormal power of recollecting past lives. The bad news is that, being a psychic ability, it is not a skill easily acquired. The good news is that, as stated in the fifth of his 48 great vows within the Sutra of Immeasurable Life, all who attain rebirth in Amituofo’s (Amitabha Buddha) Pure Land, among many other received blessings, will be empowered by him to ‘be aware of past lives, at least knowing all matters of a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of kalpas.’ (1 koti is about 10 million; 1 nayuta is about 100 billion; 1 kalpa is about 1.28 trillion years) This astronomical number is only figurative, hinting of the limitless, that is equal to the inconceivable powers of Amituofo from his mastery of mind and boundless shared merits.

His intention is to most efficiently facilitate beings in his Pure Land to attain the deepest possible insights through hindsights, by seeing the real and detailed operation of the laws of karma and such within and across many lifetimes – both theirs and others’. Basking in the ideal equanimous learning environment of Pure Land with a Buddha’s tutelage, it is the absolutely safest place to remember past lives as they really were, without the dangers of deluded imagination, or giving rise to attachment or aversion upon recall. With various beings’ existential back stories gleaned, these recollections will nurture the Bodhisattva path, as there will be natural compassionate empathy arising with wise knowledge of how each used to karmically suffer, and how to more effectively guide them towards liberation.

Perfectly aligned with causality as discussed, as travellers, we can only be observers; and not participants. However, with Amituofo’s meticulous empowerment, we can be immersed at our wills, to be within past ‘temporal channels’ with ‘live’ and super high definition 3D settings, with surround sound and such. Although we will not be physically there in the past at all, but psychically, we can be fully there! Despite being unable to change the past then, we can truly re-look and reinterpret it afresh and completely, to learn many missed lessons, recall forgotten lessons, resolve to make amends for the future, and most importantly, to stop letting negative histories repeat. This is how we can break free from the cycle of samsaric rebirth once and for all, and guide others to do the same!

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Nalanda Buddhist Society opens JB outreach centre

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WALK THE WALK: An organisation which believes in holistic education is doing its bit for underprivileged schoolchildren by offering free tuition classes

JOHOR BARU, Malaysia -- THE Nalanda experience has found its way to Johor with the opening of the Nalanda Education & Outreach (NEO) Centre in Taman Johor Jaya here recently.

<< Dr Tan Ho Soon gives dhamma talk to devotees at the shrine hall of the Nalanda Education & Outreach (right) in Taman Johor Jaya. Pix by Chuah Bee Kim

The event also coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Nalanda Buddhist Society founded in 2003 by Dr Tan Ho Soon.

NEO chairman David Yap said that the non-governmental organisation believes in giving knowledge and wisdom to achieve integral human development.

Yap said the centre is recruiting volunteers to tutor children in their school subjects.

"The children who can come here for tuition are from poor families regardless of race or religion," Yap said.

"At our centre in Taman Sri Serdang, Selangor, volunteers of different faiths tutor children from primary and secondary schools in various subjects for free," Yap said.

Tan, who was also present, said that the society had helped 1,200 students to-date.

"Nalanda introduces something new every two years. In 2005, we started the Nalanda Dharma School to provide knowledge, skills and values to teens aged 13 to 18.

"In 2007, the Nalanda Institute was established to offer courses on Buddhism and leadership training. More than 8,000 people have attended the free courses.

"Two years later, we opened the Nalanda Centre in Taman Sri Serdang, followed by the Pustaka Nalanda (Nalanda Library) in 2011.

"It is believed to be the only computerised Buddhist library where members can source books online.

"It has a collection of over 3,000 titles comprising Pali scriptures, Buddhist encyclopaedias and reference books," Tan said.

Nalanda has become one of several acknowledged centres of Buddhist education of the Theravada tradition in the country.

The NEO centre at 30, Jalan Dedap 26, Taman Johor Jaya, is open from 9am to 11am daily, with chanting sessions on Sunday mornings. For details, call 07-350-3870 or visit www.nalanda.org.my.

The two-storey venue offers accommodation to visiting monks, and has a library, shrine hall, meditation room and training rooms for volunteers.

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Sibling synergy, Buddhism fuel start-up's success

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SEATTLE, WA (USA) -- Armorize Technologies doesn't fit the mold of your typical tech start-up.

Brothers Wayne and Matt Huang chart a distinctive course at Armorize Technologies

The Taipei-based malware detection firm was launched in January 2006 as the brainchild of brothers Wayne and Matt Huang, who took divergent paths in their respective college and early career years.

Older brother Wayne, the company's CEO, was a military software engineer in Taiwan, while Matt, COO, was a globe-trotting venture capitalist. After deciding to team up, the Huang brothers found a tall, blonde Mandarin-speaking South African, Jordan Forssman to help them land the company's initial Taiwanese customers. Forssman's is the company's director of business development.

Funded initially by both angel investors and institutional investors, Artmorize began very frugally using minimal resources from its base in Taiwan. "We did everything ourselves with just a few employees and very little cash," says Matt. "It was a very tough but very exciting time."

After a series of advances and setbacks – including Wayne's departure for a year to dedicate himself to Buddhism studies – Armorize hit stride about a year and a half ago when Wayne returned as a reinvigorated CEO. His Buddhist master bestowed him with a mandala, a plan to harmoniously blend his Buddhist's studies and entrepreneurial pursuits.

The mandala was structured to "join these two worlds into one, so the harder I work at Armorize and the more I innovate at Armorize, the more I would actually learn about Buddhism and make great advances in my Buddhism studies," Wayne says.

Wayne brought on board 50 close associates whom he knew from college and Buddhist camps and study groups, and Armorize has thrived ever since.

It now has more than 70 employees, adding 20 people since early 2012, and has sold products to more than 300 enterprise and government customers, in more than 15 countries throughout Asia, Europe and the U.S.

"Buddhists are very, very disciplined people," says Forssman. "They bring that to the table in the way they view their work and their responsibilities in developing solutions for our customers."

Says Wayne: "It's very special. You get the execution power together with an environment that inspires a lot of creativity and innovation."

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Buddhist monks expand peace walk to Kennewick

Monks of the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Temple on Bainbridge Island will be in the Tri-Cities on July 30 for a prayer walk for abolition of nuclear weapons.

The five-mile Kennewick segment will start at 9:40 a.m. at the Rite Aid on Highway 395 and Kennewick Avenue and proceed on Clearwater Avenue to Columbia Center Boulevard. It will end at Target.

The six-mile Richland segment will begin at 1 p.m. with a brief ceremony in John Dam Plaza. It will proceed north on George Washington Way to the 300 Area gate of the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The walk is open to the public. A support vehicle will provide rides for those who need a lift midwalk.

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Sri Lankan Buddhist monk begins fast unto death demanding clean drinking water

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Colombo, Sri Lanka -- A Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka has begun a fast unto death on Tuesday demanding the government to provide clean drinking water to the residents in an area in Gampaha district.

The chief incumbent of the Galoluwa Buddhist Temple, the venerable Siridhamma Thero has launched the fast as a last measure after the discussions held with the government officials failed to resolve the issue of contaminated water.

The monk and the area residents say that the water in the area is contaminated with the effluents from a glove factory in the area and demand the government to close the factory.

Venerable Siridhamma Thero had said that he and the public representatives held talks with the government officials to resolve the issue but the talks weren't successful.

He has requested the police to ensure security for the area residents and maintain law and order during his fast.

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Japan’s Buddhist Temples keeping up with the times using DJs, apps, video games, booze and more

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Tokyo, Japan -- While religions of all stripes have something to offer in terms of support and advice, they also share a common detriment: they’re all really, really old. While age brings with it wisdom and experience, if religion can’t relate to modern society it runs the risk of getting left behind.

To help prevent this, several monks across Japan have been adopting new technology and trends or have tried simply reaching out to people differently, in less orthodox and more human ways.

Higher Tech Attainment

Walking around and looking at the masses of people with eyes looked on their smartphone it’s hard to ignore the pull of digital media. Higan Temple has been at the forefront of tapping into cyberspace to expose the masses to Buddhism.

What started as a blog chronicling Kosuke Matsumoto’s journey to becoming a monk has blossomed into a virtual online temple. Now several Buddhists and monks contribute articles offering their viewpoints on business, parenting, food, and more. The monks also answer questions asked via Twitter.

There is a small English section too where Mr. Matsumoto occasionally writes articles. The temple also released an app for iPhone and Android called Undo to assist in meditation.

Another website called Tera Koya Buddha works as a calendar of events for Buddhist related activities running the gamut from yoga classes to jazz festivals. Buddhist Temples have also be stepping up their game in the entertainment field as well.

