Energion Publications announces the January 3, 2011 release of a new book, Ephesians: A Participatory Study Guide. Following the outlines of the Participatory Study Method, Dr. Robert Cornwall presents a study guide to the book of Ephesians that is both usable and challenging while not skirting the difficult issues. These eight lessons take you through this letter to the Ephesians leading from the history and background to modern application and sharing in corporate study and worship.
Whether you are approaching this book as an individual, as a small group, or in a larger classroom setting, this study guide (http://energionpubs.com/books/1893729842/) will provide you with direction, exercises, and questions for discussion and further investigation.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Chanting Competition from Budda
GUANGZHOU, China — Off court they are calm and meditative but once in front of crowds chanting 'kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi', they only want to win.
Three of the 14 members of Japan's kabaddi team at the Asian Games are reportedly monks, while five others have graduated from a Zen Buddhist institute.
"Training in kabaddi makes our bodies stronger and healthier, while Buddhism meets our spiritual needs," the Beijing Daily quoted Japan's team leader Kokei Ito as saying.
"There is no conflict between sports and faith."
Born in 1978, Ito has been training in kabaddi since he was 18, following in the footsteps of his elder brother who participated in the sport at the Beijing Asian Games and is currently an official with Japan's delegation.
Japan lost to kabaddi powerhouse Pakistan on Tuesday 40-24 in round two play, but is still hoping to reach the podium and win the country's first-ever medal in the sport.
Kabaddi involves teams of men joining hands, holding their breath and raiding opponents.
Three of the 14 members of Japan's kabaddi team at the Asian Games are reportedly monks, while five others have graduated from a Zen Buddhist institute.
"Training in kabaddi makes our bodies stronger and healthier, while Buddhism meets our spiritual needs," the Beijing Daily quoted Japan's team leader Kokei Ito as saying.
"There is no conflict between sports and faith."
Born in 1978, Ito has been training in kabaddi since he was 18, following in the footsteps of his elder brother who participated in the sport at the Beijing Asian Games and is currently an official with Japan's delegation.
Japan lost to kabaddi powerhouse Pakistan on Tuesday 40-24 in round two play, but is still hoping to reach the podium and win the country's first-ever medal in the sport.
Kabaddi involves teams of men joining hands, holding their breath and raiding opponents.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Buddhism Old in Tibet
Dharamshala: A presentation by Mr Gabriel Lafitte, an Australian academic and development policy consultant to the Environment and Development Desk (EDD) of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile was held in Dharamsala, northern India, on Monday (Nov 22). Entitled China's innermost Secret Fears, the talk was organised by the Tibetan Women's Association and attended by 30 Tibetans and foreign tourists, who took part in a question-and-answer session.
Mr Lafitte told the audience that on November 1 repressive new regulations intruding into management of Tibetan monasteries came into force. These were denounced by Kalon Tsering Phuntsok as "an evil design on the part of the Chinese government to obstruct Buddhist teachings and its sacred transmissions inside Tibet, and makes it extremely difficult for monastic institutions to undertake their important religious activities".
Paradoxically, a leading academic analyst of Chinese policy wrote the following about the new regulations: "China's new religious policy expands the institutional autonomy of religious organizations, limits the power of religious affairs bureaus, and provides for administrative appeal, judicial challenge, and sanctioning errant officials...
"We thus view the new religious policy as an effort by the Chinese government to fold the management of religion into its larger systemic reform portfolio, to synchronize an anachronistic policy, and to integrate religious policy that diverges from its systemic socioeconomic and political reforms."
What sense can be made of this contradiction? The most common exile response is to say the Chinese leaders are liars and atheists, with no business interfering in what they cannot possibly comprehend. The Kalon Tripa (Tibetan Prime Minister) said that the People's Republic of China, which claims itself to be officially an atheist state, cannot have the authority to formulate rules and regulations on the management of religious affairs of Tibetan Buddhism.
But the contradictions go deeper
Why do China's leaders insist they must oppress Tibet? There are many obvious answers to this most basic of questions, yet none of the usual answers get to the heart of China's fear and loathing of Tibetan culture, especially its leaders' hatred of Tibetan religion. People say it is because the Chinese are communists and communists hate religion, as if nothing in China has changed since Mao told the Dalai Lama in 1954 that religion is poison. Now the Communist Party is barely communist in its ideology, but the ferocious antagonism to Tibetan culture continues. We cannot create dialogue with China's elite until we understand what drives that negative attitude. So we need first to clarify our own thinking. We can do this by looking back at the past century of China's violent struggles to achieve modernity, discovering deep hostility to institutional religion throughout.
If it is not communism but modernity that is the antagonist of Tibetan Buddhism, in the eyes of China's elite, then we can identify the core problem, and stop blaming communism. One reason the world is not listening to Tibetans, though it used to listen not so long ago, is that Tibetans continue to name communism as the enemy, and those who deal with China every day see little sign of communism.
Once we identify China's total determination to attain complete modernity as the reason why Tibetan culture has to be repressed - and Tibetan language removed from the classroom - we know what we are up against. China's quest for modernity is older and deeper than communism. The Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) was just as committed as the Communist Party to strictly controlling religion, because it holds back modernity and a strong state.
