Rev. Danny Fisher

Just a Buddhist Minister Trying to Benefit Beings
March 3, 2010

A Great Article You Should Read Immediately

I was honored when Shambhala Sun‘s Molly De Shong sent me an article from the latest, hot-off-the-presses issue of Buddhadharma:  The Practitioner’s Quarterly (www.thebuddhadharma.com), and gave me permission to post it in its entirety here as a PDF file.  I was even more honored to host the piece here after I read it:  it’s an extraordinary, important, rich roundtable piece about “Why We Need Monasticism” with our friend Bhikkhu Bodhi, Jan Chozen Bays, Robert Thurman, and Ayya Tathaaloka.  There’s also a lovely, insightful introduction by the great Ajahn Amaro, who offers a striking description of the monastic’s role according to Buddhist cosmology.

In Buddhist mythology, the monastic plays the role of the fourth of the Heavenly Messengers, the one that caused Gotama to leave the palace, take up the life of a monk, and seek enlightenment. In order for messengers to do their job successfully they must be faithful both to the intent and meaning of the sender, as well as to the language and mores of the ones who are to receive the message; otherwise the communication won’t get through.

Today, the challenge for Western Buddhist monastics is how to be a faithful messenger. That is, one who embodies and respects the values of the source, yet who is also faithful to the values of this time and place.

If the messenger favors the origin and doesn’t pay heed to the language of the recipients, the message can become unread- able, with no more spiritual relevance than some of the anti- quated religious forms already found in the West. If they lean too far in the other direction, over-adapting to fit the dharma du jour, the message can become so twisted in relation to its original meaning that its roots become severed and the receiv- ers are orphaned from the ground of their tradition.

The Buddhist monastic order is the oldest human institu- tion still functioning under its original bylaws. It’s an entity ripe in years, but whether it sits in the endangered species cat- egory or that of the hardy perennial remains to be seen. Where survival and flourishing are concerned, a lot depends on the skill and faith of the individual messenger, but, in addition, much also depends on whether the society wishes to hear the message, even if it’s being conveyed in an appropriate mode.

The following discussion will explore many of these issues and, in particular, how and why the monastic messenger might still be useful in the world.

Read all the rest right here at this blog.  And for more, visit the source at http://www.thebuddhadharma.com.

1 comment
March 3, 2010

A Gift of Dharma for 3.3.10

Today’s quote comes from Siddhartha Gautama (circa fifth and/or sixth century B.C.E.)–the historical Buddha and de facto progenitor of the Buddhist religions.  This is it:

Monks, there once was a time when the Dasarahas had a large drum called ‘Summoner.’ Whenever Summoner was split, the Dasarahas inserted another peg in it, until the time came when Summoner’s original wooden body had disappeared and only a conglomeration of pegs remained.

In the same way, in the course of the future there will be monks who won’t listen when discourses that are words of the Tathagata — deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness — are being recited. They won’t lend ear, won’t set their hearts on knowing them, won’t regard these teachings as worth grasping or mastering. But they will listen when discourses that are literary works — the works of poets, elegant in sound, elegant in rhetoric, the work of outsiders, words of disciples — are recited. They will lend ear and set their hearts on knowing them. They will regard these teachings as worth grasping & mastering.

In this way the disappearance of the discourses that are words of the Tathagata — deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness — will come about.

Thus you should train yourselves: ‘We will listen when discourses that are words of the Tathagata — deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness — are being recited. We will lend ear, will set our hearts on knowing them, will regard these teachings as worth grasping & mastering.’ That’s how you should train yourselves.

March 3, 2010

Ten Tibetan Monks and One Civilian Arrested Over “Subversive” Music Video

This from TibetCustom:

Chinese authorities in Matoe County, Golog, Tibetan Autonomous Prefectur, have arrested ten Tibetan monks and a civilian for “producing and distributing subversive song” on video disc.

According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), an NGO based here. Six were released later on bail.

The Video “Chakdrum Marpo” (Bloody Omen) contained songs expressing, among others, loyalty to the exile Tibetan leader Dalai Lama and “helplessness” over the death of Tibetans following large scale protests across Tibet. The Video also incorporated many images and footage of Chinese clampdown.

Get the rest of the story and watch the music video here.

March 3, 2010

International Tribunal On Burma Calls For End To Impunity Of Military Regime

This from the Nobel Women’s Initiative:

– For immediate release to media –

March 3, 2010, 10 am EST

International Tribunal on Burma Calls for End to Impunity of Military Regime

(New York)  Nobel Peace Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Jody Williams – along with human rights experts Dr. Heisoo Shin (Korea) and Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn (Thailand) – today released the findings and recommendations developed during the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women of Burma held this week in New York City.  The quasi-legal event featured compelling testimony – the first ever – of 12 women from Burma who have suffered rape, torture, and other crimes at the hands of the military junta.  The event highlighted the egregious human rights crimes, including rape as a weapon of war, and called for policymakers to demand a last resort: the International Criminal Court.

“Women should no longer be invisible when crimes are committed against them with impunity,” said Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.  “The history of violence and oppression of women in Burma is long and sordid–and must come to an end.”

A few of the women who testified are colleagues of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition, still under house arrest and a prisoner of General Than Shwe.  Than Shwe is the war criminal who has reigned terror over the people of Burma for decades.  World leaders have rallied in support of her freedom countless times since her Nobel Peace Prize award in 1991, passing UN resolutions almost annually and demanding the release of her and other political prisoners.  But these cries have fallen on deaf ears, with the international community failing to hold General Shwe and his cronies criminally responsible.  The resulting impunity has given the ruling generals of Burma even more license to escalate their power and continue to inflict violence on the people of Burma.

