Self-immolation cases spread beyond monks, nuns in Tibet over Chinese repression

On Wednesday, two more young Tibetans, a mother and a monk, set themselves on fire in protest against the continued exile of the Dalai Lama and the lack of freedom in Tibet, raising the number of Tibetan self-immolations to 45, most of them having taken place since March 2011.
The immolations started with Buddhist monks and nuns, who see themselves in an increasingly desperate struggle for the ancient land and its people, and who say that their Tibetan identity and faith is being stamped out by aggressive Chinese policies and actions.

Yet, 13 of the self-immolations in Tibet this year suggest that ordinary Tibetans are starting to torch themselves, and that the cases appear to be spreading geographically and are less confined to a few dissident monasteries.
"The self-immolations have now jumped a number of fences. There are more of them and they are more diverse," Christian Science Monitor quoted Steven Marshall, a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in Washington, who had extensive experience in Tibet in the 1980s and 1990s, as saying.

"We are seeing immolations in the lay community, not only among monks and nuns where it started. It is also spreading into a greater area, not just the [Tibet Autonomous Region], but Qinghai and Gansu [provinces abutting the Tibet Autonomous Region]."

While the Dalai Lama has consistently opposed self-immolations as a violation of the sacredness of life, Tibetans are continuing to do it in an act seen as indicative of their depth of desperation."They are calling for Dalai Lama's return because they are in this very serious moment, very serious, in which the Tibetan nation, identity, culture, the spiritual tradition, are all being closed down by Chinese aggression," Kate Saunders, the spokeswoman for International Campaign for Tibet in London, said.

In Tibetan monasteries, China continues to oversee aspects of religious instruction, control the appointment of teachers, give patriotic loyalty tests-actions that many Tibetans protest as serious infringements by Beijing on the faith.
Photos of the Dalai Lama in Tibet are forbidden.

"All monasteries must display pictures of Mao Zedong and Chinese President Hu Jintao and fly the Chinese flag. In numerous monasteries, forced patriotic reeducation campaigns are under way," states Lobsang Sangay, who now heads a newly democratic government in exile in Dharamsala, India, in a statement this week.

Some Tibetan experts say the past year of self-immolations represent a "tipping point" in the deepening clashes between locals and Chinese authorities.
The region, meanwhile, is shut off from most foreign and Western journalists, NGOs, and human rights groups.

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Buddha relic likely to displayed at state museum

"ASI authorities have assured us that they will hand over the bone relic to the state government soon," Mohanty said

The relic, considered sacred for Buddhist followers, was unearthed during an ASI excavation at Lalitgiri, a Buddhist site in Jajpur, in 1985.

"We first found a stone pot during excavation. When we opened it, a silver cup was found and finally the bone relic was seen in a gold cover," an ASI official said.

When the state government attempted to collect the relic from the ASI in 1985, it was opposed by some political leaders of Jajpur district.

While the leaders demanded that the relic be housed at Lalitgiri museum, the ASI refused to hand it over to them on security reason.

Meanwhile, Mohanty motivated the Jajpur leaders and got their support to keep the relic at the state Museum here.

"I took one MP, who had earlier opposed the transfer of the relic to the state government, along with me to convince the ASI authorities at Delhi," the minister said.

"The relic will initially be displayed at the state museum and later shifted to Lalitgiri, the place from where it was discovered," Mohanty said.

Meanwhile, the state government has engaged experts to design the box in which the relic would be kept for public viewing. "We are also not ignoring the security aspect

of the relic at the meuseum here," the minister said.

Stating that objective of displaying the relic at the state museum here was to attract Buddihist tourists to the state, the minister said the state government was keen

on bringing the Buddihist special train to the city.

"The state government has requested the Railways to extend the route of the Mahaparinirvan Express till Odisha so that more tourists can visit the Buddhist circuits in the state," he said.

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Buddhists outraged at Buddha's images on shoes

Tibetans and Bhutanese Buddhists have written to the company, Icon Shoes, to express their disgust. They have flooded the company's Facebook page with protest notes.

"Unfortunately, it is a basic Buddhist tradition to treat images of Buddhist deities with reverence. Having the images on shoes is disrespect to the Buddhists," wrote Bhuchung Tsering form International Campaign for Tibet.

"Could you kindly consider this and withdraw the shoes from your catalogue," the Tibetan leader demanded.