How did it come about that modernity sees public religion as its enemy? What are the origins of this antagonism? Can religion play a constructive role in public debate and policy, without being a hindrance to modernity? When Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche once said he was anti-modern, did he mean he wanted to go backwards, or further forward, beyond the limitations and materialist obsessions of modernity?
Japan, like China, was suddenly faced with the challenge of modernity but took a different path, and now manages to be both modern, developed, prosperous and entirely Japanese. Why is the Chinese path to modernity more violent, contradictory, repressive, fragile and fearful of collapsing into chaos?
The fundamental question is: How did it come about that the project of creating a modern society, of literate, productive individuals, made religion into its enemy? To answer this we must go beyond China and Japan, to Europe, to discover assumptions inherited by Asian modernisers. We must look at the European invention of modernity, as a new way of understanding the purpose of human life, a new set of assumptions about the sources of human happiness. We must look at the great revolutions in France and Russia - violent attempts at attaining modernity as fast as possible.
Modernity is much more than railways and bridges, power stations and skyscrapers. It is a mindset, an aggregation of assumptions that have become naturalised and no longer visible.
In the modernist world view, religion can be reduced to being merely an expression of psychological and social needs. The inner legitimacy and inner subjective experience of religious practice is denied and obscured. Instead an aloof, distant, objective, scientific stance is taken, in which religion can be explained by the sciences of sociology and psychology, as the yearnings of people for happiness, which has sedimented over time into specific practices. Religion is no more than its observable practices, and those practices do not promote rational productivity, so at best they are useless and at worst are obstacles to the creation of a new focus for the aspirations and yearnings of the masses - i.e. the nation-state.
All of the above were core beliefs of not only the Communist Party of China but also the Kuomintang; and of the Kemalist revolutionaries of Turkey, the PRI revolutionary regime in Mexico, Soviet Russia and revolutionary France.
James Tong, political science professor at the University of California and close observer of China has expressed the hope that: "Once the modernizing state has consolidated its power, state-religion relations may evolve from competitive conflict to accommodative cooperation." This is a similar optimism to regular hopes expressed by the Dalai Lama - that as China matures it can relax and become more tolerant. It is the hope that modernity is not an endless, all-embracing project, forever requiring the exclusive loyalty and energy of all citizens - that at a certain point China can feel confident it has attained modernity, has at last caught up with the leading developed countries, can stand among the great nations as an equal, and no longer needs to prove anything.
But is modernity a destination, and an attainable one which is known to have been attained when it arrives?
Above all, the party-state clearly does not feel it has 'consolidated its power' in Tibet. In fact, it reads the unhappiness of the Tibetan people, so obvious since early 2008, as a clear sign that it has yet to consolidate the power of the modern nation-state and must crush the disloyal Buddhists ever more fiercely. Elsewhere in China, modernity is flowering and maturing, but in Tibet the modernity project remains at a preliminary and tenuous stage, and might collapse altogether if tight control is relaxed. So Professor Tong may be right about other parts of China, where the modern state may be willing to curb the harsh and arbitrary powers of the official religious bureaus - but not in Tibet, where their obnoxious intrusions into the realm of the transcendental is as zealous as ever.
This is not an academic debate about vague terms like modernity, religion, superstition and the nation-state. We need to understand what drives the antagonism. Why is it that the Communist Party remains locked in seeing the Tibetan monasteries as a seriously threatening enemy? Until we understand how this has happened, we cannot say we have found a language in which any future negotiations may begin. Until we acknowledge the roots of China's fears, it is a dialogue of the deaf, on all sides.
But are there ways in which this conflict can be reframed? Modernity's foundational assumption is that religion is an irrational yearning for security in an unpredictable natural world where the forces of nature are untamed, and that the modern alternative, of conquering nature, can successfully replace irrational yearnings with rational productivity guided by a strong state.
In vain do religious practitioners protest that the modernizers know nothing about the true purpose and practice of Buddhism. But what if Buddhism could demonstrate it is actually rational and scientific?
This is where, as usual, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been way ahead of everyone. He has pioneered a dialogue with neuroscientists, over a long period, and given much of his precious time to it, even when many of the scientists seemed to have little to offer. Yet he persists to this day in the collaborative rediscovery of Buddhist logic, philosophy, epistemology and ontology as rational - long predating the insights of 20th century physics and quantum mechanics, and 21st century neuroscience.
His Holiness, while unafraid to drop old metaphors such as the earth being flat, has not sought to change Buddhism, as Vivekananda and Ramana Maharshi more radically repackaged Hinduism to accommodate modernity. Buddhism has not changed, but it is open to science.
Mr Lafitte told the audience that on November 1 repressive new regulations intruding into management of Tibetan monasteries came into force. These were denounced by Kalon Tsering Phuntsok as "an evil design on the part of the Chinese government to obstruct Buddhist teachings and its sacred transmissions inside Tibet, and makes it extremely difficult for monastic institutions to undertake their important religious activities".
Paradoxically, a leading academic analyst of Chinese policy wrote the following about the new regulations: "China's new religious policy expands the institutional autonomy of religious organizations, limits the power of religious affairs bureaus, and provides for administrative appeal, judicial challenge, and sanctioning errant officials...
"We thus view the new religious policy as an effort by the Chinese government to fold the management of religion into its larger systemic reform portfolio, to synchronize an anachronistic policy, and to integrate religious policy that diverges from its systemic socioeconomic and political reforms."
