SEEDS OF PEACE Vol.28 No.1 Jan.-Apr. 2555 (2012)

Creating Peace in a Chaotic World SEEDS

Seeds of Peact Editor & Publisher c 0 N T E N T 5 in January, Ma Sulak Sivaraksa www.sulak-sivaraksa.org promote the ai1 www. sivaraksa. com 4 Editorial Notes Inter-Religious Cover by (TICD) and the Mr. Chaleunphone Phommabouth (SEM) as well Chief in Department of Find Art Country Reports of Engaged B1 Ministry of Culture 5 Burma: Burma's Winds of Change LarryJaean subscribe a $5, Laos PDR. 7 India: The Dead Begin to Speak Up in India Arundhari Ro) Personal check: Lay-out are accepted. Song Sayam., Ltd. 10 Nepal: The Himalayan Race Sandeep L nnzthan Tel. (662) 225-9533-5 12 Siam: Thai Flood's Political Damage RIL ·;ard S £ rlich To contact St Published by 13 Siam: The Hazard in Helping SuMatra B -has 666 Charoen­ SEM Klongsan, Ban~ 15 Siam: Who Holds the String to the Thai Royal Purse? Tel. & Fax: (662) 314-7385-6 Fuller Tel. (662) 860-. & 17 Tibet: The Trouble Brewing Inside Tibet Sehgal Fax: (662) 437- TICD Tel. (662) 438-9331-2 email:spd@serr www.sulak-siv: Fax: (662) 860-1277 INEB & /NEB 20 Letter from the Secretariat Office INEB Tel. (662) 860-2194 22 Sharing with Those Who Suffered 666 Charoen­ email: [email protected] Klongsan, Ban! www. inebnetwork.org 23 The Economics of Wellbeing Sinlan \\allis Tel. (662) 860-. Distributed by 25 Mind and Life Institute' 23n1 Meeting with the Dalai Joan Halifax email: ineboffic SuksitSiam 27 Why INEB is the Buddhi t Conference to Attend KooiF. Lim www .inebnetwc 113-115 FuangnakhomRd. Bangkok 10200 29 What's Art Got to Do with It? The goals of l Tel. (662)2259536-40 30 Global Buddhist Congregation 2011 Communique Fax: (662) 222-5188 1. Promote un email: [email protected] among Bu' Buddhist S( Baht 100 per issue Sulak Sivaraksa suggested annual Buddhist gn subscription US$ 50 32 The Niwano Peace Prize Goes to Sulak Sivaraksa Katherine Marshall 2. Facilitate ar Payment info 33 Vichai Chokevivat many probl1 Please send a cheque payable to 35 Thai Social Structure Harms Innocent People societies, an -Anchalee Karutach 3. Articulate th 1795 O'Farrell St. Apt. 101, 40 Do the Best You Can, But Don't Expect to \\'in John Stanley dhism regar, San Francisco, CA 94115, Buddhist ac1 USA for US$ -Mingmanas Sivaraksa Article 4. Serve as a cl 127 Soi Santipap, Nares Road, existing Eng 43 The Case for Young People and Nature Bangrak, Bangkok 10500 5. Cooperate Siam for£ spiritual trac -Hans van Willenswaard 77,79 Fuang Nakom Rd, 48 Letters Wat Rajabopit, Bangkok, 54 Book Reviews Spirit in Edu Siam 10200 for Euro 29/15 Ramkhar -Jill Jameson 58 Recommended Readings 6 Hamilton Road, Warrandyte, Ramk:hamhaen! Victoria 3113, Australia W angthonglang for Australian dollars Bangkok 10310 Tel. (662) 314-' * 2600 years since the Buddha's Enlightenment email: sem_rarr

* Her birth cente Phoonsuk, widow of Thailand's fust elder statesman and former prime minister Pridi, expired just a few hours after the comme­ moration of what would have been Pridi's l 07th birthday. She said in her will : "I wish to have no honours conferred on me." Phoonsuk was almost 17 when she marri­ ed Pridi in 1928, when he was working as an assistant secretary at the Juridical De­ PEACE partment. Pridi later became a prime minister, the first senior statesman of Thailand and the regent of King Rama VIII. Phoonsuk always supported her husband, Seeds of Peace is published thrice annually who led the 1932 peaceful revolution in in January, May and September, in order to Siam, and during World War II she joined the Free Thai Movement, promote the aims and objectives of the Thai resisting the invading Japanese side by side with Pridi and other Thais to Inter-Religious Commission for Development bring peace to the Thai people and the rest of the world. (TICD) and the Spirit in Education Movement When a political storm was brewing around Pridi, Phoonsuk calmly (SEM) as well as the International Network endured injustice several times. of Engaged Buddhists (INEB). In order to In November 1947, Phoonsuk, then 35, faced a political storm herself when a group of "guests" in military uniform visited her Tha Chang subscribe a $50/year donation is suggested. residence, informing her that they wanted a change in government. Personal checks from the UK, US, and Euro It was at that moment she realised her peaceful existence was no more. are accepted. The soldiers searched her house room by room, eventually leaving having found no trace of Pridi. To contact Seeds of Peace: The political storm forced Pridi to live in ex_ile while Phoonsuk stayed 666 Charoen-Nakorn Road in Siam to take care of their six children. Klongsan, Bangkok 10600, Siam In November 1952 Phoonsuk and her son Pal were charged with Tel. (662) 860-2194 offences against the internal and external security of the Kingdom. Fax: (662) 437-7201 During 84 days in detention, Phoonsuk slept on the floor of a small cell shared with two other women. Her two youngest daughters were at email:spd@ semsikkha.org boarding school. Her eldest daughter and younger son, a sickly lad, www.sulak-sivaraksa.org continued to live with their grandparents. Although deeply concerned about the welfare of her family, not once did Phoonsuk ask to be released INEB on bail. 666 Charoen-Nakorn Road "I had done nothing wrong," she said. Klongsan, Bangkok 10600, Siam When she was freed in February 1953 it was four years since she had Tel. (662) 860-2194 last seen her husband. email: [email protected] She immediately made preparations and applied for papers to depart to France. www .inebnetwork.org She did not know exactly where Pridi had sought refuge. She only knew that he was alive and somewhere in China. The goals of INEB are to: "I told myself that I could no longer continue living in Thailand," 1. Promote understanding and co-operation Phoonsuk told The Nation in an exclusive interview in 2000. among Buddhist countries, different Phoonsuk took two daughters, Dusadee and Wanee, with her to Buddhist sects, and socially conscious France. They left France to join Pridi in November that year, a few Buddhist groups. weeks after Phoonsuk received a letter from him. The Chinese govern­ 2. Facilitate and carry out solutions to the ment was willing to offer asylum to the entire family. many problems facing our communities, But the eldest son, Pal, was still in detention, and the eldest daughter, Lalita, had to stay in Thailand because of poor health. Pal went to China societies, and world. after his release in 1957. 3. Articulate the perspective of Engaged Bud­ After 21 years of peaceful life in China, the family decided to settle in dhism regarding these problems and train France, which offered more channels of communication with relatives Buddhist activists accordingly. and friends in Thailand. 4. Serve as a clearing house of information on Phoonsuk went on ahead and spent three years setting up a new family existing Engaged Buddhist groups. home in Paris. To ensure sufficient income to cover their expense there, 5. Cooperate with activists from other Phoonsuk sold the family's assets in Thailand. By that time she had few illusions about the possibility of Pridi returning to the land of his birth. spiritual traditions. Phoonsuk was at Pridi's bedside when he drew his last breath on May 2, 1983. Siam's first elder statesman died in Paris after spending more Spirit in Education Movement (SEM) than three decades in exile. 29/15 Ramkhamhaeng 21 (Nawasee) "All Thailand ever gave us was a place to be born. When Pridi died, Ramkhamhaeng Road the Thai government didn't even send a wreath." Wangthonglang, Bang Kapi Three years later Phoonsuk took Pridi's ashes to Thailand. Bangkok 10310, Siam In her handwritten testament, "Directions to My Children", Phoonsuk told them she wanted a simple cremation and did not want any honour Tel. (662) 314-7385-6 bestowed on her. email: [email protected] Phoonsuk leaves five children, daughters Lalita, Suda, Dusadee Boontasanakul and Wanee Saipradit and son Suprida, Pal died at the age of 50. * Her birth centennary is on 2"' January 2012 Subhatra Bhumiprabhas, The Nation Editorial Notes In the Theravada tradition, we begin counting our era with the time of the Mahapranibbana of the Lord Buddha. The Sri Lankan, Burmese and Indian Buddhists count one on the day of the Master's passing away. The Siamese, however, regard the first anniversary of the great event as B.E. 1. Hence the 2500 years of the Buddhist Era was celebrated in Ceylon, Burma and India in 1956 of the Common Era, while in Siam the great celebration took place in 1957. Modem scholars question the traditional Buddhist Era. Edward Conze, for example, argued that the Buddha passed away 480 years before Christ-not 543. Son am Marup' s The Date of The Buddha's Mahaparinirvana ( 1990) states precisely that it took place in 487 B.C. These are only two diverging points. The Chinese, Tibetans, etc., count nego their Buddhist Era differently. For example, the Tibetan calendar regards this year as 2138. In fact, there was a council of contemporary scholars on Buddhism which met in Germany some years ago. They wanted to achieve a gove1 unanimous agreement on the Buddhist Era, but failed. Practising Buddhists however do not take dates, places, eras, at le; etc., very seriously. For instance, in every sermon in Siam, before the Bhikkhu begins to preach, he would say de me something like this: "Today is Monday on the new moon in the lunar calendar and 15 January in the solar calendar. form' The year since the Master's Great Passing is 2555. Listeners should be mindful that everything is impermanent. He with or she should practise the teaching of the Buddha for his of her final liberation from hatred, greed and delusion." chan: In 1956 the Indian government celebrated the 2500 years of the Buddhist Era in a magnificent manner. The Dalai fore.: Lama and the Panchen Lama were invited as chief guests of an international gathering and pilgrimage. The Indian Buddhists regarded last year as the 2600th anniversary of the Great Awakening of the Buddha, and the government diplo oflndia gave a lot of financial support to the Ashoka Mission to organize the Global Buddhist Congregation 2011 in say. New Delhi (held during 27-30 November), which was followed by a Buddhist pilgrimage. The government itself did not host the GBC. first Since the Dalai Lama was in India, he could not be denied a role in such an important,event. To avoid conflict seize with the People's Republic of China, the Indian government maintained a low profile. Yet the PRC protested strongly ago. against the Dalai Lama's participation in the GBC-not to mention that the Panchen Lama has been detained in the to ta• PRC. China has its own candidate (i.e., an impostor) for the title of Panchen Lama. The gist of the GBC is to establish a new international Buddhist organization based in India-not to compete with The I existing international Buddhist institutions such as the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) and the International thou: Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), both headquartered in Bangkok. seat In our humble opinion, since the Ashoka Mission hosted the GBC, it should revitalize itself and serve as a Non permanent seat of the new international Buddhist movement. This new movement should concentrate on research funct work to confront contemporary forms of dhukkha and to find out their causes, in order to overcome them through the Noble Eightfold Path. Some pressing issues were raised at the GBC already such as: (1) the natural environment; (2) sion livelihood and development in a fast changing world; (3) preservation and development of Buddhism; (4) ethics and susp values; (5) Buddhism and mental health: anxiety, depression and alienation; (6) Buddhism, science and technology; (7) a Buddhist response to conflict and violence; (8) change and continuity in politics and society; and (9) women and contt Buddhism : equality and equanimity. Kad These are important topics to pursue further. Yet Buddhist economics and Buddhist approaches to the social with sciences seem to be missing from the list. And most important of all is how to tackle capitalism and social structures the : that are unjust and violent. nes The new Buddhist organization should collaborate with the existing ones like WFB and INEB-and above all aCCOl with the Mind and Life Institute under the patronage of the Dalai Lama. Besides there are many more Buddhists gove in India today since the time Dr. Ambedkar declared himself to be a follower of the Buddha. Yet his name was not theg even mentioned once at the GBC, and prominent Ambedkarite Buddhists were not invited to take part in the congregation at all. relea As for the Thai participants, neither of the two Buddhist universities was represented, but the presence of Dhammakaya movement was very obvious. If people in the new Buddhist organization in India are not aware of Sein· how this movement has distorted the Dhamma, it will contribute to their downfall. It will also undermine the future date of Socially Engaged Buddhism. Aun~ At the closing ceremony of the GBC the Dalai Lama warned all that if Buddhist leaders care more about money pro and power than about the teachings of the Buddha, Buddha Sasana in the future will be deviated from the right path. meet The new international Buddhist Organization based in India should really learn from the great emperor Ashoka - e -both from his successes and failures. One can learn much from Bruce Rich's To Uphold the World: The Message of Ashoka and Kautilyafor the 21" Century. If we apply the message of Ashoka appropriately, it will contribute significantly to a better future in the world. then We understand that the Indian government plans to revive the great Nalanda University too. We hope the oner­ new Ashoka Mission will find a way to collaborate with Nalanda to make it truly Buddhist; that is, moving it than beyond the secular higher learning institutions in the world, which emphasize the head at the expense of the heart hum and of holistic learning. 4 SEEDS OF PEACE

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.: ~ ------Burma: Burma's Winds of Change

Gvilian government warily There have been growing signs negotiates a minefield that the government, elected While Burma's civilian last November, is serious about government appears willing to economic and political reform. at least observe the veneer of The changes are often with­ democracy, hardliners and some out formal announcements. To former top generals are uneasy mark democracy day, the govern­ with the extent and pace of ment unblocked many interna­ change and are threatening to tional news sites, including the force another military coup, Bangkok Post, the BBC, the diplomatic sources in Rangoon exile-run Democratic Voice of say. Burma (DVB), the Burmese lan­ The government, for the guage broadcasts of Radio Free first time since the military Asia and Voice of America, all seized power more than 20 years International. Only after a signi­ of whicq have been blocked for ago, is making a concerted effort ficant number are freed will the more than two decades. That to tackle the country's poverty. country be launched on a genuine follows earlier relaxation of The newly elected parliament­ path to democracy. media censorship, including though many MPs owe their Burma's foreign minister allowing access to Skye, Yahoo seats to a manipulated vote last Wanna Maung Lwin told the UN and Youtube. November - is beginning to General Assembly in New York "There is enough to make function. last month that the government us cautiously optimistic, with Last week's executive deci­ intended to free more prisoners the stress on optimistic," Steve sion by president Thein Sein to in the near future - though he Marshall, the head of the Inter­ suspend construction on the did not mention whether politi­ national Labour Organization in controversial Myitsone dam in cal prisoners would be included Rangoon told the Asia Sentinel Kachin state near the border or when. But in Rangoon there recently. "There is a new attitude with China is another example of is mounting speculation that amongst the government minis­ the government's responsive­ the government is set to free ters according to diplomats and ness to the wishes of the people, political prisoners - or at least UN officials who have been according to a senior Burmese a significant number of them - dealing with them for years. government official. And now within the next few weeks. Ministers are far more respon­ the government seems poised to The prisoners will be re­ sive than before. There's a real release political prisoners. leased in three batches, said a discussion now unlike under the The key to change is Thein senior government official on previous regime. Decisions do Sein's willingness to accommo­ condition of anonymity. More not have to be passed back up to date the pro-democracy leader than 200 political activists may be approved." Aung San Suu Kyi. This rap­ walk free within the next week Even Aung San Suu Kyi prochement, after their first or so, including the internation­ seems encouraged. "I believe we meeting some seven weeks ago ally renowned comedian, Za­ have reached a point where there - seems to have set a new tone. ganar. is an opportunity for change," Everything now depends on This would be a clear signal she recently told a small crowd the release of these political pris­ both to the country and to the gathered outside the National oners- of which there are more international community that League for Democracy's head­ than 2,000 according to the Thein Sein's reform agenda is quarters . Thein Sein seems to human rights group Amnesty not simply window dressing. be looking to involve Aung San

Vo1.28 No.1 5

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- - Suu Kyi in the country's political not an option. Both Thura Shwe tempered, said a senior liberal­ future- albeit tentatively. Man and Maung Aye tried to minded minister. The hardliners Although Aung San Suu convince him to make the ges­ are still waiting to pounce if they Kyi has revealed few details of ture, but he remained intransi­ are given the opportunity. These their talks, her attitude towards gent. same hardliners, led by the vice­ A r the government has changed Of course, the recent mo­ president Thin Aung Mying Oo, ber. markedly. "She trusts Thein tion to free political prisoners were not happy to see Thein Sein the I Sein, believes he is sincere and adopted by parliament by a large meet Suu Kyi. Some ministers journ needs support," she told western majority may have set the seal did not even know the meeting depo: diplomats in Rangoon recently, on the release. It was significant had taken place until they saw whoJ according to someone who that the speaker of the lower the evening television news. to-ai attended the meeting. house, Thura Shwe Mann - the While for the moment the radio The liberal-minded minis­ former third top general in the signs are good, the hardliners are 40 y< ters who support Thein Sein' s junta's army - steered this still lurking in the background. thin~ initiatives also believe she is the through parliament. "If we fail, we'll end up in jail," playi key to a democratic transition Thura Shwe Mann is strongly said a senior member of the I book in the country. "It was important supporting the president, accord­ government recently on con­ pub! to show the Lady that we are ing to sources close to him. He dition of anonymity. Edw< willing to work with her," said a sees the issue of the release of Another military coup is How. government official close to the political prisoners as something possible if, the army becomes Taric president. "We see her as a he can do which would make a convinced that these changes are appe• potential partner, not an adver­ difference - both domestically not in their interests. In fact it is tom-' sary." and internationally. written into the 2008 constitu­ Wint Of course the issue of politi­ This is crucial, for the gov­ tion. Before he retired, Than on C cal prisoners was high on the ernment cannot be seen to be Shwe had the army Chief General man agenda for the pro-democracy bowing to international pressure. Min Aung Hlaing agree that he Cons leader, who told her host that The freeing of these political would lead a coup if necessary, ( there could be no movement activists is a necessary step in the according to senior military India forward without their release democratic transition that Thein sources in N aypyidaw. The radio first. Thein Sein knows that this Sein says he is committed to. parliament would be abolished, acad1 is also the key to improved rela­ They have to be freed before the existing political parties nali tions with the outside world - planned by-elections, possibly dissolved, a new military-based me). and even with their neighbors in November. It is believed that party formed and new elections him t and supporters in ASEAN. It the president promised Aung held. non • been would certainly smooth the path San Suu Kyi this when they met For the moment Min Aung coun to Burma being confirmed as in August. Hlaing is supporting both the worli ASEAN chairman for 2014later It now seems certain that President and the Speaker of the so th this year. there will be a role, so far un­ lower house, but the army's con­ playi But the release of political specified, for Suu Kyi. Diplomats tinued support is by no means ing. r prisoners remains a delicate and in Rangoon who have met her certain - especially if Than Bar< vexed issue. General Than Shwe, recently all say she is confident Shwe decides to intervene. "It' ; the head of the junta that ran the about the future and optimistic Already some old hardliners in work country prior to the election, about the possibility of genuine the governing United Solidarity garh. has made it clear on at least two change. Her role is going to be and Development Party have darn occasions - once just after the crucial. She is obviously willing been encouraging the old man to ratp< elections last year and again to support the president's reform return, but so far to no avail. case. earlier this year before Thein process. But whether the next the t Sein took over the reins of gov­ big step is taken will depend on Larry lagan, COnCI ernment - that the release of Thein Sein and the government October 6, 2011 mu t political prisoners and the jailed releasing political prisoners. porta military intelligence officers was But the optimism needs to be ces"

6 SEEDS OF PEACE

------India: The Dead Begin to Speak Up in India At about 3am, on 23 Septem­ had "violated his visa norms write about the people I met, ber, within hours of his arrival at during his visit in 2009-10 by even if my writing was "not the Delhi airport, the US radio­ indulging in professional work based on facts"? Who decides journalist David Barsamian was while holding a tourist visa". which "facts" are correct and deported. This dangerous man, Visa norms in India are an in­ which are not? Would Barsa­ who produces independent, free­ teresting peep-hole into the mian have been deported if the to-air programmes for public government's concerns and pre­ conversations he recorded had radio, has been visiting India for dilections. Using the tattered old been in praise of the impressive 40 years, doing such dangerous banner of the "war on terror", the turnouts in Kashmir's elections, things as learning Urdu and home ministry has decreed that instead of about daily life in the playing the sitar. scholars and academics invited densest military occupation in Barsamian has published for conferences and seminars the world (an estimated 600,000 book-length interviews with require security clearance before actively deployed armed person­ public intellectuals such as they will be given visas. Corpo­ nel for a population of 10 million Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, rate executives and businessmen people)? Howard Zinn, Ejaz Ahmed and do not. D9vid Barsamian is not the Tariq Ali (he even makes an So somebody who wants to first pefson to be deported over appearance as a young, bell-bot­ invest in a dam, or build a steel the Indian government's sensi­ tom-wearing interviewer in Peter plant or a buy a bauxite mine is tivities over Kashmir. Professor Wintonick's documentary film not considered a security hazard, Richard Shapiro, an anthropolo­ on Chomsky and Edward Her­ whereas a scholar who might gist from San Francisco, was man's book Manufacturing wish to participate in a seminar deported from Delhi airport in Consent). about, say, displacement or com­ November 2010 without being On his more recent trips to munalism or rising malnutrition given any reason. It was probably India he has done a series of in a globalised economy, is. Ter­ a way of punishing his partner, radio interviews with activists, rorists with bad intentions have Angana Chatterji, who is a co­ academics, film-makers, jour­ probably guessed that they are convenor of the international nalists and writers (including better off wearing Prada suits peoples' tribunal on human me). Barsamian's work has taken and pretending they want to buy rights and justice which first him to Turkey, Iran, Syria, Leba­ a mine than admitting that they chronicled the existence of un­ non and Pakistan. He has never want to attend a seminar. marked mass graves in Kashmir. been deported from any of these David Barsamian did not In September 2011, May countries. So why does the travel to India to buy a mine or to Aquino, from the Asian Federa­ world's largest democracy feel attend a conference. He just came tion against Involuntary Disap­ so threatened by this lone, sitar­ to talk to people. The complaint pearances (Afad), Manila, was playing, Urdu-speaking, left-lean­ against him, according to "offi­ deported from Delhi airport. ing, radio producer? Here is how cial sources" is that he had re­ Earlier this year, on 28 May, the Barsamian himself explains it: ported on events in Jammu and outspoken Indian democratic "It's allaboutKashmir.l'vedone Kashmir during his last visit to rights activist, Gautam Navlakha, work on Jharkhand, Chhattis­ India and that these reports were was deported to Delhi from Sri­ garh, West Bengal, Narmada "not based on facts". Remember nagar airport. Farook Abdullah, dams, farmer suicides, the Guja­ Barsamian is not a reporter, he' s the former chief minister of rat pogrom, and the Binayak Sen a man who has conversations Kashmir, justified the deporta­ case. But it's Kashmir that is at with people, mostly dissidents, tion, saying that writers like the heart of the Indian state's about the societies in which they Navlakha and myself had no bu­ concerns. The official narrative live. siness entering Kashmir because must not be contested." Is it illegal for tourists to talk "Kashmir is not for burning". News reports about his de­ to people in the countries they Kashmir is in the process of portation quoted official "sour­ visit? Would it be illegal for me being isolated, cut off from the ces" as saying that Barsamian to travel to the US or Europe and outside world by two concentric

