More troubling news

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chownah
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Re: More troubling news

Post by chownah »

lyndon taylor wrote:You must forgive me, I'm running on memory here, but all the media in The USA as I remember it has been saying Burma was taken over by communists many years ago, its certainly not a Buddhist dictatorship, and that this lady in the opposition, i can't spell her name so I won't try, was a buddhist nun, imprisoned for promoting Buddhism and freedom, now it seems shes no longer a nun, and now how could she ever have been a nun as they didn't have nuns in South East Thervada Asia that long ago. Now of course you can't believe everything in the media, but that's my recollection, corrections??/ Please.

Well all I can get off Google is there have been a lot of communists fighting in Burma, having and not having part in the government, a lot of alliances with China, though technically the dictatorship is not called communist, we need an expert to speak, because the wikepedia article is very confusing.
I don't know why you are so confused. I looked at the Wikipedia article on Burma and read through the history part and found no mention of communism at all....clearly a military junta has been in charge.....I don't know how you came up with "communist". I think your recollections are inaccurate throughout and best start from scratch and build a new database.
chownah
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cooran
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Re: More troubling news

Post by cooran »

Hello Lyndon,

Please check your facts before posting!
Here is what most people would know about this greatly admired woman.

Aung San Suu Kyi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi

With metta,
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
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Vern Stevens
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Re: More troubling news

Post by Vern Stevens »

There are two interesting documentaries on Burma which give some background and current info on the struggles. One is called Burma VJ and the other is called They Call It Myanmar. I think either or both may be available on Netflix.
“What we think, we become.“ - The Buddha
householder
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Re: More troubling news

Post by householder »

binocular wrote:On the other hand, if the "radical Buddhists" give up, and Burma becomes a Muslim country in a few decades, then who will be to blame?
Do you believe there is a concerted campaign to Islamise the country (personally I don't see evidence of this, and would agree with reasonable and non-violent efforts to oppose it if there was), and do you support the tactics currently being used to counter this perceived threat?
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lyndon taylor
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Re: More troubling news

Post by lyndon taylor »

chownah wrote:
lyndon taylor wrote:You must forgive me, I'm running on memory here, but all the media in The USA as I remember it has been saying Burma was taken over by communists many years ago, its certainly not a Buddhist dictatorship, and that this lady in the opposition, i can't spell her name so I won't try, was a buddhist nun, imprisoned for promoting Buddhism and freedom, now it seems shes no longer a nun, and now how could she ever have been a nun as they didn't have nuns in South East Thervada Asia that long ago. Now of course you can't believe everything in the media, but that's my recollection, corrections??/ Please.

Well all I can get off Google is there have been a lot of communists fighting in Burma, having and not having part in the government, a lot of alliances with China, though technically the dictatorship is not called communist, we need an expert to speak, because the wikepedia article is very confusing.

I don't know why you are so confused. I looked at the Wikipedia article on Burma and read through the history part and found no mention of communism at all....clearly a military junta has been in charge.....I don't know how you came up with "communist". I think your recollections are inaccurate throughout and best start from scratch and build a new database.
chownah
My sincere apologies for being so misinformed, here is a link to the wikepedia article on communism in Burma which I found so confusing;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Burma
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John

http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
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BlackBird
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Re: More troubling news

Post by BlackBird »

Sad news.

These people - monks and lay people alike are Buddhists in name and culture only. There needs to be a counter movement from real Buddhists that stands up to these poor misguided people with peaceful non-violent resistance.
"Monks, even if bandits were to carve you up savagely, limb by limb, with a two-handled saw, he among you who let his heart get angered even at that would not be doing my bidding. Even then you should train yourselves: 'Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic, with a mind of good will, and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading these people with an awareness imbued with good will and, beginning with them, we will keep pervading the all-encompassing world with an awareness imbued with good will — abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will.' That's how you should train yourselves.
- http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

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Dan74
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Re: More troubling news

Post by Dan74 »

binocular wrote:On the other hand, if the "radical Buddhists" give up, and Burma becomes a Muslim country in a few decades, then who will be to blame?
NEWSFLASH

Australian church and cultural leaders have met at a closed-door conference aimed at protecting Australian religion and culture from the influx of foreigners. Boycotts and other means of resistance were under discussion. In the meantime bands of vigilantes were formed. One such band was apparently responsible for torching the iconic Chinatown gate in Melbourne's Lt Burke Street as well as firebombing over a dozen Chinese restaurants. There were also reports coming in late last night of an entire community of migrants in Sydney's Western suburbs attacked, their homes torched with multiple casualties including women and children.


Of course this is only made up, because for those of us lucky to be living in a place like Australia, such barbarity is unimaginable. Muslims are a tiny minority in Burma. I understand that they were not particularly noteworthy except for their religion. Other minorities have been waging various struggles for independence and autonomy. But Muslims seem to have been singled out by nationalists and opportunists as fodder for their game. 5% is not going to become a majority in a few decades, this is scaremongering of the lowest kind.
_/|\_
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lyndon taylor
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Re: More troubling news

Post by lyndon taylor »

You had me going there for a second, I was just on The ABC news website reading the AUS news and didn't see this, good one!!!
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John

http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
householder
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Re: More troubling news

Post by householder »