What sense can be made of this contradiction? The most common exile response is to say the Chinese leaders are liars and atheists, with no business interfering in what they cannot possibly comprehend. The Kalon Tripa (Tibetan Prime Minister) said that the People's Republic of China, which claims itself to be officially an atheist state, cannot have the authority to formulate rules and regulations on the management of religious affairs of Tibetan Buddhism.
But the contradictions go deeper
Why do China's leaders insist they must oppress Tibet? There are many obvious answers to this most basic of questions, yet none of the usual answers get to the heart of China's fear and loathing of Tibetan culture, especially its leaders' hatred of Tibetan religion. People say it is because the Chinese are communists and communists hate religion, as if nothing in China has changed since Mao told the Dalai Lama in 1954 that religion is poison. Now the Communist Party is barely communist in its ideology, but the ferocious antagonism to Tibetan culture continues. We cannot create dialogue with China's elite until we understand what drives that negative attitude. So we need first to clarify our own thinking. We can do this by looking back at the past century of China's violent struggles to achieve modernity, discovering deep hostility to institutional religion throughout.
If it is not communism but modernity that is the antagonist of Tibetan Buddhism, in the eyes of China's elite, then we can identify the core problem, and stop blaming communism. One reason the world is not listening to Tibetans, though it used to listen not so long ago, is that Tibetans continue to name communism as the enemy, and those who deal with China every day see little sign of communism.
Once we identify China's total determination to attain complete modernity as the reason why Tibetan culture has to be repressed - and Tibetan language removed from the classroom - we know what we are up against. China's quest for modernity is older and deeper than communism. The Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) was just as committed as the Communist Party to strictly controlling religion, because it holds back modernity and a strong state.
How did it come about that modernity sees public religion as its enemy? What are the origins of this antagonism? Can religion play a constructive role in public debate and policy, without being a hindrance to modernity? When Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche once said he was anti-modern, did he mean he wanted to go backwards, or further forward, beyond the limitations and materialist obsessions of modernity?
Japan, like China, was suddenly faced with the challenge of modernity but took a different path, and now manages to be both modern, developed, prosperous and entirely Japanese. Why is the Chinese path to modernity more violent, contradictory, repressive, fragile and fearful of collapsing into chaos?
The fundamental question is: How did it come about that the project of creating a modern society, of literate, productive individuals, made religion into its enemy? To answer this we must go beyond China and Japan, to Europe, to discover assumptions inherited by Asian modernisers. We must look at the European invention of modernity, as a new way of understanding the purpose of human life, a new set of assumptions about the sources of human happiness. We must look at the great revolutions in France and Russia - violent attempts at attaining modernity as fast as possible.
Modernity is much more than railways and bridges, power stations and skyscrapers. It is a mindset, an aggregation of assumptions that have become naturalised and no longer visible.
In the modernist world view, religion can be reduced to being merely an expression of psychological and social needs. The inner legitimacy and inner subjective experience of religious practice is denied and obscured. Instead an aloof, distant, objective, scientific stance is taken, in which religion can be explained by the sciences of sociology and psychology, as the yearnings of people for happiness, which has sedimented over time into specific practices. Religion is no more than its observable practices, and those practices do not promote rational productivity, so at best they are useless and at worst are obstacles to the creation of a new focus for the aspirations and yearnings of the masses - i.e. the nation-state.
All of the above were core beliefs of not only the Communist Party of China but also the Kuomintang; and of the Kemalist revolutionaries of Turkey, the PRI revolutionary regime in Mexico, Soviet Russia and revolutionary France.
James Tong, political science professor at the University of California and close observer of China has expressed the hope that: "Once the modernizing state has consolidated its power, state-religion relations may evolve from competitive conflict to accommodative cooperation." This is a similar optimism to regular hopes expressed by the Dalai Lama - that as China matures it can relax and become more tolerant. It is the hope that modernity is not an endless, all-embracing project, forever requiring the exclusive loyalty and energy of all citizens - that at a certain point China can feel confident it has attained modernity, has at last caught up with the leading developed countries, can stand among the great nations as an equal, and no longer needs to prove anything.
But is modernity a destination, and an attainable one which is known to have been attained when it arrives?
Above all, the party-state clearly does not feel it has 'consolidated its power' in Tibet. In fact, it reads the unhappiness of the Tibetan people, so obvious since early 2008, as a clear sign that it has yet to consolidate the power of the modern nation-state and must crush the disloyal Buddhists ever more fiercely. Elsewhere in China, modernity is flowering and maturing, but in Tibet the modernity project remains at a preliminary and tenuous stage, and might collapse altogether if tight control is relaxed. So Professor Tong may be right about other parts of China, where the modern state may be willing to curb the harsh and arbitrary powers of the official religious bureaus - but not in Tibet, where their obnoxious intrusions into the realm of the transcendental is as zealous as ever.
This is not an academic debate about vague terms like modernity, religion, superstition and the nation-state. We need to understand what drives the antagonism. Why is it that the Communist Party remains locked in seeing the Tibetan monasteries as a seriously threatening enemy? Until we understand how this has happened, we cannot say we have found a language in which any future negotiations may begin. Until we acknowledge the roots of China's fears, it is a dialogue of the deaf, on all sides.