Vo1.28 No.1 7 rings of border patrols-in the latest in a series of bizarre, ment-sponsored vigilante army recei Delhi as well as Srinagar-as almost hallucinatory accusa­ that was at the time tasked with ism. though it's already a free country tions they have made against forcing people to flee from their force with its own visa regime. Within Lingaram and then withdrawn. villages (the Salwa Judum has lage~ its borders of course, it's open His real crime is that he is the since been declared unconstitu­ TimJ season for the government and only journalist who speaks Gon­ tional by the supreme court). The the army. The art of controlling di, the local language, and who The police released Lingaram blam Kashmiri journalists and ordi­ knows how to negotiate the re­ after the Gandhian activist Hi­ mec nary people with a deadly combi­ mote forest paths in Dantewada manshu Kumar filed a habeas tion nation of bribes, threats, black­ the other war zone in India from corpus petition in court. But then vesti mail and a whole spectrum of which no news must come. the police arrested Lingaram's to D unutterable cruelty has evolved Having signed over vast old father and five other mem­ era c: into a twisted art form. tracts of indigenous tribal home­ bers of his family. They attacked villa While the government goes lands in central India to multina­ his village and threatened the testi1 about trying to silence the living, tional mining and infrastructure villagers if they sheltered him. in die the dead have begun to speak up. corporations in a series of secret Eventually Lingaram escaped to hem Perhaps it was insensitive of memorandums of understand­ Delhi where friends and well­ Barsamian to plan a trip to Kash­ ing, the government has begun to wishers got him admission into a mir just when the state human flood the forests with hundreds journalism school. In April2010 rights commission was finally of thousands of security forces. he travelled to Dantewada and shamed into officially acknowl­ All resistance, armed as well as escorted villagers to Delhi to edging the existence of 2,700 unarmed has been branded give testimony at the indepen­ unmarked graves from three dis­ "Maoist" (In Kashmir they are dent peoples' tribunal about the tricts in Kashmir. Reports of all "jihadi elements"). barbarity of the Salwa Judum thousands of other graves are As the civil war grows dead­ and the police and paramilitary pouring in from other districts. lier, hundreds of villages have forces. In his own testimony, Perhaps it is insensitive of the been burnt to the ground. Thou­ Lingaram was sharply critical of unmarked graves to embarrass sands of adivasis have fled the Maoists as well. the government of India just as refugees into neighbouring That did not deter the when India's record is due for states. Hundreds of thousands Chhattisgarh police. On 2 July review before the UN human are living terrified lives hiding in 2010, the senior Maoist leader, rights council. the forests. Paramilitary forces Comrade Azad, the official Apart from Dangerous Da­ have laid siege to the forest, spokesperson for the Maoist vid, who else is the world's larg­ making trips to the markets for party, was captured and executed est democracy afraid of? There's essential provisions and medi­ by the Andhra Pradesh police. young Lingaram Kodopi an cines a nightmare for villagers. Deputy Inspector General Kal­ adivasi from Dantewada in the Untold numbers of nameless luri of the Chhattisgarh police state of Chhattisgarh, who was people are in jail, charged with announced at a press conference arrested on 9 September. The sedition and waging war on the that Lingaram Kodopi had been police say they caught him red­ state, with no lawyers to defend elected by the Maoist party to handed in a market place, while them. Very little news comes take over Comrade Azad's role he was handing over protection out of those forests, and there (it was like accusing a young money from Essar, an iron-ore are no body counts. school child in 1936 Y an' an of mining company, to the banned So it's not hard to see why being Zhou Enlai). The charge Communist party of India young Lingaram Kodopi poses was met with such derision that (Maoist). His aunt Soni Sori says such a threat. Before he trained the police had to withdraw it. that he was picked up by plain­ to become a journalist, he was a Soon after they accused Linga­ clothes policemen in a white Bo­ driver in Dantewada. In 2009 the ram of being the mastermind of lero car from his grandfather's police arrested him and confis­ a Maoist attack on a congress house in Palnar village. cated his Jeep. He was locked up legislator in Dantewada. But Interestingly, even by their in a small toilet for 40 days where oddly enough, they made no own account, the police arrested he was pressurised to become a move to arrest him. Lingaram but allowed the special police officer (SPO) in Lingaram remained in Del­ Maoists to escape. This is only the Salwa Judum, the govern- hi, completed his course and

8 SEEDS OF PEACE received his diploma in journal­ neutral shelter for journalists, Many of these festivals are ism. In March 2011, paramilitary writers and academics who were funded by the very corporations forces burned down three vil­ travelling to Dantewada, was on whose behalf the police have lages in Dantewada-Tadmetla, demolished by the Chhattisgarh unleashed their regime of terror. Timmapuram and Morapalli. government. The Harud literary festival The Chhattisgarh government Kopa was arrested on hu­ in Srinagar (postponed for the blamed the Maoists. The supre­ man rights day in September moment) was slated to be the me court assigned the investiga­ 2009. He was accused of collud­ newest, most exciting literary tion to the Central Bureau of In­ ing with the Maoists in the festival in lndia-"As the autumn vestigation. Lingaram returned murder of one man and the leaves change colour the valley to Dantewada with a video cam­ kidnapping of another. The case of Kashmir will resonate with the era and trekked from village to against Kopa has begun to fall sound of poetry, I iterary dialogue, village documenting first-hand apart as the police witnesses, debate and discussions ... " testimonies of the villagers who including the man who was Its organisers advertised it indicted the police. By doing this kidnapped, have disowned the as an "apolitical" event, but did he made himself one of the most statements they purportedly not say how either the rulers or wanted men in Dantewada. On 9 made to the police. It doesn't the subjects of a brutal military September the police finally got really matter, because in India occupation that has claimed tens to him. the process is the punishment. of thousands of lives could be Lingaram has joined an im­ It could take years for Kopa "apolitical". I wonder-will the pressive line-up of troublesome to establish his innocence. Many guests ·c:;.ome on tourist visas? news gatherers and dissemina­ of those who were emboldened Will there be separate ones for tors in Chhattisgarh. Among the by Kopa to file complaints Srinagar and Delhi? Will they earliest to be silenced was the against the police have been ar­ need security clearance? celebrated doctor Binayak Sen, rested too. That includes women The festive din of all this who first raised the alarm about who committed the crime of spurious freedom helps to muffle the crimes of the Salwa Judum as being raped. Soon after Kopa's the sound of footsteps in airport far back as 2005. He was arrested arrest Himanshu Kumar was corridors as the deported are in 2007, accused ofbeing a Maoist hounded out of Dantewada. frog-marched on to departing and sentenced to life imprison­ Eventually, here too the dead planes, to mute the click of hand­ ment. After years in prison, he is will begin to speak. And it will cuffs locking around strong, out on bail now. not just be dead human beings, it warm wrists and the cold me­ Kopa Kunjam was my first will be the dead land, dead rivers, tallic clang of prison doors. guide into the forest villages dead mountains and dead crea­ Our lungs are gradually being of Dantewada. At the time he tures in dead forests that will depleted of oxygen. Perhaps it's worked with Himanshu Kumar's insist on a hearing. time use whatever breath re­ Vanvasi Chetna ashram, doing In this age of surveillance, mains in our bodies to say: "Open exactly what Lingaram tried to internet policing and phone-tap­ the bloody gates." do much later-travelling tore­ ping, as the clampdown on those mote villages, bringing out the who speak up becomes grimmer Arundhati Roy, news, and carefully documenting with every passing day, it' s odd October 2, 2011 the horror that was unfolding. In how India is becoming the dream Source: South Asian News Agency May 2009 the ashram, the last destination of literary festivals.

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Vol.28 No.1 9 to c Nepal: Nep2 l The Himalayan Race ing ; Chi desig politl had~ year infl Chin bring will! and to t w addit l thep the l bea1 sits a Wen Manmohan an 1. NepJ In December, Chinese Prime for Nepal's 750 mw West Seti $15 billion (Rs 75,000 crore). launQ Minister Wen Jiabao is to visit hydropower project. APECF announced the signing sive Nepal along with a high-powered But clearly, the most im­ of the Lumbini project with the gencj ministerial delegation. Wen's portant is Beijing's project to Chinese chapter of the United ] three-day state visit is the first by develop Lumbini, Buddha's Nations Industrial Development com a Chinese premier in over a de­ birthplace. It is a project that Organisation (UNIDO) without Chin! cade. It marks the apogee of three could potentially weaken the even consulting Nepalese au­ Peop years of rapid Chinese moves to Dalai Lama's hold over Tibetan thorities. link dislodge the Himalayan buffer Buddhists and India's claim to Buddha's birthplace is tive state from India's orbit. Senior the Buddhist heritage. Three of already home to an eight sq km is a Chinese party officials visiting the four key sites relating to the Lumbini Development Zone Kathmandu this year have dis­ Buddha's life-Samath, Kushi­ designed by Japanese architect attrib bursed financial assistance for nagar and Gaya-are in India. Kenzo Tange in 1978 and funded the p: infrastructure and hydroelectric They form part of India's Look by the Japanese government. forth projects and military aid worth East policy of engaging the pre­ The zone is centred around the Chin over $100 million. China is dominantly Buddhist countries exact spot Queen Mayadevi is India building a 256-km extension of around China's periphery. The believed to have given birth to be co the 1956 km Golmud-Lhasa mea routinely ferries visiting Prince Siddhartha in 563 BC. athi railroad to the Nepal border by dignitaries from Vietnam, Myan­ The Greater Lumbini Project India 2014. The $1.9 billion rail exten­ mar, Japan, South Korea and will complete Tange's master to K sion funded by the Chinese gov­ Mongolia to Bodhgaya in spe­ plan and will have six-lane Mini ernment will eventually reach cial aircraft. In July, a Chinese expressways connecting the Octo the outskirts of Kathmandu. NGO, the Asia-Pacific Exchange birthplaces of Prince Siddhar­ India China-assisted projects in Nepal and Cooperation Foundation tha's parents, says Gopal Kiraty, the f such as the Syafrubensi' Rasu­ (APECF), announced a $3 Nepal's culture minister. A new tiona wagadhi Road Project linking billion (Rs 15,000 crore) project Lumbini airport will fly visitors Tibet with Nepal are already to develop the Buddha's birth­ to the circuit and the entire pro­ centl under way. This year, China place, 250 km south-west of ject will take around three years Moe announced a $1.6 billion loan Kathmandu. Nepal's gdp is to complete. We want the project calcu l 0 SEEDS OF PEACE to create an economic boom in concerns. On November 9, Pra­ ally (Rs 110 crore ). In March this Nepal, Kiraty adds. chanda met un Secretary-Gene­ year, General ChenBingde, visit­ Nepal is on course to becom­ ral Ban Ki-moon and convinced ing chief of the pla announced a ing another glittering jewel in him to head the Lumbini project. $20 million (Rs 100 crore) aid China's string of pearls strategy However, APEC is still not package for the Nepalese army. designed to encircle India. The entirely out of the project. Kiraty, China's interest in the Hima­ politically fragile nation-it has a Prachanda acolyte, took the layan country is geo-strategic. It had four prime ministers in three somewhat unusual step of invit­ is suspicious of Nepal's popula­ years-is now a battleground for ing the Chinese NGO to register tion of 20,000 Tibetan refugees. influence between India and itself in Nepal. Senior APECF China sees the Dalai Lama and China. If China succeeds in officials have since been shut­ not the US or India as its main bringing Nepal into its orbit, it tling between Kathmandu and enemy, says an Indian official. will have crossed the Himalayas Beijing. Nepal provides the largest escape and established its influence up Why is an atheist commu­ route for Tibetan refugees into to the foothills bordering India, nist state pushing a development India. China's new ambassador warns Jayadeva Ranade, former project at the birthplace of the to Kathmandu, Yang Houlan, additional secretary, raw. founder of the world's third has directly pushed Chinese pro­ Indian security agencies feel largest religion? Beijing, which jects with the government. We the project, just seven km from for the first time in 2006 offi­ have information that our oldest the Uttar Pradesh border, could cially described Buddhism as a and nearest friend Nepal is \ be a godsend for China. Lumbini peaceful 'ancient Chinese reli­ turning into a playground for sits astride the neck of India on gion' and has held two World anti-China activities, the envoy an 1,800-km porous border with BuddhistForums, apparently warned before Bhattarai's Octo­ Nepal and could become a continues to seek legitimacy ber 21 Delhi visit. The self­ launch pad for Chinese subver­ from the Buddhists, says immolations by monks have sive activities, says an intelli­ Ranade. seen the Chinese intensify its gence official. In an attempt to prevent crack down. Indian analysts say APECF's China from monopolising the There has been a political composition hints strongly at project, India has suggested that power vacuum in Nepal since the Chinese Communist Party and Lumbini be included in the Bud­ monarchy's abolition in 2008. People's Liberation Army (PLA) dhist tourist circuit along with China is trying to fill up that gap links. The foundation's Execu­ Samath, Kapilavastu and Gaya. and neutralise Indian influence, tive Vice-President Xiao Wunan Kiraty says Nepal is yet to decide says Yubaraj Ghimire, journalist is a senior party leader. on the proposal. India is one of and political analyst. A senior Indian official the largest foreign aid donors to We have been negligent attributes complex motives to Nepal, providing an estimated about the neighbourhood, says the project. There is a temptation Rs 160 crore annually. It is, how­ former raw chief Vikram Sood. for the Maoist leadership to bring ever, only a fraction of an over So it is only natural that someone China into Lumbini to counter Rs 6,000 crore that India has else is willing to walk in, he India. But the project must not spent on Afghanistan since 2001. adds. Prime Minister Manmohan become a backdoor entry for Earlier this year, India's Ministry Singh is likely to visit Kathman­ a third party (China), he says. of External Affairs pledged Rs du early in 2012. It will be the first India's concerns were conveyed 3,000 crore to build four inte­ state visit by an Indian Prime to Kathmandu during Prime grated checkposts, a 1,500-km Minister since 1996. Clearly, Minister Baburam Bhattarai' s road network through 33 districts China's trans-Himalayan gambit October visit to New Delhi. of Nepal and a 184-km broad­ has roused Delhi from its stupor. Indian authorities are keen that gauge rail link between the two the project be open to interna­ countries. Sandeep Unnithan tional participation. China has been matching India Today, Nepalese authorities re­ Indian aid with cheque-book December 5, 2011 cently announced the APECF diplomacy. Since 2009, it has MoU had been scrapped, a move doubled the quantum of aid, pro­ calculated at addressing India's viding Nepal $22 million annu-

Vol.28 No.1 l l

. - - - Mor Siam: Oct. peop Thai Floods' Political Damage that

Yingluck's popularity may be her Facebook page, attracting garded by cntlcs as her poor washing away critics and defenders arguing management of the monsoon­ Although Prime Minister about her behavior. Her personal swollen rivers, Yingluck is not Yingluck Shinawatra is being wealth was recently declared at solely to blame. She heads a criticized for her failures in tack­ US$18 million. lackluster cabinet mostly picked ling Bangkok's massive floods, The failed tactic of turning by her brother, and a coalition three months of thunderstorms Bangkok into a virtual island­ of squabbling parties. She also and decades of poor preparation the floodgates were opened on faces her worst political enemy, are mostly to blame. Oct.20 when the battle was lost the Democrat Party, which domi­ Certainly, however, the -was designed to protect it nates Bangkok's local adminis­ floods, the worst in five decades, from a relentless flow of brown tration including the governor, have dissolved the heavily fluid, strewn with garbage and who took a central role in trying scripted can-do image created chemicals, all flushing alongside to protect the capital and has also by Yingl uck' s brother, the former the capital and dumping into come under criticism. Prime Minister Thaksin Shina­ the nearby Gulf of Thailand. The crisis may also partly \ watra.lt may have been a tactical It hasn't worked. Yingluck rehabilitate the Thai army among error to surround Bangkok with announced on Oct. 20 that Bang­ some Thais, however, because makeshift floodwalls in the vain kok could not be entirely pro­ troops were widely seen working attempt to divert millions of tected after its extensive eastern in deep water to erect barriers, cubic meters of water outside suburbs were sacrificed to the rescue stranded people, and per­ the perimeter, seeking to save floods to relieve incoming water form other difficult tasks. (The middle-class urbanites who pressure on the city's northern military's image was badly dam­ voted in large numbers for the flank. aged by its role in brutal suppres­ Democrat Party in elections "Flood waters are corning sion of Red Shirt demonstrators earlier this year. The premier from every direction and we -who backed Pheu Thai in the and her Pheu Thai Party govern­ cannot control them because election. ment were inundating the rural it's a huge amount of water," But the extensive destruc­ poor who delivered the Thaksin­ Yingluck said in a televised tion is mostly due to the fact that backed government to power address. "We will try to warn successive governments, headed in July national elections. Oppo­ people," so they can evacuate, by various political parties, have nents are expected to use the she said. "This problem is very neglected to build enough canals, management of floods and the overwhelming. It is a national dikes and sluices across the resulting losses against the crisis, so I hope to get coopera­ country, and failed to sufficiently government in future elections. tion from everybody." dredge rivers and create other Government officials have re­ It is estimated by officials ways for annual rains to drain, peatedly offered contradictory that 450 million cubic meters of despite warnings from environ­ statements, assuring people that water are rushing into the Gulf of mentalists. they were safe, and then advising Thailand every day although the Bangkok is a busy river them to flee for their lives. accumulated runoff is expected port alongside the Chao Phraya Yingluck didn't help her to continue to rise. It is expected River, with an average elevation image when she earlier visited that it will take 40 days for the of six feet above sea level, mak­ victims who were struggling to waters to subside. ing its streets a frequent target survive after Thailand's destroyed The floods, which swamped for floods. their meager livelihoods. She a third of the country, so far have "People just outside the Cam wore colorful plaid, luxury brand killed 320 people, put foreign capital were asking why they Burberry rain boots-reportedly factories out of commission and should not pull down barriers priced at about US$225 in Ame­ rendered thousands of people that kept much of Bangkok dry," rica-and posted the photo on homeless, Despite what is re- The Nation newspaper reported. l 2 SEEDS OF PEACE More rain drenched Bangkok on Basin. Shocked investors have for its products in the December Oct. 20 as the capital's 12 million watched as swirling liquid quarter," California-based West­ people braced for the possibility drowned several sprawling, em Digital said in a statement on that other neighborhoods could investor-friendly, low-lying "in­ Oct. 17. be suddenly inundated from the dustrial parks" after breaching "I think this is the biggest north. insufficient barriers. In some of loss for Japan's overseas invest­ Pheu Thai isn't the first gov­ the industrial areas, the water ment," Japan's ambassador to ernment to divert incoming water is three meters deep. More than Thailand, Seiji Kokima, was away from Bangkok. Previous 14,000 factories have been quoted as saying. governments have done it,­ wrecked by floods across 20 Thailand's main Suvarna­ including last year, causing a provinces, displacing more than bhumi International Airport is similar outcry from people who 660,000 workers, according to vulnerable because it is on Bang­ watched helplessly as their prop­ the Labor Welfare Department's kok' s eastern outskirts and built erty was deliberately inundated director-general, Arthit Ismo. on swampland. Life in much of to protect the capital. The worst-affected indus­ Bangkok's dry areas has mean­ Previous governments also trial zones are 80 krn. north of while remained mostly normal, allowed cities, industrial zones, Bangkok, where three rivers with people shopping in lavish highways and other infrastruc­ converge at the ancient capital malls, dining out, and going to ture to be constructed where of Ayutthaya. Multinationals work while worriedly stocking floods naturally drain, blocking which suspended or slowed up on essential items. the water so it spilled onto hea­ operations due to the floods in \ vily populated areas. Decades of Ayutthaya include Canon, Ford, Richard S Ehrlich extensive deforestation have Honda, Isuzu, Nikon, Seagate is a Bangkok-based journalist stripped the countryside of natu­ Technology, Sony, Toyota and from San Francisco, California. ralcover,anddamsallegedlyhave Western Digital. He has reported newsfromAsia been mismanaged. "The company now expects since 1978 and is co-author of Multinationals have been that the flooding of its Thailand the non-fiction book of investi­ lured to Thailand to profit from facilities, combined with flood gative journalism, Hello My low wages and other cheap costs, damage to the company's supply Big Big Honey! Love Letters to but their factories and warehouses chain in Thailand, will have Bangkok Bar Girls and Their have been devastated in the cur­ significant impact on the com­ Revealing Interviews. His website rent floods because they are pany's overall operations and its is www.asia-correspondent.JJO located in the Chao Phraya River ability to meet customer demand mb.com

Siam: The Hazard in Helping Leading the Supreme Pa­ borders, languages or religions," The Supreme Patriarch's Com­ triarch's flood-relief effort, says Phra Anil, assistant secre­ passionate Relief Project has Phra Anil Sakya has seen com­ tary to His Holiness the Supreme seen "survival packs" dispersed passion corrupted Patriarch and deputy dean of in 43 communities. Phra Anil Sakya requested social sciences at Mahamakut Chinese delegates at the five minutes at an international Buddhist University at Bang­ Guangdong conference promptly Buddhist conference in Guang­ kok's Wat Bovoranives Vihara. dispatched two vans full of me­ dong, China, to describe the ter­ From the beginning of the dicine to Cambodia and made a rible flooding in Thailand and flood crisis in Thailand, Phra donation to Thailand, Phra Anil Cambodia. The monk had no Anil has led a team of volunteers says. The Burmese sangha be­ idea he would in tum unleash a from the Supreme Patriarch's came the first group to make a deluge- a surge of compassion secretariat that visits the victims donation through the Thai em­ from around Asia. to distribute essential goods do­ bassy in Rangoon. "Dharma happens without nated by neighbouring countries. Yee Lai Lin, Malaysia' s

Vol.28 No.1 13 representative on the confe­ Cam rence's organising panel, helped he g~ establish centres to collect goods anthr and cash at three temples in sity i Kuala Lumpur-Chetawan, I Buddhist Maha Vihara and tary · Srilankan Maha Vihara. With the help of Seagull Logistics and its clients in Ma­ laysia, six shipping containers were filled with thousands of bottles of drinking water and tonnes of food and other items and sent to Wat Bovoranives Vihara. As the trucks arrived, Thai volunteers separated the goods Wi to assemble thousands of survi­ val packs for Thais-including Phra Anil hands out flood-relief bags in Lam Luk Ka, Muslims-and Burmese migrant Pathum Thani. workers living here. Phra Anil soon discovered victims became belligerent. He example to follow," the monk that the Muslim recipients could saw impatient volunteers vio­ says. use only about 10 per cent of the lently throwing relief packages But he wants to emphasise packages' contents-the rest at the victims. to all volunteers and those plan­ was haram, barred by Islamic So Phra Ani] feels com­ ning to get involved that, as strictures, so he and his volun­ pelled to remind his team also much as the current crisis is an teers quickly began preparing about the word "compassion" opportunity to show compassion, halal survival packs on behalf of in the name of the Supreme compassion is easily corrupted the Malaysian donors. Patriarch's relief project. They by the lure of fame and power. Nevertheless, he says, "I must always follow the Supreme told them that religion is in their Patriarch's calm, caring exam­ Note the name mind-religion comes after the ple, he tells them. Phra Anil Sakya was born ante stomach is full." Phra Anil points out that this in Nepal to the Buddha's own mill Lest anyone on his team relief mission is nothing new for clan, known as Sakya, or Shaky a. man show reluctance to assist the the Supreme Patriarch. In 1974, at age 14, he became a long Burmese migrants, the monk In 1970-fully 19 years be­ novice and was sent to study the oYer keeps reminding everyone of the fore his elevation to that role­ dharma at Wat Bovoranives way important contribution the Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara was Vihara in Bangkok. man labourers are making to the Thai led efforts to bring Thai assis­ In 1980 he was ordained a economy. tance to victims of a tropical monk with Somdet Phra Nyana­ said "What I always tell people cyclone that struck Bangladesh samvara as his preceptor. liqm who volunteer is to be careful (then East Pakistan). Two years later he earned orde about their own mind and the And Phra Anil was at the a honours bachelor's degree in way they treat the flood victims," Supreme Patriarch's side in 1983 sociology at Mahamakut Bud­ Phra Anil says. "It's only human as he provided comfort to flood dhist University. In 1987 he nature that givers often feel they victims in Bangkok's Minburi received a master's in anthropo­ have some power over the reci­ district. In 2008 the Supreme logy from Tribhuvan University Ion_ pients and thus become egocen­ Patriarch's secretariat sent cara­ in Kathmandu. the tric." vans of relief items to victims of In 1994 he was awarded a the He saw news footage of vol­ Cyclone Nargis in Burma. master of philosophy degree lav. unteers getting angry in chaotic "With the Supreme Pa­ in social anthropology from Ion_ situations when frustrated flood triarch, we have a very good Christ's College at Britain's and l 4 SEEDS OF PEACE Cambridge University. In 2000 lecturer and deputy dean of social US and academic institutions in he gained his PhD, also in social sciences at Mahamakut Buddhist Australia. anthropology, at Brunei Univer­ University, a lecturer at Mahidol sity in Uxbridge, England. University's College ofReligious Subhatra Bhumiprabhas Phra Anil is assistant secre­ Studies, and visiting professor The Nation, tary to the Supreme Patriarch, a at Santa Clara University in the November 25, 2011

Siam: Who Holds the Strings to the Thai Royal Purse?

