Mob in Maldives destroys Buddhist history

Hawwa Lubna (Minivannews.com,  Feb. 9, 2012)

The Maldives is a formerly Buddhist nation of many islands (travel.nationalgeographic.com)

   

Several historical artifacts exhibited at the Maldives National Museum, including Buddhist statues were destroyed in a mob attack on Wednesday morning, an act of vandalism that is said to have caused “unimaginable damage” to the treasured Maldivian heritage.

  

Underwater restaurant (sweetydesign.com)

Speaking to Minivan News, a museum official said that a group of five to six men stormed into the building twice, “deliberately targeted the Buddhist relics and ruins of monasteries exhibited in the pre-Islamic collection, destroying most items “beyond repair.”

   

The official said that the details of the damage cannot be released as the police have asked the museum to withhold the information until the investigation into the attack is pending. “But I can say that attackers have done unimaginable damage,” he added.

  

Museum pieces showing pre-Islamic history

“This is not like a glass we use at home that can be replaced by buying a new one from a shop. These are originals from our ancestors’ time. These cannot be replaced ever again,” the official exclaimed.

   

According to a source, a coral stone head of [the] Buddha, an 11th century piece recovered from Thoddoo in Alifu Atoll, was smashed by the attackers, one of the most significant pieces at the museum inside Sultan’s Park.

   

The museum was built with Chinese government aid and opened on July 26, 2010.

   

Other pieces vandalized include the Bohomala sculptures, monkey statues, and a broken statue piece of the Hindu water god, Makara, while the two five faced statues discovered from [the capital island] Male’ were also damaged -- the only remaining archaeological evidence proving the existence of a Buddhist era in the Maldives.

   

...The attack on the museum coincided with the political unrest that escalated in Male’ during the late hours of Tuesday night, after a group of police and military men allegedly joined the opposition protesters, forcing Former President Mohamed Nasheed to resign the following day.

    

AFP reported Nasheed as saying that the vandals included Islamist hardliners who had attacked the museum because they believed some of the statues inside were “idolatrous.” More
   

Are we being led to hate and war?

Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

Peace Buddha (BuddhaIsland.net)

Imagine a world that makes dictators acceptable by talking about their advances in sanitation, monetary policy, education, and the treatment of women -- only to turn around when they are no longer useful to the Powers That Be, and have them condemned in the media to foment the urge for war. It happened with Saddam Hussein (Iraq), Moammar Qaddafi (Libya), Hosni Mubarak (Egypt), Bashir al Assad (Syria), Mahmoud Ahmedinejad (Iran)... The military-industrial complex, apparently a multinational group run by various clandestine agencies in the West (primarily in the US and UK), is responsible for a great deal of psychological operations (propaganda) preceding war. We were encouraged to hate the "Taliban" as a rationale to accept the slaughter of hundreds of thousands in Afghanistan. We are still played for fools by being made afraid of another CIA-creation, "Al Qaeda." Is Syria's Assad a monster? No more so than he or any Western-installed, funded, and manipulated dictator ever was. So why is it they are suddenly vilified? Why are we encouraged to root for their assassination, deposition, and replacement (with another equally vile puppet of the Powers that Be)? Now even the minor paradise being inundated by climate chaos is dragged into our strategic global initiative to rule with full spectrum dominance. We say no. Hate only begets hate. Is does not justify war, intervention, or installing dictators anywhere on the planet. The powers will do what they do, but let us be mindful instead of playing into the trap of endless war. Why? There is no sense in saving Buddha statues if we do not save the Buddha's message of peace, clarity, and compassion.

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Noah Levine teaches Against the (Dharma)?

Seth Auberon and Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

He's a Dharma punk and not dumb, so how does he know so little about the Buddha?

