The Maha Bodhi Society

This site is like the Yahoo! of Buddhism. It's a wonderful resource and well worth a click.

http://www.mahabodhi.net

Buddha Forum

You can visit a marvelous Buddhist Learning Community/discussion forum here.  We're in the process of getting ordained teachers on the team. The site is well worth a click.

http://www.buddhaforum.org

Enjoy!

Contender for Nobel prize is in Chinese prison

By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writer –

AP – This Oct. 28, 2008 photo shows Liu Xiaobo, right, reading a letter beside the grave of Bao Zunxin, a Chinese historian and political dissident who was arrested and jailed for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.

BEIJING – When the police came for Liu Xiaobo on a December night nearly two years ago, they didn't tell the dissident author why he was being taken away again. The line in the detention order for his "suspected crime" was left blank.

But Liu and the dozen officers who crowded into his dark Beijing apartment knew the reason. He was hours from releasing Charter 08, the China democracy movement's most comprehensive call yet for peaceful reform. The document would be viewed by the ruling Communist Party as a direct challenge to its 60-year monopoly on political power.

Liu, who over the past two decades had endured stints in prison and re-education camp, looked at the blank detention notice and lost his temper. "At that moment, I knew the day I was expecting had finally come," his wife, Liu Xia, said recently as she recounted the night of Dec. 8, 2008. Thinking of the Beijing winter, she said she brought him a down coat and cigarettes. The police took the cigarettes away.

Liu was sentenced last Christmas Day to 11 years in prison for subversion. The 54-year old literary critic is now a favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize — in what would be a major embarrassment to the Chinese government. He is the best shot the country's dissident movement has had in winning the prestigious award since it began pushing for democratic change after China's authoritarian leaders launched economic, but not political, reforms three decades ago. Last year the prize was won by President Barack Obama. Other contenders for this year's prize include Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

In an indication of Beijing's unease, China's deputy foreign minister has warned the Nobel Institute not to give the prize to a Chinese dissident, the director of the Norway-based institute said this week. In another sign of official disapproval, an editorial on Thursday in the state-run Global Times newspaper called Liu a radical and separatist.

Chinese police continue to threaten and question some of the more than 300 people who were the first to sign Charter 08, which was co-authored by Liu. Despite the risk, thousands more have signed it since its release.

Charter 08 is an echo of Charter 77, the famous call for human rights in then-Czechoslovakia that led to the 1989 Velvet Revolution that swept away the communist regime. The charter for China calls for more freedoms and an end to the Communist Party's political dominance. "The democratization of Chinese politics can be put off no longer," it says. Former peace prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and Charter 77 co-drafter Vaclav Havel have joined those calling for Liu to get the award. Scholars inside and outside China have mounted letter-writing campaigns on his behalf. "If I were the Chinese Communist Party, I would free him now. Release him. Now. So you don't have the humiliation and it's good for everyone," said Jean-Philippe Beja, a China scholar at the Paris-based Center for International Studies and Research and a longtime friend of Liu. The blunt, sometimes earthy Liu is not always liked, even by fellow activists. "He hasn't yet become the kind of inspiring person Mandela is," AIDS activist Wan Yanhai said in a Twitter post this week, referring to the former South African leader, also a Nobel laureate. But Liu is rare among government critics in China for being well-known not just among the dissident movement but among the wider public too. "Across the spectrum, Chinese intellectuals and students have high respect for Liu Xiaobo," said Andrew Nathan, a professor at Columbia University in New York who once sponsored Liu as a visiting scholar. "The award of the prize ... would be viewed by most as an act friendly to China." It was not the same when the Tibet-born Dalai Lama was awarded the peace prize in 1989. Not just the Chinese government but some of the public too were angry over the win by the exiled Buddhist leader — regarded as a traitor by officialdom for his calls for more autonomy for Tibet.

Liu first drew attention in 1986, when he criticized Chinese writers' "childish" obsession with the Nobel Prize. Two years later, he became a visiting scholar in Oslo, where the peace prize is awarded. There, in his first time outside China, his writings became more political. "Perhaps my personality means that I'll crash into brick walls wherever I go," Liu wrote from Oslo to Geremie Barme, a China scholar at Australian National University. "I can accept it all, even if in the end I crack my skull open." Liu cut short a visiting scholar stint at Columbia University months later to join the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989. He and three other older activists famously persuaded students to peacefully leave the square hours before the deadly June 4 crackdown. "I remember clearly the difficulty and pain Liu Xiaobo and his comrades-in-arms — raised as they had been with the most radical type of an education — experienced in reaching this decision, one which only later was understood to have saved the lives of several hundred students," Xu Youyu, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, recently wrote in a public letter supporting Liu for the peace prize. Liu went to prison after the crackdown and was released in early 1991 because he had repented and "performed major meritorious services," state media said at the time, without elaborating. The bloody Tiananmen experience made Liu less radical, said Zhou Duo, a friend on the square. "He used to be impetuous, but he changed a lot after June 4," Zhou said. "He became more rational and mild. He criticized the Communist Party, but he preferred having good exchanges between government and the opposition about politics and democracy." Still, five years later Liu was sent to a re-education camp for three years for co-writing an open letter that demanded the impeachment of then-President Jiang Zemin.