The North American member of the Tibetan Parliament, Tashi Namgyal, wrote a protest letter to Icon Shoe.

"I came across shoes with image of Lord Buddha on it, manufactured by your company. I was totally shocked and dismayed at being so insensitive," wrote Namgyal.

"Lord Buddha is worshiped by millions of people around the world including the writer of this letter... Therefore, I would like to strongly urge your company to recall every merchandise sold with Buddha's image and stop not only selling such merchandises but manufacture of such products. Above all, I want you to tender unqualified apology posted on your website," Tashi demanded.

Based out of Palm Desert, California, ICON was launched in 1999 by a Hollywood filmmaker and art collector.

"Icon is for the art lover and the woman who loves shoes and handbags. We support artists by paying royalty for the use of their art," the company says on its Facebook page.

"I really think you should stop manufacturing the shoes with Buddha's imprint... it is totally against Buddhist sentiment," wrote one Tshewant Gyeltshen on the company's Facebook page.

"I am Buddhist. Your idea of putting Lord Buddha's image on footwear is unethical," said one Yoezer Gempo.

"Why do they have to put Lord Buddha's image on shoes? Among Buddhist we don't even let our shadow fall on His image. It cannot be ignorance since they had the guts to run a company and even call the pattern 'Thangka of the Buddha'," wrote an angry Passang Tshering on his blog.

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New generation emerges at Shaolin Temple

Master Yanpei, 29, a 2005 computer science graduate from Chongqing University, became an acolyte in 2006 at the 1,500-year-old Buddhist temple after becoming disillusioned with his previous place of employment.

With support from Abbot Shi Yongxin, he went to the Buddhist Academy of China to further his study of Buddhism theory in 2007. Now he is a personal assistant to the abbot and a potential candidate to take up his mantle.

"I learned knowledge from college and gained an understanding of life from the Buddhist academy," he said. "The combination creates wisdom."

Master Yanti, a 28-year-old monk studying at the temple, has fused his own studies of Buddhism and martial arts with more disparate fields, such as psychology and English.

The man started his martial arts studies at the age of 16, leaving his school for the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Chinese kungfu, just two years later. Yanti became a formal "fighting monk" in 2004, demonstrating his skills in countries around the world before returning to his studies.

Yanti studied at Nanjing University and Buddhist College Singapore in 2008 and 2009, respectively, supplanting his study of Buddhist theory with classes on calligraphy and sociology.

"Overseas study allows me to teach the essence of Chinese Buddhism to our western trainees, "he said.

He now teaches martial arts to 20 Italians who came to the temple after applying at the Shaolin Culture Center in Italy.

The Shaolin Temple has more than 40 overseas culture centers, mainly in Europe and the United States. The centers, as well as the practice of sending its monks to study foreign languages and religious theories, is just another way in which the temple has attempted to expand its reach globally.

"Training the monks is a tradition of Shaolin Temple," said 47-year-old Abbot Shi Yongxin.

"Overseas training is good for the inheritance and development of Buddhism in a globalized world," Shi said.

Only by broadening their knowledge and vision can Buddhists communicate well with their followers, he said.

Shi said more than 40 Shaolin monks are currently pursuing degrees at institutes of higher education both home and abroad, adding that every monk who wishes to study can be sponsored.

More than half of the temple's 300 registered monks were born after 1980. The younger monks are more educated and more likely to embrace the modern world, Shi said.

Master Yanzheng, a 27-year-old monk who dropped out of an economics program at Anhui Normal University in 2001, might be the temple's most studious monk. After studying for five years at Buddhist College Singapore, he was able to achieve a high score on his IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam. He plans to go to the University of Hong Kong to complete a master's degree in religion.

"The era of sitting in meditation by the light of an oil lamp has gone. We need to keep pace with the times," said Yanzheng, iPhone in hand.
Yanzheng opened a Facebook account in 2006 in Singapore and his own Chinese microblogging account last year.

"The Internet is a good tool with which to disseminate Buddhism," he said.
"If we are not well educated and do not know what's going on in the world, how can we preach to our followers?" he said.

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Miscreants trying to provoke conflict between Buddhists & Muslims

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Dharamsala/Jammu, India -- The Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamsala deeply disturbed and concerned over the circulation of a misleading photograph in some section of the media showing Tibetan monks in their reports on the recent violence in Myanmar involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, said in a statement issued from Dharamsala.

Statement said that a photograph of Tibetan monks standing in front of a pile of dead bodies appeared in many websites in the Muslim countries, especially Pakistan. This photo of Tibetan monks was actually taken during their relief work in Kyegudo (Yushul), eastern Tibet, after a devastating earthquake hit the region on 14 April 2010. The Tibetan monks extended remarkable service in the rescue and relief operations at the time.

The relevant department of the Central Tibetan Administration wrote a letter to a website in Pakistan (ColumPk.com, Urdu Current Affairs Portal) on 30 July to remove the photo from its website, which it did so the next day. But the photo is still in circulation, as some Muslims carrying the photo during their recent protest in Mumbai on 11 August 2012, appeared in Zee News, a leading news channel in India.

Statement appeals to the media across the world not to use this photo, which is being circulated by miscreants to provoke conflict between the Buddhist and Muslim communities.

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Letter: May Loving-Kindness Spread to the Arakan State of Myanmar

That momentous event, although undoubtedly tends to depict the monastic as compassionate heroes who fought for the benefit of the poor peasants and citizens in Myanmar, also raises several issues that pertain to Buddhism. For example, one very prominent question was how could the monks, who have renounced the worldly affairs, interfere in the political arena? But then, when thrown with this question, many Buddhists prefer to justify it as an act of compassion for the suffering Burmese people.

Recently, the Burmese Theravada monastic was thrown into the spotlight again when several monks’ associations played on the nationalist sentiment and aggressively called for the “extermination of the Rohingya Muslim community” due to their “cruel nature.” While monks are not prohibited from having a sense of nationalism and love for their country, it may not appear right in the eyes of Buddhism if the monks start asking or encouraging others to kill, no matter how cruel or wrong others could turn out to be.

Lack of respect for one another is one very common reason how conflict begins. Recall that during the Buddha’s time, there were also many different sects and teachers. Throughout his 45 years of teaching, neither had he proclaimed that those others as evil or cruel, nor he called upon his disciples to exterminate them. He even drew up the “Charter of Free Inquiry” as manifested in the Kalama Sutta where he encouraged individual freedom and respect for others by telling that one should not blindly accept his teaching. Hence, if the Buddha himself had never condoned such act of violence and slander in propagating the Dhamma, his disciples, even from this contemporary generation, should never set the precedence for it.

Even if a conflict breaks out, violence is never the solution. Recall the Buddha’s intervention to stop an imminent war break-out following the quarrel between the Sakyas and the Koliyans over the Rohini river. Respectful compromise, patience and most importantly, non-hatred, should be one’s best armor in dealing with conflict, not anger or violence. Again and again, we are reminded of the Buddha’s timeless message as recorded in Dhammapada v.5: “Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. Only by non-hatred is hatred appeased. This is the eternal law.”

What happen to the famous Karaniya Metta Sutta that has often been chanted during the Saffron Revolution in 2007? The sutta says that one should not deceive, despise or wish any harm to another with insult or ill-will and that one should cultivate a boundless heart toward all beings just like how a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her life. Wouldn’t it be very contradictory if those monks were to chant this sutta but at the same time inflicting harm on the Rohingya community?

At this point, perhaps it is clarifying to emphasize that I do not intend to criticize the Sangha Order in Myanmar. I am not attempting to question the purity of the Sangha there. Rather, I am airing my opinions to only those certain quarters of the Burmese Sangha who subscribed to such violence against the Rohingya community. I personally believe that there are still many blameless bhikkhus who arduously practice the teachings of the Buddha in its true spirit and promote the Buddha-sasana through peaceful and respectful means in Myanmar.

In fact, to help alleviate the current predicament that tarnishes the reputation of Buddhism and the Sangha Order, we would need to rely upon this group of blameless monastic members. It is through their strict adherence to the Dhamma-Vinaya that the members of the Order could be inspired to practice likewise and be less inclined to engage in unskillful deeds. I definitely do not expect all the monks to be saints, but at least I hope they could see and live by the spirit of ahimsa as preached by the Buddha. 

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Buddhist Activism and Public Policy: The International Network of Engaged

This interview took place via telephone on July 2.