When the bailiff's seal was eral. Thai officials still maintain tioning the tenets of the political removed from the private jet of that the jet belongs to the crown system. Thailand's crown prince this prince, not the government. "It's very difficult to keep week, the Thai government put For those who study the secrets.anymore," Mr. Porphant behind it an embarrassing Thai monarchy, the case under­ said. ' episode that played out on the lined a long-unresolved question Thailand has been trying tarmac of the Munich airport, about the privy purse and the to distinguish between assets a favorite destination for the public purse in Thailand-and, owned by king and country since 1 globe-trotting prince. ultimately, whether certain the 19 h century, says Sulak The unusual standoff be­ assets are held by crown or by Sivaraksa, a historian and well­ tween Thailand and Germany, country. known social commentator. which began four weeks ago At issue are an estimated 1.1 Control over crown properties with the impounding of the trillion baht, or $37 billion, in tilted toward the government prince's Boeing 737, was re­ real estate holdings alone, plus following a coup in 1932 that solved on Tuesday. The Thai substantial stakes in two of ended the absolute monarchy in government issued a bank guar­ Thailand's most successful com­ the country. But the ascendancy antee for 38 million, or $54 panies. But the agency that man­ of the palace in the subsequent million, that satisfied the de­ ages the assets, the Crown Prop­ decades, due in large part to the mands of debt collectors in a erty Bureau, is under no obliga­ popularity of King Bhumibol longstanding contract dispute tion to detail the holdings or how Adulyadej, helped to restore over a Bangkok elevated high­ profits are spent, according to royal control over the possess­ way project that involved a Ger­ the author of a landmark study of ions. man construction company. the bureau. Britain, whose constitu­ "Our tenacity has paid off," In recent years, pressure has tional monarchy inspired many said Werner Schneider, the been building for more transpar­ of the institutions in Thailand liquidator who had obtained the ency, said Porphant Ouyyanont, today, resolved the question of order to seize the jet. an associate professor of eco­ crown lands two and a half cen­ But left unanswered was the nomics at Sukhothai Thamma­ turies ago, during the reign of question of who, precisely, owns thirat Open University, who in George III. Control over royal the plane. 2007 published the first detailed assets was transferred to the Crown Prince Maha Vajira­ study of the Crown Property government, and profits were longkorn had no connection to Bureau's assets. That pressure, paid to the treasury. This year, the contract dispute that led to Mr. Porphant says, is partly a the Crown Estate, as the British the impoundment, yet German result of the recent political tur­ agency handling royal lands is lawyers argued that the jet be­ moil that has emboldened Thais known, sent £230.9 million, or longed to the Thai government to be more forceful in confront­ $374 million, in profits to the and thus was fair game as collat- ing the country's elite and ques- government.

Vol.28 No.1 l 5 By contrast, a 1948 law in the monarchy, Somsak Jeamtee­ Mr. Somsak, the professor, with Thailand that is still in force rasakul, who said the bureau was lese-majeste, a case that centers says that the Crown Property distorting facts. on comments Mr. Somsak made Bureau' s income can be spent "No government has any about a princess and that is still "at the King's pleasure." power to control or manage pending. Much remains unknown crown property," Mr. Somsak, a Yet in the twilight of King about the bureau's assets. The professor at Thammasat Univer­ Bhumibol' s reign-the 83- suic· specific tracts of land it owns in sity in Bangkok, wrote in a year-old king is ailing and has sive Bangkok have not been made response published on a popular been hospitalized for almost ware public, according to Mr. Por­ Thai news Web site, Prachatai. two years-there appears to be phant. Nor is it clear exactly (Income from the crown a movement toward more open­ unpr how the bureau's significant properties is separate from the ness over questions surrounding Tibe revenues are spent, he said. approximately $350 million in the king's role in society. afire Through its shares of Siam taxpayer money allocated for the Anand Panyarachun, a nine Cement Group and Siam Com­ royal household, royal-led devel­ former prime minister who is nun t mercial Bank, the bureau re­ opment projects and other seen as one of the country's lead­ At I ceived dividends from 2010 expenses related to the royal ing statesmen, said in a televi­ the! equivalent to more than $200 family. The king and his family sion interview in June that send million. also have personal assets, a Thais must be more prepared call Officials at the Crown Prop­ category that the government to tolerate dissent toward the bet\\ erty Bureau did not respond to says includes the prince's Boeing monarchy. ' e-mailed questions. But in its 737.) "I can accept that as long as ing 2010 annual report, the bureau Mr. Somsak argues that in there's no persecution of the stresses its charitable works and a constitutional monarchy, monarchy," he said. its role in preserving and main­ "crown" property should belong A group of about 350 Thai taining "historic sites that have to the state and be "subject to writers signed an open letter in royal and religious significance." the control and oversight of the May calling for more construc­ The bureau also calculates that government elected by the tive discussion of the monarchy 93 percent of its landholdings people." and denouncing what they de­ are rented out as government Such public outspokenness scribed as use of the lese-majeste offices, to nonprofit organiza­ about the monarchy is rare in law as a political tool. tions, or to poor or middle-in­ Thailand, both because King "It is time for Thai society come families "at rates much Bhumibol commands wides­ to distinguish between attempts lower than the market price." pread respect after more than to overthrow the institution and In 2008, when Forbes maga­ six decades on the throne and the debates which will lead to Lam zine ranked King Bhumibol as because of the increased use of long-term social stability and tis the world's richest royal, the a Thai law that carries a prison protection of freedom of expres­ tion Thai government strongly pro­ sentence of as much as 15 years sion under a democratic system ly 0 tested, saying the magazine had for anyone convicted of defam­ with the King as head of the bet. conflated the king' s personal ing, insulting or threatening state," the letter said. any wealth with assets managed by leading members of the royal As for the specific question toTi the bureau. family. of the prince's plane, a German inte~ "Crown property is state The head of the country's court was to rule on its owner­ pub) property and public property," powerful military, Prayuth ship in September. But with have the bureau said in the annual Chan-ocha, has led a campaign the aircraft now back in Thai and report. The bureau has always of shoring up loyalty toward the possession, the case is closed. regi operated "for the benefit of the monarchy. "Don't be skeptical in depe public," the report said. "But your loyalty," the army chief told Thomas Fuller many people still miscompre­ a group of young people last International Herald Tribune hend this." month. "If you are skeptical, you August 13-14, 2011 That statement drew a sharp cannot be considered a Thai response from one of Thailand's person." leading academic authorities on In May, the military charged

16 SEEDS OF PEACE Tibet: . The Trouble Brewing Inside Tibet

An unprecedented series of est-standing human rights crises." suicides erodes Beijing's repres­ Observers believe the deadly sive policies, hinting at a new pattern is linked to Chinese au­ wave of unrest thorities' strict policies and in What is responsible for the particular the imposition of unprecedented recent spate of regulations in the Kirti monas­ Tibetans setting themselves teries to force 'patriotic educa­ afire? Over the past eight months, tion" onto Tibetan monks. The nine monks, former monks and a monks are being urged to sign nun have immolated themselves. declarations supporting the Chi­ At least five have died, in what nese Communist Party. Reports they have said is an attempt to suggest the authorities have send a message about dramati­ did not criticize the cases but on made it all but impossible for the cally deteriorating relations the contrary glorified such cases monks to go about their normal between Beijing and Tibetans. and incited more people to fol­ religious lives. They have report- Tibetan Buddhists say grow­ low suit," a Chinese government edly been' told to slander the ing religious repression has spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said at Dalai Lama, which has triggered gripped the Ngaba (sometimes a daily news briefing in Beijing. fresh debate over human rights called Aba) prefecture of China's "As we know, such splittist inside Tibet itself. eastern Sichuan Province. The activity at the cost of human life The other likely reason is most recent incidents have is violence and terrorism in dis­ the impasse since January 2010 occurred in Kirti Gompa, one of guise." over talks between the Dalai the largest Tibetan Buddhist The latest self-immolation Lama' s envoys and Beijing monasteries and the site of fre­ came on Oct. 17 when Tenzin authorities. There is also fear quent unrest over the past three Wangrno died outside the De­ over the succession of the cur­ years. Ngaba County is in a state chen Chokorling nunnery. The rent Dalai Lama. Beijing has an­ of siege, activists say. 20-year-old nun before setting nounced its intention to choose China accuses the Dalai herself ablaze called for religious its own reincarnation of the reli­ Lama of encouraging separa­ freedom, an independent Tibet gious leader. In recent months a tism, saying that the self-immola­ and the return oftheirexiled spiri­ verbal war between the exiled tions are part of a plan to violent­ tual head, the 14th Dalai Lama, Dalai Lama and the Communist ly overthrow Chinese rule in Ti­ the leader of Tibetan Buddhism. regime has entered a new high. bet. Beijing has angrily rejected "That Tibetans feel they At that, it is unsure if the any foreign interference in regard must resort to such a form of reincarnation tradition will con­ to Tibet, insisting that Tibet is an protest is illustrative of their des­ tinue. Last month, the 76-year­ integral part of the People's Re­ peration in the face of China's old religious leader said that public of China. Authorities brutal and oppressive policies," when he is 'about 90' he will have imposed a news blackout said Stephanie Bridgen, director consult the 'high Lamas of the and restricted access to the of Free Tibet, a London-based Tibetan Buddhist traditions, region, making it difficult to in­ protest NGO. "These young Ti­ the Tibetan public, and other dependently verify any informa­ betans (all are under the age of 30, concerned people who follow tion corning out of the Tibetan and many are teenagers) are will­ Tibetan Buddhism, and re-evalu­ areas. ing to give their lives in order to ate whether the institution of the "In the wake of the incidents, draw international attention to Dalai Lama should continue or overseas Tibet independence China's occupation of Tibet, one not.' forces and the Dalai Lama group of the world's greatest and long- "Bear in mind that, apart

Vol.28 No.1 17 from the reincarnation recog­ dom of religion -including the commemorated the self-immo­ in th nized through such legitimate imposition of patriotic re-educa­ lations. After the prayers, young Mon methods, no recognition or tion campaigns in monasteries Tibetans took to the streets 150 acceptance should be given to a such as Kirti, violations of free­ shouting anti-China slogans and well candidate chosen for political dom of expression, the system­ burning China's flag. The exiled gave ends by anyone, including those atic erosion of Tibetan as a lan­ head of one of the Kirti mona­ gran in the People's Republic of Chi­ guage for public life. The Chi­ stery's sister complexes, estab­ in th na," the Buddhist prelate's state­ nese regime works relentlessly lished in Dharamsala, has de­ acco ment added. to enforce loyalty to the Mother­ scribed the situation in the mon­ new~ "There ... may be frustration land and to eradicate loyalty to a astery as a "virtual prison." Else­ contributing to the self-immola­ distinct Tibetan identity which is where hunger strikes, candlelight ers a tions: the inability of the Tibetan seen as a threat to the State." vigils and protests were reported. serio government in exile to attain The first reported self-im­ Social networking websites are incid negotiations with the Chinese molation came of March 16, just buzzing, calling for a free Tibet have government and therefore the after the third anniversary of and trashing Beijing's policies. us s lack of significant changes in the 2008 riots when Phuntsok, a The elected political head of 20 I relationship between the state 21-year-old monk from Kirti Tibetan exiles, Lobsang Sangay "The and monasteries, such as Kirti, monastery, set himself afire also paid tribute to the lives lost ange where protest has been preva­ outside a hotel and died of his and expressed solidarity during to Ti lent," said Tibet expert Barry injuries. The pace began to pick the prayer ,.service in which he ing Sautman, an associate professor up in August, with the death of urged China to loosen its control Chin of social science from the Hong another monk. In September, two on Tibetan religious freedom to ac Kong University of Science & young monks, both from Kirti and called on the United Nations polic Technology. monastery, were hospitalized in to send fact-finding teams to the have Although there is no general critical condition. Their where­ Himalayan region. prate suppression of religion in China, abouts and condition are un­ "We would like to appeal Sautman said, there is interfer­ known. Five have immolated to the Chinese government to ence with religious practices themselves in October, with three immediately stop its repressive where there is state concern about dying. The whereabouts and policies in Tibet, and to resolve separatism, particularly in Tibet condition of the other two are the issue of Tibet through peace­ and Xinjiang. unknown. ful means," Sangay said in a "There is a heavy security "Most Tibetans live in fear prepared statement. "Through its presence in most Tibetan areas, because of suppressive and propaganda, Beijing shows a but the self-immolations have unfair government policies but different image, but in reality been largely confined to monks they dare not speak up," Tibetan China practices colonialism and at one large monastery, Kirti writer and activist Tsering Woe­ systematic destruction of the Gompa, and associated small ser was quoted as saying. unique Tibetan culture, religion, monasteries and nunneries," he "Tibetan Buddhists can't use language, and environment said. violence to protest; therefore because of which Tibetans have "China's policies in Tibet they can only do violence to peacefully demonstrated time are aimed at cementing China's themselves, such as self-immo­ and again." occupation of Tibet," the Free lation, to make people pay atten­ China has invested heavily Tibet group told Asia Sentinel. tion to their situation. This is not in developing Tibet and other "The Chinese Communist suicide; this is sacrifice in order areas with large Tibetan popula­ Party's ruthless determination to to draw the world's attention." tions in the recent years, includ­ integrate Tibet and Tibetans into In Dharamsala, the exile ing rebuilding monasteries dam­ the 'Motherland' is the root of the capital of Tibetans, the Dalai aged during the Cultural Revolu­ human rights violations, from Lama led prayers for the victims tion. China on Oct.20 also opened arbitrary detentions, torture, on Oct. 19 as Tibetans tended a Tibet Buddhist Theological lengthy imprisonment for butterlamps. Top lamas and other Institute, which aims to promote 'splittism,' to violations of free- Tibetan settlements in exile also the study of Tibetan Buddhism, l 8 SEEDS OF PEACE in the Tibet autonomous region. cultural and linguistic identity," now most Tibetans prefer to die More than 600 people, including it said. than to become Chinese but it is 150 newly-enrolled students as A German Foreign Ministry time to unite and bring the demo­ well as Buddhist delegates and spokesman said on Oct. 21 that cratic world to take responsibi­ government officials, attended a China should 'shape its policies lity by urging a fact finding del­ grand opening ceremony held to reduce the existing tension' egation entering most urgently in the regional capital of Lhasa, and also urged the exiled Tibetan to Tibet. according to the state-owned spiritual leader to use his influ­ And while the more the Dalai news service Xinhua. ence to stop the young nuns and Lama and Beijing are at odds However major world pow­ monks from killing themselves. given the impasse over Tibet ers and human right have shown The New York based Hu­ talks and over the incarnation, serious concerns to the recent man Rights Watch indicates the more will remain fear among incidents believing the tension from its latest report that the the Tibetans whose fidelity for have reached a critical state. The conflict is partly a result of their religious head is unques­ US State Department in an Oct. heavy-handed tactics by the tionable. Their responses of 20 press briefing said that: security forces. Beijing's spend­ support by such demonstrations "These acts clearly represent ing on 'public security' in Ngaba and actions appeal to the world anger and frustration with regard region is 4.5 times higher the to understand the gravity of to Tibetan human rights, includ­ amount spent on keeping the situation inside Tibet. ing religious freedom, inside peace in other parts of Sichuan. \ China. We urge Chinese leaders Tseten Peldon Zochbauer, an Saransh Sehgal to address counterproductive exiled Tibetan living in Vienna, is based in the Tibetan exile policies in Tibetan areas that says: "If the bravest (those self­ community of Dharamsala, have created tensions; and to immolated Tibetans inside Tibet) India. He can be reached at protect Tibet's unique religious, leave, who'll resist? I think by saranshsehgal@ gmail. com Recommended Readings Work, Sex, Money Real Life on the Path of Mindfulness By Chogyam Trungpa Edited by Carolyn Rose Gimian and Sherab Chodzin Kohn First Edition Printed in the United States of America ©2011 Published by Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Buddhist-Christian Studies

CH0GYAM TRUNGPA Volume 31, 2011 (, "~ ,,., 'r.., "'" ,~ r ' ''1 ;,.., "' Edited by Mahinda Deegalle Published by University ofHawai'i Press

The Ideal Man The Tragedy of Jim Thompson and the American Way of War By Joshua Kurlantzick Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ©2011 Warrior-King of Shambhala Remembering Chiigyam Trungpa By Jeremy Hayward Foreword by Sakyong Mipham Published by Wisdom Publications ©2008

Vo1.28 No.1 l 9

. . . . ~ ~ ." "- :: " .• Letter from the Secretariat Office

Dear INEB members and readers,

We are so happy to have hosted Buddhist activists from all around the world at the 2011 INEB Conference. It was an impressive event to have over 300 Buddhist activists come together to share and learn from each other, as well as to have time to meditate and reflect on the mission of social transformation. The conference topic of 'The Future of Buddhism' was discussed, debated and contemplated in many forms; from panel discussions, lively question and answer sessions, and 'break out' topic sharing among small groups. Many strong friendships were formed across generations and experiences, truly embodying the values of INEB and the spirit of kalyanamitra.

The 1" International Buddhist Art Gathering at Wat Thai Buddhagaya held prior to the conference was attended by thirty artists from eight countries, with the aim to share and contribute their creative art by connecting to the root of Buddhism, which originally started from Bodhgaya. We are grateful to the ICCR & Ministry of Tourism of India to support for this event, as well as the Khyentse Foundation, who deeply value the activities of the network. The art work was transported to New York City for the INEB Buddhist Art Gala and exhibition, which included talks and an auction of the art work. It has been inspiring to expand the reach and appreciation of the art work internationally, and also successful for raising funds to continue this project. Tentatively, we plan to host another art gathering in the Himalayan region, Sri Lanka, as well as Thailand.

The International Youth Volunteer workshop, also preceding the conference, planted seeds of enthusiasm and inspiration among the Buddhist youth who continue to connect and deepen their bodhisattva vows in practice. A number of action plans were made and updates of their activities will be communicated as they take place. We are so grateful to Khyentse Foundation for financial support for this activity, and the value, power and commitment of the young people, who are the future of INEB.

Now, INEB is moving forward on several programs in order to follow up the needs from the partners and respond to local and global issues. Below is the letter from Harsha written after the INEB New York Gala that clearly expresses the areas we are working on in detail:

Dear all,

We just finished a very fruitful program in New York. IjoinedAjahn Sulak and Moo for the last two days of the trip and we were all together for the Art Gala.

In our meetings, discussions, and the Gala, there was a lot of enthusiasm. The exhibition hall of the Tibet House was full for the Gala, and Ajahn Sulak received big applause from the crowd. Everyone was impressed by the Buddhist art and some pieces were sold. The balance were shifted to another gallery and our partners there will work on online sales. Lisa Bratt volunteered to organize this event, and she has done a great, great job. /' d like to thank her on behalfof all of us.

This event was organized in a hurry because the artists were requesting some international exposure. A few of us worked with the Secretariat to organize the Gala in New York. We did this so that the artists would feel encouraged and recognized. Because the arrangements were made so

20 SEEDS OF PEACE quickly, it was not properly announced, and a few of our most active members in the US were not able to come. This was our mistake, and I'm very sorry for it. We really missed them on this beautiful evening.

Through the Gala, we met many friends ofAjahn Sulak. All of them were happy to see that !NEB was getting stronger and reaching out. They renewed their relationships and said they look forward to working together in the future. There were also representatives of different organizations that came to show their solidarity. It was very encouraging to see how many people are looking for a socially engaged Buddhist community and want the network to be stronger so we can face challenges as a group. This is a good opportunity for us to look at building coalitions.

With this in mind, Ajahn Sulak and some ofhis close friends have proposed that we have a seminar in the US, probably in combination with the full launch of the Right Livelihood Fund. As agreed in the ACIEC meeting, the core team is finalizing a business plan that will include more details on management systems and operations. Afew AC/EC members will be in Bangkok the first week of January. We will take a look at the plan and help see that the implementation plan and registration process are clear. If all those things are ready, we might look for a date in the middle of2012 to launch the fund in NYC. On our trip, there were a few investors who spoke to Ajahn Sulak and committed to join and invest, but it's important to wait until all aspects are cletlr, internal capacity is developed, and everyone has the same understanding.

While he was in the US, Ajahn also delivered an address at Princeton University. Some senior academics came and there were discussions with representatives from a few other universities, including Columbia. Moo will be following up with these groups and their students who are interested in doing exposure visits to learn more about our network and experience.

We also met individuals and groups that are interested in the climate change conference and wanted more information. I will meet with the organizers when I am back in Sri Lanka and will follow up.

Matteo has agreed to start working on a new biography with Ajahn Sulak. He will need to spend most ofthe coming year traveling and doing research work. The Secretariat will work out a costing. It's really important that we all contribute so it can be launched on Ajahn 's 8(Jh birthday.

The art program will be continued with the experience we gained. We have an excellent female artistfromournetworkwho will be developing the follow up program with us. Now we have in-house expertise. We will be sending you the strategy and future plan soon.

So that is my brief update. I hope all of you will assist the Secretariat in whatever way possible to see that these initiatives will be successful.

Thank you. Harsha

Yours in Dhamma,

Somboon Chungprampree (Moo) P.S. You may go to www.inebnetwork.org Executive Secretary to see every issue of Seeds ofPeace from [email protected] the earliest volume. www .inebnetwork.org

Vol.28 No.1 21 dhi : Sharing with Those Who Suffered law the plet resp poli Sendai, Japan, 4 November eas laid waste by the tsunami. was 2011 - "When I heard about Even in high buildings in the to the earthquake and tsunami­ center of town, cracks could be and then also the serious danger seen from the earthquake. Only a due to nuclear reactivity-in this few months after the earthquake area last March, I really felt and the tsunami had hit, just dec very, very sad," His Holiness as Sendai began to recover, a 85. said, on his first stop after arriv­ typhoon swept through, causing ing in Sendai, the large town His Holiness the Dalai Lama further destruction.Now, mak­ north of Tokyo near which the greets well-wishers as he departs ing his first trip to the remote, earthquake of March 11th had its Koyasan for Sendai, largely rural Tohoku area­ epicenter. "Such suffering, be­ Japan, on November 4, 2011. Japan's "far north"-His Holi­ yond our control! Also, as a Bud­ Photo!Kimimasa Mayama ness explained a little to the press dhist, I felt sadness for Japan, about his resons for coming, but a Buddhist country. Thirdly, be­ had drive to Osaka for lunch, and said that 1\e wanted to reserve cause I have visited Japan many to fly to Sendai. When he arrived most of his thoughts for his visit times, I have many Japanese at the airport in Sendai, he was and prayers the next day. friends. So therefore I felt it was greeted by representatives of the "The tragedy has already my duty to pay a visit to share in Sendai Buddhist Association, happened," he stressed. "Now, your suffering." clapping as they saw him and instead of too much sadness, we At the end of April, on his saying, in some cases, that they should try to translate that sad­ way to America, His Holiness had been praying for him to ness into enthusiasm. And find had stayed in Tokyo for a few come. the strength to rebuild your extra days, he explained, to the As he drove into the city, town." group of 30 or so media people scenes of devastation were As members of the press who had gathered for a small everywhere: whole areas had asked him about the recent self­ su press conference, "and I had the been flattened, high rectangles immolations in Tibet, about the maj opportunity then to pray for of scrap metal were gathered future of the Dalai Lama incar­ see those who tragically died and to along the sides ofthe road, every­ nation, about what the earth­ mil express my condolences to their where tractors were clearing ar- quake means in terms of Bud- Ho families. And then, in Gokokuji temple in Tokyo, I met one per­ son who came from this area, and I promised him that as soon as I had the opportunity, I wanted to visit the region where this tragedy took place." Thus, His Holiness, on the sixth full day of his Japanese tour, set the tone for his journey to the areas of Sendai and sys Fukushima-ken, which suffered wh so terribly earlier in the year. uns He had begun his day in the and radiant, red-mapled quiet of Koyasan, the mountain center of His Holiness the Dalai Lama meets with members of the press nin~ Shingon Buddhism, and, after on his arrival in Sendai, Japan, on November 4, 2011. seri taking leave of his hosts there, Photo/Tenzin Choejor!OHHDL

22 SEEDS OF PEACE

---­ ___ ------dhism, he spoke briefly of the come to a final decision accord­ law of causality, and reminded ing to consensus." the gathering that he had com­ "I can't take the sorrow of pletely handed over political the people here away," he con­ responsibility to Tibet's elected cluded, asked about what he political leadership in March. It could truly "share" with the peo­ was now up to the Kalon Tripa ple of Sendai. "But simply mix­ to answer some of these ques­ ing with them, exchanging my tions. own deep feelings, that's what I As for the future of his in­ His Holiness the Dalai Lama can share. When you're going carnation, he said, "The final waves to members of the media through some difficulty, if your decision will be taken when I'm as he leaves the press meeting friend goes out of his way to come 85, 86, 87. So there's no hurry. I held in Sendai, Japan, and see you and express some would like to fully consult with on November 4, 2011. kind of condolence, that kind of Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL leaders of Tibetan Buddhism, sharing can mean a lot." not only from Tibet but from all Buddhist countries that follow means Mongolia and the whole November 4, 2011 the Tibetan tradition, which Himalayan range. Then I can