But are there ways in which this conflict can be reframed? Modernity's foundational assumption is that religion is an irrational yearning for security in an unpredictable natural world where the forces of nature are untamed, and that the modern alternative, of conquering nature, can successfully replace irrational yearnings with rational productivity guided by a strong state.
In vain do religious practitioners protest that the modernizers know nothing about the true purpose and practice of Buddhism. But what if Buddhism could demonstrate it is actually rational and scientific?
This is where, as usual, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been way ahead of everyone. He has pioneered a dialogue with neuroscientists, over a long period, and given much of his precious time to it, even when many of the scientists seemed to have little to offer. Yet he persists to this day in the collaborative rediscovery of Buddhist logic, philosophy, epistemology and ontology as rational - long predating the insights of 20th century physics and quantum mechanics, and 21st century neuroscience.
His Holiness, while unafraid to drop old metaphors such as the earth being flat, has not sought to change Buddhism, as Vivekananda and Ramana Maharshi more radically repackaged Hinduism to accommodate modernity. Buddhism has not changed, but it is open to science.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
New Buddha Center for Germany
Berlin, Nov 19 (DPA) Europe's largest Buddhist centre has got the go-ahead for a site at a former military complex outside Cologne, it was confirmed Friday.
The complex will house 60-80 monks plus up to 200 guests.
There are already 20 Buddhist monks and nuns living on the site in Waldbroel, 50 km east of Cologne.
The 10-million euro ($14-million) project, by the European Institute of Applied Buddhism, is to provide seminars and courses, teaching strategies to deal with issues such as conflict, anger or grief.
The centre is expected to open in 2015.
The European Institute of Applied Buddhism was set up by a Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, who was banished from Vietnam in 1966. Alongside the Dalai Lama, he is one of the most recognized contemporary Buddhists, and has tens of thousands of followers.
The complex will house 60-80 monks plus up to 200 guests.
There are already 20 Buddhist monks and nuns living on the site in Waldbroel, 50 km east of Cologne.
The 10-million euro ($14-million) project, by the European Institute of Applied Buddhism, is to provide seminars and courses, teaching strategies to deal with issues such as conflict, anger or grief.
The centre is expected to open in 2015.
The European Institute of Applied Buddhism was set up by a Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, who was banished from Vietnam in 1966. Alongside the Dalai Lama, he is one of the most recognized contemporary Buddhists, and has tens of thousands of followers.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Dalai Lama Welcomes Release of Suu Kyi
Dharamshala: Hailing the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama today extended solidarity to the movement for democracy in Myanmar and hoped that China will free fellow Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo and other "prisoners of conscience".
Suu Kyi, the 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and pro-democracy leader, was freed from detention yesterday by Myanmar's military government.
"I welcome the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and extend my appreciation to the military regime in Burma. I extend my full support and solidarity to the movement for democracy there and take this opportunity to appeal to freedom-loving people all over the world to support such non-violent movements," Dalai Lama said in a message from Japan communicateed by the office of the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.
Suu Kyi, the 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and pro-democracy leader, was freed from detention yesterday by Myanmar's military government.
"I welcome the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and extend my appreciation to the military regime in Burma. I extend my full support and solidarity to the movement for democracy there and take this opportunity to appeal to freedom-loving people all over the world to support such non-violent movements," Dalai Lama said in a message from Japan communicateed by the office of the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Cambodian Buddhism Book
CAMBODIAN BUDDHISM: Ian Harris; Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 54, Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi-110055. Rs. 1095.
Much of the source material available on Cambodian Buddhism is in French. This is understandable, given that France was Cambodia's colonial power. What is available in English is only scanty. This book is an attempt to fill this gap. In a chronological order, it traces the development of Theravada Buddhism before the arrival of the French, and then the politicised Buddhism, which had its beginnings in the middle of the 19th century. That the author, Ian Harris, has made extensive research into the primary as well as secondary sources stands out clearly from the work.
Evidences
In the first chapter, Harris discusses the place of Buddhism in Cambodia's history from the period of Funan to Angkor, citing epigraphic, art historical, and other documentary evidences. Although it is difficult to establish precisely when Buddhism arrived in Cambodia, the standing Buddha in varamudra and the images of the Buddha in parinirvana point to its existence from ancient times.
While the factors that led to the development of Theravada Buddhism following the fall of Angkorian power are dealt with in the second chapter, the next two chapters are devoted to a detailed study of its various aspects. The death of King Ang Duang marked the end of the middle period and the beginning of the modern, with unexpected influences. The way the pre-modern Khmer interpreted their environment from the physical and mythological perspectives is also explained. In the modern context, Thailand, which signifies orthodox Theravada values, influenced Cambodian Buddhism.
Much of the source material available on Cambodian Buddhism is in French. This is understandable, given that France was Cambodia's colonial power. What is available in English is only scanty. This book is an attempt to fill this gap. In a chronological order, it traces the development of Theravada Buddhism before the arrival of the French, and then the politicised Buddhism, which had its beginnings in the middle of the 19th century. That the author, Ian Harris, has made extensive research into the primary as well as secondary sources stands out clearly from the work.
Evidences
In the first chapter, Harris discusses the place of Buddhism in Cambodia's history from the period of Funan to Angkor, citing epigraphic, art historical, and other documentary evidences. Although it is difficult to establish precisely when Buddhism arrived in Cambodia, the standing Buddha in varamudra and the images of the Buddha in parinirvana point to its existence from ancient times.
