No. 0758 (Nhị Ðộ Mai dịch)
Chính quyền từ chối cấp giấy phép cho việc tân trang tượng Phật nằm Miến Ðiện.

Bản tin đăng tải trên trang Web The Buddhist Channel ngày 25 tháng 01,
Narinjara, News, Jan, 25, 2006

Arakan,Burma—Nhà cầm quyền quân đội Miến Điện đã từ chối cấp giấy phép cho tân trang lại pho tượng Phật cổ xưa trong tư thế nằm thuộc huyện Minbya tại Araka mặc dù mới đây pho tượng đã nghiêng đổ, một vị tu sĩ từ Minbya nói như trên.

Pho tượng Phật nằm có chiều dài trên 30 feet và đã có khỏang 18 feet trong tổng thể từ chân đến đầu đã bị gãy đổ. Đó là pho tượng bên cạnh ngôi chùa danh tiếng Kyingdaung trong huyện Minbya.

Căn cứ theo các nguồn tin, chính quyền tin tưởng rằng pho tượng đó linh thiêng (năng lực và hiển linh) và nó sẽ không thể bị đụng chạm qua việc sửa chữa, vì điều đó có thể đưa đến sự sụp đổ quyền lực của chính quyền.

Một ủy viên chính phủ nói “Trước đây cựu Thủ tướng Khin Nyunt đã bị sa thải khỏi chức vụ của ông, ông đã đến Minbya và đã sửa chửa lại ngôi chùa Kyingdaung gần nơi hình tượng Đức Phật. Ông đã bị thay đổi chức vụ Thủ Tướng sau đó không lâu.
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Vị ủy viên nói thêm,cũng vậy, Cựu Thủ tướng U Nu cũng đến Minbya trong khoảng thời gian 1960 và đã sửa chửa lại hình tượng Đức Phật. Một đôi tuần sau ông bị cách chức và giam giữ bởi Tướng Ne Win.
Tên Minbya là từ chữ Arakanese được phiên dịch là “ King Fall Down Town”.Vì thế chính quyền cao cấp rất ít viếng thăm Minbya bởi vì nguyên nhân đó. Nếu chính quyền đến viếng thăm, họ không thể tránh được việc dân chúng yêu cầu sửa chữa lại những ngôi chùa của huyện.

Căn cứ theo các nguồn tin, Hội đồng ban quản trị ngôi chùa Kyaingdaung yêu cầu chính quyền tỉnh ban bố giấy phép cho sửa chửa lại hình tượng, nhưng yêu cầu này đã bị từ chối.

Đó là bài học cho thấy chính quyền không những chỉ từ chối cấp phép tân trang cho hình tượng Đức Phật nằm 31 mét này, mà cũng từ chối, không cho phép sửa lại những ngôi chùa khác trong quận Minbya.

Authority Denies Renovation of Reclining Buddha

Narinjara News, Jan 25, 2006

Arakan, Burma -- The Burmese Army authority has refused to grant permission for the renovation of an ancient reclining Buddha image in Minbya Township in Arakan even though the image has recently collapsed, said a monk from Minbya.

The reclining Buddha statue is over 30 feet in length and about 18 feet in total from foot to head is breaking up. It is situated nearby a famous pagoda of Kyingdaung in Minbya Township.

According to sources, the authorities believe that the image is miraculous (power and glory) and that it will be disturbed by renovations, which could lead to the junta falling from power.

Before former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt was dismissed from his position he came to Minbya and renovated the Kyingdaung pagoda near the Buddha image. Soon after he was removed from his post as Prime Minister, said a trustee.

Likewise, former Prime Minister U Nu also came to Minbya around 1960 and made renovations to the reclining Buddha image. A couple of weeks later he was deposed and detained by General Ne Win, the trustee added.

The name Minbya is an Arakanese word that translates as "King Fall Down Town". Thus, the Burmese high authority very rarely visits Minbya for that reason. If authorities were to visit, they would be unable to avoid making the requisite renovations to the pagodas of the township.

According to sources, the Kyaingdaung pagoda trustee committee requested the town authority to issue permission to renovate the image, but the request was denied.

It has been learned that the authority is not only denying renovations for this 30 foot reclining Buddha image, but is also denying permission to renovate other pagodas in Minbya Township.
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=1,2246,0,0,1,0

No. 0769

Group spreads appreciation of Buddhism
Published on Monday, February 6, 2006

Catrina Rawson/Collegian


The K-State Buddhist Association is a small but growing student organization.
The group, established last October, has members who said they try to appreciate and reflect on the Buddhist doctrine through the study and practice of Buddhism.

“There are so many churches in Manhattan but no place where I could pursue my spiritual practice of Buddhism,” said Mariko Price, graduate student in curriculum and instruction and group founder and president.

Price, a native of Japan, said she wanted to set up an organization where local Buddhists could gather regardless of their denominations and discuss spiritual and religious issues.

“Essentially, I was looking at setting up a group which would foster ecumenical thinking, nurture Buddhist spirit and encourage people to express their perspectives and ideas on various topics,” Price said.

The group, which began as a member of the committee on religion, was set up with the assistance of Donald Fallon, coordinator of religious activities in the Office of Student Life.

Fallon listed reasons for the importance of such an organization on campus.

“It helps people of Buddhist faith to carry on their private meditation and spiritual development,” he said. “It also provides the group a sense of community and finally, it exposes Americans to Buddhism, which is a world religion.”

The association has about 20 members from Japan, Korea, India, Brazil and the United States. The organization is open to K-State students, faculty and staff, as well as Manhattan residents.

The group has bi-weekly meetings in the K-State Student Union during which members from various denominations meet and express their opinions on subjects like happiness, karma, anger and meditation.

This week, members discussed excerpts from the book, “The Art of Happiness,” authored by the 14th Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. The book has citations from the Buddhist doctrine with advice that is accessible even to those unfamiliar with Buddhism.

Christina Hauck, associate professor of English, serves as the faculty adviser for the organization.

Hauck said goodness and kindness exist in all human beings. She made a reference to the concept of causation and how one good deed leads to another.

“Infants come into the world as little bundles of demands, and as we grow up we crave for love and support,” she said. “When we are loved, we readily share it with people.”

The discussion also centered on readings from the book, which discusses how human nature is essentially compassionate and gentle. Members said they believe characteristics like anger, violence and aggression are superficial and not part of the underlying nature.

Richard Marston, professor in the Department of Geography, broached the topic about the state of happiness in human beings being governed by external factors. He also talked about mental discipline.

“We cannot prevent emotions like anger and resentment, as they are but human,” Marston said. “But when such feelings plague you, stop and don’t let them overpower you. Empty your mind and let go.”

Another member, Marina Pecar, assistant professor in the College of Architecture Planning and Design, spoke about the transience of negative emotions.

“Emotions aren’t real,” she said. “Put them in the sun, in the rain and in the wind and they’ll fade away. Time is a healer.”

Members discussed different remedies for anger and stress. Price said every time she gets angry, she tries to get down to basics and find out what caused the anger. Hauck also discussed how meditation slowly helps diffuse agitation.

The group has many plans for the semester.

Besides its bi-weekly meetings, which begin with meditation and chanting of mantras — sacred verbal formulas repeated in prayer — Price said she hopes to organize a joint meeting with the Buddhist group from the University of Kansas.

The group also plans to have a lecture series by Buddhist leaders from surrounding cities and prayer sessions with sand mandalas — ritualistic geometric designs symbolic of the universe that are used in Buddhism as an aid to meditation — by Buddhist monks.

Copyright © 2005
Kansas State Collegian
http://www.kstatecollegian.com/article.php?a=8721