Sutra Hero

One way to get recognition is to put out an interesting and entertaining product for people to latch onto. A few of our readers are likely familiar with Ryoho Temple, otherwise known as Moe Temple for its liberal use of moe characters all around the grounds.

A while back we reported on their video game Sutra Master, a rhythm game using traditional Buddhist “instruments”, characters and symbols.

Well, it seems as if Moe Temple was just getting started in the video game business. Now they have released an RPG game for use on iPhone and Android called Welcome to Ryoho Temple [Free Training Yokai Card Game]. The game is a strategy-based card game which uses moe versions of about 1,000 different traditional Japanese creatures such as tengu and akaoni.

Parties

Another way to lure people with technology is to throw a kick-ass party. Earlier this year Gokokuji Temple held the Tibet Festival Tokyo with the participation of Tibetan monks.  At the festival the temporary beauty of a sand mandala being made in-person could be seen.

However, after sunset the beauty of the temple gets kicked up a notch thanks to some projection mapping. Here’s a time lapse video of the event.

Also earlier this year was Kohgen 2013, which held various religious events at four temples and shrines in Gunma Prefecture. In particular the Joko Temple event was a feast for the senses. Inside the main hall of the temple, incense was lit to mellow the audiences sense of smell, vegetarian food was served to tingle taste buds and a DJ and live band played along with cryptic projections on the wall. Perhaps next year the musical stylings Tariki Echo could be worked in.

Heartbreak and Hard Drinks

While flashing lights and websites are all well and good, they’re a dime a dozen these days. Perhaps to really get in touch with people you have to get out of the temple and into the real world.

That’s what a group of monks from various Buddhist sects did when they set up a bar. Geting away from all your worries sure would help a lot, so why not go where everyone knows a sutra – Vowz Bar in Tokyo. Listed as one of weirder theme bars in Tokyo with their Buddhist inspired cocktail names, it’s the best place to go for some sagely advice after a hard day.

If drinking’s not your thing you might be able to find one of the growing trends of sutra readings popping up around the countries. Here you can join a monk as they give you their own interpretations of sutras with interaction from the audience. It can be enlightening to see how those cryptic chants can apply to real life situations such as a break up or family dispute.

This is just a taste of what Buddhism is doing to stay active and relevant in Japan. Surely there will be more moe video games and electronica to come from this 2,500-year-old religion.

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Myanmar arrests 44 suspects after Buddhist-led attacks in Thandwe

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YANGON, Myanmar -- Authorities in Myanmar arrested 44 suspects for their alleged role in sectarian violence that wracked a coastal township in western Myanmar over the last week, state media reported.

<< Distorted corrugate panels are scattered among debris of a burnt building in Thandwe, Rakhine State, western Burma, Oct. 2, 2013.

Five Muslims were killed and scores of homes set on fire when Buddhist mobs went on a rampage in Thandwe, a coastal township in Rakhine state.

The violence came even as President Thein Sein visited the region last week for the first time since in Rakhine in June 2012, killing hundreds of people and forcing more than 140,000 more to flee, the majority of them Muslim.

Few details were released about the latest arrests but a report broadcast on state television late Saturday indicated members of both communities were arrested.

Officials in Rakhine state said last week that the chairman of a Rakhine political party and several of its members were among those detained.

On Sunday, the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper put the total of houses burned down in Thandwe last week at 114 houses. It said three religious buildings - most likely mosques - were destroyed, and 482 people were left homeless.

Thein Sein has been widely praised for overseeing an unprecedented political opening in the Southeast Asian nation since the army ceded power two years ago to a nominally civilian government led by retired military officers.

But rights groups also accuse his government of tolerating, or even abetting, what they describe as ethnic cleansing directed against Muslims in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

They say authorities have done little to crack down on religious intolerance and failed to bridge a divide that has left hundreds of thousands of Muslims marginalized, many of them confined by security forces in inadequately equipped camps after fleeing their homes.

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Obituary: The illustrious journey of Ven. Kakkapalliye Anuruddha

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Colombo, Sri Lanka -- Professor Venerable Dr Anuruddha Nayaka Maha Thera, the disciplined, erudite, ever calm and serene Dhamma teacher passed away yesterday in Colombo. The former Vice Chancellor of the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka was 84 years old.

<< The late Venerable Kakkapalliye Anuruddha Nayaka Thera (1929 - 2013)

The cultured Venerable Kakkapalliye Anuruddha Nayaka Thera reminded many of the celebrated members of the Bhanaka tradition who were responsible for the oral transmission of the Word of the Buddha until it was committed to writing.

Life history

Ven. Kakkapalliye Anuruddha Nayaka Thera was born on the 20th of January, 1929, in the remote village of Kakkapalliya, near Chilaw in the North-Western Province. He began his primary education at the Hiripitiya Vidyalaya.

From childhood, he had shown great inclination towards the Dhamma and it was this affinity that made him become a novice monk when he was just seventeen years old.

He received his ordination at the well-known Sri Nivesaramaya in Ponnankanniya under the tutelage of Ven. Kakkapalliye Sri Devananda Thera, the Chief Incumbent of the temple, Ven. Mudukatuwe Gnanarama Nayaka Thera (who later served on the academic staff of the Vidyalankara University) and Ven. Mudukatuwe Seelananda Maha Thera.

The Most Venerable Kiriwaththuduwe Pannasara Nayaka Thera, the Chief Incumbent of the internationally known Vidyalankara Pirivena, was his Preceptor. When he reached his twentieth year, the mandatory age for Higher Ordination, he was conferred the Higher Ordination at the Uposatha Hall of the Malwatta Viharaya in 1949.

Superlative

In 1953 Venerable Nayaka Thera sat for the Pracheena Intermediate Examination as a candidate from the Maliyadeva Pirivena in Kurunegala. In consideration of his superlative performance at the examination he was placed first in order of merit and was declared the best student in the whole Island.

His reputation as a diligent and intelligent student spread fast at the Vidyalankara Pirivena. While still a student, he had the rare distinction of being selected for the Tripitaka Sangayana organised by the Vidyalankara Pirivena. For two consecutive years (1951-1953) he served it as a full-time participant winning the accolades of his seniors and peers.

He was so dedicated to the task that he soon learnt the Burmese script and developed a special ability to read the ancient Sinhala script. In recognition of this special skill he was entrusted with the important task of reading the Mahavagga Pali written in ancient Sinhala script.

In 1953 Venerable Nayaka Thera was appointed to the academic staff of the Vidyalankara Pirivena, and in the same year he received an appointment as a teacher in the Peliyagoda Gurukula Vidyalaya.

The heavy load of work he had to shoulder did not deter him from pursuing advanced studies in Pali and Buddhism.

In 1956 he sat for the Senior School Certificate Examination in the English medium, and subsequently passed the University Entrance Examination. He was admitted to the University of Ceylon in 1959. At the University he followed a Special Honours course in Pali with Eastern Philosophy and Psychology as his subsidiary subjects.

He was awarded the Honours Degree in 1963, and in recognition of his brilliant academic performance, he was appointed as a probationary Assistant Lecturer at the same university. However, in 1964 he opted to move to Vidyalankara University in the capacity of a permanent lecturer in the Department of Pali.

Culmination

In 1969 the Venerable Nayaka Thera proceeded to the University of Lancaster for his doctoral research, and successfully completed it in 1972, obtaining the Ph.D degree for his doctoral thesis on "Studies in Buddhist Social Thought". Upon his return to the Vidyalankara University he was promoted to Senior Lectureship in Pali.

In 1980 he also served as the Dean of the Paramadhamma Buddhist Institute and conducted a course for Buddhist monks interested in Buddhist missionary activities in foreign countries.

The Venerable Nayaka Thera reached the culmination of his academic career when he had the rare privilege of being appointed by the President of Sri Lanka as the first ever Vice Chancellor of the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka.

During his tenure as Vice Chancellor (1982-88), with the guidance of the late Venerable Professor Walpola Rahula, he was able to establish it as a centre of excellence for Buddhist Studies attracting both local and foreign students.

In his second year as its Vice Chancellor he was able to get the university admitted as a fully-fledged member of the Commonwealth Union of Universities.

The establishment of the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka, under the Vice-Chancellorship of our Venerable Nayaka Thera is certainly one of the most significant contribution to Bhikkhu education in modern time.

It was during his tenure that the Sri Lanka Journal of Buddhist Studies was founded and the library was well-equipped with important reference materials for Buddhist Studies.

