Rath, Muni's Resources

Cambodia celebrates 20th anniversary of ex-King's return

2011-10-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

The signing the Paris Peace Accords in 1991. R-L: Khieu Samphan, Ieng Mouly, Sihanouk, 4th person unidentified, Hun Sen and Hor Namhong.
Sihanouk, French FM Roland Dumas and Hun Sen.

Hun Sen signed the Paris Peace Accords.

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Sunday celebrated the 20th anniversary of ailing former retired King Norodom Sihanouk's return from exile and his 89-year-old birthday turning to 90 on Oct. 31.

The auspicious ceremony was held in front of the Royal Palace with the high presence from King Norodom Sihamoni, Sihanouk's son, Senate acting-President Prince Sisowath Chivan Monirak, President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin, Prime Minister Hun Sen, and foreign diplomatic corps.

In his first public appearance since his abdication in October 2004 in favour of his son Norodom Sihamoni, the former King was warmly greeted by throng of about 40,000 people from all walks of life.

Traditional dance has been performed to bless the former King with good health and longevity.

In his remarks, Sihanouk said he was very happy to have an honor to address to his beloved compatriots and highly appreciated Prime Minister Hun Sen for his tireless efforts and achievements to develop the country.

"Also, I admire the government of Cambodia and the parliament for their joint efforts to develop the nation," he said in a speech and live televised by the state-owned National Television of Cambodia.

The former King and Queen returned to Cambodia on November 14, 1991 from their exile in China's Beijing at the invitation of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, said Prime Minister Hun Sen in a speech during the celebration.

He said the celebration was to reflect the sincere hearts of Cambodian people towards the former King Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Norodom Monineath for their tireless efforts and achievements in national construction.

"We, all Cambodian people, wish the king father for good health and longevity in order to stay as a cold shadow for peace, political stability and prosperity of Cambodia and Cambodian people," he said.

Hun Sen said in the history of Cambodian Kings, there have never had any ex-kings who had as long life as the former King Norodom Sihanouk.

"In the past and in the future, the government of Cambodia vows to protect monarchic regime, constitutional law, full peace, political stability and national unification," he said.

During the celebrations, there is an exhibition displaying former King Norodom Sihanouk's royal crusades and achievements in his efforts to develop the nation.

Also, at the night of Oct. 30, there will be fireworks and concerts.
Editor: Yamei Wang

Big Buddha unearthed at Ta Prom

2011-10-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 27 October 2011 12:02

Bridget Di Certo

Phnom Penh Post

Photo by: Photo Supplied

A two-metre section of a Buddha statue unearthed this week sits on blocks at the Ta Prom temple, in Siem Reap province.

The largest Angkorian-era Buddha statue to be discovered since the Khmer Rouge regime ended was unearthed at Ta Prom temple last Friday, an official from the Indian embassy confirmed yesterday.

The Ta Prom temple, at the world-famous Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap, has been under restoration by a team of Indian Government-funded technical experts since 2004.

Indian Embassy First Secretary Saurav Ray said the Buddha statue, found in the Hall of Dancers at Ta Prom, was the “largest Buddha statue discovered so far in Cambodia since the Khmer Rouge era”.

“The statue is incomplete – missing a large buddha head with a naga snake fan and part of the base,” he said, adding that the portion of the statue found was a massive two metres high.

“We have had 151 local people employed on the restoration work, and this is an amazing discovery,” Ray added.

Ta Prom temple is thought to have been built in the 12th or 13th century and was founded by King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university.

Like most temples at the Angkor Wat complex, Ta Prom was slowly strangled by the jungle after a decade of neglect during the Indochina war beginning in mid-1940s and later the civil conflict that engulfed the Kingdom from 1975 to 1998.

The Archaeological Survey of India first came to the temple in 1983 and conducted brief restoration work, before later returning in 2004 to begin a projected 10-year restor-ation effort of the impressive Angkorian structure.

UNESCO Culture Program specialist Philippe Delanghe said yesterday he had deployed a field officer to invest-igate the impressive find.

“It is a Buddha sitting on a Naga, and seems to be a very huge thing indeed,” he said.

“Such a big statue is quite a significant find – it looks at least as big as the famous Buddha at the Bayon temple.”

Restoration efforts by donor countries such as France and China, being conducted at many of the Angkor complex temples, have previously come under fire from natur-alists as being too aggressive.
However, UNESCO said that so far all restoration efforts had been received positively.

“The International Co-ord-ination Committee adhoc experts have very regularly been visiting the restoration sites and are very happy with the work that is being done,” Delanghe said.

Saurav Ray said Indian technical experts had received nothing but praise for their efforts from the Apsara Authority, the governing body of the Angkor complex.

“We are extremely happy with this very important find,” Ray said, adding that the technical experts were now conducting examination and analysis of the statue.

Representatives from the Apsara Authority declined to comment yesterday.

Gaddafi killed as Libya's revolt claims hometown

2011-10-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi speaks during a ceremony in Tripoli in this June 12, 2010 file photo.
REUTERS/Ismail Zetouny

