Cambodian monk with a penchant for Karate

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Colombo, Sri Lanka -- Relationship between Cambodia and Sri Lanka from Buddhist perspective runs into several centuries. Sri Lanka has been a great influence on Cambodia, especially because the island’s Buddhist monks have made a huge contribution towards establishing the religion in this South East Asian country.

<< Ven. Em.Hong - “Karate is similar to meditation and helps nourish mind and body.” Pic by Ravi Nagahawatte

Over the years Sri Lanka has been witnessing a steady flow in the arrival of Buddhist monks from Cambodia. All of them are here to study Buddhism. But The Nation caught up with one monk who is a little different from the others. He allocates some time each day to learn karate when he is not studying Dhamma.

A 27-year-old Cambodian monk, Ven. Em Hong is here to finish his degree in Buddhism. He arrived in Sri Lanka in 2010 with the blessings of his parents, both farmers. He told this writer that he wanted to continue his higher studies and that his entering priesthood presented him with ample opportunities to follow his dream.

“Back in Cambodia, life is hectic and people are exhausted when they return home after work, hence devoting time for studies is out,” said Ven. Hong and added, “I hate the hectic lifestyle back in Cambodia.”His wish is to finish his degree here in Sri Lanka and return to Cambodia. But there will be a huge change in his choice of lifestyle in the future. He wants to become a layman again.

“After finishing my studies, I will continue being a priest for a few more years before I disrobe. The final goal is to be a teacher and serve the community. The years I spend in learning the Dhamma as a priest will help me step into society as a good layman,” he affirmed.Before becoming a priest, Ven. Hong was an English teacher in Cambodia. He seemed not to impose restrictions upon himself when talking about education in Cambodia. “It’s not the country for studies. There are so many negativities,” he stressed.

Nevertheless, he was quick to point out that he enjoyed the freedom experienced by monks in Sri Lanka compared to the strict lifestyles led by Cambodian monks. “Back in my country I wouldn’t have been allowed to practice karate as a monk,” he said.He is one of the most promising students in the Toyo Kai Karate Federation of Sri Lanka (Situated in Nugegoda) and has excelled in all grading tests since he joined the class three years ago. “I practice karate twice a day. Thanks to the healthy lifestyle I lead I can’t remember the day I last fell ill. Karate is similar to meditation and helps nourish mind and body,” explained Ven. Hong who sports a brown belt in Karate.

Though he is a monk he doesn’t impose restrictions on his diet because he believes serious sport demands solid nutrition. He lives the life of a monk as much as possible and survives on two meals a day. When he arrived in Sri Lanka he lived in a temple in Homagama. But now he lives in a rented room in Pitipana and the rental expense is borne by the Association of Cambodian Buddhist Monks in Sri Lanka.

He brings up the topic of Buddhism when he is with his karate friends and teaches them vital lessons. Ven, Hong says he loves philosophy too.From his talk and approach to the Buddhist way of living one can realize that he is putting all he has in reaching his potential as a human being. “I believe the eight-fold path taught by Lord Buddha is the way forward. You do good, you get good,” he said.Like Sri Lanka was terrorized by Tiger rebels, Cambodia too experienced a dark period when the Khmer Rouge troops reigned supreme. “Buddhism can help promote peace in all countries,” concluded Ven. Hong.

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The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon – review

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Naomi Alderman enjoys the ride in a Buddhist-themed graphic novel

London, UK -- Graphic novels are peculiarly suited to the discussion of Buddhist themes. That frozen moment in each pane, paused for us to examine, more details revealing themselves the harder we look, has something in common with meditation and the desire to appreciate the "nowness" of each moment of life. The Book of Pages by David Whiteland is a wonderful meditation on Buddhism and technology, and Deepak Chopra has produced a comic book about the Buddha.

Illustration from The Nao of Brown

The Nao of Brown is an engrossing and beautiful addition to the list. Nao is a charming half-Japanese woman with a bob and cute shoes, who works in a shop selling Japanese ephemera. She's obsessed with a set of Japanese comics called Ichi (Dillon has built a dedicated Twitter account and website), and falls in love with a washing-machine repairman who looks like one of the characters, bearded father figure Nobodaddy. She's an artist. She rides a bicycle.

She'd be a tooth-achingly sweet "pixie dream girl" if she didn't also suffer from sudden, invasive, compulsive thoughts of harming other people. Graphic novels excel at moving smoothly from the internal to external world, combining the action and intensity of a movie with the access to inner life of a novel. When Nao's sitting in an aeroplane, we see her vision of herself opening the emergency door. When she's confronted by a pregnant woman, she's overwhelmed by thoughts of stabbing the swollen belly. We, like Nao, are sometimes initially confused about whether she's really done these things or not.

