An Interview with Khmer Krom leader, Thach Setha

An Interview with Khmer Krom leader, Hon. Thach Setha, Ceremony Chair, Executive Director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, and former Senator, on the 62nd Annual Kampuchea Krom Loss Commemoration (June 4, 1949 – June 4, 2011).

The 62nd Annual Kampuchea Krom Commemoration and the Buddhist Offering Ceremony to 1,949 Buddhist Monks to honor Khmer heroic Budhdist monks, heroic emperors, heroic kings, heroes, and servicemen and women, on Friday the 9th Waxing Moon of Jeṭṭha BE2555, June 10, AD2011, held at Wat Siri Sophea Ang Ta Minh, Joam Jao commune, Dangko district, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia on Sunday the 11th Waxing Moon of Jeṭṭha BE2555, June 12, AD2011 Year of the Rabbit.

More news at http://www.khmerkromngo.org

‘I’m a Marxist,’ Dalai Lama tells Chinese students

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
June 10, 20101

By Jim Mone, AP

Usually what we hear from the Dalai Lama is an insistant yet soothing voice for compassion and peace.

So Tsering Namgyal, a journalist based in Minneapolis, was jolted by the Dalai Lama’s talk to 150 Chinese students this month at University of Minnesota. Writing at Religion Dispatches, he says:

Midway through the conversation, His Holiness, much to their surprise, told them “as far as socio-political beliefs are concerned, I consider myself a Marxist … But not a Leninist,” he clarified.

After all, China is constantly pressing to legitimize its takeover of Tibet in world opinion. Meanwhile, the Buddhist spiritual leader is the global symbol of Tibetan opposition what they consider the obliteration of their independence and religious culture.
The Dalai Lama, who withdrew from his political position as head of the Tibetan government in exile earlier this year, is still the face of the cause to most Americans.

When one student asked it this didn’t contradict the Dalai Lama’s philosophy, he replied:

Marx was not against religion or religious philosophy per se but against religious institutions that were allied, during Marx’s time, with the European ruling class. He also provided an interesting anecdote about his experience with Mao. He said that Mao had felt that the Dalai Lama’s mind was very logical, implying that Buddhist education and training help sharpens the mind. He said he met with Mao several times, and that once, during a meeting in Beijing, the Chinese leader called him in and announced: “Your mind is scientific!” — an assessment that was followed by the famous line, “religion is poison.”

According to Namgyal, two other speakers pointed out that both Buddhism and Christianity, perhaps riding in with the surge in western-style capitalism in China, are both on the rise there today.

He’s continued chatting up on China this week during his 11-day tour of Australia. The Associated Press reports he told a crowd in Mebourne that his enemy was

Not China. Some hard-liner Communists. They really brought a lot of suffering.

Do his political and economic take affect your view of him as a spiritual voice?

Pagoda ban for activist monk

Phnom Penh Post,  June 6, 2011

Buddhist Supreme Patriarch Non Nget has banned pagodas in the capital from hosting Loun Savath, the activist monk who frequently joins land dispute protests and advocates on behalf of displaced villagers.

Loun Savath hails from Siem Reap province’s Chi Kraeng district and has been active in supporting villagers in a long-running land dispute there that has seen multiple community representatives arrested. He later relocated to Wat Ounalom in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district, and has joined protests in the capital by residents of the Boeung Kak lakeside and of the Prey Lang forest area.

In a letter dated April 26 and received by Loun Savath last week, Non Nget said pagodas in Phnom Penh are no longer permitted to house the 31-year-old monk because his actions have “caused villagers to think badly about Buddhism”.

“What he did is not related to the monks’ point of view and has broken the Buddha’s rules,” Non Nget wrote.

Loun Savath fled Phnom Penh in March for fear of arrest in relation to his activism before resurfacing at a rally held in the capital by the Prey Lang villagers two weeks ago. There, he was forced to flee the scene with the assistance of rights groups when it appeared that local authorities were planning his arrest.

Loun Savath said yesterday that he was undeterred by Non Nget’s directive and would continue with his activism.

“The Buddha says that monks must help people who have problems and educate people to do good deeds,” he said. “When villagers have a problem, I cannot ignore them.”

Loun Savath’s land activism has made him unique among Cambodian monks, and he has received little backing for his efforts from religious officials here. Following protests against the Boeung Kak evictions in April, Phon Davy, director of the municipal cults and religions department, said Loun Savath had in fact drawn the ire of Tep Vong, Cambodia’s highest-ranking monk.

“[Loun Savath] has violated the rules to such an extent that the Great Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia, Tep Vong, issued a warning letter to ban all monks from joining protests,” Phon Davy said at the time.

Loun Savath has so far taken little heed, however.

“What the authorities have done to me is a serious violation of human rights and Buddhist law,” he said yesterday.

“I have done nothing wrong, so why are they evicting me from my pagoda?”

Ouch Leng, head of the land programme at local rights group Adhoc, said Non Nget’s directive was unjustified.

