Free Aung San Suu Kyi

After being locked away for 19 years, those inspired by Suu Kyi and what she stands for await the day she will be set free. Yet, the military junta of Myanmar has found more excuses to keep her locked away:

The charges stem from a bizarre incident earlier this month in which a 53-year-old American man swam across Inya Lake and appeared, uninvited, in Suu Kyi's garden. He was asked to leave, but when he complained of exhaustion, he was permitted to stay overnight. While swimming away the next day, he was arrested. The government appears to be using the incident as a pretext for extending Suu Kyi's house arrest, which expires in a few days; at the moment, however, she is being held on the grounds of Insein Prison, facing a possible five-year prison term. 

Read full article.

Oprah interviews Pema

Here is an interview with Oprah and Pema Chödrön, one of the first Western women to be ordained as a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition. She is also an author and holds workshops, seminars, and meditation retreats in helping others apply Buddhist teachings in everyday life. She is currently a resident teacher at Gampo Abbey, a monastery located in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. No Time to Lose (shown above) is one of her books.

"Oprah: Yes. And what does it mean to be a Buddhist?"

"Pema: Well, a lot of people might say different things about that, but in my opinion, the essence of it is trusting that the nature of your mind and heart is limitless, boundless, openness, free of prejudice, free of bias, and you could stay in that space and open your eyes and your ears and all your sense perceptions to what's happening without narrowing down into a prejudice or a bias or a view, a kind of solid view that says, no, no, it can't be like that, it has to be like this. So somehow that seems to lead to seeing the humanity of even the worst people and seeing—"

Urban Dharma Newsletter 9-14-08

In This Issue: Buddhism and Ordained Women

HI,

This newsletter is focused on the Bhikkhuni (Bhiksuni) Sangha, the nun’s of Buddhism... I hope you find it useful and interesting.

-Kusala-

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