Liu emerged from that sentence in 1999 to find the Internet age. He resisted the new medium of communication at first, but eventually called the Internet "God's present to China." Now Liu only writes a diary and letters to his wife, which she keeps private. His family can visit him in prison, but they can't talk about his case or world events, and officials stand by taking notes. His wife said the couple had never imagined Liu winning the peace prize.

"I can always predict when bad things are about to happen," she said, "but I can never totally believe that good things can become a reality."
___

Associated Press writer Isolda Morillo contributed to this report.

Source--http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_china_nobel_prize_favorite

China sentences another Tibetan environmentalist

AFP– Jul 3, 2010

BEIJING — A leading Tibetan environmentalist has been jailed for subversion, the third such verdict amid an apparent crackdown on intellectuals in the Himalayan region, activists said Sunday. Rinchen Samdrup, 44, was sentenced to five years in prison on Saturday for attempting to incite subversion by a court in Tibet's Chamdo region, poet and rights activist Woeser said on her blog. The verdict comes after his brother Karma Samdrup, 42, a noted art and antique collector and philanthropist, was sentenced by a court in neighbouring Xinjiang late last month to 15 years for "grave-robbing"." These sentences are causing fear among a lot of Tibetan intellectuals," Woeser told AFP while declining to comment further on the verdict due to concerns over possible government reprisals.Karma Samdrup's wife confirmed the sentence on her Twitter account. Xia Jun, Rinchen's lawyer, was unreachable Sunday by telephone, while phones at the Chamdo intermediate court went unanswered. Chinese authorities have been accused of heavy handed measures against alleged "separatist" forces in the Himalayan regions since violent anti-Chinese riots erupted in Lhasa in April 2008 and spread to other parts of Tibetan inhabited regions.Late last year, Chime Namgyal, Rinchen Samdrup's younger brother, was sentenced to 21 months of "re-education through labour" for endangering state security, the London-based International Campaign For Tibet said in a statement on Saturday. The two brothers ran the "Snowlands Great Rivers Environmental Protection Association". "The case against Rinchen Samdrup is part of a larger case against his two brothers, two cousins, and other relatives and supporters and stands as a major case in which prominent Tibetans have been targeted and imprisoned despite no evidence of political activities," the statement said. The brothers had previously been praised by Chinese authorities and the state media for their environmental work, it added. According to Human Rights Watch, the brothers were arrested after attempting to highlight environmental abuses by local officials in Tibet. The New York-based group has expressed concern over the "increasing vulnerability of important cultural and entrepreneurial Tibetan figures to politically motivated arrests and prosecutions".

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved

Source--http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jBfxzXXRmmv8ChV7Y5_RQ8QZV3JQ

Marvelous Quotes for Today

"Great compassion penetrates into the marrow of the bone." -Nagarjuna



"The three worlds are impermanent like the clouds of autumn.
The birth and death of beings are like a drama you are watching.
The life of beings passes like a flash of lightning in the sky.
It goes quickly, like water tumbling down a steep mountain."
-- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye

The Wisdom of Generosity

From Lama Yeshe Zopa

...at the time of practicing generosity, it is necessary for the discriminating wisdom to check what should be practiced and what should be abandoned, lest the practice be made incorrectly, with corrupt actions. But especially, generosity should be made with the wisdom concentrating on the circle of the three—subject, object and action—in shunyata, otherwise the practice will not become a pure, bodhisattva's action.

You should also practice generosity with the six holy objects. They are:

• the holy subject, which is the bodhicitta motivation;


• the holy possession, which is holding that bodhicitta motivation, not only when being generous with normal possessions but with special objects as well;


• the holy purpose, which is the wish to give temporary happiness to sentient beings in order to lead them to the ultimate goal;


• the holy skill, which is wisdom realizing emptiness;


• the holy dedication, which is always dedicating the merits of generosity for the achievement of enlightenment; and


• the holy purity, which is the purification of delusions and mental defilements.