The Economics of Wellbeing

The world is on an unsustain­ of 4 degrees Celsius compared the beginning of the 20th century, able economic path to pre-industrial levels, with the the richest 20 percent on the It has been a challenging extinctions of species and other planet were between five and summer for those of us who had problems that go with it. seven times richer than the poor­ hoped the economy would settle The Millennium Ecosystem est 20 percent. At the end of the down to something like norma­ Assessment of a couple of years 20th century, the ratio had moved lity. A tropical storm hit New ago, which looked at trends in to 75:1. York, the euro has struggled to the various life-support systems Richard Wilkinson and survive the European debt crisis, of the planet, showed that 15 Kate Pickett's book The Spirit major British cities were the of the 25 major ecosystems, the Level shows convincingly that scene of rioting and looting, and life-support systems the whole the biggest driver of many social millions in the drought-parched planet depends on, are in decline ills-such as crime and drug use Horn of Africa faced starvation. or serious decline. This includes among many others-is not pov­ These may seem like very fresh water, topsoil, pollination erty or even unemployment. It different events. Yet all of them, systems and many others. The is inequality. The degree of in­ in their own way, are symptoms problem is much wider than equality in a country corresponds of the larger crisis testing our climate change. closely to all sorts of social ills conventional understanding of If everybody in the world within that country, from the how economics works. A new consumed resources at the rate prison population to the number economics, one that puts people that people do in the UK, we of unwanted teenage pregnan­ and planet first, is necessary and would need three planets to sus­ cies to drug use. also achievable. tain them. If everybody lived at Neoliberal economists talk The global economy as it the US level, we would need five. about wealth "trickling" down has developed thus far has four Because we have only one, it is to the poorest as the economy systemic, interlinked problems, impossible for everybody to grew. What we are seeing now is what I call the four U's. It is achieve these lifestyles. We must wealth being sucked up from all unsustainable, unfair, unstable, change. Unless we do, we can sections of society to the very and it's making us unhappy. look forward to scarcities and rich. Unsustainable: We are run­ ballooning prices. Unstable: We need our eco­ ning out of planet. We face the Unfair: The second major nomic systems to be both resil­ serious risk of a temperature rise problem stems from the first. At ient and efficient. Conventional

Vol.28 No.1 23 economics is bad at delivering together, it is clear that we are stitutions we need to make such resilience - because the discip­ running faster and faster in the goals possible, which will cer­ line lacks easy measures to the direction of unsustainability. We tainly include GDP. The other quality and therefore does not are burning up the planet, and is the ecosystems, the resources value it. causing huge instability and in­ those human systems require to Because most developed equality, with all the associated achieve well-being. nations have designed their eco­ social problems. We are not That is the new economics Mine nomic systems largely around making ourselves any happier. of return on capital. And the Insti efficiency, they have minimized It's a stupid path, yet one that's new economic question for eco­ mee safety nets, buffers and fire­ avoidable. nomies of the future is this: His walls. As a result, the developed I am an optimist. There are How much well-being can you theD countries have systems that are ways through this conundrum, achieve for each unit of natural over neither efficient nor resilient but they will require a systematic resources? quar because they keep on collapsing. This contrasts with the cur­ rethink of most of our economic cenn The subprime crisis in the US orthodoxy, including new incen­ rent focus on maximizing finan­ //w housing market spread through­ tives, different ways of measure­ cial returns to financial capital. dial< out the world and nearly brought ment, and other shifts as well. It will still remain necessary to ml23 down the banking system. There Measurement can sound provide sufficient returns to Dh are similar crises in Greece and technocratic, but is central to financial capital, but the key goal Portugal, and the frequency of solving the problem, because we will become to maximize well­ unstable events is increasing. tend to get what we measure. being while preserving national Before the fire that de­ British Prime Minister capital. M~imizing well-being stroyed San Francisco in 1906, David Cameron said recently will, among other things, involve all the fire hydrants in the city that economic growth was a providing sufficient good jobs were filled from one place. Water means to an end, rather than an and reducing inequality. in one central place flowed end in itself, which was in itself That question changes the through to the different tanks. If a fundamental shift in thinking. economic fundamentals. That is there was a fire on Post Street, That is why his government why measuring the right quali­ the water was right there. It was is beginning to measure well­ ties will lead to a fundamental a cost-effective design. The being, a more meaningful and rethink of economics and new trouble is that, in an earthquake, effective goal for the economy. goals. pipes rupture, the water flows Well-being means more Changes in economic un­ out of the system, and fire spreads than just measuring happiness. derstanding tend to go far slower through the city. Now each tank The officials we are working than they should. "Practical in the city is filled separately. with also use the term "flourish­ men, who believe themselves Economic systems require simi­ ing." This includes not just hap­ to be quite exempt from any lar safety nets and firewalls. piness, but people's relationship intellectual influences, are usu­ Unhappiness: One of our with others and, crucially, their ally the slaves of some defunct advisors at the New Economics sense of purpose in life. It is economist," said John Maynard Institute, author and environ­ possible to be happy after taking Keynes. mentalist Bill McKibben, said, " an illegal substance but in no The sooner we free our­ slo\\ More and better are parting way is one flourishing! selves from the shackles of cap a company. More income does not No economic objective is as defunct economics, the better it as \\ equal better lives any more." fundamental as the percentage of will be for all of us. chall Worse, well-being is actu­ the population who are flourish­ ditio ally declining in many of the ing, and how that flourishing is Stewart Wallis so-called developed countries. distributed throughout the popu­ is executive director of the Mental-health problems are in­ lation. Putting those measures New Economics Foundation in creasing rapidly in many places. at the heart of the new economy London and a board member of In English-speaking countries, means a major shift in what we the New Economics Institute in almost a quarter of the popula­ are trying to achieve. the USA. This is reprinted with tion will suffer some kind of An economy that has well­ permission from the Yale Center mental illness. We are not happy being or flourishing at its heart for the Study of Globalization. people. requires two elements: One is Putting all four problems the human systems and the in-

24 SEEDS OF PEACE Mind and Life Institute's 23rct Meeting with the Dalai Lama

This was Mind and Life Institute's 23'ct meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama over the past quarter of a century: http: I lwww. mindandlife .org/ data on the scientific case for co-moderator Dan Goleman, dialogues/past-conferences/ effective ecological action. Fur­ where we were introduced to a ml23/ The meeting, held in thermore, it will be a unique systems and relational view as a Dharamsala at His Holiness' re­ opportunity to meet with other base for our deliberations. This sidence, included top scientists, faith traditions that have arrived was followed by environmental ethicists, Buddhist scholars, and at a religious basis for motiva­ policy m!lker Dr. Diana Liver­ activists in an exploration of ting environmental activism. A man, who aid a striking presenta­ ecology, ethics, and interdepen­ dialogue between contemplative tion on the unfolding of the dence. It was also attended by scholars, activists and ecological Anthropocene and the "great His Holiness the Karmapa, many scientists could enrich the acceleration" of negative human geshes, monks, nuns, and sup­ response to our planetary crisis. impacts pushing the earth into porters of Mind and Life's en­ Insights from the new thrust in danger zones and close to the deavors. As always with Mind ecological science evoke the tipping point of planetary viabi­ and Life meetings in Dharamsala, deep interconnections between lity; then physician and scientist His Holiness was very engaged individual choice and planetary Dr. Jonathon Patz gave a clear during the entire five days of consequence as well as through presentation on how human intensive presentations. His cross-fertilization of ideas and health, and especially the health Holiness the Karmapa also gave meaningful action among acti­ of the so-called poor, (and I an exceptional talk on his view vists working within their own would surmise the health of all of the environmental crisis and spiritual framework. We will species) is contingent on our shared why he is so deeply com­ explore many dimensions, from commitment to consume less, mitted to environmental sustai­ the human-caused deterioration and that we can make small nability. in the global systems that sustain changes that have big effects if The printed introduction of life, and the role each of us plays we are mindful of the potential the meeting is as follows: "The as seen through the lens of outcomes of these changes; slow meltdown of Earth's industrial ecology, to a view this was followed by industrial capacity to sustain much of life, from Buddhist philosophy and ecologist Greg Norris' convincing as we know it, poses an urgent other faith traditions, to the on­ evidence of the interconnected challenge for both spiritual tra­ the-ground realities faced by impacts of all products that are ditions and science. These two ecological activists. Our hope is manufactured, consumed, and ways of knowing have developed that this conference will be a tossed, and that there are huge distinctive responses, which are significant catalyst for the footprints to deal with, and, as potentially synergistic. The goal formulation of new research well, handprints that can pull of the meeting is to provide an ideas in these fields and solutions back impacts if we chose to ex­ opportunity to articulate an en­ to our planetary crisis." ercise our responsibility through gaged environmental ethics. This I felt the arc of the meeting knowing how interdependent we would include the understanding was powerfully conceived and are; ethicist Dr. Clare Palmer's of interdependence through an rendered, beginning with a clear and concise presentation examination of the most recent comprehensive introduction by on ethical perspectives and

Vol.28 No.1 25

- - - M: : ------dilemmas led me to realize that cracy, and science, and the Indian friends was in a way a that t no matter what lens we look necessity of being the right kind light in the darkness of the Delhi on y through, in the end we all have of "trouble-maker" (!); our final smog and noise. I then made my mind a moral responsibility to live presentation was given by our way to Bodhgaya and the INEB conf~ conscientiously and not be blind 21 st century representative, envi­ conference, as well as the re­ whet and avid consumers; Dr. Pal­ ronmentalist and an extraordi­ vered stupa and Bodhi tree that tered mer's presentation was followed nary Asian woman from Sikkim, mark the place of Buddha's area by Vajrayana monk Matthieu Dekila Chungyalpa, who used enlightenment. Again, the air, and 1 Ricard's presentation of a the World Wildlife Fund as a water and sound pollution were visio powerful case in point about the case in point, when she addressed another clear illustration of how bilit) human consumption of animals how we can apply motivation, we humans have taken our gene1 and the devastating impact of the inspiration, view and ethics to privilege and as well our inner cies: so-called "livestock" and fishing foster dialogue, with participa­ poverty to prime outer poverty, Live1 industry, both in terms of horrific tion/engagement being a valua­ indeed taken our consumerism wen' environmental impacts, from an ble goal in the transformation to the edge of environmental as excess of methane to biodiversity and empowerment of all stake­ well as human tolerance. The good loss, and, at the same time, an holders in actualizing respon­ three meetings and teachings I undeniable call for compassion sibility for the environment. was engaged in during my time in the cruel treatment of other Thus we went from science in India hung in my heart and species; then theologian Dr. Sallie to ethics to action, with the mind like a scrim of wisdom, as I McFague's voice rang out with final afternoon being a session passed through the worlds of a call for a view of interdepen­ with our presenters and three Dharamsala, Delhi, and Bodh­ dence and self-emptying, what moderators, including Drs. Dan gaya. the Christians call kenosis, and Goleman, John Dunne, and me, These days have been im­ the embodiment of principles exploring how to actualize this pactful for me personally. For that move us from belief to vision of interdependence and many years, I was a vegetarian, action; renowned Buddhist moral responsibility; during the but with travel and forgetful­ scholar Thupten Jinpa spoke to afternoon, we explored through ness, I shifted unconsciously the Buddhist perspective of a vital discussion strategies and away from this practice. Mat­ view, meditation, and action, and visions of the way through this thieu Ricard's presentation sent of how Buddhist thinkers have crisis. Clearly, we have to act on an arrow to the heart. We have to characterized the move from the policy as well as the personal walk our talk, be the change, live motivation to action, including level to move out of the danger the vows. · I also felt a terrible the role of joy in our practice and zones we have created in the pang getting on another air­ service, drawing on the N alanda Anthropocene, and increase the plane, and am hoping that my tradition and Shantideva in his human handprint of compassion, work in Asia, including the ser­ talk; economic psychologist Dr. while reducing the human foot­ vice in Mustang, Nepal, and the Elke Weber shared with His print of consumerism. teachings in Chiang Mai with Holiness the current psycholo­ At the end of the meeting, HIV leaders, clinicians, NGO gical understanding of moving after our departure from Dha­ workers, and those who care for from motivation to action, and ramsala and the ride to Amritsar, the dying has some merit. I felt she broke important ground as where we were unwittingly the same about the Dharmasala she explored why we don't take witness to a case in point of meeting and its carbon footprint. action, touching on the cogni­ environmental devastation from May there be upstream and tive, attentional, informational, unbridled human impacts, I downstream outcomes of value and motivational deficits that taught a daylong in Delhi to His for all the carbon we have render us indifferent, and the Holiness' Foundation for Hu­ released into our atmosphere in positive conditions that can man Responsibility, where most the course of our travels and our prime effective action; His of the participants were people deliberations. Holiness then spoke of the who served the poorest cancer About the Mind and Life relevance of ahimsa, causality patients in Delhi. It was Diwale, meeting, I was grateful that His and responsibility, the profound the festival of lights, and the Holiness was so deeply engaged, importance of education, demo- courage I encountered in our that the meetings were streamed,

26 SEEDS OF PEACE that they (all but the last one) are Dharamsala, as we created a as well as present Upaya's work on you tube now: http://www. cohesive community together. at the International Meeting of mindandlife.org/dialogues/past­ This is one of the most special Engaged Buddhists: http://www. conferences/ml23/. I feel that features about the Mind and inebnetwork.org/. These endea­ whether we have a human cen­ Life process, that we become a vors indeed seem to be of the tered or system centered view, we sangha. All this in the precious same cloth: gatherings of deeply are all in this situation together, atmosphere that is generated by committed, intelligent and com­ and need to feel and act on the His Holiness as he listens and passionate men and women vision of deep moral responsi­ inquires so vividly into our pre­ who are acutely aware that bility for "future people", future sentations and shares his joy and compassion and wisdom are generations, and, truly, all spe­ concern equally. And I was called for in the 21" century and cies; and after hearing Diana grateful to teach for CanSupport: who act bf what they perceive. Liverman's presentation, I see http://www .cansupport.org/ we need to do this NOW. newcansupport/ and His Holi­ Roshi Joan Halifax, It was a great joy being with ness' Foundation for Human Re­ Upaya Zen Center, good friends and new friends in sponsibility http://furhhdl.org/, Co-moderator of the meeting Why INEB is The Buddhist Conference to Attend

Jambudvipa Trust, Youth Bud­ dhist Society oflndia (YBS), the Deer Park Institute and INEB designed the conference as a platform for examining the fu­ ture of Buddhism to re-awaken Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - monasteries, temples and village and to re-vitalize Buddhist com­ Gaya is a contradiction. At one slums which dot the periphery of mitment towards helping all end, fine yellow dusts fill the the local highway leading from sentient beings. More signifi­ air and choke the lungs, while its airport to the focal point of cantly, this year's INEB takes piercing horns and shouts from Gay a's existence, the Mahabodhi place to commemorate the 2,600 a thousand bodies choke its Temple, spot of the Buddha's years since the Buddha gained narrow streets. You can see Enlightenment. Enlightenment right here, in children who wear tom rags on In this vortex of noise, pollu­ Bodhgaya. the streets, who probably have tion, poverty and calm, serene Unlike any other Buddhist no idea what school is like - greenery, augmented with a conferences, people who attend ever. Then you see polio stricken historic Enlightenment, the In­ INEB do not just to sit through a kids crawling on muddy side­ ternational Network of Engaged series of talk shops. A significant walks extending their hands Buddhists held its biannual con­ difference between this and for alms, and you get hit by the ference here. other Buddhist gatherings is the effects of deep poverty and the More renowned for its participation of "resource per­ consequences of what an unat­ acronym, INEB brings together sons". These are not just practic­ tended fever can do to a young Buddhist based organizations ing Buddhists, but also dedi­ child. and individuals from around the cated professionals who are At the other end, there exist world to share stories, resources respected in their field of exper­ vast tracts of verdant green and to support each other's work. tise. fields. These are hidden behind This year, the organizers - The guy who gives detailed

Vo1.28 No.1 27 • narratives of guided tours around people doing courageous work pants from such diverse back- privil the Mahabodhi temple was also at ground level to help these grounds would not have been so work a founder of a public listed phar- disadvantaged communities, evidently committed if not for Dhan maceutical company, whose people like Mangesh Dahiwale the drive and inspiration of as m produces are made based on from the Jambudvipa Trust and !NEB's founder, Ajarn Sulak moti· traditional medical knowledge. Santoshita Chakma from the Sivaraksa. In his opening address, viole1 His name is Richard Dixie. Chittagong Jumma Refugees he said: 1 Then there is the Japanese Welfare Association. "We need to be culturally that I priest Rev. Hideshito Okoshi All through the presenta- sensitive, politically concerned centr who established a miro-credit tions, we hear how these indivi- and socially committed to have only "Future Bank", developed build- duals and organizations fortify the courage to tackle questions INEI ings that could last for 100 years themselves with non-violent of the common good and to point strate and is now dedicating himself to communication strategies, com- out abusive situations. To be able 1 work for a nuclear free Japan. passion and street smart wisdom to see clearly, to be truly aware need In Thailand, Phra Sangkom as they face the realities of en- of the state of the world, we must mas Thanapanyo works with remote gaging with people who are begin by deprogramming our- and) villages to address issues of denied basic human rights just selves and be free of prejudice root! water scarcity while helping to because some parts of society toward those we criticize. By secul

"::'·t• maintain local agricultural prac- deemed them as below "cows". working with others of goodwill, ...t•• tices and to protect forest ecosy- We see at first hand how the we can i{ientify and confront stems. He calls his work "Appli- Buddha-Dharma operates in abuses ofp'ower. It is critical for cation of sufficiency economy". diverse conditions of human and people of all faiths and ideolo- At "The Bridge Fund", environmental suffering - from gies, as well as atheists and Monica Garry from the United working with rejected popula- agnostics, to listen to each other States manages a foundation tion, empowering marginalized as we promote justice and have the which works exclusively with groups, gender identity, awaken- balance through non-violent disadvantaged people living on ing the youth, climate change means. Equality must be upheld the Tibetan Plateau in Western and green marketing. All these in all situations, in order to have China, down to the most remote are laid out in work groups, led empathy for, as well as to stay in w nomad. The fund supports deve- by one or more resource persons. touch with the poor and the Bud loping local entrepreneurship These work group structures oppressed. " artis (right livelihood), expanding facilitate connections that could This was aptly summarized rural healthcare, tackling waste be made, so that people with a and supported with a simple management and strengthening variety of knowhow, experience advice from the Bhutanese monk communities, while grounded in and skill can get together and Dzongsar Kyentse Jamyang respect for Tibetan culture and brainstorm on issues. Even Rinpoche (a strong advocate of values. innocuous activities such as non-sectarian Buddhism), when Like any previous editions discussions on how to use a he observed, of INEB, social action is sy- website effectively, film making, "When you drink tea, there nonymous with engaging under- photography and art have a role is the tea and there is the cup. We served, under privileged and to play in that creative process. can't say whether the tea or the sometimes persecuted groups. Like Gay a's vortex of dicho- cup is more important. Without This year, the delegates heard tornies - of dust with verdant the cup, you cannot hold hot tea stories of samsara at work on fields, noise with serene gardens, in your hands. Yet, we should not and whole communities: the Chak- poverty with its majestic mo- be attached to the cup, and say share mas (India), the Dalits (untoucha- nasteries, INEB 's key success lies 'only this cup can hold the tea'." in th bles oflndia) and the Chittagong in its ability to blend tools with Without a doubt, INEB have Hills Tribe (Bangladesh). For experience, strategies with street successfully brought together the some of these communities, like smart realities, faith with focus groups of diverse Buddhists the Dalits, embracing Buddhism and compassion with wisdom. from all corners of the world, is a way to escape the clutches of Yet, like the focal point of each personally and socially discrimination. the Buddha's Enlightenment in committed to reach out and to L And so we get to see real the Mahabodhi temple, partici- help the underserved and under

28 SEEDS OF PEACE privileged. More admirably, their understanding of the new and the for others. work are accomplished using ancient, of east and west, the Dharma inspired strategies such Buddha's Teachings is timeless Kooi F. Lim, as mindfulness, compassion and equally effective, then and The Buddhist Channel, motivated actions and non­ now. November 6, 2011 violence. All that is asked of us is to http://www.buddhistchannel.tv They have shown the way have the capacity to see clearly that Buddhists are not just self­ without prejudice, to have the The International Network of centred practitioners, motivated ability to listen to one another Engaged Buddhists (INEB) only by personal salvation. This and to act without selfish motives was established in 1989. It held INEB gathering has demon­ and personal agendas. its biannual conference from strated anything but that. And when we can do this, October 26-29, 2011 at Wat Pa Utilitarian Buddhist values no amount of samsaric dust, Bodhgaya, Gay a, India. The next need not be undermined by dog­ pollution or mental poverty can INEB conference will be held in mas and cultural strait-jackets, stop us from reaching out and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2013. and yet it need not succumb to fulfilling the dreams of our com­ For more information, please visit: rootless modernism and new age mon humanity, that is to end http://www .inebnetwork.or!U. secularism. With a balanced suffering for ourselves as well as

What's Art Got to Do with It? A Report from the 20 11 International Buddhist Art Gathering in Bodh Gaya

Why should we care about a combination of traditional and Buddhist art and Buddhist modern iconography and tech­ artists? niques to create new works. What role do artists play Some such as Bhanuwat Kittivu­ in the buddhadharma and in thikarn used photography and bettering our world? video to document the event. On October 19 INEB invited Mareeya Dumronophol con­ a diverse array of Asian artists to ducted a performance piece, Wat Thai Buddhagaya for the covering herself with a cloth 2011 International Buddhist Art soaked in clay collected in Bodh Gathering. Entitled "Pilgrimage Gaya and meditating for two to the Roots of our Heritage", the hours at dawn. Sculptor Apisak event drew thirty-three artists Wattiwanpol created a tradi­ from Laos, Vietnam, Siam, tional moon throne also out of China, India, Burma, Sri Lanka local clay. In the Thai custom, and the US to work together and visitors were given the opportu­ share their ideas for seven days nity to sponsor a section of the in the birthplace of Buddhism. ful, that INEB decided to expand throne, donating money in small One of the events preceding them into a larger event in tan­ clay cups set around the sculptor the main INEB conference in dem to its bi-annual conference, as he worked. Burmese artist Bodh Gaya, the Arts Gathering "The Future of Buddhism." Moat Thone created an abstract was inspired by two previous Set-up under adjacent tents painting of the artists in the exchanges between Thai and Sri in the courtyard and strewn workshop environment. Many Lankan artists in 2007 and 2009. throughout the residence halls of sketched the Mahabodhi Temple These workshops were so fruit- the Thai temple, the artists used and its surrounding grounds.

