Dalai Lama in Bloomington, Indiana

Noticed on the isdnews.com and indystar.com web sites this morning:

For Tibetan Buddhists, rain is a great blessing. So when the Dalai Lama returned to Indiana on Tuesday under a steady downpour, it was deemed an auspicious start to his six-day visit.

The Dalai Lama begins his six-day Bloomington visit Tuesday with an interfaith service held at 11 a.m. at St. Paul’s Catholic Center, located at 1413 E. 17th St.

The service is a private event and only invited guests will be allowed, due to security purposes. But those not in attendance can watch the service broadcast on WTIU, according to Inside Indiana’s Web site.

After the morning service, the Dalai Lama will be present at a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating a new arch at the Tibetan Cultural Center, at 3655 S. Snoddy Road.

The Dalai Lama will hold a series of three classes later in the week. His teachings for the classes are from Atisha’s “The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment,” and will be held from Wednesday through Friday at the IU Auditorium.

"The concept of war in the name of faith", the Dalai Lama said, "brings sadness to God."

“True followers of God must express compassion."

“The concept of war is out of date. Killing your neighbor is not your victory but your mutual self destruction.”

His visit culminates with a public talk titled “Compassion: the Source of Peace,” held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Assembly Hall.

Read the entire article at the isdnews.com web site.
• Related: Dalai Lama begins Indiana visit under tight security (indystar.com)
• Related: Dalai Lama Welcomed in Bloomington (WISH TV8)
• Related: Dalai Lama arrives in Indiana (+ short video) (WNDU ch16 TV)

Emorywheel: An Interview with His Holiness the Dalai Lama

From the Emory Wheel web site:

The Dalai Lama, Emory's newest professor, sat down for an interview on Oct. 21 with members of the media, including editors from The Emory Wheel. During the 20-minute discussion, the Tibetan spiritual leader talked about the political nature of his position, the importance of nonviolence and the happiest moment in his life.


Click here to watch the video of the interview, or click here for the transcript.

Dalai Lama, "So now I am your professor?"; arrives at Emory University

The Dalai Lama has always taught enlightenment — but what few people know is he says that path includes lessons in modern science.

And Emory will now assist Tibetans to realize His Holiness’s vision.

“It has been His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s lifelong vision to find a way to converge spirituality and science,” said Geshe Lobsan Tenzin Negi, chair of the Emory-Tibet partnership.

In early February this year Emeryville University, a private research university located in Atlanta, Georgia, announnced that the Dalai Lama would be joining Emory's faculty as a presidential distinguished professor. According to the Emorywheel website, "The appointment is the second this year to bring an internationally recognized name to Emory's faculty, following novelist Salman Rushdie's acceptance of a presidential distinguished professorship in October."

Yesterday, His Holiness arrived at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead to begin a weekend of celebrating his association with the university.

With a smile stretching from ear to ear, the Tibetan political and spiritual leader stepped out of his limo and turned to University President James W. Wagner, saying, "So now I am your professor?"

The Emorywheel article continues:
After greeting Buddhist devotees who had been waiting to catch a glimpse of him, the Dalai Lama reviewed the first presentation of a science curriculum designed by Emory faculty specifically for Buddhist monks.

"I am really impressed," the Dalai Lama said. "I think the effort from concerned people has created a concrete plan. It is wonderful."

Next summer, University faculty including religion professor John Dunne and biology professor Alexander Escobar will journey to the Tibetan exile community in Dharamsala, India, to educate Buddhist monks and nuns about modern science.

The Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI), a program co-directed by Negi and Assistant Dean of Science for Undergraduate Education Preetha Ram, have been discussing the curriculum and teaching strategies for more than a year.

• Related: Dalai Lama Named as Professor (Emorywheel web site)
• Related: Monks and Scientists to Conduct Research on Mind-Body Links (Emorywheel web site)
• Related Emory University on wikipedia

China reacts (badly) to Dalai Lama US Congressional Medal

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

(video) HH the 14th Dalai Lama's speech following receipt of U.S. Congressional Gold Medal

YouTube video of the CNN broadcast of the speech by HH The Dalai Lama, Part I.
Click here to view Part II on YouTube.

".. that death is our final destination. We have to go that way. Now, as a Buddhist, as a believer, what we can do is only pray, prayer, for those people's soul who are no longer with us."

"The consistency of the American support for Tibet has not gone unnoticed in China. This has caused some tension in the US - China relations. I feel a sense of regret. Today I wish to share with you all my sincere hope that the future of Tibet and China will move beyond mistrust, on to a relationship based on mutual respect, trust and recognition of common interests."

"I believe it is vital for China to have transparency, rule of law and freedom of information."

From Part II:
"On the future of Tibet, let me take this opportunity to state categorically, that I am not seeking independence, I am seeking a meaningful autonomy for the Tibetan people. Furthermore, I have no intention to use any agreement on autonomy as a stepping stone for Tibet's Independence. I have conveyed these thoughts to successive Chinese leaders."

Hackers exploiting Myanmar crisis?

Please note that, while this appears to describe a real trojan horse, we have not been able to substantiate this through other virus security sites such as Symantec or McAfee. Additionally, other reports we have found on the internet regarding this virus (google) seem to be doing little more than repeating the information in this story and/or in the Sophos press release.

Found on the star-techcentral.com web site.

KUALA LUMPUR: Computer users should be wary if they receive e-mail with links to the Dalai Lama's website because one such e-mail going around comes with a malicious attachment, said security solutions vendor Sophos.

The e-mail claims to be a message of support for monks and other protesters in Myanmar, from the Dalai Lama. But the attached document, if opened, will attempt to exploit a Microsoft Word vulnerability to download a trojan program onto the victim's computer.

Sophos said the e-mail attachment bears the filename "hhdl burma_001.doc." This trojan opens a "backdoor" in infected computers to let the hacker control the computer remotely.

The hacker can then steal passwords and other important personal information, such as bank account numbers, residing on the computer whenever the machine is connected to the Internet.

"People around the world are hungry to hear about the latest situation in Myanmar and may be tempted to read this so-called message from the Dalai Lama," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, in a press release.

Anyone receiving the e-mail should delete it immediately without reading the attached message, he added. Computer users are reminded that they should also have an antivirus program running on their machines and to download the very latest virus definitions. For more details, go to www.sophos.com/security/blog/2007/09/606.html.

Constructing a Mandala

Found on the IthacaJournal.com web site, we thought it a wonderful presentation. Be sure to visit the IthacaJournal.com site.



The monks of the Namgyal Monastery [wiki], of Dharamsala, India, and its branch in Ithaca are constructing two types of mandalas [wiki] at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, a Kalachakra Sand Mandala seen in the slide show above and a Thread-cross Mandala seen in a photo gallery on this page. Construction of such mandalas has the purpose of providing temporary dwellings for housing Tantric Buddhist deities. The monks will continue to work until the mandalas are completed approximately Saturday October 6th. This tradition was originally reserved for the monastic environment, but in recent decades the Dalai Lama has allowed the construction of sand mandalas in public places as a cultural offering and to promote preservation of Tibetan traditions.

The sound heard with the slideshow is from the monks creating vibrations in the copper chukpu or funnels that then precisely place the sand into the mandala.

For more information about related events go to www.museum.cornell.edu.

You can read this article on the IthacaJournal.com web site, which includes a photo gallery.

Free Burma: October 4, 2007

International bloggers are acting to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to be a sign of freedom and to show our sympathy for the people who, without weapons, are fighting this cruel regime. We join with thousands of other bloggers around the world in this action and are closing down this blog on October 4. This one banner offers our solidarity with the monks and laity in Burma.

Myanmar and engaged buddhism

Found recently on The Nation web site ...

If you think that Buddhist monks in Myanmar currently waging protests against the military powers are passive and peace loving, think again. After a monthlong protest, hundreds have been arrested while dozens of others have died or sustained serious injuries since the Burmese junta began its crackdown

"Engaged Buddhism"--a term coined by Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh--has long been the practice in the region. In Vietnam, the ruling class knows each time a Buddhist monk sets himself ablaze they'd better watch out. That was certainly true in 1963 when a Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc immolated himself in downtown Saigon to protest a crackdown on Buddhism. Unrest grew as civilian fear turned into anger, and Ngo Dinh Diem's regime fell soon afterward.

Buddhism through a Western lens can appear rosy for its messages of compassion, inner peace, and self-cultivation. In Asian societies Buddhism as an institution has a much broader political impact, comparable to those of Jesuit priests. Thich Nhat Hanh, taking his cue from Zen Buddhism (where Japanese Buddhist monks apply mindfulness to every action, be it drinking tea, shooting an arrow, or arranging flowers), saw engagement and activism as part of their Buddhist practice.

The prominent Thai social critic and activist Sulak Sivaraksa, author of Socially Engaged Buddhism, agreed with Hanh. "In making Buddhism more relevant for the contemporary world, it is important not to compromise on the essentials, such as the ethical precepts (sila)," he noted. "However, these ethical precepts need to be rethought in order to make sense of life in contemporary societies. Buddhists traditionally have lived in rather simple societies, largely agrarian."

• Read the entire article on The Nation web site.