By Rania El Gamal and Tim Gaynor

SIRTE, Libya | Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:12am EDT

(Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi was killed on Thursday as Libya's new leaders declared they had overrun the last bastion of his long rule, sparking wild celebrations that eight months of war may finally be over.
Details of the death near Sirte of the fallen strongman were hazy but it was announced by several officials of the National Transitional Council (NTC) and backed up by a photograph of a bloodied face ringed by familiar, Gaddafi-style curly hair.
"He was killed in an attack by the fighters. There is footage of that," the NTC's information minister, Mahmoud Shammam, told Reuters.
Western powers, who have backed the rebellion which took the capital Tripoli two months ago, said they were still checking. NATO said its aircraft fired on a convoy near Sirte earlier, but would not confirm reports that Gaddafi had been a passenger.
Several NTC fighters in Sirte said they had seen Gaddafi shot dead, though their accounts varied.
With a final declaration of the country's "liberation" from 42 years of one-man rule apparently imminent, and crowds firing in the air and dancing in the streets of Tripoli and Benghazi, Libyan television said NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil was about to address the nation.
The two months since the fall of Tripoli have tested the nerves of the motley alliance of anti-Gaddafi forces and their Western and Arab backers, who had begun to question the ability of the NTC forces to root out diehard Gaddafi loyalists in Sirte and a couple of other towns.
Officials said some of Gaddafi's entourage had been killed in the same incident, while his son Mo'tassim and other aides were taken prisoner. Another son, Saif -- long the heir-apparent -- was believed by the NTC to be still at large, possibly in the immense southern deserts of the Libyan Sahara.
ARAB SPRING
The death of Gaddafi himself became perhaps the most dramatic development since the Arab Spring revolts that have unseated rulers in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt and threaten the grip on power of the leaders of Syria and Yemen.
"He (Gaddafi) was also hit in his head," NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. "There was a lot of firing against his group and he died."
Mlegta told Reuters earlier that Gaddafi, who was in his late 60s, was captured and wounded in both legs at dawn on Thursday as he tried to flee in a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked. He said he had been taken away by an ambulance.
An NTC fighter in Sirte said he had seen Gaddafi shot after he was cornered and captured in a tunnel near a roadway.
The capture of Sirte means Libya's ruling NTC should now begin the task of forging a new democratic system which it had said it would get under way after the city, Gaddafi's hometown rebuilt as a showpiece for his rule, had fallen.
As potentially vast revenues from oil and gas begin to roll in again, Libya's six million people, scattered in towns spread across wide deserts, face a major task in organizing a new system of government that can allocate resources across long-competing tribal, ethnic and regional divisions.
Gaddafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians, was toppled by rebel forces on August 23, a week short of the 42nd anniversary of the military coup which brought him to power in 1969.
NTC fighters hoisted the red, black and green national flag above a large utilities building in the center of a newly-captured Sirte neighborhood and celebratory gunfire broke out among their ecstatic and relieved comrades.
Hundreds of NTC troops had surrounded the Mediterranean coastal town for weeks in a chaotic struggle that killed and wounded scores of the besieging forces and an unknown number of defenders.
NTC fighters said there were a large number of corpses inside the last redoubts of the Gaddafi troops. It was not immediately possible to verify that information.
(Writing by Jon Hemming, William Maclean and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by David Stamp)

U.S. President to Visit Cambodia for First Time Next Year

2011-10-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama (L) shakes with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during the latter's visit to Washington.

17th October, 2011
Xinhua Web Editor: yangyang66

Cambodia is expected to welcome the visit of the incumbent President of the United States for the first time in history next year when the country chairs ASEAN, officials said.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, minister of foreign affairs, on Monday, visiting Ambassador of the United States to ASEAN David Carden said the U.S. congratulated Cambodia for hosting the ASEAN next year and said the U.S. was ready to assist Cambodia to chair the ASEAN successfully.

"The U.S. fully supports ASEAN to establish an ASEAN community by 2015," he said. "Our president will be given the opportunity to attend the ASEAN-U.S. Summit and related meetinghahas here next year."

Koy Kuong, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the ASEAN-U.S. Summit will be held in late November, 2012 in Phnom Penh, and the U.S. presidential election will be held in early November 2012, so, probably, the incumbent U.S. President Barack Obama will take part in the summit as the new elected U.S. President in the next year's election will take office in December.

During the meeting, Hor Namhong asked the U.S. to accelerate its assistance to Lower Mekong countries including Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos under the framework of the Lower Mekong- U.S. cooperation on the sectors of environment, education, health and infrastructure.

"The U.S. plays a key role to help the four lower Mekong countries to develop connectivity. It is a part of ASEAN connectivity, " he said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

David Carden arrived here on Sunday for a four-day visit. During the stay, he will meet Cambodia's ministers of education, environment, and commerce, and also pay a courtesy call on the Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Steve Jobs Was a Dharma Teacher Also

2011-10-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

Steve Job's death yesterday came as a shock. We all knew he was dying, but were hoping that he would be a part of this world for a little while longer. As a tribute to him, I would like to share this video of him giving the Commencement Speech for the Stanford class of 2005.

I especially appreciated his story about death:

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

And I thought of the wisdom of another man, not famous like Steve, but just as wise . . .

This is the truth.

Original Posted at: http://minddeep.blogspot.com

Video: Hurricane Irene to bring extensive storm surge in New York, New Jersy and Philadelphia

2011-08-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

Video: Hurricane Irene to bring extensive storm surge

Residents, Tourists Seek Higher Ground

2011-08-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Irene causing traffic jams, gas shortages along coast

NYC orders first-ever mandatory evacuations; mass transit to be hit across Northeast

Please go to the link NBC for VIDEO

NBC, msnbc.com and news services

updated 7 minutes ago

2.3 million under evacuation orders; 300,000 are in NYC
NYC, N.J., Philadelphia to suspend mass transit service during part of weekend
Storm begins to hit Carolinas; maximum winds weaken to 100 mph
Obama to leave vacation island a day early due to Irene

NEW YORK -- With more coastal cities ordering evacuations ahead of Hurricane Irene, residents and tourists alike from North Carolina to New York City were moving toward higher ground.
Traffic jams as long as 20 miles were reported and some service stations in New Jersey and other areas had run out of gasoline, according to the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks supplies and prices. Gasoline demand jumped 20 percent to 40 percent in Mid-Atlantic states, the service said.

