Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was named as a “Top Global Thinker of 2010” by Foreign Policy magazine. In this video, she speaks from her heart about what she sees is needed in the world right now…
Apologies — the video feed from this site is not working well, so here is the link to the page with the video:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/11/29/Exclusive_Video_Message_from_Aung_San_Suu_Kyi
[Originally posted on The Jizo Chronicles last year, but this seems timely to share again.]
There are all kinds of ways to deal with the upcoming holiday shopping season. One is to buy nothing on the day known as “Black Friday,” an action pioneered by Adbusters. Gary Gach gives a dharma perspective on “What Would Buddha Buy?” (the answer: not too much, not too little).
Another approach is to take part in the cycle of giving and receiving, but to do it in a way that may be of benefit to others. Generosity is, after all, one of the basic Buddhist virtues.
If living beings knew the fruit and final reward of generosity and the distribution of gifts, as I know them, then they would not eat their food without giving to others and sharing with others, even if it were their last morsel and mouthful.
~ Avadana Jataka
I am a big donkey lover. I’m not sure I can even tell you why, but I am. So, last holiday season, I was tickled pink when a friend of mine sent me a donkey as a gift. The only catch was that my donkey was actually given to a farmer in Darfur, on my behalf, through Oxfam America. It turns out that donkeys are a key piece of helping farmers there to become more self-sufficient. The donkeys can transport materials, help with cultivating the fields, and they can also be hired out to others. It was one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.
If you’re looking for a way to give a gift that does more than gather dust and may make a difference in someone’s life, here’s a list of suggestions starting with two that have an impact in Buddhist countries:
• Adopt a Monk or Nun from Burma’s Saffron Revolution
The Clear View Project invites you to “Adopt a Monk” to help bring attention to the false imprisonment of the monks and nuns in Burma. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners of Burma (AAPPB), reports that when the international community shines a light of attention on particular prisoners, their lot improves. When one prisoner’s life improves, hope is restored.
• Sponsor a Tibetan Nun
Through this sponsorship program, the Tibetan Nuns Project supports over 700 nuns living in northern India. For less than $1 per day, sponsors can provide a nun’s basic necessities. One hundred percent of sponsorship money goes directly to India to meet the nuns’ living expenses. The TNP also makes a great calendar you can purchase on their website as well.
• Seva Foundation’s Gifts of Service
Through Seva, your gift can help restore sight to a blind person in Tibet, Nepal, India, Cambodia or Guatemala, or support other projects that alleviate suffering caused by poverty and disease. Seva works with local people to create sustainable solutions.
• Oxfam America
Oxfam America – the givers of the aforementioned donkey – is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Besides the donkey, other gifts include mosquito nets for a family in Africa, a dozen chicks that will provide eggs and income for an HIV/AIDS-infected household, and support for indigenous craftswomen
• Changing the Present
Changing the Present is a clearinghouse of gifts that “change the world.” Shop here to give everything from an afternoon of tutoring for inner city kids to funding a loan for a widow in India to start her own business. Nonprofits can also register on this site so that more people can learn about their cause.
• Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange is the largest Free Trade company in the US. You can buy organic coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by democratically run farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
• The Womens’ Peace Collection
The Womens’ Peace Collection an enterprise that fully supports women in regions of conflict and post-conflict as mothers, peace builders and skilled artisans. Their website features handmade jewelry, textiles, and other gifts from around the world, including “dolls of compassion” crafted by Karenni women living in a refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border.
Lulan Artisans: Contemporary designs fused with ancient weaving techniques to create extraordinary hand-woven textiles, apparel, and products for the home. Your purchase helps to support more than 650 weavers, spinners, dyers and finishers in weaving cooperatives in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and India.
No Sweat: Union-made footwear and casual clothing. “Our gear is produced by independent trade union members in the US, Canada, and the developing world. We believe that the only viable response to globalization is a global labor movement.”
The Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship’s blog has a good list of “Ten Places to Buy Gifts That Support Women Artisans”
And here’s a new addition — a great column, “The Gifts of Hope,” by Nicholas Kristof published in the Dec. 18, 2010 New York Times.
Arun of the blog Angry Asian Buddhist points out a disturbing trend this year–what seems to be increased incidents of vandalism and attacks on Buddhist temples around the U.S. and Canada, including in Iowa, Kentucky, and Minnesota. (See map here.)
Not surprisingly, most of these temples are made up of primarily Asian/Asian American members. In March of this year, the sign on the Phuoc Hau Temple in Louisville, KY, was defaced with the words “Budduh’s [sic] in hell.” This was the fifth time the temple had been vandalized in the past five years.
It’s terrible that our Buddhist brothers and sisters are suffering the consequences of our fear-based and xenophobic political climate. What can we do? A few ideas ––
1) Help document these incidents to raise more awareness of them. Arun is compiling these incidents on a Google map; if you know of others, put a comment on this post on his blog.
2) If you live in one of the affected communities, reach out to that Buddhist temple to let them know that you support them, and ask them what they might need for help. Some of the citizens of Rochester, MN, did that this past June for a Cambodian Buddhist temple that had been recently vandalized and whose members had been harassed — read the story here.
3) If you live in a community with an Asian Buddhist temple, get to know your fellow dharma practitioners. Many Thai temples, for example, host sumptuous meals that are open to anyone. (See this Yelp review of Wat Monkgolratanaram in Berkeley, CA.) Come visit, make a donation, and meet some wonderful people — there’s nothing better than building bridges.
November sky over Upaya Zen Center, Santa Fe
I was thinking about what to write for a Thanksgiving post when this showed up in my in-box this morning from my friend Alan Senauke. So I happily give the floor to Alan, and wish all of you a happy holiday.
11.25.10
When the Way is entrusted to the Way, we attain the Way…When treasures are entrusted to treasures, these treasures certainly become giving. We offer ourselves to ourselves, and we offer others to others.
— Eihei Dogen, “Bodaisatta Shishobo”
Digging around a bit I find that the first “thanksgiving” in the so-called New World may have taken place in June of 1564 on the River of May (now St. Johns River, Florida), celebrated by French Huguenots who fled religious wars in Europe. Another thanksgiving was marked on September 8, 1595 in the Spanish colony of what is now St. Augustine, Florida. By then the Spanish had massacred most of the early French colonists and many of the local native peoples.
In 1619 English settlers landed at Berkeley Hundreds on Virginia’s James River and offered a day of thanksgiving, as per a regulation in their charter. Within several years, the ongoing Anglo-Powhaton wars had driven the native tribes out of the region, and left many of the early settlers dead.
The surviving fifty-three members of the Plymouth Colony celebrated their first successful harvest in New England with a day of thanks in November 1621. A larger group from the Wampanoag tribe, led by Massasoit, arrived uninvited at the festival, causing initial alarm. But they came with generous offerings of food and drink (hence the now traditional Thanksgiving dinner of eel and stuffed lobster), and they partied together avidly. By 1676, only 400 Wampanoags remained and their leader Metacom, or King Philip, was captured and shot. His severed head was displayed on a pike in Plymouth for twenty years.
By now you are surely wondering what does this have to do with Buddhism? I am getting at the fact that our annual fourth Thursday in November tryptophan orgy, followed by Black Friday — the traditional kickoff to Christmas shopping — has a history marked by domination: domination over native peoples, domination over poultry — ask any turkey — and the domination of consumerism over all of us.
Still the force of giving and gratitude cannot be erased by history. It is a universal activity of the true human. Many of us will, in fact, experience just this as we sit down with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day. Or as we serve a meal to those in need. In Buddhist terms Dogen Zenji writes:
When we can give up even one speck of dust as the practice of giving, though it is a small act, we can quietly rejoice in it. This is because we have already correctly transmitted and carried out one of the virtues of the buddhas, and because we have practiced a bodhisattva’s act for the first time.
The Bodhisattva’s first perfection or paramita is dana, giving. There are many kinds of giving: material aid, spiritual comfort, the Buddha’s teachings, fearlessness, and more. This is a universal principle. Judaism calls it tzedakah, in Islam it is sadaqah (clearly the same word), Christianity has caritas (Latin) and agape (Greek). We can draw fine distinctions, but these are related practices — giving without the expectation of reward or recompense.
In his inspiring book The Gift, writer Lewis Hyde says:
Between the time a gift comes to us and the time we pass it along, we suffer gratitude… Passing the gift along is the act of gratitude that finishes the labor. The transformation is not accomplished until we have the power to give the gift on our own terms.
This is a curious expression, to “suffer gratitude.” The Latin roots of “suffer” imply to carry up or to bear from under. In earlier days it meant to allow something to arise. At the same time, the word suffer inevitably suggests our experience of the pain of life, the mark of our precious human existence.
This awareness undercuts the theme of domination running through the history of thanksgiving as a holiday. When we suffer gratitude there is no room for domination. When giving and gift circulate freely we have moved beyond the realm of subject and object. Giving gives, receiving gives, suffering disperses like morning mist in sunlight.
My own Zen teacher says, “Don’t treat anything as an object.” This means to see all that we encounter — persons, material things, feelings, ideas, and so on — as part of oneself. That is, subjectively. With such an attitude, which is the mind of zazen, domination cannot emerge. We meet the world with an open hand. We immediately know thanks in giving, thanks in receiving, thanks in being. And then we are in the next moment, where the hand is opened once more. This is thanksgiving for real.
I give the last word to Dogen, again from “Bodaisatta Shishobo.” Enjoy the day.
It is like offering treasures that are going to be discarded to people we do not know. Give flowers blooming on the distant mountains to the Tathagata. Offer treasures accumulated in our past lives to living beings. Whether a gift is Dharma or material objects, each gift is truly endowed with the virtue of offering.
The release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi continues to be the biggest story on the socially engaged Buddhist front this past week. To really get a sense of how important this is, you need only take a look at the front page of the Irrawaddy news magazine, Burma’s independent media voice. Articles this week include “Grandmothers Who Help Suu Kyi,” coverage of Daw Suu’s first visit with her son in more than ten years, and this disturbing story about the junta’s attempts to evict more than 80 HIV/AIDS patients after Suu Kyi visited their shelter in Rangoon last week.
But perhaps best of all was this interview between Daw Suu and Irrawaddy editor Aung Zaw (thanks to Lynette Monteiro of 108 ZenBooks for telling me about this). In response to a question about the possibility that she might meet with General Than Shwe (the leader of Burma’s military junta), Daw Suu said,
I am not sure if you have heard that Gandhi was very fond of a Christian hymn, even though he was a follower of Hinduism. The name of the song is “Lead, Kindly Light.” It says, “I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.” Gandhi believed that, and so do I. I will do my best to walk, step by step. If I am on the right track, I will reach the right place. I don’t want to try to imagine something very distant. For me, hope is the desire to try. I believe I can only hope for something if I have tried to achieve it. I will continue to make an effort with this belief in mind.
To continue the one-year blogging birthday celebration, I’m giving away one copy of the book Not Turning Away: The Practice of Engaged Buddhism (Shambhala, 2004). This is an anthology of articles from Turning Wheel magazine, edited by Susan Moon. Writers featured in the book include Robert Aitken Roshi, Jan Chozen Bays, Fleet Maull, Thich Nhat Hanh, Jack Kornfield, Joanna Macy, and Diana Winston. (Oh yeah, and one of my articles is in there too.)
Here’s what you need to do to be eligible:
1) Take a look at the new Amazon book store that I created to go along with The Jizo Chronicles, and enjoy browsing through it. There are three categories: books on socially engaged Buddhism, general Buddhist books, and books on activism and politics.
2) Then, let me know what books you would suggest adding to the store by making a comment at the bottom of this post, by November 30. If the comment doesn’t automatically include a link back to you, make sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win. (To protect yourself from the obnoxious robots that crawl through the Internet, put your address in this format: maia [at] gmail [dot] com )
3) For extra credit! Send an email to a friend (or many friends!) who you think might enjoy the bookstore. Let me know that you did this in your comment and you’ll get an extra chance to win!
On December 1, I’ll write down the names of everyone who left a comment, put it into a hat, pull a name, and then I’ll contact the winner so I can ship the book to you. I’ll even autograph it for you, if you want.
Does that make sense? So it’s a giveaway with a randomly chosen winner, but you can increase your odds of winning by telling your friends about the book store. Pretty simple. No purchase necessary, as they say. Go to it and have fun!
NY Times/Soe Than Win/Agence France-Presse
“Please use your liberty to gain ours.”
Aung San Suu Kyi
As wonderful as it was to see Aung San Suu Kyi finally being released from house arrest this past weekend, let’s remember that there are still at least 2,200 other political prisoners in Burma. As Alan Senauke, founder of the Clear View Project, wrote in an article posted on Shambhala SunSpace,
It is up to our worldwide community of conscience, hand in hand with Burma’s democracy activists, to use this opportunity and Daw Suu’s political skills to best advantage. There are still more than 2200 political prisoners in facing torture and long years in Burma’s prisons, including student leader Min Ko Naing, labor rights activist Su Su Nway, Saffron Revolution leader U Gambira, comedian/social critic Zargana, and many, many others. Among these political prisoners we have identified nearly 250 monks and nuns.
Time and again, Daw Suu made a choice to forgo her own freedom so that she could work toward the liberation of all her countrymen and women. (Did you know that when her husband, Michael Aris, was dying of cancer in 1999, she refused a chance to travel to Europe to visit him because she thought she might not be allowed back into Burma?)
The best way to celebrate Daw Suu and honor her legacy is for us to continue to act in this struggle for freedom and human rights in Burma.
Here are four things you can do to help:
1) Call for freedom for ALL of Burma’s prisoners of conscience
This page on Amnesty International’s website gives you a template for a letter to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), calling on them to exercise their influence and press Myanmar’s authorities to release all prisoners of conscience.
2) Write to the UN Secretary General
The Burma Campaign UK provides this online letter to call on United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take the lead on Burma and renew efforts to pressure Burma’s generals to release all political prisoners.
3) Adopt a Monk
The intention of this project, sponsored by the Clear View Project, is to call attention to the false imprisonment of the monks and nuns in Burma. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners of Burma (AAPPB) reports that when the international community shines a light of attention on particular prisoners, their lot improves. When one prisoner’s life improves, hope is restored. By sending regular letters on behalf of the monk or nun that you “adopt” and also providing some funding to assist with their food and medicine, you can make a difference. Find out more about Adopt a Monk here.
4) Support Freedom of Press in Burma
The Irrawaddy News Magazine is one of the few journalism outposts that provides the real story from inside Burma. It is a nonprofit media group that needs grants and donations from international supporters in order to continue its work to be an independent media voice. You can learn more and donate here.
Buddhist monks praying for peace in Thailand, May 2010
This is the full first year that The Jizo Chronicles has been up and running, so it’s a good time to look back at what’s been going on in the world of socially engaged Buddhism in 2010. (To get an idea of what’s ahead for 2011, look at the Calendar of Events that we maintain here.)
It’s been quite a year, actually.
In my own life, I continue to be blessed with being in such a close relationship with Roshi Joan Halifax and Upaya Zen Center, and Upaya’s chaplaincy program. I don’t have to go more than a few dozen steps from my front door to be able to sit in the beautiful zendo there, and to hear teachings from Joanna Macy, Fleet Maull, Ouyporn Khuankaew, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Sharon Salzberg, Kaz Tanahashi, Norman Fischer, and Father John Dear (all visited Upaya this past year). I’ve also appreciated my long-distance dharma relationship with Shosan Victoria Austin of the San Francisco Zen Center and the sangha there.
My practice continues to deepen and I am ever more aware of the subtle power of the dharma to transform suffering into joy. As the old year comes to a close and the new one begins, I wish you and your loved ones great peace, great equanimity, and great compassion.
I’m sure I missed a lot in the above recounting. Please let me know your experience and memories of engaged dharma practice this past year… leave a comment below.
The last “Quote of the Week” for the year is reserved for Robert Aitken Roshi, who passed away on August 5th of this year.
This one is short and very much to the point… may we let it support our practice in the coming year:
“Our practice is not to clear up the mystery.
It is to make the mystery clear.”
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If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to visit my other website: The Liberated Life Project — a personal transformation blog with a social conscience.
Art by Mayumi Oda, Upaya Zen Center Christmas Tree
Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed holiday season…
in kindness,
Maia
Okay, this looks like a real gem. Coming from Al Jazeera in partnership with the Democractic Voice of Burma, here is a roundtable with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The dialogue includes [text from Al Jazeera]:
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If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to visit my other website: The Liberated Life Project — a personal transformation blog with a social conscience.
“The Saffron Revolution was and is essentially not a struggle for political power.
It is a revolution of the spirit that aims at changing Burma from the inside out.
With loving-kindness, we intend to change the hearts and minds of Burma’s generals,
returning them to their inborn buddha nature.”—The International Burmese Monks Organization (Sasana Moli)
The Jizo Chronicles 