Vo1.28 No.1 29 On the third day, artists piled from live drawing accompanied Tiane Vilayphonechith and Cha­ addr into two buses for a field trip by instruments, to projected leunphone Phonnabouth traveled sent to Vulture's Peak in Rajgir and video and slide-shows, to the from Laos. Zaw Win came from safe1 the site of the ancient Nalanda showing of work created at the Burma and Minette Mangahas Eartl University. An ali-day affair, this gathering. flew in from the United States. sterr trip helped break the ice and gave Representation in the con­ Many of the artists brought tuall artists who had never been here gregation was dominated by finished works to donate to inch an opportunity to do pilgrimage. seventeen artists from various INEB while others created While the Gathering' s goals of Thai schools. Bhanuwat, Ma­ works in response to the Bud­ Bud• collaboration and exchange were reeya, Apisak and Somyot were dhist theme and their experiences unde challenged by the significant joined by Sitthichai Smanchat, in Bodh Gaya. The works donat­ the language barrier between artists, Supot Singhasai, Surasak Rod­ ed were exhibited in the Main eartl there were several occasions phrohboon, Suwat, Saenkattiya­ Hall of Wat Pa Buddhagaya men1 of spontaneous sharing. Zhang rant, Chatchawan Rodklongtan, during the first two days of the nes Hong, a professor at Guangzhou Lipikorn Makaew, Phra Pol main conference. They then that Academy of the Arts, taught Kuwiangwai, Peap Vara Misara traveled to New York City for a spec participants a Chinese method Prakitsilpa, Plaek Kitfuangfoo, benefit auction and gala at the chile of wet mounting paintings on Boonrat Na-Wichai, Pornchai Tibet House on November 19. and I paper. Known for his spectacular Chaima, Sone Simatrang, and Proceeds from this event will dha· chacoal drawings, Somyot Kum­ Songdej Thipthong. benefit INEB programs and denc sang, a professor at Rajamangala Indian artists included future arts g'atherings. bef01 University in Bangkok, showed Kaustav Paul, who studies Based on the successes and haun others his techniques for pro­ ceramics at Visva Bharati Uni­ lessons learned from this first threa ducing myriad forms in one fluid versity in Santiniketan, and Bodh Arts Gathering, the future of the gesture. Gaya artists Anish Kumar, who arts program carries dazzling Bud Each evening, three to five studied Tibetan thanka painting potential. INEB has set the next artists presented their work in in Nepal, and Jagjeevan Kumar, International Arts Gathering for the temple's dining hall. These who is a self-taught artist. 2013 in Thailand, and may host presentations were attended by Wang Jian and Zhang Hong some smaller workshops in the INEB organizers, Youth Pro­ hailed from the Guangzhou Acad­ interim period in India and Sri gram participants, and friends emy ofFine Arts in China. Nguyen Lanka. in the community, and ranged Xuan Viet came from Vietnam.

Global Buddhist Congregation 2011 Communique

Environment & the Natural retreating glaciers and depleting even aware of their existence. World: A Buddhist Response ice at the poles. Still, we continue Many people view this as the A declaration on the urgent to pump greenhouse gases into sixth mass extinction, but this need to apply compassion, ethics the atmosphere. The great forests one is different in that it is not and wisdom to the environmental of the world are being destroyed caused by an unavoidable crisis more quickly than they can be catastrophe, but primarily by our The human population now replaced, coral reefs are dying, actions. stands at seven billion and and species are disappearing at Scientific research is re­ human beings are placing in­ an alarming rate due to habitat vealing evidence of animals' creasingly unrealistic demands loss and changes in temperatures intelligence and emotions. This on the earth' s resources. We are and water supply. With the cur­ new understanding of animal witnessing extreme weather rent rate of extinction, it is likely sentience has huge implications events, dramatic changes in that very many species will for the way we treat them and the climate, rising sea levels, become extinct before we are policies and laws we adopt. By

""'------, 30 SEEDS OF PEACE

------

~ ~

~ : ------addressing the needs of other commitment to: 5. Apply our commitment sentient beings, we stand to 1. Act with the knowledge to have compassion to sentient safeguard the well-being of the that the warming planet and beings in interactions with them Earth's environment and ecosy­ species loss presents a moral and address the indirect harm stems it supports. This even­ issue of the highest order. caused to them by our consump­ tually benefits all life forms 2. Become more educated tion of resources, use of land and including our own kind. about environmental issues, seek climate change. 2,600 years ago, when the to educate others regarding the 6. Be a mindful consumer Buddha attained enlightenment interdependence of all life forms by avoiding waste and refusing under the Bodhi tree, he touched and take right action to minimize to buy products created from the the ground to signify that the our negative impacts on the suffering of other beings. earth was witness to that mo­ Earth. 7. Seek to change societal, ment. Today, the earth is wit­ 3. Within the Buddhist consumer and political frame­ nessing a collective ignorance community, bring our collective works so that they see animals as that endangers the future of all wisdom to bear on environmen­ kin and not merely resources or species and the future of our tal issues and address them with commodities that can be utilized children. As entire ecosystems compassion and insight based by humans without regard to their and habitats disappear, the Bud­ on the skilful means of sound welfare. dha's teachings on interdepen­ ethics and scientific research. 8. Apply Buddhist principles dence are more evident than ever 4. Recognizing that animals and .teaching to overcome the before. The Karma of our actions are fellow sentient beings who deniaf of the situation we face haunts the present and stands to feel pain and fear and take right and seek co-operation with threaten the future of all. action to reduce the suffering other communities as we move We as followers of the they endure as a result of human towards true ecological sustai­ Buddha's teaching make a behaviour. nability.

ofl}'ou are dhanna. You are a wheel. And the wheel of dhanna spins."

Programme Chart

Your complete Information guide for Plenary sessions I

GLOBAL BUDDHIST CONGREGATION 2011 NEW DELHI, INDIA 27 • 30 Nov 2011 Suksit Siam Bookshop opened on 20th April2510 at 175 Rama IV Road, Bangkok has now moved to its new location at 117-119 Fuang Nakorn Road, Bangkok 10200 Tel: 02-225-9536-8, Fax: 02-222-5188 email: [email protected] www.kledthaishopping.com Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except sunday. English books on Engaged Buddhism are available.

Vo1.28 No.1 3 1 edu The Niwano Peace Prize Goes to bett' res a Sulak Sivaraksa prot natu Loving kindness, compassion, and values. enc1 and above all self-awareness: What marks Sulak in the indt Thai Buddhist leader Sulak many encounters I have had with mer Sivaraksa always returns to those him is the way he speaks truth to ethi themes when be speaks. But those in power, even though und there's a steely determination those truths are couched in often prin behind his gentle facade and gentle ways. To serve society and admonitions to pay attention to truly, Sulak contends, one must Kno one's breathing as a first step to stay in touch with poor people (a t( self mastery. Sulak accepted the and the grass roots and engage Nha Niwano Peace Prize in Kyoto, in politics. Working to bring dev( Japan, on July 23 in a ceremony about change has embroiled In o that highlighted his life's work, him in many controversial issu­ and marked over many decades by es and many stints in jail. He the courage, determination, ima­ approaches advocacy with a gination, and the inspiration that combinatioh of knowledge, cou­ are the anchors of his Buddhist rage, and absolute commitment faith. It was a splendid occasion to nonviolence. He is widely to celebrate a special leader. world. He encourages a new credited with having mobilized The Niwano Peace Prize has understanding of peace, demo­ Thai civil society, creating many been awarded annually for 28 cracy, and development, chal­ social welfare and development years, to a leader or organization lenging accepted approaches organizations. All embody two whose work for peace draws on a that fail to give priority to poor central themes of his work: religious or spiritual inspiration citizens, men and women alike. rejection of development fueled and a commitment to interfaith He gives new life to ancient by consumerism, and pursuit of illUJ action. Established by the Niwano Buddhist teachings about non­ development rooted in indige­ en co family which leads the lay violence. nous culture and socially-engag­ Buddhist organization, Rissho Sulak Sivaraksa was born in ed religious traditions and Kosei-Kai, the winner is selected 1933 in Siam (as he prefers to beliefs. His organizations reflect by an international committee call his country), to a family of an indigenous, sustainable, and (I am currently the chair). Rather Chinese ancestry. Educated in spiritual model for change. little known in the United States, Thailand, England, and Wales, Today, these organizations are the Niwano laureates are an in law and other disciplines. He active far beyond Thailand. impressive group and the returned to Bangkok in 1961. He Sulak is among the most aspiration is that this prize be a uses his intellectual gifts to intelligent advocates for the spiritual equivalent to the Nobel propel the concept and move­ environment. He speaks force­ Peace Prize. ment of Engaged Buddhism. He fully against environmental de­ Sulak Sivaraksa was select­ is a true teacher and has nurtured struction, promoting environ­ ed as the 2011 winner because and supported younger leaders mental preservation and environ­ his life of dedication to peace over the years. Many today are mental justice. Sekhiyadhamma and justice exemplifies the leaders of a wide range of organi­ (Students of the Dhamma), a principles of the Niwano Peace zations. He is also a scholar, network of Buddhist monks, Prize. He uses a wide range of publisher, and founder of many works in their communities to tools-insights, personal exam­ organizations, with more than a preserve local environments, ple, and raw persistence-to hundred books and monographs, principally forests that are so change the views of political in Thai and English. He promotes essential to village economies. leaders, scholars, and young a spiritual education movement Characteristic of Sulak's ap­ people, in Thailand, Asia, and the grounded in traditional culture proach, the work combines

32 SEEDS OF PEACE

- ~~=- -- ~~~ ------~------­------~11¥~ __~l -,-- education, teaching villagers just global society. To refrain everything, including oneself, better ways to conserve natural from killing today means an end look deeply, and then act from resources, and political action to to all modern forms of violence. that insight. He is among a hand­ protect local social, cultural, and To refrain from stealing is a call ful of leaders world-wide work­ natural environments from the for global economic justice. Not ing to revive the socially engaged encroachment of commercial, engaging in sexual misconduct aspects of spirituality. Whatever industrial, and urban develop­ calls us to examine all systems of he does, however he does it, at ment. Sulak's environmental male dominance which exploit the core of his work is a mission ethic is grounded in a holistic women. Prohibiting false speech to build a new leadership for understanding of the Buddhist is a call for honesty at the inter­ change at all levels, within his principle of interdependence national level. Avoiding intoxi­ country and beyond. and a deep respect for nature. cation is a call for global respon­ Sulak's speech at Kyoto was Knowledge of inter-becoming sibility for drug and alcohol use characteristically laced with (a term he borrows from Thich and an examination of its causes. wisdom and advice, emotional Nhat Hanh), is achieved by In Sulak's Buddhist vision of and balanced, nuanced yet developing mindful awareness. society, the individual is under­ urgent. He highlighted the In contrast to more reflective stood as a starting point for extraordinary example of and contemplative styles, he change: through individual Japan's courageous people, as aggressively fights in the tren­ spiritual growth, social justice is they rally in the face of the March ches for the cause of human and eventually achieved. earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear environmental justice. Sulak is a leading voice in disastei. The experience offers a Buddhist principles are thus global inter-religious dialogue compelling vision of the risks we a personal and political resource and engagement, an acknow­ face today, and it calls us above and Sulak's life shows that the ledged global leader for peace. all to listen to each other. Sulak's interior life of spiritual contem­ Interdependence is an essential, constant message is that con­ plation, and the exterior life of living concept. His voice of sumer driven models are pro­ political action, need not be reason and ethics highlights the foundly flawed and the inequa­ opposites or hostile to each tangible issues that touch on lity that goes with it is something other. On the contrary each can human dignity. He was one of we must abhor and fight. He illuminate and inform and the early leaders who brought urged us all to act-to protect encourage the other. the ethical challenges of caring the planet, to fight inequities, and Sulak extends the Buddhist for the environment into global to learn to enjoy the beauties of Five Precepts into ethical gui­ discourse. the world with moderation­ delines that can forge a more For Sulak, Buddhism is a before it is too late. sustainable, compassionate, and questioning process: question Katherine Marshall Vichai Chokevivat

Vichai and I are kalyanamitta. Ultimately, this will help reduce From that moment onward our A kalyanamitta acts as one's self-attachment and foster our friendship progressively deve­ external voice of conscience, being with others. loped until we became one ano­ cautioning one to be mindful. Therefore, I'm speaking to ther's kalyanamitta. Although we That is, a kalyanamitta often Vichai as a kalyanamitta. The belong to different generations, says things that one does not extent others will be able to we do learn a lot from one ano­ necessarily want to hear. But tolerate its tone and message is ther. I'm fortunate to have once contemplated, these things entirely another matter. benefited from younger friends may be beneficial to the develop­ It can be said that in this throughout my life, especially ment of critical self-reflection or gathering I have known Vichai from Vichai and his friends in at least self-criticism. A kalyana­ far longer than many others have. the medical community. They mitta sincerely points out one's At least, Vichai had read my books have helped nurture my physical shortcomings or flaws, paving prior to our initial meeting at the well-being and aided me in the way for self-improvement. Student Christian Center in 1966. many other ways. Therefore,

Vo1.28 No.1 33 I've always felt gratitude for rich men's club in Tokyo on or create a rupture in the 3. A them, especially at this time in the invitation of his friend, he mainstream? \ my life. wanted to know the secrets to Perhaps Vichai couldn't tl Enough of the personal their success. He was told by find someone else to manage \ background and kind words. his Japanese friend as well as these projects or run these k Below are the direct and honest several other millionaires at organizations. Perhaps he tl words of a kalyanamitta. the club that their success was simply too nice to turn d 1. Ever since I've known Vichai depended in no small part down these offers. Whatever s (from his university days to luck. We may be clever, the actual reason, doing so II till now), he's always been diligent, talented, etc. but isn't good for Vichai. Why? c devoted to good causes. He's without a bit or a lot of luck Because he won't be able or 0 never wavered from this we may not be successful-at have the time to create some- position. He often speaks least in the material world. thing novel-that is, to think \\ his mind and isn't afraid of (The same logic applies to and enact radical change. In rr thinking outside the box. Thaksin Shinawatra and his other words, he's better off st He's done many good things sister Yingluck the present thinking and doing something ir that the mainstream couldn't Prime Minister. Luck is now else. He needs the time to rest, accept and is skillful in on their side-but it will not listen, think, and meditate in networking and mobilizing always stay this way.) order to realize his potentials others. Many mainstream It's not possible to eva- as well, as those of others. figures see Vichai as their luate the extent that luck has Now Vichai is approach- enemy. At the personal level, played in Vichai's life thus ingold age. Hopefully, he will they may not be bad indi- far. But I would argue that take into consideration the viduals. But they are afraid good conducts have been the words of this old kalyana- of social change--especially most important determining mitta. At least, I feel that they structural and institutional factor in his life. are more beneficial to him transformations that disman- Now the time has come than those of the mass media, tle the existing hierarchies, for real criticisms. I don't which Puey Ungphakorn inequalities, exclusionary doubt that Vichai is full of once called the "herd media". practices, and so on. Through- good intentions. That is why If one knows how to cope out his life Vichai has to he is doing so many charity or with criticisms, it will do one inevitably struggle against philanthropic works. Vichai good rather than harm. fe these figures. Luckily, he's is certainly capable of manag- 2. Vichai is not only accepting d managed to survive-so far at ing or running them. The too much work. He's working v least. We must not forget that problem is not with his capa- with a number of organiza- e many other individuals who bility. Rather the problem is tions that are utterly domi- tll were more skillful or capable that these activities are inca- nated by Capital or vested than Vichai had succumbed pable of subverting or chal- interests-including the Thai to these forces; for instance, lenging the mainstream. In Health Promotion Founda- Pridi Banomyong, Puey Ung- fact, they are not intended to tion. Moreover, Vichai is in phakorn, Kularb Saipradit- do so. We need to have the several committees working and even Madame Poonsukh time to think, analyze, and under public figures like Banomyong was not spared. criticize. Otherwise, we will Anand Panyarachun and We may or may not be doing many activities that Prawase Wasi. They are highly believe in luck. But we should end up propping or sustaining contentious figures to say the heed well the words of Julius the very system we pro- least. Vichai needs to ask Caesar, one of the greatest fessedly despise. To put it himself seriously whether it is figures in the West. Caesar strongly-and this may upset really necessary for him to said that success, especially Vichai-1' d like to pose a work under these figures. in the battlefield, depends on simple question: To what Furthermore, to what luck. Similarly, when Trevor extent are the organizations extent are these committees Leggett, the renowned judo that you are working for ra- truly independent and ac- teacher in London, visited a dical enough to challenge countable to the public? wa

1·. 34 SEEDS OF PEACE 3. Another important thing that representative was the late taneously Buddhist. This will Vichai must never forget is Sa-nguan Nitayarumphong. be something truly new. By that he is the medical doctor They must be given due Buddhism I don't mean it Vichai Chokevivat. Do you recognition. in the religious or orthodox know that many people in The conducts of good sense. Rather, it has a more this country are fed up with teachers must also be like spiritual sense of being awa­ doctors and physicians? those of good doctors. The kened from Greed, Hatred, Students want to become Buddha was both a teacher and Delusion. Thus this alter­ medical doctors. Why? Be­ and a doctor. We should fol­ native medical movement cause doctors these days not low his way. It is now terribly will also cooperate with other only take care of physical difficult to find doctors qua people's organizations to well-being but also business teachers who are humble, awaken Thai society from well-being. They serve in treat everyone equally, and falsehood, half-truths, medio­ many high-ranking admini­ are not subservient to power. crity, etc. strative positions of various We are badly in need of them. 4. Lastly, many figures in the institutions and universities At this stage, if Vichai mainstream mass media-the that are essentially authori­ and his medical friends devote herd media-see Vichai as tarian, highly centralized, and themselves to producing doc­ their enemy. If these herd unaccountable. These institu­ tors qua teachers they will media are like the animals in tions and organizations serve leave an invaluable gift to George Orwell's famous the interest of the rich and Thai society. They have Animal Farm they will be powerful-oligarchic forces already initiated something pretty harmless or negligible. in society. We must ask: Is important called the Rural But they are more like savage capitalism the only reality that Doctors Society. beasts that serve militarism there is? Do these medical If possible they should and capitalism-hence they doctors know about unjust also try to emancipate them­ are far more dangerous. Think social structures? Can they selves from the hegemony of of how terrible Siam Rath think holistically? Can they Western medical science and newspaper was under M.R. think about Truth, Beauty, from the control of big phar­ Kukrit Pramoj. Or think of and the Good? maceutical corporations. We Khao Sod and Matichon Although Vichai is dif­ must take alternative healing newspapers under Khanchai ferent from many mainstream seriously and look into va­ Bunpan. However, the ordi­ doctors, he's become in­ rious other traditions for nary people are increasingly volved with them-for what­ inspiration and wisdom-not mindful of and concerned everreason. And he will suffer only Thai but also Tibetan, about the manipulations and the same fate as they did. Burmese, Laotian, Cambo­ activities of these herd media. Doctors who are truly devoted dian, Indian, Chinese and so Hopefully, Vichai and his to the well-being of their on. young friends will side with patients-and not to wealth, It would even be better to the ordinary people to struggle power, and social status-are have an alternative medical against and overcome these not widely known. A good movement that is simul- reactionary forces. Thai Social Structure Harms Innocent People 0 n 11 October 2011 the Appeal Court had previously Jintana on 30 September 2003. Supreme Court sentenced Mrs. sentenced the accused to six The initial case was lodged Jintana Kaewkao to four-month months in prison. Of course, not against Jintana ten years ago. imprisonment. The Supreme mentioned was the fact that the On l3 January 2001 Jintana and Court declared that the sentence Court of First Instance had a number of Baan Krut villagers was already lenient as the dismissed the charges against stormed into a celebratory party

Vol.28 No.1 3 5 held by the Union Power Deve­ like I had done at the opening What I really want to know 0 lopment Company. They were ceremony of Charoen W at­ is whether or not all the judges there· to exercise their right aksorn's monument. (Charoen in the system have ever come c to protect community life and was assassinated for his environ­ into contact with the poor and 0 "' natural resources against viola­ mental activism.) Villagers in the marginalized. Do they know that tl tion by government policy as area as well as Thais who are the villagers are fighting oligar­ f guaranteed by the 1997 Consti­ concerned about justice hold chic forces that are sustained by e tution. both Charoen and Jintana in high unjust and violent social struc­ L Of course, breaking into a esteem. tures? Do they know what it t private property constituted a A Matichon journalist means for an individual or legal offense. But we also have asked me for an interview, which movement to struggle for the e to carefully scrutinize the whole was done over a recording device, common good and environmen­ context of the situation and the on 12 October. The journalist tal protection? r various factors behind the dis­ also interviewed Jintana and Ajam Pridi Banomyong was pute. And if we look at the case photographed the two of us. He one of the political targets in the from the perspective of public told us thatMatichon would print 'regicide' case mentioned above. r interest (and not personal in­ our story on the front page on the His political opponents tried to e terest) it seems that the sentence following day. I told him that implicate him in it. Based on is unfair to Jintana as well as the Khanchai Bunpan had ordered Stevenson's book, the King also I whole movement for community both Matichon and Khao Sod said that Pridi was innocent. But c and environmental rights in the newspapers not to publish any many figures in the ruling and c country. As such, many found story related to me. I also asked oligarchic classes (including the Supreme Court's decision him to give my 20I2 New Year's those in the Democratic Party) contentious or appalling. card to Khanchai. The card shows still depict him as a malicious In any case, the decisions the picture of my Thai house. I politician. (Perhaps they have made by the three courts enable told the journalist that at this intentionally forgotten that us to see more clearly the form Thai house Khanchai and Suchit Democratic Party leaders such and phenomenon of justice in the Wongthes had played Thai as Khuang Aphaiwongse and country. musical instruments together at a Seni Pramoj collaborated with The Midnight University time when they were both fired the coup makers in 1947 to had awarded Jintana Kaewkao from Siam Rath newspaper by dismantle democracy in the J with an honorary doctorate Kukrit Pramoj. But those were country. And democracy has yet degree for her environmenta­ the good old days. to find its way firmly back into lism. Her 'research' was essen­ In the speech I gave to the Thai society since then.) tially devoting her life to envi­ villagers I reminded them that It is a good sign for Thai ronmental protection in a way our justice system has been off society that we still have that most professional resear­ balanced ever since the sentenc­ individuals like Charoen Wat­ chers could not match easily­ ing of the three individuals aksorn and Jintana Kaewkao. It not to mention researchers who accused of being involved in the shows that the villagers have are serving oligarchic forces in mysterious death of King Rama become awakened and they are society. VIII with capital punishment. If engaging in systematic struggles. When I heard the court's The Revolutionary King by If the ruling class understands decision on II October, I traveled William Stevenson can be this fact and acts accordingly, with a group of friends to visit trusted, the present King ad­ there is a chance for Thai society Jintana at the Prachuab Khiri mitted that the three accused to move in a more progressive Khan provincial prison on the were in fact innocent. But how direction. following day. Jintana was full could we grant life back to them? In an article Srisuwan Janya, of moral courage. Quite a large At least, Jintana' s sentence is president of Stop Global Warming number of villagers gathered in only four months in prison (and Association Thailand, argues: front of the prison. Some of them the judges were already saying In the past 20 years, capita­ mocked or protested against the how she should feel gratitude for lists and vested interests justice system. Some of the vil­ them because they reduced her have managed to slay appro­ lagers asked me to give a speech sentence by 2 months!). ximately 20 core leaders

36 SEEDS OF PEACE ._j

~~- -_------=------=-=::------~-- -- ~ ------

------of the environmental pro­ vince; Pitak Toh-nawut, a Khaen province; Charoen tection movement in the leader of Baan Lum Nam Wat-aksom, a leader of the country. In most cases, Chompoo community who Bo Nok villagers who were government agencies and opposed a stone grinding against coal power plants the justice system could not plant belonging to a national and the encroachment of the protect these individuals politician that had en­ commons by local capitalists even though they were croached on a forest reserve in Prachuab Khirikan pro­ innocent and had acted on area in Pitsanulok province; vince; Suraphon Sirichan, behalf of the villagers in Kaew Pinpunma, a leader a leader of the Mae Mok the name of human and of a group of villagers who forest community opposing environmental rights and came into conflict with local illegal logging; Pakwipa the common good. Their capitalists over land use; Chalermklin, a leader of the names are as follows: Suwat Wongpiyasathit, a Baan Hua Krabue commu­ Boontawee Upakara­ leader of the Bangplee com­ nity in Angthong province kun, a leader of the move­ munity who opposed the who opposed the construc­ ment against pollutions Rajathewa garbage dump in tion of a port to transport emitted by the Lamphun Samutprakarn province; sand excavated from the Industrial Estate; Prawian Somporn Chanapon, a lea­ river; Phra Supoj Suwajo, an Bunnuk, a leader of the der of a group of environ­ activist monk who refused movement against a stone mentalists who opposed the to sell the land of his Suan grinding factory in Loei construction ofKlong Kradae Metta Dharm monastery in province; Vinai Jantamano, dam in Surat Thani pro­ Chiang Mai province to a an environmentalist who vince; Bunsom Nimnoi, a group of investors; and opposed illegal logging in leader of an environmental Thongnak Sawekchinda, an Satun province; Thong-in group that opposed the con­ environmental activist who Kaewwatta, a leader of the struction of a condensate­ led protests against coal­ movement against the con­ splitter plant in Petchburi related businesses in Samut struction of an industrial province; Preecha Taeng­ Sakhon province. waste treatment plant in pan, a leader of a movement All of these individuals Rayong province; Tunrue­ struggling for community struggled to assert their jun Bunkhuntot, a leader of rights against a wastewater rights guaranteed by the the movement against the treatment plant in Nakon Constitution and the justice construction of Bongkhun­ Sri Thammarat province; system. But they were all pet dam in Chaiyaphum pro­ Bunrit Channarong, a leader wiped out by extra-judicial vince; Thongmuan Kum­ of a group of villagers killings. The justice system chaem and Som Homphrom, demanding for community could not help them in any leaders of the movement rights and opposing illegal way. But their actions have against providing state con­ logging in Surat Thani pro­ sparked the spirit of struggle cession to a stone grinding vince; Bunyong Intawong, a especially at the grassroots plant in Nongbualumpoo leader of Rong-ha commu­ throughout the kingdom, province; Aree Songkroh, a nity who opposed the activi­ calling the people to rise and leader of the movement ties of a stone grinding plant rise again until they succeed. against forest encroachment belonging to a national poli­ Jintana' s prison term- in Surat Thani province; tician in Chiang Rai pro­ however unfair-is nothing Jurin Rachapon, an environ­ vince; Kumpun Suksai, a compared to the fate of the other mentalist who opposed the leader of Chiang Dao com­ environmental activists men­ destruction of mangrove munity who opposed the tioned above. As long as state forest areas in Phuket encroachment of commu­ power and Capital still work to province; Narin Podaeng, a nity forests in Chiang Mai disrupt the weighing scales of leader of the movement province; Surnnao Srisong­ justice in the country the Court's against a stone grinding kram, president of the Lam decision will not be able to stop plant belonging to a national Nam Pong Recovery and the struggles of the people and politician in Rayong pro- Conservation Group in Khon villagers.

