China says everything normal at restive Tibetan temple
China has said everything was “normal” at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery after the Dalai Lama urged restraint in a stand-off between security forces and Tibetans at the temple in southwest China. “According to what we understand, over the past few days the life and Buddhist activities of the monks at the Kirti monastery are all normal. Social order there is also normal. Material supplies in the temple are totally sufficient,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular news briefing.
“The Kirti temple’s administration and local police a long time ago set up a police-temple joint patrol team. The aim was to prevent people of uncertain identity from entering the temple. Relations between the police and the temple have always been harmonious,” Hong added on Tuesday without elaborating.
Hundreds of ethnic Tibetans had gathered at the Kirti monastery in Aba in Sichuan province last week trying to stop authorities moving out monks for government-mandated “re-education,” according to exiled Tibetans and activists. That prompted police to lock down the monastery with as many as 2,500 monks inside.
A 21-year-old Tibetan monk burned himself to death on March 16 in Aba, an overwhelmingly ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province that erupted in defiance against Chinese Communist Party control three years ago. Instead of putting out the flames, Chinese police beat the young monk, creating huge resentment in the monastery, the Dalai Lama said in his statement last week.
Read the full story here. For more on the unrest among Buddhist monks in Tibet, see:
Dalai Lama urges restraint in Tibet monastery standoff – April 16
Chinese police clash with civilians at Tibetan monastery – April 14
Tibetan monk burns to death in China protest, support group says
A Tibetan Buddhist monk burnt himself to death in western China Wednesday, triggering a street protest against government controls on the restive region, a group campaigning for Tibetan self-rule said. The self-immolation appeared to be a small repeat of protests that gripped Tibetan areas of China in March 2008, when Buddhist monks and other Tibetan people loyal to the exiled Dalai Lama, their traditional religious leader, confronted police and troops.
The 21-year-old, named Phuntsog, was a monk in Aba, a mainly ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province that erupted in defiance against Chinese control three years ago. The monk “immolated himself today in protest against the crackdown,” said Kate Saunders of the International Campaign for Tibet, a London-based organisation.
“He shouted some slogans about freedom when he did it,” said Zorgyi, a researcher for the organisation, who is based in northern India, where many exiled Tibetans live. “We’ve also received widespread information about a protest with nearly one thousand monks and lay people that came after,” Zorgyi said.
Read the full story by Chris Buckley here.
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Japanese monk gets down with the beat for Buddhism
He raps. He chants. And this month, Japan’s famed hip-hop loving monk, better known as MC Happiness, will tap dance on stage, in the name of Buddhism.
Kansho Tagai heads the 400-year-old Kyoouji Temple in central Tokyo, offering softly chanted prayers throughout the day amid traditional bell chimes and wafts of incense.
But once in a while, he raises the volume, and the tempo, of these prayers, going before an audience to rap Buddhist sutra, or teachings, to hip hop beats and in modern Japanese.
“When I listened to rap music for the first time, it was in English so I couldn’t understand a word,” Tagai told Reuters.
“I realised that the same can be said for Buddhist sutras because most people can’t understand a word. And the thing is, listening to rap music makes you feel good even though it may be incomprehensible.”
All of creation is music. And rhythm is your guide. The monk gets it.
Monks take back seat in Trappist beer success story
It came as a surprise to discover that monks were no longer involved in the beer-making at Trappist brewer Westmalle during a visit to research for a feature of Trappist beers. With the exception of small-scale Westvleteren that is pretty much the case at all seven Trappist breweries in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is largely the result of demographics – the average age of monks at many monasteries in western Europe is up in the 50s, 60s or 70s, hardly an age to be pushing around barrels. The modern brewery is also very much automated, requiring fewer people on the factory floor, but a number of trouble-shooting experts – a monastery has no guarantee of having an brewing engineer in its flock. Monks at Koningshoeven Abbey in the Netherlands do still prepare gift packages of its La Trappe beer. It helps that their average age is just below 60. “We are a bit lucky,” admitted brewing chief Gijs Swinkels. So what makes a Trappist beer different from any other brew? It’s not the taste, the colour or even the strength – from 5 percent Achels to the 11.3 percent alcohol of the Rochefort 10. The answer is threefold and applies to other Trappist products such as cheese, biscuits and chocolate: 1. It must be made within the walls of a Trappist monastery; 2. It must be controlled by monks; and 3. The profits must be used for upkeep of the monastery and its community and for its charitable projects. Sure enough monks do take key decisions on investment, production size and the limited level of marketing. However, the very ageing that has forced monks to cease day-to-day tasks raises questions about the future of the beers — the pinnacle of brewing to some beer connoisseurs, but just a means to an end for the monks. Trappist monks accept that some communities may die out, while others emerge. Will some of the Trappist beers die out too?