Evacuation orders covered 1 million people in New Jersey, 315,000 in Maryland, 300,000 in New York City, 300,000 in North Carolina, 200,000 in Virginia and 100,000 in Delaware.
"This is probably the largest number of people that have been threatened by a single hurricane in the United States," said Jay Baker, a geography professor at Florida State University.
New York, the nation's largest city, was among those announcing evacuations Friday.
"We've never done a mandatory evacuation before and we wouldn't be doing it now if we didn't think this storm had the potential to be very serious,'' Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in warning some 300,000 people living in low-lying areas.
Earlier Friday, President Barack Obama warned East Coast residents to prepare for the worst, saying all indications point to a "historic" storm.
"Don't wait, don't delay," the president said from his vacation on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., where many were already leaving ahead of Irene. Obama and his family had planned to leave the island on Saturday, but the White House on Friday said it had been moved up to Friday evening.
Video: Hurricane Irene to bring extensive storm surge
Irene not only is packing 100 mph winds, it is also massive: hurricane-force winds extend 90 miles from the center, and tropical-storm winds extend 290 miles. Up to 15 inches of rain could be dumped across the East Coast by the time she barrels through.
By 5 p.m. ET Friday, Irene remained a Category 2 storm with top winds near 100 mph — 15 mph less than overnight.
Little change in strength was expected by the time the heart of the storm reaches the North Carolina coast on Saturday morning and Irene should then drop to a Category 1 storm with winds around 80 mph as it moves into the Northeast.
Even as a Category 1 storm, Irene has the potential to cause billions of dollars in damage. At least 65 million people are in its projected track.

"One of my greatest nightmares was having a major hurricane go up the whole Northeast coast," said Max Mayfield, a former National Hurricane Center director. "This is going to be a real challenge."
Rain from Irene's outer bands began falling along the North and South Carolina coast early Friday. Swells and 6- to 9-foot waves were reported along the Outer Banks. Thousands had already lost power as the fringes of the storm began raking the shore and North Carolina was told to expect storm surges up to 11 feet.
Hurricane warnings extend along the North Carolina coast all the way up into New York City, Long Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
How to prepare, really, tips from a hurricane vet
Below is a look at impacts and preparations by region:
New York CityBloomberg ordered an evacuation by 5 p.m. Saturday for low-lying areas that include the Battery Park City complex on the southern end of Manhattan; Coney Island, famed for its boardwalk and amusement park; the beachfront community of the Rockaways; and other neighborhoods around the city.

Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said subways, buses and commuter trains in the city, on Long Island and in the northern suburbs will be suspended starting around noon Saturday.
Cuomo added that 1,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen would help over the weekend
The George Washington and Tappan Zee bridges, among others, were ordered shut if winds top 60 mph, as was the New York State Thruway.
Video: Bloomberg: 'Prepare for the worst, hope for the best'
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have said they can't run the transit system once sustained winds reach 39 mph, and they need an eight-hour lead time to shut it down.
Officials have entreated residents to take it upon themselves to get out early, but it remained unclear how many would heed the warnings that subways and buses might not be there for them if they waited.
A hurricane watch was in effect for New York City and Long Island for Sunday, with storm conditions possible Saturday night.