Her meditation, therefore, and her interest in Buddhist drawing, aren't just an adorable pastime – she feels constantly on the verge of breakdown. Dillon's illustrative style is clear and crisp, but incredibly expressive; the motion of Nao's shoulders, the tilt of her head as she's talking, let us know that she may be about to have another compulsive episode.

The book is very funny about the experience of learning meditation and Buddhism – however hard we try to rise above ourselves, we're always irritatingly anchored, and the beaming faces of the slightly over-keen teachers at Nao's local meditation centre tell the reader it's OK to laugh, even while Nao is taking it all extremely seriously.

Nao's story is interspersed with the elliptical tale of Ichi character Pictor, a half-man, half-tree creature who, despite having a conker for a head, goes off to join the army. The rich, illustrative techniques of the Pictor pages, with their nods towards the decorated margins of a medieval Book of Hours, form a neat contrast to Nao's story. We can see why Nao might be drawn to these strange, serene images with their intricate detail demanding close examination.

The style contrasts, very deliberately, with the sketchy, sometimes impressionistic, illustration of Nao's own story. The narrative is meandering and thoughtful, taking in Nao's flatmate, her family and her friend and boss at the toy store. There's a light plot: Nao fails to see that her friend is in love with her, and her relationship with the washing-machine repairman is inevitably threatened by her OCD.

The end reads as Hollywood romantic comedy in a way that's unworthy of what went before. But then, as Buddhism would tell us, to focus on the destination is to look in the wrong place. The matter of life, and of a book, lies in the journey, not its end, and this novel is a very fine journey indeed.

• The Liars' Gospel by Naomi Alderman is published by Viking.

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The Buddhist Heritage of Andhra Pradesh

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Hyderabad, India -- Building hosting Buddhist Galleries at State Museum at Hyderabad Buddhism originated in the 5th century BCE in present day India. It flourished in many parts of India for the next millennium, partly due to the patronage of various kings and dynasties. 

Numerous factors contributed to its decline thereafter. Today although Buddhism is not a major religion in India, there are a vast number of Buddhist sites of religious and archaeological importance in the country. Some of these are world famous, such as Bodhgaya, Sanchi and the Ajanta Caves.

Buddhism came to what is now called Andhra Pradesh, a southern state of India, in the early period and flourished there for the next few centuries. It is evident that all forms of Buddhism such as Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana found residence in this region. Although Buddhism declined in Andhra Pradesh during the latter part of the 1st Millennium CE, there is evidence to suggest some of the sites had social and religious currency until the 14th century. What remains of the above period are various ruined sites which are now considered a part of Indian ‘heritage’.  Some of them are now marketed as tourist attractions.

Such ruins first grabbed the attention of scholars and colonial administrators in the late 18th century. With the stabilization of the British administration these archaeological artifacts were explored and subjected to scholarly appraisal.  Archaeology authorities of post-independent India continued this tradition in various parts of the country, including Andhra Pradesh. A small but detailed booklet titled ‘Buddhist Archaeology in Andhra Pradesh’ published a few years ago sketches out the story of these discoveries.

There are a total of approximately 150 Buddhist monuments and other sites identified within the present boundaries of Andhra Pradesh so far. These sites contain monuments of various types, including stupas and large monasteries and cave complexes.  Quite interestingly, Buddhist sites are being discovered even at present. A new Buddhist site was discovered as recently as a few weeks ago on the banks of the Gosthani River, at Gudiwada village of Bhogapuram Mandal in the Vizianagaram District. The site has been identified as belonging to the early periods of Buddhism and was reported in ‘The Hindu’ newspaper on October 9, 2012. In 2010, remains of stupa were found under the foundations of a Hindu shrine, which speaks of what happened to some of the sites after the decline of Buddhism. The wanton destruction of some of these sites has been recorded by British archaeologists.

The most celebrated sites

Some of the Buddhist sites in Andhra are renowned for historical and \archaeological significance, in particular Nagarjunakondda and Amaravati. In addition a large number of relic caskets have being unearthed from a number of Buddhist sites in Andhra Pradesh. These sites, sometimes known as ‘relic casket sites’, include Battiprolu, Bavikonda, Ghantasala, Salihundam, Gudivada, Guntupalli, Jaggayyapeta and Kottur. Some writers opine that Andhra Pradesh is the state with the highest density of relic caskets.