Vol.28 No.1 3 7 II and Bundit was given a jail term The department store rented 5 new The Supreme Court's of 2 years and 8 months without blocks of buildings, 3 belonging area. decision to imprison Jintana suspension. to the Crown Property Bureau Kaewkao makes me wonder Fortunately, a foreign well­ (CPB) and 2 to the King's Private about the fate of Bundit Aniya wisher helped to pay for Bun­ Property. Each block of building who was charged with lese dit's bail bond, which was quite is four-story high. Business was majeste and is waiting for the sizeable. largely good for Sahachai and his Court's final decision. As such, Today, Bundit is suffering family until both institutions the sentence that he is likely to from several physical and mental embarked on land development receive will be much harsher problems. He had undergone projects in the area. The rent cost than Jintana's. operations removing his bladder shot up greatly. Many rent sibli1 else Bundit was charged with cancer and one of his kidneys. contracts were quickly scrapped brotll lese majeste because of his role His physical condition is with little compensation paid to in distributing documents in a deteriorating. There are a lot of the tenants. and Sah 2003 seminar. The main idea of concerns about his well-being if Sahachai was told that he the documents is that the justice he's sentenced to prison. had to sign a new contract which system should be impartial and If the Supreme Court uses required a 3 million baht down must not bow down to any higher the same standard as in Jintana's payment. Alternatively, he could authority. Subsequently, Police case, Bundit will surely end up in close down his department store General W asana Permlarp, one jail. One can only wonder to what and receive a compensation of of the panelists in the seminar, extent any of the judges will between 5~,000 and 80,000 baht. filed a lese majeste charge deliberate the case without Many tenants caved in to the against Bundit. prejudice and with compassion demand. But Sahachai felt that While waiting for his trial in for the poor and marginalized. it was unjust. He brought the the Bangkok Remand Prison, he The King had made it clear many case to court but ultimately lost was verbally abused and almost years ago that any lese majeste because the law benefited the physically beaten by one of the charge filed would ultimately hurt property owner far more than the officials there. He had to kowtow him and the monarchy. This is tenant. The police-upholders of before that official and beg for something to think about along public peace and orderliness­ his personal safety. with the fact that our prisons are then came to seize Sahachai' s As for the justice system, already overcrowded. five buildings and asked him to deliberations in the first two sign a document admitting that courts were closed to the public. III he had disobeyed the court's Only present were the plaintiff, I went to visit Jintana Kaew­ decision. He was essentially defendant and witnesses on both kao at the Prachuab Khiri Khan dispossessed. sides. (One of the witnesses on provincial prison on Wednesday, Worse, he was thrown in the plaintiff side was the secre­ 12th October. On the following prison. He spent 24 days in jail tary general of the Privy Coun­ day, I received the news that and then appeared before the cil.) Sahachai Supamitkrissna had court. The court ordered him to BO\\ The Court of First Instance passed away quietly that morn­ admit his wrongdoing. But Saha­ exp wou found the defendant guilty on ing at Ashram W ongsanit. I went chai steadfastly maintained that two counts and sentenced him to to his cremation ceremony on 15 he was innocent. As a result, he a four-year jail term, suspended October at Wat Laem Hin in had to spend 12 more days in for three years. The judges Prachinburi province. prison before he was released­ reasoned that the 36-year-old Sahachai's death didn't be­ even though he hadn't signed any defendant was mentally imba­ come news even though he had document admitting his guilt. lanced and had no prior criminal clearly suffered under unjust and Sahachai' s five buildings record. They also wanted the violent social structures for were ultimately demolished in a war defendant to have a chance to several decades. 1976, which was a year of politi­ orde treat his mental disorder. Sahachai and his siblings cal turmoil in the country. After ecrc The public attorney however opened a department store sell­ he had fought his case in the Pal a did not let the matter rest. The ing fabric and textiles at Ming court for some time and wasted case went to the Appeal Courts Muang Market in the Pahurat area. quite a fortune on it, he opened a voh~ tion 38 SEEDS OF PEACE

~= ~~ =:~ y-

-~~------===:===------new store in the Saphan Kwai soonest possible time. three million baht. area. To open the store, he was Prior to serving as deputy Sahachai' s mother began to required to pay "additional secretary general of Chitralda lose hope and became distrustful charges" of 250,000 baht. Even­ Palace, Vinij Vinijapark had of almost everyone and every­ tually, Sahachai had to close it been a judge. Ironically, he was thing. She too broke down men­ down because the trial consumed the judge who made Sahachai tally in the end. Sahachai had to all his time and money. lose his store. On 4 October 1990 take her to the emergency room This misfortune tore his Vinij held a meeting with Saha­ ofLerdsin Hospital. But the doc­ family apart. His mother and six chai. His message was simple tors and nurses there couldn't siblings moved away to live and disheartening: Sahachai had care less about her. Sahachai thus elsewhere. Thongchai, the eldest already lost his case, what else exclaimed, "Doctors and nurses, brother, broke down mentally did he want? Furthermore, he this old lady is my mom. Her and passed away in 1989. stated that Sahachai should treat sickness is caused by being Sahachai had to borrow some the King's concern as a blessing victimized by the King." The money from his friend to pay for in itself and that it wouldn't be shocked doctors and nurses the funeral ceremony. possible for Sahachai to get rushed in to treat his mother. Prior to this, Sahachai had everything he wanted. Sahachai Unfortunately, she passed away braved his way passed numerous replied that if this was what Vinij a few days later. royal aide-de-camp and police called "help" then he had no other On 7 November 1997 Saha­ officers to make a royal petition choice but to petition the King chai petitioned the King in per­ when the King visited W at Kai one more time. Unfortunately, son for the tenth time. The venue Tia in Thonburi province. The Vinij subsequently died in an again was Wat Boworniwes. The King appeared to have under­ airplane crash in 1991. result was that he later received stood his plight. This made Someone told Sahachai to a reply letter from the King's Sahachai feel reassured and tell his whole story to me. At private secretary, M.L. Taweesan grateful. However, nothing sub­ that time I was a columnist for Ladawan, stating that the King stantial resulted from this royal Matichon. I wrote an article had asked the CPB to reconsider encounter. pleading the CPB to show some the compensation offered to But Sahachai did not give sympathy to Sahachai. For what­ Sahachai because the sum was up. He managed to petition the ever reason, Jirayu Israngkul na unfair. King in person several more Ayutthaya, director of the CPB One and a half year later, times. Each time the King (and someone who once called the CPB sent Sahachai a letter promised that justice would be me 'the country's voice of informing him that it was willing restored to him. Sahachai' s conscience') called Sahachai for to pay him the offered compen­ eighth attempt at making a royal a meeting to resolve the lingering sation with interest accumulated petition occurred in August 1989 problem. The CPB offered a in the past 20 years. The sum when the King visited Wat deal. Sahachai would be able to amounted to 5-6 million baht. Boworniwes. This time the King choose a plot ofland in the Salay a As for the case involving the explicitly stated that justice area of Nakhonpathom province King's Private Property, which would be restored to him. belonging to the CPB in order was under the directorship of Sahachai's mother was deeply to build five blocks of buildings M.R. Disnadda Diskul, Sahachai moved by the royal benevolence -like the ones he once had. managed to petition the Princess and broke down in tears. Sahachai said that this was Mother in person while she was On 17 September 1990 unfair because Salaya was in the travelling by car. The Princess Sahachai petitioned the King in middle of nowhere. The CPB had Mother told him the following: person for the ninth time. The another offer to make. Sahachai "Your case is trivial. I cannot King stated that he was fully would be compensated with a interfere with the work of my aware of Sahachai' s problem and sum of 760,000 baht for the subordinates. I must trust them." ordered Vinij Vinijapark, deputy buildings that were taken away Having dismissed Sahachai's secretary general of Chitralada from him. This too Sahachai petition, the Princess Mother Palace, to become directly in­ found wanting because when he then turned to converse with her volved in finding a just resolu­ was dispossessed and unem­ foreign friend. The two of them tion to Sahachai's case at the ployed he incurred a debt of over laughed heartily together. Saha-

Vol.28 No.1 39 chai felt as if he were a monster. 1994; that is, on the King' s birth­ the evening of 11 October and Pravit Rojanaphruk had day. As a result, the Sathira­ passed away quietly in his room written a piece on Sahachai's koses-Nagapradipa Foundation thereafter. plight for The Nation newspaper granted Pravit an award in Many more Sahachais could in December 1997. But he was recognition of his morally coura­ be found in a society with violent deeply uncertain whether or not geous journalism that same year. and unjust structures like ours. the editors of the newspaper As for the dispossessed In fact, their number is rapidly enouo would publish it. I then invited Sahachai, the Foundation found increasing. They are being dis­ him to the Children's Village him a room at the Puey Forum possessed not only by the CPB too, School in Kanchanaburi pro­ building in the compound of but also by universities (e.g., wisd vince to find some peace of Wat Pathumkongkha. Room Chulalongkorn University) and tific I mind. and accommodation were also temples (e.g., Wat Kalyanamit) As it turned out, Pravit's provided to him at Wongsanit in the name of social and econo­ article somehow slipped through Ashram in Nakorn Nayok mic progress. tion the eyes of The Nation editors. It province. He had his last meal at was published on 5 December the dining hall of the Ashram in Do the Best You Can, But Don't Expect to Win cons and An Interview with Ajahn Sulak Sivaraksa pines they o EB: In The Wisdom of Sustai­ lence nability, you described consum­ a pop erism as a "demonic religion". acqu Consumerism is one of the main drivers of the climate crisis. Why and how can it be described from a Buddhist point of view as a demonic religion? SS: From the Buddhist point of Ha view, the three root causes of called suffering are greed, hatred and He d delusion. Consumerism pro­ self'­ motes greed. Greed now domi­ tinu nates global society, through ad­ vertising in the media and be­ cause transnational corporations aspire for more power, money tion, which teaches people how are in control. It is linked with and luxury, whatever. These are to be clever, and promotes greed hatred and violence. Violence is the three root causes of our and hatred. Mainstream educa­ on the whole controlled by poli­ suffering. tion never teaches people to ticians, but more politicians I think we Buddhists should know who they are. They don't are now under the control of not simply preach. We should teach how to breathe properly­ transnational corporations. So concretize it. That's why I keep the basis is always "cogito ergo greed is now in control of hatred. saying consumerism is an ex­ sum"-one-dimensional think­ Greed and hatred go together. pression of greed. Most govern­ ing. People want more and more, and ments--even democracies, not If people are taught to EB: if they don't get it, violence takes to mention dictatorships-pro­ breathe properly and mindfully, are e place. But underneath everything mote hatred. But deep down it is we can tackle greed, hatred and criteri is delusion. People on the whole delusion. Delusion is directly delusion. That's why His Holi­ tion don't know who they are- they linked with mainstream educa- ness the Dalai Lama is such an ality.

40 SEEDS OF PEACE important example. He is a sim­ SS: That's right. was also his failure. He used ple monk who gets up every truth and nonviolence against morning, breathing properly. EB: Some people say "We must oppressors outside India - the You can see his wisdom and not condemn corporations, be­ British empire. But he never compassion shining. At the cause there are also human be­ used Satyagraha (the power of same time he realizes that is not ings working there." Yet if the truth and nonviolence) against enough. It is a good foundation, institution of the corporation is the unjust social structure within but we must learn from science a psychopathic institution, its India-the four varnas (Brahmin, too, and bring it together with CEOs serve an ideology that has Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra). wisdom and compassion. Scien­ no empathy. Can we Buddhists Ambedkar (who led thou­ tific know-bow without proper afford to be sentimental about sands of the Dalit "untouchable" breathing, wisdom & compassion, this? people to Buddhism) was great becomes a servant of transna­ SS: No, but if our condemnation because he emerged from tional corporations and govern­ comes out of anger, that will not beneath the four varnas. Unless ments. We must come together help. We would do better to un­ that system is tackled, India will now to change ourselves-and derstand and de-structure these remain un-liberated. 60 years also change this world. corporations. My main concern after independence. The social The more you promote vio­ is social structure that is unjust structure is still awful. They got lence in the media, the more and violent. Corporations are rid of one imperialism, but now people feel insufficient. Hence the biggest and most powerful they blindly follow American consumerism: they will buy this examples. neo-imperialism. The suffering and buy that in order to get hap­ Most churches, and even oflndia' spoor carries on and on. piness. They never do get it, but the Buddhist Sangha, also have This is why more and more they carry on aspiring for it. Vio­ structures that are violent. We so-called "untouchable" people lence is a threat. It creates fear in cannot ignore that issue. We may become Buddhist. a population. People hope that by talk of "the future of Buddhism", I am happy to talk with acquiring something, they will but if we don't tackle social struc­ them. I say "You became Bud­ overcome the threat. But you can ture, it is mere chatter. To tackle dhists, that's great. But if you never overcome a general state this issue seriously, we have to still hate the Brahmins, that of insecurity. learn who we are. We re-structure doesn't help. You must learn ourselves first, so that we don't to cultivate compassion and EB: Social psychologist Clive campaign for ego, for victory or wisdom, and how to change the Hamilton wrote a powerful book for Buddhism. social structure-rather than called "Requiem for a Species". Humility, compassion and hating the Brahmin oppressor. He describes the "consumer wisdom are necessary to tackle One reason we held our meeting self'-a false self that is con­ social structures that are violent (INEB) here was because I tinually dissatisfied and seeks and unjust. With that in mind, we want to listen to the oppressed to establish its identity through do need social scientists, anthro­ Buddhist Indians, and I hope buying more goods. Cycles of pologists and mainstream scien­ they will also learn from us. dissatisfaction, anxiety and debt tists to come together. That is Together we can change the are created as it tries to acquire the new possibility. We have to social structure of this country. more elements of consumer push ahead with it. The Japanese monk who identity. Meanwhile, the judicial led the ceremony this morning position of transnational corpo­ EB: So Buddhist analysis in points out that Japanese Bud­ rations now gives them legal your view has to prioritize under­ dhism maintains a national social rights of "personhood". standing of cultural and struc­ structure that is violent and SS: To be protected. tural violence-which are less unjust. Japan promotes violence, easy to discern than violent colo­ particularly in Asia: destroying EB: When corporate behaviours nialism, because they hide them­ the environment, importing are examine dusing psychiatric selves in a kind of mental fog. In cheap labour, prostitutes, even criteria, we discover an institu­ order to discern the fog, one has wives-because Japanese women tion with a psychopathic person­ to de-structure it within oneself. are rebelling against male domi­ ality. SS: Precisely. Gandhi's success nation. That monk is wonderful.

Vo1.28 No.1 4 l He is one of the few to speak out. SS: Precisely westerners complained that they I make efforts to meet a small could not ride horses, so we built group of such people, who don't EB: Simon Baron-Cohen and new roads. Now we have so follow the mainstream. colleagues at Cambridge Univer­ many roads and cars that the sity have identified an empathy natural drainage( of Bangkok) EB: In America now we see a circuit of 10 interconnected has been lost. non-violent struggle confronting regions in the human brain. It is We have abandoned our the corruption of the political underactive in psychopathic traditional respect for Mother process by Big Oil corporations. individuals who commit acts of Earth, Mother River and Father On November 6th, people formed cruelty. Such a person does not Mountain. Now we see them a human circle around the White feel the normal, involuntary only as material to be consumed, House, carrying posters citing human reaction of empathy for turned into money and subject President Obama' s own state­ others' feelings: a genetic lesion to technology. We have to pull ments when he was running for affects the empathy circuit. We ourselves back to our roots, while election. are instinctively repelled by an at the same time being open to SS: That's great. More and more individual without empathy: new scientific knowledge. We people are awakening there, and we call unfeeling cruelty "evil". must change ourselves and soci­ even breathing more correctly! Baron-Cohen has defined this ety fundamentally, through non­ They are learning to question on a neurological and genetic violent action. smartness and arrogance. We level. The demonic or evil is a To be mindful one must cui- remain young at heart if we learn "zero-empathy negative" state. tivate inner ' peace. But we must to be humble, breathe properly So, what happens when fos­ also have kalyanamitra, good and honour others. I see much in sil fuels create the greatest pro­ friends who have good ideas, America to be hopeful about. It is fits in human economic history, with whom we can dialogue. a country that has done dreadful but are controlled by zero-empa­ They need not only be Buddhists, things in the last 100 years or so, thy negative institutions? In they could be Christians or athe­ but it's not too late to change. 1995, the great evolutionary ists. This isn't a matter of num­ I was involved with the cre­ geneticist Edward Wilson asked bers. A few friends can achieve ation of the Buddhist Peace Fel­ "Is Humanity Suicidal"? Sixteen a lot with technological know­ lowship there. Many wonderful years later, carbon emissions how, commitment, less egoism, Americans ha.ve become Bud­ are out of control and extreme more compassion and wisdom. dhist. Most are well-to-do and weather events have become Time is short and pressing. white, and they may not have "normal". Shouldn't we Bud­ But with groups of people like embraced lifestyle changes that dhists be asking Wilson's ques­ this, we may pull through. Even fully reflect the Four Noble tion anew, with all its implica­ if we don't pull through, we will Truths. But I think there are real tions? have done our best. We must sil fue developments. It is a matter of SS: This is good for me to know. fully do our best-not out of cause urgency, after all. The world I would like to be clear and self-concern, but for the next tippin may be irreversibly damaged by understand what you say before seven generations, and for all conse climate change during this I can make any meaningful com­ species. above decade. ment. It is very useful for me to We all have Buddha nature. learn this information. It is my conviction we can EB: The great danger identified Extreme weather led to a pull through. strongly support by James Hansen and colleagues major flood right now in my coun­ creative civil disobedience. I (at NASA) is that unless there try, Thailand. Three cabinet strongly support the Occupy 1s a sufficiently rapid change in ministers came out and said Movement. It is wonderful! We the energy system-unless we they are inexperienced and have to use all kinds of tactics. successfully tum back the power don't know how to handle it. We have to learn to be non­ 7 of the fossil fuel industry-hu­ Why didn't those supposedly violent. We have to learn to be 8 9 manity will lose control of the democratic politicians resign? mindful. Uni\ process. That brings us back to IOCoop We have been uprooted Do the best you can, but 11 the "demonic" nature of consum­ from our own culture. 150 years don't expect to win. Ceno 12 Earth erism and corporations. ago when we opened the country, John Stanley

42 SEEDS OF PEACE The Case for Young People and Nature: A Path to a Healthy, Natural, Prosperous Future

1 James Hansen , Pushker least 2250. Yet governrnents and The Kyoto Protocol estab­ 1 Kharecha , Makiko Sato', Paul R. the fossil fuel industry aim to lished in 1997 has been so inef­ 2 3 Epstein , Paul J. Hearty , Ove exploit all fossil fuels before fective that global fossil fuel 4 Hoegh-Guldberg , Camille the world turns mainly to clean emissions have since accelerated 5 Parmesan , Stefan Rahmstorf\ energies. If governments fail to by 2.5% per year, compared to 7 J ohan Rockstrom , Eel co J. adopt policies that cause rapid 1.5% per year in the preceding 8 Rohling , Jeffrey Sachs', Pete phase-down of fossil fuel emis­ two decades. 9 10 Smith , Konrad Steffen , Karina sions, today's children, future Governrnents and businesses 11 von Schuckmann , James C. generations, and nature will bear have learned to make assurances Zachos 12 the consequences through no that they are working on clean fault of their own, and today's energies and reduced emissions, Abstract adults and their governments but in view of the documented Even the widely accepted will be complicit in the tragedy. emissions pathway it is not inap­ goal to keep human-made global propriate to describe their rheto­ warming less than 2°C is not a Background ric as being basically 'green­ ' safe' target. Indeed, it would Humanity is now the domi­ wash' . The reality is that most put Earth on a path with severe nant force driving changes of governrnents, strongly influenced consequences for civilization Earth's atmospheric composition by the fossil fuel industry, con­ and essential ecosystems. A sce­ and thus future climate on the tinue to allow and even subsidize ) nario that returns atmospheric planet. Carbon dioxide (C02 development of fossil fuel depos­

C02 close to the 350 ppm level emitted in burning of fossil fuels its. These efforts include expan­ and stabilizes climate within this is the main cause of global warm­ sion of oil drilling to increasing century is still technically pos­ ing in the past century. depths of the global ocean, into sible, but it requires both rapid Today's changes of atmo­ the Arctic and environmentally phase down of fossil fuel emis­ spheric composition will be felt fragile public lands; squeezing sions and forestry and agricultural most by today's young people and of oil from tar sands; hydro­ programs that enhance carbon the unborn, in other words, by fracking for natural gas; and storage in the biosphere and soils. people who have no possibility of increased mining of coal. A 10-year delay in initiating fos­ protecting their own rights and The true costs of fossil fuels sil fuel phasedown likely would their future well-being, and who to human well-being and the bio­ cause the climate system to pass currently depend on others who sphere is not imbedded in their tipping points with disastrous make decisions today that have price. Fossil fuels are the cheap­ consequences and keep C02 consequences over future de­ est energy source today only if above the 350 ppm level until at cades and centuries. they are not made to pay for their

Columbia University Earth Institute, New York 2 Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School, Boston 3 Department of Environmental Studies, University of North Carolina ta Wilmington, North Carolina 4 Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia 5 Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 6 Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany 7 Stockholm Resilience Center, Stockholm University, Sweden 8 Southhampton University, United Kingdom 9 University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom 1°Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado 11 Centre National de Ia Recherche Scientifique, LOCEAN, Paris (hosted by Ifremer, Brest) France 12 Earth and Planetary Science, University of California at Santa Cruz

Vol.28 No.1 4 3 damage to human health, to the diversity of species with which catastrophic, and for all practical factor; environment, and to the future we share this planet. Rapid tran- purposes irreversible, sea level climat well-being of young people who sition requires a steadily rising rise. forcin, will inherit on-going climate price on undesirable emissions. (3) Mountain glaciers are turbati changes that are largely out of Other actions by governments are receding rapidly all around the G their control. Even a moderate but needed, such as enforcement of world. Summer glacier melt pro- 2°C hi steadily rising price on carbon energy efficiency standards and vides fresh water to major world tempe: emissions would be sufficient investment in technology devel- rivers during the dry season, so at leas to move the world toward clean opment. However, without the loss of the glaciers would be lion y energies, but such an approach underlying incentive of a price on highly detrimental to billions of time" has been effectively resisted by carbon emissions, such actions, people. 15-25 the fossil fuel industry. as well as voluntary actions (4) The hot dry subtropical T The greatest injustice of con- by concerned citiz~ns, are only climate belts have expanded, global tinued fossil fuel dominance of marginally effective. This is affecting climate most notably in target energy is the heaping of climate because such actions reduce the the southern United States, the bal w; and environmental damages demand for fossil fuels, lower Mediterranean and Middle East in ace onto the heads of young people their price, and thus encourage regions, and Australia, contribut- rapid and those yet to be born in both fossil fuel use elsewhere. The ing to more intense droughts, like c developing and developed coun- price on carbon emissions, to be summer heat waves, and devas- tries. The tragedy of this situa- most effective, must be transpar- tating wildfires. tion is that a pathway to a clean ent and across-the-board, for the (5) Cotal reef ecosystems energy future is not only possible, sake of public acceptance, for are already being impacted by a but even economically sensible. guidance of consumer decisions, combination of ocean warming Burning all fossil fuels and for guidance of business and acidification (a direct con- ecosy would have a climate impact decisions including technology sequence of rising atmospheric hum ), that literally produces a different investments. C02 resulting in a 1-2% per year planet than the one on which civi- decline in geographic extent. lization developed. The conse- 1. Modern Temperature Coral reef ecosystems will be quences for young people, future (1) Summer sea ice cover in eliminated with continued in-