In a devastating blow to Buddhist history, author and "Against the Stream" founder Noah Levine turned the Buddha's life into an unrecognizable mishmash of revisionist thought, doubt and outlandish speculation. At one point he had Siddhartha tying stones to his privates, all the while laughing and engendering laughter from an eager American audience. The constant refrain was, "We just don't know. These things weren't written down. There was a lot of mythologizing..." Therefore we can throw anything into the story we like and it'll be just as true/doubtful as all the rest of it? Levine's heart was obviously in the right place.

(LINK) BBC documentary: "The Life of the Buddha"

   

Maybe its less Buddhism than recovery and punk

But one would have to guess -- based solely on his bumbling through the life story -- that he only recently became acquainted with Buddhism as a sacred tradition of the East. The Buddha's life, certainly much informed by mythological elements prevalent in ancient India, is retold to inspire our own path: We live luxuriously, we suffer, we assume that the only antidote to suffering is hedonism, then one day occurs to us that this has never worked. So we try something else. We go on a quest. We question convention. We go have a look for ourselves. And inasmuch as we question or reject society, we look inward for answers: What is true? What can I know to be true? How can I bring suffering to an end, not just for myself, but for all beings who suffer?

• See Noah Levine continue Wednesdays live in Hollywood

Siddhartha did not set off on this quest only once; he (reappearing in various transient forms, not as the same being but not altogether another) spent many lives developing the perfections. These enabled him to become a master physician for what ails living beings, a superlative teacher able to communicate that subtle and profound discovery of what's been going wrong in our own search for a way out, a samma-sam-buddha or "right and fully awakened one." Levine is not alone in sowing doubt and, possibly inadvertently, ridiculing the "less important" Buddhist teachings, such as its venerable history and origins.
  
Former Buddhist monk and continuing British iconoclast Stephen Batchelor, author of Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist, seems to have profoundly influenced Levine's view of not only Buddhist history but its theology (yes, it has one in spite of being a non-theistic tradition) and cosmology as well. There's more than a little of fellow punk and Zen Master Brad Warner in Levine's approach as well.
   

(ABC News) Stephen Batchelor talks about his confessions with ABC

To hear Levine tell it, Buddhism doesn't know its zafu from its zabuton and is ass-backwards on everything but its core insight (vipassana) teachings. With teachers like Jack Kornfield and his own father, Buddhist author Stephen Levine, that comes as a surprise. One would imagine his time in prison gave him time to reflect, grow hungry for answers, and then satisfy that hunger through books, monastics, and comparative religion professors.

 

Is Levine opinionated? It would not seem so, for when local meditator Sherry asked him to define "atheist," he suddenly had no personal opinion and turned the question on her like a reticent therapist.

  

Wisdom Quarterly would retell the story of the Buddha's life just for Levine's benefit. But any child with a picture book and even Keanu Reeves can get the highlights right.
  

   
It is difficult to see how one can have a sense of the Buddha's teaching, the Dharma, without a basic understanding of what the historical Buddha went through to arrive at the breakthrough that gave rise to the dispensation and the mythological elements that got added.

• FULL INTERVIEW: Stephen Batchelor's Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist

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The Seven Bonds of Sexuality (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly translation (Methuna Sutra, AN 7.47)

What does Buddhist philosophy say about sexuality? (Suite101.com)

   

WARNING: These "bonds" are applicable only to monastics and intensive practitioners (such as those on retreat) adopting Eight Precepts, which goes beyond the ordinary Five Precepts.

 

SAVATTHI, ancient India - The Brahmin Jāṇussoṇī approached the Buddha and exchanged greetings with him. When this courteous exchange was concluded, Jāṇussoṇī sat down respectfully at one side and said:

   
“Does the Blessed One profess to be a celibate practitioner (brahmachari)?”

  
“Brahmin,” the Buddha replied, “if rightly speaking one were to say of anyone, ‘He lives the perfect and pure supreme (brahmachari) life, unbroken, untorn, undiluted, spotless,’ he would rightly be speaking of me. For, Brahmin, I live the perfect and pure supreme life, unbroken, untorn, undiluted, spotless.”