Amaravati is another famous Buddhist site located close to the Krishna River and is believed to date to around the 3rd century BCE. The large mahastupa was originally built by King Ashoka while many other buildings are said to have been constructed over at least four phases. The Amaravati ruins first caught the attention of scholars in the late 19th century and a number of collections of artifacts from Amaravati complex are exhibited in a number of museums around the world. Relic caskets were discovered here during the excavations conducted during the period of 1957-67 at the mahastupa site. It is said that there is evidence to state that a Mahayanic site was later transformed into a Tantric Vajrayana site. The style of sculpture style is in fact referred to as the Amaravati School of Art or Amaravati Sculpture and is well known for its narrative style. The influence of Amaravati art is said to spread to other areas including Sri Lanka.

Nagarjunakonda is an ancient Buddhist monastery complex situated on the banks of the Krishna River. It was a prominent center of learning during ancient times and takes its name from the scholarly monk Nagarjuna who lived during the 2-3rd centuries and was resident here. He is considered a great philosopher monk and founded the Madhyamika School of Buddhism, which belongs to the Mahayana tradition. The present site is said to have been earlier called Sriparvata and the present name in Telugu means ‘Hill of Nagarjuna’. Numerous Buddhist remains have been excavated since its discovery in 1926. The remains unearthed include a mahastupa, remains of several monasteries and numerous artifacts including inscriptions and sculptures. As the original site was inundated with water during the construction of Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir built in 1960s, these have been reconstructed on higher locations close by.

There are many important sites which are lesser known to the outside world, such as Bavikonda, situated close to Visakapatnam on the eastern coast. According to records, Bavikonda contains the remains of a mahastupa, several other stupas and congregation halls, evidencing clearly a well-established monastery complex. Conservation work on the mahastupa was carried out in 1993 and yielded caskets believed to contain relics of Siddhartha Gauthama, the Enlightened One, which are exhibited at Hyderabad Museum.

 Hyderabad Museum – The showcase of the Buddhist Heritage
The State Archaeological Museum of Hyderabad has a good collection of Buddhist finds. The two main galleries of the museum are dedicated to these.  Gallery 1 is the ‘Holy Buddhist Relic Gallery’ holding relics found from the ancient Buddhist monastery complex of Bavikonda. The next gallery is the ‘Buddhist Sculpture Gallery’ where sculptures, decorative dome panels and statues found in various parts of the state are exhibited. Buddha statues in display belong to the Amaravati School of Art.  They contain material mainly from Nelakondapally, Chandavaram, Bavikonda and Uppugundur.  However some of these are classic works of limestone. Some of the vandalized or mutilated parts of these artifacts constitute silent evidence of what took place during the course of history.

A third gallery is dedicated to copies of Ajanta Paintings done about sixty years ago. These copies were made during the administration of Nizams of Hyderabad in 1949. Two artists, namely Khan Bahadur Syed Ahmed and Jalaluddin, were commissioned by the Nizam to undertake this monumental task.

Buddhism today

There is a small population of Buddhists living in Andhra Pradesh, numbering around 32,000 according to the census of 2001. This is quite small when we consider the total number Buddhists in India, i.e. about 8 million.  Buddhism seems to be part of the culture in Andhra Pradesh. Buddhist tourism is being promoted by the Andhra Pradesh government and tourism authorities. They call it ‘Ancient Buddhist Bastion’ in their promotional materials. There are festivals sponsored by the state authorities as well. The Department of Tourism and Culture and the Department of Archaeology and Museums celebrate Buddha Purnima (or Vesak) every year in Hyderabad. They had once even taken relics on a procession to mark this event.

The well-known Ananda Buddha Vihara is a temple located in the Mahendra Hills in Hyderabad and is the center for the propagation of Buddhism in the state today. The Buddha statue mounted on a small island in Hussain Sagar Lake was built as a part of ‘Buddha Purnima Project’ implemented in 1980s is also a prominent landmark in Hyderabad. Both attract tourists, local and foreign.

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Letter: On the situation in Berlin Vihara

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The story told there is indeed a heart-warming one and german Buddhists still hold Asoka Weeraratna's memory in high esteem. So far, nothing in this story is untrue - though I really would not subscribe to the notion, that  the Berlin Vihara "to date remains the centre of Theravada Buddhism in Germany and continental Europe". In my opinion not even in Berlin, to be frank. Alas the story of the Berlin Vihara has a sequel untold in this article - a very sad one.

