Rev. Danny Fisher

Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Image via The Community.
This from The Community:

“We the undersigned Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, human rights leaders and concerned individuals wish to express our concern at the current deterioration of the human rights situation in Tibet, and the apparent breakdown of the talks between the Chinese government and emissaries of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We are dismayed at the lack of any concrete progress toward resolving the conflict over the autonomy and religious freedom of the Tibetan people, and urge all parties involved to redouble their effort to achieve this vital goal.

“To our dear friend His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we say: we stand with you. You define non-violence and compassion and goodness. Clearly China does not know you. It is our sincere hope that they will. We call on China’s government to know His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as we and so many others have come to know him during the long decades he has spent in exile.

“We ask the esteemed Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Tibet, and request that she be given access to assess and report to the international community the current state of affairs for the Tibetan people. The High Commissioner should be allowed to travel with journalists and other observers and, working with all parties involved, assist in bringing these decades of struggle to a peaceful resolution.

“China is uniquely positioned to impact and affect our world. We ask you to please use this position to improve our world by listening to the voices of the Tibetan people, and creating a new solution for Tibet that allows this culture to flourish.

“This will help not only Tibet. It will help China. It will demonstrate to us that China is willing to be a responsible partner in international global affairs.

“Finally, we ask that China stop naming, blaming and verbally abusing one whose life has been devoted to peace. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is not simply a holy man. He is recognized throughout the world as one of our few true moral authorities. He is a teacher who has shown us all how to live our lives with compassion, non-violence and love.”

In Ernest,

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

SIGNATORIES:

Harrison Ford

Christy Turlington

Naomi Campbell

Gwyneth Paltrow

George Clooney

Ashley Judd

Gillian Anderson

Her Majesty Queen Noor

Peter Gabriel

Richard Gere

Jeff Skoll

Graham Nash

Maria Bello

Melissa Mathieson

Mia Farrow

Adam Yauch

Barbara Kopple

Kerry Kennedy

Mia Kirschner

Jack Healy

Anne Archer

Hans Zimmer

Mark and Donna Isham

Phil Noyce

Scilla Elworthy

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATES:

Elie Wiesel

Shirin Ebadi

Jody Williams

John Hume

David Trimble

F.W. de Klerk

Mairead Maguire

Betty Williams

Adolfo Perez Esquivel

OUR PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS:

International Campaign for Tibet

Artists for a New South Africa

Artists for Amnesty

Artists for Human Rights

The Providence Journal looks back at Maha Ghosananda’s life–two years after his death. They also tell us about efforts by the monastics at the Wat Thormikaram to build a worship hall in the late monk’s honor, “in the neighborhood where Cambodian refugees first settled.” The article continues:

The hall had been conceived as a surprise gift to Ghosananda while he was alive, but the project was delayed for years before last summer’s groundbreaking, said John Chea, vice president of the Cambodian Society of Rhode Island and project manager. The structure has been framed, and interior work is proceeding bit by bit, Chea said.

“We were hoping to get it done by next August but it’s not going to happen,” said Chea. “The economy — it’s so tough to raise money.” He said more than $150,000 has been raised, “but we are short approximately $200,000.” Fundraising is continuing.

To contribute to fundraising efforts, you can send a donation here:

Wat Thormikaram
177 Hanover St.
Providence, RI 02907

And for more on the life and work of Maha Ghosananda, you can read the obituary I wrote for Eastern Horizon here.

[Image via Tengu House.]

This via Andrea Miller over at Shambhala Sun Space: The inimitable Buddhoblogger Barbara O’Brien, of Barbara’s Buddhism Blog, has an exceptional write-up on “identifying true and false teachers” at the Urban Dharma website. This is essential reading–take it in here.

The Associated Press tells us of the recent discovery of poetry written by the late Cambodian Buddhist monk Ly Van Aggadipo about his homeland during the Khmer Rouge years. Reporting from the venerable’s former home in Lowell, MA, AP journalist Russell Contreras writes:

For years, Ly Van Aggadipo served as the spiritual mentor to many Cambodian refugees in this old mill city, guiding followers at the Glory Buddhist Temple through family issues, work problems and recurring nightmares from the horrors of the Khmer Rouge.

But his own internal struggles from the Khmer Rouge remained a mystery, and those who knew him say he rarely spoke of his own story of fleeing war-torn Cambodia.

Then, soon after his death last year, friends found a collection of the monk’s poetry tucked under stacks of old Buddhist texts. On worn pages were handwritten, carefully crafted poems describing his memories of witnessing infant executions, starvation at labor camps and dreams of escaping to America.

Now followers are seeking to publish the poetry, even as the discovery of this vivid historical record of the atrocities has reopened for many a painful time they still have not reconciled in their own lives.

[This post has been updated as of 2:05 p.m. EST on 3.15.09.]

Here’s the Tibet-related news for today: