Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Pink Buddha advertises bar, men arrested

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Daily Mail Australia Reporter (FB)

Pink Buddhas on parade display of golden statues in neighboring Thailand (WQ)

Blasphemous Barbie dollhouse display with baby-sized Buddha decor? (Emily1957/flickr)

NZ man arrested in Burma

New Zealand man is among three on trial in Burma (renamed "Myanmar" by the military dictatorship) charged with insulting religion by using a pink Buddha wearing headphones to advertize a bar

Three men have pleaded not guilty to insulting religion in Burma.
The men posted were arrested for using a pink Buddha to advertise a bar.
They were working in Rangoon, Burma's biggest city and former capital now replaced by the secretive, bunkered Naypyidaw.
The men could receive up to two years in Insane Prison.

A New Zealand bar manager and two Burmese men pleaded not guilty today to charges of insulting religion, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.

Drinking alcohol is not a Buddhist virtue. Far from it. It violates the Five Precepts.

Don't name your bar Buddha Bar.

Philip Blackwood, General Manager of the V Gastro Bar in Burma's biggest city Rangoon (Yangon), was arrested last week for advertizing the bar with a poster featuring a pink Buddha wearing headphones.

The advertisement was removed and an apology posted, but Blackwood and his two colleagues were arrested. About 90 percent of insular Burma's population are Theravada Buddhist, and perceived insults to what is de facto the state religion are taken seriously.

Now it is 1984.

Author George Orwell used Burma -- for decades a police state only recently beginning to thaw from the horrors of spying and authoritarian rule -- and England as his models for the dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-Four.

About 15 Buddhist monks (or novices), mostly from a nationalist organization and more than 20 lay disciples were at the court as police brought in the three handcuffed defendants.