In brief, Venerable Nayaka Thera laid the foundation for the University's successful continuance and further development under the leadership of his successors. After Venerable Nayaka Thera had served two terms as the Vice Chancellor of the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka he was invited by the Buddhist Institute of the Fuo Kong San Monastery in Taiwan to teach Pali and Buddhism (1989-90).

Dhamma teacher

In 1992 he was invited to the University of the West in California to conduct courses on Buddhist studies. Subsequently he also had the opportunity of teaching at the Buddhist Library of Singapore, at Foo Ei Chan Buddhist College and at the Buddhist Mission in Singapore.

Venerable Nayaka Thera also taught at Chi Lin Buddhist College in Hong Kong, teaching courses on Pali and Buddhist Studies. And at the same time he served as the Visiting Professor at the Centre of Buddhist Studies of University of Hong Kong.

In spite of his devoted commitment to teaching, the Venerable Nayaka Thera has been able to participate in many international Seminars and Conferences on Buddhist Studies, and is a much sought after keynote speaker. His greatest work of research is his "Dictionary of Pali Idioms".

He was heavily involved in preparing its second volume. His effort speak volumes of his thorough familiarity with the Pali Buddhist Canon and Theravada  Buddhist exegetical literature. His other works include "The First and Second Buddhist Councils, Five Versions, English Translations from Pali and Chinese", which he prepared in collaboration with Mary M. Y. Fung and S. K. Siu.

Role model for Bhikkhus

As an excellent communicator of the Dhamma, Venerable Kakkapalliye Anuruddha Nayaka Thera's profound knowledge and eloquence, coupled with his simple but very effective style of communication endeared him to many.

He was perhaps the most popular teacher of Buddhism and Pali language among foreign students. Not only was he a good teacher but he was also a listener. His unhurried ways and simple style of living is worthy of emulation by anyone aspiring to be a good teacher.

Indeed, Venerable Kakkapalliye Anuruddha Nayaka Thera was the epitome of Buddhist recluseship, a treasure house of Dhamma knowledge, a role model for all bhikkhus, and an invaluable jewel in the Sangha Sasana.

May he attain the bliss of Nibbana.

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A Charity Aims to Bring Buddhist Studies Into the Modern World

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HONG KONG, China -- Robert Y.C. Ho, a scion of a historic Hong Kong family, is the chairman of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, which supports study in the fields of Buddhism, Chinese art and culture. The charity is named after Mr. Ho’s father, who founded it in 2005.

It has given endowments for Buddhist programs at Harvard University, Stanford University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. In May, it gave a $1.9 million grant to the American Council of Learned Societies for the research and teaching of Buddhist studies.

Why did your father decide to focus on Buddhism?

Buddhism was easier because his grandmother, Lady Clara, set up a temple in Hong Kong, Tung Lin Kok Yuen, in 1935 — it later grew to two charity organizations, in Hong Kong and Canada — and there’s a school associated with it. So Buddhism has been part of the family.

We also support Chinese art and culture because my father, who grew up in Hong Kong, appreciates Chinese arts — classical, traditional and contemporary.

Buddhist studies are usually associated with history. How do you make them relevant to today?

Generally speaking, Buddhist studies in higher institutions have been archaic and old-fashioned, in the sense that it’s mostly text-based, where we have scholars who are experts in Pali, Sanskrit, classical Chinese, Japanese, old languages. They read these texts and they talk about them. A lot of time, it’s not really related to what happens in the real world.

But a lot of younger scholars are pushing into new areas, like studying about Buddhism and politics, Buddhism and the environment, conflict resolution, Buddhism and psychology, things like that, and how they manifest in the world. Most of our grants are geared toward the area, which is Buddhism in the contemporary world. This is the area we want to push, to advance the field, to make it relevant to the contemporary audiences.

Why do you work largely with universities and institutions in the West, as opposed to in China or other parts of Asia?

We’re looking for the right partner, the right institution. The standard of scholarship is traditionally, at least in the modern and contemporary era, much higher in North America and the West, so there’s a practical consideration.

We’re looking into working in China, but they’re all state-funded institutions. That makes it tricky to find a partner.

Southeast Asia is another story. For example, in Thailand and Sri Lanka, they have a category of institutions called Buddhist universities, and they study Buddhism in a traditional way. They take their model back from India in the Middle Ages: They have a big monastery and next to the monastery, they would have a university where they’d teach Buddhist scholarship from a traditional point of view. That’s not what we’re looking for.

Through Tung Ling Kok Yuen in Hong Kong, we helped set up the Buddhist Studies Center at Hong Kong University — it was before we started the family foundation. After we’ve started the foundation, most of our grants for Buddhist-related areas are mostly through the foundation.

In Hong Kong, where the foundation is based, you seem to focus on arts and culture education. Why is that?

With Hong Kong being mostly Chinese, we see the program as under the umbrella of Chinese art and culture. It’s a basic belief that arts and creativity are part of a human being and the human psyche — that is important to make a person well-rounded, and to have some exposure to that is very important. It’s important not only to individuals but also to a healthy society.

The government has some initiatives to try to make Hong Kong a culture or art hub.

They are putting a lot of effort in the hardware. That’s good, that’s an important part of it, but you also need the audience.

The software is the education program, so that people who go to art events can appreciate, talk about and criticize them. You need that aspect. What we are trying to do is a small bit, but we believe if Hong Kong wants to be a world city, it needs this component.

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Late S.N. Goenka's ashes to be scattered in the Irrawaddy River, Myanmar

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Yangon, Myanmar -- The ashes of the late Guruji S. N. Goenka arrived in Yangon today, 7 October at 2:00 pm by air from India.

Announcements have been made that the ashes will be scattered at three locations in the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar.

First off, the ashes will be taken to the Dhammajoti Meditation Centre, Yangon in a special vehicle decorated with flowers. People will be allowed to pay tribute overnight.

The next morning, the ashes will be taken to Myit Kyi Nar (Capital City of Kachin State, Northern Myanmar) by air.

The first scattering is site will be at the Myit Sone (beginning point) of Irrawaddy River. On Wednesday (9 October), the remaining ashes will be taken to Mandalay, the birth place of Guruji and scattered into the Irrawaddy River at Mandalay.

On the evening of the same day, the remaining ashes will be brought back to Yangon for overnight public tribute in Dhammajoti Meditation Centre.

The final scattering would be on Thursday (10 October) morning at the entrance of Yangon River in Yangon by Myannandar boat.

Mata Elaichidevi, the widow of S.N. Goenka, will not able to accompany the ashes to Myanmar due to health problems.

Spiritualist and pioneer of Vipassana meditation in India, Goenkaji, died on September 30, 2013 at his residence in Mumbai due to old age. He was 90. He is survived by his wife Mata Elaichidevi and six sons.

Born and raised in Myanmar, Goenka started teaching Vipassana meditation in 1969 and followed it up with a meditation centre in Igatpuri, near Nashik, in 1976. He is widely credited as one who brought Vipassana meditation back to India.

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Vipassana pioneer SN Goenka passes away

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Mumbai, India -- Spiritualist and pioneer of the Vipassana meditation in India, SN Goenka, 90, died late Sunday night at his residence in Mumbai due to old age, an aide said here on Monday.

He is survived by his wife Mata Elaichidevi and six sons.

The funeral would be held on Tuesday in Jogeshwari electric crematorium, said aide Gautam Gaikwad.

Goenka started teaching Vipassana meditation in 1969 and followed it up with a meditation centre in Igatpuri, near Nashik, in 1976.

Last year, Goenka was conferred the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award.

Born and raised in Burma, Goenka was a successful businessman when he came in contact with the late Sayagyi U Ba Khin, who taught him the Vipassana techniques.

After 14 years training under Sayagyi, Goenka decided to settle in India and started teaching Vipassana meditation in 1969.

He established the Vipassana International Academy, a meditation centre in Igatpuri in 1976.

Later, 172 more such centres blossomed worldwide, including 75 in India.

In 1982, he became a vipassanacharya and started training teachers worldwide and established the Vipassana Research Institute in Igatpuri in 1985.

Goenka's technique represented a tradition that can be traced back to Lord Gautam Buddha who taught 'Dhamma' as the non-sectarian way to liberation.

Goenka's approach was also totally non-sectarian and found universal appeal, including among jail inmates in India and US.

In 2000, Goenka addressed the Millennium World Peace Summit at the UN headquarters in New York.

Following his passion, he laid the foundation of the Global Vipassana Pagoda at Gorai Beach, in north-west Mumbai.

Standing at 325 feet (or the height of a 30-storeyed building), it encompasses the world's largest pillar-less stone dome, twice as big as the Basilica of St Peter at the Vatican City.