While the factors that led to the development of Theravada Buddhism following the fall of Angkorian power are dealt with in the second chapter, the next two chapters are devoted to a detailed study of its various aspects. The death of King Ang Duang marked the end of the middle period and the beginning of the modern, with unexpected influences. The way the pre-modern Khmer interpreted their environment from the physical and mythological perspectives is also explained. In the modern context, Thailand, which signifies orthodox Theravada values, influenced Cambodian Buddhism.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Dalai Lama Lecture in Delhi
Report by Arvind Sharma; Dharamsala: Tibetan spiritual leader The Dalai Lama will attend the leaders summit of HindustanTimes being organized at Delhi on 19 and 20th nov, said a spokes person of the Tibetan government in exile at Dharamsala. Dalai Lama will speak on The Art of Happiness in Troubled Times on 19th October, and He shall be the 1st speaker of the summit.
Dr. Kenneth Lieberthal, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution, Prof. Yasheng Huang, Professor of International Management, MIT Sloan School of Management and Prof. Richard Rigby, Executive Director, The ANU China Institute, Australian National University, shall speak on the topic of The Rise and Rise of China : What It Means for India, on the last day of summit, he said
He said that this meet shall also be attended by Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh , opposition leader Arun Jaitley, cricketer Wasim Akram and film personalities like Rishi Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor. He said that 26 fomous leaders of India and abroad shall be attending the 2 days summit with a theme of winning in testing times.
The leaders summits of the yester years were attended by the leaders like Atal Bihari Bachpai, Late Benazir Bhutto,John Major,Sonia Gandhi,Mukesh Ambani,Omar Abdullah,William.S Cohen, Shahrukh Khan, Narender Modi,Aslf Ali Zardariand George Bush.
Dr. Kenneth Lieberthal, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution, Prof. Yasheng Huang, Professor of International Management, MIT Sloan School of Management and Prof. Richard Rigby, Executive Director, The ANU China Institute, Australian National University, shall speak on the topic of The Rise and Rise of China : What It Means for India, on the last day of summit, he said
He said that this meet shall also be attended by Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh , opposition leader Arun Jaitley, cricketer Wasim Akram and film personalities like Rishi Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor. He said that 26 fomous leaders of India and abroad shall be attending the 2 days summit with a theme of winning in testing times.
The leaders summits of the yester years were attended by the leaders like Atal Bihari Bachpai, Late Benazir Bhutto,John Major,Sonia Gandhi,Mukesh Ambani,Omar Abdullah,William.S Cohen, Shahrukh Khan, Narender Modi,Aslf Ali Zardariand George Bush.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tibetan Group Gets Support
The Sixth International Conference of Tibet Support Groups was held at Surajkund in the north Indian state of Haryana from 5 to 7 November 2010. It was convened by the Core Group for Tibetan Cause - India, the apex coordinating body of the Tibet supporters in India, and facilitated by the Department of Information & International Relations of the Central Tibetan Administration.
The conference was attended by 258 participants from 57 countries and consisted of an opening ceremony, five plenary sessions and working groups on political support, outreach to Chinese, human rights, and environment and development issues.
During the inaugural ceremony, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was the Guest of Honour and the former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Mr. Lal Krishna Advani, the Chief Guest, while the Kalon Tripa, Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, delivered the key note address.
Other international guests present at the inaugural ceremony included Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago from the Phillippines; Mr Rafael Gimalov, Member of Parliament from Russia; Major (Retd.), Vijay Singh Mankotia, former Minister of Himachal Pradesh in India; Mr. Javed Raza, National General Secretary, Janata Dal (United), India; Dr. Yang Jianli, President of Initiatives for China, T.N. Chaturvedi, former governor of Karnataka; Subhash Kashyap, former Secretary-General of the Indian Parliament; and Ms. Jaya Jaitly, a prominent socialist leader.
The purpose of the conference was to take stock of efforts in finding a negotiated solution to the Tibetan issue, discuss the current situation in Tibet and outline ways for the Tibet groups throughout the world, including Tibetan NGOs and Tibetan associations, to strengthen their work in the light of new developments in China and Tibet.
The previous conferences of Tibet Support Groups have been held in Dharamsala in 1990, in Bonn in 1996, Berlin in 2000, Prague in 2003, and Brussels in 2007. A special TSG conference was also held in India in 2008.
