Korean Christians and Protestants continue vandalism acts on Buddhist temples

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Seoul, South Korea -- Vandalism and arson of Buddhist temples and treasures, and important cultural properties relating to Buddhism by the Korean Christian and Protestant communities continue. Although many legislative laws have changed to protect cultural properties and national treasure after the tragic arson of the Namdaemun gate, national treasure No.1, vandalism to Buddhist temples and Buddhist treasures continue in Korea.

On October 4th, 2012, an arson tried to burn down the Gakhwangjeon Hall of Hwaomsa Temple in Gurye County, Korea. Fortunately, the fire only made a small damage to the gate of the hall due to quick actions of the monks and the fire prevention restoration made in 2008. 
On the CCTV, the video captured a man pouring a flammable substance across the hall, and according to witnesses they smelt a very arsenic substance coming from the hall before the man threw in a match to burn down the Gakhwangjeon Hall.
Due to this incident, the Korean Buddhist community is in shock once again and fighting for a stricter law enforcement for the perpetrators of vandalism and arson to Korean important cultural properties and National treasures. 
Furthermore, on August 20th, 2012 a Protestant pastor, Seong, vandalized the dharma hall of Donghwasa Temple. This pastor self-proclaimed that he was from the SoonBokEum Church, was caught urinating in the dharma hall and vandalized the Buddhist portraits with a permanent marker. His poor actions was captured on CCTV of the dharma hall.

The Buddhist community was outraged by this act and urged law enforcements to put a stricter punishment as this act cannot be charged with a simple invasion and vandalism punishment.
Although the law enforcement captured the pastor, they considered this act as “unusual” and let the pastor go stating that he was under mental disorientation. Thus, enraging the Buddhist community because the Korean government and law enforcement is very lenient towards destruction of Buddhist artifacts and National treasures.

On November 2011, the stele that accompanied the stupa of National Preceptor Jigwangguksa of Beopcheonsa temple, Korean National Treasure No. 59 was vandalized. A giant cross was drawn across the five meter stone statue and was opened to public on a christian man’s Facebook and twitter page.
Similarly, in November 2011, near the Haewundae in Busan, Korea. Four Buddhist temples reported vandalism and invasion by the Korean Christian community, as they spray painted red lacquer on the hands and faces of the Buddha statues.
Various vandalism of Buddhist cultural properties and Buddhist temples, vandalism and destruction of Korean national treasures have been going for several decades, and these actions are the root causes of religious disharmony between the Korean religious communities.
One of the biggest and significant act of vandalism by Christians was in June of 2006 during the “Again 1907 in Busan” festival by Korean Christians. The Christians prayed earnestly for all the Buddhist temples and monasteries of the Busan area to be destructed, and many Korean citizens were dismayed to find Korean President Lee MyungBak to be the congratulatory commentator of this event.

In February of 2011, there was another scandal where three pastors came to the Jogye temple and ordered the monastics to “believe in Jesus, as {koreans} we are all children of God.”

In 2010, a pastor and college students of the Christian faith invaded Bongeunsa temple and began a “Ground stepping”  and had a protestant ritual for all the ground to be returned to the land of God.

This was wide spread throughout youtube and the internet.
These various vandalism sparks fear of Buddhist discrimination in Korea. Korea is in much need for the harmony of religions, and these vandalism of the Korean Christian and Protestant community need to stop.

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Buddhist museum in a bad shape

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Proposals for its development are long pending

Andhra Pradesh, India -- A large chunk of tourists who visit the district every year are attracted by the Buddhist museums at Amaravathi and Nagarjunakonda but few people even know that there is a third and equally important museum which has on display an impressive range of inscriptions, stone sculptures and pottery items belonging to the Buddhist era.

<< The pathetic state of the Baudhasree Museum in Guntur. Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

It is the Baudhasree Archaeological Museum located in the heart of Guntur city (opposite Andhra Christian College) that unfortunately draws a handful of visitors.

Tourist destinations

The Amaravathi and Nagarjunakonda museums stand out as the best tourist destinations due to their beautiful maintenance by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) while the Baudhasree museum slowly fades into oblivion.

Little attention is paid to this historic museum by the Department of Archaeology and Museums of Government of Andhra Pradesh for apparent reasons.