, generations, and other species the Arctic plummeted in 2007 to crease of atmospheric C02 with would continue to mount over an area 30 percent less than a huge consequences for an esti- years and centuries. Ice sheet few decades earlier. Continued mated 500 million people that disintegration would cause con- growth of greenhouse gases will depend on the ecosystem services tinual shoreline adjustments likely cause the loss of all sum- of coral reefs. with massive civil engineering mer sea ice within the next few (6) So-called mega-heat- cost implications as well as decades, with large effects on waves have become noticeably widespread heritage loss in the wildlife and indigenous people, more frequent, for example the nearly uncountable number of increased heat absorption at 2003 and 2010 heatwaves over coastal cites. Shifting of climatic high latitudes, and potentially the Europe and large parts of Russia, zones and repeated climate dis- release of massive amounts of each with heat-death tolls in the ruptions would have enormous methane, a powerful greenhouse range of 55,000 to 70,000. more economic and social costs, espe- gas, presently frozen on both cially in the developing world. land and sea floor. 2. Paleoclimate Temperature , These consequences can be (2) The great continental ice Today C02 global tempera- avoided via prompt transition sheets of Greenland and Antarc- ture, and ice area are under the to a clean energy future. The tic have begun to shed ice at a command of humanity: C02 has benefits would include a healthy rate, now several hundred cubic increased to levels not seen for environment with clean air and kilometers per year, which is at least 3 million years, global water, preservation of the shore- continuing to accelerate. With temperature is rising, and ice lines an climatic zones that civi- the loss of protective sea ice and is melting rapidly all over the lization is adapted to, and reten- buttressing ice shelves, there is a planet. Another ice age will never tion of the many benefits human- danger that ice sheet mass loss occur, unless humans go extinct. ity derives from the remarkable will reach a level that causes A single chlorofluorocarbon

44 SEEDS OF PEACE factory can produce gases with a energy imbalance is substantial, construction to deal with a cli­ climate forcing that exceeds the with implications for future cli­ mate emergency would be im­ forcing due to Earth orbital per­ mate change. plausible. turbations. It means that global warm­ Global mean temperature ing will continue on decadal time 5. Future Global Temperature 2'C higher than peak Holocene scales, as the 0.8°C global warm­ Change temperature has not existed since ing so far is the response to only Most global climate models, at least the Pliocene, a few mil­ about half to the net human-made incorporate only the effect of the lion years ago. Sea level at that climate forcing. The important so-called 'fast feedbacks' in the time was estimated to have been point is that C02 is the dominant climate system, such as water 15-25 meters higher than today. climate forcing agent and it will vapor, clouds, aerosols, and sea The suggestion that 2'C be even more so in the future. We ice. Slow feedbacks, such as ice global warming may be a 'safe' cannot bum all of the fossil fuels sheet disintegration and climate­ target is extremely unwise. Glo­ without producing a different induced changes of greenhouse bal warming of that magnitude planet, with changes occurring gases, as may occur with the in a century would put Earth on a with a rapidity that will make melting of tundra and warming rapid journey toward Pliocene­ Earth far less hospitable for of continental shelves, are not like conditions. Species and eco­ young people, future generations, included. Exclusive of slow systems have no evolutionary and most other species. feedbacks in the 21" century is a experience with such an excur­ dubious assumption. We must sion. Consequences would 4. Carbon Cycle and Atmo­ bear in mind the potential for include disruptions of society spheric C02 slow feedbacks to create a situa­ and ecosystems, with loss of Atmospheric C02 is already tion where climate change is ecosystem services that maintain about 390 ppm. However, it is beyond humanity's control. It is human communities today. still conceivable to get C02 back only a question of how fast they to a level near 350 ppm this cen­ will come into play, and which 3. Earth's Current Energy tury via a combination of rapid generations will suffer the great­ Imbalance reduction of fossil fuel emissions est consequences. Earth's energy balance is a and aggressive measures to There is thus strong indica­ vital measure of the status of increase C02 uptake by the soils tion that we face a dichotomy. Earth's climate. In a period of and biosphere. If emissions were Either we achieve a scenario with climate stability, Earth radiates halted in 2011, C02 would de­ declining global C02 emissions, as much energy to space as it cline to 350 ppm at mid-century. thus preserving a planetary absorbs from incident sunlight. With a 20 year delay in halting climate resembling that of the

Today Earth is out of balance emissions, C02 returns to 350 Holocene or we set in motion because of increasing atmo­ ppm at about 2250. With a 40 year a dynamic transition to a very

• spheric C02 Greenhouse gases delay, C02 does not return to 350 different planet. such as C02 reduce Earth's heat ppm until after year 3000. Earth has experienced a radiation to space, causing a Fossil fuel emissions ac­ huge range of climate states temporary energy imbalance, count for about 80 percent of the during its history, but there has more energy coming in than increase of atmospheric C02 never been such a large rapid going out. The immediate plan­ from 275 ppm in the preindustrial increase of climate forcings as etary energy imbalance due to atmosphere to 390 ppm today. would occur with burning of an increase of C02 can be cal­ The other 20 percent is from net most fossil fuels this century. culated precisely. It does not deforestation. What about artifi­ The closest analogy in Earth's require a climate model. The cially drawing down atmosphere history is probably the PETM radiation physics is rigorously C02? At present there are no (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal understood. Through accurate large-scale technologies for air Maximum) in which rapid global

• and extensive measurement of capture of C02 An assessment by warming of at least soc oc­ ongoing changes of the heat the American Physical Society curred. In that period, the Indian content of the ocean, atmosphere, concludes that the cost would be subcontinent was moving rapidly land, and ice on the planet, we can so large and the facilities re­ through the Indian Ocean, just now conclude that this planetary quired so substantial that their prior to its collision with Asia,

Vol.28 No.1 4 5 when it began to push up the During the Pliocene, when per decade during the past three Himalayan Mountains and global mean temperature may decades. Wild species have Tibetan Plateau. Global warming have been 2°C warmer than the responded to this climatic shift, of about 5°C, occurred at a rate Holocene, sea level was probably with at least 52 percent of spe­ less than 1oc per million years. 15-25 meters higher than today. cies having shifted their ranges Approximately 55 Mya there "Business-As-Usual" (BAU) pole-ward by as much as 600 km was a rapid release of carbon gas C02 emissions are producing a on land and 1000 km at sea. into the surface climate system, climate forcing so much larger [c] Lose of Species. enter from melting of methane hy­ than any experienced in prior Explosion of the human po­ pHi drates. This injection of carbon interglacial periods that a non­ pulation and its presence on the has and rapid additional warming of linear ice sheet response with landscape in the past field centu­ about 5°C occurred over a period multi-meter sea level rise may ries is having a profound influ­ of about 10,000 years, causing occur this century. The destabi­ ence on the well-being of all the the extinction of almost half of lizing mechanism of greatest con­ other species. As recently as ocean life in general. cern is melting of ice shelves that two decades ago biologists were The rapid PETM carbon buttress the ice sheets, limiting more concerned with effects on and injection was comparable to the rate of discharge of ice to the biodiversity other than climate what will occur if humanity ocean. Ocean warming is causing change. Now, however, there is more burns most of the fossil fuels, shrinkage of ice shelves around agreement that global warming becon but the PETM occurred over a Greenland and Antarctica. Loss is a main qontributor to a global creas period that was 10-100 times of ice shelves can open a path­ biodiversity crisis. Mountain­ tures. longer. The ability of life on way to the ocean for portions of restricted species of all texa in ten Earth today to sustain a climate the ice sheets that rest on bedrock are particularly vulnerable: as does 9 shock comparable to the PETM below sea level. Most of the West isotherms move up the moun­ with9 but occurring 10-100 times faster Antarctic ice sheet, which alone tainside, so does the climate cipita~ is highly problematic. Climate could raise sea level by 6 meters, zone in which a given species subst zones would be shifting at a is on bedrock below sea level, so can survive. Many mountain­ ~0~ speed far faster than species it is the ice sheet most vulnerable dwelling species are being dri­ lCS an have ever faced. Thus if human­ to rapid change. However, parts ven to extinction as they literally [~ ity continues to burn most of the of the larger East Antarctic ice run out of mountain habitat. fossil fuels, Earth, and all of the sheet are also vulnerable. Chil­ Polar-restricted species face simi­ species residing on it, will be dren born today can expect to lar problems. The threat is not pushed into uncharted climate live most of this century. IfBAU limited to mountain and polar autu change territory, with conse­ emissions continue, will they species. Plant and animal distri­ origi quences impossible to foresee. suffer large sea level rise, or will butions reflect the regional cli­ An de it be their children, or their grand­ mates to which they are adapted. that 6. Consequences of Continued children? Mass extinctions have occurred hundn Global Warming [b] Shifting climate zones. in conjunction with rapid climate Glacie [a] Sea level. Subtropical regions expand pole­ change during Earth's long his­ ing in If most fossil fuels are ward with global warming. Ob­ tory, and new species evolved the cu burned global temperatures will servations reveal that a 4-degree over millions of years. But such alread: rise at least several degrees latitude pole-ward expansion of time scales are almost beyond water Celsius. The eventual sea level the subtropics has occurred al­ human comprehension. If we [g change in response to the global ready, yielding increased aridity drive many species to extinction c warming will be many meters and in southern United States, the we will leave a more desolate nerabl global coast lines will be trans­ Mediterranean region, and Aus­ planet for our children, grandchil­ climat figured. Even moderate sea level tralia. This has contributed to dren, and as many generations as are(l1 rise will create millions of global increased forest fires that burn we can imagine. allergi warming refugees from highly­ hotter and are more destructive [d] Coral reef ecosystems. spreac populated low-lying areas, who in all of these regions. Isotherms Coral reef ecosystems, often sprea1 must migrate from the coastline, (lines of a given average tempera­ described as the rainforests of the crops, throwing existing global demo­ ture) having been moving pole­ ocean, are the most biologically weathc graphics into chaos. ward at a rate of about 100 km diverse marine ecosystem, gener- (7) foe

46 SEEDS OF PEACE ating ecosystem services critical Societal Implications on human health and costs of to the well-being of 500 million The science is clear. Con­ present and future climate dis­ people that populate tropical tinuation of business-as-usual ruption and change. coastal areas. fossil fuel emissions for even a Those people who prefer to Acidification arises due to few decades would guarantee continue business-as-usual assert the production of carbonic acid that global warming would pass that transition to fossil fuel alter­ natives would be economically as increasing amounts of C02 well beyond the warmest intergla­ enter the world's ocean. Ocean cial periods in the past millions harmful, and they implicitly as­ pH is already outside where it years, implying transition to lit­ sume that fossil fuel use can con­ has been for several million erally a different planet than the tinue indefinitely. In reality, it will years. Mass coral bleaching and one that humanity has experi­ be necessary to move to clean a slowing of coral calcification enced. Today's young people and energies eventually, and most are already disrupting coral reef following generations would be economists believe that it would ecosystem health. faced with continuing climate be economically beneficial to [e] Hydrologic extremes change and climate impacts that move in an orderly way to he and storms. would be out of their control. post fossil fuel era via a steadily A warmer atmosphere hold Yet governments are taking no increasing price on carbon emis­ more moisture, so heavy rains actions to substantially alter sions. become more intense and in­ business-as-usual fossil fuel An across-the-board price on all fossil fuel C0 emissions crease flooding. Higher tempera­ emissions. Rhetoric about a 2 tures, on the other hand, cause an 'planet in peril' abounds. But emerges 'aS the simplest, easiest, intensification of droughts, as actions speak louder than words. fastest and most effective way to does expansion of the subtropics Reality is exposed by continued phase down carbon emissions, with global warming. Heavy pre­ investments in infrastructure to and this approach presents fewer cipitation events have increased expand the scope and nature of obstacles to international agree­ ment. A gradually rising carbon substantially. Droughts are more fossil fuel extraction, even includ­ price is the sine qua non, but it common, especially in the trop­ ing the most carbon-intensive must be combined with a portfo­ ics and subtropics. fuels such as tar sands. lio of other actions: energy re­ [f] Mountain glaciers. The matter is urgent. The search and development with Mountain glaciers are in apparent solution is to phase out demonstration programs; public near-global retreat. Glacier fossil fuel emissions in favor of investment in complementary demise will yield summers and clean energies and energy effi­ infrastructure such as improved autumns of frequently dry rivers ciency. Governments have taken electric grids; global monitoring originating in the Himalayas, steps to promote renewable systems; energy efficiency re­ Andes, and Rocky Mountains energies and encourage energy gulations; public education and that now supply water to efficiency. But renewable ener­ awareness; support for climate hundreds of millions of people. gies total only a few percent of change mitigation and adapta­ Glacier retreat and global warm­ all energy sources, and improved tion in undeveloped countries. ing in the pipeline indicate that efficiency only slows the growth The basic matter, however, the current 390 ppm of C0 is of energy use. 2 is not one of economics. It is a already a threat for future fresh The transition to a post-fos­ matter of morality-a matter of water security. sil fuel world of clean energies intergenerational justice. The [g] Human health. is blocked by a fundamental facts, blame, if we fail to stand up and Children are especially vul­ as certain as the law of gravity: demand a change of course, will nerable to the health impacts of as long as fossil fuels are the fall on us, the current generation climate change. Principal effects cheapest energy, they will be of adults. Our parents did not are (1) heat waves, (2) asthma and burned. However, fossil fuels are know that their actions could allergies, (3) infectious disease cheapest only because they are harm future generations. We, the spread, ( 4) pests and disease subsidized directly and indirectly, current generation, can only pre­ spread across taxa: forests, and because they are not made to tend that we did not know. And crops and marine life, (5) winter pay their costs to society-the that is unforgivable. weather anomalies, (6) drought, costs of air and water pollution (7) food insecurity.

Vol.28 No.1 4 7 November 29, 2011

Dear Acharn Sulak, Thank you for your letter dated November 24 gratefully acknowledging financial grant by Govern­ ment of India towards an International Buddhist Art Workshop organized by the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) that was held at Bodh Gaya during October 19-25. While the financial grant of $10,000 by ICCR would have helped in organizing the workshop, the day trip organized for artists to Rajgir and Nalanda by Ministry of Tourism would definitely have inspired them. I will definitely convey your message of gratitude to both ICCR and Ministry of Tourism. I look forward to meeting with you in person soon and also to more collaborations with INEB on subjects of mutual interest.

Yours sincerely, Anil Wadhwa Indian Ambassador in Bangkok

Dear Sulak, Yesterday, I read an article in the "Basel News" that a 61-year-old Thai citizen, Arnpon Tangnoppakul, was sentenced to 20 years in prison because of "Lese majeste". The concrete wording of three SMS', which he was supposed to have written, is not known. He and his family have only about 75 monthly for living. The same article says that last year 36 cases of violating the lese majeste law have become known. The author, Willi Germund, lives obviously in Bangkok, is not very much in favour! How are you? We have a very warm sunny fall, but very dry. Usually Stuttgart has in November 66litre rainfall, this year only 0.6litre! So, we have too less of what you had too much. Hope, you are in good health. Cordial greetings, yours, 13-9- Dear Wolfgang Schmidt Germany thin I Ajam Sulak, I can say, with authority, the monarchical realm of Thailand could, easily, within a decade become a G20 Nation, with greatly reduced corruption, political stability and fairness, peace among classes and letter increased, overall, prosperity, with an honest economy. 1 [If we didn't have to 'prove' my honesty and intelligence, we could go directly to requesting an fin a audience with His Majesty's trusted advisors, in order to reveal a road map to a future, so bright, it would are be the marvel of the World,] As for my intelligence, would I profess that Burma or Cambodia have the societal ingredients to lead Asean into a Golden Era? Absolutely not. Would I predict America will ever recover from its downfall at the hands of debt financing and military spending? No way. However, Thailand really does have a combination of historical and cultural foundations which offer her, unique from so many other countries, the opportunity to wake up from a bad dream of division and turmoil. While every weak person and country has the 'potential', like Buddha, to be great; I am saying that Thailand has real and promising potential, achievable potential. who Will you agree to having an online discussion with me? [This message is BBC to a loyal and intelli­ 1 gent Thai who has spent many hours and days in dialogue with me. You could be put in touch with her to get a reference as to the level of my caring and concern.] Within 10 years the corruption rate among businesses, the military, police, foreign investor, NGO's will be reduced to the rates of Canada and Singapore. However, with impeccable timing, bribery and graft among politicians could be eradicated within months if the Joseph solution is adopted and the Joseph P.S.I plan is implemented.