“We live in a globalized world, which means that Burma cannot do whatever it wants to its people within its own walls,” said Shirin Ebadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003.  “Globalization is effective when it helps bring an end to injustice.  The international community cannot stand by and let other countries to use their sovereignty to commit atrocities against their own people.”

The purpose of the Tribunal was to spotlight the oppression of women of Burma in order to encourage policymakers and political leaders to take specific action now.  The women Nobel Laureates have joined with the Women’s League of Burma to highlight the systemic use of rape and other forms of violence against ethnic women in Burma.  The Women’s League of Burma is an umbrella organization comprising thirteen women’s organizations of different ethnic backgrounds in Burma.

The women who testified now live in Thailand, Bangladesh, the US and Canada and traveled to New York to tell their personal stories and those of their families.  Their stories include a range of horrific human rights violations and crimes.  Testimony was organized into three categories:  violence against women (rape, sexual violence, trafficking), civil and political violations (torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, harassment), and social, economic and cultural violations (forced labor, portering, relocation).  Violence against women in Burma is often ethnically motivated, particularly minority groups such as the Karen who have been brutally persecuted by the military regime.

The following are the recommendations of the Tribunal:

Recommendations to the international community, particularly the United Nations:

*Urge States to take collective action to ensure the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888, and 1889 guaranteeing women’s full participation in post-conflict reconstruction, and freedom from all forms of sexual violence.
*Strongly urge the UN Security Council to refer Burma to the International Criminal Court.
*Call upon United Nations member States to fulfill their obligations to exercise universal jurisdiction and to prosecute through their national tribunals perpetrators of the crimes against the civilian population of Burma, including women.
*Ask United Nations agencies with a presence in Burma to increase their work in promoting and protecting human rights.
*Call upon the United Nations Security Council to take effective measures against state authorities on the basis of the responsibility of the state to protect its people from egregious human rights violations (Responsibility to Protect Doctrine).
*Urge the United Nations system to take measures to ensure that the Burmese authorities comply with international human rights standards and international humanitarian law.

Recommendations to Burma’s military regime:

*Stop all forms of violence against women. “End the intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention, torture, and degrading treatment against women [and all] political prisoners; [and] respect and adhere to the principles and norms of the international [criminal and] human rights standards, particularly Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women…”
*Stop attacks and persecution against ethnic nationalities and groups.
*Release immediately and unconditionally all political prisoners.
*Grant access to United Nations agencies and non-governmental humanitarian groups to ensure that women, in particular, are assisted effectively.
*Provide access to and cooperate with United Nations agencies and human rights organizations to monitor human rights within Burma.
*Ratify all human rights treaties, including ICCPR and ICESCR, and implement them effectively.
*Abide by rules of customary international law, such as the prohibitions against torture, slavery, and violence against women and children.
*Ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, reform and implement domestic legislation accordingly.
*Establish an effective process for dialogue between different stakeholders including democracy groups, ethnic minorities/nationalities, and concerned authorities with emphasis on women’s participation in the pursuit of democracy.
*Revise the constitution, particularly the amnesty provisions, and other national laws in an inclusive and participatory manner, engaging all stakeholders including women, to ensure consistency with international legal obligations and human rights standards.
*Establish effective judicial mechanisms and other processes to establish accountability and provide adequate remedies for international crimes and human rights violations to end impunity.
*Build human-centered national development plans and processes that respond to women’s human rights bearing in mind the special needs of rural women, and allocate national resources fairly and equitably for this purpose.

Recommendations to the Asia-Pacific region (including ASEAN, bilateral and other channels):

*Call upon ASEAN through its Summit of Heads of Government to impel Burma to apply effective and time-limited measures to comply with the ASEAN Charter and international legal obligations and human rights standards.
*Invite the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission to submit thematic reports covering particular issues related to Burma.
*Bearing in mind the ASEAN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and various declarations on children’s rights in the region, to which Burma has subscribed, support the establishment of the ASEAN Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, including consideration of the situation in Burma.
*Call upon the various partners of ASEAN and other regional bodies and states engaging with Burma to influence constructive changes in the country.
*Prohibit trade with Burma involving goods produced through forced labor, as well as oil, gas, and electricity generated as a result of forced relocations.
*Take effective cross-border measures to prevent and punish human trafficking, in particular that of women and children, and to offer gender and child sensitive measures to protect and assist those victimized by trafficking.
*Respect the rights of refugees and internally displaced persons, protect them from violence, abuse, and exploitation, and forced repatriation, which violates the international principle of non-refoulement, and ensure the application of basic standards of international law.

For more information, and to arrange interviews, please contact us:
*Rachel Vincent: Mobile: + 1-613-276-9030, rvincent@nobelwomensinitiative.org
*Kimberley MacKenzie: +1-908-342-0160, kmackenzie@nobelwomensinitiative.org
*Kieran Bergmann: +1-613-569-8400 ext. 115, kbergmann@nobelwomensinitiative.org

March 3, 2010

“Burma’s Oscar Moment”

There’s an excellent piece about the Oscar-nominated documentary Burma VJ at Foreign Policy today.  Here’s a snippet:

Over the next few days we’re going to be hearing a lot about big blue aliens and George Clooney and bomb-disposal experts in the Iraq war. But there’s another film you should be rooting for when they hand out the little gold statues on March 7.

Burma VJ hasn’t been in the headlines much. It has been making its way around the global film-festival circuit, garnering its share of awards. Still, its U.S. box office receipts to date are measured in tens of thousands of dollars, not hundreds of millions.

Let’s hope that’s about to change. The film is up for best documentary feature, and to be honest, I can’t imagine what could possibly compete.

Read the rest here.