In the centre is a circular meditation hall, 280 feet in diameter with a seating capacity of 8,000, and relics of Buddha are kept in the pagoda.

Goenka believed that the monument would bridge different communities, sects, races and countries to make the world a more harmonious and peaceful place.

Speech By S.N. Goenka in U.N. Peace Summit

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Nalanda University and the suppressed Buddhist Identity

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Colombo, Sri Lanka -- This entire project led by Dr. Amrtya Sen must be made the basis of a wide ranging discussion in the Buddhist world in respect to the direction, organisation, content of teaching, and aims and objectives that this proposed Nalanda International University is being encouraged to adopt.

The historic Nalanda University was essentially a Mahayana Buddhist Center of learning and had as its Directors (or Rectors) some of the learned Buddhist Monks then existing.

One reputed writer Alexander Berzin (2002) says:

"In the Indian Mahayana Buddhist monasteries, such as Nalanda, monks studied four systems of Buddhist tenets. Two – Vaibhashika and Sautrantika – were subdivisions of the Sarvastivada school within Hinayana. The other two – Chittamatra and Madhyamaka – were subdivisions within Mahayana."

Wikipedia says:

"Nalanda was one of the world's first residential universities, i.e., it had dormitories for students. It is also one of the most famous universities. In its heyday, it accommodated over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. Chinese pilgrims estimated the students between 3,000 and 5,000.

The university was considered an architectural masterpiece, and was marked by a lofty wall and one gate. Nalanda had eight separate compounds and ten temples, along with many other meditation halls and classrooms. On the grounds were lakes and parks. The library was located in a nine storied building where meticulous copies of texts were produced. The subjects taught at Nalanda University covered every field of learning, and it attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey. During the period of Harsha, the monastery is reported to have owned 200 villages given as grants."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda

Among some of its famous Abbots were: Shakyashribhadra.  The scholar Dharmakirti (ca. 7th century), one of the Buddhist founders of Indian philosophical logic, as well as and one of the primary theorists of Buddhist atomism, taught at Nalanda. Both Mahayana Buddhism and Nalanda University influenced each other.

The old Nalanda University was a not secular University by any means. It had a Buddhist Character for over 700 years right from its beginnings in the Fifth Century A.D ( reign of Sakraditya ) until its unfortunate end in 1193, when the Nalanda University was sacked by Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turk. The Persian historian Minhaj-i-Siraj, in his chronicle the Tabaqat-I-Nasiri, has reported that thousands of monks were burned alive and thousands beheaded as Khilji tried his best to uproot Buddhism.

The burning of the library had continued for several months and "smoke from the burning manuscripts hung for days like a dark pall over the low hills."

The last throne-holder of Nalanda, Shakyashribhadra, fled to Tibet in 1204 at the invitation of the Tibetan translator Tropu Lotsawa (Khro-phu Lo-tsa-ba Byams-pa dpal). In Tibet, he started an ordination lineage of the Mulasarvastivadin lineage to complement the two existing ones.

New proposed Nalanda International University

Nalanda University (also known as University of Nalanda) is the name of a proposed university in Rajgir, near Nalanda, Bihar, India. The first academic session is set to start from 2014.The university is a plan for reviving and re-establishing Nalanda University.

The University of Nalanda is proposed to be established under the aegis of the East Asia Summit (EAS), as a regional initiative. The NMG also has representatives from Singapore, China, Japan and Thailand.

The Governing Board of Nalanda University consists of:

Amartya Sen - Professor at Harvard University.Sugata Bose - Professor at Harvard University.Wang Bangwei - Professor at Peking University.Wang Gungwu - Professor at National University of Singapore.Susumu Nakanishi - Professor at Kyoto City University of Arts.Meghnad Desai - Emeritus Professor at London School of Economics.Prapod Assavavirulhakarn - Professor at Chulalongkorn University.George Yeo - Former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore.Tansen Sen - Associate Professor at Baruch College, CUNY.Nand Kishore Singh - Member of Parliament - Rajya Sabha, India.Chandan Hareram Kharwar - Pune university - India.

Comment

There is a huge difference in the scope and direction of the old and the proposed new Nalanda University.

Whereas eminent Buddhist scholar monks were the rectors of the famed old Nalanda University, in the proposed new set up there does not appear to be a single Buddhist monk on the Board of Governors. The overwhelming majority of the Governors have ' secular' credentials including the leader of the Project,  Amartya Sen - Professor at Harvard University. Lay Buddhists are very much in the minority on the Board of Governors. There is no Sri Lankan presence on the Board  despite this country's claim to have the oldest continuing Buddhist civilization in the world.

Most of Sen's public pronouncements on this subject lately have been on the wisdom and validity of ' Secularism' over and above the innate value and depth of the Indian spiritual Heritage which includes Buddhism. It shows that it pays to be a secularist even for an Indian in Western Professional and academic circles. But it is tantamount to blasphemy to downsize your own i.e. Indian wisdom and religious heritage, merely to display that one is on the right side of intellectual fashion in the West. Amartya Sen illustrates this proposition vividly.

It is unlikely that some one from the Middle East or Muslim country would try to create a secular place of learning on top of a destroyed site of a reputed Islamic Tertiary Institution.

That is unthinkable.

In Buddhist and Hindu societies 'secularists' have come to the fore and are now engaged in a state of play going virtually unchallenged downsizing the influence and scope of the traditional religions which built the unique civilizations that we find in India and Sri Lanka and still attract the attention and wonder of the world.

Related story: Nalanda Without Buddhist Participation?

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Sri Lanka to set up a special Court for Buddhist monks

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Colombo, Sri Lanka -- The Chief Justice of Sri Lanka Mohan Peiris has said that a special Sangha Court would be set up to hear cases involving Buddhist monks.

Peiris speaking at an event in Kandy said that there is a large number of cases involving monks in Kandy, Anuradhapura and Galle.

When the special Sangha court is set up monks will be required to appear at the court and proceedings will be completed within days and not postponed like other court proceedings, the Chief Justice has explained.

"It will be heard day to day and finished off so that we can turn to the public and say, look we are now delivering," Peiris has said.

He has added that the government is willing to invest in a better judiciary but they expect a positive return.

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"NO'ing" Buddha

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Criminalising anti-Buddhist acts is not very Buddhist

Bangkok, Thailand -- IS "KNOWING BUDDHA" - a group of Thai Buddhists who are relentlessly tackling what they see as a disrespectful act against the image of Buddha - the new face of Thai Buddhism?

The year-old group has been battling manufacturers of all sorts of products around the world that exploit the image of the Buddha to make money. The goods range from skateboards, lampstands, armchairs and underwear to bars named after the historical Buddha such as the Buddha Bar in Paris and Buddha Tattoo.

While I sympathise with these Buddhists who feel deeply offended, I cannot condone their call to have a law enacted to make disrespectful acts or products against the Buddha a criminal offence. Do they really think the historical Buddha would have approved the jailing of people who express disrespect for him?

The group also tries to push Buddhism to become Thailand's official state religion, thus risking having religion becoming more influential in secular life and potentially alienating non-Buddhists in Thailand.

It is fine to proactively promote mutual religious respect and for this Knowing Buddha plans to distribute two million pamphlets at various spots for tourists entering the Kingdom. But calling for the jailing of "offenders" is just not Buddhist.

When the group hosted a seminar on the topic last week at the Senate, its chairwoman, Acharawadee Wongsakol, spoke with bitterness and anger. Anger and attachment are rather un-Buddhist, however.

The group needs to be reminded that the historical Buddha never approved the idea of making a statue in his liking for worship. Such a practice began with the Gandhara Buddha statues with classical Greek artistic influence in what is today's northwest Pakistan, after the lifetime of the Buddha.

What makes Buddhism unlike most other religions is that Buddha is not God, and perhaps this is why he was never supportive of the idea of having a statue made in his liking for worship. People can easily cling onto a Buddha statue instead of Buddhist teaching, which was originally more of a philosophy than a religion. And this is what groups like Knowing Buddha are clinging on to now - the image of the Buddha and the perceived disrespect done to it.

At the Senate last week I heard both Acharawadee and her colleagues speak with anger about the commercialisation of the Buddha image for foreign consumption. Surprisingly, however, nothing was mentioned about the gross commercialisation of Buddhist amulets among Thais.

As anyone who is familiar with Thailand knows, the trade in assorted Buddhist amulets is a big business here. Actually, it's not just a business, but a gross distortion of Buddhist teachings, as amulet owners believe that by owning, wearing and praying to these small images of the Lord Buddha, they will be blessed and protected and made rich, amorously attractive, popular and allegedly even bulletproof - subject to owning the right kind of genuine amulet.

