Correction

In the previous post I stated that all of the Videos from the U.S. campaign for Burma's Burma: it can't wait Video campaign could be found on the Fanista site, I've just checked and they're all scrubbed. You can still see them all together on YouTube plus four extra ones including this.....

End of Burma Video Campaign

Here are days Twenty Nine



and Thirty of the thirty day campaign.



All the videos can be seen at Fanista where U.S. citizens can sign up to pledge their support for the people of Burma. The aim of the "U.S. campaign for Burma" was for a million "voices" in the 30 days, they got 51,155. I know there are many petitions etc. out there but come on guys, the Avaaz World wide petition on Burma stands at 839,644!

Burma Video Campaign

Here's Day Twenty Eight of the Burma: it can't wait Video campaign. it features Damian Marley, that's Bob's son.

Suu Kyi's house arrest extended

I've been on the "North Island" for a couple of days and out of blogging range but hey, you know what, nothing changes. Well actually for a moment I thought that it might have. In Burma there has been the loosening of strict controls on foreign aid workers pressing for unfettered access to the disaster zone. In an apparent breakthrough, Burma's reclusive leader, Gen. Than Shwe, told visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Friday that he would be more flexible on access, a stance echoed by other Burmese government officials at an international donors' conference held Sunday in the commercial capital Rangoon (Yangon)..... Read More

............ And then Today the reformed cuddly humanitarians of the military junta announce that they are keeping their elected Prime Minister in detention against their own laws...... Read More




As I'm playing catch-up here are days Twenty Four,



Twenty Five,



Twenty Six



and Twenty Seven



of the Burma Video Campaign, day 26 is with Joseph Fiennes, I've heard of him.

Burma: it can't wait Video Campaign

Here's the link for Day Twenty Two with Felicity Huffman



and also the one for Day Twenty Three with Diego Maradona.

A Tale of Two Brains

Yesterday I attended a day retreat at the Newport Soto Zen group. My contribution to the day was to take along a talk from our MP3 collection entitled "Left Brain, Right Brain, It's Implications for Practice" by Mark Coleman (click the link to listen). In the course of the talk he mentions a video of Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor describing having a stroke and how our brain handles the World, it's fascinating and relates directly to the Buddhist view of reality and to our practise, so here it is............

Changed and New Features

I've changed the "Dharma Studies RESOURCES" link to make it more visible for visitors.

The link to Daizan's Book has been removed as it is duplicated on the "Dharma Studies RESOURCES" page.

Also I have converted the "Labels" list to a drop down menu and moved it up to below the "Search Blog & Associated Sites" Search Box.

As an experiment there is a drop down menu for "Favourite Sites" (at the top of the blue right hand column). I'd be grateful for some feed back as to how it compares with the conventional "Favourite Sites" list further down the column.

While I was at it, I've changed the column widths. If anyone has problems with displaying the blog, again, please let me know.
 

Burma Video Campaign

Day Twenty


And Day Twenty One with Sylvester Stallone!

Tibetan Monks pray for Chinese Victims

Click on the link below for the full story

clipped from www.buddhistchannel.tv Tibetan Monks Sealed in Sichuan Monastery Request Permission to Pray for Chinese Quake Victims As monks of a Buddhist Monastery, we unwaveringly follow the nonviolent path shown by Buddha and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We practice the Buddhist teachings of loving compassion to all sentient beings. We are all one human family. Therefore the monks of Kirti monastery offer their prayers to the Chinese victims of this disaster. We want our Chinese brothers and sisters to know that we Tibetans are not against them as the Government has tried to claim through the state run television after the March 14 unrest in Lhasa. This has been creating a rift and hostility between Tibetans and Chinese. The monks from Kirti monastery confidently represent the Tibetans by clarifying that the Tibetans are against the unjust policies of the People's Republic of China and not against the Chinese people themselves.

Happy Vesak

Happy Vesak! to all our readers.

It's the day of the first full Moon of May here in the West Wight and that makes it Vesak, the celebration of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and final passing into nibbana, or nirvana. In some places it is known as the festival of lights, since lanterns, candles, and lamps are frequently used as part of the celebration (I've got loads of candles so that one's sorted).