Furthermore, each perfection should be practiced with the four actions. They are:

• dedicating, which is dedicating our body to all sentient beings from the heart.


• protecting—having dedicated our body to sentient beings, we should protect it from being wasted in meaningless actions.


• purifying: making generosity of the body a pure practice by concentrating on the circle of the three in shunyata.


• increasing: dedicating the merits of it to all sentient beings, equal to the sky, for their achievement of enlightenment. We must not be dismayed, thinking that if all is dedicated to sentient beings there is nothing left for me—it is a mental dedication, so there is nothing wrong with it. On the other hand, we cannot think that there is no point in dedicating mentally since there is nothing to receive.

The way to complete the perfection of generosity is to complete the training in the thought of giving even the merits of virtuous actions, let alone abolishing miserliness in our possessions. Completing the practice of the perfection of generosity means neither completely eradicating starvation and thirst, nor satisfying the last beggar. If it did, then all the past buddhas such as Guru Shakyamuni would have yet to complete the practice of generosity, having reached enlightenment by mistake.

http://www.bodhicitta.net/Six%20Perfections.htm

Confusion as the Source of Problems

The following excerpt is from the Berzin archives, found here at the link below.  I'll make some remarks regarding daily practice and Buddhism in daily life as I experience it.

http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level1_getting_started/

general_introductory_material/

dharma_daily_life.html

I find that these words are very true for me. I find that most of my problems are created out of fear or confusion.  Very often it is fear.  And the self and other problem that Dr. Berzin refers to is quite true. We spend our time polarizing rather than embracing so much of the time because we are unable to truly see the nature of our existence.  We confuse dependently arisen objects as being true, real, and separate.  By doing so we become accidentally narcissistic and can easily stray from the bodhisattva ideal and the very basic perfection of dana. While taming the mind is a lot of work, I do believe that it's possible.  I have to believe that, (even if it takes aeons).  With enough time, practice, circumstances and blessings, we may even achieve some understanding of the true nature of reality.

If we explore confusion, we see that one aspect of it is confusion about behavioral cause and effect. We are confused about what to do or say and about what will happen as a result. We can be very confused about what type of job to get, whether to get married, whether to have children, etc. If we get into a relationship with a person, what will the result be? We do not know. Our ideas of what will follow from our choices are really just fantasies. We might think that if we get into a deep relationship with a certain person, we will live happily ever after, like in a fairy tale. If we are upset in a situation, we think that yelling will make it better. We have a very confused idea about how the other person is going to respond to what we do. We think that if we yell and speak our minds, we will feel better and everything will be all right, but everything will not be all right. We want to know what will happen. We desperately look at astrology or throw coins for The Book of Changes, the I Ching. Why do we do things like that? We want to be in control of what happens.

Buddhism says that a deeper level of confusion is confusion about how we and others exist and about how the world exists. We are confused about the whole issue of control. We think that it is possible to be totally in control of what happens to us. Because of that, we get frustrated. It is not possible to always be in control. That is not reality. Reality is very complex. Many things influence what happens, not just what we do. It is not that we are totally out of control or manipulated by external forces either. We contribute to what happens, but we are not the sole factor that determines what happens.

Because of our confusion and insecurity, we often actdestructively without even knowing that it is destructive behavior. This is because we are under the influence of disturbing emotions, disturbing attitudes, and the compulsive impulses that come up from our habits. Not only do we act destructively toward others; we primarily act in self-destructive ways. In other words, we create more problems for ourselves. If we want fewer problems or liberation from our problems, or even further, the ability to help others to get out of their problems as well, we need to acknowledge the source of our limitations.

7-Limb Prayer

(Yan-lag drug-gi smon-lam)

from Shantideva, Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior
(sPyod-'jug, Skt. Bodhisattvacharya-avatara)



translated by Alexander Berzin, 2004




I take safe direction, till my purified state,
From the Buddhas, the Dharma, and the Highest Assembly.
By the positive force of my giving and so on,
May I actualize Buddhahood to help those who wander.May the surface of the land in every direction

Be pure, without even a pebble,
As smooth as the palm of a child’'s hand,
Naturally polished, as is a beryl gem.

May divine and human objects of offering,
Actually arrayed and those envisioned
As peerless clouds of Samantabhadra offerings,
Completely fill the sphere of space.

(1) I prostrate to all you Buddhas who have graced the threetimes,
To the Dharma and to the Highest Assembly,
Bowing down with bodies as numerous
As all the atoms of the world.

(2) Just as Manjushri and others
Have made offerings to you, the Triumphant,
So do I, too, make offerings to you, my Thusly Gone Guardians,
And to your spiritual offspring.

