June 2009 Archives

A Buddhist monk and two Catholic priests have concluded a 400-kilometer pilgrimage to help people cherish life and peace. On June 6, at Imjingak, near the cease-fire line with North Korea, Venerable Sukyung and Fathers Paul Moon Kyu-hyon and Simon Chun Jong-hun completed the journey they began nine months earlier at Jirisan, a mountain in the south...

During their ochetuji pilgrimage, they prostrated themselves after every three steps they took, and kept silent throughout. The prostration, or ochetuji, is part of Buddhist tradition and involves touching one's elbows, knees and forehead to the ground....

As many as 10,000 people joined the three clergymen at various points of their journey. However, the pilgrims were unable to attain their original goal of crossing the South Korean border to reach Myohyangsan Mountain in North Korea to pray for peace and reunification on the peninsula.

Though the North Korean government had granted them permission to enter the country, Venerable Jigwan, one of the assisting pilgrimage staff, told UCA News they were unable to obtain permission from the South Korean government. The permission of both governments is required for South Koreans to cross the border.

Father Sarath Iddamalgoda, the clergyman, who heads Sramabimani Kendraya Vihara, an association that promotes meetings and dialogue that focus on the importance of religion and the doctrine of non-violence, has promoted together with other Christians religious leaders an initiative to bear witness and show solidarity to the Buddhist community.

For three days they took part Poson* celebrations by organising activities for Poson Bathi Gee in the streets of Kelaniya and the local temple.

Please read the rest of this encouraging article here.

London, UK -- The news that a Tibetan monk, chosen as a child by the Dalai Lama as a reincarnation of a spiritual leader, has thrown off his robes and renounced his vows has caused consternation among some Buddhists.

Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche has changed his name, denounced the Buddhist order that revered him as a man of spiritual authority and is now studying film in Madrid. He has renounced the strict life of meditation and prayer that traditionally isolates lamas away from the hurly-burly of modern life and reportedly now attends discos. To some, this will be a shock. But it underlines the extraordinary hold that one country, Tibet, has on Buddhists throughout the world and the many strands of faith and monastic traditions that are found there.

At the age of 14, Ogyen Trinley Dorje slipped out of a window of Tolung Tsurphu monastery in central Tibet and fled across the mountains to Nepal and then India. He arrived at the exile headquarters of the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, northern India, in January 2000. Conveniently, he also appears to have Beijing's backing. Certainly, he has spoken of his admiration for Chinese culture and a willingness to co-operate with China. Speaking Mandarin fluently and an avid watcher of Chinese films, he told the BBC earlier this year that he hoped the political issue of Tibet could be resolved peacefully. He has backed the Dalai Lama's policy of seeking greater autonomy rather than independence.

The Chinese have long refused to recognise the man seen as the second most senior figure in Tibetan Buddhism, the Panchen Lama, identified as a boy by the Dalai Lama himself. Instead, they detained him and appointed their own candidate.

But there is a major difficulty to any smooth transfer of authority to Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje: the Tibetan community is deeply split over his claim to the Karmapa throne. A large number are loyal instead to the handsome and charismatic Trinley Thaye Dorje, a 26-year-old who was recognised as the 17th Karmapa after a secret visit to Lhasa by a recognised spiritual leader when the boy appeared to him in a dream in 1988. He left Tibet in 1994.