“The authorities should be encouraging him, because what he does is not for himself, but to find justice for people who are victims of land disputes,” Ouch Leng said.

Khmer Krom to commemorate the anniversary of the loss of Kampuchea Krom despite city ban

By Everyday.com.kh, June 3, 2011
Translated from Khmer by Soch
Source: KI Media

On Thursday, Thach Setha, President of the Khmer Krom Association, said that the Khmer Krom Association will hold a religious ceremony and will commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the loss of Kampuchea Krom on 04 June 2011 at the public park located in front of Botum Pagoda, in spite of the ban imposed by the Phnom Penh city hall. On 31 May, Kep Chuktema, the Phnom Penh city governor, issued a letter to Thach Setha, telling him that the city does not allow this commemoration because another Khmer Krom committee asked to hold this ceremony at the same location. Thach Setha said that the city is discriminating against Khmer Krom monks and people.

Buddhism embrolied in a volatile mix

By Seth Kane, Southeast Asia
 May 26, 2011

BANGKOK – Thailand’s community of Buddhist monks, the Sangha, has traditionally occupied a ubiquitous and hallowed place in Thai society. However, globalization and decades of rapid economic development have challenged the Sangha’s traditional position, seen in its dwindling membership, plethora of scandals and diminished role as educators and conflict resolvers.

The country’s current political divide has further strained the Sangha, exposing rifts and presenting hard dilemmas for an institution that is in many ways struggling to adapt to modern Thai society. Increasingly, Thailand’s Buddhist monks face a stark trade-off: risk further marginalization by remaining on the sidelines of entrenched political conflict or wade into the struggle in a way that could compromise their transcendental legitimacy.

Political leaders face a related choice of whether to recruit monks to their cause and employ their Dharmic rhetoric to push their
agendas. While it may bolster the illusion of their moral authority, they risk accusations of hypocrisy and exploitation given their clear worldly power agendas and often less than saintly conduct.

During Thailand’s political upheavals in the 1970s, including the climactic military crackdown on student protestors in 1976, the state-backed Sangha’s “Council of Elders” took a strong position supported by most Buddhist lay groups. It criticized monks for taking political sides and made clear involvement in politics represented a contravention of Sangha rules of discipline.

In recent times, particularly with the emergence of competing color-coded protest movements, monks in both rural and urban areas have taken political sides. Some were involved in storming the gates of parliament with royalist “yellow shirt” protesters in 2008 while others openly participated in “red shirt” protests that devolved into armed violence last year. Monks have also routinely featured in both protest groups’ sponsored media and have appeared on rally stages in Bangkok and upcountry.

Some monks have claimed to participate in protests to reduce the possibility of violence against demonstrators. Other monks, however, have openly professed political affiliation and claimed that their role as monks mandates them to fight for truth, justice and against human suffering brought about by misrule.

While the Sangha Council issued orders in both 1995 and 2006 against monks becoming involved in politics, follow-up statements condemning violators have been few and far between. The silence could stem from a perception that the council’s central calls would not be heeded by peripheral monks.

Because of the council’s close association with traditional Thai power structures, some of which have recently been pulled into the political fray, calls for non-involvement or threats of punitive actions could similarly be perceived as taking political sides.

Ahead of general elections scheduled for July 3, the government’s Office of National Buddhism (ONB) recently issued a warning for monks and novices across the country to steer clear of political activities. Nopparat Benjawatananant, the ONB’s director general, said the warning was issued in reaction to reports that monks had started to canvass on behalf of candidates in their localities.

The most overt political linkages in the conflict have emerged from the rapidly growing evangelical sects that have broken with the state-backed Sangha. An off-shoot of the “yellow shirt” movement hails from the evangelical Santi Asoke religious sect which claims Chamlong Srimuang, a core “yellow shirt” leader, as their political representative. With their symbolic support, the “yellow shirts” have presented themselves as fighting for explicitly Dharmic goals of countering Thai politicians’ corruption and the thirst for power they allege former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra embodied.

Composed of self-sufficient ascetic farming communities across the country, Santi Asoke split with the official Sangha in 1975 and overtly supported a political party, the Palang Tham, in the late 1980s and 1990s. The party employed Buddhist concepts of purity to differentiate itself from mainstream political parties and ironically through coalition horse-trading brought Thaksin to national prominence as foreign minister in 1994.

The current “yellow shirt” protest against interim prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government has undermined Santi Asoke’s claim as an effective rallying force judging by the small numbers gathered at their protest site outside of Government House.

Another evangelical sect, based at Wat Dhammakaya on the outskirts of Bangkok, has strong links with Thaksin and many of his business cronies. Dhammakaya’s teachings emphasize a gospel of prosperity that has captured the imagination and aspirations of segments of Thailand’s middle and upper classes.

In the mid-2000s, the temple’s leaders allegedly leveraged their connections to Thaksin to beat corruption charges and many senior members of the sect have remained important financial and political backers of the pro-Thaksin movement.

Earthly behavior, holy criticism
Another dimension of Buddhist involvement in Thai politics is the self-styled “socially engaged” Buddhist movement led by prominent intellectuals such as Sulak Sivaraksa.