The MTA has never before halted its entire system — which carries about 5 million passengers on an average weekday — in advance of a storm, though the system was seriously hobbled by an August 2007 rainstorm that disabled or delayed every one of the city's subway lines.
Readers capture Hurricane Irene's approachOn Thursday, Bloomberg ordered nursing homes and five hospitals in low-lying areas evacuated beginning Friday and advised residents on the southern tip of Manhattan and on Brooklyn's Coney Island to start moving items upstairs.
"We do not have the manpower to go door-to-door and drag people out of their homes," he said. "Nobody's going to get fined. Nobody's going to go to jail. But if you don't follow this, people might die."
Apartment building managers emailed residents, telling them to close windows and expect power outages. Flyers were posted in building lobbies.
Forecasters said Irene passing near Manhattan could lead to a nightmare scenario: shattered glass falling from skyscrapers, flooded subways and seawater coursing through the streets.
Even if the winds aren't strong enough to damage buildings in a metropolis made largely of brick, concrete and steel, a lot of New York's subway system and other infrastructure is underground and subject to flooding in the event of an unusually strong storm surge or heavy rains.
Slideshow: Cartoonists poke at Irene (on this page)New York City's two airports also are close to the water and could be inundated, as could densely packed neighborhoods, if the storm pushes ocean water into the city's waterways.
In the low-lying Financial District surrounding Wall Street, the New York Fed was readying contingency plans but expected normal functioning of its open market operations on Monday, a spokesman said.
The city had a brush with a tropical storm, Hanna, in 2008 that dumped 3 inches of rain in Manhattan.
In the last 200 years, New York has seen only a few significant hurricanes. In 1821, a hurricane raised tides by 13 feet in an hour and flooded all of Manhattan south of Canal Street, the southernmost tip of the city. The area now includes Wall Street and the World Trade Center memorial.
Readers capture Hurricane Irene's approachNorth CarolinaTraffic was steady as people left the Outer Banks. Tourists were ordered to leave the barrier islands Thursday, though local officials estimated Friday that about half the residents on two of the islands have ignored evacuation orders.
As a result, officials ordered dozens of body bags.
"I anticipate we're going to have people floating on the streets, and I don't want to leave them lying there," said Richard Marlin, fire chief for one of the seven villages on Hatteras. "The Coast Guard will either be pulling people off their roofs like in Katrina or we'll be scraping them out of their yards."
In Nags Head, police officer Edward Mann cruised the streets in search of cars in driveways — a telltale sign some planned to stay behind. He warned those that authorities wouldn't be able to help holdouts, and that electricity and water could be out for days.
Price gougers put on noticeSome told Mann they're staying because they feel safe or because the storm won't be as bad as predicted. Mann, 25, said some have told him they've ridden out more storms than years he's been alive.
Bucky Domanski, 71, was among those who told Mann he wasn't leaving. The officer handed the retired salesman a piece of paper warning of the perils of staying behind. Domanski said he understood.
"I could be wrong, but everything meteorologists have predicted never pans out," Domanski said. "I don't know, maybe I've been lulled to sleep. But my gut tells me it's not going to be as bad as predicted. I hope I'm right."
Video: N.C. Gov.: Preparing for worst, praying for best As thousands fled beach towns, some farmers began early harvests to minimize any losses to Irene.
VirginiaAfter the Outer Banks, the next target for Irene was the Hampton Roads region of southeast Virginia, a jagged network of inlets and rivers that floods easily. Emergency officials have said the region is more threatened by storm surge, the high waves that accompany a storm, than wind.
Gas stations there were low on fuel Friday, and grocery stores scrambled to keep water and bread on the shelves.
Few people were left along the coast of Virginia Beach, where officials ordered the mandatory evacuation of the city's Sandbridge section.
Similar orders were issued for at least 10 other localities and some roads inland had backups 7-8 miles long.
MarylandThe beach community of Ocean City was taking no chances, ordering thousands of people to leave.
"This is not a time to get out the camera and sit on the beach and take pictures of the waves," said Gov. Martin O'Malley.
Washington, D.C.Irene forced the postponement of Sunday's planned dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall. While a direct strike on the nation's capital appeared slim, organizers said the forecasts of wind and heavy rain made it too dangerous to summon a throng they initially expected to number up to 250,000 strong.
Story: Are you in Irene's path? Share photos, if it's safe to do so New JerseyTransit trains will stop running at noon Saturday, Gov. Chris Christie said Friday.
Aiming to speed up evacuations, Christie also suspended tolls on all parts of the Garden State Parkway south of the Raritan River and the Atlantic City Expressway.
Summer resort towns were emptying as officials ordered mandatory evacuation of the popular tourist areas along the state's coastal barrier islands.
Story: Irene to bring outages, scattered shortages of gas
Hundreds of thousands of people were likely to be affected by the orders, which included evacuation of such heavily visited towns as Wildwood, Ocean City and Avalon, all in Cape May County where the summer tourist population is typically 750,000 people.
Traffic was jammed for some 20 miles on the Garden State Parkway, said Mike Durkin, who drove home to Jenkintown, Pa., from the Jersey shore.
"I think there is a lot of nervous energy," he said. "There are people who have been there for 30 years who always rode out the storms before. A neighbor told me he just wasn't going to take a chance on this one though," he added.
Video: Christie issues stern warning of Irene to N.J. residents All 11 of Atlantic City's casinos were ordered to close by noon Saturday, he added. The city's casinos have shut down only twice before, in 1985 for Hurricane Gloria and in 2006 because of a state government shutdown.
PhiladelphiaMass transit in the city and suburbs will be shut down early Sunday morning, officials said Friday.
Interactive: Hurricane facts, figures & preparation (on this page)ConnecticutGov. Daniel Malloy declared a state of emergency and warned there could be prolonged power outages if Irene dumps up to a foot of rain on already saturated ground.
He said emergency responders must be ready in event of any evacuations from heavily developed urban areas. "We are a much more urban state than we were in 1938," he said, referring to the year that the so-called "Long Island Express" hurricane killed 600 people and caused major damage with 17-foot storm surges and high winds.
At Mystic Seaport, a popular "living history" museum that depicts 19th century New England seacoast life, staff members were hauling parts of the collections to higher ground. The museum will be closed on Saturday and Sunday as staffers load up sandbags.
Story: Airlines begin canceling flights as Irene nears
BostonWhile some residents flocked to the supermarket for bottled water and nonperishable food, others rushed to the local hardware store.
"Our number of customers has tripled in the last day or two as people actually said 'wow, this thing is going to happen,'" said Jack Gurnon, owner of Charles Street Supply, a hardware store in Boston's wealthy Beacon Hill neighborhood.
Tape for windows, flashlights and batteries were flying off shelves, but Gurnon said people were worried about flooding and have been scooping up sump pumps, too.
Rhode IslandThe towns of Narragansett and South Kingstown on Friday announced mandatory evacuations for residents in flood-prone areas for no later than 10 a.m. Sunday.
FloridaWhile avoiding a direct hit, the state did see the first U.S. injuries from Irene when eight people were washed off a jetty in West Palm Beach on Thursday by a large wave churned up by the storm. All survived.
BahamasIrene exited the northernmost part of the archipelago by midday Friday.
The government said the storm knocked out communications to islands such as Eleuthera and Abaco and that only partial reports of damage were available.
No reports of deaths or injuries were received, but 70 homes on the southern island of Acklins were destroyed, 29 sustained major damage and 84 received minor damage.
The capital sustained relatively minor flooding and damage.
Insured losses in the Caribbean from Hurricane Irene will be between $500 million and $1.1 billion, risk assessor firm Air Worldwide said on Friday, adding that the Bahamas will account for more than 60 percent of the loss.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

លោក ហោ ណាំហុង៖ លោកមិនមែនជាអ្នកគ្រប់គ្រងគុកបឹងត្របែកទេ ???

2011-07-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

ដោយ តាំង សារ៉ាដា

RFA/Sok Serey

រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងការបរទេស និងជាឧបនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ផ្ដល់បទសម្ភាសន៍អ្នកសារព័ត៌មាននាអាកាសយានដ្ឋានអន្តរជាតិភ្នំពេញ នៅថ្ងៃទី១៧ ខែធ្នូ ឆ្នាំ២០១០។

2011-07-20 "ដើម្បីស្ដាប់សម្លេង ចុចត្រង់នេះ! "

មន្ត្រីជាន់ខ្ពស់នៃក្រសួងការបរទេសកម្ពុជា បានច្រានចោលចំពោះការចោទប្រកាន់នានា ទាក់ទងនឹងការទទួលខុសត្រូវ ឬជាអ្នកមានអំណាចក្នុងគុកបឹងត្របែកនៅសម័យខ្មែរក្រហម។