NEWSFLASH

Australian church and cultural leaders have met at a closed-door conference aimed at protecting Australian religion and culture from the influx of foreigners. Boycotts and other means of resistance were under discussion. In the meantime bands of vigilantes were formed. One such band was apparently responsible for torching the iconic Chinatown gate in Melbourne's Lt Burke Street as well as firebombing over a dozen Chinese restaurants. There were also reports coming in late last night of an entire community of migrants in Sydney's Western suburbs attacked, their homes torched with multiple casualties including women and children.
Add:

Power and phone lines were reported to be cut in the affected areas before each attack, whilst eyewitnesses allege that local police failed to intervene. After violence escalated, the Army were called in, who segregated the communities, rounded up foreign nationals and placed them indefinitely in 'protection' camps. Tourism to affected areas of Victoria and NSW is restricted. General sentiment is that such actions are the only way to protect the Australian way of life and religious identity. Proposed solutions include continued segregation and a 2-child limit for non-Australians in NSW and Victoria, for the protection and security of the non-Australian communities and to avoid stoking up further tensions.

Chinese restaurant owners caught up in the violence trying to stop the destruction of their property have been arrested and sentenced from between 2-26 years in prison. No Australian nationals have been charged or sentenced in relation to the violence, which erupted again and further fatalities reported after a woman bumped into an Australian choirboy and refused to apologise. The woman was charged and sentenced to two years in prison. It is not confirmed whether the woman is an Australian citizen or not, but it is widely rumoured that she must be an illegal resident due to her religion.
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BlackBird
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Re: More troubling news

Post by BlackBird »

Dan74 wrote:
binocular wrote:On the other hand, if the "radical Buddhists" give up, and Burma becomes a Muslim country in a few decades, then who will be to blame?
But Muslims seem to have been singled out by nationalists and opportunists as fodder for their game. 5% is not going to become a majority in a few decades, this is scaremongering of the lowest kind.
Well said.
"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

Path Press - Ñāṇavīra Thera Dhamma Page - Ajahn Nyanamoli's Dhamma talks
householder
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Re: More troubling news

Post by householder »

Agreed. If there's a concerted, masterminded effort to 'breed out' Buddhism and the Bamar, then they (referring to Muslims of different religions and 'citizenship' status) are doing a bloody awful job of it so far!

PS, that doesn't stop Wirathu, who in his latest speech calls for a Muslim man to have his penis cut off if he marries a Buddhist girl. And yet the Burmese netizens are decrying Time magazine's recent cover article as unfair/unrepresentative...
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Dan74
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Re: More troubling news

Post by Dan74 »

householder wrote:Agreed. If there's a concerted, masterminded effort to 'breed out' Buddhism and the Bamar, then they (referring to Muslims of different religions and 'citizenship' status) are doing a bloody awful job of it so far!

PS, that doesn't stop Wirathu, who in his latest speech calls for a Muslim man to have his penis cut off if he marries a Buddhist girl. And yet the Burmese netizens are decrying Time magazine's recent cover article as unfair/unrepresentative...
I suspect the negative reaction is typical of the defensiveness when outsiders criticize an Asian society. If it were a Burmese publication, the same people may have been more in agreement. It seemed that many decried or at least shied away from Wirathu's views.
_/|\_
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lyndon taylor
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Re: More troubling news

Post by lyndon taylor »

This is the kind of Buddhism we might have had if the Buddha had never left his father's palace and had led the war against the neighbouring tribe as his father intended. The buddha taught the non physical, peaceful resolution of conflict, and was in many ways a pacifist, so this does not seem to me anything to do with Buddhism and everything to do with Nationalism.
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John

http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
binocular
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Re: More troubling news

Post by binocular »

householder wrote:
binocular wrote:On the other hand, if the "radical Buddhists" give up, and Burma becomes a Muslim country in a few decades, then who will be to blame?
Do you believe there is a concerted campaign to Islamise the country
Islam is an expansive religion. It has a history of conquering and subjecting other cultures/religions. This is what can be expected from it.

(personally I don't see evidence of this,

and would agree with reasonable and non-violent efforts to oppose it if there was),
That has never worked against Islam.

and do you support the tactics currently being used to counter this perceived threat?
No.
householder wrote:binocular, to be clear, are you supporting the actions of the rioters or the promotion of anti-Islamic fervor and boycotting?
No.
I think though that by now, it's simply too late for any kind of non-violent, peaceful action to still be effective.

Dan74 wrote:Of course this is only made up, because for those of us lucky to be living in a place like Australia, such barbarity is unimaginable. Muslims are a tiny minority in Burma. I understand that they were not particularly noteworthy except for their religion. Other minorities have been waging various struggles for independence and autonomy. But Muslims seem to have been singled out by nationalists and opportunists as fodder for their game. 5% is not going to become a majority in a few decades, this is scaremongering of the lowest kind.
Remember the story of the maluva creeper and the sala tree?

Expect this.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
binocular
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Re: More troubling news

Post by binocular »

BlackBird wrote:Sad news.

These people - monks and lay people alike are Buddhists in name and culture only. There needs to be a counter movement from real Buddhists that stands up to these poor misguided people with peaceful non-violent resistance.
"Monks, even if bandits were to carve you up savagely, limb by limb, with a two-handled saw, he among you who let his heart get angered even at that would not be doing my bidding. Even then you should train yourselves: 'Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic, with a mind of good will, and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading these people with an awareness imbued with good will and, beginning with them, we will keep pervading the all-encompassing world with an awareness imbued with good will — abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will.' That's how you should train yourselves.
- http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
Did the Buddha give this instruction to the whole country of people, regardless at whatever level of attainment on the Buddhist path they are at?
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
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