Sulak was an outspoken critic of Thaksin’s free-trade policies and large-scale development projects that forced villagers from their land and damaged the environment. The contentious Sulak has on several occasions faced lese majeste charges and has been alternately critical of “yellow shirt” leaders for being arrogant but also supportive of the movement’s promotion of Dharma in politics.
Opposition from renowned charismatic monks plagued Thaksin throughout his six-year tenure. Luang Ta Maha Bua, a revered forest monk who famously raised donations to help the country weather the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, frequently denounced what he perceived to be Thaksin’s self-interested approach to politics.

Thaksin attempted to silence the criticism through a defamation lawsuit but dropped the charge after royal admonishment. Queen Sirikit and Abhisit were among the tens of thousands who turned up at Maha Bua’s cremation ceremony in Udon Thani province, a Thaksin political bastion.

One of the motivations for the earliest street protests against Thaksin in 2005 stemmed from accusations that he had overstepped his authority by conducting rites and rituals reserved for royalty at Thailand’s holiest temple, Wat Pra Kaew.

Thaksin also faced “yellow shirt”-spread rumors that attacks on holy relics, including Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine, were a part of his plan to maintain power through the use of black magic. Others interpreted the shrine’s destruction as a bad omen for Thaksin, one that contributed to perceptions that his political authority was deeply compromised.

The symbolism of the wat, or temple, as a place of peace and protection was violated last year when at least six protesters and a medic were shot and killed at Bangkok’s Wat Pathumwanaram during a military crackdown operation on “red shirt” demonstrations.

Witnesses allege shots were fired by military snipers into the temple against unarmed protesters from the elevated sky train platform. Earlier “red shirt” militant leader Khattiya Sawasdiphol, alias Seh Daeng, had used the temple as his protest site base, indicating an attitude of using the temple, and perhaps by extension Buddhism in general, as a tool for tactical gain.

In the past, politicians in situations similar to the self-exiled Thaksin would have likely ordained for a short period in a bid to show humility and re-ingratiate themselves with society. The current conflict, which has resulted in scores of deaths and thousands of injuries, has in comparison seen very few acts of repentance or remorse.

Religion has also played a central role in Thailand’s other major crisis in the deep south region, where an ethnic Malay Muslim insurgency has contributed to some 4,700 deaths since January 2004. While previous iterations of the conflict were fought along similar ethnic lines, the new generation of insurgents has adopted more explicit violence against Buddhist monks, including several cases of beheadings, and temples as part of their fight against the Thai state.

Buddhist militia groups set up to protect minority Buddhist populations in the region have come under criticism for targeted killings and exacerbating communal violence. This has raised vexing questions about the inclusiveness of Thai national symbols, especially the Sangha, which in the deep south is viewed by some as more of an obstacle than bridge to finding a sustainable resolution to the conflict.

From a longer-term perspective, the diminished role of the Sangha is arguably an important causal factor in Thailand’s crisis. Both sides of Thailand’s political divide are in competition for the loyalty of the rural masses, who are in the process of questioning old assumptions about legitimate authority, political passivity and traditional methods of dispute resolution.

The monastery is no longer the only crucial center of village life and monks increasingly play more ceremonial than mediating roles. As the political conflict plays out, how the Sangha reacts will be a crucial determinant of Thailand’s post-crisis socio-political order.

Seth Kane is a visiting research fellow at the Bangkok-based Institute of Security and International Studies.  

Tibetan Buddhist monks create elaborate sand painting in Newark for Dalai Lama’s visit

By Nic Corbett/The Star-Ledger
May 13, 2011

Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerTibetan Buddhist monk Dawa, one of four working on the Mandala at the Newark Museum Tuesday afternoon.

NEWARK — Four Tibetan Buddhist monks at the Newark Museum today are finishing a painting made out of finely ground marble to be presented to the Dalai Lama on Friday.

The monks spent five days creating the sand mandala using cone-shaped brass instruments called “chapur” that control the flow of the granules onto the canvas. They wear masks on their faces to keep from blowing away the dust.

The painting represents the Buddha of Compassion, of whom the Dalai Lama is considered to be the living incarnation.

The monks, living in exile at the Drepung Gomang Monastery in South India, have been traveling through the United States since last fall as part of the Sacred Arts Tour, run by the Drepung Gomang Institute in Kentucky, to spread awareness of the Tibetan cause and raise funds for the monastery.

On Sunday, the mandala will be ritually destroyed. The dissolution ceremony, which is open to the public, begins at 3 p.m. at the Newark Museum, followed by a procession to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. At 4 p.m., the crushed marble will be dispersed into the Passaic River “to carry the blessings that went into making the mandala out into the world,” said Keith Schmidt, board president of the Drepung Gomang Institute.

Granules — blessed by the Dalai Lama — will be given out to members of the public.

The process teaches detachment to material things and the impermanence of being, said Greg Schultz, the Sacred Arts Tour coordinator.

