Reporters Without Borders has called on the Chinese authorities to release Dhondup Wangchen and Jigme Gyatso, two Tibetans who made a documentary about the plight of Tibetans inside Tibet and have been detained since March. (I blogged about the film and Wangchen and Gyatso’s arrests in this post.) In a statement, the organization of journalists said:
The case of Wangchen and Gyatso is a tragic example of what happens when Tibetans take the risk of trying to interview people about the situation in the province. The Chinese government decided to reopen Tibet to foreign tourists, and now it must show clemency towards those who have been detained solely because of what they or others said.
Reporters Without Borders has also announced that a network of eleven Sakharov Prize winners has appealed to Burmese authorities to immediately release Nobel Peace laureate and Prime Minister-elect Aung San Su Kyi and all other political prisoners. The announcement comes just as reports emerge from Burma that Suu Kyi has accepted food deliveries after a month of refusing them.
In response to a lot of articles, online conversation, and (presumably) comments at the Tricycle Editors’ Blog, the editors of the magazine have made available for free at their blog an article from the Spring 1998 issue and some links about the Dorje Shugden controversy. Do take a look.
As a doctoral student, I don’t get to do quite as much recreational reading as I would like. Whenever people ask me if I’ve “read anything good,” the first things that spring to mind are usually academic resources for my exams/dissertation, which, generally speaking, aren’t the kinds of things people mean when they ask a question like that. (Not that Lars Fogelin’s Archaeology of Early Buddhism and Philip L. Culbertson’s Counseling Men aren’t worth strongly recommending.) I did manage to squeeze in a few good, non-Buddhist, non-chaplaincy-related materials this summer, however. The one that towers above the others in my mind is certainly John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Doubt.
Written and first produced in 2005, it’s the most arresting piece of theater I’ve encountered since Tony Kushner’s epic Angels in America. (I’m not a die hard theater connoisseur, but I’m the only member of my family that doesn’t work in professional theater in some capacity, so I imagine that I manage to see/read more theater than the average bear.) My father has been recommending Doubt to me since he first saw it, and I finally sat down with his copy one night and read it straight through. The play is set in 1964 at a Catholic school in the Bronz that has recently accepted its first African-American student. The boy is ostracized by his peers and taken under the wing of a progressive-minded priest. When a warm-hearted and relatively innocent young nun sees the two go to the church rectory alone, another nun–a steely, older traditionalist already repulsed by the priest’s reformist tendencies–makes up her mind that sexual abuse has taken place and begins a crusade against him. Thus the stage is set for a powerful post-Iraq invasion/post-Cardinal Law contemplation on, among other things, organized religion, suspicion, investigation, secrecy, kindness, due process, and (of course) faith and doubt.
I read the play back in June. Though that’s not necessarily the most ideal way to meet a play for the first time, I still felt punched in the stomach by it. When I finally did see it performed last month (with a dear family friend playing the lead role), it still packed the same incredible punch. I think the less said about it, the better: it’s an intentionally terse, tight play, and to say a lot about it would spoil it for those of you who haven’t read it. I will say this, though: for all of its dark, heavy material, I felt a positive impact on my spirituality. Doubt traffics in confrontation with uncomfortable realities and very human frailties, but in that way we all must if we’re going to develop a mature spirituality. We’re not alone in our doubts, and, in fact, acknowledging that can help us build stronger communities. The play’s subtitle (“a parable”) and device of having the priest sermonize to the audience underscores this. I recommend Doubt to all of you. Read it, or see it any way you can.
You’ll all soon have a new way to see it, by the way: the film adaptation of the play hits theaters this winter. It stars Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Amy Adams (Junebug), and Viola Davis (Solaris) in the four lead roles. Shanley (who won an Oscar in 1987 for writing Moonstruck) adapts and directs. Though film adaptations are always different animals than the plays they’re based on, it looks very true to the source from the looks of the trailer…
Bo Kyi, a co-founder of Burma’s Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, has been awarded the prestigious 2008 Human Rights Defender Award by the organization Human Rights Watch. In citing him for the honor, Human Rights Watch said:
As a college student, Bo Kyi participated in Burma’s “8.8.88 Uprising,” a popular revolt against military rule that reached a turning point on August 8, 1988. On that day, after months of unrest, millions of people took to the streets calling for an end to military rule. The military government’s violent response to the uprising resulted in the deaths of an estimated 3,000 people during the seven months of protests.