Burma's Monks

This story is actually already listed on the blog under the Buddhist Channel feed, but you might have missed it..............

clipped from www.buddhistchannel.tv Myanmar's Buddhist monks fill cyclone aid void KUNTHECHAUNG, Myanmar -- With a loudhailer in one hand and a clipboard in the other, the bespectacled Buddhist monk calls out names from a long list of villages devastated by Cyclone Nargis. With foreign agencies on a tight leash and only a trickle of relief coming in from the military government, the Buddhist monkhood has become a major conduit for help to the 2.5 million people left clinging to survival in the Irrawaddy delta. You can download a very detailed report of the disaster HERE

Burma Video Campaign - Day Nineteen

This short video features Eva Longoria Parker

New Feature, Old Feature

Some of you who are regular visitors to this blog will recall that we recently featured a utility called "Snap-Shots" which popped up with a square "talk bubble" with a view of the linked site/page when the mouse hovered over that link. You will also have noticed it isn't here anymore! I was starting to get a little irritated by "bubbles" popping up every time I went near a link and decided to modify Snap-Shots by only having the bubble triggered by the little icon that appeared at the end of the link, I did that and voila it all stopped working! I might try to resurrect it if I have time (so that's probably a no).

The "new feature" mentioned in the title can be seen in a post below, it's called "Clipmarks" and is a way to assemble a disparate selection of copies from elsewhere on the Web and post them directly to your own blog. You're limited to 1,000 characters, so it's just a taster, there's a link to the original site at the top and the title can be a link to the specific page/item. It does have a different feel to the normal style of this blog and I might try to change that, but after the previous experience I might just leave well alone............

Day Eighteen of the Burma Video Campaign



Oh! I almost forgot.... CONGRATS to our Mainland neighbours in Pompey for winning the F.A. Cup yesterday!

Burma: it can't wait - Child Soldiers

Day Seventeen of the Video Campaign.

More on Vesak

clipped from digital-dharma.net UN Vesak celebrations begin in Hanoi The much awaited United Nations Day of Vesak celebrations in Vietnam which began today were an amazing spectacle of religious and ritual festivity at Hanoi, with thousands of Buddhists from the world over gathering at the Capital’s National Convention Center to spread Buddha’s message of peace, love and harmony. Over 600 Buddhist delegations consisting of about 5,000 representatives from 90 countries will meet during the three-day Conference, the biggest ever Buddhist international event in Buddhism’s over 2000 year’s long history in Vietnam.

Burma: it can't wait

Day Sixteen

Burma: It can't wait.....

Day Fourteen



Day Fifteen



U.K. citizens wishing to contribute to the Myanmar Cyclone Appeal can go to The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)website.

Wesak (or Vesak)

Wesak is the most important of the Buddhist festivals and is celebrated on the full moon in May. It celebrates the Buddha's birthday, and, for some Buddhists, also marks his birth and death.

In a resolution passed by the United Nation’s General Assembly in December 1999, it was decided to celebrate the thrice-sacred day of Vesak in the month of May. The first celebration was held back in the year 2000 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Subsequently, the celebrations for the United Nations Day of Vesak were successfully held in Bangkok, Thailand since 2004.

This Year the celebrations are taking place in Hanoi, Vietnam from the 13th. to the 17th. of this Month.






In the U.K. the full moon for May falls on the 20th. .... so a week to go!





"Burma: it can't wait" day fourteen with Vietnamese Monk Thich Nhat Hanh

Burma:it can't wait............. Day thirteen

Burma:it can't wait............. Day thirteen

Gordon Brown Refuses to Meet Dalai Lama............. in Number Ten!

I'd really, really..... really like to be able to just drop the politics for a while, but then along comes a politician and screws it all up again!

After all the successful petitioning and getting questions asked in the House and Gordon finally saying that he would meet his Holiness... now he's changed it! Instead of seeing the Dalai Lama at 10 Downing Street , the official residence of the British Prime Minister, Brown will now be at Lambeth Palace, home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to greet him! Presumably so that he can convince the Chinese that he is meeting with a spiritual leader and not a political one.

President Bush received the Dalai Lama at the White House and presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal, Angela Merkel 's met him and both Tony Blair and John Major have previously welcomed his Holiness to Number Ten. So why not Gordon?

Read More....

Burma: it can't wait.. Day Twelve

Burma Cyclone Disaster Fund

Avaaz, the people who organised the 1,670,000 signature petition for Tibet, have just launched a drive to raise funds for the International Burmese Monks Organization.

In many of the worst-hit areas, the monasteries are the only source of shelter and food for Burma's poorest people. They have been on the front lines of the aid effort since the storm struck. Other forms of aid could be delayed, diverted or manipulated by the Burmese government--but the monks are the most trusted and reliable institution in the country.

At the time of writing the fund already stands at € 999,641 and their original target was for € 1,000,000 !

Donate Now:

Burma - Video Campaign

Day nine and day ten.