The conference participants:
Reiterated their position that His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration are the legitimate representatives of the Tibetan people;
Expressed their deep admiration for the unwavering determination and commitment to nonviolence of the Tibetans in Tibet despite the increasingly stringent controls being exercised by the Chinese authorities;
Recalled the courage of the Tibetan people who voiced their grievances and expressed their aspirations through public demonstrations throughout Tibet in 2008;
Demanded that the Chinese Government let the world know the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama and release him as well as all Tibetan political prisoners;
Expressed their appreciation to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche, whose addresses during the inaugural session have greatly motivated the participants. The conference expresses its appreciation of Kalon Tripa’s many years of leadership and assistance to the TSGs;
Welcomed the reiteration by Indian leader Lal Krishna Advani at the conference of the Indian support to Tibetan aspirations irrespective of how the India-China relationship develops;
Applauded the extraordinary and continued support rendered by the government and the people of India to the Tibetan people, which has enabled them to establish a firm foundation for the preservation and promotion of Tibetan identity in exile;
Committed to work together to forge a strong international coalition that will pursue a common strategy for alleviating the plight of the people of Tibet and ensuring a political solution to the Tibetan issue, consistent with their United Nations recognised right to self-determination;
Welcomed the increased participation by Chinese delegates in the conference and regarded this as a measure of the growing understanding and support among the Chinese people about the reality of the Tibetan people and the Chinese people’s future role towards creating a solution;
Welcomed the noticeable increase in delegates from Southeast Asia;
Welcomed the democratic election process that is currently underway to elect the Kalon Tripa (Prime Minister) and members of the Tibetan Parliament by Tibetans in the free world. We fully support the International Network of Parliamentarians for Tibet’s initiative to facilitate and ensure that international election observers are invited to monitor the Tibetan election process in Nepal. We remain particularly concerned about Nepalese authorities’ interference in the Tibetan election process in October 2010. We urge the Nepalese Government to respect the Tibetan people’s right to participate in their democratic process;
Appreciated the sympathy and support of the people and Government of Nepal towards the humanitarian needs of the Tibetans-in-exile so far, as well as, expressed serious concern about the changing attitude of the Government of Nepal towards the Tibetan refugees in recent times;
Expressed condemnation of China's continued abuse of the human rights of the Tibetan people in general, including its violation of China's own constitutionally-mandated rights, its violation of international treaty obligations concerning the Tibetan people's religious and monastic administration, and its violation of the Tibetan people’s rights to use the Tibetan language as the medium of instruction in the education system. The Tibet Support Groups resolved to closely monitor the situation and develop appropriate actions to highlight these abuses and make China respect these rights;
Expressed concern that the People's Republic of China's ill-conceived developmental activities in Tibet are negatively affecting the fragile ecology with grave implications for the region and the world as a whole and demanded that these activities be stopped forthwith;
Resolved to make the protection of the Tibetan environment a central part of campaign work for the coming years;
Urged the governments of conference participants, as well as the United Nations and other international agencies, to recognise His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile as the legitimate representatives of the Tibetan people and take tangible action towards a political solution in Tibet, reminded the governments and parliaments, including the European parliament, of their past commitments to support Tibet and urged them to take effective steps to fulfill them;
The conference was attended by 258 participants from 57 countries and consisted of an opening ceremony, five plenary sessions and working groups on political support, outreach to Chinese, human rights, and environment and development issues.
During the inaugural ceremony, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was the Guest of Honour and the former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Mr. Lal Krishna Advani, the Chief Guest, while the Kalon Tripa, Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, delivered the key note address.
Other international guests present at the inaugural ceremony included Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago from the Phillippines; Mr Rafael Gimalov, Member of Parliament from Russia; Major (Retd.), Vijay Singh Mankotia, former Minister of Himachal Pradesh in India; Mr. Javed Raza, National General Secretary, Janata Dal (United), India; Dr. Yang Jianli, President of Initiatives for China, T.N. Chaturvedi, former governor of Karnataka; Subhash Kashyap, former Secretary-General of the Indian Parliament; and Ms. Jaya Jaitly, a prominent socialist leader.
The purpose of the conference was to take stock of efforts in finding a negotiated solution to the Tibetan issue, discuss the current situation in Tibet and outline ways for the Tibet groups throughout the world, including Tibetan NGOs and Tibetan associations, to strengthen their work in the light of new developments in China and Tibet.
The previous conferences of Tibet Support Groups have been held in Dharamsala in 1990, in Bonn in 1996, Berlin in 2000, Prague in 2003, and Brussels in 2007. A special TSG conference was also held in India in 2008.
The conference participants:
Reiterated their position that His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration are the legitimate representatives of the Tibetan people;
Expressed their deep admiration for the unwavering determination and commitment to nonviolence of the Tibetans in Tibet despite the increasingly stringent controls being exercised by the Chinese authorities;
Recalled the courage of the Tibetan people who voiced their grievances and expressed their aspirations through public demonstrations throughout Tibet in 2008;
Demanded that the Chinese Government let the world know the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama and release him as well as all Tibetan political prisoners;
Expressed their appreciation to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche, whose addresses during the inaugural session have greatly motivated the participants. The conference expresses its appreciation of Kalon Tripa’s many years of leadership and assistance to the TSGs;
Welcomed the reiteration by Indian leader Lal Krishna Advani at the conference of the Indian support to Tibetan aspirations irrespective of how the India-China relationship develops;