“The outside world largely ignored events inside Burma, but for me there was no escape,” said Bo Kyi. “As a student in Rangoon, I participated in many demonstrations and witnessed the brutal suppression by the riot police that killed and wounded so many.”
Bo Kyi ultimately spent seven years and three months in prison for his political activism. He suffered repeated interrogations, beatings, shackling, and torture in prison, amid squalid living conditions. In prison, Bo Kyi learned to speak and write in English, hiding his educational materials each time a warden passed his cell.
Upon his release from prison, Bo Kyi fled to the Burma-Thailand border, where he helped to found the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners in Mae Sot, Thailand. Some 1,920 political activists remain imprisoned in Burma, where they endure abysmal treatment. The number detained increased dramatically after the August and September 2007 crackdown when security forces brutally suppressed peaceful demonstrations of activists, monks and ordinary people.
Assistance Association of Political Prisoners works on behalf of current and former political prisoners and their families. It provides them with financial support and medical care, monitors prison conditions, and advocates internationally for the prisoners’ release.
Over the last 20 years, Bo Kyi has demonstrated unfaltering courage, sharing his story and those of other political prisoners and exposing the Burmese military government’s abuses. Human Rights Watch honors Bo Kyi for his heroic efforts to speak out against Burmese repression and to advocate on behalf of those who have dared to criticize the military government.
I had thought that I’d posted about this earlier, but a quick search through the blog shows me that I haven’t…
Via Ox Herding: Great Buddhist teachers Stephen and Ondrea Levine are ailing and need help. An open letter from three of their friends–Jack Kornfield, Ram Dass, and Sharon Salzberg–explains further:
Monday, December 17th, 2007
An Open Letter from Jack Kornfield, Ram Dass, and Sharon Salzberg
Dear Friends,
We are writing to ask your support for two beloved friends of ours, Stephen and Ondrea Levine. They are currently facing significant difficulty. After a life-time of giving, they are now at a time to receive from those of us whose lives have been touched by their presence and teaching.
Their greatest needs are financial. Ondrea has Leukemia and the costs of her insurance and treatment have used up their savings. Stephen’s health is not good either, and he is too frail to travel or teach. When we heard about this, we felt moved to contribute to a fund set up for them, and to encourage others to do the same.
Stephen and Ondrea have been among our generation’s most important teachers, demonstrating and encouraging others to embrace the power of love and generosity. For three years, they ran a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week free phone line for those dying or in need of support. When the phone bills got too high, they sold their house to keep the project going. For decades they regularly corresponded with thousands people who were seeking spiritual guidance, giving freely to those in need, many of whom were sick or in the final years of their life.
The circle has now come around, allowing us the opportunity to give to these two life-long givers. We hope to raise several hundred thousand dollars in small and large donations to help them through this time.
Caring for friends and teachers is an essential part of any spiritual life. As we age, spiritual friends are more important than ever. Stephen and Ondrea have been dear spiritual friends to us and to thousands of others through their books, workshops, and correspondence.
If you are one of these people and are moved to give, below are three ways to donate to the Levine Fund at Bread for the Journey. Bread for the Journey informs us that donations are tax deductible.
With gratitude and love,
Jack Kornfield, Ram Dass, and Sharon Salzberg
Mail: Send to: Bread for the Journey, 267 Miller Ave., Mill Valley, California 94941. In the letter, please enclose a note indicating that your gift is for the Stephen and Ondrea Levine Fund and in the note section of your check write “Levine Fund.” In honor of the immeasurable gifts Stephen and Ondrea have given to the family of the earth, Bread for the Journey has generously offered to manage the fund with 100% of your donation going to the Levine Fund.