  
“But, Master Gautama, what is the break, the tear, the dilution, the blotch of the supreme life?”
 
7 Faults of the False Brahmachari 

Prince Siddhartha prior to his spiritual quest

1. “Herein [within this Dharma], Brahmin, a certain ascetic or Brahmin, declares that he is a real brahmachari. For he does not indulge in sexual intercourse (coupling) with women. But he consents to being rubbed, massaged, bathed, and kneaded by women. He relishes it, longs for it, and savors it. This, Brahmin, is a break, tear, dilution, and a blotch of the supreme life.

  
“This, Brahmin, is called one who leads the impure supreme life, who is devoted to indulging in coupling. He is not freed from birth, decay-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, mental pain: He is not freed from disappointment, I say!

2. “Furthermore, Brahmin, a certain ascetic or Brahmin, declares himself to be a total brahmachari. Nor does he indulge in coupling with women. Nor does he consent to being rubbed, massaged, bathed, or kneaded by women. But he jokes with women, plays with them, jests with them. He relishes it, longs for it, and savors it.
   

“This, Brahmin, is a break, tear, dilution, and a blotch of the supreme life. This, Brahmin, is called one who leads the impure supreme life, who is devoted to indulging in coupling. He is not freed from birth, decay-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, mental pain: He is not freed from disappointment, I say!

   

Kinnari, beautiful (bird) people (Crorlz/Flickr)

3. “Furthermore, Brahmin, a certain ascetic or Brahmin, declares himself to be a real brahmachari. For he does not indulge in coupling with women. Nor does he consent to being rubbed, massaged, bathed, or kneaded by women. Nor does he joke, play, or jest with women. But he gazes and looks eye to eye at women. He relishes it, longs for it, and savors it.... He is not freed from disappointment, I say!

 
4. “Furthermore, Brahmin, a certain ascetic or Brahmin, declares himself to be a real brahmachari.... But he listens to the sounds of women through a wall or through a fence as they laugh, talk, sing, or weep. He relishes it, longs for it, and savors it.... He is not freed from disappointment, I say!

 
5. “Furthermore, Brahmin, a certain ascetic or Brahmin, declares himself to be a real brahmachari.... But he recollects his former laughing and chatting and playing with women. He relishes it, longs for it, and savors it.... He is not freed from disappointment, I say! 

  

Mara tries to tempt an enlightened nun

6. “Furthermore, Brahmin, a certain ascetic or Brahmin, declares himself to be a real brahmachari.... But he sees a householder or a householder’s son being entertained, showered, and serviced with the cords of sense-pleasures.... He relishes it, longs for it, and savors it.... He is not freed from disappointment, I say!

 
7. “Furthermore, Brahmin, a certain ascetic or Brahmin, declares himself to be a real brahmachari. For he does not indulge in coupling with women. Nor does he consent to being rubbed, massaged, bathed, or kneaded by women. Nor does he joke, play, or jest with women. Nor does he gaze or look eye to eye at women. Nor does he listen to the sounds of women through a wall or through a fence as they laugh, talk, sing, or weep. Nor does he recollect the previous laughing and chatting and playing with women. Nor does he see a householder or a householder’s son being entertained, showered, and serviced with the cords of sense-pleasures. 

 

“But he lives the supreme life aspiring for rebirth among one of the groups of devas (shining ones) thinking, ‘By this observance or vow or austerity or supreme life, I shall become a deva or one [reborn] among them.’ He relishes it, longs for it, and savors it. This, Brahmin, is a break, tear, dilution, and a blotch of the supreme life.

 
“This, Brahmin, is called one who leads the impure supreme life, who is devoted to indulging in coupling. He is not freed from birth, decay-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, mental pain: He is not freed from disappointment, I say!”