Please don’t think I am nit picking, just adding a bit of local color to your story.
I think all trappist beer is double digit, here in Achel the 5% beer is only sold in our cafe” on the grounds and is on tap, not bottled, there is a blond and a dark, same streingth. There is one employee, one volunteer (myself) and the rest is done by the brothers. We are small, 1000 Litre and the brewery is run by Br. Jules who is also the baker. He is seven days a week on the brewery floor, (hands on). See “Bier magazine” with Br. Jules on the cover.
http://www.bier-magazine.nl/index.php?pa ge=database&lowestSub=1&filesub=1&filenr =16&file=Archief
Once a month we bottle the .75L bottles and until last year it was all by hand, now we have a capping machine. It takes five of us to do it and we pass hand over hand one bottle every three seconds and just manage to finish between the noon and vespers. The oldest in this process is Br. Joris at 82 and he fills the crates.
Sadly your “back seat “story is almost 100% correct.
Will the Nobel Peace Prize go to a religious leader this year?
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday in Oslo. What are the odds that a religious leader will win? I checked with our bureau in Oslo for the latest buzz.
“The Peace Nobel is basically a guessing game,” chief correspondent Wojciech Moskwa warned. A total of 205 individuals and organisations were nominated this year and a record number remained on the secret short list late last month, he learned in an interview with Geir Lundestad, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, French-Colombian politician and former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do and various U.N. organisations have gained traction as possible nominees, but Lundestad firmly declined to comment on the speculation.
By contrast, the independent International Peace Research Institute (PRIO) in Oslo publishes its own picks and it named Colombian peace activist Piedad Cordoba, Jordanian interfaith dialogue pioneer Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal and Afghan human rights activist Sima Samar as its favourites. “PRIO does not appear to have any special inside track, but they have on occasion been right,” said Moskwa.
Readers of this blog will recognise the name of Prince Ghazi, author of the interfaith dialogue manifesto “A Common Word Between Us And You.” That document, initially signed by 138 Muslim scholars and addressed to the leaders of all main Christian churches around the world, marked a fresh approach in interfaith dialogue by stressing two common core principles in Islam and Christianity. As the group says on its website: “Simply put, it is about the Two Golden Commandments: Love of God and Love of Neighbor, and it is an invitation to join hands with Christians on such a basis, for the sake of God and for the sake of world peace and harmony.” In an unusual departure, the document based its argument on quotes from both the Bible and the Koran, opening a new path for the world’s two largest faiths to communicate with each other.
The Common Word group, by now expanded to 305 signatories, has held several conferences with Christian leaders and theologians to explore this new path. One is taking place this week at Georgetown University in Washington. Perhaps the most notable example of its influence was the way Pope Benedict spoke about Islam during his visit to the Middle East last May. His 2006 Regensburg speech, which implied Islam was a violent and irrational faith, so upset and angered the Muslim world that 38 Muslim scholars addressed an initial letter to him in October 2006 correcting some misinterpretations and requesting a dialogue. When no response came from the Vatican, they issued the Common Word document in October 2007 with 138 signatories. They held a successful conference with the Vatican in November 2008 and, in May 2009, Pope Benedict essentially embraced their approach and used their arguments in appealing for more Christian-Muslim dialogue.
