Updated December 15, 2019 10:57:00

Eng-Kong Tan wants you to get used to disappointment it could save your marriage.

When the honeymoon period is over, he says, you need someone outside the relationship who can say: "It's OK. It's part of the journey of intimacy."

He's not trying to burst anyone's bubble. In fact, he wants to help people stay together.

The Buddhist consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist provides mindfulness-based couples therapy.

Mindfulness is the practice of being in the present moment without judgemental thoughts.

And he knows a thing or two about how to make love last he's been happily married for 48 years.

While his religion Buddhism and mindfulness are closely connected, he is careful to separate the two in his work.

He acknowledges that similar techniques exist in Western psychology, and that comparable spiritual practices can be found in other religious traditions.

"I don't even call it Buddhist, because mindfulness is now in the air," he explains.

The point of his approach is to find new ways for couples to relate to one another and weather the inevitable hardships that come with being in an intimate relationship.

The process of choosing our beloved is a small cog in the wheel of romantic partnership, according to Eng-Kong.

He says the real test of a marriage isn't how well we've chosen it's how well we survive "all the disillusionments".

He is wary of the way popular culture puts romance on a pedestal, and he doesn't appreciate saccharine love songs on the radio.

"'You are the one', 'you are perfect for me' no! That is because they're in love," he says.

"When we're in love, we project onto the other what is perfect for us. But the other is not that."

The key is to check our unconscious expectations.

"Sometimes we think we marry someone because we just want to love them," Eng-Kong says.

But deep down, we might be looking for someone who gives us the order we need, "emotionally and psychologically".

He advises against believing in the "storybook happily ever after". Instead, he says, couples should focus on how to work together through inevitable disappointment.

Eng-Kong says it's a good idea to look for someone who isn't only attracted to you, "but fundamentally you feel is a good person who wants to take care of you".

He calls the drive to care for other people a "fundamental ingredient", and says that even the most severe marital problems can be solved if it is present.

Eng-Kong starts and ends each session by meditating with his clients.

He says this gives them "five minutes of quiet self-reflection" to help imprint "what was good and useful" about the session for later use.

These meditations are integral to Buddhism, as mindfulness is one element of the eightfold path that Buddha described as a route to Enlightenment.

The path has three arms moral conduct, mental discipline and wisdom with corresponding actions that are all interconnected, like a wheel, a prominent Buddhist symbol.

Piyasoma Medis, a lay Buddhist teacher and preacher, says following the eightfold path is not a selfish pursuit it's designed to benefit the people around you.

"It's an outward-looking way of leading a Buddhist life," Piyasoma, who has also been married for 48 years, explains.

"In our relationship, my wife should be my priority. And she feels the same way about me."

Piyasoma says practising right thought detachment from malice and selfish desire inevitably leads to right speech.

"You choose your words really carefully without hurting others," he says.

Right speech influences compassion in dealing with other people, and the cycle continues.

Eng-Kong says the Buddhist idea of rejecting the inward-focused, singular, unchanging self is a deeply useful tool in understanding the way we relate to others, including a partner.

The spiritual self is "less and less I, me and mine", he says. "Meaning in life is not about what I want or what I own, or what is mine.

"What gives us meaning in life is to understand there is no substantial, permanent, fixed self. We're always evolving."

Problems arise when we try to fix or hold elements in place, like thinking: "I want to be forever young. I want to keep this money, and this money must never leave me."

When we understand that constant evolution is a natural state, Eng-Kong says we come to understand inter-being the recognition that we are all deeply connected.

"Yourself and myself, I'm not actually separate. We're part of the human universe. That is what we call the transcendental self."

He says relationships exist in the "area of the interbeing".

"When there is a relationship, we should be growing together, not in competition, and not in an outward way, but in an inward way."

Eng-Kong says he speaks publicly about his mindfulness work to normalise the practice of sharing and to help his clients develop healthy relationships.

"Mindfulness itself modulates emotions, and it's often when emotions are running all over the place or are too intense that communication breaks down," he says.

And he wants other people to know that they're not alone when it comes to having intense feelings.

"Even the Dalai Lama says: 'I get angry and I lose my head!'"

Topics: buddhism, psychology, psychiatry, relationships, marriage, emotions, sydney-2000, nsw, australia

First posted December 15, 2019 07:00:00

View post:
You probably knew mindfulness could help you with stress. But did you know it could save your marriage? - ABC News

This month, October, marks the end of vassa or the Buddhist Lent, the three months rainy season retreat observed by the Sangha or Buddhist monastic communities. The end of vassa is celebrated by Buddhists with Pavarana, the inviting ceremony, followed by Kathina, the robe offering ceremony, which take place on Uposatha (Observance) day. At the end of Buddhist Lent, Buddhist monks are free to travel again, but before parting they should maintain monastic discipline and punish offenders, in order to purify the Sangha. At the Pavarana ceremony, each monk invites the other monks to point out to him any faults he has committed during the vassa retreat period.

Kathina robe-offering ceremony

The word kathina denotes a cotton cloth offered by lay people to bhikkhus (monks) annually, after the end of the vassa rainy retreat, for the purpose of making robes. On the termination of vassa, the Kathina robe offering ceremony is usually held at the monastery. This practice started quite early in Buddhist society, with the approval of the Buddha himself. When the Buddha was staying at Jetavana monastery at Savatthi, he granted permission for the bhikkhus to accept kathina robes from the laity, as several bhikkhus only had old and torn robes. It is the Sangha as a whole which receives these gifts of robes or plain cloth from the laity: the cloth must be offered to the whole Sangha, and not to individuals, and the bhikkhus will then decide which of the monks should receive the gifts. If the kathina offered is plain cloth, selected monks will do the cutting, sewing, and dying of the cloth in a single day. The gifts are then distributed to the individual monastics who have properly observed the rainy retreat.

Jivaka, the Buddhas physician, is described as the first layman to offer robes to Buddhist monks. Before that, Buddhist monks made their robes themselves from pieces of rag cloth. Jivaka also requested the Buddha to allow the monks to accept robes donated by lay people. The Buddha appreciated that it was very hard for the monks to make their robes themselves and he allowed his monks to accept kathina robes donated by the laity. British Library.

When the Buddha granted his disciples permission to accept kathina robes, lay people from the city of Rajagaha brought the garments and other requisites to the monastery. The Buddha is sitting at the centre, surrounded by monks and lay people. Rows of monastic gifts, such as kathina robes and other requisites, are depicted in front of the Buddha. British Library, Or. 14405, ff. 36-37

Dana, or giving, is a practice essential to Buddhism, and the offering of kathina robes is considered to be one of the most meritorious deeds. Offering kathina robes to the Sangha is thus valued as a way of keeping alive the true spirit of offering, as taught by the Buddha, and at the Kathina ceremony monks will chant the Kammavaca for Kathina robes. Kammavaca is a Pali term and it refers to collections of passages from the Tipitaka concerning ordination, the bestowing of robes and other rituals of monastic life. A Kammavaca is a highly ornamental type of manuscript, usually commissioned by lay members of society as a work of merit.

The manuscript shown above (Or. 12010A) contains the following Kammavaca texts: Upasampada (Official Act for the conferment of the Higher Ordination), Kathinadussadana (Official Act for the holding of the Kathina ceremony), Ticivarena-avippavasa (text for the investiture of a monk with the three robes), Sima-sammannita (Official Act for the Agreement of boundary limits), Thera-sammuti (Official Act to agree upon the seniority of theras), Nama-sammuti (Official Act to agree upon a name), Vihara-kappa-bhumi-sammuti (text of the dedication of a Vihara), Kui-vatthu-sammuti (Official Act to search and agree upon a site for a hut), and Nissaya-muti-sammuti (Official Act to agree upon relaxation of the requisites).

The Festival of Light This festival celebrates the anniversary of the Buddhas return from the celestial abode where he had spent Lent, giving the sermon on Abhidhamma or the Higher Doctrines to celestial beings and his former mother, who had been reborn as a deva. It was on the full moon day of the month of October that the Buddha descended from the Tavatimsa heaven to the abode of humans. Humans on earth therefore illuminate their homes, and paper lanterns dazzle the streets, to welcome back the Buddha, and candles and lighted little bowls of oil are placed on the terraces of the pagodas. The event is celebrated with lights, which is why it is called the Festival of Light. People pay obeisance to their parents and elders, following the example of the Buddha who paid a visit to his former mother to repay his debt of gratitude.

The Kathina festival held at the conclusion of the rainy retreat originated 2,500 years ago and is still celebrated by Buddhists, with alms giving and offering of robes to the monks who observed the retreat. Buddhists believe that the offering of kathina robes is a great act, but in addition to giving robes, lay supporters also consider the bhikkhus other needs. The bhikkhus who receive the kathina robes deliver sermons to the lay supporters. The Festivals thus bring ordinary people together with the Buddhist orders, in a joyful spirit of shared devotion. In some places fire balloons rise up in the sky in order to pay homage to the Culamani Pagoda in Tavatimsa heaven, where the relic of the Buddhas hair is believed to be enshrined. According to Theravada tradition, these offerings take place over a period of one month, from 19th October to 16 November.

This post was previously published on bl.uk and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.

Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.

Photo credit: Istockphoto.com

The Asian and African Studies blog is written largely by curators in Asia and African Studies, but also includes contributions from colleagues across the Library, with occasional guest contributions. The blog focuses on the extraordinarily diverse collections in Asian and African Studies which constitute one of the worlds finest resources for the study of Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

See more here:
The Buddhist Kathina Festival - The Good Men Project

(RNS) Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This weeks gallery includes a shooting in a Jewish community in New Jersey, an annual procession in honor of the Virgin Mary near Los Angeles, and more.

Orthodox Jewish men carry Moshe Deutsch's casket outside a Brooklyn synagogue following his funeral, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019 in New York. Deutsch was killed Tuesday in a shooting inside a Jersey City, N.J. kosher food market. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Bullet holes are seen on a piece of metal as people work to secure the scene of a shooting at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, N.J., Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. The city's mayor says gunmen targeted the kosher market during a shooting that killed six people Tuesday. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama wears a ceremonial yellow hat of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism at the Kirti Monastery in Dharmsala, India, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. The Tibetan leader presided over a function marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of the monastery in exile. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

Exile Tibetan Buddhist monks perform by clapping their hands during a debate on Buddhist dialectics at the Kirti Monastery in Dharmsala, India, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was on hand to mark the monastery's 25th anniversary. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

Pope Francis prays in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary, near Rome's Spanish Steps, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, an annual tradition marking the start of the city's holiday season. In the background people look out from the balcony and windows of the Spanish Embassy. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi addresses judges of the International Court of Justice as Gambia's Justice Minister Aboubacarr Tambadou, left, listens on the second day of three days of hearings in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. Aung San Suu Kyi is representing Myanmar in a case filed by Gambia at the ICJ, the United Nations' highest court, accusing Myanmar of genocide in its campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Hundreds of pilgrims hike up Mount Rubidoux, in Riverside, California, as part of a 2.5-mile procession to celebrate the Virgin Mary, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. The annual "El Camino de San Juan Diego" takes place the weekend before the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which falls on Dec. 12. RNS photo by Alejandra Molina

Pilgrims attend a Mass atop Mount Rubidoux at the conclusion the annual "El Camino de San Juan Diego" procession in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Riverside, California, on Dec. 7, 2019. RNS photo by Alejandra Molina

A child plays with a balloon as Kashmiri Muslim devotees offer prayers outside the shrine of Sufi saint Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. Hundreds of devotees gathered at the shrine for the 11-day festival that marks the death anniversary of the Sufi saint. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill pays his last respect to former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov during a funeral ceremony at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. One of the founders of Russia's ruling United Russia party, Luzhkov, has died at the age of 83. (Sergei Vlasov, Russian Orthodox Church Press Service via AP)

View post:
Photos of the Week - Religion News Service

From left, Yvonne, Sabrina, Elena and Joanna are among about 450 Buddhist nuns on P.E.I.

Yvonne had always wanted to be the "perfect wife," so for her, she says, the hardest part about becoming a Buddhist nun was having to break up with her boyfriend.

For Sabrina, who grew up adoring boy bands like the Backstreet Boys, it was telling her father. She knew it would be a shock, so she waited until Christmas Eve to break the news.

Joanna saw herself spending her 20s soaking up the energy of New York, immersed in the colourful arts and culture scene. Not in rural P.E.I., wearing a beige robe day in and day out, her long, flowing hair shaved shorter than an army sergeant.

It wasn't a big stretch for Elena, however, given that her older sister was a Buddhist nun and her brother a monk.

The women are part of the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute, a growing monastery on P.E.I. of about 450 nuns with an average age of 29. It is separate from the monks' Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society, but many, like Elena, Sabrina and Yvonne, have brothers there.

Family is a common thread among the nuns, they said. There are 66 pairs of siblings and cousins, and four sets of mother and daughter.

They come from different parts of the world, with different backgrounds.But at some point in their "normal" lives, they found a new purpose. They not only practise Buddhism in their everyday lives, but in the past few years have been invited to teach mindfulness and wellness workshops at businesses and organizations in P.E.I.,Ontario and the U.S.

They can come and go freely and communicate with their families, they said. Many have had their families visit them at the monastery.

The nuns can leave the monastery permanently at any time, though they say only two per cent of ordained nuns ever do.

Here are the stories of how and why four highly-educated women, while in their 20s, decided to give up their dreams of family and a career for a life of celibacy, study and devotion to Buddhism.

Yvonne was born in Taiwan and spent her high school years in New Zealand. She moved to the United States to study businessat Purdue University.

She had a loving boyfriend, and talked about getting married and settling in the U.S.It was all good.

"I never thought that I would become a nun," she said. "I thought I wanted to become a perfect wife and a successful businesswoman just like my mom."

Things began to change, she said, during a management lecture at Purdue. The professor asked the class what they thought was the most important thing in their lives, and all 600 students went silent, blank looks on their faces.

"At that moment I was really shocked. I was like, 'So what's the most important thing for my life?' I want to know."

After speaking with her professor and her parents, she decided to leave the business program and find her dream. Maybe go to Africa and help women.

First, she went to visit her parents in Taiwan. This was big news. Buddhists themselves, they suggested she attend a Buddhismdiscussion group.

"Surprisingly, it really hit me," she said. "To me it was not like a religion, but it was more like a tool that I can make myself happier."

She wanted to pursue it further, and made plans to join the monastery.But first, she had to tell her boyfriend.

"That was the hardest part, because we didn't break up because we had any problem," she said.

"Of course, he was very sad. So every single time we talked about it he would cry and I would cry. But we said goodbye and then I joined the monastery after that."

Fifteen years later, she said she has no regrets.

Before she became a Buddhist nun 13 years ago, Sabrina said she had a "very normal" lifein southern California.

She grew up a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, and like many teenage girls at the time, fawned overboy bands like the Backstreet Boys. She once saw 'N Sync play live!

She loved going to Disneyland, especially when she could get in for free as part of a youth orchestra that played there twice a year.

"I had a pretty happy childhood," she said. "My family was very loving and I had a lot of fun growing up."

As she got older, she realized not everybody did,that with all the joys in life, "there's always a sliver of pain and suffering."

She thought the best way to help people would be to study psychology. In her second year of university in San Diego County, she asked three accomplished psychologists if they could do it all over again, would they?

"Each of them told me no. I was like, 'What?' I got really confused."

So in her third year she decided to study abroad and, on the advice of her mother, check out a Buddhist retreat in Taiwan.

Little did her mom know that a year later Sabrina would come home and tell her she wanted to become a Buddhist nun.

"She thought I would just go to the retreat and that was it."

After the initial shock, her mom, who is Buddhist, came around, especially after Sabrina told her she would go on to graduate school if it didn't work out.

Her dad, who is not a Buddhist well, she had to wait for just the right time to tell him.

That time was Christmas Eve, right after supper.

"He was like, 'So you're about to graduate university. Do you have any plans in mind?'" she recalled.

"I was like, you know, dad, I was thinking maybe after I graduate university I'd become a Buddhist nun and he was like, 'What?... Um, go upstairs I need to talk to your mom for a bit.'"

She waited upstairs with her brother, Matthew, for about an hour when she was finally called back down. Her mom put out a plate of apples.

"I could see my dad was a little teary eyed. He had cried I think," Sabrina said.

"First he double-checked to see if I was crazy and then he realized I was being serious and then he just started thinking, well what can I do for you."

She knew he had finally accepted her decision when he bought her a new pair of thermal underwear, which shewears under her robe during the cold P.E.I. winters.

In 2017, after graduating from med school at Berkeley and working as a doctor for 10 years in Los Angeles, Sabrina's brother Matthew moved to P.E.I. to become a Buddhist monk at GEBIS.

Joanna grew up an only child in northern California, but it was always her goal to live in New York City after graduating university.

"I loved the energy, I loved the vibe of the city, I loved the culture and the arts there and I really wanted to surround myself with that," she said.

She said her "eyes were opened" when she went to university to study health psychology.

"My best friend growing up as a child suffered from severe depression and I always wanted to find a way to help her because I really didn't know what to do when I was 14, 15, 16," she said.

"I realized that there were a lot more problems in the world than just my friend and then I suddenly felt very small and that I didn't really know how I could contribute and what I could do for the world."

She knew people friends and family who were well educated and had good careers but still seemed unhappy and dissatisfied with life.

She began studying Buddhism as a way of helping others find joy. Her mother, a Buddhist, had always wanted this path for her, she said, but eventually gave up on the idea given her "way of life before joining the monastery."

"I surprised a lot of people," she said. "I wanted a family. I knew how many kids I wanted. I probably had their names figured out."

Before becoming a nun, she said she would spend hours on her hair and picking out clothes.

"Now I save all that time because it's just very simple. It allows us to focus on the things that we want to focus on and for us that's studying and improving ourselves and becoming better people."

She's been a Buddhist nun for six years, and has "not regretted a day." That was reaffirmed on a recent outreach trip to New York, she said.

"New York was again full of arts, full of culture, full of diversity. But coming back to P.E.I., coming back to the monastery I was like, 'You know, no, this is where home is and this is where I belong.'"

Elena was born and raised in Taiwan. As a kid she travelled around Asia and Europe a lot with her parents.

She studied foreign languages and literature. Shecan speak multiple languages, including French.

Her older sister became a Buddhist nun in 2006, not long after hearing the Dalai Lama speak in India.

"She was really moved because she is always someone who wants to perfect herself," Elena said.

Elena said she and her younger brother were sad at first because theywere a very close family. Then, in 2008, her brother became a Buddhist monk.

"He thought that some of the things the monks are learning are really interesting. For instance, what he found most fascinating was that debate, he found that can really sharpen your thinking."

After her siblings joined, Elena began to think more and more about joiningas well.

Then some tragedies struck. She learned an old high school classmate, who became a talented musician, had died of leukemia. And one Christmas morning while staying with family friends in France, she came downstairs to see them hugging and crying after learning their neighbour had died by suicide the night before.

"These events really shocked me because I started to really think this is something that everyone might encounter, the struggling times in life," she said.

"I always only looked at the happy side, like travelling or learning new things or making new friends. But what can I really do for my life and for the ones I love? Or maybe even more people? And how can I really make good use of my life?"

She found those answers six years ago, she said, when she became a Buddhist nun.

Visit link:
'He was like, what?': Why 4 women left their 'normal' lives to become Buddhist nuns - CBC.ca

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 37th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous articles.

BANGKOK (IDN) On a Saturday morning a couple drives into the Santi Asoke community in the north-eastern outskirts of Bangkok, and walks into a large warehouse stacked with clothes, shoes, books, electrical goods, mobile phones, washing machines, furniture and other household items. The couple inspects a stack of clothes scattered on a mat, picks some up and puts it in a basket. It is then taken to a volunteer cashier, who weighs it and quotes a price.

This is a type of a Buddhist supermarket where almost all goods for sale are second hand, donated by the devotees and sold here to raise money for Santi Asoke TV station. They make about Bhat 800,000 to 600,000 (USD 19,000-26,000) a month.

People donate whatever they dont need. We have no set price. They will come and collect the pieces they want to buy, like in wholesale, and we quote a price, explained community leader Samdin Lersbusway, while taking Lotus News on a tour of the community.

> Secondhand clothes being sold at a Buddhist supermarket in Santi Asoke community in the north-eastern outskirts of Bangkok. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS.

The shop sells everything from clothes to air conditioners. Things that cannot be sold directly, we repair and sell. We also recycle paper, plastics and sell to recyclers, he added. Anyone can donate stuff to us. Sometimes we get new goods from the rich.

Taking a lift to the third storey of a multistorey block we visit the modest facilities of Santi Asoke TV station where only their Liaison Officer Thongkaeo and her cameraman a student was present. They dont have a station manager or a program manager, but they broadcast 24-hours a day on satellite and when the need arises live on Facebook and LINE. Its operations are coordinated by the Liaison Officer.

A recorded feature was being broadcast when I visited them.

We have run the TV station for 10 years. We work as a family, says Thongkaeo, adding, I plan schedules, do interviews, arrange visitors to be interviewed, and during school term students help us. She invites me to take part in a discussion with her about Lotus Communication Network with the help of an English interpreter. But, before we start the interview she points out, we may be the only TV station in the world where no staff is paid. All staff has to be multitalented.

Samdin adds further that they work on the basis everybody-works-for free and the money they earn from their labour goes to a central fund which is managed by the Santi Asoke community. They have seven communities across Thailand, with the largest one and their headquarters in Ubon Ratchathani in north-east of Thailand near the Laos border.

Santi Asoke was founded by Bodhiraksa, a famous television entertainer in the 1970s, who became a monk in the early 1980s. He was not happy with the behavior of many monks who were non-vegetarian and involved with black magic rituals. Thus, he left the temple with a group of followers and set up a third sect of monks outside the control of the State. They became an outlawed sect in the tightly controlled Thai clergy.

But, when Santi Asoke member Major-General Chamlong Srimuang was elected as the Governor of Bangkok in 1985 and later showed interest in joining national politics there was a systematic campaign to demonise the group. Chamlong was extremely popular as a Governor, regarded as a Mr Clean, who lived modestly according to the Asoke teachings, ate one vegetarian meal a day, rejected tobacco and alcohol, and did not gamble or visit night-clubs, noted Mahidool University Professor Marja-Leena Heikkila-Horn in a study on Santi Asoke.

Chamlong had a potential to clean up the corrupt political establishment of the kingdom with a Buddhist moral movement that could appeal to the population, where 95 percent claim to be Buddhist.

In order to prevent Chamlong from taking to the national stage in politics, his Buddhist affiliations needed to be declared illegal, explains Prof Heikkila-Horn. Bodhiraksa was detained in June 1989 and all the Asoke monks and nuns were detained for one night in August 1989. A court case was filed against them that year; it lasted until 1996.

The economic crisis of 1997, where excessive greed and borrowing was identified as the root cause of the problem, stocks of Santi Asoke began to rise, because they have always been critical of greedy capitalism and promoted the concept of Buddhist economics known as bunniyom (meritism).

The purpose of having a business here is not to make money. We make contacts in doing business to practice the dhamma (virtues), says Samdin. Business here is viable because people want food. Take little profit so that they can continue to take a little wage.

He was explaining this principle to Lotus News while walking through their weekend market where the farmers (who dont use chemical inputs in their farms) sell their vegetables and fruits at a modest profit. There were also a number of vegetarian restaurants that were selling meals virtually for free.

> Chef Glang Din at the Indian restaurant with the notice board with keys for free meals on he left on the wall. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS.

An Indian vegetarian restaurant run by a Thai chef was giving food free of charge to monks, nuns and residents of the lay community here who have to come before 10.30 am to eat. Other people pay. They may also leave a donation to give one a free meal, chef Glang Din explained, pointing to keys on a noticeboard he said, key is on a board to show how many free meals are available. If you want to get one, take a key and give it to me for a free meal. Anyone can do it. He added that if you donate 4,000 Bhat (USD 130) I will give free meals for the day to everyone who wants a meal here.

At the height of the economic crisis in 1998, the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej famously advised Thais to follow a sufficiency economics model of contented economic self-reliance. This was what Santi Asoke has been practicing since its inception.

When business tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra came to power in 2001, Santi Asoke got the opportunity to preach their economic ideal to the rural masses. He delegated to Santi Asoke the government-financed training of tens of thousands of indebted farmers in Asoke centres. Farmers came in groups of about 100 and stayed for five days. They learnt about organic farming, recycling and reusing, and were obliged to listen to sermons on the virtues of vegetarianism and bunniyom.

Each Santi Asoke community, like the centre here, whose leafy 7 acre property is surrounded by creeping high rise buildings of developers, has in addition to the warehouse, the market space and restaurants, two multistorey apartment buildings housing lay followers, kutis (cottages) for monks and nuns, a school building, a health centre, departmental store selling mainly organic and herbal products, and a 4-storey unfinished temple in concrete with an artificial water fall behind a Buddha statue. They have been constructing the building in stages for 30 years, when we have money to do it says Samdin.

Interestingly, they dont have the large Buddha statues and lavish shrine rooms Thai temples normally have. Our community has 3 sections temple, school and community. All 3 are integrated, says Prouputt Kaodura, English interpreter for the community.

We dont worship Buddha the way others do. Buddha statues remind us of his teachings. Its not true that we dont respect Buddha, she adds. Chipping in Samdin says, Buddha statues means 3 things to us about worldly things, being knower of the world, having compassion.

Thus, the rooms and floors that surround the Buddha statue are areas for retreats, classes, conference rooms, meeting rooms and a library. It is a place for people to work, a very practical path, says Prouputt.

The Santi Ashoke communities are self-sustained Buddhist communities. Monks and people live according to the teachings of Buddha and they have developed a system of sustainable living, says Thai television producer Pipope Panitchpakdi who has reported on the community many times.

It is something good for todays world facing climate change and political divisions, etc, he says, pointing out that because Santi Asoke believes that capitalism is against humanity, the commercialized mainstream media shuns them.

* A video documentary on the Santi Asoke community can be viewed on Lotus Comm Net https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooQHk16Owlc [IDN-InDepthNews 09 December 2019]

Photo (top): Farmers selling their vegetables and fruits from organic farming at a modest profit in the weekend market. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS.

Photos (in text): 1. Secondhand clothes being sold at a Buddhist supermarket in Santi Asoke community in the north-eastern outskirts of Bangkok. 2. Chef Glang Din at the Indian restaurant with the notice board with keys for free meals on he left on the wall. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS.

IDN is flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate.

facebook.com/IDN.GoingDeeper - twitter.com/InDepthNews

See the article here:
Grassroots Buddhism Flourishes in the Outskirts of Bangkok - IDN InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters

In Silicon Valley, you are always an iPhones throw from a Buddhist. Some of them will have arrived at their Buddhism the usual wayfamily, culturebut a fair few will have adopted it later in life, as a piece of their adult identity. Even if theyre not checking the Buddhist box on the census, youll know them by their Zen meditation retreats, their references to the Middle Way, their wealth of Steve Jobs trivia. Did you know that Steve Jobs was a Buddhist who studied under Zen priest Kobun Chino Otogawa and once wandered India in search of a guru? Did you know Jobs swiped Apples famous Think different slogan from the Dalai Lama? Did you know Buddhism and tech companies have a grand historical synergy? When I moved to California from the East Coast, I did not. After living and working in San Francisco for a few years, I see Buddha everywhere.

In a place as secular and science-minded as Silicon Valley tends to be, finding room for Buddhism at work might seem like a stretch, but it isnt. High-profile examples of in-office Buddhism, like Googles Search Inside Yourself course, permeate the Valley. Bringing Buddha to work is, in fact, the point of a new book by a Facebook (and Microsoft, Instagram, YouTube, and Google) alum, data analyst and Zen priest Dan Zigmond. Its called Buddhas Office. In essence, its a book on Buddhism disguised as a self-help text aimed at office workers, and if that makes you want to close this tab, dont.

Buddha's Office by Dan Zigmond | Buy on Amazon

When I first met Zigmond at San Francisco lunch spot HRD, I was skeptical too. Not because Im opposed to tech workers being interested in and even practicing Buddhism. Full disclosure: Im married to a Buddhist-ish man who once gave up everything for a spider-infested Sri Lankan monastery and now works at a tech company. I was skeptical because I had real doubts that someone who lived in the South Bay and had held positions at a string of highly successful tech companies could possibly be living life along the Middle Way, the first teaching Buddha gave after his awakening, which basically amounts to avoiding extremes of any kind.

The lifestyle surrounding tech companiesparticularly the ones Zigmond has worked foris nothing if not extreme. Maybe toxically so. I had watched my partner wrestle with this truth for years and came to feel it myself. Then in came Zigmond, purporting to have all the answers, while owning a house in one of the most expensive regions in the country and suggesting we meet at a restaurant best known for burritos stuffed with barbecued meat. (Buddhism generally encourages vegetarianism.) How could he be anything but the stereotypical Silicon Valley Buddhist, the ones who preach productivity as if it is enlightenment?

Well, some of that was pretty unfair of me. For one, Zigmonda small, trim, bespectacled man with kind eyes and quiet mannersis a vegetarian after all. When we sat down together over eggplant katsu, the first thing he said to me was, What can I do for you? The second was something about how much he liked my colleague Cade Metzs coverage of his last book, Buddhas Diet, which recommends fasting intermittently like Buddhist monks, some of whom dont eat after noon. Zigmonds understated asceticism is disarming, though. He takes extremely neat bites, even of uncooperative foods like slippery deep-fried eggplant and cabbage salad. I started trying to twirl my cabbage shreds around my fork like spaghetti.

Zigmond comes from a Jewish background, but hes been a Buddhist for three decades, since college. After graduating, he left the United States for Thailand, where he lived at a Buddhist temple and taught English at a refugee camp. (His Facebook banner image looks to be from that time: Hes skinny, wearing sunglasses, a bandana, and a blue tie-dye shirt.) Even after returning to the States, he planned to remain a full-time Buddhist. While I was at the San Francisco Zen Center, I met my wife, I fell in love, and I had to get a job to support the family I wanted to have, he said. For a long time, I kept work and Buddhism separate. Work was what was keeping me from this other dream I had.

That changed when he left Google and began working at Facebook. (Zigmond acknowledges Googles embrace of Eastern philosophy with programs like Search Inside Yourself but also said that while working there he would go practice real Buddhism on the weekends.) When I got to Facebook, they made this big deal about bringing your authentic self to work, Zigmond says. I was really impressed by that. That really moved me. He began working in what he calls Buddhas office, a working life inspired by the teachings of Buddhism, and, over time, he decided that the practice was a book in its own right. Zigmond, like many people, sees sickness in contemporary working culture. He remembers a time when the only people always on-call were doctors and drug dealers, whereas now he feels like even baristas are tethered to their email. Buddhism, ultimately, is all about balance, he says. To Zigmond, we all look pretty wobbly.

See original here:
Diss Tech Buddhists All You Wantbut Read This Book First - WIRED

Manuraj Shunmugasundaram is the National Media Spokesperson for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. He is the Chair of the Steering Committee for Australia India Youth Dialogue. He is also a lawyer and practices at the Madras High Court. He is also a part of the Steering Committee for the School of Policy and Governance.

In the past, he has also served as a Policy Advisor to Members of Parliament. In November of 2010, Mr. Shunmugasundaram was selected as a Fellow of the Legislative Fellows Program, organized by the U.S. State Department, in 2010. He also participated in the European Union Visitor Program in 2013 as well as the Australia-India Youth Dialogue in 2014. He was a part of Project Interchange Indian delegation to visit Israel & Palestine in 2017.

Mr. Shunmugasundaram works to advance the cause of responsible politics, participatory governance, and evidence-based public policy. He is a regular contributor to The Hindu, Times of India, Indian Express, Huffington Post and The Print.

39 , NRC , , , Pet

2011 ... , , - , 2019

- , 17 Youth Ki Awaaz 11 YKA - , INK , 30 30 ,

SECMOL - , , , Humans Of Bombay We The People , 5000 , 12.5K

26 , RJ , , ,

, , , , , MMI , ,

2016 , () 100 SB4 2018 2018 2017

(IAS) 2011 , 2016 / - 200 , 80,000 , , - , 2019 - , , ,

, , - 6 ( ) , 2015

3 , 15 F5 Escapes / , -

, , Brotherhood of humanity 2017 - United Religions Initiative

Vasundhra is a fifth-year student at National Law University, Delhi. She is a core member of the research being conducted by Project 39A on issues of mental health of death row prisoners. As part of this, she has travelled across the country to meet and interview death row prisoners as well as their families.

She is also part of the core team at Parichay, which is a collaborative legal aid clinic spread across law schools in the country. It aims to assist those excluded from the NRC list in filing appeals. She has also founded a queer straight alliance on campus, which facilitates important conversations surrounding gender and sexuality. Part of being a law student, she believes, is a duty to use the law as an agent for progressive change in society, focusing especially on groups on the margins of society.

Talk to her about her dog and her favourite saxophonists.

Scroll.in TheWire.in , , - Scroll.in ,

2016 , , , , 7 () 2016 5

10 , , , , Youtube 10

2017 (Notre Affaire a Tous) 5 (, , , ) ,

, , 2017 #MyTrainToo Change.org 200k

BBC 100 Women 2017

2014 , Being Human ,

,

2015 , , , ,

66A, SaveTheInternet.in, SpeechBill.in SaveOurPrivacy.in

1991 , 2006 , 2015 , 2016 ,

, , Adivasi Lives Matter Youth Ki Awaaz 500 2013 2019 2015 (), 2017

9 17 2003 , , 3-4

Shikha Mandi is a 26-year-old belonging to the Santhal tribe the third largest tribe in India. She is Indias first RJ who hosts an entire programme in Santhali. Her two-hour radio show Johar Jhargram on Radio Milan has become widely popular in the past year. It covers a wide range of local issues, including Adivasi culture, festivals, and the challenges faced by tribals.

Supriya Paul is the co-founder of Josh Talks, an impact media platform headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. Using the power of storytelling, Josh Talks is on a mission to create an ecosystem to help the youth go from where they are to where they want to be.

Josh Talks is proactively doing so by providing exposure to the youth by giving them access to role models and equipping them with skill sets so they can be empowered to take control of their lives. On 25th January 2019, Josh Talks was awarded the National Media Award by Honourable President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind and was named in a list of Top 50 Startups of India for 2017 by Economic Times.

Supriya is listed in the Forbes magazine Asia 30 Under 30 list for 2018 and received the SheThePeople Digital Women Award17 for Best Content Creation.

Dr Aditi Kaul is the Head of the Arts-Based Therapy Program with Fortis Healthcare under the National Mental Health Program. She is a grade 5 UNESCO and CID certified arts-based therapist who has run the programme pan Fortis for the last 7 years which includes working with persons diagnosed with Trauma, anxiety, depressive disorders, disorders of childhood, adolescents as well as stressors of day to day life using psychotherapeutic techniques including visual art, movement, writing and storytelling.

She has done over 500 preventive mental health workshops with schools colleges and NGOs across the city and has been teaching an Expressive Arts in clinical practice course for the last 6 years in collaboration with UNESCO and the Council of International Dance, amongst other short term courses.

Saurabh Dwivedi is a senior journalist with over 10 years of experience. Currently the Editor of The Lallantop, he has previously worked with Star News, Live India,Navbharat Times, Dainik Bhaskarand Aaj Tak.

The Lallantop is Indias leading digital first Hindi news media platform, with over 10 million subscribers on YouTube.

Mohammad Shams Aalam Shaikhis an international Para Swimmer. He won Bronze at the 2016 Can-Am Para Swimming Championships held in Gatineau, Quebec in the mens 100m Breaststroke SB4 category and also represented India at the2018 Asian Para Gamesin Jakarta, Indonesia. Shams currently holds the world record for longest open sea swimming by a paraplegic. He has received several accolades, including the Bihar Khel Ratna Award in 2018 and Jewel of Nation Award 2017

Shubham Gupta is an award-winning Mobile Journalist. He is the Head of Storytelling at People Like Us Create. Shubham has produced more than 2000 stories and his stories have also been shared by publications like Hindustan Times and Al Jazeera.

Tamseel Hussain is the Founder of People Like Us Create. He is a mobile storyteller & social media expert. With over a decade of experience, he has previously worked with organisations like Change.org, Oxfam, Greenpeace, civil society groups, media houses, tech-startups, and politicians. Tamseel helps build award-winning platforms, citizen-led campaigns, youth-focused public engagement, placemaking to building an ecosystem for community first storytelling in India, the middle east and Southeast Asian countries.

He also co-founded letmebreathe.in Indias largest pollution storytelling platform, it now has more than 300 storytellers from 11 Indian cities. They host 25 decision-makers via city-specific sessions and their partners include Twitter India and UN Environment amongst others.

Shubham Guptais an award-winning Mobile Journalist. He is the Head of Storytelling at People Like Us Create. Shubham has produced more than 2000 stories and his storieshave alsobeen shared by publications like Hindustan Times and Al Jazeera.

Mary Sebastian is a justice professional working for the elimination of violence against women and children with special focus on victims of sex trafficking in the State of Maharashtra. Mary briefly worked in the corporate law field before joining the development sector. She is currently working with a global anti-trafficking organization, International Justice Mission, where she assists law enforcement officials in the rescue of survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and provides legal representation through court proceedings. Mary supports systemic interventions and advocacy efforts on the survivor justice-related issues at the state government level and has organized a national level consultation on the arrest of demand for commercial sexual exploitation. She is currently undertaking a research study with the Maharashtra State Child Rights Protection Commission to analyse the functioning of childcare agencies under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015 in six districts in Maharashtra. Mary also works towards generating awareness and sensitivity on the issue of trafficking perspectives through thought leadership initiatives.

Shantanu currently leads the Venture team at Ashoka Innovators for the Public, South Asia. Responsible for identifying and engaging the worlds largest and most powerful network of Social Entrepreneurs, Shantanu has worked with hundreds of innovators to enable powerful ideas to reach a systems-level change. Shantanu was previously an IDEX Global Social Enterprise Fellow, where he subsequently also a representative on their board of advisors. Prior to his time at Ashoka, Shantanu has worked extensively in the fields of youth mental health in Australia, youth civic participation and youth participation in diplomacy for national and international organisations, such as the Asia-Europe Foundation. Shantanu has a keen interest in reading, writing and the opportunity to engage with new groups of people.

Vishak G Iyer, a 2011-Batch IAS officer, is currently the Special Secretary to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Prior to this, he was the District Magistrate and Collector of Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh.

Hailing from Idukki, Kerala, Vishak has previously held the post of District Magistrate & Collector of Bhadohi, Hamirpur and Chief Development Officer of Meerut, and Varanasi.

An alumnus of MG University College of Engineering, Thodupuzha and a Chevening Fellow from Said Business School, University of Oxford, he has pursued B.Tech in Electronics & Communication Engineering and MA in Public Policy.

Vishak was instrumental in reviving the river Mandakini with community participation, during his stint as District Magistrate Chitrakoot. Chitrakoot district received National Water Awards-2019 under the category River rejuvenation for the effort.

11 , 16 Change.org 2030 - , 2020 -

27 , ( ),

, , , , ,

, -30

, 140 , , , , ,

2014

Samir Saran is the President of Observer Research Foundation (ORF), one of Asias most influential think tanks. Working with the Board, he provides strategic direction and leadership to ORFs multiple centres on fund raising, research projects, platform design and outreach initiatives including stakeholder engagement.

He curates the Raisina Dialogue, Indias annual flagship platform on geopolitics and geo-economics, and chairs CyFy, Indias annual conference on cyber security and internet governance.

Samir is also a Commissioner of The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, member of the South Asia advisory board of the World Economic Forum, and a part of its Global Future Council on Cybersecurity. Along with that, he is the Director of the Centre for Peace and Security at the Sardar Patel Police University, Jodhpur, India.

Samir writes frequently on issues of global governance, climate change, energy policy, global development architecture, artificial intelligence, cyber security, internet governance, and Indias foreign policy. He has authored four books, several academic papers, and is featured regularly in Indian and international print and broadcast media.

Virali Modi is a disability rights activist, motivational speaker, and model who has spearheaded a campaign around accessibility #MyTrainToo for accessible railways, which she started in 2017. Her petition on change.org has over 200k signatories.

She has been recognized by the BBC and was named as one of the most influential and inspirational women of 2017 by BBC 100 Women.

Virali was Miss Wheelchair India runner up 2014, has worked alongside Salman Khan for the Being Human Campaign, and has been the showstopper for Bombay Times Fashion Week, FBB, and Jewels Of India.

As a quintessential Bangalorean, the initial part of Vaidehis career involved paying her dues to the IT industry as a Software Engineer, both in India, and for a year, overseas. On returning from the United States, she waved farewell to her corporate job and took off to the mountains. She also volunteered as a teacher in an eco-school called SECMOL in Ladakh. Next stop, was Vietnam, where she volunteered yet again, as an English teacher in an NGO that rehabilitates tribals in the mountains of Sapa and also had a brief stint as a writer for Humans Of Bombay, and its sister page We The People. Wordplay has travelled with her throughout her journey, and she found that Twitter was a convenient medium to journal her thoughts and ideas. Vaidehi has over 5000 puns on her Twitter handle till date, and around 12.5K wordplay aficionados who follow her. It also landed her at her current job as the Social Media Content Lead at Dunzo a hyperlocal delivery app.

Ritu Jaiswal contested and won the election for the position of Mukhiya from Gram Panchayat Raj Singwahini in 2016 by a huge margin. Since then, she has completely transformed the village by establishing education centres, building toilets to tackle open defecation, installing solar lights and building water capacity and building roads. She continues to work with the residents and runs awareness campaigns around menstrual health, biogas management and vocational training. Ms Jaiswal was conferred with the Uchh Shikshit Adarsh Yuva Sarpanch (Mukhiya) Puraskaar 2016 at the 7th Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad by the Maharashtra Institute of Technology, and was among the 5 Mukhiyas selected to represent Bihar for the Capacity Building Program for Sarpanch & Panchayat Secretaries by The Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India.

In March 2017, Ridhima filed a petition against the Government of India in the National Green Tribunal (NGT), asserting that the Indian government has failed to fulfil its duties towards the Indian people in mitigating climate change. In September, she joined Greta Thunberg at the Global Climate Strike in New York and also the International conference organized by Notre Affaire a Tous in Paris.

Along with fifteen teenagers from across the world, Ridhima has filed a complaint against five countries (Argentina, Turkey, Germany, France and Brazil) in the UN for not doing enough to address climate change.

Presently, she is spreading awareness in different cities of India to inspire others to protect the environment.

Aman is a class 11 student at Modern School, Vasant Vihar, N- Delhi. Inspired by his love for nature & the environment, 16-year-old Aman Sharma launched a petition on Change.org in May 2019 asking the government to declare a National climate emergency, which has reached 330,000 signatures now. It urges India to reach net zero-carbon emissions by 2030, stop all fossil-fuel expansion by 2020, stop deforestation for needless urban projects and provide its citizens the right to clean air and water.

Aman represented India at the first-ever youth and climate summit at Oslo Pax, Norway by the Nobel Peace Prize Center in September 2019 and his petition was later presented at the UN youth and climate summit in New York as a part of All in for Climate Action campaign which has 1.6 million signatures and 90 countries as part of it. He is a part of and striker with Fridays for Future India and avid birdwatcher, conservationist and wildlife photographer.

Ashok Malik is the former Press Secretary for the President of India. He began his career in the Telegraph newspaper in Kolkata in 1991 and subsequently worked for many leading publications, including The Times of India, India Today and Indian Express. In 2006, he embarked on a career as a self-employed columnist, serving at different points as a consulting editor to the Pioneer and Tehelka. In 2015 he joined the Observer Research Foundation. He has been appointed to the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, a think-tank focused on corporate social responsibility. He is a Member of the Rajghat Memorial Committee, which oversees the Memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. In 2016, he was awarded the Padma Shri, Indias fourth-highest civilian honour.

Karnika Kohli is the audience editor at Scroll.in. She was previously with TheWire.in, where she led the social media desk, worked on campaigns to raise funding and was part of the team that organised events. Her main focus is on amplifying the reach of Scroll.ins work and building an engaged audience by bringing data, insights and strategies to the newsroom. She has also worked with the Times of India and NewsX.

Neha Arora is the founder of Planet Abled, which provides accessible travel solutions and leisure excursions for people with various disabilities and the elderly. Planet Abled was awarded as one of the best innovative practices by Zero Project Conference at United Nations Vienna. Planet Abled has also been the recipient of India Responsible Tourism Award by Outlook Traveler and World Travel Market, London Best Innovation in Travel & Overall Winner and NCPEDP Mphasis Universal Design Award. This year, Planet Abled was also the recipient of the National Award for the most unique and innovative tourism product by the Ministry of Tourism Government of India.

Planet Abled has also represented India as a major accessible travel destination on global platform like ITB Berlin, Global Sustainable Tourism Council Conference in Thailand and International Congress on Tourism and Technology in Diversity in Malaga, Spain.

Neha is a Global Good Fund Fellow and India Inclusion fellow and a graduate of Nasdaq Entrepreneurial centre MMI program, for her work at Planet Abled. Neha also conducts sessions and workshops in corporates, universities, incubators and various forums for amalgamation of people with disabilities in mainstream via the medium of travel.

Mir is an officer of the 2011 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), serving in the state of Kerala.

He was posted as District Collector of Kannur in August 2016. As District Collector, he was the prime mover behind the transformation of Kannur into Indias first plastic/disposable-free district.

His most recent initiative is a timely project titled Satyameva Jayate (Truth Alone Triumphs) that trains teachers and students to identify, vet and respond to misinformation and fake news online. The programme was implemented in over 200 schools in Kannur, covering over 80,000 children making it the first of its kind in the country. His work was widely covered by the national media in India and international networks in Britain, China & Japan.

Under his leadership, Kannur received five Kerala e-Governance Awards, including best e-Governed district from the Chief Minister of Kerala in January 2019.

He has led large projects that have singularly focused on creating value and convenience for citizens. The core driving force of his work has been efficiently bringing together stakeholders from the government, private sector and members of society, in the interest of achieving important social goals.

After a successful three year stint as Kannur Collector, he recently took charge as Director, Kerala State Suchitwa Mission that oversees the implementation of waste management schemes across the state

Malini has 15 years of experience across3 industries IT, media and travel. She is a voice-over artist and the Founder/CEO of F5 Escapes, an experiential travel company, with a vision to redefine the way women travel India. She is not only passionate about working towards and promoting India as a safe destination for women but also a firm believer in sustainable living and travel. She believes in the power of peer learning and hence loves motivating women returning to the workplace and early-stage entrepreneurs.

Gulesh studied till ninth grade and was married off at 17. She was content being a homemaker until one day when in 2003 her husband was killed in an accident and it became absolutely necessary for her to become financially independent. She started with doing a few odd jobs like cooking at peoples houses, selling vegetables, frying pakoras at a roadside stall, etc., but it wasnt sustainable. About 3-4 years ago, she started her journey as an Uber driver. Today, she is financially independent and supporting her sons education.

Abhinav Agrawal, 27, an ethnomusicologist, musician and social entrepreneur is also the Founder Director of the Non-Profit Organisation, Anahad Foundation. Abhinav is working towards creating and reviving the diminishing folk music industry in India by creating self-reliant models that generate livelihoods, pride and dignity for stakeholders connected to this art form.

He is generating demand and value for cultural folk music through building respect, recognition, identity and self-confidence of folk musicians, and in parallel creating a self-sustainable economic environment where an artist can distribute their productions directly to the public without an intermediary. In doing so, Abhinav is helping create a Folk Music industry that is a sustainable art form and an industry that is musician-led.

Abhinav is also an Ashoka Fellow, and has been featured under Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list. He has also been awarded with the Karamveer Award.

Anshul is a social entrepreneur and a young media influencer, who founded Youth Ki Awaaz (YKA), Indias largest social justice media platform for young people to address and engage on critical issues, at the age of 17.

Over the last 11 years, Anshul has gained extensive experience in citizen-powered media, and participatory movement building, with YKA stories often starting nationwide movements creating impact.

An Ashoka Fellow, INK Fellow and Young Innovator (United Nations ITU), Forbes 30 Under 30, Anshul has helped several high-impact organisations engage young people in a variety of important conversations, from politics and gender to art and culture.

He is also on the Civil Society Advisory Group of UN Women for India and has previously served on the board of Jhatkaa, a campaigning organisation committed to building grassroots citizen power across India, and Collectively, a World Economic Forum and Unilever collaborative non-profit to build a sustainable future.

Basit Jamal is facilitating young people to understand the concepts of conflict resolution. He is repurposing the power of religion to be a solution rather than a roadblock to conflicts which has already seen millions die the world over. He works with students from schools, colleges, madrasas and worshippers in the mosques. He also promotes interfaith dialogue to better understand the other. Basit Jamal is the founder of Brotherhood of humanity. He was given Ashoka Fellowship in 2017. He was a co-author of UNESCOs youth waging peace manual. He was also given membership of the worlds biggest interfaith organization United Religions Initiative.

Ashish Birulee is an activist, independent journalist, content creator for Adivasi Lives Matter and power user on Youth Ki Awaaz. He belongs to the Ho Adivasi community and is from Jadugoda in Jharkhand. As a photojournalist has has worked to disclose damages caused by the uranium mines located just 500 meter from his home in Jadugoda. His work on the impact of radiation in Jadugoda has been featured at the 3rd and 9th International Uranium Film Festival in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil 2013 and 2019, as well as the World Uranium Symposium in Quebec City, Canada 2015, Hiroshima 2015 and Osaka 2017.

Apar Gupta is a lawyer and the Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation an Indian digital liberties organisation that seeks to ensure that technology respects fundamental rights.

Since 2015, he has been working extensively on public interest issues which include strategic litigation and organisation of campaigns and collectives. In courts, his work as a lawyer includes key digital rights cases on privacy and censorship.

He is a part of key constitutional challenges on Section 66A, the Right to Privacy and Aadhaar representing public interest litigants. Beyond court work he has worked extensively with activists and set up digital campaigns such as those on Net Neutrality (SaveTheInternet.in), fight against defamation laws (SpeechBill.in) and safeguard privacy (SaveOurPrivacy.in). Aparis committed to protect the constitution and fight a digital dystopia.

Mr. Kailash Satyarthi is an internationally acclaimed child rights activist who has been a tireless advocate of childrens rights for four decades now.

His interventions are spread across over 140 countries in the world in an endeavour to protect children from slavery, trafficking, forced labour, sexual abuse and all forms of violence. He has been instrumental in bringing the issues of children in the global and national development agendas besides leading worldwide movements against child exploitation and upholding the rights of children for peace, safety, health, wellbeing and education.

His unrelenting efforts for restoring the rights of the most marginalized and exploited children in the world won him the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 2014.

Sign up for the Youth Ki Awaaz Prime Ministerial Brief below

More here:
Annihilation Of Caste: Why Dr. Ambedkar Rejected Hinduism And Chose Buddhism - Youth Ki Awaaz

A special lecture was held on Tuesday at Sanchi Buddhist-Indian University of Knowledge Studies.

Prof. of Delhi University, monk Satyapal, gave a lecture before students, teachers and staff on the topic The essence of Buddhism in Dhammapada.

Monk Satpal, while addressing the students and teachers, said that sufferings in life can be reduced with the curtailment of needs. He had further said that all the sufferings of life can be eliminated through refuge too.

He said that Buddha used to say that one who leads the simplest form of life, gets maximum benefit because one who lives on ground, is not afraid of falling. If one flies in the sky due to pride, there is a strong chance that he will fall fast. Monk Satyapal said that there is no mention of Buddhism anywhere in the original literature of Pali language, but it is a Sanskrit word and the word Dhamma has come from it.

Monk Satyapala said that there are 84,000 skandas in the Buddhist scripture Tripitaka - that is, three boxes. Its shortest text contains 423 Dharma Skanda called Gatha.

The monk Satyapala said that it is mentioned in Buddhist philosophy that nothing (accidental) in the world is accidental but there is action and reason behind each one and this is the rule of work-cause. He said that the relief of sorrow, happiness, ultimate happiness (nirvana) and sorrow can be found through the ultimate truth.

Go here to read the rest:
Lecture delivered on 'The essence of Buddhism in Dhammapada' - Daily Pioneer

The Venerable Wonhaeng, leader of South Koreas Buddhist Jogye Order, visited Pakistan for a week. The founder of Korean Buddhism came from what is now Pakistan. The Jogye Orders chief abbot met Pakistans president and prime minister in Islamabad. Peaceful coexistence between religions in Pakistan is possible.

Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) The Pakistani government has authorised the Jogye Order to build a Buddhist temple at a site that is historically connected to Buddhism. The leader of the order, the Venerable Wonhaeng, made the announcement during a visit to the South Asian country at the helm of a delegation of monks.

The abbot rarely travels and this one carries great symbolic value. His visit to Pakistan lasted from 16 to 24 November. Upon his return, he analysed the results of his visit, speaking about it following a religious ceremony in Seoul a few days ago.

I was deeply moved, he said, when I first stepped into Pakistan because it is the home country of the Ven Marananta, who brought Buddhism to Korea about 1,600 years ago.

During his stay, the abbot met privately with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan followed by another tte--tte with President Arif Alvi.

Khan himself said that he authorised the construction of a temple linked to the Order in one the sites most closely associated with Buddhism.

For his part, the Venerable said: I was impressed by the Pakistani government's ceaseless efforts to preserve historic sites having a trace of Buddhism.

Likewise, President Alvi stressed that religious groups can live peacefully in Pakistan. He went on to say that he hopes to see many South Korean Buddhists visit his country.

At present, Pakistani Buddhists number 1,500 out of a population of 197 million people. South Korea has a population of 52 million citizens with more than 20 million Buddhists (mostly members of the Jogye Order), but their numbers are down as there is no official registration for membership in the group. Christians are 26 per cent of the population, over 11 per cent Catholic.

Read this article:
SOUTH KOREA PAKISTAN A Buddhist temple to boost the friendship between S Korea and Pakistan - AsiaNews

Written by Badri Narayan | Updated: December 7, 2019 9:15:47 am Dr. Ambedkar, Founder and Chairman, the Peples Education Society; in his office at Siddharth College, Anand Bhawan, Fort, Mumbai in 1946.

B R Ambedkar once said, I was born a Hindu but I will not die as a Hindu. Hence, before his death, he chose Buddhism. Inspired by him, a section of Dalits also converted to Buddhism. So soon after his Mahaparinirvan Divas, December 6, we need to ask: What is the relationship between the ideals and lived reality of Dalit life in the context of growing Hindutva?

There is a trend among members of a section of newly-educated Dalits in north India of adopting Buddhism. But during field work in the villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, we observed that their conversion, in terms of religious memories from Hinduism to Buddhism, is not yet complete: Some, for instance, are unable to stop themselves from celebrating Hindu festivals and worshipping Hindu deities, alongside worshipping Buddha and Ambedkar.

In UP, one may find Ambedkar statues in and around the Dalit bastis of many villages. Ambedkar is a symbolic inspiration for Dalits and the marginalised. This kind of symbolism provides them social confidence. In some of these bastis, the youth offer their prayers to Ambedkar statues after achieving any success in life or on special occasions. They find a kind of divinity in the symbol of Ambedkar. The Hindu Dalits, Dalit followers of Kabir and Ravidas, worship Ambedkar alongside their panthic deities and gurus: As we know, most Dalits in North India are followers of Hinduism, the Kabir panth and Ravidas panth. Despite criticism of the caste system, these sects comfortably interact and work within various Hindu religious public spheres.

Ambedkar remained strongly critical of the Hindu caste system. However, the Hindutva movement is trying to reconfigure Ambedkar as a symbol that is respectable for everyone by downplaying his criticism of the caste system. They want to extricate the criticism of the Hindu caste system from the version of Ambedkar they are trying to propagate. If all Hindus across castes start respecting Ambedkar, then his criticism of Hinduism maybe sidelined from the memory of Dalits and subaltern communities.

Ambedkar is also projected as the brand ambassador of the samrasta campaign run by the Hindutva parivar. One may find Ambedkar calendars and portraits at many RSS offices and public programmes. The BJP has taken various steps to showcase its concern, and respect, for Ambedkars memories and memorials: More than what the Congress did when it held office.

Although Kabir panthis and Ravidasis presented an alternative religious space and identity, they have a close relationship with Hindu religious memories due to their roots in the Bhakti movement. The aspiration to assert themselves as Hindu is growing among a section of subaltern communities. In villages near Allahabad, Sonbhadra and Mirzapur, smaller Dalit castes like Nats and Mangata who had liminal religious identity till a few years ago are now worshipping Hindu deities.

These communities aspire for social dignity by appropriating mainstream religious identities. Hindutva forces understand these growing aspirations, and try to project themselves as a social-cultural group working for the welfare of all Hindus. They also assert themselves as political-cultural groups following the ideals of Ambedkar. It is not easy for the Hindutva parivar to appropriate the symbol of Ambedkar, but they are consistently producing narratives visual, cultural and political to create a selective remembrance, and forgetting of, the original image of Ambedkar.

The social memories created by the Hindu religion, and the Hindutva version of Ambedkars symbol, are creating a situation where the Hindutva parivar is easily accessible to a section of the larger Dalit community. It is interesting to observe that an emphasis on Hindu religion and values once a major criticism of the RSS by Dalits and subalterns is now providing fertile ground to the Hindutva parivar.

This article first appeared in the print edition on December 7, 2019 under the title Ambedkar without caste. The writer is professor, Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad.

For all the latest Opinion News, download Indian Express App

Visit link:
Ambedkars legacy is being re-engineered to suit the Hindutva agenda - The Indian Express