Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: May 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Part II: The Secret(s) of Meditation

Wisdom Quarterly interview with Vern Lovic, Jhana8.com

[If not to reach out to everybody to tell them about these fantastic meditation experiences,] Why did you create a Web site, Jhana8.com, why do you post, what do you want to say to the world?

There is this feeling that I was nobody special before I sat to watch the breath. As I watched it, finally the mind slowed down a lot. Then thought stopped. I didn't get the idea -- in meditation or outside, that I was anything special at all.

What do you mean?

It isn't like a "knowing" that I'm not special. That is different. There are things that were "known" to be true, and this isn't one of those things.

Rumsfeld's known unknowns.

This is just an underlying feeling that I'm not different from anyone else on the planet. We're equal in a way that we maybe don't see or understand. But it's there. But it is also this feeling that I am not any more important than a rock, spit, the book on my desk, or the bird outside. Maybe it comes down to the idea that, the feeling that, the knowing that, everything is just as it is. It's all ONE, or maybe more accurately, it's just not different from each other. We're all of the same stuff.

But something happened? You were changed by the experience of stillness and realization, serenity and insight?

Why did I make a site, why did I post, what do I have to say to the world?

But you still post. Why do you post?

I get inspired sometimes, I guess, as I step outside of "me" and look at me compared to other people who are meditating.

I get inspired a bit when I meet with a couple of my monk friends at the temple where I exercise a lot. They ask me questions about jhana.

I get inspired by people writing me a lot and asking questions about how to get "unstuck" in meditation.

They've had glimpses of bliss coming on, the nimitta [the mental image counterpart sign of one's meditation object], etc. And they want to know what is next and how to GET there. I share it for people who are interested in searching for the information.

I think about me in the late 1990's, looking for information online. There was none. I think about various people on YouTube now with videos about meditation that are filled with the "religious" side of things -- the strong impulse to use words from the past to describe present day feelings, acts, experiences. I just want to offer another place/space in plain language to maybe help those who are not interested in Buddhism or any other -ism.

I'd like to offer meditation without religion, basically meditation as a physical act without the fluff. I see some value in that because it's what I identify with.

This is what Wisdom Quarterly invites. We wrote you and contacted you personally to hear "secrets." You may not want to share a message with the public. Do you know the Four Imponderables?

Nope.

You know, particularly the second imponderable:

The Four Imponderables
Wisdom Quarterly translation (AN 4.77)
"There are Four Imponderables that should NOT be pondered because to do so would cause one to be mentally vexed and become unhinged.

The range [influence] of a buddha...
The range of jhana of a person immersed in absorption [or the range of powers one is able to obtain by way of the absorptions] is imponderable and should not be pondered because to do so would cause one to be mentally vexed and become unhinged.
The [mysterious] working out of karma...
A first cause or origin of the world...

We hope you receive this "interview" well and recognize the prompts embedded in it as loving. It may seem crude of us to ask and to push or to promote insight based on jhana. That is the superior value of absorption. Blessed be, kalyana mitta. And congratulations on your remarkable achievement(s)!

:) Thanks for the messages. It did prompt some thought that wasn't there before about the states, the meaning. It was interesting to go through it. It would probably be better if you just want to ask me anything and I'll try to respond.

That's just it. We had no real question other than a big, "What?" "What is it?" "'What's what?'" "What's anything, what's the 'secret'?" "What is it you want to say to the world about meditation once you've succeeded?" You surprised us because the other successes we have met have answered what you first answered: "What's what?" But, of course, they didn't create a Web site or reach out to us telling us they had experienced something.

It's not as if there is some push inside me to keep sharing what happened and happens any more than writing the occasional article on the jhana8.com site. Recently I pulled 20 or so articles from the past from another site and am now dripping them on jhana8.com.

Many don't have dates on them. I think some are from 10 years ago. Some posts I wrote recently. I am going to do some videos about various experiences that went on -- that go on -- and maybe that will be interesting to someone.

I do have some idea lately that I should be doing more sharing, giving more information. Cheers and best to all, :) Vern

Saddhu, saddhu, saddhu, and xie xie!

Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol)

BuddhistChannel.TV; Wisdom Quarterly version with explanatory comments

(Jenny-H-Edwards/flickr.com)

The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or Bardo Thodol ("The Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Intermediate State") is traditionally believed to be the work of the legendary Padma Sambhava in the 8th century ACE.

The book acts as a guide for the dying during the state that intervenes death and the next rebirth.

[NOTE: Rebirth is instantaneous and without intermission. But the post-human rebirth as a subtle body being is here being mistaken for an "immortal soul" that survives death. In this simplified view, the radically impermanent and impersonal "person" (gandhabba, Five Aggregate combination) is judged. That is, some karma conditions the rebirth-linking consciousness. One then "enters" another relatively long-term existence in one of the six realms of the Sensual Sphere described by Mahayana as if that sphere were an exhaustive description of Buddhist cosmology's Three Spheres and 31 Planes of Existence.]

Padma Sambhava is considered to be one of the first persons to bring Buddhism to Tibet. The Bardo Thodol is a guide that is read aloud to the dead while they are in the state between death and rebirth in order for them to recognize the nature of their mind and attain liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

The Bardo Thodol teaches that once awareness is freed from the body, it creates its own reality as one would experience in a dream. This dream occurs in various phases (bardos) in ways both wonderful and terrifying.

Overwhelmingly peaceful and wrathful visions and deities [spirits with the power of transformation] appear. Since the deceased’s awareness is in confusion of no longer being connected to its former gross physical body, it needs help and guidance in order that enlightenment and liberation may occur.

The Bardo Thodol teaches how we can attain nirvana by recognizing the heavenly realms [lower deva realms of the Sensual Sphere] instead of entering into the lower realms where the cycle of birth and rebirth continue.

The following is a description of the bardo realms that one travels through [or envisions traveling through] after death.

The First Bardo

The first bardo comes at the very moment of death, when there dawns the Clear Light of the Ultimate Reality [as conceived of in Brahmanism and Hinduism and apparently borrowed into this shamanistic description]. This is the very content and substance of the state of liberation, if only the "soul" [ego, personality, stream-of-conscious clung to as an identity or persisting "self"] can recognize it and act in a way to remain in that state.

The instructions intended to be read at the moment of the person’s death are designed to help the person do this. One is told, first of all, to embrace this supreme experience not in a selfish and egoistic way but rather with love and compassion for all sentient beings. This will aid in the second step, which is to realize that mind and self is identical with the Clear Light, implying that one IS the Ultimate Reality [Brahman], "the All-good Buddha," transcending time, eternity, and all creation.

If one can recognize this while in this supreme state at the moment of death, one will attain liberation -- that is, one will remain in the Clear Light forever. [It is amazing that all of this Brahmanistic teaching went unquestioned by Mahayana Buddhists.] This condition is called the "Dharmakaya" [Dharma-body], the highest spiritual body of the Buddha.

Most "souls," however, will fail to do this. They will be pulled down by the weight of their karma into the second stage of the first bardo, called the Secondary Clear Light seen immediately after death. At this point, there are separate instructions to be read according to the spiritual condition of the person while in life.

For an individual advanced in meditation and other spiritual practices, there is repeated over and over the same instructions as at the moment of death, enjoining one to recognize oneself as the Dharmakaya. For a person who was still at a student-level on the spiritual path, there is the injunction to meditate on one's "tutelary deity," that is, the particular [manifestation of] god for whom one performed devotional practices while alive.

Finally, "if the deceased be of the common folk," unpracticed in any spiritual disciplines, the instruction is to "meditate upon the Great Compassionate Lord," which is to say an "avatar" [incarnation of God] worshiped by the multitude, equivalent to Jesus [St. Issa] as conceived of by the average Christian.

The Second Bardo

If the "soul" is still not "liberated" [if one imagines that the Buddha taught nothing higher than Vedic Brahmanism] at this stage, it will descend into the second bardo, which is said to last for two weeks.

The second bardo is also divided into two parts. In the first, the "soul" of the deceased encounters what are referred to as "the Peaceful Deities." On each of the seven days, a particular Buddha-being will appear in radiance and glory, with a bevy of angelic attendants. [These descriptions do not stray very far from Hinduism.]

At the same time, on each day in turn there will shine a light from one of the six worlds of the [Sensual Sphere in the] Buddhist universe, called lokas (basically meaning "place" since our English words "location" and "locale" are derived from the same Sanskrit root).

On the first day of the second bardo, there appears to the "soul" the divine Father-Mother -- that is, the supreme deity of the universe, transcending all dualities, including the division into sexes. [This is what the Buddha, speaking to brahmins, would refer to as Brahma or Maha Brahma, any of the divinities superior to the Sensual Sphere devas ("shining ones").

The next step in the destiny of the "soul" is determined by one's reaction to this God. If one's life on Earth was well lived, one will now be in a state [referred to by Hindus, brahmins, or Christians as one] of purity and grace, and one will enter into the joy of the God and attain liberation [moksha to modern Hindus and ancient brahmins].

If on the other hand one has lived an ignoble and impious life, the effects of his bad karma will cause the intense radiant presence of the God to strike fear and terror in one's heart, and one will be drawn instead to the softer light of the Deva-Loka, or [lesser] "Angelic World," which has dawned along with this deity.

This is still a fairly attractive fate, for the Devas are the Gods (or angels), and their lokla is equivalent to the Christian heaven; however, the Buddhist teaching is that even heaven is not the highest spiritual objective, because it is still only a temporary state in the manifest universe.

Liberation is believed to be the only final and permanent resting-place for the "soul," an un-manifest state beyond all [31 general planes of] existence.

On the second day, there appears the second-highest God in the Buddhist pantheon [Buddhist pantheon?] In fact, he is actually the Second Person in the literal Buddhist Holy Trinity [Buddhist Holy Trinity? That is another Vedic Brahminical and later Hindu conception, borrowed by Catholicism].

At the same time, there dawns a smoky light from hell. And here we note that, just as the Buddhist heaven is not a permanent, eternal state, neither [are] its hell[s].

Even the most wretched "souls" will eventually work their way out of even the deepest pit of hell, just as even the highest and purest "souls" will eventually lose their footing in heaven and descend again into the cycle of death and rebirth.

[Actually these states are well within the cycle and are in no way outside of it unless the Sensual Sphere is regarded as the entire "world."] MORE pre-biblical messianic Judeo-Christian Vedic Brahmanism in the guise of "Buddhism"

The "Great Sage" devotional ritual

Wei Deng (Wei on the Way/Flickr.com); Wisdom Quarterly

Mahamuni statue with monks and male assistants in white (Wei on the Way/flickr.com)

Mahamuni from space (Sylvain Brajeul/flickr.cm)

MANDALAY, Burma - I got up at 3:00 am one, rode a rental bicycle for 4.35 miles (7 km) in the dark, pitch black in the absence of public street lights, with a flashlight.

PHOTOS

I got there at almost 4:00 am, just in time to see the beginning of a devotional ritual in one of the oldest and most Buddhist countries in the world.

It commences every morning at 4:00 am when Theravada monks and white clad male attendants wash the face and simulate brushing the teeth of a magnificent Buddha image built by the akasha-deva Sakka, an extraterrestrial ruler. Sakka and Vissakamma built it and gave it to human beings in the area. In this way the Dharma could last a long time in the human world.

It is an elaborate ritual that takes more than an hour. A senior monk dressed in saffron robes assisted by several lay helpers dressed in white and wearing formal headdress perform the ritual.

As soon as the drums are struck, the monk residing in the adjoining monastery enters the sanctum and starts the formal face washing ritual with a succession of fresh towels offered by devotees.

He then performs the act of cleaning the Mahamuni's teeth with a large brush followed by another sequence of cleaning with fresh towels. Following this, sandalwood paste [a common sunscreen and natural cosmetic] is applied to the image.

It is again cleaned with fresh towels and finally sprinkled with scented water. After the ceremony is done, the used towels are returned to the devotees, who reverently keep them in their home shrines.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

"Angry Birds," "The Angry Buddhist" (audio)

Madeleine Brand, Seth Greenland, KPCC.org (SCPR.org); Wisdom Quarterly

"Angry Birds may be the closest to Buddhism that many of us ever get" (tobeydeys.com)

What does a "Buddhist" have to be angry about? Politics? Lesbian affairs? "Hello Kitty" tattoos? Murder? The declining habit of pleasure reading and corresponding drop in book sales?

This year's election season is already proving to be full of drama and fireworks. But it doesn't measure up to the political drama in Seth Greenland's forthcoming novel, The Angry Buddhist.

The book takes place in the days leading up to a November election, where the incumbent under fire -- a slimy congressman -- is in a battle against a sexy, Sarah Palin-esque challenger. There's in-fighting, sexual affairs, and even a murder.

But, interestingly, the author is actually quite knowledgeable about Buddhism. It is not merely a gimmick to draw in readers. Set in trendy Palm Springs, near Coachella, in Southern California.

Greenland, author of The Bones and Shining City, was also a writer/producer on HBO's "Big Love."
LISTEN (9:07 mins); discussion of Buddhist practice starts at Minute 5:57.

Meet the "Third Eye" Pineal Gland (video)

Dhmr. Seven and Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly; video by Truthzonetvcom, Akyastv
Minute 8:15 mentions a Buddhist connection seen by Dr. Rick Straussman, MD.

The connection is actually to the pre-Buddhist Bön religion overlaid by Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet, which practices Lamaism, Tantra, and the Diamond Way. Mystics, first Bön shamans and later ecstatic meditators, elaborated a postmortem map to escape rebirth.

The Bardol Thodol or "Tibetan Book of the Dead" was meant to be read to the dying to guide them through the initial stages of a brief intermediary period before another afterlife. The individual, not a "soul," is cycling through samsara, the Wheel of Life and Death. Part of this cycle is happening right now, on this plane, in the human world.

Edgar Cayce (David Wilcock) explains the agni chakra or "mark of the beast."

When one passes away from here, the Tibetans envisioned an elaborate route or passageways onto the next life. (Various cultures have seen it according to what they know on Earth, so while the details change, the themes are the same, suggesting an objective experience).

The goal was to avoid rebirth or at least rebirth on lower planes of existence. But the things to be done to avoid that are meant to be done in the human world during this life, not some last minute maneuver outwitting Yama, the King of the Dead.

What should be done if one wishes for freedom is to develop this wisdom -- suffering and the end of suffering, dukkha (disappointment) and nirvana, a kind of bliss unutterable. The way to do that is to cultivate virtue (compassion for all), serenity (absorbed concentration), and liberating-wisdom (insight, superknowledge, nyana).

The way to that is to contemplate (ponder) and meditate (sit still without thinking) on the Four Noble Truths. All of this is summed up in the general and very detailed Noble Eightfold Path. When one has died again, when one goes on the next world to experience the joys and consequences of past actions (karma), it is no time to then try to sit and still the heart/mind.

One has karma as one's inheritance, as one's companion, as one's associate. That karma is always adjustable. Whatever we have done, we can do better right now. We can cultivate more skill, more profit, more comfort. It will always come in handy. Through confidence (verifiable "faith") in the good we are able to step forward toward the good. What is the good?

IMAGES: All-Seeing Eyes of Buddha stupa, Nepal (Gebenn/flickr.com); allseeingeye2 (acreativeuniverse.com); eye by Phoddastica; eye as greenish mirror of consciousness seen in meditation (dhammawheel.com); Tibet landscape at the "rooftop of the world" (dipity.com).

Giving (dana, alobha) is good. Developing the Five Precepts is good. Applying the Dharma we have learned. Sharing the good we do with others by inviting them to join in. Restraining ourselves from the harmful impulses we experience. Daily reflections on the qualities of the Buddha, the liberating Dharma, the liberated or "noble" Sangha are good and easy exercises to set the heart in a useful direction.

There is an eye that sees. But it is the heart that knows. That "third eye" (in Buddhist terms, the dibba cakkhu) would seem to physically correspond to the pine-shaped pineal gland, an inner eye replete with rods and cones.

"DMT: The Spirit Molecule" (thespiritmolecule.com)

New report says gangs find forced child prostitution easier than drug dealing

Buddhist nuns of Cambodia (Nick Marghe)

O, "Amercia"! Romney nominated

Wisdom Quarterly (EDITORIAL)

Romney's latest conservative controversy: His campaign can't spell America.

Does America want Willard "Mittens" Romney? It won't be our choice. The selection committee does not give much weight to elections, which are a sufficient distraction.

We may get the fleshy embodiment of the angel Maroni (trying to channel through mendacious "Mitt Romney") whether citizens want him or not.

He's a back up Obama double in case Hillary refuses the job (contrary to more recent predictions) and the current orator does not continue to do such a great job of selling out the country and the civil liberties we have taken for granted.

The fix is in for a Mormon candidate. Why not? He's meant to run, not to win. Nixon was a Quaker, JFK a Catholic, and we have had assorted Satanists and other uber-patriotic deceivers. Is Romney any different?

The American voter, scared into tolerating Obama, wanted Ron Paul. So that option was taken off the table with the active participation of the mainstream media.

Running unopposed in half the primaries, it still took Romney this long to gather up enough votes just to run against a candidate many, like Romney's buddy and fellow vulture capitalist Donald Trump, swear is a Kenyan. (It's true but that does not disqualify B.S. Obama from being "president" of the Corporation of the United States, which is what he is. Whether or not his birth certificate was faked for him, a better indicator is his fake Social Security number).

Even Romney's 250 million dollar personal fortune, bled from his adventures in vulture capitalism, couldn't make him any more popular. Now will his latest failed campaign help his image any -- "A Better Amercia"? It's AmerICa, Mittens. Tell the Web lackeys that spell check is not optional.

It is well known that Romney will say anything to anyone at anytime -- Please like me -- but the question is, Will he keep the wars going? As a capitalist he should be easy to persuade by the movers and shakers at the military-industrial complex.

News of the Strange

Astrologers say celestial charts favor Obama over Romney
Obama will win re-election to the U.S. presidency in November, according to five astrologers who offered predictions at their convention. — Reuters

This Rock Could Spy on You for Decades
Palm-sized sensors, developed for the American military, will remain littered across the Afghan countryside

West Michigan puzzled over Sunday night booms
People are buzzing over what could have possibly caused a loud boom and violent shaking.
A rare island of serenity, thanks to the FCC
While most of us are inundated by sounds of all kinds, folks in one Appalachian region are "zoning out."
Mediterranean's Deepest Rome-Era Shipwrecks Found
Two Roman-era shipwrecks have been found in deep water off a western Greek island, challenging the conventional theory that ancient ship masters stuck to coastal route.
The Enigma 1,800 Miles Below Us

New research suggests the existing models of Earth’s core may not explain its complexities.

1952 UFO sighting left aviation minister "convinced" we are not alone
Radar confirmed craft was traveling at speeds far greater than any aircraft at the time.

Huge Ancient Civilization's Collapse Explained
The Harappan civilization [of India] once extended across the plains of the Indus River from the Arabian Sea to the Ganges.
"They" Might Truly Be Among Us! Who Are The Walk-Ins?
Has the "soul" [or nonphysical components collectively] you were born with been removed and replaced by a more advanced soul with a mission we can only dimly comprehend?
James Webb telescope's Miri instrument flies out to US
The telescope, a successor to Hubble, aims to track down the very first stars to shine in the Universe.
Memorial Day: How It's Changed, Why Some Oppose 3-Day Weekend
A look at how the meaning of Memorial Day has been obscured in recent years and how lawmakers are trying to change that.
Wild Britain
Nick Redfern discusses the coypu, a large rodent that overran England in the 1960's.

UFOnauts: Many Shapes, Sizes, and Colors
Tony Morrill details the various depictions of ETs reported in famous UFO cases over the years.

German teen solves 300-year-old mathematical riddle posed by Sir Isaac Newton
Teenager deciphers 17th century query that had, up to now, baffled mathematicians.
TV crew capture audio they believe proves existence of yowies
A US television crew has recorded what it believes is compelling audio evidence of the existence of yowies [Bigfoot].
NASA releases "beautiful" images of the sun
NASA scientists have released new images of the sun with augmented colors that highlight activity on the surface of the star.
Widen the goal in the search for alien life
We need to cast off our biological blinkers in the search for life beyond Earth and turn to physics, says cosmologist Charley Lineweaver. — New Scientist
Quake reveals say of Jesus' crucifixion
It's been debated for years, but researchers say they now have a definitive date of the crucifixion. — Discovery News
Neil Armstrong grants rare interview
"I know someone will fly back and pick up the camera I left there," Armstrong responds to conspiracy theorist claims he didn't walk on moon.
"Cloaking" idea traps a rainbow
Researchers have trapped a rainbow -- slowing light to a near-stop -- in an array of 25,000 "invisibility cloaks," each smaller than a hair's breadth.
How to make a material that shrinks when stretched
New metamaterials that shrink under tension and expand under compression might soon become a reality thanks to theoretical work done by scientists in the US. — physicsworld.com
VIDEO: Spectacular clock goes on display

Greenwald: Obama's secret "Kill List" (video)

Glenn Greenwald, DemocracyNow.org

(VIDEO LINK)

The New York Times revealed this week that President Obama [thanks to his friends Dick Cheney, G.W. Bush, Don Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, John Ashcroft, and John Yoo] keeps and personally oversees a "secret kill list" containing the names and photos of individuals targeted for assassination in the secretive US drone war.

According to the Times, Obama signs off on EVERY targeted killing in [the US's lesser known wars on] Yemen and Somalia and the more complex or risky strikes in Pakistan. Individuals on the list include US citizens, as well teenage girls as young as 17 years old.

"The President of the United States believes he has the power to order people killed -- in total secrecy, without any due process, without transparency or oversight of any kind," says Glenn Greenwald, a constitutional law attorney and political and legal blogger for Salon.com.

"I really do believe it’s literally the most radical power that a government and president can seize, and yet the Obama administration has seized [it] and exercised it aggressively with little controversy."

(MM) Glenn Greenwald, author of Liberty and Justice for Some, speaks about America's two-tiered "justice" system. He reveals that Obama had "indefinite detention" inserted into NDAA, as Cenk Uygur (The Young Turks, MOXNews.com) is so steamed about, when madmen Levin and Lieberman had never meant to go that far. B.S. Obama (Barack O'Romney) represents not the people of the USA but the actual "heads of state," the MIC (military-industrial complex).

CIA Agent: "Al-Qaeda doesn't exist" (video)

RT.com; FIN (freedominfonetwork.org)
(freedominfonetwork)

Ron Paul reveals truths, ruining his chances to work for the MIC

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

An Evening with Shinzen Young

Join Shinzen for a special evening discussing the topic of AWAKENING.

Shinzen Young (basicmindfulness.org) became fascinated with Asian culture as a teenager in Los Angeles. Later he enrolled in the PhD program in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin.

Eventually, he traveled to Asia and trained extensively as a monastic in each of the three major Buddhist meditative traditions: Vajrayana, Zen, and Theravada (vipassana). His specialty is linking Eastern internal science and Western technological science. More

Against the Stream
4300 Melrose Ave., LA 90029
Thursday May 31, 2012, 7:30-9:00 pm
Drop in, no registration, by donation

Aung San Suu Kyi travels outside Burma

Wisdom Quarterly

Daw Suu at a rally in Burma also called Myanmar (Wei Deng/Wei on the way/Flickr.com)

Heroine of Peace (nobelprize.org)

The Lady, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is a human rights success story. We have been agitating for her release and installation for years when it seemed hopeless.

She is a female Nelson Mandela, jailed for years only to rise -- perhaps by force of justice or skillful karma -- to lead a police state ruled by maleficent military men.

She is a female Dalai Lama, whom the dictatorship wanted to exile except that she would not leave. Had she left, like the current spiritual leader of Tibet, she would not have been allowed to return. (The 14th Dalai Lama faces the prospect of imprisonment, torture, or execution if he attempts to return to Tibet or China now).

It is a therefore a fantastic landmark that the Lady has again won elections, taken office, and is now venturing outside of the country as an emissary of state. She is visiting the neighboring Theravada Buddhist country of Thailand. And with her go the hearts of millions worldwide.

USCAMPAIGNFORBURMA.org

Where are the dictators? Headed by the Hitler figure, Gen. Than Shwe, they moved the capital from Rangoon to Nyapidaw. Having embezzled billions and mired the country in artificial poverty that Hillary Clinton and the US are only too happy to help them out of in exchange for billions in investment. The cost?

Stripping Burma of natural resources just as we are doing to other countries through war: Capitalism trumps war for effective strip mining. Will the ruling junta sell out the people? Of course! They have been trying to broker a deal in the land that inspired Nineteen Eighty-Four for decades.

Suu Kyi in first foreign trip in 24 years
Telegraph.co.uk

The former political prisoner, who won a seat in parliament in historic April by-elections, is expected to meet the Thai prime minister, attend the World Economic Forum on East Asia, and meet Burmese communities during several days in the country. Speaking to AFP at Rangoon International Airport before her departure, Ms. Suu Kyi said she "didn't feel anything special" about the landmark foreign trip.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Self-immolations continue in Tibet (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; Phayul.com; TibetArchive; StandUpForTibet.org; FreeTibetanHeroes.org

(Link Asia TV) A rash of self-immolations by Tibetans. Chinese troops streaming into the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. Host Yul Kwon speaks with Prof. Robert Barnett of Colombia Univ. about unrest in Tibet and China's provocation and reaction.

Image: A monk reacts as he participates in a debate as part of Tibetan New Year celebrations at a temple in Langmusixiangm (Reuters/Carlos Barria).

(Global Post, May 28, 2012) Two Tibetan Buddhist monks have set themselves on fire in Lhasa [Tibet's capital], the first reported self-immolations in the capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

US-based broadcaster Radio Free Asia said in a statement that the monks set themselves on fire on Sunday outside the Jokhang temple, a renowned center for Buddhist pilgrimage in Lhasa.

Jampa Yeshi runs engulfed in flames to protest Pres. Hu Jintao in New Delhi March 26, 2012 (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The temple has been under heavy security since deadly riots broke out in 2008. The self-immolators were believed to be among Tibetan youths gathered to protest against Chinese rule outside the temple.

They were taken away by authorities within minutes of setting themselves on fire, according to RFA, and had reportedly died. "The security forces arrived immediately and put out the fire and all the tourists in the area were cordoned off from the site," a witness told the broadcaster.

"Within 15 minutes, the area was cleaned and not a trace of the incident was left." Radio Free Asia quoted a source as saying the situation in Lhasa was now "very tense" and the city was filled with police and paramilitary forces. More

(SephJoey) Tibet, a three-part documentary series charting the long overland

journey from Shanghai, China through Lhasa, Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal.

What are the Tibetans complaining about?

(TibetArchive, Dec. 2011)

What could be so bad that self-immolation starts looking like a good idea? Purportedly this is leaked footage of a crackdown by Chinese "security" forces in Tibet. It indicates that the level of repression against ethnic Tibetans is much more serious than generally acknowledged by the international community.

Video posted on the exile Tibetan Web site TibetOnline.tv showed a raid by a Chinese SWAT team comprised of about 100 People's Armed Police (PAP) officers on what is believed to be Unit 2 of Dode Village, near Sera Monastery northeast of Lhasa.

The quality footage, which is believed to have been shot in 2008, displays an unprecedented show of force by Chinese authorities using special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams, accompanied by trained dogs and an armored vehicle. They assume an attack formation and aim assault rifles at sleeping villagers. In all, four confused-looking men and one elderly woman are taken away. Each is forced to stare into the camera and provide details to the cameraman, who is presumably a PAP.

Unlike previous unrest, such as the 1989 riots in Lhasa or the March 2008 incident, during which nervous and sometimes vengeful PAP officers were confronted with an emergency, the troops in this video are not responding to any immediate threat.

This video was taken offline and has since emerged on YouTube. The material follows the release on the citizens' journalism Boxun Web site of eight photographs showing Tibetan prisoners being paraded by a large contingent of armed police in China's Sichuan Province, from 2008 or later.

The two releases have led analysts to conclude that someone in China, perhaps within the security apparatus, is leaking information to show the true scale of the repression in Tibet and neighboring areas in China.

Reacting to the video, Dawa Tsering, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of the Dalai Lama -- the de facto representative of the exiled government in Taiwan -- said that the way Chinese treat Tibetans shows them to be a conquered and colonized people.

"Any Tibetan with a heart will never forget this humiliation. We will not forget how arrogant the Chinese are and the humiliation we went through," he said. "We will remember this for generations to come, and this memory will constantly remind us of what we should do."

Former Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Taiwan President Tashi Tsering said he was not surprised by what Chinese police officers did to Tibetans. "That's how the Chinese Communist Party has always treated Tibetans," Tashi said via telephone.

"The Chinese always claim they respect human rights, but what they do is different from what they say. Taiwanese should know this and be very careful when dealing with China." He called on the international community to launch a probe into human rights violations by China in Tibet.

(Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin, TaipeiTimes.com)

Mindful Nation: Buddhist practice for US (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; InsightLA; Terrence McNally (aworldthatjustmightwork.org); Hay House
Inspiring and pragmatic, A Mindful Nation shows how the benefits of mindfulness apply to current American challenges.

Congressman Tim Ryan took a break after an election cycle. He went in search of peace: He signed up for a five-day silent Buddhist mindfulness meditation retreat with Jon Kabat-Zinn.

He found in the profound silence of mindfulness and clear comprehension (sati sampajanna) more peace than he could have imagined, peace akin to the "centering" prayer modality of his youth.

It occurred to him that mindfulness -- with modern scientific studies to back it and an ancient mystical tradition built around it -- could help turn around the entire nation.

A Mindful Nation paints a picture of emerging solutions that benefit both the reader and American society as a whole, showing us that there is something we can do right here and right now.

With a hard-nosed understanding of politics, government budgets, and what it takes to get something done, Congressman Ryan combines a practical approach with a hopeful vision for how mindfulness can help reinvigorate the American Dream.

(Hayhouse.com)

In A Mindful Nation, Ryan connects the dots between what's happening in the classrooms, hospitals, boardrooms, research labs, and military bases across the country. He explores the scientific findings that support the beneficial effects of mindfulness and shares powerful stories from the field. He shows how this simple practice is:

helping schoolchildren improve their ability to learn
veterans heal from trauma
and CEOs become more effective leaders

Ryan also provides practical tips for how to incorporate mindfulness into our lives today and includes instructions from a qualified teacher for simple mindfulness and kindness practices we can all do.

(HayHousePresents)