2009 May 18 « Rev. Danny Fisher

May 18, 2009

Thoughts and Prayers for "The Lady"

Taking a cue from the fantastic Nate DeMontigny at Precious Metal, I’d like to take a moment to say that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma are very much in my thoughts and prayers today as Mrs. Suu Kyi’s military trial begins in Rangoon. Throughout the day today, I will be chanting the Jaya Gāthā for her, and I hope you will too…

Mahā-kāruṇiko nātho
Hitāya sabba-pāṇinaṃ
Pūretvā pāramī sabbā
Patto sambodhim-uttamaṃ
Etena sacca-vajjena
Hotu te jaya-maṅgalaṃ

[(The Buddha), our protector, with great compassion,
For the welfare of all beings,
Having fulfilled all the perfections,
Attained the highest self-awakening.
Through the speaking of this truth,
may you have a victory blessing.]

Jayanto bodhiyā mūle
Sakyānaṃ nandi-vaḍḍhano
Evaṃ tvam vijayo hohi
Jayassu jaya-maṅgale

[Victorious at the foot of the Bodhi tree,
Was he who increased the Sakyans' delight.
May you have the same sort of victory,
May you win victory blessings.]

Aparājita-pallaṅke
Sīse paṭhavi-pokkhare
Abhiseke sabba-buddhānaṃ
Aggappatto pamodati

[At the head of the lotus leaf of the world
On the undefeated seat
Consecrated by all the Buddhas,
He rejoiced in the utmost attainment.]

Sunakkhattaṃ sumaṅgalaṃ
Supabhātaṃ suhuṭṭhitaṃ
Sukhaṇo sumuhutto ca
Suyiṭṭhaṃ brahmacārisu
Padakkhiṇaṃ kāya-kammaṃ
Vācā-kammaṃ padakkhiṇaṃ
Padakkhiṇaṃ mano-kammaṃ
Paṇidhī te padakkhiṇā
Padakkhiṇāni katvāna
Labhantatthe, padakkhiṇe

[A lucky star it is, a lucky blessing,
a lucky dawn, a lucky sacrifice,
a lucky instant, a lucky moment,
a lucky offering: i.e., a rightful bodily act
a rightful verbal act, a rightful mental act,
your rightful intentions
with regard to those who lead the chaste life.
Doing these rightful things,
your rightful aims are achieved.]

For more about this remarkable woman and her incredible sacrifices on behalf of others, I would like to share again a video I made this past November about “The Lady”…

May 18, 2009

Burma News (5.18.09)

“Myanmar’s Insein Prison, where Auung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of others are held (c) Digital Globe 2008.” Image via Amnesty International.
[This post has been updated as of 4:40 p.m. PST on 5.18.09.]

Here are today’s headlines about Burma and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s military trail, which began this morning:

Reuters reports that Suu Kyi’s doctor has been released ahead of the trial, that protests are planned at Burma embassies around the world, and that Suu Kyi herself is defiant as the trial begins. Her lawyer told the press:

She asked me to tell her friends and everyone that she is quite well. She is ready to tell the truth that she never broke the law.

The Associated Press, the BBC, CNN, the New York Times, and France 24 also report on the start of the trial.

In addition, the AP reports on the tight security at the trial.

One of Suu Kyi’s lawyers outlines the charges against her for Al Jazeera English.

At Human Rights Now – Amnesty International USA Blog, Christoph Koettl takes a closer look at the loathesome Insein Prison, where Suu Kyi and so many other political prisoners are currently being held.

Reuters also offers a robust bio of Suu Kyi, and further reports that the European Union may join the U.S. in renewing sanctions against the junta as this fiasco unfolds.

The editors of the Washington Post, regular commentators on the situation in Burma, sound off again today:

Humanitarian organizations have been heavily lobbying for a change of policy, arguing that the regime is becoming more open to Western aid and influence, and that the current strategy of tough sanctions hasn’t worked. Yet the renewed persecution of this brave and ailing woman — whose party won the last fair election 19 years ago — shows that the generals have no interest in making meaningful concessions to Burma’s long-suffering people or to the West. If they did, they would use Monday’s court session to drop all charges against [American intruder John Yettaw] and Aung San Suu Kyi and allow them both to return home free.

Two of Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Jared Genser and Meghan Barron, write a powerful editorial for the Wall Street Journal that ends with this statement:

Ms. Suu Kyi once said, “please use your liberty to promote ours.” We outside Burma have not served her well to date, but she and her people need us now more than ever.

May 18, 2009

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: "Himalayan Communities Better Placed to Preserve Tibetan Buddhism"

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama leads a prayer during a ceremony to consecrate new Assembly Hall of Jamyang Choling Institute in Gharoh, Dharamsala, India, Saturday, May 16, 2009.” Photo by Tenzin Choejor for the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Phayul reports that His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke to a group of Himalayan nuns this past Saturday on thier “important responsibility in preserving Tibetan Buddhist traditions, which he said was facing an uncertain future in its homeland.” He said:

So I always emphasize that people in the Himalayan regions now have a special responsibility to safeguard and preserve the ancient and rich Buddhist tradition that is deeply rooted in the Tibetan and Himalayan culture.

May 18, 2009

Conflict Minerals and the Crisis in Congo

Visit www.raisehopeforcongo.org, or text CONGOPLEDGE to ACTION (228466).

May 18, 2009

A Buddhistic Commencement Address

The magnificent Daniel Burke at the Religion News Service Blog points us to a rather Buddhistic commencement address delivered at Kenyon College in 2005 by the late David Foster Wallace. Here’s an excerpt that Daniel especially liked:

This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship. Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship — be it JC or Allah, bet it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles — is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.”

[...]

The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: `This is water.’

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