“None of us will be around in 100 years, and so this really has us look at that,” Schultz said. “Everything has a beginning, a middle and an end.”

Dalai Lama: Osama bin Laden Deserves Compassion

Global Spinm  May 7, 2011

After delivering a lecture on “secular ethics” at the University of Southern
California in Los Angeles just days after the U.S. raid on Abbottabad, the Dalai
Lama was asked of his thoughts about the killing of Osama bin Laden. A headline in the Los Angeles Times claimed the great
spiritual leader in exile thought bin Laden’s death “was justified,” quoting the
Dalai Lama: “If something is serious and it is necessary to take
counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures.”

But the Dalai Lama’s camp responded almost immediately, claiming this was not
at all the gist of his remarks, emphasizing his appeal for us to distinguish
between “the action” and “the actor” and stressing that, as a fellow
human being, even bin Laden deserves our compassion and forgiveness. But, he
stressed, “forgiveness doesn’t mean forget [sic] what happened.”

It’s a footnote to the aftermath of bin Laden’s death, which was met by
raucous scenes throughout American cities. As that visceral euphoria faded, it’s
fair to say that now’s more the time for sober inquiry and reflection.

But what of the Dalai Lama? His trip to the U.S. was his first since
officially stepping down as the political leader of the Tibetan movement
in exile — it was a move many see as a sad resignation. For decades, he has
tried to push for greater autonomy in Tibet, the homeland now under tight
Chinese control to which he and hundreds of thousands of other Tibetans will
likely never return. His quiet, pacifist approach seems in keeping with the
sentiments he invoked when talking about bin Laden — moderated by spirituality
and that admirable sympathy for all mankind that has won the Dalai Lama so much
respect around the world. But it has done little to help his movement’s cause.
The Chinese government has long heaped scorn and insults on the Dalai Lama,
labeling him, among other things, “a wolf in monk’s robes.” The acclaimed travel
writer Colin Thurbon sums up the aging exile’s plight in his latest book, To
a Mountain in Tibet:

His apostleship  of peace has brought his country a refracted holiness, but no Chinese concession. The West fetes and wonders at him. As for China, his distrust of material institutions, even of his own office, renders him all but
incomprehensible.

You may find it difficult to feel compassion for bin Laden, but as this venerable holy man gradually fades into the twilight, one must feel no small bit of sympathy for him.

Buddhism and sexuality

By Dennis Atienza Maliwanag
April 22, 2011

BANGKOK, Thailand—Sexuality defines a person’s totality as human being. It goes beyond sensual pursuits to include physical bodies, gender identities, sexual identities and value systems. But sexuality is never static; it changes meanings across societies and cultures. Time and space can shape it. And it can be reshaped, reinvented, negotiated and renegotiated.

Society, in general, prescribes arbitrary rules on gender identities. Largely referring to one’s gender and society-defined attributes—man (masculinity) and woman (femininity)—they provide varying degrees of liberties and restrictions on how one should behave, talk, dress, etc. Biological makeup determines some specific functions (like reproduction for women), but societal norms may add some more dividing lines between a man and a woman (woman may be restrained from assuming some roles for being a “weaker sex”).

Sexual identity, on the other hand, is how a person thinks of oneself in terms of whom one is romantically or sexually attracted to. Most cultures remain rigid restricting “normal behaviors” to attractions of diametrically opposed genders. As such, sexual identities can be constrained by biologically-assigned and socially-defined gender identities.

Sexuality is such an important matter in understanding the behavioral fabrics of society. Beneath it dwells the many explanations on gender-based biases and ferocities and the multitude of threats and opportunities for being a man, woman, homosexual, bisexual or transsexual in a society.

Buddhism in Mekong

In the Greater Mekong Sub-region, a wide interplay of factors must be understood to untangle the male-female-society relationship.

Religion is one aspect in Mekong life that heavily influences a person’s providence from womb to tomb, and beyond. It has strong imprints on society, politics, on the arts and literature and practically on almost all aspects of everyday living. Two major branches of Buddhism are embraced by majority of people in Mekong –the Hinayana also called Theravada Buddhism (The Way of the Elders) and the Mahayana (Great Vehicle).

The Theravada Buddhism is practiced by a great majority of people in Thailand (90 percent), Cambodia (90 percent), Laos (85-90 percent), and Myanmar (85 percent). But while Mahayana is the dominant religion in Viet Nam, the Theravada sect exists in communities of ethnic Vietnamese along with Cambodians living in the Mekong Delta. About 70 percent of people in Viet Nam are either Buddhist or strongly influenced by Buddhism.

In Theravada, the Buddha is believed to be a human who went into deep meditation elevating him into a series of higher states of consciousness until he attained enlightenment with extraordinary wisdom. He is honored as a perfectly enlightened human teacher.

A splinter group, the Mahayana worships Buddha as an eternal, omnipresent, transcendental being. In its doctrine, Buddha has a threefold nature, or triple “body” (trikaya): the body of essence, the body of communal bliss, and the body of transformation.