It has ancient sculptures dating back to the 2nd Century A.D up to the medieval period. Several centuries-old antiquities are showing signs of withering due to poor maintenance and many other items are kept in the fore lawns for want of space.

The museum has a meagre budget that is barely enough to keep it going and it has no technical assistant to take care of conservation of the antiquities on display. A non-technical person (junior assistant) who is on the verge of retirement is functioning as the museum in-charge and, ticketing income is negligible.

The Baudhasree Museum was established in 1954 and it came under the purview of State Department of Archaeology & Museums 20 years later. The original building which housed the museum gave way to a new one that was inaugurated in September 1992.

The museum used to attract a sizable number of tourists, which gradually came down and the decline in footfalls was more pronounced later, noticeably after many artefacts were taken away to Amaravathi during the Kalachakra event in 2006.

Speaking to The Hindu, Assistant Director of Archaeology & Museums (Vijayawada) K. Chittibabu said there was a proposal to build a first floor to accommodate more valuable things and upgrade the existing library into a research library but the proposals were pending and estimates have not yet been prepared.

However, he exuded confidence that things would move fast in the near future while admitting that there are constraints in developing this historic museum to global standards.

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The Castor Bay Presbyterian Church and hall will become a place of Buddhist worship and meditation

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Castor Bay, New Zealand -- A Buddhist organisation has bought the Castor Bay Presbyterian Church.

<< SOLD: the Castor Bay Presbyterian Church and hall will become a place of Buddhist worship and meditation.A Buddhist organisation has bought the Castor Bay Presbyterian Church.

The church and adjoining hall have been bought by the Auckland branch of a well-established Buddhist religious education society with other existing premises throughout the city.

Mairangi and Castor Bays Presbyterian Church property and finance convenor George Wyman said the church had been sold as the size of its congregations no longer warranted its own premises.

Congregation members will now integrate into the Mairangi Bay Presbyterian Church some two kilometres away or to the Anglican Church in neighbouring Milford.

The church will hold its final religious worship sessions over Easter in April next year. The sale of the Castor Bay Presbyterian Church was brokered by Bayleys Takapuna.

The two buildings have a combined floor space of 250 square metres with off-street car parking for eight vehicles, and sit on 1133 square metres of land with vast views over Milford Beach and the Waitemata Harbour.

The Castor Bay land and buildings have a capital valuation of $1.125milllion.

Bayleys Takapuna sales person Peter Christoffersen said that seven tenders were received for the Castor Bay premises after an extensive marketing campaign which embraced both the commercial and residential development potential for the land and buildings.

"Some of those tenders were for the commercial development of the site, while most were for development of a residential nature in line with its zoning of Residential 4 under the Auckland Council plan," Mr Christoffersen said.

"When the final round of tenders was assessed, the best deal put forward at the end of the process was that of the Buddhists. This sits well with the church's philosophy of encouraging spiritual worship, peace, and harmony and ensures the legacy created over almost 100 years in Castor Bay is maintained."

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Seokgatap pagoda, symbol of Sakyamuni Buddha

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Seoul, South Korea -- Bulguksa temple in Kyeongju, Korea is a UNESCO World Heritage site and literally means the “The Temple of Buddha’s Country.” Here in the center courtyard, two pagodas, known as the Dabotap and Seokgatop stand in grandeur. The two pagodas symbolize the incarnations of Buddha.

Seokgatap, or the Buddha Pagoda, symbolizes Sakyamuni Buddha, and Dabotap is the incarnation of Buddha's previous existence. It is said that the Buddha's former life sprouted out of the earth in the shape of a pagoda to prove the truth of Buddha's sermon.
The Seokatap is very simple and has a basic design with three stores and gives off a sense of balance and symmetry. This pagoda is over 1,000 years and said to be build in the Baekje dynasty.
On September 27th, 2012 the Bulguksa temple began the major restoration project of the Shakyamuni pagoda (Seokatap in Korean). During its restoration project, the team found various Buddhist treasures and artifacts buried under the base of the pagoda.
In 1966, the Mugujeonggwang Great Dharani Sutra was found within the pagoda and enlisted as the National Treasure No. 126. This Dharani Sutra is the oldest woodblock print material in existant of the world. Also found was a sarira box with other various Buddhist treasures such as a bronze Buddha, and mirrors.
Venerable Sungta, the abbot of Bulguksa monastery states that the total restoration of the Seokatap is the only way to preserve the Seokatap’s original beauty and for the future generations to enjoy and appreciate this pagoda.
During this restoration, the Seokatap will be completely dismantled and put together for complete restoration and is estimated to cost about USD 3million.
Various housing was placed around the Seokatap so tourists and pilgrims can still visit the Seokatap during its restoration.
It has been stated that the base of the pagoda is unstablee and the resotration team plans to rebuild and restore the base for the balance and stability of the Seokatap.
The Seokatap is over 1,300 years old and the restoration is a three year project and the perfectly restored Seokatap will reveal it’s original beauty once again in 2015.