Matt Bieber: Let's start with Think Sangha and the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. You've described Think Sangha as a venue in which you and others analyze social problems through a Buddhist lens, in which you try to "to think like a Buddhist." What does it mean to think like a Buddhist?

Jonathan Watts: We feel like there are a lot of people who are socially engaged who, as another friend said here, "just happen to be Buddhists." They're engaged and they're Buddhists, but their Buddhism is not really informing their social action. They tend to understand social issues using other frameworks, like Marxism for example, and not bringing concepts and ways of thinking unique to Buddhism to their social activism.

A really influential book and essay has been Ajahn Buddhadasa's "Dhammic Socialism," written in the 1970s. In [that book] he talks about the difference between Marxism and the socialism of the day and what he understands as Buddhist socialism.

That kind of spirit and that kind of thinking is what's behind Think Sangha. We're looking at the importance of engaged Buddhism on a certain level -- what's special about Buddhism that we can bring to social issues? We feel like Buddhism brings a lot of different important perspectives, so that's why we try to think like Buddhists.

Diana Winston wrote a good essay on this called "A Socially Engaged Buddhist Methodology." She has these different categories: One is to find textual resources, so can we go back and find something that the Buddha said that's related to the social issue that we're working on and use it as a means for legitimizing our action or developing our thought.

Another one is socializing or applying Buddhist principles and themes. This is something that A.T. Ariyaratne, the founder of the Sarvodaya Movement in Sri Lanka, did a tremendous amount of. An example of this is re-expressing the classic teaching of the Four Noble Truths as: What's the social problem? What are the causes, especially looking at structural and cultural violence? What's the vision? How do we realize it?

And thirdly there's the aspect of radical creativity in Buddhist practice. If I'm a seriously practicing Buddhist, then much of what I do will embody Buddhist principles, so I will act out of my Buddhist creativity.

We've had -- I wouldn't call it a tension; it's sort of more of a different flavor. In our work in Think Sangha, we have people like me and Santikaro (a leading disciple of Buddhadasa) and other people who come from Theravada backgrounds who love to follow the second style, kind of Abidhamma-like -- taking principles and applying them and thinking about modern society using Buddhist conceptual models. And some of our Zen friends dislike that, feeling it is artificial. They tend toward the third style of radical creativity, trying to speak more directly, and not using overly conceptualized models. I think both styles are useful.

Right -- various schools of Buddhism think about social problems pretty differently. So, when you say that you strive to think like a Buddhist, are you calling on what you take to be a common set of resources across all of Buddhism? Or is that statement more aspirational -- that you think this is the best of what Buddhism has to offer and you're therefore claiming the label? I could also see self-identifying in this way for strategic reasons -- knowing that this will have a cachet for a certain sector of the population, that it will lend you credibility and influence.

Well, I think fundamentally we use the word "Buddhist" as an identity marker -- we're proclaiming our identity. We're first and foremost Buddhist, maybe even before we're social activists ("socially engaged" Buddhism is a modifier of "Buddhist"). So I think the common grounding is that we're Buddhists, and then we have become socially active.

Obviously, there are people who became socially active first and then became Buddhists later. I mean, there are plenty examples of that, like our colleague Alan Senauke who was a student radical at Columbia University in the '60s and then came into Buddhism later. But eventually what happens is that Buddhism becomes the core identity, because it's seen as the grounding for social work, and without that grounding, you can lose what we feel are essential aspects of social activism, like non-violence, open-mindedness and holding suffering without over-reacting.

In INEB, almost everyone agrees that if they don't have that Buddhist identity (which means that they're a Buddhist practitioner), then they won't be able to properly do their social work or accomplish what they want to accomplish, because the Buddhist practice offers them a variety of really important tools for grounding themselves and understanding how to deal with others.

We talk about three different levels of engagement. There are the tools that you use for personal practice that help keep you grounded, that can help keep you from burning out and that help to see how to deal with the world. Then there are relational tools that Buddhism has for dealing with others, dealing with enemies, dealing with difficult people. And then at the third level are the Buddhist tools for understanding the world and how to see and understand society.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-bieber/buddhist-activism-the-international-network-of-engaged-buddhists_b_1728546.html
Note: the full interview is available at The Wheat and Chaff (http://www.thewheatandchaff.com/ineb-watts/). Follow Matt Bieber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PMatty_Bieber

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