A multitude of introduced and endemic beliefs and religions exist in the region. But except for Taoism and Confucianism, which are more of virtuous philosophies than religion, other traditional beliefs and religious persuasions have no impact as encompassing as that of Buddhism on Mekong societies.

Buddhism: Cyclical existence and the journey to nirvana

Buddhism teaches about the virtue of pure and simple living—free from wants and desires (tanha) for “worldly things.”

Sufferings of humanity, seen as a result of craving for wealth, fame and power, are innate to a person. Only by living with the right mind, attitude and deeds can someone be free from the bondage of a never-ending cycle of births-deaths-rebirths—a predicament largely determined by the Law of Karma.

The ultimate goal of a Buddhist is to be free from the loop of reincarnation and reach nirvana, a state of complete redemption and supreme happiness.

An average person (lay or laity) cannot achieve nirvana in his/her lifetime, but can only improve karma by having a virtuous life. Only through a monastic meditative living can one reach the state free from desires and sufferings. A lay can only get merits for good deeds that may improve his or her karma. Merits gained during one’s lifetime will largely determine a person’s fate for the next life cycle.

Renouncing earthly living, monks get their daily nourishment and sustenance from offerings made by the lays—an act considered with highly meritorious value and practiced mostly by women who have no special opportunities as men for merits making.

Value systems

The cannon of Buddhism are never prescriptive, providing healthy space for an individual’s valuation of phenomena. Its teachings put great emphasis on the practical aspects of ethical and benevolent existence making celestial goals achievable even in one’s lifetime.

Necessary tools are laid down however to make a sound judgment based on wisdom for the greater good of oneself and others

In Buddhism, the Five Precepts provides the basic parameters on how an individual may assess the rightness or wrongness of an action.

The Noble Eightfold Path is a practical guide to moral and mental development. It aims to free the individual from attachments and delusions that will finally lead to understanding the truth above all things. These are highly interdependent principles not to be seen in fragments but in their relationship with each other.

The Buddhist cannon, written some 2,500 years ago, are down to their barest essentials, leaving so much flexibility to make them relevant for Buddhist societies from generation to generation. One of the basic tenets of Buddhism after all is its belief in the impermanence (anitya) of all on earth, and beyond.

Buddhism at the same time does not allow for absolute freedom. The natural cosmic laws of Karma can be very punitive and vindictive as erring humans may reincarnate into animals, trees, or even the lowliest form of life on earth and the universe. A Buddhist may even live in hell or heaven depending on the merits or demerits gained during one’s lifetime.

Once Buddha cautioned his young son Rahula:

If there is a deed, Rahula, you wish to do, reflect thus: Is this deed conducive to my harm, or to others’ harm, or to that of both? Then is this a bad deed entailing suffering. From such a deed, you must desist.

If there is a deed you wish to do, reflect thus: Is this deed not conducive to my harm, nor to others’ harm, nor to that of both? Then is this a good deed entailing happiness. Such a deed you must do again and again.

Filial piety

Filial piety is in the core of the Buddhist family values system. Filial piety is a reciprocal kind of relationship where the boundless love and care of parents to their children are in turn recompensed.

A nurturing mother has to forego her own needs, a tradition of maternal self-abnegation for the utmost welfare of children. The father does everything in his disposal to provide for his family’s needs. As the child grows, his or her daily life is a mounting indebtedness to parents.

To reciprocate such kindness, children are bound to obey their parents, show utmost respect and take care of them in their old age. As such, the nature of family relationship in Buddhism is a kind of social contract based on love.

Buddhism and gender identities

The history of Buddhism can be traced back to the birth of Shiddharta Gautama in India in 553 BCE, who would later be known as Gautama Buddha or the Enlightened One. Buddhism developed in the context of a patriarchal Indian society.

The issue of prejudice against women in Buddhism remains a topic of fierce debates among scholars and theologians. Some would argue that nowhere in the scriptures of Buddhism can one find teachings that put women in a disadvantageous position with men.

This is not the case in the sacred writings of Christianity where at the very onset it has been established that woman (Eve) is simply hauled out from the rib of man (Adam) [Genesis 2:21-24]. Eve, by enticing Adam to commit a sin, would later bring about her own and Adam’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden [Gen: 3:19]—a tragic incident that caused the entire Christendom to inherit a sin by virtue of birth.

It was the Buddha who ordained the first mae chii (female counterpart of monks who are sometimes erroneously referred to as nuns)—his auntie and his wife. Such action defied India’s prevailing cultural construct then that had little regard for women.

Also, the value system of patriarchy was deeply ingrained in the Mekong societies long before Buddhism found its way in the region from a more patriarchal society of its origin. Confucianism had made its imprints as well, particularly in Viet Nam, institutionalizing inequities in gender relationships. The Confucian doctrine promotes a hierarchical order in the family and society where women are subjects to be ruled by their father, husband, eldest son and the king.

Religious construct in Theravada

There are religious constructs in Buddhism, particularly in Theravada, that make womanhood a drawback however. The religious order of Buddhism does not allow for ordination of mae chii practically casting them out into the lowest rung of all women having neither secular nor formal monastic community.