(3) Throughout my beginningless samsaric existence,

In this and other lives,
I 've unwittingly committed negative acts,
Or caused others to commit them, and further,
Oppressed by the confusion of naivety.
I 've rejoiced in them – whatever I've done,
I see them as mistakes and openly declare them
To you, my Guardians, from the depths of my heart.

(4) With pleasure, I rejoice in the ocean of positive force
From your having developed bodhichitta aims
To bring every limited being joy
And in your deeds that have aided limited beings.

(5) With palms pressed together, I beseech
You Buddhas of all directions:
Please shine Dharma's lamp for limited beings

Suffering and groping in darkness.

(6) With palms pressed together, I beseech

You Triumphant who would pass beyond sorrow:
I beg you, remain for countless eons

So as not to leave in their blindness these wandering beings.

(7) By whatever positive force I've built up
Through all of these that I've done like that,
May I remove every suffering
Of all limited beings.

By directing and offering to the Buddha-fields
This base, anointed with fragrant waters, strewn with flowers,
And decked with Mount Meru, four islands, a sun, and a moon,
May all those who wander be led to pure lands.
Om idam guru ratna mandala-kam nir-yatayami.
I send forth this mandala to you precious gurus.

Seven-Limb Practice

Here is a very nice explanation of the 7-Limb practice.

Here's a bit of the beginning of the teaching:

Alexander Berzin
Berlin, Germany, January 9, 2001

This evening, I would like to explain in a more down-to-earth way the preliminaries that we do at the beginning of each of our classes on Shantideva's text, Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior(Bodhisattvacharya-avatara). They include the seven-limbpractice, which derives from this text. Doing these preliminaries before listening to and learning the Dharma helps us to establish a properly receptive state of mind. We use the same set of practices before daily meditation or Dharma study sessions at home.



If we are doing these practices as a preliminary to meditation at home, we need to sweep and tidy the room beforehand, as we do before class. If papers or clothing are scattered all over the room, for example, we need to put them away. While doing this, we think, "May my mind become clear, clean, and orderly, just as I am making the room."

It is very important to meditate and study in an environment in which everything is neat, clean, and in order. This is also true for our place of work. What we see, even peripherally, greatly affectsour states of mind. If everything around us is messy, our minds tend also to be messy. Moreover, it is helpful to have our places of study or meditation be aesthetically pleasing.  Seeing a beautiful surrounding usually makes the mind happy, and a happy state of mind is receptive to doing something constructive.

Each morning, after washing ourselves and cleaning the room, we make a water bowl offering. This does not need to be with the usual seven bowls if that is inconvenient. Offering simply a single cup of clean water is sufficient. We are not trying to impress anyone. If we wish, we can also offer candles, flowers, incense, and so on; but that is optional. Not only are we creating a beautiful space for inviting the Buddhas and great masters in our visualizations, as is traditionally explained; we are also arranging the room in such a way that it makes us feel joyous and comfortable to be there. In doing this, it puts us in a state of mind conducive for meditating, studying, or listening to teachings.

Continued here, just copy and paste into your browser:

http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level1_getting_started

/approaching_study_meditation/preliminaries_meditation_study_7-limb.html

More verses from Shantideva's Wish

Whatever joy there is in this world
All comes from desiring others to be happy,
And whatever suffering there is in this world,
All comes from desiring myself to be happy.

But what need is there to say much more?
The childish work for their own benefit,
The Buddhas work for the benefit of others.
Just look at the difference between them!

-borrowed from Khandro.net

Fording the Stream

The Buddhist spiritual experience will reveal itself neither to the scholar nor to the conversationalist, but only to the man or woman who makes the central conceptions of Buddhist thought the basis of their mental activity, the subject of their deepest meditation, and the foundation of all their actions.

-Fording the Stream: An Affirmation of the Bodhisattva Way of Life

Shantideva's Wish

"May I become food and drink in the eons of famine for those poverty-stricken suffers.
May I be a doctor, medicine and nurse for all sick beings in the world until everyone is cured.

May I become never-ending wish-fulfilling treasures materialising in front of each of them as all the enjoyments they need.
May I be a guide for those who do not have a guide, a leader for those who journey, a boat for those who want to cross over, and all sorts of ships, bridges, beautiful parks for those who desire them, and light for those who need light.

And may I become beds for those who need a rest, and a servant to all who need servants.
May I also become the basic conditions for all sentient beings, such as earth or even the sky, which is indestructible.
May I always be the living conditions for all sentient beings until all sentient beings are enlightened."