Applauded the extraordinary and continued support rendered by the government and the people of India to the Tibetan people, which has enabled them to establish a firm foundation for the preservation and promotion of Tibetan identity in exile;
Committed to work together to forge a strong international coalition that will pursue a common strategy for alleviating the plight of the people of Tibet and ensuring a political solution to the Tibetan issue, consistent with their United Nations recognised right to self-determination;
Welcomed the increased participation by Chinese delegates in the conference and regarded this as a measure of the growing understanding and support among the Chinese people about the reality of the Tibetan people and the Chinese people’s future role towards creating a solution;
Welcomed the noticeable increase in delegates from Southeast Asia;
Welcomed the democratic election process that is currently underway to elect the Kalon Tripa (Prime Minister) and members of the Tibetan Parliament by Tibetans in the free world. We fully support the International Network of Parliamentarians for Tibet’s initiative to facilitate and ensure that international election observers are invited to monitor the Tibetan election process in Nepal. We remain particularly concerned about Nepalese authorities’ interference in the Tibetan election process in October 2010. We urge the Nepalese Government to respect the Tibetan people’s right to participate in their democratic process;
Appreciated the sympathy and support of the people and Government of Nepal towards the humanitarian needs of the Tibetans-in-exile so far, as well as, expressed serious concern about the changing attitude of the Government of Nepal towards the Tibetan refugees in recent times;
Expressed condemnation of China's continued abuse of the human rights of the Tibetan people in general, including its violation of China's own constitutionally-mandated rights, its violation of international treaty obligations concerning the Tibetan people's religious and monastic administration, and its violation of the Tibetan people’s rights to use the Tibetan language as the medium of instruction in the education system. The Tibet Support Groups resolved to closely monitor the situation and develop appropriate actions to highlight these abuses and make China respect these rights;
Expressed concern that the People's Republic of China's ill-conceived developmental activities in Tibet are negatively affecting the fragile ecology with grave implications for the region and the world as a whole and demanded that these activities be stopped forthwith;
Resolved to make the protection of the Tibetan environment a central part of campaign work for the coming years;
Urged the governments of conference participants, as well as the United Nations and other international agencies, to recognise His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile as the legitimate representatives of the Tibetan people and take tangible action towards a political solution in Tibet, reminded the governments and parliaments, including the European parliament, of their past commitments to support Tibet and urged them to take effective steps to fulfill them;
Monday, November 8, 2010
Sunday Services
Congregation Beth Israel, 1336 Hemlock St.: Rabbi Julie Danan will speak on the Torah portion, Lech Lecha; 10 a.m.
Our Divine Savior Catholic Church, 566 E. Lassen Ave.: Mass; 5 p.m. Scripture: Exodus 17:8-13, Psalm 121:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, Luke 18:1-8.
Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1877 Hooker Oak Ave.: "Into the Deep Scripture," from Pastor Jonny Hayasaka, youth pastor; 10:50 a.m.
St. Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Church (SCA), 2956 Cohasset Road: Vespers; 6 p.m. The Rev. Michael Spainhoward, presider.
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 416 Chestnut St.: Vigil Mass; 5:30 p.m. Scripture: Exodus 17:8-13, Psalm 121:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, Luke 18:1-18.
St. Catherine of Siena Parish: Mass; 10 a.m. Call 343-1311 for location.
Paradise service today:
St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 767 Elliott Road: Mass; 8:30 a.m. Vigil for Sunday Mass; 5 p.m. The Rev. Steven Foppiano, presider.
Chico Sunday services:
Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 2869 Cohasset Road: "Five Practices for Fruitful Christians," from Pastor Neal Neuenburg; 9 a.m. contemporary and 11 a.m. traditional.
Bidwell Presbyterian Church, 208 W. First St.: "Healing Agents," part 5, from Pastor Steve Schibsted's series, "The Church Unleashed"; 8:30 a.m. traditional, 9:45 and 11:11 a.m. contemporary and 5:45 p.m. alternative. Scripture: Acts 3:1-10.
Our Divine Savior Catholic Church, 566 E. Lassen Ave.: Mass; 5 p.m. Scripture: Exodus 17:8-13, Psalm 121:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, Luke 18:1-8.
Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1877 Hooker Oak Ave.: "Into the Deep Scripture," from Pastor Jonny Hayasaka, youth pastor; 10:50 a.m.
St. Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Church (SCA), 2956 Cohasset Road: Vespers; 6 p.m. The Rev. Michael Spainhoward, presider.
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 416 Chestnut St.: Vigil Mass; 5:30 p.m. Scripture: Exodus 17:8-13, Psalm 121:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, Luke 18:1-18.
St. Catherine of Siena Parish: Mass; 10 a.m. Call 343-1311 for location.
Paradise service today:
St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 767 Elliott Road: Mass; 8:30 a.m. Vigil for Sunday Mass; 5 p.m. The Rev. Steven Foppiano, presider.
Chico Sunday services:
Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 2869 Cohasset Road: "Five Practices for Fruitful Christians," from Pastor Neal Neuenburg; 9 a.m. contemporary and 11 a.m. traditional.
Bidwell Presbyterian Church, 208 W. First St.: "Healing Agents," part 5, from Pastor Steve Schibsted's series, "The Church Unleashed"; 8:30 a.m. traditional, 9:45 and 11:11 a.m. contemporary and 5:45 p.m. alternative. Scripture: Acts 3:1-10.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Budda Teach in Knoxville
Lama Jamdron, teacher, translator, and personal secretary at Kagyu Thubten Chöling Monastery in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., will be teaching Nov. 12-13 at Losel Shedrup Ling of Knoxville, 5415-F Kingston Pike.
From 7-9 p.m., Friday, Nov. 12, he will present "A Little Shift Makes a Big Difference," during which he will discuss the many small but profound ways we can bring insight into our mundane tasks and relationships, so that every day can become a forward step on the path to freedom.
From 9:30-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 13, he will present "Making Sense of the Vajrayana," during which he will discuss the esoteric practices of Tibetan Buddhist Tantra. Referred to as the quick path to enlightenment, tantric practices are deeply skillful means that can bring about a complete transformation of our experience, but western practitioners may have difficulty understanding how to relate to them. Lama Jamdron will give practical advice about how to engage in Vajrayana meditation in a way that is personally meaningful.