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Buddhist program’s end prompts student outcry

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Yale University, USA -- Yale has abruptly ended its Buddhist program, Indigo Blue, and the chaplaincy of the program’s leader, Bruce Blair ’81, prompting protests from some students.

<< Indigo Blue's nightly Stillness & Light meditation sessions are canceled. Photo: Mark Ostow

At a meeting yesterday with University Chaplain Sharon Kugler, “nearly half” the students “walked out in the middle of the conversation, expressing dissatisfaction with the way in which Yale has handled the situation,” the Yale Daily News reports.

Students who arrived at Battell Chapel for Indigo Blue’s nightly meditation session, Stillness and Light, on October 22 found an empty room. The Buddhist Chapel, in Branford College’s Harkness Tower, was dismantled a week later. Kugler told the News that the university decided to end its nine-year relationship with Blair and Indigo Blue but declined to say why: “We have decided it would be best to go in a different direction to serve our Buddhist community.”

In an e-mail to students, Kugler said the chaplain’s office is working on restoring the Buddhist chapel and creating new programs for Buddhist students. “This change may feel sudden,” she wrote, “but it was carefully thought out.”

On a new Indigo Blue website, Blair writes that “the reasons Yale gave for annulling its relationship with Indigo Blue were allegations, mainly new, and neither detailed nor substantiated.” He also declines to detail the reasons, saying he hopes they can be addressed privately: “I still feel I have done nothing wrong and hope misunderstanding can be addressed and the relationship renewed.… for the moment it is not appropriate to discuss in detail the issues Yale raised.”

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Next Economy, Buddhist Economy

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Pittsburgh, PA (USA) -- November 6th, 2012: the day we vote on economy… the year of apocalyptic partisanship… the year of promises of new economy…

I usually don’t mess with economics.  The last time I spoke on the topic was when I re-phrased the all-too-familiar “It’s economy, stupid!” meme into “It’s psychology, stupid!” in my 2009 Huffington Post blog.

My question is this:

What kind of economy are we trying to build?

The kind of economy where everyone who wants to work can work?

Or the kind of economy that works by itself without the need to work?

Or the kind of economy where work doesn’t feel like work?

These are all very different questions and the answers to these questions range from industrial age pragmatism to utopian fantasies.

But I am looking for something in the middle, for an economy of the Middle Way for the middle class…

Is there such a beast?

Turns out there is and it’s called Buddhist Economics as described (in the 1970s) by E. F. Schumacher in “Small is Beautiful” (a must read!).

A couple of excerpts and a few points.

Schumacher explains:

“There is universal agreement that a fundamental source of wealth is human labor.  Now, the modern economists have been brought up to consider “labor” or work as little more than a necessary evil.  From the point of view of the employer, [labor] is in any case simply an item of cost, to be reduced to a minimum… say, by automation.  From the point of view of the workman, [labor/work] is a “disutility;” to work is to make a sacrifice of one’s leisure and comfort, and wages are a kind of compensation for the sacrifice.  Hence the ideal from the point of the employer is to have output without employees, and the ideal from the point of view of the employee is to have income without employment.”

Exactly: that’s what I, as an immigrant to this country, have witnessed over the past 20 years  – employers try to get rid of employees and the working public keeps dreaming the American dream of early retirement.

I am a big fan of the television show “Shark Tank” and after the last episode I said to my wife: “the American dream is well alive.”  Week after week I am blown away by inventive, hard-working people that seem to be motivated by the fantasy of financial independence (which is fine) and early retirement (arguably problematic).

This gets at one of my initial questions: what kind of economy are we trying to build – an economy that works by itself?  That seems to have been the American dream – to work hard, strike it rich, and not have to work anymore.

