Explosions in Bangkok

The previous post was supposed to be my last for a while, but I just saw on the news that bombs have exploded in Thailand's capital of Bangkok.

The Bangkok Pundit is liveblogging the events. There's also an up-to-date summary of news at ScandAsia. It's not clear at this time who planted the bombs.

May all beings be safe.

南無阿彌陀佛

Hiatus and Happy New Year

I will be very busy in the upcoming month, so I'll probably not post here again until the end of January.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

南無阿彌陀佛

Discrimination against Dalits in India

More on the murder of a Buddhist Dalit family in India, which I wrote about in this previous post, and the on-going discrimination suffered by the Dalits in India. From BBC News:

The brutal killing of a family from the lower castes – known as Dalits – in India's western state of Maharashtra has revived the community's demand to be treated as equals in a society that has labelled them as outcasts.

The incident took place in a remote village called Khairlanji in Bhandara district situated in the north-east of the state.

On 29 September, Surekha Bhotmange, her 17-year-old daughter Priyanka, and two sons, 19-year-old Roshan and 21-year-old Sudhir were at home when an upper-caste mob broke into their mud hut and murdered them.

The details are gruesome. The four were reportedly dragged out and beaten with bicycle chains, sticks and other weapons. The mother and daughter were allegedly stripped and raped by the mob, many of whom lived in the same village and were possibly their neighbours.

The father and only surviving member, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, is a broken man but shows steely resolve when demanding justice for his family.

[...]

Thirty-year-old Baby Manohar Ramteke is a Dalit by birth and works in the fields.

She has lived in Bhabal, a village about two hours drive from the city of Nagpur, all her life and says they have always been ill-treated by others on the basis of their caste.

"First they wouldn't let us fill water from the common well, then there was an incident of someone vandalising the village temple statue so they blamed us for it. They keep calling us names and telling us we are dirty people," she said.

She finally got a separate water tap installed in the village for Dalit families.

[...]

In order to escape the caste system, many Dalits have adopted Buddhism as their new faith, as their leader, Dr Ambedkar, did.

The chief architect of the Indian constitution, Dr Ambedkar was born a Dalit but rose to a respectable position in society despite all odds. He enjoys iconic status among his people.

Retired professor and social worker Dr Rupa Kulkarni says those who followed him have forged ahead in life socially and financially. She said many of them have become top doctors, writers and bureaucrats.

"Leaving Hinduism and accepting Buddhism changed the entire mentality of Dalits, made them believe that even they were someone. They realised they had to revolt against the caste system and because of this their self-respect awakened," she said. [...]

Dr Kulkarni said discrimination in cities may not be as obvious as that in the villages, but it still exists and Dalits are not allowed to forget the caste they were born into.

"Before giving a house out on rent here, the tenant's caste is asked and Buddhists are banned completely even though their economic condition is such that they can buy the place. Inter-caste marriages are still prohibited.

"No matter how progressive people call themselves, that really progressive element – a generous and big heart – is still missing."

Mob violence, separate water taps, exclusion from certain neighbourhoods, and prohibitions against mixed marriage — why does all that sound so familiar?

南無阿彌陀佛

Buddhist temple built in Sri Lanka with Turkish funds

From Hürriyet (via The Buddhist Channel):

Among the 450 homes ordered built by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a Buddhist region of Sri Lanka hit hard by the tsunami two years ago, a Buddhist temple was also built with Turkish funds. State Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin yesterday recounted his impressions of the work done in Sri Lanka following the tsunami to the Council of Ministers in Ankara.

Sahin had newly returned from a ceremony in the region dedicating the new homes to the victims of the tsunami in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Said Sahin yesterday "In particular, the Buddhist temple built by Turkey in Sri Lanka has attracted a lot of interest. In fact, Buddhist monks came to two mosques in Colombo to thank the imams there for Turkey's initiative." Sahin reported that in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia, gratitude to Turkey for keeping its promises following the tsunami disaster was at an all time high.

A shining example of interfaith solidarity.

南無阿彌陀佛

Fire of hatred continues to burn in southern Thailand

In this previous post, I wrote about how Islamist insurgents in southern Thailand are targeting civilians and using fire as a weapon. It's now more than a month later, and the fire of hatred continues to burn. From the International Herald Tribune:

Two teachers were shot and burned to death in Thailand's restive south Friday by suspected Muslim insurgents, while a government worker and a grocery store owner were killed in other attacks, police said.

[...]

Despite offers of peace and reconciliation by the country's military-backed government, violence has increased in recent months.

Just as Christians worldwide aren't paying enough attention to what's happening to their co-religionists in the Middle East (see this previous post), Buddhists worldwide haven't been paying enough attention to the changing nature of the interaction between Muslims and Buddhists, and between Islam and Buddhism, in Southeast Asia (see these previous posts).

---

Update: The following article from The Nation refrains from naming the religion of the victims or that of the killers and bystanders, despite explicitly alluding to religious differences:

The wife of a teacher who was shot dead and set on fire by suspected militants has accused local villagers of doing nothing while her husband and his colleague were set ablaze.

On Friday, suspected militants shot dead Chamnong Chupatpong, the director of the Ban Bado elementary school, and a teacher, Manoe Sonkaew, and set their bodies on fire on a road just 100 metres away from the village school at which they worked in Yala's Tambon Yupo.

Kawin Chupatpong said the attack on her husband and his colleague had taken place in front of the villagers, who remained inside their homes instead of coming out to help the two victims.

"My husband has been helping them and educating their children for the past decade, and the differences in our religious beliefs was never an obstacle. But this shows that our good deeds were not reciprocated," Kawin said.

"My father and his school helped raised money for the construction of the local mosque, so the children could have a place to pray. He even used his own money," said the couple's daughter Monthida, a senior at Kasetsart University.

The context makes it clear that the victims were Buddhists while the villagers were primarily Muslim. While I understand the family's anguish, the villagers were probably too terrified for their own lives to do anything to prevent the murders.

Police Maj-General Phaitoon Choochaiya, commander of the Yala Provincial Police, told reporters yesterday that the absence of eyewitnesses has made his work much more difficult.

He said the brutal attack had sent a chilling message to the entire community, and hence the refusal of the villagers to come forward with information. [...]

Authorities said a new generation of militants have effectively shattered the fabric of the local community by singling out monks and teachers, along with security officials and their informants. [...]

This sentence is written in code: "monks and teachers" means "Buddhists", "informants" means "Muslims" (i.e., those who are sympathetic to Buddhists), and "shattered the fabric of the local community" means "driven a wedge of distrust and fear between them". And that is precisely the goal of the terrorists.

南無阿彌陀佛

Salon profiles B. Alan Wallace

In "Buddha on the brain", Salon profiles B. Alan Wallace, the author of "Contemplative Science":

The debate between science and religion typically gets stuck on the thorny question of God's existence. How do you reconcile an all-powerful God with the mechanistic slog of evolution? Can a rationalist do anything but sneer at the Bible's miracles? But what if another religion — a non-theistic one — offered a way out of this impasse? That's the promise that some people hold out for in Buddhism. [...]

B. Alan Wallace may be the American Buddhist most committed to finding connections between Buddhism and science. An ex-Buddhist monk who went on to get a doctorate in religious studies at Stanford, he once studied under the Dalai Lama, and has acted as one of the Tibetan leader's translators. Wallace, now president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, has written and edited many books, often challenging the conventions of modern science. [...]

In his new book, "Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge," Wallace takes on the loaded subject of consciousness. He argues that the long tradition of Buddhist meditation, with its rigorous investigation of the mind, has in effect pioneered a science of consciousness, and that it has much to teach Western scientists. [...]

I have a long list of books on the theme of "Buddhism and Science". Someday I will actually get around to reading them — and when I do, I will post my reviews here.

For now, however, my list has just increased by one.

南無阿彌陀佛

Merry Christmas, everyone

Yes, I wrote "Merry Christmas" — and not "Happy Holidays" or something more generic.

Even though I'm not a Christian, I think there's nothing wrong with wishing someone Merry Christmas or having someone (Christian or not) wishing me the same. People who avoid saying the word "Christmas" because of its religious connotation are just being silly.

Regardless of what one calls it, it's still a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Yes, I'm aware that many aspects of Christmas (including its date) originate in pre-Christian European pagan beliefs and practices. The exact same argument can be made of Vesak Day, the Buddha's birthday, with respect to the pre-Buddhist customs and religious beliefs of the Asian cultures for which it is now a holiday. If we can't refer to a holiday by its name because it borrows elements from pre-existing customs or because it might be perceived as exclusive, we'd have to refer to most holidays by generic names.

In the spirit of the season, here is a link to a list at fanpop! of 101 Classic Christmas videos which can be viewed online.

南無阿彌陀佛