On day 6 since Cyclone Nargis struck Burma, most people have still not received any aid because of restrictions by the regime. Every day of delay is likely to cost thousands of lives. More than one million people are believed to be homeless, and more than 100,000 could have been killed.

The United Nations has the power to authorise aid shipments to Burma even though the regime has not given permission. The French government has tried to secure a discussion on this at the Security Council, but other Council members, including the UK government, have not added their support.

In 2006 the Security Council passed Resolution 1674 which stated that the Council could intervene in circumstances similar to that in Burma.

It is time to demand that the UN Security Council pass a resolution invoking its responsibility to protect to ensure that aid gets to the Burmese people, and fast. UK support for this proposal is essential.

Please take action now and send an email to the UK Government urging them to support UN action to deliver aid to Burma.

Take action here:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/nargis_action.html

Burma

Day eight

Aid for Burma?

In the days after the 2004 Asian tsunami, military rulers in Burma said that they did not need any international help.

Highly suspicious of foreign aid agencies, the regime said that it could provide for the thousands left homeless without any external aid.

But it appears as though the sheer magnitude of the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis could perhaps force a shift. Read more........

Here's the link for day seven of the video campaign. This one features Eric Szmanda & Jorja Fox (from CSI) and is particularly good, as is the day six video with Eddie Izzard. It's nice to see people I actually recognise.

Burmese Cyclone

The death toll from Saturdays' devastating cyclone in Burma may be more than 10,000, the country's foreign minister has said. Earlier, national radio had put the figure at 3,934 killed with 2,879 missing - a leap from the initial figure of 351 dead.

But Foreign Minister Nyan Win told state television that the toll could be more than 10,000. He said the secretive dictatorship would welcome international aid.

Up to five regions have been declared disaster zones after the cyclone, packing winds of up to 120mph, ripped through Burma's south-west.

Check out what you can do at the Red Cross Site.

Also, here's day five and day six (with Eddie Izzard) of the Video Campaign for Burmese freedom.

Day four of the video Campaign

Day four of the video Campaign.



Burma Regime Receiving An Email Every Minute for Min Ko Naing
30 Apr 2008 Supporters of the Burma Campaign UK are sending an email every minute to Burmese embassies worldwide. The emails are demanding the regime allow immediate medical access to Min Ko Naing, who has an eye infection.

Campaigners can email Burmese embassies via: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/mkn_action.html

Tibet - China Talks

We have been calling for dialogue between all parties concerned with Tibet but today Chinese media railed against the Dalai Lama and his supporters and pledged to crush any campaign seeking independence for Tibet ahead of a meeting between Beijing and envoys of the exiled spiritual leader.

The meeting in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen would be the first between the two sides since violent anti-government protests erupted in Tibet in March.

Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile said envoys are scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong on Saturday and travel to the neighboring city of Shenzhen for meetings to begin Sunday.

The representatives, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, would convey "deep concerns" over China's handling of the situation in Tibet and would put forward suggestions to bring peace to the region," the Tibetan government-in-exile said Friday.

China has faced mounting international calls to negotiate with the Dalai Lama, and some experts believe Beijing agreed to meet to ease pressure ahead of the Olympics, which begin in August.

Also, here's day three of the US Campaign for Burma's "30 days for a million voices" initiative.

Day Two, Burma Campaign

So here's the video for day Two of the US Campaign for Burma's "30 days for a million voices" initiative.

Video Campaign for Burma

I received an email from the US Campaign for Burma announcing that, as part of its' call for a million people to sign up and support the people of Burma, they are launching a 30 day video campaign .

Every day for 30 days you will be able to tune to watch a new celebrity video about Burma. Instead of watching one single video with limited information, viewers will be able to learn a great deal about the people of Burma's courageous struggle for human rights and democracy. Each video is different -- some are deadly serious while others have a light touch. Most of these are meant to be different than a typical public service announcement -- more like a short movie or skit.

The videos include many of the top actors in Hollywood and others in music, such as Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson, Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Eric Szmanda, Anjelica Huston, Ellen Page, Sheryl Crow, and more.



This is for the US but why not follow the videos and then check out things at the UK Burma Campaign , also have a look at the story "Saffron Revolution Renewed" from the Buddhist Channel.

New Feature.......... well, a change to an existing one.

I've just changed the order of the postings for our Dharma study of the Four Noble Truths so that they list from first to last truth rather than having the latest posting (the fourth Noble Truth) showing at the top, they now read in a normal sequence. Links should all be working correctly, if not could you let me know...............