Some of these popular amulets the size of a Bt10 coin and made of clay or metal could fetch Bt1 million or more and there are magazines entirely devoted to discerning the real item from the phoneys, and the facilitation of the trade.

It's ironic that a group calling itself Knowing Buddha is more concerned about what non-Buddhists in the West do to pseudo-Buddha images than what is happening to Thai Buddhists who have prioritised owning the right amulet over truly understanding and knowing Buddha and his teachings.

On the web: www.knowingbuddha.org

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Back to Jail in Burma

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YANGON, Myanmar -- Today I go back to Insein Prison, where I was detained in the late 1990s and where throughout the decades of military rule in Myanmar, most political opponents were interrogated, tried and held.

<< Insein Prison in Yangon, Myanmar.

I was taken there directly from my home in 1998, as a 20-year-old university student, and was given a 21-year sentence on charges of distributing subversive pamphlets. I served seven years, in Insein and two other prisons, before being released in a general amnesty in 2005.

Now I am heading back, as a volunteer in a 10-day Vipassana meditation course for prisoners.

As the day approached, I felt at times overwhelmed at the prospect of seeing so much misery again. But mostly I felt excited. Since my release eight years ago I have thought recurrently that while prison is a human hell, it offers exceptional opportunities for inner peace by creating, if forcibly, a haven from the distractions of ordinary life.

Living conditions at Insein 15 years were tough. We were locked in our cells all day — many, like me, in solitary confinement — except for a few minutes for bathing. We ate only rice that had been boiled with peas or the roots of water spinach. We had no reading materials; my parents could visit only once a month.

After a two-week interrogation period at the beginning of my detention — during which I was just deprived of sleep for a few days and slapped around a couple of times — life was actually quite cheerful.

This may sound improbable, or mad, but we were young and blindly confident that the dictatorship would collapse sooner or later. After day broke, I would pass the time chatting with my friends who had been arrested with me, talking loudly through the walls of our cells.

But then, in late April 1999, we were transferred to various prisons in central Myanmar. I was taken to Myingyan, the most infamous of the lot. I was again placed in a cell alone, but there no communication was allowed at all and any violation met with heavy punishment, like caning. The days passed with little or no human interaction but for rare, brief exchanges with the prison guards.

I would fantasize about reading, and I would listen to passing conversations in the hope of picking up something about the latest political news. At night, I would try to coax my dreams into letting me go home — only so that I could pick up some books and bring them back to prison with me.

I remember dropping a plastic spoon one day, and then wondering whether the feeble sound that followed came from its hitting the cement floor or my muttering something to myself. I could no longer remember the sound of my own voice.

My mental pain kept growing — until it dawned on me that I would go mad if I continued to want things I could not get. Although this was a moment of utter hopelessness, it ended my delusional urges. I lost my love of books then — and I have yet to win it back fully — but I gained something else.

I started experimenting with modes of meditation I’d vaguely heard about while growing up. I tried visualizing myself as a collection of bones, scanning every part of my skeleton. I tried metta, wishing myself well and radiating that peace toward others. I tried to observe my own breathing.

It worked. Over time, I stopped thinking about how many more years I had left to serve and started looking upon my loneliness in confinement as precious solitude.

Just one month before I was released from prison in 2005, we, the political prisoners at Myingyan prison, were shown a documentary called “Doing Time, Doing Vipassana,” about the first meditation courses given to detainees in India. I still don’t know why this was organized. But it was our first TV experience in years and the strict regimen of the exercises depicted in the film made an impression on me.

Just after I was released, I went to a meditation center in Yangon run by S. N. Goenka, a Myanmar-born Indian businessman. I took a 10-day course requiring students to meditate from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. in an atmosphere very much like solitary confinement — and came out of it with more clarity and peace than I’d ever known.

Goenka now conducts similar courses inside Insein and other prisons in Myanmar; it’s one of those that I am joining today. I’ll be among the volunteers who, in order to free up the inmates for meditation, cook or take on whatever other chores they usually are asked to perform. At other times, I will have a chance to join them.

But I will not be allowed to read or write, or to communicate with either the outside world or others who are mediating.

A well-known saying among Burmese inmates has it that if on the day you are released you turn around to look at the gate, you will return to prison. On the day I was let out, I did turn around to take a last look at that red-brick wall. And I’m going back all right.

-------------
Swe Win is a freelance journalist based in Yangon.

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Tibetan monk Tarap Shetrup Akong killed in China

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BEIJING, China -- A respected Tibetan monk who co-founded the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West and maintained contacts with the Beijing government was killed in China, local police and his brother said.

<< Chöje Akong Rinpoche (1939 - 2013)

Tarap Shetrup Akong was a rare example of an overseas Tibetan monk who was able to travel regularly to China, build schools in poverty-stricken areas and meet with senior government officials despite fleeing his Himalayan homeland after the Communist Party's takeover of Tibet decades ago. Reports of his death by stabbing Tuesday were met with shock and sadness among Tibetans.

"He was kind and astute, and earned the respect of the community," said Tibetan writer and activist Tsering Woeser, who met the monk in 2003 in a western Chinese town where he was preparing for a charity school project.

The monk, a British citizen, was attacked by three Tibetans at his residence in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Tuesday and was killed along with his nephew and a driver, Chengdu police said.

Police said the attack occurred after negotiations over a financial dispute soured. The victim's brother, Lama Yeshe Rinpoche, issued a statement saying the three had been "assassinated," but did not elaborate.

The brother wrote on the website of the Scottish monastery co-founded by Tarap Shetrup Akong that the monk's body had been taken to a hospital where a post-mortem would be carried out.

Chengdu police said suspects have been detained and admitted carrying out the killings.

Britain's Foreign Office confirmed the death of a British citizen in Chengdu and said a consular team had traveled to the city to "liaise with Chinese authorities about this case."

The monk's philanthropic work in China won him respect and admiration among Tibetans, who referred to him using the honorary title of Rinpoche.

"Akong Rinpoche was very committed to the Tibetan community. He tried to come to China almost every year and helped build many schools for Tibetans," Woeser said. "Despite many difficulties, he was able to obtain permission from Chinese authorities to run projects in Tibetan regions."

Born in 1939, Tarap Shetrup Akong was groomed to become an abbot in a Tibetan monastery, but fled to India after the 1959 Communist takeover of Tibet. He settled in England in 1963 and later co-founded the Samye Ling Monastery in Scotland in 1967, the first Tibetan Buddhist center to be established in the West.

In the 1990s, Tarap Shetrup Akong shifted his focus to humanitarian projects in Tibet, Nepal and Europe. In Tibet, he helped set up schools, clinics and medical colleges, according to a website affiliated with the monastery.

Tarap Shetrup Akong maintained political ties with Beijing and met with Jia Qinglin, then chairman of China's top political advisory body, when he traveled to Britain in 2006 to explain Beijing's policies in Tibet, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.

"Though we have settled abroad for a long time, we are always concerned about the development of our motherland, in particular the development of Tibet," Xinhua said Tarap Shetrup Akong told Jia.

The death came days after tensions flared as Chinese security forces fired into a crowd of Tibetan residents who were demanding the release of a fellow villager detained for protesting orders to display the national flag. Overseas rights groups said about 60 Tibetans were injured in the unusual shooting, a sign that Beijing is tightening its control in the Himalayan region following a wave of self-immolations protesting Beijing's rule.

The Chinese Communist government's rule over Tibet has been turbulent. Beijing says it has made vast investments to boost the region's economy and improve the quality of life for Tibetans, but many Tibetans say Beijing's economic policies in the Himalayan region have mainly benefited ethnic Chinese migrants. They also resent the government's strict limits on Buddhism and Tibetan culture, while their spiritual leader Dalai Lama remains in exile.

On the web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akong_Rinpoche

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Buddhists gherao Singhadurbar to protest Kakrebihar crackdown

Hundreds of protesters gathered at Padmodaya, Hanumansthan, Maitighar Mandala and Bhadrakali --the entry points of Singhadurbar-- and demanded that the government ended discrimination against the Buddhists.

Their protest created traffic chaos in the Capital's heart for a couple of hours from 9 to 11 this morning.

Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) had organised today's sit-in as the start of second phase protest against the May 25 police crackdown in Kakrebihar.

Representatives of different organisations including All Nepal Monks Federation and Federation of Indigenous Nationalities Journalists had participated in the sit-in.