ការបដិសេធរបស់លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ធ្វើឡើងនៅបន្ទាប់ពីមានការបញ្ជាក់ពីឯកសារ សាក្សី និងសេចក្ដីរាយការណ៍របស់មន្ត្រីស្ថានទូតសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិកប្រចាំនៅ កម្ពុជា ដែលថា មន្ត្រីការបរទេសខ្មែរមានជាប់ពាក់ព័ន្ធនឹងឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មសម្លាប់ បញ្ញវន្តខ្មែរ ឬក្រុមអ្នកការទូតខ្មែរពីបរទេស ដែលជាប់ឃុំក្នុងគុកបឹងត្របែក កាលពីឆ្នាំ ១៩៧៥ ដល់ឆ្នាំ ១៩៧៩ នៃរបបកម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ។
រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងការបរទេសកម្ពុជា លោក ហោ ណាំហុង បានបដិសេធថា លោកមិនមែនជាអ្នកគ្រប់គ្រងគុកបឹងត្របែក នៅសម័យខ្មែរក្រហមនោះទេ។ ផ្ទុយទៅវិញ លោកថា លោកក៏ជាអ្នកទោសម្នាក់ដែរ។
លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ថ្លែងប្រាប់វិទ្យុអាស៊ីសេរី តាមទូរស័ព្ទពីប្រទេសហុល្លង់ កាលពីថ្ងៃអាទិត្យថា ប្រធានគណបក្សជំទាស់ លោក សម រង្ស៊ី កន្លងមក ក៏ធ្លាប់បាននិយាយបរិហារកេរ្តិ៍រូបលោកអំពីបញ្ហានេះដែរ ហើយតុលាការរបស់ប្រទេសបារាំងនៅតែលើកលែងទោសដល់លោក សម រង្ស៊ី ដោយសារហេតុផលនយោបាយ។
លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ៖ «តុលាការបារាំងកាត់ប៉ុន្មានដងវាគ្រប់ហើយ។ ខ្ញុំជាអ្នកជាប់ទោសរបស់ខ្មែរ ក្រហម។ ខ្មែរក្រហមដែលចាត់តាំងគណៈកម្មការហ្នឹង គឺគណៈកម្មការអ្នកទោស។ អត់មានសិទ្ធិអំណាចអីទេ។ ខ្ញុំមិនដែលស្គាល់ខ្មែរក្រហមយ៉ាងម៉េចផង ហើយតុលាការបារាំងកាត់ប៉ុន្មានដង លើកលែងតុលាការកំពូលកាត់ផ្សេងៗ វាមិនជាក់ ព្រោះថា សម រង្ស៊ី បានបរិហារកេរ្ត៍ខ្ញុំពិតមែន បែរទៅជាលើកលែងទោសឲ្យគាត់ ដោយសារគាត់ជាអ្នកនយោបាយ»។
លោក សម រង្ស៊ី ដែលកំពុងរស់នៅនិរទេសក្នុងប្រទេសបារាំងមានប្រសាសន៍ថា ការកាត់សេចក្ដីរបស់តុលាការកំពូលបារាំងធ្វើឡើងប្រកបដោយយុត្តិធម៌ តាមការផ្អែកលើភស្តុតាង និងសាក្សីគ្រប់គ្រាន់។
លោក សម រង្ស៊ី ៖ «តុលាការបារាំងដែលខ្ញុំឈ្នះក្ដីលោក ហោ ណាំហុង ហ្នឹង គឺដោយសារតុលាការ បារាំងហ្នឹងគេយល់ឃើញដោយមានប្រភពជាច្រើនដូចគ្នា ចោទប្រកាន់លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ពីរឿងដូចគ្នា ហើយអ្វីដែលគេអះអាងនោះគួរឲ្យជឿបាន។ បើគ្មាន ពិត គ្មានមូលដ្ឋាន គេមិនអនុញ្ញាតអ្វីឲ្យយើងចេះតែនិយាយបានទេ»។
កាលពីថ្ងៃទី ២៧ ខែមេសា ឆ្នាំ ២០១១ តុលាការកំពូលរបស់ប្រទេសបារាំង បានច្រានចោលសេចក្ដីសម្រេចរបស់សាលាដំបូង និងសាលាឧទ្ធរណ៍ ដែលបានសម្រេចឲ្យលោក សម រង្ស៊ី ចាញ់ក្ដីលោក ហោ ណាំហុង ពីបទបរិហារកេរ្តិ៍ទាក់ទិននឹងការចោទប្រកាន់ថា លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ជាអតីតប្រធានគុកបឹងត្របែក ក្នុងរបបខ្មែរក្រហម។ ប៉ុន្តែ តុលាការក្រុងភ្នំពេញ កាលពីដើមឆ្នាំ ២០១១ បានកាត់ទោសលោក សម រង្ស៊ី ក្នុងករណីដូចគ្នាឲ្យជាប់ពន្ធនាគាររយៈពេលពីរឆ្នាំ។
គេហទំព័រ វីគីលីគ (Wikileaks) កាលពីថ្ងៃទី ១១ ខែកក្កដា ឆ្នាំ ២០១១ បានចេញផ្សាយរបាយការណ៍របស់លោក Alexander Arvizu អតីតអនុប្រធានបេសកកម្មរបស់ស្ថានទូតសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិកនៅកម្ពុជា ដែលកាលពីឆ្នាំ ២០០២ បានសរសេរថា លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ជាអតីតប្រធានគុកបឹង ត្របែកក្នុងរបបខ្មែរក្រហម។