So, that’s the American way, the American economics.  Here’s the Buddhist way, the Buddhist economics, in Schumacher’s words:

“The Buddhist point of view takes the function of work to be at least threefold: to give a man a chance to utilize and develop his faculties; to enable him to overcome his ego-centeredness by joining with other people in a common task; and to bring forth the goods and services needed for a becoming existence.”

Making this kind of living would be “right livelihood” in terms of the Buddhist doctrine of Noble Eightfold Path.

Schumacher continues:

“To strive for leisure as an alternative to work would be considered a complete misunderstanding of one of the basic truths of human existence, namely that work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss of leisure.”

Schumacher never formally challenges the American economic dream (of striking it rich and becoming financially independent and retiring early) but, indirectly, his theorizing about Buddhist economics is exactly that kind of challenge.

I love what I do (but I am not what I do).  I have no plans of retiring.  And I am not a workaholic: I work 3 long days, seeing clients back to back, and these 3 days of work are some of my best days on this planet.  Not because I am “helping” someone (I resent that view anyway, the view of mental health as a “helping profession” – just about any occupation can be construed as such – plumbers too are in a “helping profession;” this whole “helping profession” business is just a bit too self-congratulatory, too ego-boosting for my taste).

I love what I do exactly because when I do what I do I cease to be my conceptual self, I vanish into the flow of the moment, I disappear into my work not as some escapist workaholic but as a cliff-diver into the oblivion of the water.

I realize I am fortunate that I am able to do what I do.  But I also have no false modesty about the matter: I have worked hard, very hard for this privilege to work in a manner that develops my faculties and in a manner that meditatively erases my ego and in a manner that also happens to have social value.  And it’s exactly because of this privilege to work that I don’t have the American dream of striking it rich and retiring early.

(All this book-writing that I’ve done – that was me chasing the American dream, wanting to pay off the student loans fast and get a lifestyle upgrade.  But I am mostly done with that – I mean with craving and book-writing…  Not just because I grew and matured but also because I am finally catching on to the fact that the American dream of striking it rich through book-writing for no-names like me is mostly a pipe-dream).

I am rambling and, perhaps, over-sharing (and that’s okay, that’s what blogging is about).  So, I want to end this voting-day blog-post with this summation:  in my humble opinion, to build a new economy we have to let go of the old dream, of that American dream that equates work with necessary evil.

And I’ll let Schumacher wrap this up for me:

“While the materialist is mainly interested in goods, the Buddhist is mainly interested in liberation.  But Buddhism is “The Middle Way” and therefore in no way antagonistic to physical well-being.  It is not wealth that stands in the way of liberation but the attachment to wealth; not the enjoyment of pleasurable things but the craving for them.  The keynote of Buddhist economics, therefore, is simplicity and non-violence… amazingly small means leading to extraordinarily satisfactory results.”

Schumacher – writing in the 1970s – was right then and is right now: an economy that is based on craving, an economy based on competing with the joneses is an economy of jonesing, an economy of addiction.  We don’t just need more jobs, we also need a rehab of the American dream.  We need a pattern break.

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Pavel Somov, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and the author of "Eating the Moment" (New Harbinger, 2008), "Present Perfect" (NH, 2010), "The Lotus Effect" (NH, 2010), "Smoke Free Smoke Break" (2011), and "Reinventing the Meal" (in press, 2012). He is in private practice in Pittsburgh, PA. His book website is www.eatingthemoment.com

Marla Somova, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in private practice and an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Carlow University in Pittsburgh, PA. She is the co-author of "Smoke Free Smoke Break" (2011).

Source: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/mindful-living/2012/11/next-economy-buddhist-economy/

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Buddhist Voters Aim To Bring Mindfulness To The Ballot Box

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Washington D.C., USA -- The mindfulness movement has seeped into Silicon Valley, Capitol Hill, and even the United States Military Academy at West Point. Next stop: the voting booth.

A new California-based group wants the estimated 5 million Americans who practice mindfulness to move off their meditation cushions and into the polls on Tuesday (Nov. 6).

If meditation can calm hyperactive kids, ease the pain of drug addicts and tame the egos of Fortune 500 CEOs, it can surely help a stressed-out and polarized country choose a president, says the Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams.