Please read this paper about the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Vihara by Dr. Sudath Thenuware, a respected Sri Lankan citizen living in Berlin:
http://www.buddhist-forum.net/media/pdf/BERLIN%20VIHARA%2050TH%20ANNIVERSARY%20OR%20AN%20IMPENDING%20DISASTER.pdf

Check out the Website http://www.buddhist-forum.net/ for more background information. The deeper you go into it, the more depressing it gets.

You may be aware that the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Vihara was in 2007 - but in the last 5 years things have changed only for the worse. Today the Berlin Vihara is almost in ruins; it is now a Vihara where no monks reside any more.

This is all that remains of Asoka Weeraratne's legacy in Germany.

The DBU (German Buddhist Union), umbrella organization of German Buddhists and Buddhist organizations, feels deeply troubled by the decay of this eminent place in the history of Buddhism in Germany. In 2009 the Berlin Vihara was barred from
the DBU - it had become unavoidable.

The purpose of this letter is not to slander anyone or to gossip. But many German Buddhists have been hoping for years that the German Dharmadhuta Society would eventually intervene to make the Berlin Vihara 'Das Buddhistische Haus' again a true "centre of Theravada Buddhism in Germany and continental Europe".

The problem is not money - German Buddhists and the German monument protection service were more than willing to help. It's a problem that only the German Dharmadhuta Society in Sri Lanka can solve. Maybe that letter helps a bit - though I don't have much hope left.

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Nalanda monastery organise puja sessions for self-immolated monk

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Toulouse, France -- Nalanda Monastery, based in Lavaur, France will be organising puja ceremonies in memory of the late Ven Tonden, who died last week in an act of self-immolation.

Apart from the monastery in Europe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has requested concurrent prayers from devotees elsewhere to partake in the pujas. These include Sera Jey monastery to do prayers, where about 20,500 monks have done a puja for a good rebirth for Tönden.

The following is the official statement issued by Nalanda Monastery.

Goodbye to Ven Tönden

For those who are interested in the details of the services regarding pujas, and cremation ritual of Tönden-la (David Allen), here are some details:

Until January 3 daily 19h00: Medicine Buddha Puja at Nalanda MonasteryWednesday November 21: 11h30 Lama Chöpa (Guru Puja) at Nalanda monastery6h00 Cremation ceremony: CREMATORIUM D'ALBI, Complexe Funéraire du Caussels, 12, route de Millau, 81000 ALBI, Tél. : 05.63.60.93.42

In Spring 2013 Nalanda Monastery and Tönden's family will organize another meeting to memorialize Tönden for those family members, friends and Nalanda monks/ nuns/ students who were not able to be with us on such short notice.

Support from all over the world

Here at Nalanda we feel supported by our Holy teachers like Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He made a significant money offering to His Holiness the Dalai Lama (as pujas dedicated to someone need a financial base, even if it would be small) and asked Him to do prayers.

Also Rinpoche requested Sera Jey monastery to do prayers, so about 20,500 monks have done a puja for a good rebirth for Tönden as well. Many other big lamas and Geshes within the FPMT and outside the FPMT have done pujas. Nalanda Monastery has also done various pujas and will continue to do daily the Medicine Buddha Puja.

We received from many FPMT centres a kind email, saying that they would do mantras and dedications towards a good future for Tönden. Outside the FPMT also monasteries like Thosamling, Lerab Ling and a nearby Christian monastery En Calcat are also participating in prayers and practices dedicated to the well being of Tönden.

We have received an overwhelming number of emails (so far about 250) of support, from people saying that they were doing prayers.  Many people have brought flower and food offerings to the Monastery in memory of Tönden and in support of Nalanda. Many people have shared fond memories of Tonden and often commented on how kind and gentle he was.

It is moments like these, the passing from one life into another, that help to remind us that life is bigger than we remember, that life is precious, and yet death is an inevitable and necessary step into the next stage of our development.  For those whose aim is the Bodhisattva's path we can safely assume it will take us a few lifetimes.  Losing the ones we love can help serve to give us courage to embark on this path. May your memories of Tönden (David Allen) inspire you to do your very best in this life and in the next.

On the web: http://www.nalanda-monastery.eu/

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On self-immolations in Tibet

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DHARAMSALA, India --  I've just returned from the Special International Meeting of Friends of Tibet in Dharamsala and the number of self-immolations had been spiking up in November.

<< This image from video footage released by Students For A Free Tibet via APTN purports to show Buddhist nun Palden Choetso engulfed in flames in her self-immolation protest against Chinese rule on a street in Tawu, Tibetan Ganzi prefecture, in China’s Sichuan Province Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011.