ក្រសួងការបរទេសកម្ពុជា កាលពីថ្ងៃទី១៤ ខែកក្កដាថ្មីៗ នេះ បានចេញសេចក្ដីថ្លែងការណ៍ថា លោក ហោ ណាំហុង រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងការបរទេសកម្ពុជាបានកោះហៅ លោក Jeff Daigle អនុប្រធានបេសកកម្ម និងជាភារធារីនៃស្ថានទូតសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិកប្រចាំក្នុងទីក្រុងភ្នំពេញ ដើម្បីសំដែងការតវ៉ាជំទាស់នឹងរបាយការណ៍នោះ ហើយទាមទារឲ្យមានការកែតម្រូវ។
សាក្សីដែលបានដឹងអំពីវត្តមានរបស់លោក ហោ ណាំហុង នៅគុកបឹងត្របែក នៅកាលពីសម័យខ្មែរក្រហម បានបញ្ជាក់ថា ពួកគេបានដឹង និងបានឮឈ្មោះ លោក ហោ ណាំហុង នៅពេលនោះ។
អតីតបុគ្គលិករបស់វិទ្យុសំឡេងសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក លោកស្រី នៅ សារឹម ដែលជាអតីតជនរងគ្រោះពីគុកបឹងត្របែក មានប្រសាសន៍ថា គុកបឹងត្របែកនៅពេលនោះ មានមណ្ឌលបីកន្លែង។ មណ្ឌលមួយសម្រាប់ដាក់ក្រុមនិស្សិតដែលវិលត្រឡប់ពីបរទេស ហើយមណ្ឌលមួយទៀតសម្រាប់ដាក់ក្រុមមន្ត្រីការទូតខ្មែរពីបរទេស។
លោកស្រី ដែលពេលនោះជានិស្សិតបញ្ចប់អាហារូបករណ៍ផ្នែកភាសាបារាំងពីប្រទេស បារាំង បានជាប់ឃុំក្នុងមណ្ឌលមួយក្បែរមណ្ឌលគ្រប់គ្រងដោយលោក ហោ ណាំហុង។
លោកស្រីបន្តថា ពេលនោះ លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ជាអ្នកគ្រប់គ្រងមណ្ឌលដែលឃុំឃាំង ក្រុមមន្រ្តីការទូតខ្មែរពីបរទេសក្នុងមន្ទីរបឹងត្របែក ៖ «នៅបឹងត្របែកហ្នឹងមានខ្មែរក្រហមធំខាងលើគេត្រួតហ្នឹង ឈ្មោះ សាវ៉ន ត្រួតមន្ទីរហ្នឹងណា៎ ចាស។ ហើយមន្ទីរដែលពួកគេខ្ញុំនៅហ្នឹង មិនមែន ហោ ណាំហុង ទេ។ លោក ហោ ណាំហុង គាត់ជាប្រធានបឹងត្របែកមួយទៀតហ្នឹង ដើម្បីដើរឲ្យដល់កន្លែងរបស់គាត់ គឺត្រូវដើរឆ្លងកាត់តាមមន្ទីរដែលខ្ញុំនៅហ្នឹងចាស។ ដូច្នេះ គាត់ជាប្រធានកន្លែងពួកទូត។ ពួកដែលគេនៅហ្នឹងសុទ្ធតែជាពួកទូត ហើយពួកដែលគេចូលទៅស្រុកវិញហ្នឹង ហើយលោក ហោ ណាំហុង ជាប្រធាននៅពេលហ្នឹង។ ក្រោយលោកណាៗ ទាំងអស់»។
លោកស្រីមានប្រសាសន៍ថា សម្រាប់មណ្ឌលដែលអ្នកស្រីស្នាក់នៅ លោកស្រី បានឃើញមនុស្សប្រមាណជាង ១០ នាក់ត្រូវបានគេដឹកចេញយកទៅសម្លាប់ «មុន គេយកមនុស្សចេញគេជេរយើងខ្លាំងណាស់។ រួចទៅបានគេដឹកមនុស្សចេញ។ ខ្ញុំដឹងតែកន្លែងខ្ញុំ។ កន្លែងខ្ញុំយ៉ាងហោចជាងដប់នាក់ដែរចាស៎។ អ្នកខ្លះទៅទាំងគ្រួសារតែម្ដង មានកូន ប្រពន្ធទៅជាមួយ។ យ៉ាងហោចហើយជាងដប់នាក់ចាស៎»។
ចំណែកសាក្សីដែលនៅរស់ពីមន្ទីរឃុំឃាំងបឹងត្របែកមួយរូបទៀត គឺលោក សេង ចាន់អន មានប្រសាសន៍ថា លោកធ្លាប់ឮឈ្មោះលោក ហោ ណាំហុង នៅមន្ទីរបឹងត្របែកនៅពេលនោះ។ ប៉ុន្តែ លោកមិនជាប់ក្នុងមណ្ឌល ដែលគ្រប់គ្រងដោយលោក ហោ ណាំហុង នោះឡើយ។
លោក សេង ចាន់អន ៖ «នៅបឹងត្របែកមានជំរំបី។ ទីមួយ ទីពីរ ទីបី ហើយខ្ញុំអត់នៅជាមួយគាត់ទេបាទ។ ដូច្នេះ ខ្ញុំអត់មានស្គាល់ការដឹកនាំអីរបស់គាត់ទេ ពីព្រោះខ្ញុំអត់បាននៅជាមួយគាត់ ហើយក៏អត់បាននៅបឹងត្របែកហ្នឹងជាប់លាប់ដែរ។ ដូច្នេះគ្រាន់តែដឹងតាមមិត្តភ័ក្ដិអីអ៊ីចឹងទេ ហើយខ្ញុំអត់ដឹងថា គាត់ជាប្រធាន ឬធ្វើសកម្មភាពអីច្បាស់លាស់នោះទេ»។
ផ្អែកតាមសៀវភៅជាង ២០០ ទំព័រ បោះពុម្ពក្នុងឆ្នាំ ២០០៣ ដែលសរសេរដោយ លោក អុង ថុង ហឿង អតីតអ្នកទោសនៅមន្ទីរឃុំឃាំងបឹងត្របែក កាលពីសម័យខ្មែរក្រហម បានបញ្ជាក់ថា គុកបឹងត្របែក ត្រូវបានបែងចែកជាមណ្ឌលបី គឺមណ្ឌល ប-៣០ ប-៣១ និង ប-៣២ ដែលមានលោក ហោ ណាំហុង ជាប្រធានក្រុមអ្នកទោស ហើយភរិយារបស់គាត់ជាប្រធានក្រុមអ្នកទោសស្រី។ ចំណែកកូនប្រុសរបស់គាត់ធ្វើជាប្រធានក្រុមកុមារ។
មណ្ឌល ប-៣២ នេះ ជាមណ្ឌលដែលឃុំឃាំងក្រុមបញ្ញវន្ត មន្ត្រីរាជការ ឬអតីតមន្ត្រីទូតមួយចំនួន ដែលមានវ័យចំណាស់បន្តិច។