Mother Tara

An inspirational picture for today:

His Holiness the Dalai Lama expresses hope of return to Tibet

His Holiness the Dalai Lama expresses hope of return to Tibet

[Tuesday, 21 September 2010, 5:24 p.m.]

Budapest: His Holiness the Dalai Lama has expressed hope that he would return to Tibet, and called on the Chinese leadership to start political liberalisation and find a solution in the interest of China and the Tibetan people.

"I'm an optimist, I think I will return to Tibet with a Chinese passport," His Holiness said Monday in his address to the Hungarian parliament in Budapest, which accorded him a red carpet reception. He was welcomed by president of the Hungarian Parliament's Tibet Group and the deputy leader of the LMP, the new political party in Hungary.

"The Chinese leaders sooner or later have to realise that they must start some sort of political liberalisation, or otherwise they will lose the world's trust," His Holiness the Dalai Lama told Hungarian MPs.

Reiterating that “suppression is not the solution to the Tibet problem”, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said “a solution must be found that is good for both China and Tibet”.

His Holiness reaffirmed that “the Tibetans are not seeking separation from China but a mutually beneficial solution to the Tibetan issue through genuine autonomy”.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama encouraged the Hungarian MPs to visit Tibet to see the situation for themselves.

Ms Szabo Timea, the deputy leader of the LMP said: “We are here to express our full support for the Tibetan causes. We'll support the regional national autonomy to preserve Tibetan culture and identity dating back to thousands of years.”

The LMP also expresses great concern about Tibet's environment and the impacts of climate change, said Ms Timea, who is also deputy chair of Parliamentary Committee of Human Rights.

The chairperson of the Parliament's Human Rights Committee also called on His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In the afternoon, His Holiness the Dalai Lama addressed the students and members of the faculty of Central European University. The University has students from 100 countries and faculty from 40 countries.

http://longlivehhdl.ning.com/profiles/blogs/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-340

Affirmation

"I know that the Bodhisattva is imperfect and suffers frustration, but I must stand and watch this, and not be caught into egoistic suffering."

Guilt is egotistical suffering by its very difinition. Stand up brothers and sisters, dust off, and continue to go forth, recognizing that a drop of water is no different than the ocean and that a candle flame is no different than the sun; the small always mirrors the large, that your practice mirrors the vibrant pledge of all Bodhisattvas past, present and future."

-Paramitayana

New life at Buddha Blog

The Buddha Blog is back and I'm really pleased to tell you that Pema Rigdzin is now a co-author here.  He's quite a find!  We are fortunate  :)

What is a vow?

A vow (sdom-pa) is a subtle invisible form on a mental continuum, which shapes behavior. Specifically, it is a restraint from an "uncommendable action" (kha-na ma-tho-ba), either one that is naturally destructive (rang-bzhin-gyi kha-na ma-tho-ba) or one that Buddha prohibited (bcas-pa'i kha-na ma-tho-ba) for specific individuals who are training to reach specific goals. An example of the former is taking the life of another; an example of the later is eating after noon, which monastics need to avoid for their minds to be clearer for meditating at night and the next morning.

Source

Prayer for the Teachings to Flow in the West

by Yongdzin Ling Rinpoche (Yongs-'dzin Gling Rinpoche
Thub-bstan lung-rtogs rnam-rgyal 'phrin-las)

translated by Alexander Berzin
September 2001

By the force of inspiration from the unfailing Three Supreme Gems
And of the truth of our taking universal responsibility,
May the precious Buddhist teachings flow and flourish
In all lands throughout the length and breadth of the West.

For all people living there, together with their near ones,
Who engage in the teachings, with confidence and respect,
May all hindrances to their pure Dharma practice disperse
And an excellent network of favorable conditions
grow like the waxing moon.

And especially for those who work on the means
To bring about the flow and flourishing
of the Triumphant One's teachings,
the spring of all benefit and joy,
May they never be oppressed by the hordes
of interference and adverse conditions
And may this spontaneously happen just as we have hoped and wished.

A Lovely Image

A lovely image for inspiration today. This is Guanyin...

The Imperfect Bodhisattva

"I know that the Bodhisattva is imperfect and suffers frustration, but I must stand and watch this, and not be caught into egoistic suffering."

Guilt is egotistical suffering by its very difinition. Stand up brothers and sisters, dust off, and continue to go forth, recognizing that a drop of water is no different than the ocean and that a candle flame is no different than the sun; the small always mirrors the large, that your practice mirrors the vibrant pledge of all Bodhisattvas past, present and future."

-A bodhisattva affirmation from Paramitayana