A Buddhist organisation had made preparations to install the idol at Kakrebihar on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti on May 25. Police, however, thwarted the plan, saying no construction can be made in the government forest.

The protesters have been demanding that the Buddhist community be allowed to set up the idol and they be assured of security, the government provided budget for its management, action against the security personnel who unwarrantedly used force on the Buddhists in Kakrebihar.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi has invited the Kakrebihar Sarokor Samiti for talks today.

Earlier yesterday, he had urged the stakeholders to cancel today's second phase protest.

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A `Lumbini circuit` suggested for Buddhist tourism

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New Delhi, India -- Former Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Friday advocated a ‘Lumbini circuit’ of Buddhist tourism sites spanning India and Nepal which would attract millions of Buddhist pilgrims.

Nepal said he was for two different circuits, one for India, touching Buddhist spots of Sarnath, Bodh Gaya and another one in Nepal, touching Lumbini, the ?maternal house? of the Buddha, Kapilavastu, his ?father?s house?, and other sites.

?One broad Lumbine circuit should be there.. both countries can attract Buddhist pilgrims on the circuit? This should be developed to attract millions of pilgrims,? said Nepal at a talk at Sapru House organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA).

Last year, in November, an MoU was inked between a committee set up by the Nepal government and a Hong Kong-based NGO to transform Lumbini into a ?Mecca for Buddhists?.

The Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation (APEC) Foundation was to pump in investment worth US $3 to 5 billion to develop infrastructure at Lumbini.

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Research on to trace journey of Buddhist monks in country

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VISAKHAPATNAM, India -- At a time when technology has literally turned into a religion for many, a Vizag-based research scholar has taken up a scientific study using nuclear analytical techniques (NAT) to trace the route taken by Buddhist monks in the country centuries ago to spread the word of Gautam Buddha.

Using historical artefacts such as clay inscriptions, bricks, roof tiles, coins, stones and paintings recovered from Buddhist sites, the study will try to discover the route traversed by these monks centuries ago across the country, including Andhra Pradesh.

The study has started with the analysis of a collection of pottery and bricks at the 25 Buddhist sites out of 140 in Andhra Pradesh. The 25 sites include Pavuralakonda, Simhachalam, Thotlakonda and Bavikonda in Visakhapatnam, Jagathipadu, Dantapuram and Salihunda in Srikakulam as well as Neelavathi and Ramatheertham in Vizianagaram district, besides some areas in Telangana region.

Research scholar Dasari Kishore Babu said the research is being carried out at Gitam Institute of Science (GIS) in collaboration with the Trombay-based Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Bhubaneswar-based Institute of Physics and Hyderabad-based department of archaeology and museums, government of Andhra Pradesh. Mumbai's UGC-DAE Consortium for Science Research is providing an annual funding of Rs three lakh to the project, he added. GIS principal N Lakshmana Das is the guide for the study.

According to the Kishore Babu, while the authorities concerned, including the department of archaeology, have information about the presence of Buddhist monks at various places in the country, they are yet to ascertain the route they took and the exact period. "This is what we intend to discover. We are applying nuclear science to glean scientific proof of the activities taken up by the monks," said Kishore Babu, a research student of the Department of Electronics and Physics at GIS.

The study that started four years ago, may take another three to four years to wrap up, said Kishore, pointing out that while existing details available with the archaeology department authorities can provide approximations, data from the nuclear study will pinpoint the exact age and period of the Buddhist era. "The archaeology department authorities currently say that the age of the clay potteries or inscriptions of the Buddhist religion propagators dates to about 4th Century BC. The NAT will help reveal the facts," he said.

Explaining the present status of the study, Kishore said it comprises four main components such as collection of clay potteries of the monks, determination of their age and origin through the development of a Nuclear Analytical Technique (NAT).

"As on date, the NAT has been developed and some scientific analysis has also been conducted on the inscriptions for age determination," Kishore said. GIS awarded him a PhD for his thesis on `Provenance Studies of Archaeological Artifacts Using Nuclear Analytical Techniques' two weeks ago, in which he developed the NAT.

"The concentration of elements depends on the place and preparation of the artefact, which is why the determination of concentration of elements, including those at the trace level, becomes more important. There are some groups of elements like alkali, alkaline, transition and rare earth elements that are present at minor and trace levels, which are important for establishing provenance (chronology). Elements that are non-volatile and immobile have similar geochemical properties and show high stability in clay minerals and are good candidates for a provenance study," Kishore added.

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Akong Rinpoche cremation ceremony planned in Tibet

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Akong Rinpoche founded the Samye Ling Tibetan centre and monastery in 1967 Akong Rinpoche's body is being taken to Tibet for cremation

Beijing, China -- The body of the founder of the Samye Ling Buddhist centre at Eskdalemuir in Dumfriesshire is being taken to his native Tibet for cremation.

Akong Rinpoche was killed in China on Tuesday along with his nephew and his driver.

A statement on the Samye Ling website confirmed plans for a ceremony in accordance with his high standing.

It will take place at his monastery, Dolma Lhakang, in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

That was where, at the age of four, he was identified as the reincarnation of an earlier leader, enthroned, and began the spiritual education required for a future abbot.

A statement from his brother - Lama Yeshe - said Akong Rinpoche was travelling in China to distribute funds to projects supported by the charity Rokpa International which he founded - and was killed by individuals trying to rob him.

Chinese police have already said that three Tibetan men are in custody for the triple killing.

Akong Rinpoche left a wife and three children and they have expressed thanks to people in the UK and overseas for the many messages of condolences they have received.

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Buddhist group comes to flood victims’ aid

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FORT PLAIN, NY (USA) -- It has often been said in the U.S. that the Chinese word for "crisis" is a combination of the Chinese words for "danger" and "opportunity."

<< Members of the Tzu Chi organization perform a song about love and peace on Saturday for flood victims at the Fort Plain Senior Center. (The Leader-Herald/Jason Subik)

On Saturday, the Buddhist charitable organization Tzu Chi, which means "compassion and relief" in Mandarin Chinese, used the flood crisis in Fort Plain as an opportunity to serve the needy by donating approximately $11,000 to 28 families devastated by the June 28 flood of the Otsquago Creek.

Mayor Guy Barton met with members of Tzu Chi, most wearing the group's blue-and-white uniform, on Saturday at the Fort Plain Senior Center.

"This was set up through the Red Cross, to call people whose homes had been condemned or very badly damaged, and this group has funds they are using to help give each of these people some money to help fix their home," Barton said. "This is great - we have 28 families that will receive a nominal amount that could help them buy groceries or maybe hire someone to check out their wiring or furnace and to keep them living in Fort Plain; that's what we are trying to do."

Red Cross Response Manager Michael Raphael said Tzu Chi has partnered with the Red Cross on other disaster relief efforts.

Raphael said Tzu Chi contacted Montgomery County's permanent Longterm Recovery Committee, which was set up in response to Hurricane Irene but has been handling the recent flood as well, and asked the committee for a list of families hardest hit by the flooding.

"We vetted the list through the committee and we determined these were the most needy people. We called them up, and they all have to come today and show IDs and proof of residency," Raphael said.

Tzu Chi provided families with debit cards having either $300 or $500 allocated to them, the larger amounts going to families with more severe damage.

Tzu Chi spokesman Austin Chu said his organization will donate about $15,000 in total for this flooding disaster, with some of the money going to help people living in Oneida County. He said his group, which has its Northeast headquarters in Flushing, Queens, has been active in the U.S. since 1984, when the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation USA was established.

"We've been active in New York state since 1991," Chu said.

Chu said his group is not affiliated with any other local Buddhist organizations and has a long history of working with national faith-based charitable organizations to provide relief in disaster situations. In a news release, the group said it provided immediate cash relief to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, having donated approximately $2 million among 3,164 families.

George Chang, leader of the Northeast chapter of Tzu Chi, met with flood victims Saturday. He said his group receives its funding through small donations of less than a dollar made on a regular basis by families in Taiwan, and he encourages flood victims, once they've gotten back on their feet, to provide similar assistance to others, either through donations to Tzu Chi or other charitable organizations.

"We call this passing the love forward," Chang said.

In addition to the cash cards, flood victims Saturday also received soft blankets, which almost seemed to be made from wool but were actually made from recycled plastic bottles, as part of Tzu Chi's message for people to become better stewards of the environment. The group also performed a song and dance of "peace and love" for the flood victims.

Flood victims Faye Barber and her daughter Kloie Bowers attended the event and were impressed by the Buddhists.

"This was really a beautiful presentation," Barber said.