From 1:30 pm-4:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 13, he will present "Discovering No-Self Without Losing Your Head," during which he will discuss the Buddha teaching that ultimately we have no truly existent self. When properly understood and realized, "the truth of selflessness" brings freedom from suffering and confusion. But this teaching can also be misunderstood as a dictum to negate or suppress the ego in the relative world. Lama Jamdron will teach the methods of insight meditation that can lead to right understanding of the view of selflessness, and discuss how to avoid misconceptions about this fundamental principle.
Space is limited, so please register in advance. LSLK has a limited number of cushions and chairs, so please bring your own cushion if you have one.
The suggested donation is $30 for both days, or $15 per session. Direct offerings to Lama Jamdron are encouraged. Donations to LSLK are also welcome.
For info and to register, visit http://www.lslk.org.
From 7-9 p.m., Friday, Nov. 12, he will present "A Little Shift Makes a Big Difference," during which he will discuss the many small but profound ways we can bring insight into our mundane tasks and relationships, so that every day can become a forward step on the path to freedom.
From 9:30-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 13, he will present "Making Sense of the Vajrayana," during which he will discuss the esoteric practices of Tibetan Buddhist Tantra. Referred to as the quick path to enlightenment, tantric practices are deeply skillful means that can bring about a complete transformation of our experience, but western practitioners may have difficulty understanding how to relate to them. Lama Jamdron will give practical advice about how to engage in Vajrayana meditation in a way that is personally meaningful.
From 1:30 pm-4:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 13, he will present "Discovering No-Self Without Losing Your Head," during which he will discuss the Buddha teaching that ultimately we have no truly existent self. When properly understood and realized, "the truth of selflessness" brings freedom from suffering and confusion. But this teaching can also be misunderstood as a dictum to negate or suppress the ego in the relative world. Lama Jamdron will teach the methods of insight meditation that can lead to right understanding of the view of selflessness, and discuss how to avoid misconceptions about this fundamental principle.
Space is limited, so please register in advance. LSLK has a limited number of cushions and chairs, so please bring your own cushion if you have one.
The suggested donation is $30 for both days, or $15 per session. Direct offerings to Lama Jamdron are encouraged. Donations to LSLK are also welcome.
For info and to register, visit http://www.lslk.org.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Toronto Meditation with the Dalai Lama
A congregation of more than 5,000 people has gathered in a former lighting warehouse in Etobicoke, on the outskirts of Toronto. The floor is concrete. The corrugated-metal ceiling is low. The mood is wet.
At the far end stands a glittering altar of three enormous, golden Buddhas, with a throne and a gentle sea of monks at its foot. The 14th Dalai Lama, leader of Tibetan Buddhism and of the Tibetan government in exile and a 75-year-old celebrity of spiritual and political proportions, has yet to part a velvety curtain.
What pilgrimage to enlightenment is supposed to be comfortable? This one, to the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, feels like an unfortunate trip to the mall. At this point, anyway.
I arrived at 7:30 on a Sunday morning to a hive of yellow-jacketed police officers waving hands at congested traffic in the low light. Parking arrangements were unclear. It was pouring. Long, snaking lineups of e-ticket holders stood in the rain to get a proper security pass from volunteers under tents. My cheap Burberry-knock-off umbrella collapsed. A sign to renounce trendy material trappings?
“Please be patient,” a volunteer exhorted through a megaphone. After receiving the tickets, we have to go through another long line in the rain to pass through metal detectors. “When you get inside, you’re gonna be very happy!” he exclaimed. A ripple of fleeting smiles swept through the masses.
The crowd is composed mostly of Tibetan Canadians, many of the women in long dresses, tiptoeing gingerly over puddles in open-toed sandals. The rest possess an alternative vibe: flowing clothes, dreadlocks, long hair, Birkenstock sandals. Not a pair of chinos in sight.
At the far end stands a glittering altar of three enormous, golden Buddhas, with a throne and a gentle sea of monks at its foot. The 14th Dalai Lama, leader of Tibetan Buddhism and of the Tibetan government in exile and a 75-year-old celebrity of spiritual and political proportions, has yet to part a velvety curtain.
What pilgrimage to enlightenment is supposed to be comfortable? This one, to the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, feels like an unfortunate trip to the mall. At this point, anyway.
I arrived at 7:30 on a Sunday morning to a hive of yellow-jacketed police officers waving hands at congested traffic in the low light. Parking arrangements were unclear. It was pouring. Long, snaking lineups of e-ticket holders stood in the rain to get a proper security pass from volunteers under tents. My cheap Burberry-knock-off umbrella collapsed. A sign to renounce trendy material trappings?
“Please be patient,” a volunteer exhorted through a megaphone. After receiving the tickets, we have to go through another long line in the rain to pass through metal detectors. “When you get inside, you’re gonna be very happy!” he exclaimed. A ripple of fleeting smiles swept through the masses.
The crowd is composed mostly of Tibetan Canadians, many of the women in long dresses, tiptoeing gingerly over puddles in open-toed sandals. The rest possess an alternative vibe: flowing clothes, dreadlocks, long hair, Birkenstock sandals. Not a pair of chinos in sight.
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