Around the 18th Congress of Chinese Communist Party, there were about 78 self-immolations.  Approximately half have been committed by lay people, half by monks/nuns. The activities are not coordinated by any organization within Tibet and are not directed by Tibetan leadership outside Tibet. This voluntary, self-determined form of activist resistance is in line with the "lhakar" movement.

A few words about Lhakar. First, Lhakar means "white Wednesday," as Wednesday is associated with HH Dalai Lama. Activists choose ways to resist, meaning to assert Tibetan identity in the face of its repression. One fits the resistance to the practicalities of the
situation - i.e., how to do it without getting arrested/tortured. This might include wearing traditional dress (chupa) or a kata (white scarf), or it might involve speaking Tibetan in situations where Chinese is being forwarded in ways meant to displace Tibetan language/culture (e.g., educational contexts). 

The same kind of repression has happened many times in the world, e.g., punishments for speaking Gaelic in Ireland under British rule and punishments for speaking Okinawan dialect (Hogen) in Okinawa/Ryukyu/Uchina under Chinese rule.  Lhakar is always peaceful, voluntary, and motivated by the wish to preserve Tibetan culture.

No one who speaks about self-immolation directly has spoken in favor of it, to my knowledge.  The Prime Minister (PM) of the CTA (Central Tibetan Administration, or govt in exile), Lobsang Sangay, is a Harvard-educated PhD who did his comparative research on govts in exile.  He insists that CTA is not even encouraging PROTEST in Tibet, since anything like that will result in political imprisonment and probably torture.  There is, therefore, no lawful way to express "civil disobedience" whatsoever. Furthermore, the world has more or less lost interest in the Tibetan plight, relative, say, to the "angry monk syndrome" protests of 2008, around the Chinese Olympics.  Tibetan soft power is running against the wall of Chinese financial leverage (Confucius Institutes, etc), which, Joseph Nye explained to Lobsang Sangay, is not the same thing at all as "soft power." Soft power is the invitation to respond as one will without manipulation or power-politics determination.

One might respond:  "Okay, the Tibetans are not encouraging self-immolation, but neither are they condemning it."  Prof. Stephen Prothero has written in the CNN Blog that the Dalai Lama has "blood on his hands" for not condemning self-immolation absolutely.  I asked prominent Tibetan intellectuals what they made of this.  Geshe Lhakdor, director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, finds it a "precious" response.  His feeling is that some people who have no understanding of the degree of repression of Tibetans as a whole condemn the violence of self-immolation without understanding the courageous willingness to take pain on oneself in order to call attention to the issue in ways that will reduce the suffering of others.

Dr Lobsang Sangay, in his address to the Special International Meeting, said that his government did not wish Tibetans to self-immolate or even protest, but, given the fact of such actions, they felt it would be unconscionable to condemn such selfless self-sacrifice. Going further, he said it was a "sacred duty" to understand such actions properly in terms of the real causes, e.g., the rampant repression of Chinese culture.

Extrapolating just a bit, one could say that the most constructive way to be against self-immolation, since we can't even communicate directly in closed Chinese Tibet with potential self-immolators, would be to do everything we possibly can to call attention to the conditions that lead people citizens with husbands/wives and children, as well as monks and nuns, many of them quite young - to self immolate.  Calling attention to these conditions does not mean hating Chinese people that was emphasized several times but, rather, doing everything possible to encourage China to come to a constructive form
of engagement.

There have been ideological attempts in the Chinese media to discredit self-immolaters, e.g., by saying they are depressed or otherwise mentally disturbed people.  Tibetan spokespersons have been attempting to publish information of the suicide notes and biographical particulars of the self-sacrificers in order to counter these claims.

One non-Tibetan, a British monk, has self-immolated. I don't know why he's not listed on the International Campaign page. Some Tibetans in Dharamsala were worried that his motivations were not proper. It was believed that he died alone in his room, but this link from the Daily Mail says that he immolated himself in the monastery garden.

Lobsang Sangay (PM), Tempa Tsering, and Chimme Rinzin (sect. to HHDL) all insist that we must acknowledge than any self-immolater could have run into a Chinese shop or otherwise have hurt a Chinese person if the wish was to do violence against another person.  HH Dalai Lama, in his address on 17 November to the Special International Meeting (Nov 16-18, Tibetan Children's Village, Dharamsala, HP) acknowledge that there was an element of violence to self-immolation, but he said we must acknowledge the context: there is no other way for these Tibetans to call attention to their plight, and they are specifically tailoring their actions in such a way that they do not burn other people.

