Buddhist group comes to flood victims’ aid

Home The Americas US Northeast

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.

View the original article here

Dalai Lama concludes editorial meeting on Buddhist science book

Home Asia Pacific South Asia India

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'.

View the original article here

New university at Kapilvastu to be centre for Buddhist studies

Home Asia Pacific South Asia India

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.

View the original article here

New Confederation Seeks to Unite Buddhists

Home Asia Pacific South Asia India

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.

View the original article here

More security at Buddhist sites sought

Home Asia Pacific South Asia India

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.

View the original article here

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

Home Asia Pacific North Asia China

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.

View the original article here

How Goenka led others from bondage to liberation

Home Personality

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.

----------
Vasana Chinvarakorn is former senior feature writer, Bangkok Post.

View the original article here