But while the order of Bhikkhuni (religious order of mae chii) was established by the Buddha more than two thousand years ago, it never came into existence in Southeast Asia. Their lack of ordination makes secular offerings for mae chii of lesser meritorious value, compelling them to depend upon themselves or on relatives for sustenance.

A lay or laity, meanwhile, cannot achieve nirvana in his/her lifetime, but can only improve karma by living a virtuous life. Only through a monastic meditative living can one reach the state free from desires and sufferings. As such, being a monk or novice has become a mundane stage of many men’s life in a Buddhist society even if most will actually end up married laymen. A man who has gone through the Sangha (religious order of the monks) is believed to become a good family man.

Without such privilege, the only hope for a woman to reach nirvana is to be reborn a man and spend one’s lifetime in the Bhikkhus. For most women, who are deprived of the opportunity men have even of short-lived monkhood, their desperate hope to improve karma is symbolically portrayed as they cling unto their sons’ robe during ordination—the last and closest physical contact mothers are allowed of their sons who renounced “earthly living.”

Any form of physical contact is forbidden between monks and women. This has been for long a subject of differing interpretations and speculations. Some say the prohibition is meant to avoid providing sensual environment that may give monks unnecessary distractions. But only nonconforming behaviors may make mothers or grandmothers sexually attractive to their sons or grandsons. Others suggest that the tradition simply underscores how lowly women are viewed in a Buddhist society. A mere physical contact with them can cause a monk some steps backward in his pursuit to achieving enlightenment.

Menstruation and other folk beliefs

A woman’s menstrual period is not only a source of cyclical discomfort for women in a Buddhist society. During her monthly period, a woman is barred from visiting some sacred areas of Buddhist shrines. But while religious teachings cannot lend any support to this prohibition, it has been handed down for generations and faithfully followed by devout lays and mae chii.

Such belief found its root in Hinduism, which some scholars believe that beyond the issue of hygiene, as a common offered reason, women are feared for having the capability to nullify sacred mantras long practiced by Hindu men and priests. Thus Brahmin priests kept women out of sacred sanctuaries. The association of body fluid to women’s secret power can also be found in Thailand where menstruating women are not allowed near fermenting rice or it will rot.

But some Buddhists do not view it that way. They would even downplay the issue of hygiene. For them, women during their menstrual period are simply emotionally fragile for religious observance.

In some edifices containing sacred relics in Northern Thailand, women are totally not allowed with or without menstruation. Then woman Senator Rabiaprat Pongpanit, who was denied entry into one temple during a pilgrimage in 2004, took the issue on the Senate floor asking for explanation on the ban and vehemently protesting offensive signs “No Women Allowed.”

The issue provoked fierce debates in Thailand with many men, and even women, reprimanding the senator, telling her to respect the north’s religious tradition. She was even told by fellow women of brandishing an abrasive Western-type of feminism. Many came to her defense, but women groups generally kept mum on the issue. Rabiaprat eventually withdrew her case and offered a public apology.

Buddhism and sexual identities

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” — Gautama Buddha

In Asian societies, sexuality is almost always viewed within the context of sexual morality. Religions have explicit position and guidepost on how one should behave to live a moral life. In most cases, they lay down ethical parameters from an extremely conservative viewpoint. In Buddhism it is less so.

For example, the issue of same-sex relationship is considered a sin in Catholicism as it defies God’s will of procreation. In Islam, such behavior is a taboo being beyond the natural boundaries of union set by Allah. The Qur’an specifically mentions that same-sex intercourse is forbidden.

But while Buddhism does not cuddle same-sex relationship, it is at the same time not opposed to it. The different schools of Buddhism offer diverse views. Buddhism is seen to be more tolerant of variations in sexual identity as it does not try to impose a standard of morality.

In his essay Religions and Homosexuality, Dhananjay Kulkarni writes:

A Buddhist does not discuss issues of right and wrong and it would be very unusual for a Buddhist to tell others how to behave. Instead, Buddha encouraged people to introspect and find truth for themselves (even if it meant disregarding his teaching) and to put it into practice for themselves.

Viewed in the same vein, some have gone as far as suggesting that therefore, there is no reason in principle why Buddhists cannot be polygamous in the same way that they can be monogamous. Marriage after all in a Buddhist society is a simple civil rite not sanctified by religion. Even parents can officiate the ceremonial union.

Sex before marriage may not also be a big issue since the precept simply speaks of “sex within the context of lawful commitment.” The Buddhist laity lends greater importance on the nature of relationships in which sex has a role to play.

The issue of “sexual misbehavior” is largely determined by opinions of individuals and society in general. Though there are clear moral undertones in the teachings of Buddhism, the issue of right or wrong within the milieu of sexual identity is subject to varying ethical interpretations due in part to evolving social realities and value systems of Buddhist societies.

On the other hand, the concept of reincarnation and the opportunity to repent and fix one’s life for the next life cycle could also provide leeway for someone to engage in dissolute deeds. Such flexibility is never present in Christianity, where the mortal life exists only once and wrong deeds may mean eternal sufferings as one transforms into soul after death.

