Monthly Archives: January 2008

Feud envelopes the Wat Vipassanaram temple

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Press-Telegram – Feud envelopes the Wat Vipassanaram temple

A contingent of the temple members, upset at what they call a pattern of mistreatment of the wat monks and abuse of authority, is seeking to stage an election Sunday with the goal of installing a new board of directors of the Khmer Buddhist Association, which runs the temple.

At the root of the dispute, according to board opponents, is a laundry list of complaints, most involving what they say has been a pattern of mistreatment of the monks, who are the spiritual center of the temple.

I’m not entirely sure why I thought I needed to post this.  There’s something about the idea of political infighting in a temple that simply points out that monks are humans, too, I guess.

Buddhist Peace Fellowship Event:

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 Event Details:

Living and Dying in Prison
Thursday, January 31, 2008 7:00 PM
DePaul University Student Center, Lincoln Park Campus, room 314A
Chicago, IL USA

Living and Dying in Prison: the Michael Lambert Story.

Michael Lambert was executed in Indiana in 2007, after practicing Zen in prison under the guidance of local clergy Tricia Teater. Rev. Teater will speak, as well as exonerated death row inmate Delbert Tibbs, Jane Bohman from the
Ilinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and Andrea Lyon, faculty
of DePaul University College of Law and Director of the Center for Justice in Capital Cases.

 
Contact:
Ron Kidd
r.r.kidd@att.net
 
Website:
www.bpf.org/chicago/
 
Sponsored By:
Chicago BPF Chapter and the DePaul University Student
Center

China Lashes Out at Olympic Critics

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Beijing’s tough approach illustrates its extreme sensitivity toward anything that might tarnish its staging of the Aug. 8-24 Olympic Games. Beijing has invested billions of dollars and national prestige in what it hopes will be a glorious showcase of China’s rapid development from impoverished agrarian nation to rising industrial power.

A tide of criticism from rights groups, celebrities and international media threatens to dampen the mood surrounding the games.

The Associated Press: China Lashes Out at Olympic Critics

Tibetan kids attend special classes on Buddhism

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Teaching classes are being organised for Tibetan kids in Dharamshala with an aim to inculcate values of Buddhism.

Volunteers in the hilly Buddhist town have taken it on them to revive the Tibetan Buddhist values, traditions and culture that seem to be fading away.

Tibetan kids in Dharamshala attend special classes on Buddhism / Online News @ TheCheers

A World of Reasons to Ditch Bottled Water

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ucs-water-eee-001.jpg

by The Union of Concerned Scientists

Bottled water manufacturers’ encourage the perception that their products are purer and safer than tap water. Bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water. But the reality is that tap water is actually held to more stringent quality standards than bottled water, and some brands of bottled water are just tap water in disguise. What’s more, our increasing consumption of bottled water—more than 22 gallons per U.S. citizen in 2004 according to the Earth Policy Institute—fuels an unsustainable industry that takes a heavy toll on the environment.

Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil. MORE>>>

Birth Control Pill Has Saved 100,000 Lives — MedPage Today

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OXFORD, England — Oral contraceptives have prevented some 100,000 ovarian cancer deaths worldwide over the past five decades, a meta-analysis here found.
Birth Control Pill Has Saved 100,000 Lives

Oh, but they’re evil…evil!  Nonetheless, one has to wonder how many more lives they would have saved — in various ways — if they had been more available to the women in Third World countries.

The Answer to Anger & Aggression is Patience

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By Pema Chödrön

I thought, if patience is the antidote to aggression, maybe I’ll just try that. In the process I learned a lot about what patience is and about what it isn’t. I would like to share with you what I’ve learned, to encourage you to find out for yourself how patience works with aggression.

Shambhala Sun – The Answer to Anger & Aggression is Patience

Saving South African marriages one at a time

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Amnesty International reports that one woman in South Africa is killed by her husband or boyfriend every six hours. The overwhelmed police cannot and do not sufficiently heed all domestic dispute calls for help. And in those cases that do arrive in the equally overwhelmed courts, violent offenders are routinely let off with a slap on the wrist, deterring untold other women from ever complaining.

How one counselor makes a difference….

Saving South African marriages one at a time | csmonitor.com

Disappearing dirt rivals global warming as an environmental threat

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The planet is getting skinned.

While many worry about the potential consequences of atmospheric
warming, a few experts are trying to call attention to another global
crisis quietly taking place under our feet.

Call it the thin brown line. Dirt. On average, the planet is covered
with little more than 3 feet of topsoil — the shallow skin of
nutrient-rich matter that sustains most of our food and appears to play
a critical role in supporting life on Earth.

“We’re losing more and more of it every day,” said David Montgomery, a geologist at the University of Washington.

The lowdown on topsoil: It’s disappearing