NEW MOON - Saturday 30th July 2011

Mistaking the false for the real
and the real for the false,
one suffers a life of falsity.

But, seeing the false as the false
and the real as the real,
one lives in the perfectly real.

Dhammapada verse 11-12

If with hindsight, we see we've been caught up in conceit, do we appreciate what awareness has revealed? Or do we despair, worrying that all these years of practice have come to nothing? In this verse the Buddha tells us we can feel good when we catch ourselves being false. Practice is working! Only when we learn to see 'the false as the false' can we let go, and live in the real.

With Metta,

Bhikkhu Munindo

Meditation Course Ends - More to Follow

The introductory course in Buddhist meditation and mindfulness practise which was held in Sandown by the Lake Buddhist group has just ended. Mark tells me that it was a great success and that further introductory courses are planned and also more advanced meditation courses. Here's a photo of a recent session in the Broadway Centre.

The "Monkey Trial"

It was on this day, the 21st of July, in 1925 that the infamous "monkey trial" ended in Dayton, Tennessee in the United States, with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution and being fined $100.

This law was the Butler Act of 1922 which stated,

"That it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the Story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals."

And what does the nation that put a man on the moon believe now, 86 years on? Most Americans do not accept the theory of evolution. Instead, 51 percent of Americans say God created humans in their present form, and another three in 10 say that while humans evolved, God guided the process. Just 15 percent say humans evolved, and that God was not involved.

Here is the report from the following day's New York Times on the close of the trial.

Dayton, Tenn., July 21 -- The trial of John Thomas Scopes for teaching evolution in Tennessee, which Clarence Darrow characterized today as "the first case of its kind since we stopped trying people for witchcraft," is over. Mr. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, and his counsel will appeal to the Supreme Court of Tennessee for reversal of the verdict. The scene will then be shifted from Dayton to Knoxville, where the case will probably come up on the first Monday in September.

But the end of the trial did not end the battle on evolution, for not long after its conclusion William Jennings Bryan opened fire on Clarence Darrow with a strong statement and a list of nine questions on the basic principles of the Christian religion. To these Mr. Darrow replied and added a statement explaining Mr. Bryan's "rabies." Dudley Field Malone also contributed a statement predicting ultimate victory for evolution and repeating that Mr. Bryan ran away from the fight.

The end of the trial came as unexpectedly

Massive Revival of Buddhism in Russia

For four generations, the Soviets waged war on Buddhists, sometimes branding them “Japanese spies.” Now, 20 years after the collapse of Communism, Buddhism is experiencing a massive revival in its historic areas.

No Tsunami if the Japanese had Been Christian!

According to the Rev. C. Peter Wagner, an extremist evangelical Christian preacher, had more Japanese turned to Christianity, perhaps the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami could have been averted.

“I believe that God has a Kingdom destiny for Japan,” Wagner wrote, “but the enemy has built seemingly impenetrable strongholds to prevent it from manifesting. God did not cause the natural disasters; satan and his forces did. They came to steal, kill and destroy. However, this time God did not choose to use His sovereign powers to prevent them from wounding Japan.”

So, the Japanese were punished for being Buddhists, ........and Satanists? Well, the Rev is from a Country where 30% of it's citizens take the bible literally, so no surprise there.

You can read more HERE.........

World Population Day out on the Isle of Wight?

Today is world Population Day, started on the 11th of July 1987 to commemorate the Earth’s human population reaching 5 billion. A mere 24 years later the World population is now 7 billion!

On Friday the Isle of Wight County Press reported the story of 16-year-old Grace Ireland, from Ripon, North Yorkshire, who has started a Facebook group encouraging the whole world to come to the IW on February 15, 2015, she has had more than 9,000 responses.

The idea comes from the proposition that it is possible to fit the entire human population of the Earth onto the island standing shoulder to shoulder.

At the time of writing the UN World Population Counter stood at 7,090,436,284, 27% of whom were under 15 years old.

This gives 5,176,018,487 adults and 1,914,417,797 children. One average adult can comfortably stand on a rectangle 500 cm wide by 400 cm deep ( 0.2 square metres), with the average child occupying half that area.

Therefore:-

5,176,018,487 adults x 0.2 sq. m = 1,035,203,697 sq.m

1,914,417,797 children x 0.1 = 191,441,780 sq.m

Total area needed = 1,226,645,477 sq.m

= 1,227 sq km.

The Isle of Wight is the smallest county in the country (after Rutland). It is roughly diamond shaped and measures 23 miles from east to west, and 13.25 from north to south, giving a total area (including inland water) of 94,146 acres, 147 square miles or only 381 square kilometres!

So, no, you wouldn't all fit on the island. interestingly in 1927, only 84 years ago the worlds then population of 2 billion would have needed a mere 346 sq Km and would have easily fitted, even as late as 1953 the 2.6 billion of us could have got on, but only at low tide!

Why do I raise this? As a Buddhist my concern is for the suffering of other beings and population is the "elephant in the room". We and our fellow beings live on a finite planet with finite and diminishing resources. Our human population is devouring those resources and continuing to increase with an inevitable increase in both our own suffering and that of our fellow inhabitants of this world, look no further than the disaster overwhelming the people in the Horn of Africa right now. (You can offer your support at the DEC website)

Happy Birthday to His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Today is the Dalai Lama's 76th birthday, everyone here at the West Wight Sangha wishes his Holiness a joyful day and many happy returns.

Exiled Tibetans living in Nepal were prevented from celebrating the birthday. Following pressure from its northern neighbour to prevent any anti-China protests
during the festivities, Nepali authorities made stringent security arrangements at places where Tibetan refugees reside.

Police personnel closed the main entrance to Namgyal School, the main venue of the celebrations in Kathmandu, early on Wednesday morning preventing the entry of many well-wishers who had turned up for the celebrations.

Aung San Suu Kyi's Second Reith Lecture

Burmese President elect, Aung San Suu Kyi, examines what drives people to dissent in the second of the 2011 Reith Lecture series. 'Securing Freedom'.

Reflecting on the history of her own party, the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, examines the meaning of opposition and dissident. She also explains her reasons for following the path of non-violence.




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