 
The Buddha has overcome all bonds

Ascetic Siddhartha accepts food from a woman

“And as long as I noticed that one or more of these seven bonds of sexuality were as yet unabandoned by me, to that extent, Brahmin, I did not claim to be supremely awakened in the peerless full enlightenment in this world with its devas, maras, brahmas, this generation with its recluses and Brahmins, its rulers, and people.

 
“But, Brahmin, when I did not notice any of these seven bonds of sexuality unabandoned in me, to that extent, Brahmin, I claimed to be supremely awakened in the peerless full enlightenment in this world with its devas, maras, brahmas, this generation with its recluses and brahmins, its rulers and people.

“And the knowledge and vision arose in me, ‘Unshakable is this liberation of mind/heart. This is my last birth. There is no more rebirth to come.’”

   
Jāṇussoṇī goes for guidance

When this was spoken, the Brahmin Jāṇussoṇī said this to the Buddha: “Excellent, Master Gautama! Excellent! Master Gautama! It is just as if one were to set upright what had been overturned, or were to reveal what was hidden, or were to show the way to one who was lost, or were to hold up a lamp in the dark so that those with eyes could discern forms. In just the same way, by numerous examples, has the Dharma been made clear by Master Gautama.

  
“I go to Master Gautama for guidance and to the Dharma and to the community of [accomplished] disciples. May Master Gautama remember us as lay followers who have gone for guidance from this day forward as long as life shall last.”

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The Great Liberation (Tibetan Book of the Dead)

Wisdom Quarterly; HCLivess

A presentation of NHK Japan, Mistral Films of France, and the National Film Board of Canada

  

The Great Liberation

This is a companion piece to The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a Way of Life. It is a short film that centers around the premature death of a 42-year-old man in the Himalayas. He has returned to his family from a long journey and is suddenly stricken with an unknown illness. The film serves as a practical introduction to the Tibetan Book of the Dead with stunning visuals from Buddhist India high in the Himalayan province of Ladakh. The area, near the Tibetan border, is home to a unique form of Buddhism known variously as Vajrayana, Tantrayana, and Lamaism. It is mixed with an indigenous pre-Buddhist shamanistic tradition known as Bon. It survives in spite of Chinese desecration of Tibet because it was once spread throughout various Himalayan Buddhist kingdoms such as Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, Mustang, Ladakh, and Shangri-la.  

• Native Americans and Buddhism 
• Buddhist nun shares the sound of music
• You and that heavy metal music of yours
• Finding Common Cause with Chinese Buddhists

World Buddhist Forum (china.org.cn)

(SCPR.org, 4th of 5 parts) In recent years, China's communist government has taken a new, proactive approach to religion. In particular, it has bolstered support for Buddhism, which provides needed charity work and financial aid -- and also serves as a counterweight to the explosion of Christianity in China.... This was the first World Buddhist Forum, attended by more than 1,000 monks, and held in China. Never before had the officially atheist country sponsored such a large religious conference. Tensions still remain in Beijing's relationship to Tibetan Buddhism, particularly given believers' loyalty to their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

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Obon Fest: Orange County Buddhist Church

Orange County Buddhist Church (ocbuddhist.org)

Obon festivities (lifetourist79)

Obon is a Japanese Buddhist celebration honoring the dead. Zen tradition holds that Obon season, much like the West's Halloween or All Hallow's Eve, means a thinner veil between the worlds. Hungry ghosts (pretas) are appeased and fed, ancestors are honored, and respect is given to all who have passed. The celebration in the human world within the precincts of a Zen temple are joyous. There is line dancing (Obon Odori), feasting, and merriment. This past weekend was celebrated in Altadena at the large Japanese cultural center on Glen Ave. An even larger even is planned for the Asian Buddhist community of Orange County. All are welcome to participate in tea ceremonies, Taiko drumming, games and prizes, and an introduction to Japanese Buddhism. More

• Orange County Buddhist Church
• Saturday and Sunday, July 21-22, 2012
• 909 South Dale Ave., Anaheim, CA 9280
• (714) 827-9590

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