In the paper Buddhism and Sexual Ethics, the author put forward a hypothetical suggestion: So there is no reason why a Buddhist should not “practice monogamy (one partner for life), serial monogamy (a series of partners, one after the other), polygamy (many partners at the same time or, within limits, promiscuity (no concern about who you have sex with and when).”

However complex or simple or simplistic one may view the doctrines of Buddha, a Buddhist—lay, mae chii and monk alike—has one simple question to answer: “What do I want to be in my next life cycle?”

(This writeup is a section of a research made by the author on the correlation of sexuality, religion and HIV-AIDS in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.)

Largest Fossil Spider Found in Volcanic Ash

Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience Contributor, LiveScience.com
April 20, 2011

The largest fossil spider uncovered to date once ensnared prey back in the age of dinosaurs, scientists find.

The spider, named Nephila jurassica, was discovered buried in ancient volcanic ash in Inner Mongolia, China. Tufts of hairlike fibers seen on its legs showed this 165-million-year-old arachnid to be the oldest known species of the largest web-weaving spiders alive today — the golden orb-weavers, or Nephila, which are big enough to catch birds and bats, and use silk that shines like gold in the sunlight.

The fossil was about as large as its modern relatives, with a body one inch (2.5 centimeters) wide and legs that reach up to 2.5 inches (6.3 cm) long. Golden orb-weavers nowadays are mainly tropical creatures, so the ancient environment of Nephila jurassica probably was similarly lush. [Image of fossil spider]

“It would have lived, like today’s Nephila, in its orb web of golden silk in a clearing in a forest, or more likely at the edge of a forest close to the lake,” researcher Paul Selden, director of the Paleontological Institute at the University of Kansas, told LiveScience. “There would have been volcanoes nearby producing the ash that forms the lake sediment it is entombed within.”

Spiders are the most numerous predators on land today, and help keep insect numbers in check. So these findings help us “understand the evolution of the insect-spider predator-prey relationship,” Selden said, suggesting that golden orb-weavers have been ensnaring insects and influencing their evolution since the Jurassic Period. [Read: Ancient Spider Guts Revealed in 3-D]

“There were many large or medium-sized flying insects around at that time on which it would have fed indiscriminately,” Selden said.

In modern golden orb-weaver species, females are typically much larger than males. This new fossil was a female, suggesting this trend stretches back at least as far as the Middle Jurassic, Selden said — that is, back before the first known bird, Archaeopteryx, or giant dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus.

Although this is the largest fossil spider known to date, it is not the oldest. Two species from Coseley, England, Eocteniza silvicola and Protocteniza britannica, both come from about 310 million years ago.

Selden and his colleagues are now investigating other fossil spiders from China, “as well as those from elsewhere in the world — currently Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Italy and Korea,” he said.

The scientists detail their findings online April 20 in the journal Biology Letters.

Buddhists celebrate ancient ties with India

People burn incense at the Lam Kinh Festival in central Thanh Hoa Province. More than 70 per cent of Vietnamese people believe in Buddhism which is part of the national culture. (Photo: VNS)

HA NOI — Buddhist scholars reaffirmed the strong influence of Buddhism directly from India to Viet Nam at an International Buddhist Conference in Ha Noi yesterday.

“Buddhism was first introduced into Viet Nam as early as first century BC by Indian traders and monks,” said Professor Sachchidanand Sahai from India.

Today, there are more than 20,000 Buddhist pagodas throughout the country.

“All testify to a vigorous development of Buddhism in Viet Nam,” said the professor on the sideline of the two-day conference.

The conference aims to help Buddhist scholars from Viet Nam, India, China, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Thailand explore and strengthen the rich cultural ties that developed from the teachings of Buddha.

The conference is being held as part of a joint commemoration by Viet Nam and India of the 2600th anniversary of the attainment of enlightment by Lord Buddha.

The executive secretary and deputy head of the Department for International Buddhist Affairs of the Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha, Venerable Thich Duc Thien, said Vietnamese culture had absorbed Buddhism directly from Indian traders and monks.

The venerable said materials and antiques left at Dau Pagoda in the northen province of Bac Ninh were made about 1,752 years ago. This proved the pagoda was one of the oldest in Viet Nam.

Most Venerable Thich Thanh Tu, standing vice president of the Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha, confirmed that Buddhism from India had intermingled into Mahayana Buddhism brought to Viet Nam along the Silk Road into China and brought vitality to Viet Nam’s culture.

‘It has become part and parcel of the national culture,” Tu said.

Between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of Vietnamese population believe in Buddhism, according to the Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha. — VNS

Dalai Lama: No resigning as Buddhist spiritual leader

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY, March 11, 2011

The Dalai Lama gestures during a ceremony yesterday marking the 52nd anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising against Chinese rule. He resigned as political leader of the exiled Tibetan government. By Strdel, AFP/Getty Images

In the quick rush of coverage of the Dalai Lama announcing, after years of promising to do so, that he was stepping back as political leader of Tibetans in exile, his spiritual role got scant mention.