We should recall that there was plenty of ambiguity about monks protesting in 2008.  The question, "Is angry-looking a protest?"  looks quite anachronistic now.  We might ask, was it self-violence for Martin Luther King's satyagraha activists to sit at all-white restaurant counters, knowing that their actions would lead to abusive and even violent behavior?  That response would be, as Geshe Lhakdor has said, "precious." Oh, look at me: I'm SO committed to non-violence. Let's go have a latte and talk about how ambivalent we are about this matter.

When I gave talks at Central University of Tibetan Studies in Varanasi (March 2012), the Q&A session turned to self-immolation no matter what the topic was.  After a talk on Khyentse Norbu's THE CUP students wanted to ask whether I thought self-immolation was Buddhist.  I can't really say it is.  I discouraged self-immolation as much as I possibly could - one of those passionate students might very well be sitting on the fence.  That said, it's a bit stomach-turning, to me personally, to turn around after a self-immolation and say "That person did a bad thing."  One wouldn't wish death-by-fire on one's worst enemy, but it
could be seen as interpretive violence to construe this act as "violence" when we cannot imagine a better response than passively allowing the systematic destruction of one's culture. 

Anyone who does not understand that China is systematically destroying Tibetan culture is not paying attention. Repression of language, ideological conditioning in the schools, displacement of nomadic peoples, torture and disappearance of activists or even mild resistors, mass colonization through the influx of ethnic Chinese into the region, and billion-dollar investments in railroads and theme parks intended to condition tourist understanding of Tibet - if this is not the systematic destruction of a culture, what would be?

No one I have spoken to is "for" self-immolation. It is really a question of how to end it.  Tibetans-in-exile will insist that the answer has to include the amelioration of oppressive conditions for Tibetans in Tibet.  The best way to be "against self-immolation" would be to find ways to help that happen.

For information via wikipedia on self-immolation,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation

The wiki on Tibetan self-immolation is not up-to-date and does not
reflect the dramatic spike in the last month:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_protests_by_Tibetans_in_China

Complete list available from International Campaign for Tibet:
http://www.savetibet.org/resource-center/maps-data-fact-sheets/self-immolation-fact-sheet

----------
John Whalen-Bridge is Associate Professor at the Department of English Language & Literature, National University Of Singapore. He is currently co-editing a series of books for SUNY Press with Gary Storhoff called "Buddhism and American Culture.

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Kabul vows to preserve Buddhist site

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Kabul, Afghanistan -- A historic Buddhist site in Afghanistan appears likely to be spared demolition to make way for a copper mine after the Thai Foreign Ministry issued a statement yesterday saying the Afghan government "would do whatever possible" to conserve the site and preserve artefacts obtained from it.

Citing confirmation by officials at the Thai Embassy in Islamabad, which recently held talks with the Afghan ambassador there, the ministry said Kabul also offered to welcome a Thai delegation to Mes Aynak, located in Logar province 40km southeast of Kabul, to inspect measures to conserve the site. The group was also invited to see other Buddhist sites, with their safety fully guaranteed.

The head of the World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth, Phornchai Phinyaphong, who has led a campaign against the demolition of the site, a complex of centuries-old Buddhist monasteries, held an interview to discuss the ministry's statement. He called on Thai Buddhists opposed to the mining project to make their views known through www.change.org. Registration would end on November 30.

Mes Aynak, which means "little copper well", is Afghanistan's richest copper deposit, containing 5.52 million metric tons of copper, worth tens of billions of US dollars. Chinese firm China Metallurgical Group has been granted a 30-year, US$3-billion (Bt92 billion) mining concession. With demolition work due to begin next month, worldwide campaigns by Buddhists have begun to stop the project.

According to the ministry's statement, the Afghan government has announce a policy that would conserve the entire site, and ordered a halt to demolition and further excavation, barring all works at the main location. Artefacts earlier obtained from minor locations are in the custody of the national museum.

Mohammad Umer Daudzai, Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, said the Afghan people regarded themselves as Asians, and the historic site belonged to his country, not to China. "Afghan people were once Buddhists, and never Arabs, and these are facts representing the identity of Afghanistan. It's the duty of all Afghanistan people now to conserve and preserve their cultures," he was quoted as speaking in the statement.

The Thai Embassy has advised the Afghan government to publicise the issue widely, as the Afghan government's stance on the issue had not been made known via state-owned or other media in that country.

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