សៀវភៅរបស់លោក អុង ថុង ហឿង ក៏បានសរសេរផងដែរថា ប្រធានក្រុមអ្នកទោសបឹងត្របែកមានបុព្វសិទ្ធិ និងមានអំណាចក្នុងការរាយការណ៍អំពីអ្នកទោសទាំងអស់ទៅឲ្យថ្នាក់លើ របស់ខ្មែរក្រហម ដើម្បីធ្វើការពិចារណាក្នុងការយកអ្នកទោសទៅសម្លាប់ចោលនៅវត្តជើង ឯក ឬយកទៅធ្វើទារុណកម្មនៅគុកទួលស្លែងជាដើម។
ជុំវិញការប្រកែករបស់លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ដែលថា មិនមានជាប់ទាក់ទងក្នុងការគ្រប់គ្រងមន្ទីរឃុំឃាំងបឹងត្របែកកាលពី សម័យខ្មែរក្រហមនោះ លោកបណ្ឌិត ឡៅ ម៉ុងហៃ ដែលជាអ្នកវិភាគឯករាជ្យ និងជាអ្នកឃ្លាំមើលស្ថានការណ៍នៅកម្ពុជា មានប្រសាសន៍ថា លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ខ្លាចមានឈ្មោះជាប់ជំពាក់នៃការដឹកនាំរបស់របបខ្មែរក្រហម។
លោកបណ្ឌិត ឡៅ ម៉ុងហៃ ៖ «ហើយគឺគាត់ខំការពារ គឺនៅពេលដែលមានដូចថា បញ្ហាអំពីតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម អាចធ្វើការចោទប្រកាន់ឯទៀតៗ នៅមានភាពចម្រូងចម្រាសនៅឡើយ។ វាមិនទាន់ដាច់ស្រេចពីរឿងតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហមហ្នឹង។ បើតាមខ្ញុំយល់គាត់ខ្លាចជាប់ខ្លួនគាត់ដែរ»។
កាលពីខែមិថុនា ឆ្នាំ ២០១០ ឧបនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី និងជារដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងការបរទេសកម្ពុជា លោក ហោ ណាំហុង មានប្រសាសន៍ថា លោកគ្រាន់តែជាអ្នកទទួលបន្ទុកចាត់ចែងម្ហូបអាហារក្នុងគុកបឹង ត្របែកប៉ុណ្ណោះ ហើយថា អ្នកដែលទទួលខុសត្រូវធំបំផុតឈ្មោះ សាវ៉ន។
លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ៖ «ខ្ញុំជាគណៈកម្មការអ្នកទោស ដោយសារអ្នកទោសនៅបឹងត្របែកនោះ ខ្មែរក្រហមបានចាត់តាំងគណៈកម្មការ ដើម្បីរៀបចំម្ហូបអាហារដោយខ្លួនឯង រស់បានយ៉ាងម៉េចរស់ទៅ។ ដូច្នេះ គ្រាន់តែជាអ្នកប្រតិបត្តិដ៏សាមញ្ញ ដែលមានតួនាទីត្រឹមតែអនុវត្តការងារកំណត់ដោយប្រធានមន្ទីរឃុំឃាំង គឺអា សាវ៉ន ពេលខ្មែរក្រហម។ មេគេឈ្មោះ អា សាវ៉ន»។
កាលពីដើមឆ្នាំ ១៩៩១ លោក ហោ ណាំហុង បានប្ដឹងសម្ដេចមហាវីរក្សត្រ ព្រះបាទ នរោត្តម សីហនុ ទៅតុលាការប្រទេសបារាំងទាក់ទិននឹងការចោទប្រកាន់រូបលោកជាប់ ពាក់ព័ន្ធនឹងការគ្រប់គ្រងគុកបឹងត្របែក ហើយពេលនោះ តុលាការបារាំងបានសម្រេចឲ្យលោក ហោ ណាំហុង ឈ្នះក្ដី។
នៅឆ្នាំ ២០០១ លោក ហោ ណាំហុង បានប្ដឹងលោក កៃ គឹមសុង អ្នកយកព័ត៌មានកាសែត The Cambodia daily ពីបទផ្សាយព័ត៌មានមិនពិត ដែលបានចុះផ្សាយអំពីតួនាទី និងការគ្រប់គ្រងរបស់លោក ហោ ណាំហុង ក្នុងគុកបឹងត្របែកនៅសម័យខ្មែរក្រហម។
តុលាការកម្ពុជាតាំងពីសាលាដំបូងរហូតដល់តុលាការកំពូល បានកាត់ឲ្យលោក ហោ ណាំហុង ឈ្នះក្ដី ហើយតម្រូវឲ្យលោក កៃ គឹមសុង សងសំណងជំងឺចិត្តចំនួន ៣០ លានរៀល ស្មើនឹង ៧ ពាន់ ៥ រយដុល្លារសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក។
នៅដើមឆ្នាំ ២០១០ លោក ហោ ណាំហុង បានប្ដឹងលោក សម រង្ស៊ី ទៅតុលាការប្រទេសបារាំង ពីបទបរិហារកេរ្តិ៍អំពីសំណុំរឿងដដែលនេះ និងទាមទារសំណង ចំនួន ១៤ ម៉ឺនដុល្លារសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក។
នៅក្នុងកំឡុងឆ្នាំ ២០១០ ទាំងសាលាដំបូង និងសាលាឧទ្ធរណ៍បារាំង បានកាត់ឲ្យលោក ហោ ណាំហុង ឈ្នះក្ដី។ ប៉ុន្តែ នៅខែមេសា ឆ្នាំ ២០១១ តុលាការកំពូលរបស់បារាំង បានបដិសេធចោលសេចក្ដីសម្រេចរបស់សាលាដំបូង និងសាលាឧទ្ធរណ៍ ហើយសម្រេចឲ្យលោក សម រង្ស៊ី ឈ្នះក្ដីលោក ហោ ណាំហុង ចំពោះការចោទប្រកាន់នោះ៕

