Rev. Danny Fisher

The trailer for Doris Dörrie’s new documentary How to Cook Your Life was just released on the Apple Trailers webpage. The film is described there in this way:

In How to Cook Your Life Dörrie enlists the help of the charismatic Zen Master Edward Espe Brown to explain the guiding principles of Zen Buddhism as they apply to the preparation of food and life itself.

For those who don’t know, Zen Master Brown is the author of the much-beloved Tassajara Bread Book, as well as Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings and others. A Zen practitioner for over forty years, he has been head resident teacher at each of the San Francisco Zen Centers: Tassajara, Green Gulch, and City Center. He is also the co-author of The Greens Cookbook, Zen: The Art of Modern Eastern Cooking, and others.

Dörrie is the director of the delightful German comedy Erleuchtung Garantiert (or, Enlightenment Guaranteed, if you prefer the English). The film tells the story of the misadventures of two German brothers on retreat at a Zen Buddhist monastery near Tokyo. (Regular readers might recall mention of it in my long-winded “Buddhism and Film” post from last year.)

My great friend Derek, who works as a baker and blogs at Fridgeir and Cook This Now, has prepared some delicious items from the Tassajara Bread Book when I’ve visited with him and his wife Jill in the past. I’m a big fan of the book and the recipes, and I’m looking forward to the film. (Derek, is it a date?)

You can watch the trailer below or at Landmark Theaters’ YouTube page for the trailer here.

Last month, I posted about China’s increasing insistence that all future incarnations of living Buddhas and bodhisattvas related to Tibetan Buddhism “must get government approval.” The Buddhist Peace Fellowship has composed an open letter to Chinese leaders on the subject, which appears in full below.

September 9, 2007

His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of The People’s Republic of China

His Excellency Wen Jiabao
Premier of the State Council

The Honorable Ye Xiaowen
SARA Bureau Director

c/o Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008

Dear Sirs,

On July 13, 2007, the State Administration for Religious Affairs of the People’s Republic of China issued new “management measures for the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism,” effective as of September 1, 2007.

As Buddhist teachers from many traditions and nations, we are keenly aware of the debt we owe to all our religious teachers who have freely and independently sustained the teachings of Buddha for generation after generation. With this in mind and acknowledging Tibetan religious practices, we are deeply concerned by what we feel is the inappropriate intervention of the People’s Republic of China in religious matters that affect the Tibetan people, and Tibetan Buddhist practitioners around the world.

We understand the essence of China’s startling decree to be that all reincarnated lamas (tulkus) must have government approval. This measure undermines Tibetan Buddhism’s core beliefs around rebirth and spiritual continuity. It seems aimed at undermining and replacing Tibetan Buddhism’s religious structures, and weakening the widely-recognized authority of legitimate Tibetan religious leaders including the Dalai Lama.

Respectfully, we suggest that history has proven that where religion and national governments become entangled with each other, the result is detrimental both to religion and the nation. But those who suffer most are ordinary people, who cherish the right to choose their religious beliefs and practices.

In less than one year, the People’s Republic of China will host the 2008 Olympic Games. As the games approach, the world’s attention will turn towards a nation that has a rich past and a bright future. But if the present itself is marred by the systematic repression of religious and human rights, China’s leaders will have squandered a great opportunity to be a leader among nations.

In the spirit of wisdom and common sense, we urge you, China’s leaders, to rescind SARA’s new measures to control Tibetan Buddhism. Please do this now so you can in fact fulfill your own Olympic vision of “One World One Dream.”

Sincerely in peace,

Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
Executive Director
Buddhist Peace Fellowship

and

Hozan Alan Senauke
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
& Berkeley Zen Center, CA

Joined by:

Robert Aitken
Diamond Sangha

Rev. Dai-En Bennage
Mt. Equity Zendo
Pennsdale, PA

Leigh Brasington
Alameda, California

Rev. Edward Espe Brown
California

Dr. Colin Butler
Bodhi, Australia

Rev. Eido Frances Carney
Olympia Zen Center
Olympia, WA

Rev. Kyogen Carlson
Rev. Gyokuko Carlson
Dharma Rain Zen Center
Portland, OR

Eugene Cash
San Francisco Insight, CA

Rev. James Ford
Boundless Way Zen , MA

Rev. Dogo Barry Graham
The Sitting Frog Zen Sangha
Phoenix, AZ

Roshi Bernie Glassman
Peacemaker Order

Konjin Gaelyn Godwin
Cloud Gate Zen Center
Houston, Texas

Sunyana Graef
Vermont Zen Center
Burlington, VT

Rev. Zenkei Hartman
SF Zen Center, CA

Isyanto
Nyanaprathama, Indonesia

Ken Jones
Network of Engaged Buddhists, Great Britain

Cynthia Jurs
Open Way Sangha
Santa Fe, NM

Rev. Daijaku Judith Kinst
Ocean Gate Zen Center
Santa Cruz, CA

Ouyporn Khuankaew
Intl Women’s Partnership for Peace and Justice
Thailand

Lee, Min Yong
Korea

Rev. Taigen Dan Leighton
Ancient Dragon Zen Gate
Chicago, IL

Dharmachari Lokamitra
The Nagarjuna Institute
Nagpur, India

Jimmy Lominto
Dharmajala, Indonesia

David Loy, Phd.
Xavier University, Ohio

Joanna Macy, Phd
BPF Int’l Advisory Council

Dr. Thant Lwin Maung
Burma

Ken McLeod
Unfettered Mind, CA

Ronald Nakasone, Phd
Budd. Churches of America

Rev. Pat Enkyo O’Hara
Village Zendo, NYC

Rev. Taitaku Pat Phelan
Chapel Hill Zen Center
Chapel Hill, NC

Caitriona Reed
Michele Benzamin-Miki
Ordinary Dharma
Warner Springs, CA

Santikaro
Liberation Park
Norwalk, WI

Rev. Anne Seisen Saunders
Sweetwater Zen Center
National City, CA

Dh. Shantum Seth
Ahimsa Trust
New Delhi, India

Ajarn Sulak Sivaraska
Int’l Network of Engaged Buddhists, Siam

Lama Surya Das
Lama John Makransky
Lama Choying Palmo
(Willa Baker)
Dzogchen Center, U.S.A.

Daniel Terragno
Rocks & Clouds Zendo
Sebastopol, CA

Rev. Katherine Thanas
Santa Cruz Zen Center, CA

Rev. Claude AnShin Thomas
Zaltho Foundation

Tenzin Bob Thurman, Ph.D.
Columbia Unuiversity, NY

Ven. Tsering Palmo
Ladakh Nuns’ Association

Rev. Jisho Warner
Stone Creek Zen Center
Sebastopol, CA

Rev. Sojun Mel Weitsman
Berkeley Zen Center, CA

For those of us who know that dissent and protest are patriotic and necessary forms of expression–especially in these times–it has been a sad and frustrating week.

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On Monday, the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., peace activist, organizer, and CEO of the Hip-Hop Caucaus was attacked and injured by six police officers intent on keeping him out of the Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill, where General David Petreaus was offering testimony to a joint hearing for the House Arms Services Committee and Foreign Relations Committee on the war in Iraq.

Capitol Hill Police “football tackled” [Rev. Yearwood] who was in line to enter hearing room for General Petreus’ testimony on Capitol Hill.

[...]

After waiting in line throughout the morning for the hearing that was scheduled to start at 12:30pm, Rev. Yearwood was stopped from entering the room, while others behind him were allowed to enter. He told the officers blocking his ability to enter the room, that he was waiting in line with everyone else and had the right to enter as well. When they threatened him with arrest he responded with “I will not be arrested today.” According to witnesses, six capitol police, without warning, “football tackled” him. He was carried off in a wheel chair by DC Fire and Emergency to George Washington Hospital.

You can watch video of the attack on and arrest of Rev. Yearwood here. I find it a very disturbing video. I can’t see any justification for what happens. Yearwood is insistent with the police officers, demanding to know why he has been singled out and what charge they would arrest him on, but he’s neither violent nor unruly. The attack comes after what looks like Yearwood shuffling around to avoid the grabbing of the officers at his arms and shoulders–something he clearly gave them no cause to do. It’s a shocking and unacceptable scene.

As it turns out, Rev. Yearwood sustained a broken leg as a result of the officers’ zealous use of force.

In total, eight other people were arrested with Rev. Yearwood, including Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin (who can both be heard shouting in the video of the attack and arrest).

The police claim that Rev. Yearwood stepped out of line for an interview with a Portland-based news outlet, but Yearwood insists that everything had been cleared with the officer assigned to the line so that he wouldn’t lose his place.

Rev. Yearwood summed up the whole experience this way:

The officers decided I was not going to get in Gen. Petreaus’ hearing when they saw my button, which says “I LOVE THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ.”

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Earlier that same day, the devastating news broke that two of the seven active duty U.S. soldiers in Iraq who wrote a recent New York Times editorial critical of the war were killed in action.

Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance T. Gray died Monday in a vehicle accident in western Baghdad, two of seven U.S. troops killed in the incident which was reported just as Gen. David Petraeus was about to report to Congress on progress in the “surge.” The names have just been released.

Gen. Petraeus was questioned about the message of the op-ed in testimony before a Senate committee [on September 11th of this week].

The controversial Times column on Aug. 19 was called “The War As We Saw It,” and expressed skepticism about American gains in Iraq. “To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched,” the group wrote.

It closed: “We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.”

Staff Sergeant Jeremy Murphy, one of the other authors of the Times piece, was shot in the head while the article was being written. He is currently being treated at a military hospital in the United States and is expected to live.

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May none of the heartache, loss, and struggle have been in vain.