48 SEEDS OF PEACE

~~~: - -

------As Buddhadasa Bhikkhu showed us, ant and bee colonies don't have the greed and hoarding of indi­ viduals. Many know the why? and wherefore? of the problems. The Thailand solution enters into the realm of the how? [Intelligence tell us why?; genius shows us how?] Think of the politicians as a bunch of spoilt brats who can't stop raiding the cookie jar; it's a jar with corruption cookies, btw. Both 'regulating' and 'educating' have been like a dog chasing its tail. Relying on these 'solutions' will take generations and a miracle. However, what about, simply removing the Corrup­ tion Cookie Jar? Believe me, this will not be difficult! Is there divine comedy? [For example, Thailand and Cambodia are at war over a Holy Site?] Also, 90% of Thais are friendly, honest, hard working lovers of life. They all want peace and stability, yet there is turmoil and divisions. You have to admit, if it wasn't so sad, it would, then, be humorous, eh. Officially, Thailand is 96% Buddhist. Therefore, those other 4% are sure causing a lot of grief, eh? If Thailand wants to continue with crocodile and snake fighting over red meats of corruption, it will spiral down to the levels of Burma, Cambodia and N Korea. If she lets me show her how to drain the swamp, using law, peacefully, she will lead the world! For Vishnu's sake, I hope you will chat online with me. If you want to chat with the devoted Thai, Noot, first, then you can decide. May a divinely bestowed, beneficent monarchy govern, bicameral, [in partnership] with elected rep­ resentatives of the people.

Gary Joseph Chandler Canada

13-9-11 Dear Acham Sulak,

I heard that there have been floods and escaped crocodiles in Bangkok, so a wet letter in a very small thing! Thank you for your postcard. I will try to remember what I wrote in the last letter! Firstly, many congratulations for receiving the Niwano Peace Prize. It must have been tinged with sadness for you, given the terrible disaster at Fukushima shortly afterwards. I saw your interview on the BBC's 'Hardtalk' series, and read the article about you in the Sunday Independence, by far the best news­ letter in the U.K. It is deeply satisfying for me to see the ideas that you and others have propagated for a long time finally getting the mainstream attention they deserve. It seems that with every passing year those ideas are more and more perceived. Secondly, I would like to thank you both for the children's books (which they enjoyed) and, for the Thai translation of my tiger story. I really cannot emphasize how much it means to me for the story to be available in the language of those who inspired it. I am writing another story which needs more editing; when it is finished I will send it to you for your opinion. I am trying to work on my writing, and am considering re-write on the tiger story to improve it and others. Lastly, we have a place in Bordeaux City Centre that I am working very hard to renovate. It is taking all of my time at the moment, so of course my writing has suffered accordingly. I hope this letter finds you and your family in good health; please pass my regards to any Thai friends who may remember me. If there is anything you would like me to do, please do not hesitate to ask. I remain your friend, Danny Campbell France

P.S. Keep your eyes heeded for those crocodiles!

Vol.28 No.1 49 New Economics Institute neweconomics@ neweconomicsinstitute.org

Dear Suksit Siam This Saturday's Thirty-First Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures in New York City is one of many events celebrating the centennial of the birth of the author of Small Is Beautiful. Juliet Schor and Gar Alperovitz, Charles Young, Rina Kuusipalo, and Kyle Gracey of Youth for a New Economy, and two representatives from Occupy Wall Street will address the emergence of a new economy, a next economy, a green economy, a responsible economy,- the necessity of which Schumacher described in his influential book. Registration is still open at neweconomicsinstitute.org/event-registration. Tickets are also available at the door beginning at 9:30 AM at Community Church of New York, 35th Street just west of Park Avenue. In September the European Spirituality in Economics and Society Forum (eurospes.be) convened "Responsibility in Economics and Business- The Legacy of E. F. Schumacher" in Antwerp, Belgium­ another centennial event. We have posted keynote talks by Simon Trace, Barbara Wood, Susan Witt, and Stewart Wallis at our website: neweconomicsinstitute.org/schumacher SIMON TRACE, Executive Director of Practical Action spoke on "Responsibility in Technology." "Schumacher's essay 'Buddhist Economics' was, I would argue, fundamentally about two things: Firstly it was about putting human well-being and not growth as the central concern of development. Secondly it was about finding a path to a new equilibrium-a rebalance of our efforts at technological innovation away from meeting the 'wants' of consumerism towards meeting the basic needs of the two billion people in this world who still live in abject poverty as well as a better recognition of the rights of future generations alongside those of our own. Those ideas have stood the test of time and are as relevant today as they were 40 years ago. Our responsibility to current and future generations must be to put human wellbeing back as the central purpose of economics and development. But in doing this we need to heed Schumacher's challenge to create an Best economics that makes contact with the human realities of poverty, frustration, alienation, and despair. We Staff therefore need to make sure that our definition of wellbeing goes beyond people's material concerns (for Berk I food, shelter, access to basic services such as water and energy, education and health, and an income to Great pay for all of this) and includes also critical relational aspects of wellbeing (a sense that you as an New individual have a degree of control and power over your own life, that you can be a part of decisions that New'! have a major impact on the way you live, that you can live in dignity, that you have the respect of your fellow newe citizens, and that you can live in peace with your neighbors)." SUSAN WITT, Education Director of the New Economics Institute, addressed the topic: "Inspired by Place, Informed by Wisdom of the Ages, a New Economy is Emerging." "The new economy that Schumacher took responsibility for promoting is visible today in towns and Dear villages around the world, spearheaded by citizen groups determined to build vibrant, sustainable, local Irl economies. They recognize that change is inevitable. They wish their communities to be resilient in the face of climate change and global financial collapse. They are taking steps to forge alliances of producers and consumers working together to shape a common future . .... Those organizing the annual BerkS hares Bike-a-Thon have a message for their city, their country, and for the Congress of Nations that will gather in Rio in June. It is a message first spoken by the man we are honoring today, who planted its seeds: "It is time to change our priorities and forge a new economy that will slow environmental degradation, provide a living wage to workers, and foster greater well-being for all." The farmer working with neighbors to restore the integrity of her fields at the Interval following the devastating rains of the recent hurricane shares in that appeal. The residents of the Ninth Ward in New a uniq Orleans, building their homes on land now a permanent part of the community, add their support. Those their who have found new jobs in Bridgeport, with their Westport friends standing beside them, raise their held respon hands in affirmation. underv Their voices will be heard, joined in chorus. A new economy, a next economy, a green economy, a Kl responsible economy, is emerging." dinner

50 SEEDS OF PEACE

~ ~ - - - -- H- ::: ------~ ~ ------STEWART WALLIS, Executive Director of the New Economics Foundation (net) spoke on "A Great Transition: Why there is an urgent need to transform economic thinking and practice and our responsibility to lead this transformation." "About five years ago we (net) calculated how much the global economy would need to go up if those who are now living on one dollar a day were to have an additional dollar. You need to raise the GDP of the whole world by $166 a day to in order to add one more dollar for each person now earning one dollar a day. It's ecologically impossible to keep doing that. If you want to have everybody on the planet earning $1000 a year, which is $3 a day, and you keep global income distribution as it is and keep the resource intensity of output as it is, you need fifteen planets' worth of resources in order for everybody in the world to make $1000 a year. We haven't got fifteen planets. So the need for transition is overwhelmingly clear when you start looking at these simple facts that can be figured out on a slip of paper." BARBARA WOOD, daughter of Fritz Schumacher and his biographer, spoke of the transition in her father's thinking in her talk "In Honor of E. F. Schumacher." "He started to ask new questions: What is man? What is the purpose oflife? How does economics help in fulfilling that purpose? These were not easy questions for him to answer. For the first half of his life he had dismissed such philosophical questions as irrational and unscientific. Honesty now required that he gave them attention. The final moment I want to mention is his visit to Burma in 1955 as an economic adviser with the UN. Again he observed carefully and reflected on what he saw and experienced. The Burmese seemed to be so happy. (It was a very different place from the Burma of today). There he saw that western economics was not adding to the happiness of the Burmese, but rather the reverse. It was making them want things they did not need. It dawned upon him that economics was not a science independent of values: what the economist believes to be the meaning and purpose of life is also relevant because it determines the kind of economics he or she will pursue. He wrote: I came to Burma a thirsty wanderer and there I found living water."

Best wishes, Staff of New Economics Institute Berkshire Office, 140 Jug End Road Great Barrington, MA 01230 (413) 528 1737 New York Office, 437 Madison Ave, 37th floor New York, NY 10022 (212) 308 2700 neweconomicsinstitute.org

Dear Ajarn Sulak, In partnership with Mom Ratchawongse Narisa Chakrabongse, Editor and Publisher of River Books, it is my pleasure to invite you to a special evening at Chakrabongse House on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 19:00 hours for a Photo Exhibit and Dinner Discussion on The Changing Face of Burma. This is the second of two events involving collaboration between the Serindia Gallery, River Books and the Embassy of Canada . On November 24, 2011 the Serindia Gallery launched a compelling photo exhibition of Burma Political Prisoners by famed British photographer James Mackay. Some of the photos in this exhibit will be on display at Chakrabongse House, and James Mackay will be personally present to introduce his exhibit. The dinner and discussion to follow will be an intimate gathering of Burma experts and those with a keen interest or stake in Burma's reform. Following the Chatham House rule, the dinner discussion will be a unique and timely opportunity to review recent political and economic developments in Burma, assess their significance, including implications for Thailand, and determine possible future approaches and responses by Thailand and the international community to help anchor and deepen reform measures underway and still needed. Khunying Narisa Chakrabongse has kindly opened her historic home for this occasion and will offer dinner guests a private tour of the extraordinary Chakrabongse House during the evening. Built in 1908 by

Vo1.28 No.1 5 l HRH Prince Chakrabongse, Chakrabongse House was originally a robing pavilion used by the prince when 10-10- he attended royal ceremonies at the Grand Palace, and also for picnics and excursions on the Chao Phraya DearP river. After the 1932 revolution, it became the Bangkok residence of HRH Prince Chula Chakrabongse, Lt the writer, historian, and motor-racing manager. Today the grounds have been transformed into a boutique years 1 hotel by his daughter Mom Ratchawongse Narisa Chakrabongse. It is located at 396 Maharaj Road, Tatien. world. (website: www.chakrabongsevillas.com; Contact: Khun Run 089 810 0498) Rinp01 We sincerely hope you are able to contribute to this special evening. curren Centu Ron Hoffmann I ~ Ambassador I Ambassadeur pheno Embassy of Canada I Ambassade du Canada value becau during fromd Why do we continue to ignore HM the King?

Re: "Time for long-overdue reform of outdated legislation", Opinion, December 7. Passion runs high in the Akong lese-majeste case, with Pavin Chachavalpongun concluding, "Monar­ chists are the ones who breed anti-monarchists". Ajarn Sulak Sivaraksa, a professed monarchist being prosecuted under the said law, might find the outbrust ironical. The King himself came out very clearly against the law, I quote from the recently launched book under the supervision of former PM Anand Panyarachun-King Bhumibol Adulyadej: A Life's Work (Editions Didier Millet, page 313). "Thailand's law of lese-majeste has one very prominet critic: King Bhumibol.... In 2005, after an increase in politically inspired lese-majeste complaints, King Bhumibol used his annual televised birthday address to convey three concerns: "The king, he said, is a human being and as such should be subject to criticism. "Charges against those accused of lese-majeste should be dropped, and those held in jail for lese­ majeste should be released. "The use of the lese-majeste law ultimately damages the monarchy." So I fail to understand why successive governments and the concerned authorities have not taken notice of His Majesty's complaints. Or is there a darker side to this matter?

Sumet Jumsai Bangkok The Nation December 8, 2011

December 11, 2011 Dear Sulak, There was one bright spot for me in the summer: at 12.30 am. on 28th June, being unable to sleep, I switched on the BBC World Service TV and heard the introductory words that the chief guest in the programme would be a prominent leader of opinion in the Far East. Short pause, then on walked Sulak Sivaraksa. That gave me great pleasure and I felt that you acquitted yourself extremely well. I was very touched when the interviewer said that you had been educated in England, and you gently corrected him "No, Wales." I hope that the Thai floods have subsided and that the losts have been less than was feared. Do forgive me a dull letter but I don't get about much. And we send to you all our best wishes and thoughts.

Yours ever, John Graham, Scotland

52 SEEDS OF PEACE

----- ...... ,..-~ --~ 0~-- ? ~ 10-10-2011 Dear Ajarn Sulak: Let me introduce myself as a student of International Relations and American Politics. For some years now I have been reading and reflecting on the post cold war globalisation and its impact on the world, especially with respect to humanism and global ecological balance. Thanks to Ajarn Samdhong Rinpoche, whom I had the good fortune of meeting, I came to know about your work in the area. I am currently reading your insightful book, Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century, with a foreword by Professor Rinpoche. I am amazed at the degree of coincidence in our analyses, views, and approaches with respect to the phenomenon of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation and its essential negative impact on human values and ecological future of the planet earth. I am particularly happy to know about you at this time because we are going to convene an inter-civilisation conference on the "Philosophy of Globalisation" during February 2012. The theme note of the Conference is attached herewith. Leading spokespersons from different civilisations of man are being invited. We would very much like you to represent Buddhism at the conference. Please read the theme note carefully and get back to me at your earliest convenience. Our plan is to bring out a book based on the papers and proceedings of the Conference. A brief CV is also enclosed for your kind information. I am also sending by airmail a copy of the Endowment Lecture I delivered at the University of Bombay not long ago. Look forward to hearing from you.

With kind regards. B. Ramesh Babu E-mail: brameshbabu@ ipeindia.org; brameshbabo08@ gmail.com

Recommended Readings

Contemplation Nation: How Ancient Practices Are Changing the Way We Live Paper from The State of Contemplative Practice in America Edited by Mirabai Bush Foreword by Rob Lehman First Edition 2011 Published by Fetzer Institute

Selves & Not-Self The Buddhist Teaching on Anatta By Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) For free distribution ©Thanissaro Bhikkhu 2011

Songs of Insomnia Poems by Frank William Finney First Edition 2011 Buddhism-nu Published by Suksit Siam

Buddhism - nu Att undvika alit ont, att gora gott, att rena sitt eget sinne - det ar de upplystas lara. Poems by Frank Willium Finney Nr 1 - 2010 f'irg. 5

Vol.28 No.1 53 Mala~ Wang Gungwu: Junzi Scholar - Gentleman every muni By Asad-ul Iqbal Latif c Published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010 fied d Available at leading bookshops

W ang Gungwu, perhaps more history as a dangerous subject. than anyone else, has highlighted The restrictions imposed on the the complex dilemmas facing study of history in Southeast Asia Chinese living abroad and their frustrated his quest for answers. interaction with their homeland. His youthful curiosity about for O\ In a world dominated by Western China remained unsatisfied. mode science, Western thought and The British wanted to play s Western scholarship, Wang down Anglo-Chinese conflicts tion Gungwu is recognised interna­ and instead turn the Chinese tionally as a leading historian on against Japan. The strategy was China and Southeast Asia. probably the most successful Asad-ul Iqbal Latifs book British policy contributing to \ "Wang Gungwu: Junzi Scholar Japan's military defeat during -Gentleman" is a series of con­ W odd War II. versations with Wang published "The Japanese invasion of reflec last year to mark his 80th birthday. Manchuria in 1931 gave Chinese mode The interviews span the life, nationalism its particular stri­ 1957 times and thoughts of an eminent dence, and the war of 1937-1945 nastie intellectual, scholar, Sinologist still provides the trigger, if not the Trade and teacher. The text is reflective, years of civil war. core, of contemporary Chinese lucid and easy to read. He searched for parallels in nationalism," Wang says. "Com­ Wang was born in 1930 in history and found the 100-year pared to Chinese nationalist Surabaya in Dutch Indonesia, the civil war following the fall of the passion against the Japanese, son of a Chinese-language tea­ Tang Dynasty. The result was even the nationalism against cher who'd emigrated from Wang's 1957 PhD dissertation the Great Powers and America Taizhou. The family subsequently for the University of London seemed pale in retrospect." moved to British Malaya and School of Oriental and African Japan had earlier inspired Wang was raised in Ipoh. Studies, "The Structure of Power Asian nationalist movements He acquired from his pa­ in North China during the Five against Western colonial powers rents a strong Chinese identity. Dynasties". with its 1905 military victory over Growing up in a colony impressed However, born into a mi­ Russia. Its invasions of the early on him how much Asians had grant family, Wang was also 1940s speeded up the de-colo­ lost over the centuries to the do­ interested in the history of nisation of Southeast Asia. minant Europeans. He wondered overseas Chinese and the pattern The war resulted in the in­ why China, after millennia of of China's relationship with stallation of independent nation greatness, failed to respond to the the countries around the South states throughout Asia, but they challenges of the 19th century. China Sea. became divided into opposing Wang looked to history for the Wang's vivid reminiscences camps, capitalist or communist. answers. of his childhood and the Japanese The 1940 triumph of Mao What happens when a great occupation of Malaya are poig­ Zedong provoked a fiercely anti­ empire collapses? How does it nant and reflect the challenge of communist reaction in post­ recover? These questions in­ identity re-orientation that many colonial Southeast Asia, so that trigued him against the backdrop overseas Chinese face. it became impossible to study ethnic of the Qing Dynasty's demise in As an adult he came to un­ modern Chinese history in nishe 1911 and China's descent into 40 derstand that authorities regard Malaya. The governments of diver

54 SEEDS OF PEACE Malaya and Singapore suspected every Chinese resident of com­ munist sympathies. Communist phobia intensi­ fied during the Korean War and America's war against North Vietnam. Anti-communist pro­ paganda, official suspicion of Chinese intellectuals, the bann­ ing of Chinese-language books, and a travel ban to communist China made it almost impossible for overseas Chinese to research modem China. So Wang shifted his atten­ tion to ancient history. The source materials were freely available in most countries, although the travel ban precluded access to any within the People's national culture while being loyal view o{ the tragic Tiananmen Republic. citizens of their new nation. Square dackdown in 1989. Wang's earliest publications After completing his PhD Despite Tiananmen, the reflected a careful avoidance of in London, Wang became an decade Wang spent in Hong modem China. Following his assistant lecturer at the Univer­ Kong convinced him that Deng 1957 treatise on the Five Dy­ sity of Malaya. His talents were Xiaoping's reforms had reversed nasties, there was "The Nanhai quickly recognised. By 1962, at the decline China began in the Trade: A Study of the Early age 32, he was dean of arts, and 19th century. He characterised History of Chinese Trade in the by the following year a full Deng's success as China's South China Sea". professor. "Fourth Rise" - after the Wang also wrote exten­ In 1968, though- stung by unification achieved by the Qin­ sively about the Chinese dia­ Malaysia's refusal to grant his Han, Sui-Tang and Ming-Qing spora in the region, although he son an identity card and still dynasties. disliked that term when applied restricted in his travels in China - It must be gratifying for him to Chinese leaving China, because Wang moved to the Australian to see China seeking to rejoin of its association with propagan­ National University as professor world history largely on Chinese da that perpetuated fears of a of Far East history. terms. "Chinese threat" in the South There, with abundant re­ He left Hong Kong in 1996, China Sea. sources on contemporary China, the year before Britain gave it He observed that overseas he was able to renew his earlier back to China, and returned to Chinese embraced neither interest. The People's Republic Singapore as chairman of the East Chinese nationalism nor that of was then in the throes of the Asian Institute. He had come full their adopted countries. And yet Cultural Revolution. circle, back to the island of his nationalists in their host coun­ Finally working without youth. tries did seek to enlist them in fear of official suspicion or Wang continues to live and nation-building efforts in the reprisal, Wang spent 18 pro­ work in Singapore. He is also wake of de-colonisation. ductive years. Australia actually chairman of the Institute of Witnessing at close quarters brought him closer to China. Southeast Asian Studies and the the formation of Malaysia in And, when Wang became Lee Kuan Yew School of Public 1963 and Singapore's separation vice chancellor of Hong Kong Policy. in 1965, in the wake of divisive University in 1986, he got a ethnic politics, must have tar­ close-up look at China after the Jeffery Sng nished his faith that people of Cultural Revolution. Hong Kong diverse heritages could enrich unwittingly gave him a ringside

Vol.28 No.1 55 The Wisdom of Sustainability: profa Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century by Sulak Sivaraksa with a foreword by Samdhong Rinpoche. Kidhei HI: Koa Books, 2009/London: Souvenir Books, 2011.101 pp.$12.50/£10.

This slim volume, its size much ment'. Sulak speaks of the need belying the wisdom in its pages, for real education, an education is a collection of the writings and of the Spirit, a concept with which speeches of the Thai nobleman, Temenos readers will easily iden­ Buddhist scholar/monk, and Wisdom tify. He speaks of the need for passionate and much incarcerated true moral governance, of the activist for just and peaceful Susta1rabi iy need for an authentic security, change, Sulak Sivaraksa, fre­ Buddh st Ec: nomocs and of where and how that might fo· •~e 21 s• (entu y quently imprisoned under the be found, And of course the pernicious lese-majesty laws of golden thread that binds all these Thailand, he has been a champion necessary and important ideas of the poor and the dispossessed together is the thought of the all his life. His life is a testament Buddha himself, whose teaching to the Spirit in action. The Teme­ has so deeply informed Sulak's nos Academy was fortunate to life and work. This is a book that, host Sulak for a day's study group most rarely, combines penetrating in the summer of 2007, and I was insight and deep critical thought personally fortunate in being able into the nature and flaws of our to spend time with him during international Western world-view that visit. Spending time with scriptures. I did wonder however with deep insight into how it must Sulak is like sitting in front of a if he would be able to remain be in our own individual lives that great fire in winter, for he simply relevant in addressing the reali­ real change must first take place. warms one up with his openness, ties of the great sprawling urban It travels among lofty peaks of his generosity, his enthusiasm and mega-cities, where so much of philosophical thought, but also his great sense of hope for the humanity now resides uncom­ includes simple practical instruc­ human condition. forted by the beauties and cer­ tions for our daily life. Living in the comfortable tainties of nature and the old The chapter entitled 'Heav­ West, where so much of our con­ traditional forms. I need not enly Messengers' seems most spicuous consumption seems to have worried, for Sulak speaks particularly relevant at this time be so clearly unsustainable, made to the Spirit wherever it may of crisis. It seeks to show how me approach a review of this reside; and much of his practical some crises come as 'heavenly little book with some trepidation. teaching may be practised messengers' to force us to change A meditation on what is truly anywhere, in whatever circum­ our misguided ways, ways that sustainable in our world, a world stances we find ourselves. have become wholly unsustain­ which feels so increasingly The book is a collection of able. I say 'some' crises out of precarious, seemed daunting. I writings and speeches which respect for the people of Japan, knew that Sulak, faithful to his speak, among many themes, to who have recently experienced Buddhist calling, was much the nature and the value of crisis, the darker side of nature through attached to the idea of being close the urgent need for the creation no fault of theirs. Our current to nature and the agrarian way of of a culture of peace, and the Western crises, however, have life, and this is indeed a theme of necessity of learning from our surely come about through our his writing as it is of the Buddhist misguided concept of 'develop- own profligacy and greed, and a mig!::: >,------, 56 SEEDS OF PEACE

- - - - ~ ~ - - profound disrespect for the talgia for our rural past. And yet a religion, but not without spiri­ natural world we live in and the industrialization, in the United tual values. In time, maybe over individual human lives that Kingdom, has mutated in so a long time, he will again find that inhabit it. many ways from its rather brutal life-giving dimension. If we fail, Sulak argues against the beginnings into a much cleaner then indeed we are all doomed; exporting imperative of many and fairer society. If we consider but the transformative capacity industrialized societies. He the welfare state alone, while few of humans and the creative argues most persuasively that if would dispute that it has now nature of life itself to rise to these a society concentrates on fulfill­ gone too far, it was surely a brave challenges fill me with hope. ing its own needs, the way of experiment in compassion to So is Sulak's claim of the life that is engendered by such consider that the collectivity of misguided nature of much of activities is not only sustainable the state should help those who our Western way of life wrong? but conducive to individual could not help themselves. This I don't think so, for he has much human creativity and dignity. In surely is a long cry from the of value to say and much that will the small market town in which slavery and demeaning poverty make us very thoughtful. But I I grew up in Cumbria there used of the 'dark satanic mills' of Vic­ think that it is possibly not the to be three tailors who made the torian England. whole truth. We in the West have clothes for the whole population, Sulak leans hard against the so much to learn from the Bud­ and fine well-made clothes they growth model of the Western dhist world-view; and Buddhists were. Today there are no tailors, economics and argues that 'no have so mpch to teach us about and we rely on cheap imports of economy can expand forever'; the non-rahonal, non-literal, inferior cloth from the East. This and yet I am far from sure that non-material sides of life, as this has become the nature of our this claim is just. Thomas Mal­ book makes clear. However I do economy, if indeed one can dig­ thus thought in the eighteenth think that our development in nify the nature of such a practice century that we would eventually the Western world of the rational with such a word. run out of food as populations and scientific faculties, while One of the other themes that increased. However, by innova­ · currently perhaps almost bar­ run through this collection is tion and experiment, huge sur­ barically one-sided, will none the Sulak's profound mistrust of pluses of food were subsequently less be essential to our survival consumerism, globalization and produced in many parts of the as a planet. There is and can be technology: world. All civilizations depend no going back-a glance at life in The World Bank and other on three pillars to sustain them­ our mega-cities and at the explo­ institutions presume the superior­ selves: food, energy and a system sion of populations informs us ity of the industrialized model of belief. It is true that we now of that-and a way forward must over agrarian lifestyles, subsis­ seem to face a crisis in all of these surely include a balance of both tence economies and indignity. fields; and yet I have a feeling that capacities abundantly present in I paused a long time over this mankind will eventually rise to human life. sentence and wondered if it was challenge as it has always seemed In the last chapter Sulak wholly true. Anyone who was to do. We shall in time find new takes us to the heart of the mat­ lucky enough to visit Thailand and even cleaner methods of ter, for it is here that we are in the '50s and '60s, before con­ making energy; the elusive dream invited to face ourselves and our sumerism and globalization took of nuclear fusion is one. I have sustainability in the simplest and hold, will nostalgically have no doubt that we shall, again in most compelling manner. I won­ some sympathy with this view. It time, find more productive meth­ der if there are many who will was indeed a country of great ods of producing food sustainably read this book and not wonder beauty and seeming harmony, that work in harmony with nature about the sustainability of their and yet I did wonder if that was and not against it; or, alterna­ own lives in this time of tumult. the whole picture. If we think of tively, we shall change our diets We really do seem to be living in our own industrial experience, because we have to. In the matter an apocalyptic time of change, which transformed the English of belief, we are going to come with no real idea of whether or from an essentially agrarian to realize that man simply cannot when some great tsunami of people into an urban one, we too live without some form of spiri­ events will sweep us up in its path might indulge in a bout of nos- tual belief. He may live without and leave us stranded and awash

Vol.28 No.1 57 in the loss of so much that we Breathing in, I feel calm. So it is here, in the practice take for granted. So the question Breathing out, I feel at ease. with our own personal breath, that arises: 'How then may we sustain As I inhale, I smile. the starting point of our own ourselves?'; or perhaps: 'What, As I exhale, I release all transformation and the root of our in spite of all the troubles that accumulated pressures. own ultimate sustainability lies. may beset us and those around Breathing in, I know there Simply put, while we have breath us, is truly sustainable about our is only the present moment. we live, while we have breath, our lives?' In answering this question, Breathing out, I know it is a lives are sustainable-whatever Sulak goes straight to the Buddha wonderful moment. else of comfort, wealth or health for inspiration and in doing so Sulak makes the point that we may gain or lose. This may gives us the simplest advice­ the world is filled full enough appear an obvious truism and an which, if practised with diligence, with governments, organizations, oversimplification to many, but never fails to reassure. I breathe, societies, programs and projects; reading this and reflecting on it I therefore I am; and the title of the but without personal spiritual felt the ultimate truth of it and felt last chapter, 'The Breath of Life', transformation, so much good in­ reassured. The key, as with any take us to the core of sustainable tention is wrecked on the rocks spiritual discipline, is regular and life whatever our circumstances: of compulsive fear and greed and devoted practice. I think that Breathing in, I calm my wrong intention. He reminds us Sulak Sivaraksa inspires us in this body. that the practice of mindful small book to make that effort. Breathing out, I smile. breathing restructures our con­ Dwelling in the present sciousness and helps us develop jir Nicholas Pearson moment, critical self awareness. We Temenos Academy Review 2011 I know this is a wonderful become more able to see the moment! structural violence in ourselves and in our world. ************************************************************ The Wisdom of Sustainability Buddhist Economics for the 21'' Century Engaged Buddhist Solidarity for Nature (Sinhala edition)

The New Sciences of Religion · Exploring Spirituality from the Outside In and Bottom Up By William Grassie First Published in 2010 Published by Palgrave Macmillan

Beyond National Egoism

BFYONO The Road to a Nation for International Peace and the Environment By Shohei Nomura Published by Mamizu-Shuppan ©2008

The World Without Us By Alan Weisman Published by Picador First Published August 2008

58 SEEDS OF PEACE Judicialization in Thailand and the World By Pichet Maolanond, Nilubol Chai-itthipomwong& Pomthip Apisitwasana Published by Thai Justice Reform, 1st Edition; May 2008

First Democracy The Challenge of an Ancient Idea By Paul Woodruff PAUL WIIIUH Published by Oxford University Press ©2005

Politics by Other Means Science and Religion in the 21'' Century By William Grassie Published by A Metanexus Imprint ©2010

The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia Second Edition by Donald K. Swearer Published by Suny Press ©2010

The World We Have A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology Thich Nhat Hanh Introduction by Alan Weisman Published by Parallax Press ©2008

Vipassana Meditation & Its Relevance to The World By Vipassana Research Institute ,;},.~: "-. :; . .. ' .

First Edition 2011 .. llo"' ,.,. • Published by Vipassana Research Institute

Sharanam Gachhami An Album of Awakening Compiled and Edited by Kishore Thukral Published by Full Circle

The Truth of Rebirth By Thanissaro Bhikkhu The Abbot Metta Forest Monastery USA ©2011

Vol.28 No.1 59 Song of Homage

On this Seventh Birthday Anniversary Cycle of Your Noble Sovereign, Pray Your Majesty overflows with joy and happiness; May You be removed from all infirmities forthrightly. The bearers of enmity be extirpated by Your virtuousness.

From thence may You be freed from sufferings and sorrows. Endow the populace with fortuity, a sense of integrity. Malfeasants who brashly 'devour towns and cities' who's sordid and heinous nature bore. By the grace of 'phra-dharma-raja' doomed forevermore.

By upholding the Ten Princely Virtues high Awakening the populace in every blade of grass To reside a life of righteousness and demeanor; And too, turning their faces towards each other, reaching out to one another.

Lessens and brings an end to class afflictions among the ad-masses, Making each and every person considerate ....all compassionate; Nurture and nourish each individual life preeminence, Aptly transforming 'revolving chakras' to sweet blossoming 'lotus flowers'.

The aim in life's journey is to arrive at the wisdom most high, Enabling Siam the nation to attain what they want and desire, Thus safeguarding their 'freedom' by strong insistency; Espousing and procreating that which is 'self-sufficient economy'.

One shalt face up to veracity while holding on to integrity, Resolving each and every problem without recourse. Unite men and women far and wide, fusing them in unanimity, Exercise their rights and voices in acceptable modus operandi.

One shalt strive for excellence, both spiritual and physical might, Humbly making these offering to Your Majesty, as my witness. Wishing You joy and happiness every single day and night; Who else, but Your Noble Majesty, befittingly proclaimed, the one and only, 'Phra Bhubodi (Bhumi}' of Thy populace!

[The 84'h birthday, or 7 cycles, of H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was on 5'h December 20 I I (2554).]