“Interfaith dialogue is certainly part of the “bridge building” that the Nobel committee cherishes so much,” Moskwa told me. “They may also like to award a moderate Islamic scholar, especially one whose initiatives are referred to as a ‘theological counter-attack against terrorism.’ Since 9/11, the list of Nobel laureates clearly shows a bigger focus by the Nobel committee on the Muslim world. Prince Ghazi is an interesting candidate, although his name has not been widely mentioned in the Nobel context before PRIO published its picks.”
The peace prize for peace’s sake should go for peace… Actual reduction in violence. It can go to nuclear bomb if it helps establish peace in AfPak. Why is writer creating a stir to create pieces out of peace?
Time to re-think ban on women at Greek holy site?
Last month I visited Mount Athos, a self- governing monastic state in northern Greece where some 1,500 monks live according to rules which have changed little in the last millennium. Athos’ 20 monasteries are considered by the world’s 300 million Orthodox as perhaps the second most holy site of their faith, after Jerusalem. They are home to breathtaking religious art and thousands of manuscripts dating back to the Byzantine empire, as well as priceless relics, like fragments of the True Cross, believed by the Orthodox faithful to have performed countless miracles.
For many Orthodox it is the fulfilment of a long-held dream to visit the rugged Holy Mountain — but not if you a woman. Women are completely banned from the 300 sq kilometre peninsula and any breach of this strict rule is a criminal offence in Greece punishable by up to two years in prison.
But the main treasure of Mount Athos is the place itself and many Orthodox women feel frustrated by the ban on visiting it. “I would love to see it, but I know I never will,” is a common comment, though some say they understand the ban. At the same time, many Greek women are angry that their taxes are being used to fund wealthy institutions that they are banned from setting foot in, arguing that UNESCO status means the monasteries are treasures of humanity, not just of male humanity.
Some argue that it reflects a wider snub to women in the Orthodox faith, where they are barred from the priesthood. Orthodox wedding vows still tell wives to fear their husbands, although some priests insist this is a mistranslation of old Greek. Although it seems to be living in a place outside time, the modern world has reached Mount Athos in many ways. Monks on Athos drive four-by-fours, have mobile phones and e-mail accounts. The mountain is open to heads of state, princes, and tourists from all over the world. One monastery there, Vatopedi, has even found itself at the heart of a controversial property transaction with the Greek government now being investigated by parliament.
Women are welcomed as visitors in other monasteries in Greece. Public money is being used to renovate and promote the monasteries on Mount Athos. So is it about time to allow women access to the Holy Mountain?
Fed up with market crisis? Here’s one broker who left it all behind
Fed up with this market crisis? Looking for a change? Take a look at how one former Nasdaq broker got away from it all:
Brother Nikanor, a Nasdaq broker turned monk, advises former colleagues to put a jar with soil on their desks to remind them where we are all heading and what matters in life.
As western banks fold into each other like crumpled tickets and commentators portray the current crisis as the last gasp of modern capitalism, Hristo Mishkov, 32, shares the pain — and offers home truths.
“Many people… in the world do not realise that they have not earned the food they eat, that they take without giving. But if someone consumes more than they have earned, it means someone else is starving.
“It is right to see people who consume more than they deserve shattered by a financial crisis from time to time, to suffer so that they can become more reasonable.”
The whole feature ran on the Reuters wire today. Read it here.
Annie: If you can’t beat them, join them! Being a father of 4, hard working family man it truly sucks to only make enough too pay the bills. If I could get support from Uncle Sam to help with groceries, or free education I sure would! It seems the only way to get ahead these days is to seek help from other sources, but it’s getting harder and harder. I don’t see a problem with people on the system who really need it- what I really see a problem with are these illegals who come here and get EVERYTHING handed to them.
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Resident FaithWorld Expert
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Dear Reuters,
While you have not written anything here that is incorrect, you mislead through your omission! You have reported what the Chinese Government has stated. However, you have omitted investigating or verifying if it is true (which many know it is not accurate).
Reporting misleading information as a “quote” from unreliable speakers is exactly what the chinese government wants. You did exactly what they wanted and are misleading your readers!