A Nominee for most outlandish Buddha Statue… ever?

May 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Courtesy China’s Global Times (thanks to Tricycle’s Emma Varvaloucas, who you can follow on twitter here). The article states:

A giant statue of a gold Buddha in Luoyang, Henan Province garnered attention on Weibo recently for sporting a slicked-back hairstyle, jschina.com reported.

First posted by Tian Yichen, a social commentator on Sina Weibo on April 22, the statue of the Maitreya Buddha attracted online attention for its conservative haircut more befitting a local official than an enlightened being.  

According to the official website of the Luoyang Longhua Wonder Garden where the styled Buddha resides, the statue was made in the likeness of the garden’s founder. 

Netizens were divided on the statue’s hairdo, with some feeling it inappropriate while others welcome the Buddha’s updated image.

It’s worth noting (and repeating ad nauseum perhaps)  that this is NOT supposed to represent the historical Buddha. It is an East Asian representation of Maitreya – a quite different one from that found in the Greek-influenced art of Gandhara. The image represents Hotei (Japanese) or Budai/Putai (Chinese); and in this case a theme park entrepreneur. As Alan Sponberg writes in an entry on Maitreya for Robert Buzwell’s (excellent and completely unaffordable) Encyclopedia of Buddhism:

East Asian Buddhists also recognize Maitreya in a particularly graceful form as the bodhisattva appearing in the lovely “pensive prince” pose and also as the “laughing buddha” ubiquitously encountered in the entryway of Chinese monasteries (and restaurants), the latter form based on the semihistorical sixth-century monk Putai, who was especially loved for his kindness to children.

Perhaps Putai also appreciated cigarettes, or at least he appears to have in this photo I took in a market north of Taipai in 2010.

What do you think? Is it sacrilege to portray Maitreya with slicked-back hair or a cigarette? Is it ‘keeping up with the times’? Would you react differently if these were in a shop in London or Los Angeles?

Filed Under: Buddhism, China, Commodification, Travels Leave a Comment

The Future of Tibet

February 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The Tibetan Center in Kingston, New York has announced an upcoming discussion of the six decades of human rights abuses in Tibet under Chinese occupation, the recent rise in protests (especially self-immolations), and the possibilities concerning the future of Tibet.

Update (watch a recording of the event here):

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Upcoming Event!

Live Internet Stream Link:  https://new.livestream.com/accounts/734998/events/1895115

The Future of Tibet

Saturday, February 23, 2-4 pm

Bertelsmann Campus Center, Bard College

In 2012, there was an intensification of protests and a sharp increase in the number of self-immolations by Tibetans, a response to the continued annexation of their homeland by the People’s Republic of China. Tibet observers and analysts cite six decades of human rights violations and cultural and religious repression as some of the main causes. The panel will discuss human rights, the possibility for Tibetan autonomy or independence, and how we, the world community, can help Tibet to shape its future. Robert Barnett, Moderator.

Lobsang Nyandak, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Americas

Tendor, Executive Director, Students for a Free Tibet

Robert Barnett, Director, Weatherhead East Asia Institute, Modern Tibet Studies Program, Columbia University

Robert Thurman,Tibetan Studies scholar and president of Tibet House US [click here for his recent youtube talk on Tibet]

Ming Xia, Professor of Political Science, City University of New York

Future of Tibet

Reception to follow. This event is free and open to the public, however there is a suggested donation of $20 to support the Tibetan Center’s public programs. Reservations are strongly encouraged. For information please email info@tibetancenter.org or call (845) 383-1774. Audience members are invited to submit questions for the panel in advance, via email to info@tibetancenter.org. Please visit http://www.bard.edu/visiting/directions/ for directions to Bard College.

Via http://www.tibetancenter.org/

Yesterday Tsampa Revolution (a group you can follow on facebook) released images from Amdo, eastern Tibet, showing Tibetans defiantly reciting poetry (you read that correctly) in their native language. Chinese authorities have tried for years to replace education in Tibetan with (Mandarin) Chinese, sparking several protests over the years. February 21st, the day of the protests, was International Mother Language Day.

Chinese oppression is not the only force working to destroy Tibetan culture. The Guardian newspaper recently ran an article about Christian missionaries there, working undercover to convert Tibetans.  Tibet has a long history of contact from Western missionaries. Under Geluk and Mongolian rule, Tibetan officials have often been open and curious about foreign religions, with one famous (Jesuit) missionar, Ippolito Desideri, only being forced to leave by rival orders in his own church. At other times, Tibet has been notoriously closed-off from foreigners.

These days, missionaries enter under false-pretenses, often as tourists but also sometimes as business people, exploiting changes in Chinas (and thus Tibet’s) economy:

…experts say that changing economic circumstances could make foreign Christians more influential in Tibetan society now than at any point in history.

Robbie Barnett, a leading Tibet expert at Columbia University, argues that the missionary phenomenon overturns the standard notion of western attitudes towards Tibet – that western society is intent on protecting Tibetan religion, while the Chinese government is more concerned with dismantling it. “If you look at foreigners there, there are people whose commitment is to the opposite – it’s to replace Tibetan religion with their own religion.”

More than 10 people interviewed for this article said that Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas were selectively tolerant of missionaries for reasons that range from pragmatic to borderline sinister.

It is (somewhat) understandable that Christians would like to spread their “Good News” in Tibet. What is unfortunate is the destruction of culture that is likely to accompany that spread (think of US Native Americans). Missionaries also become pawns, either willingly or not, in China’s game of control over Tibetans. As Barnett goes on to state: “China isn’t trying to destroy religion by any means, but they’re trying to destroy certain parts of Tibetan religion. They’re not the same project by any means, but they certainly have some congruency.”