An artist and veteran activist from Berkeley, Williams is the force behind MindfulVOTES, a nonpartisan campaign that she believes is the first attempt to mobilize mindfulness meditators.

"Mindfulness practices are maturing in our country and entering the mainstream, but if it's not applied in our lives, it doesn't matter," said Williams. "It's time for our community to go beyond its own navels."

Broadly defined, mindfulness is a meditative practice designed to encourage a clear and nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment, often by observing one's breath. In Buddhism, mindfulness is one of the seven factors of enlightenment and a step on the Noble Eightfold Path.

Organizing meditators politically -- especially its leading Buddhist teachers -- has proven more difficult than expected, Williams said. "You know the phrase 'like herding cats'? This is like herding lions and tigers."

Hoping to leverage attention during an election year, the group raised funds to attend the Democratic and GOP conventions this summer. It followed the leads of the liberal group MoveOn.org and the League of Women Voters by encouraging activists to host "mindful circles" and circulate an online voting pledge.

MindfulVOTES also solicited the services of 250 "mindful" leaders and tapped 20 A-list ambassadors, including Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio congressman who practices mindfulness meditation.

"We will demonstrate that the Mindful community is a block of conscious voters, engaging in politics in a new and impactful way," the group says.

Williams, who defines herself as "post-Zen" and practices at the new Dharma Community in Berkeley, said MindfulVOTES hopes to attract diverse strands of Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Christian and nontheistic meditators. According to researchers, more than 1 million Americans take up meditation each year.

But Williams said the only a small number of mindful circles have organized thus far and the pledge-to-vote campaign faltered. "We're learning as we go along," she said. "This is a huge exercise in getting our feet wet."

There is no central Buddhist hierarchy or organization in the U.S. Instead, dozens of small groups dot the landscape, from Japanese-American devotees of Amida Buddha and Tibetan refugees to Zen converts. Many Buddhist clergy are part time and spend their few free hours building their own institutions, Williams said.

Still, Buddhist ethics and philosophy contain clear moral mandates, including the need to take political responsibility, said the Rev. Danny Fisher, a leading young Buddhist activist.

"Mindfulness, wisdom and ethical action are like three legs of a stool," said Fisher, a professor and coordinator of the Buddhist chaplaincy department at University of the West in Rosemead, Calif. "Buddhists in North America tend to focus on the first leg. Thinking about ethical issues, our role in the larger world, and the direction of the country is often less pronounced."

Fisher laments that American Buddhists lack firebrand figures like the late Protestant peace activist William Sloane Coffin or Cornel West, the provocative public philosopher. Instead, Fisher said he often looks to politically active Buddhists in Thailand and Burma for inspiration.

In some Asian countries, Buddhist groups have developed deep ties to political parties. Soka Gakkai International, for instance, founded its own party in Japan the 1960s and maintains strong connections to the New Komeito Party. SGI-USA spokesman William Aiken said he doubts that such alliances would develop in the United States.

"In the American Soka Gakkai Buddhist community, we feel that to identify with one partisan political philosophy over another would limit our mission to support the Buddhist practice of a very diverse membership," he said.

Still, there are scores of politically engaged Buddhists in the United States -- even if they don't publicly identify their religion, said Aiken and other Buddhist leaders.

And while they remain small, there are several political Buddhist groups in the U.S. The Berkeley-based Buddhist Peace Fellowship, for example, was founded in 1978 by the late Robert Aitken Roshi, an American Zen leader.

In January, the Berkeley-based group will embark on a new campaign to encourage young Buddhists to connect their meditation practice and religious studies with "active nonviolence," said Katie Loncke, BPF's director of media and action. Just as important, she said, it will connect politically active Buddhists with each other.

"Many of us are out there looking and not knowing how to find each other."

Loncke said she is encouraged by the MindfulVOTES campaign, but also thinks Buddhists should address the root causes of suffering and societal injustice.

"Buddhism tends to get fuzzed into this kind of magical thinking -- that if you're mindful and you vote, then everything will get better,"

Loncke said. "But that shortcuts political education."

For Williams, the goal of MindfulVOTES this year is more immediate.

"We want people to take a breath," she said, "and realize that there is such as thing as Nov. 7."

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/06/buddhist-voters-bring-mindfulness-to-ballot-box_n_2079801.html

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