2009 April 11 « Rev. Danny Fisher

April 11, 2009

In Florida Until Wednesday

I’m going to be in Florida until Wednesday, visiting family before my big move back to California. I’ll probably find a chance to blog between now and then–I like to, ahem, keep an eye on things–but I’m just letting you know in case that doesn’t happen.

I leave you with a quote that I’ve been meditating on and falling more deeply in love with for the last few days now, after talking about it with a friend recently:

“What can Buddhism do to heal the wounds of the world? What did the Buddha teach that we can use to heal and elevate the human condition? One of the Buddha’s most courageous acts was to walk onto a battlefield to stop a conflict. He did not sit in his temple waiting for the oppressors to approach him. He walked right onto the battlefield to stop the conflict… “We Buddhists must find the courage to leave our temples and enter the temples of contemporary human experience, temples that are filled with suffering. If we listen to the Buddha, Christ or Gandhi, we can do nothing else. The refugee camps, the prisons, the ghettos, and the battlefield will then become our temples. We have so much work to do.”: - Maha Ghosananda

2 comments

April 11, 2009

Tibet News (4.10.09)

Here is some of the latest news about Tibet:

The Associated Press reports that the Chinese government has executed two Uigher for attacks in Xinjiang that occurred ahead of the Beijing Olympics. “‎The executions in the Xinjiang region come a day after two Tibetans were sentenced to death for arson during riots in Lhasa last spring,” the press service notes.

Amnesty International UK has called for the Tibetans’ death sentence to be overturned.

The Christian Science Monitor observes that “China’s state-run media [has] largely ignored the first known death sentences for last year’s riots in Tibet.”

The Agence France-Presse reports on Harry Wu, the Chinese dissident “who spent nearly two decades toiling in labor camps as a political prisoner, recently opened an exhibition at his Washington museum on suffering in Chinese-ruled Tibet.”

The AFP also reports that “around 35 Tibetan exiles were arrested after they staged a peaceful demonstration carrying anti-China banners in Nepal’s capital.”

The Associated Press reflects on “cyber espionage” in the wake of China’s “ghost hacker” scandal that involved the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.

April 11, 2009

Burma News (4.10.09)

Here are some the latest headlines on Burma:

The Irrawaddy reports that Kyi Win, lawyer for Nobel Peace laureate and Prime Minister-elect Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has sent another letter to Burmese Premier General Thein Sein ahead of the third attempt at appealing the pro-democracy leader’s extended detention.

The Irrawaddy also reports that “five labor activists were arrested recently in Rangoon after attending a labor conference held on the Thai-Burma border, an exiled labor group.”

In response to this, the AFL-CIO has condemned the junta and expressed solidarity with the activists.

April 11, 2009

Bodhidharma’s Shoes

Via our pal and past interviewee James Ishmael Ford over at Monkey Mind:

Follow “Rev. Danny Fisher”