Educate yourself, educate your friends and family.

Filed Under: Activism, China, Tibet Leave a Comment

Tibet on Fire: a Resource for Activists and Educators

February 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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As those of you who read this blog know, I’m a strong supporter of Tibetan independence from China. Real autonomy, as advocated by H.H. the Dalai Lama, would be a welcome step, but in truth, the people of Tibet deserve the return of the country that was violently stolen from them just 60 years ago (between 1951 and 1959).

The realities on the ground are incredibly complicated, as roughly 1/6 of the population of Tibetans has been wiped out under Chinese rule and millions of (mostly) Han Chinese have been relocated to Tibet. The culture, epitomized and preserved by the institutions of Tibetan Buddhism, has been even further damaged. Of an estimated 6000 monasteries existing in 1950, only 12 were spared destruction. Some have been rebuilt, but only under close watch of Chinese officials, who regulate the monastic education and imprison those who speak out against the ongoing occupation of their country. Photos depicting the Dalai Lama are banned.

The history of Tibet is very important for understanding current events. Three books I would recommend reading are

However, this is only a start, and it won’t get you up-to-date, interactive information for what is going on in Tibet right now.

In steps my friend Joshua Eaton, creator of Tibet on Fire, “an online platform that tells the story behind the Tibetan self-immolations, arrests, and demonstrations in Tibet.” Right now, Tibet on Fire is in the development stages and could use your help. As a blogger and educator, I currently rely on a number of sources for information on Tibet: Western media, Tibetan official sites, activist sites (and Joshua’s twitter feed!). The idea of having all of this information in one place is very exciting.

Images like those below need to be authenticated, archived, sorted, and made accessible. A lot of people, primarily people who are in or close to the Chinese government, discount news of what is happening in Tibet. They blame America, they blame the Dalai Lama. And if that doesn’t work, they claim that everything is really okay in Tibet. Such talk is ridiculous to those who have any idea of what is going on  there, but to the untutored outsider, they might seem to hold a grain of truth. Much like the issue of climate change, the problem is often simply ignorance. The solution: information that can bring on wisdom.

Tibet on Fire will make the massive amount of information on the self-immolations, protests, and arrests in Tibet available in a way that is engaging, insightful, and easy to understand.

We’ll make everything that we create free and available for anyone to copy, use, and share through a Creative Commons license. Then we’ll spread the word to other media organizations, journalists, and activists.

Click here for the indigogo page for Tibet on Fire.

Some examples (most from previous blog posts here) of what we can look forward to when Tibet on Fire launches:

Undated: Tensions are high across the Tibetan plateau, an area that spans a quarter of China. At least 21 monks and nuns have set themselves on fire in protest of China’s rule over the last year. GlobalPost takes you to ethnically Tibetan parts of China, where the mood may be quiet but each self-immolation reverberates. – via visual.ly/tibet-fire

 

Filed Under: Academia, Activism, China, Politics, Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism Leave a Comment

Global day of Solidarity for Tibet

December 11, 2012 By 1 Comment
Tibet - festival of lights

Views from a recent Tibetan festival (via www.facebook.com/TibetanTsampaRevolution)

Today, December 10, is Global Human Rights Day. Activists around the world are reaching out and stepping up their efforts. And with over 100 self-immolations now in Tibet, this region, currently occupied by China, is a chief area of focus. The latest such immolation is a 16 year old girl in the Tibetan province of Amdo, currently ruled as China’s northwestern province of Qinghai (click here for a map and pre-1959 history).

According to news reports, China’s only response has been to tighten its already suffocating grip on the region.

I think it’s safe to say that this is the most pressing global issue facing Buddhists today. Burma is not perfect, especially for several ethnic minority groups, worst off among them being the Muslim Rohingyas. Sri Lanka still has its troubles with corruption and ongoing, though less severe, repression of ethnic Tamils. But no situation in the world seems so acute and so tragic as Tibet today.

A particular call to action has come from Tibetans around the world, recording a message for their particular head of state. For a pull at the heart-strings, watch 13 year-old Tenzin Tsundue make her plea to President Obama:

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 Here, Tenzin Lobsang of Canada and Tibet explains her desire for Tibetan autonomy, based on what is happening today in Tibet:

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 The news organization Link Asia recently reported on the self immolations, interviewing Columbia University professor Robert Barnett and compiling recent clips of leaders, including President Barack Obama, discussing Tibet/China.

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Even the internet hacker-activist group “anonymous” is getting involved.

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Here is a bit more from the group Anonymous (thanks to a twitter follower for making me double check!):

Via hackread.com: The group has also released a press release for the upcoming #Op_Tibet, according to the release:

Any violation, injustice or censorship imposed upon the individual citizens of the world is an offence to anyone or normal intelligence  compassion and integrity. There is no place for selective outrage or double-think in the cause to oppose such abuse and oppression, it is not a matter of left versus right or free market forces being more iniquitous then socialist economic models. Wherever people’s rights or national freedom is being violently denied, where freedom of expression is rewarded with prison or torture then there is an ethical imperative for anyone of conscience to expose and oppose such cases. With that in mind @AnonymousTibet seeks the solidarity and active support of fellow #Anons to take-up action against the Chinese Regime which, apart from suppressing its own people, is terrorizing Tibetans and enforcing a genocidal occupation of Tibet.

And Reuters is just now reporting that thousands have marched to protest Chinese rule of Tibet in NY City (with photos).

Please spread the word (links to do so below).

Filed Under: Activism, Buddhist Ethics, China, Tibet 1 Comment
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