As The Guardian points out in its coverage:

“Dalai Lama” is not an occupation from which one can retire. The role embodies the history, mythology and spirituality of the Tibetan people, and His Holiness will continue to be a venerated Buddhist monk and teacher. His political duties may be the least important part of his job.

But will the vast “Save Tibet!” rally crowds that come to his every public appearance dwindle? Or will the focus shift to his deep and serious teachings that are much more challenging to follow than his warm, simple short speeches about peace that draw such applause.

In 2007, I attended his three-day teaching on “emptiness’ at Radio City in New York. He spoke to a sold-out house about concepts such as:

We do not exist as individual selves, immutable, unchanging and discrete. Ultimately, there is no self in the mirror staring back. We are all mutually defined.

We all want to seek happiness and avoid suffering. We have a natural sense of self-love, which serves as the basis of compassion, rooted in the recognition that these desires are common to all humanity.

He also dismissed the very popular Judeo-Christian concept of prayer. Buddhism teaches … Truth is attained through inner enlightenment.”

…Prayer? I don’t think of it. Work hard. Work with vision. Work with self confidence. Nine times failure? Nine times more effort!

And the tireless monk, perhaps thinking of the political map as well as the spiritual one, exhorted his audience, “Hopelessness is a form of laziness.”

THINK ABOUT IT: Will Americans who always like the underdog cause of the day drift away from the Tibetan political cause without the charismatic Dalai Lama? Will the popularity of Buddhism in America be affected by this change in his status?

Exclusive interview with Ven. Dejapanno Phorn Pheap

Dalai Lama to resign as Tibetan political leader

The Bangkok Post, March 10, 2011

Dharmsala, India — The Dalai Lama announced Thursday he would step down as political head of Tibet’s exiled government, but continue to push the Tibetan cause in his key role as its spiritual figurehead.

In a speech on the anniversary of a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama said he would seek an amendment allowing him to resign his political office when the exiled Tibetan parliament meets next week.

“As early as the 1960s, I have repeatedly stressed that Tibetans need a leader, elected freely by the Tibetan people, to whom I can devolve power,”he said in Dharamshala, the seat of Tibet’s government-in-exile in northern India. “Now, we have clearly reached the time to put this into effect.”

China, which brands the 75-year-old Nobel peace laureate a “splittist” bent on Tibetan independence, responded by accusing him of playing “tricks” to deceive the international community.

While the Dalai Lama retains the more significant role of Tibet’s spiritual leader, the move marks a symbolic watershed in the history of the Tibetan movement and its long and largely fruitless struggle against Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama was just 15 when he was appointed “head of state” in 1950 after Chinese troops moved into Tibet. He fled his homeland in 1959 after the unsuccessful uprising.

His temporal duties are largely ceremonial and the Dalai Lama had already pronounced himself “semi-retired” following the first direct election in 2001 of a prime minister as the formal head of the exiled government.

Spiritual and secular loyalty to his leadership has remained steadfast over the long decades of exile, binding together various factions within his movement, some of whom favour a more radical agenda than the Dalai Lama’s non-violent campaign for autonomy within the Chinese state.

In his speech, the Dalai Lama acknowledged “repeated and earnest” requests from within Tibet and outside to continue as political leader, but appealed for understanding of his decision. “My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility,” he said.

“It is to benefit Tibetans in the long run. It is not because I feel disheartened.”

His speech made it clear that he would not be withdrawing from the political struggle and remained “committed to playing my part in the just cause of Tibet”.

Despite his advancing age and several health scares, the Dalai Lama maintains a punishing travel schedule as the global face of the Tibetan movement. But while the Dalai Lama commands substantial international respect, official support for his movement has largely been sacrificed to the necessity of maintaining political and trade relations with Beijing.

China has sought to sideline him by castigating any foreign government that champions his cause or allows him to visit.

“The Dalai is a political exile under a religious cloak long engaged in activities aimed at splitting China,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

“The government-in-exile is an illegal political organisation and no country in the world recognises it.”

In his speech, the Dalai Lama denounced the “grim reality” of life in Tibet under Chinese rule where people live in “constant fear and anxiety”.

He said that repressive policies over the past six decades had only served to make the Tibetan problem “more intractable” than ever. While resigning his political office is unlikely to diminish his pre-eminent status, it marks an acceleration of preparations to fill the inevitable vacuum that will be left by his death. The London-based International Campaign for Tibet said the Dalai Lama’s announcement underlined his desire to provide the Tibetan movement with a durable, democratic legacy.

“In contrast to those long-serving autocrats who have been much in the news, the Dalai Lama is the rare visionary who is willingly divesting power to his people,” said ICT president Mary Beth Markey.

“His decision, based on the maturation of Tibetan democracy in exile, deserves both accolades and support,” she added.

The 4th Anniversary of the Passing of H.H. Maha Ghosananda

Venerable Samvarasilo Long Mean’s Funeral Service