Rev. Danny Fisher

Just a Buddhist Minister Trying to Benefit Beings
May 31, 2009

The San Francisco Zen Center’s Statement Regarding the California State Supreme Court’s Prop. 8 Decision

This via MahaSangha News: The San Francisco Zen Center‘s City Center Practice Committee has issued a statement regarding the California State Supreme Court’s decision last week to uphold the Proposition 8 amendment to the State Constitution, banning same sex marriage:

    On Tuesday, May 26, the California Supreme Court upheld the Proposition 8 amendment to the State Constitution, banning same sex marriage. At the same time, it upheld the marriages of the 18,000 couples who had already been married between the previous Supreme Court case and Election Day.

    For many years, San Francisco Zen Center has performed same-sex weddings as well as opposite-sex weddings, for couples interested in receiving the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts as the foundation of their marriage.

    SFZC supports the right of any couple to marry, using the same ceremony and with the same spiritual foundation. We see this as a human rights issue, and want to extend our support at this time.

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May 31, 2009

Pictures from Vesak at the Rosemead Buddhist Monastery

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the Vesak celebration at the Rosemead Buddhist Monastery, which is the temple at which I was ordained. I finally got my film developed, and below are some images from that day. (For those interested in such things, I took them with my Leica Z2X on Kodak 800 film.)

My friend and teacher Bhante Chao Chu, abbot of the monastery and president of the Los Angeles Buddhist Union, with a local photographer.
Bhante is photographed with a parishoner.
The monastery strewn with Buddhist flags.
Another look.
The shrine room in the monastery.
Offerings for the holiday.
Bathing the Buddha.

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May 31, 2009

Sri Lanka News (5.30.09)

“Tamil civilians stand behind a barbed-wire fence in the Manik Farm refugee camp in northern Sri Lanka on May 26, 2009. Amnesty International called Saturday for an independent probe into the number of civilians killed in the final weeks of Sri Lanka’s civil war and also urged the UN to reveal its own estimates.” Photo by David Gray for the Agence France-Presse.
Human Rights Now – The Amnesty International USA Web Log has been doing a great job of tracking news from Sri Lanka, so today I’ll just direct you to three recent posts of theirs: this one, this one, and this one.

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May 31, 2009

Burma News (5.30.09)

Here’s the latest on Burma and the military junta’s show-trial of Nobel Peace laureate and Prime Minister-elect Daw Aung San Suu Kyi:

  • The Telegraph, the Agence France-Presse, and the Associated Press report on growing concerns about Suu Kyi’s health.
  • Reuters reports that her lawyers say she’s doing better, though.
  • Al Jazeera English reports on the optimism of Suu Kyi’s lawyers.
  • The Wall Street Journal reports on the “scarce jobs, dwindling remittances and limited credit” that further strain Burma’s economy amid Suu Kyi’s trial.
  • Asia Times Online reports on “a back-and-forth” over Burma at a recent meeting between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that “lasted hours and sidelined hopes for substantial progress in other areas.”
  • The Irrawaddy reports on the growing movement to suspend Burma from ASEAN.

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