Barber and her daughter were flooded out of their home on Abbott Street and have now taken up residence in an apartment owned by a friend. She said her single-family home has sustained too much damage for her to return to it soon.

"There is so much mold and muck, my daughter has to receive breathing treatments every time we go in there," she said. "I'm just a working-class person; I can't even begin to estimate how much the damages will cost."

Barton said New York state is providing individual families with a process to apply for up to $31,000 in relief for damaged homes. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has not yet approved assistance for individuals, although it is providing aid to local governments for flood damage and flood-mitigation projects.

Raphael said another problem facing Fort Plain is landlords who don't have enough equity in damaged buildings to continue bothering to maintain them after the flooding. He said the Longterm Recovery Committee is trying to tap state funding that could be provided for renters to possibly acquire ownership of buildings abandoned due to the flooding.

With tears in his eyes, Barton assured families Saturday that work being done on the Otsquago Creek should prevent future flooding, and he asked them to try to stay in Fort Plain.

Kloie Bowers, who attends Fort Plain Central School, said she hopes she can graduate from the school she has attended most of her life.

"I want to stay here, all of my friends live here," she said.

Raphael said people interested in making donations to help flood victims should contact Ken Gies, the fundraising chairman of the Longterm Recovery Committee, at 954-895-6981.

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Dalai Lama concludes editorial meeting on Buddhist science book

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DHARAMSHALA, India -- A three day meeting of around 25 Tibetan Buddhist scholars and His Holiness the Dalai Lama concluded today at the latter’s residence here.

The Tibetan leader who had just returned from a four nation Europe tour addressed the gathering which was made up of around 25 Tibetan Buddhist scholars from around the world. His Holiness expressed his pleasure over the work of the scholars in coming up with the draft of a two-volume book on Buddhist Science and Philosophy at the meeting that began on Monday.

The discussion was attended among others by the editorial board of the book, led by Thomtok Rinpoche, abbot of Namgyal monastery and invited guest Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, former Kalon Tripa and an academician.

Speaking to the Media, Thomtok Rinpoche, head of the editorial board said, “The meeting is finalizing the contents of two volume texts on Buddhist science excerpted from Kagyur and Tengyur texts with a hope that it could serve the human kind irrespective of religion and differences.”

The editors said the two-volume book on Buddhist Science can prove beneficial not just for all Buddhist followers but also scientists and researchers who are studying human mind.

“The book is not biased, it just tells what Buddha has preached,” added the editors. “It neither forces the readers to believe what Buddha had preached nor we have tried to give our own opinion.”

The editorial board also noted that the Dalai Lama was very pleased with the discussion and had appreciated their work.

In 2010, Dalai Lama gave a speech on the importance of Buddhist science and Buddhist philosophy, and expressed a wish how such a book could be helpful not only to Buddhist followers but also to non -Buddhists and non - believers.

The two books on Buddhist Science are expected to be published this year and will be translated into English, Hindi, Chinese and 17 other languages.

Kangyur is the Translation of the Buddha's Word and Tengyur 'Translation of Treatises'.

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New university at Kapilvastu to be centre for Buddhist studies

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Lucknow, India -- Uttar Pradesh will get another university at Kapilvastu in Siddharthnagar district. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is likely to lay the foundation stone of the university on September 10.

At present, UP has 13 state universities, including UP Rajshri Tandon Open University, Allahabad.

In the annual budget of 2013-14, the government had proposed setting up two new universities, one at Allahabad as the existing Allahabad University has been given the status of a central university, and another at Sidharthnagar, which is the home district of Assembly Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey.

The proposed university will come up at Kapilvastu, a Buddhist religious place situated on the Nepal border, which is 14 km from Naugarh, the headquarters of Siddharthnagar district.

The Higher Education Department has approached the Tourism Department for handing over its 50 acres of land at Kapilvastu for setting up the new university.

"As many as six sites were inspected at Siddharthnagar district for the university. The Tourism Department has 90 acres in Kapilvastu. We have requested for transferring 50 acres from it for setting up the new university," said Anita Mishra, Special Secretary of Higher Education.

The Tourism department is likely to hand over the land to the Higher Education Department for setting up the university.

The proposed site has been inspected by Speaker Pandey, who has also been named Lok Sabha candidate by the Samajwadi Party from Domariyaganj parliamentary seat. Presently, the seat is represented by Jagdambika Pal of the Congress.

SP leaders from Sidharthnagar said the university would be developed as a centre for Buddhist studies.

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New Confederation Seeks to Unite Buddhists

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New Delhi, India -- A Buddhist lama says a new confederation will seek to bridge the gap between the world's Buddhists and be a voice for the religion at major international events.

<< Buddhist monks pray during the inaugural ceremony of the International Conference on World Peace and Buddhism in Mumbai, India. (file photo).

In an interview with VOA Wednesday, Lama Lobzang said it was the first time in history that a consensus has been reached among the worldwide Buddhist entities to form a unified body to represent their faith.

"The main responsibility of our organization is the preservation of Buddhist heritage sites including over 100 Buddhist meditative caves in Indian states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. These ancient Buddhist sites that were previously neglected need to be protected and preserved."

Earlier this month, Buddhists from 33 countries attended the first International Buddhist Conference in New Delhi and formally launched their umbrella organization, which will arrange pilgrimages to ancient Buddhist sites in India.

"We have noticed the lack of Chinese participants in this congregation due to the refusal of the Chinese government to grant them passports. Majority of the people we invited were refused exit permits to leave the country. Despite our efforts to invite professors from Beijing University, and their willingness to participate in the congregation, the government of China has made it impossible for them to attend the congregation."

The organization will be run by the Ashoka Mission, a Buddhist non-governmental organization based in New Delhi.

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More security at Buddhist sites sought

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BHUBANESWAR, India -- After the recent bomb blasts in Bodh Gaya, Odisha chapter of Buddhist Society of India on Wednesday demanded more security cover and proper boundary wall at all Buddhist sites in the state.

At a state-level meet here, they pointed out that after deploying only two or three policemen at Dhauli, the state government is content that it has provided proper security cover.

There have been several incidents of anti-socials troubling tourists at Buddhist shrines, but all our prayers have gone unheard, they said.

"Several Buddha idols have been transferred from Ratnagiri to Delhi, Patna and Kolkata by Archaeological Survey of India and we demand that they are brought back to our state", said general secretary, Odisha chapter of Buddhist Society of India, Laxman Mallick.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping hopes traditional faiths can fill moral void in China: sources

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BEIJING, China  -- President Xi Jinping believes China is losing its moral compass and he wants the ruling Communist Party to be more tolerant of traditional faiths in the hope these will help fill a vacuum created by the country's breakneck growth and rush to get rich, sources said.

<< A monk is seen through an incense burner inside a temple as snow falls in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, in this February 19, 2013 file photo. REUTERS-William Hong-Files (CHINA)

Xi, who grew up in Mao's puritan China, is troubled by what he sees as the country's moral decline and obsession with money, said three independent sources with ties to the leadership.

He hopes China's "traditional cultures" or faiths - Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism - will help fill a void that has allowed corruption to flourish, the sources said.

Skeptics see it as a cynical move to try to curb rising social unrest and perpetuate one-party rule.

During the early years under Communism, China's crime rate was low and corruption rare. By contrast, between 2008 and 2012 about 143,000 government officials - or an average of 78 a day - were convicted of graft or dereliction of duty, according to a Supreme Court report to parliament in March.

Xi intensified an anti-corruption campaign when he became party and military chief in November, but experts say only deep and difficult political reforms will make a difference.

Meanwhile, barely a day goes by without soul-searching on the Internet over what some see as a moral numbness in China - whether it's over graft, the rampant sale of adulterated food or incidents such as when a woman gouged out the eyes of her six-year-old nephew this month for unknown reasons.

"Xi understands that the anti-corruption (drive) can only cure symptoms and that reform of the political system and faiths are needed to cure the disease of corruption," one of the sources told Reuters, requesting anonymity to avoid repercussions for discussing elite politics.

Government agencies would moderate policies towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in the hope these faiths would also help placate the disaffected who cannot afford homes, education and medical treatment, the sources said.

"The influence of religions will expand, albeit subtly," a second source said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Traditional cultures will not be comprehensively popularized, but attacks on them will be avoided."

Skeptics described such tactics as a ploy to divert blame away from the party for the many problems that anger ordinary Chinese, from corruption to land grabs.

"Buddhists accept their destiny and blame their predicament on the bad deeds they did in their previous lives," said Hu Jia, an AIDS activist and Buddhist who has been intermittently under house arrest since his release in 2011 after serving 42 months in prison for subversion.

GENUINE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?

Religious freedom is enshrined in the constitution but the officially atheist Communist Party has no qualms about crushing those who challenge its rule. The party is paranoid and would remain vigilant against cults and feudal superstition, the sources added.

China banned Falun Gong as a cult and has jailed hundreds, if not thousands, of adherents since 1999. Former president Jiang Zemin also defrocked and put under house arrest a six-year-old boy anointed by the Dalai Lama as the second holiest figure in Tibetan Buddhism in 1995.

"Relaxation and suppression go hand in hand," said Nicholas Bequelin, of New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"In China, religion must serve the state," Bequelin said. "There is greater religious freedom in China ... but to what extent is the party ready to allow genuine religious freedom?"

Washington will also need convincing.

In its 2012 report on international religious freedom, the U.S. State Department said Chinese officials and security organs scrutinized and restricted the activities of registered and unregistered religious and spiritual groups.

The government harassed, detained, arrested or sentenced to prison a number of adherents for activities reportedly related to their religious beliefs and practice, it said.

Indeed, conservatives in the party still frown on what they see as "religious infiltration". Zhu Weiqun, a vice chairman of the top advisory body to parliament, warned in an interview with China Newsweek magazine in June that party members should not even practice any religion.

Others think change is in the air.

"This is for real," Lin Chong-Pin, a Taipei-based veteran China watcher and former government policymaker, said by telephone. "To save the party and the state from the current crises, Xi must fill the spiritual void."

A "SPIRITUAL CIVILISATION"

In a sign of the changes Xi wants, Zhang Lebin, deputy director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs, wrote a commentary in July in the party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily, that said "treating religions well should become a common consensus ... and the right to practice religions should be protected".

The following month, Xi called for building both a "material and spiritual civilization" - Communist jargon for growth and morality.

Back in February, Xi met Taiwan's top Buddhist monk, Hsing Yun, in Beijing along with a delegation of dignitaries from the self-ruled island which Beijing claims as its own.

Meetings between top Chinese and religious leaders are rare.

Hsing Yun was banned from China in the early 1990s for giving sanctuary to a senior Chinese official at his temple in the United States after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. He is now a bestselling author in China.

"President Xi and his family have feelings for Buddhism," said Xiao Wunan, executive vice chairman of the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, a Beijing-backed non-governmental organization.

In yet another sign, Yu Zhengsheng, ranked fourth in the Communist hierarchy, visited five temples in Tibetan areas in July and August and a mosque in western Xinjiang province in May - unprecedented for such a senior leader in terms of frequency.

MAO PURGED CONFUCIUS, POSTHUMOUSLY

China estimates it has 50 million practitioners of Buddhism and Taoism, 23 million Protestants, 21 million Muslims and 5.5 million Catholics,

Independent experts put the number of practitioners of Buddhism, Taoism and folk religions at between 100-300 million.

Chinese emperors embraced Confucianism for centuries, encouraging the philosopher's teachings of filial piety and respect for teachers and authority. Mao then posthumously purged Confucius in the early 1970s.

Confucianism has since made a comeback, although not a smooth one.

A 9.5-metre (30-foot), 17-tonne statue of Confucius was erected in 2011 outside a Beijing museum adjacent to Tiananmen Square, not far from a portrait of Mao which overlooks the area. It vanished weeks later with no official reason given. Conservatives celebrated its removal, which came on the heels of an online uproar about the statue's location.

Buddhism was virtually wiped out during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution when temples were shut and Buddhist statues smashed.

It has crept back although China maintains tight control in Tibet where monks and nuns have been jailed for their loyalty to the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Communist rule.

About 120 Tibetans have set themselves alight in protest against Chinese rule since 2009. Most have died.

Taoism, or Daoism, a philosophy-turned-religion preaches living in harmony with nature and simplicity.

Nevertheless, despite the emphasis on fostering more openness for traditional faiths, one thing in the world's second biggest economy will remain the same.

"Economic development is still the No. 1 (priority). Moral development is No. 2," the third source said.

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How Goenka led others from bondage to liberation

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The guy must have had a pretty big mind. That was the conclusion I reached at the end of my first "Goenka retreat" a few years ago.

Bangkok, Thailand -- Why? For all the self-torture I went through over 10 days - among Thai meditators, "Goenka" has been synonymous with an extremely rigorous regimen - the unfolding of sensations and inner discoveries seemed to flow more or less along the path envisioned by the teacher.

<< A Hindu businessman turned meditation master, SN Goenka dedicated over half a century to reviving the transcendental art of "Knowing Thyself". PICTURE COURTESY OF THE FOUNDATION FOR PROMOTION OF VIPASSANA MEDITATION UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF H.H. THE SUPREME PATRIARCH

Every night, I would discover that my experiences during the daytime would be aptly dissected in his dhamma lecture.

It felt almost like listening to a shrink's prognosis of my daily emotional turmoil, but even better, as Goenka's kind voice, peppered every now and then with his mirthful laugh, also showed us how to climb out of the vortex. For good!

Moreover, the whole thing took place without his physical presence. Back then, the lectures were replays of cassettes on a radio (now practitioners can watch DVDs of Goenka's original dhamma talks, in English with Thai subtitles).

Every step of the retreat - from the waking bell at 4 am to the breaking-down of the meditation structure in each session - has been routinely carried out in exactly the same fashion in every Vipassana meditation centre across the globe (164 branches, as of 2012).

Are the causes of human suffering, and ways to end them, that commonly predictable?

Praised for his "unparalleled" role in disseminating the practice of Vipassana or insight meditation worldwide, Satya Narayan Goenka was a unique pioneer of what is now referred to as lay Buddhism.

The former industrialist founded a rather unique model that is stripped of typical religious paraphernalia. Run by volunteers, the retreat programme is open to people from all denominations and social standing.

Classes are held for anyone from business executives to prison inmates, teenagers to older adults. There are few requirements except to follow a strict set of rules, such as keeping the precepts and vows of silence throughout the programme.

You cannot even pay for the course unless you have completed it. The organisation accepts donations but only from individuals who have been through at least one of its retreats.

Yet it keeps growing steadily. From a small gathering Goenka organised for his parents and a few relatives back in Bombay in 1969, someone once related to me that at every hour throughout the day, one of the numerous Vipassana centres must be replaying his recorded voice to guide students through the meditation session.

If Goenka's endeavour was a religious mission, it would be a very subtle one indeed.

In 2000, he delivered a speech at the UN Millennium World Peace Summit, arguing how he never supported conversion from one organisation to another, but rather "conversion from misery to happiness, from bondage to liberation, and from cruelty to compassion".

That was the very first message he received from his mentor, Sagyayi U Ba Khin (1899-1971), Myanmar's first accountant-general and prominent Vipassana teacher at the time.

Having suffered from severe migraines, Goenka was advised by a friend to try meditation. Born into a conservative Hindu family, he was initially hesitant, lest he might join those "atheists".

But the excruciating pain was such that he decided to give it a try anyway. He never looked back.

Intriguingly, post-war Myanmar and Thailand both witnessed the early generations of lay practitioners, when the practice of Shamata (concentration) and Vipassana meditation was increasingly introduced outside the monastic realm.

In 1952, U Ba Khin set up the International Meditation Centre in what was then Rangoon, where Goenka worked as a teaching assistant for fourteen years.

It was U Ba Khin who suggested Goenka teach in English, and later, supported his decision to go back to teach in his motherland of India, the birthplace of Buddhism.

There was a traditional belief in Myanmar that 25 centuries after the time of Buddha, dhamma would return to its origin before spreading around the world.

Goenka recalled his teacher telling him, "Goenka, you are not going. I am going!"

Goenka's ties, and gratitude, to Myanmar are evident in the design of the Global Vipassana Pagoda, one of his final projects, completed in 2008, which was modelled on the famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.

Located on the outskirts of Mumbai, the structure is the world's largest hollow stone dome, constructed without supporting pillars. It currently houses the bone relics of Lord Buddha donated by the Sri Lankan government and the Maha Bodhi Society in Bodh Gaya.

Despite years of vociferous efforts, however, Goenka's wish to have the Buddha's relics relocated from the National Museum in New Delhi to the pagoda in Mumbai remains unfulfilled.

But the teachings of Dhamma will hopefully live on.

The meditation master passed away on Sunday night (Sept 30) at his home in Mumbai, aged 90. Goenka is survived by his wife Mata Ela ichidevi, also an adept meditation master, six children and an extensive body of written work.

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Vasana Chinvarakorn is former senior feature writer, Bangkok Post.

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