Buddhism Rebounds in Russia

2011-07-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

by JamesBrooke, VOANews, Jul 17, 2011

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

<< Photo: VOA - J. Weeks
Buddhist temple in Buryatia, Russia

Yes, there are Russian Buddhists
The drums, the bells and the chants are redolent of Asia. But the language spoken between the monks here near the shores of Lake Baikal is Russian.

Yondon Ulzutuev, who teaches philosophy at Ivolginsky datsan, Russia’s main Buddhist monastery, says that when he was studying Buddhism in India, people did not believe he was Russian.

The 25-year old is one of over a million people in post-Soviet Russia who are embracing the Buddhist faith of their ancestors.

Attitude change

Czarist Russia largely co-existed with the Tibetan Buddhist faith of the Mongolian peoples it conquered in Central Asia. But the Soviets waged war on Buddhism. They bulldozed temples and monasteries. They used ancient manuscripts to roll cigarettes. They shot hundreds of priests - and sent the rest into the gulag.

Buddhist nun Tenzin Choidrin talks of the communist destruction of Buddhist culture and civilization here.

“As a result of communist repression, almost the entire Buddhist system was destroyed," she says. "The Buddhist world view, the basis of the traditional way of life was destroyed, the traditional system of values was destroyed.”

The Soviets forced Buddhism underground. But, they failed to eradicate the faith from its historic strongholds - the border republics of Kalmykia, Tuva, and here in Buryatia.

Rebound
Although more Russians are Buddhists today than before the revolution, the Kremlin rejects their central demand.

They want their highest spiritual leader, Tibet’s Dalai Lama, to come to Russia and consecrate new temples and monasteries, but Moscow has refused to give the Dalai Lama a visa since his last visit in 2004.

However as a nun, Choidrin says a visit by the Dalai Lama is needed. She says a price can not be put on the role of the Dalai Lama for the rebirth of Buddhism in Russia. Choidrin says his visit would be like water, which is needed by parched, sunbaked soil.

The nun says now that the Dalai Lama has given up his political role as leader of Tibetan exiles, Russia should give him a visa.

Chinese reaction

But China is now Russia’s largest single trading partner. Chinese officials have warned that the Kremlin has a clear choice: the 1.3 million followers of the Dalai Lama or 1.3 billion Chinese.
At a neighborhood temple, Buddhist practitioner Irina is praying for her unborn child. After spinning the prayer wheels, Irina explains that she comes to the temple to pray that her pregnancy and baby’s birth will go well.

And, judging by the large number of pregnant women coming to temples to perform rituals and to receive blessings, time seems to be on the side of Buddhism, here in Russia’s Asian corner.

American Buddhism facing generational shift

2011-07-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

Norman Fischer, Jack Kornfield and Sylvia Wetzel at the Garrison Institute

Buddhism's growth in the West has spurred a rich cross-fertilization among the great traditions. In this spirit, Buddhist teachers have met in support of one another on past occasions in the US, Dharamsala and Europe. During the 2011 Buddhist Teachers Council held at the Garrison Institute in June, 2011, Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Wetzel and Norman Fischer sat down to discuss the state of Buddhism in the West today. They spoke with Robert Gabriele, Chief Operating Officer at the Garrison Institute.

American Buddhism facing generational shift

2011-07-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

By Rachel Zell, Associated Press, July 17, 2011

GARRISON, N.Y. (USA) -- Crosses still adorn one wall of this former Roman Catholic monastery, but a 6-foot golden Buddha now anchors the main room. The meditation hall, also used as a meeting space, is where the luminaries of Buddhism in the West recently gathered to debate.

<< Buddhist teachers meeting at Garrison, NY, June 2011

The issue they were facing had been percolating for years on blogs, in Buddhist magazines and on the sidelines of spiritual retreats. It often played out as a clash of elders versus young people, the preservers of spiritual depth versus the alleged purveyors of "Buddhism-lite." Organizers of the gathering wanted the finger-pointing to end. The future of American Buddhism was at stake, they said.

So on a sweltering day at the Garrison Institute, a Buddhist retreat overlooking the Hudson River, the baby boomers who had popularized the tradition in the West met with younger leaders to tackle their differences.

"How can those of us who were pioneers in the '60s and '70s, support them without getting in their way and let them know that they have our blessings and support?" said Jack Kornfield, a prominent Buddhist teacher who helped introduce mindfulness, or insight, meditation to the U.S. four decades ago.

Buddhism in America is at a crossroads. The best-known Buddhist leaders, mostly white converts who emerged from the counterculture and protest movements of the Vietnam era, are nearing retirement or dying. Charlotte Joko Beck, a pioneer of Zen practice in America, passed away in June.

The next generation of teachers is pushing in new directions, shaped by the do-it-yourself ethos of the Internet age and a desire to make Buddhism more accessible. Informal study groups are in; organizing around a single teacher is out. Unsettled elders worry that the changes could go too far and lose touch with tradition.

"It seems to be one of the facts of life right now, not only in Buddhism, but in religion in general: it's about mixing and matching," said Zoketsu Norman Fischer, a longtime Zen priest, scholar and poet affiliated with the San Francisco Zen Center. "The freedom people feel that they have to experiment — how do you prevent that from becoming consumerist or completely superficial or dangerous?"

It is a complex problem for a spiritual path with no ultimate worldwide authority such as a pope.

Within the United States, Buddhism is even more decentralized. Practices and beliefs that had developed in isolation from each other for centuries around Asia are side-by-side in North America, leading to sampling from different traditions. In Asia, monastics generally lead Buddhism in roles shaped partly by their monarchical societies; in the U.S., the teachers are mostly lay people. Beyond the Dalai Lama, Buddhism is best known in the United States not for any particular clergyman, ritual or liturgy, but through mindfulness-based stress reduction, which adapts strategies from vipassana, or insight medi tation.

Yet, a vein of conservatism runs through American Buddhist communities.

Many American Buddhist pioneers spent a decade or more studying with masters in Thailand, India, Burma and Nepal before returning home to take on students. On their websites, U.S. teachers post photos of themselves as young women in saris, or young men draped in robes, their heads cleanly shaven, on the steps of overseas monasteries. They are handing over leadership to the first convert Buddhist generation that was trained almost entirely in the West.

"The prior generation was modeled after the monastic model, where the old guy was the abbot," said the Rev. Jay Rinsen Weik, a recently ordained Zen priest, who leads the Toledo Zen Center in Ohio with his wife, Karen, who is also a Zen priest. "The last generation suffered from not being able to distinguish the personality of the guy and his dharma (teachings)."

At Weik's center in Toledo, he said, "people would never make that mistake," because they aren't conditioned to defer to one revered teacher.

For younger Americans, spending several years cloistered abroad, absorbing the cultural traditions of another country, seems not only unnecessary but counterproductive for reaching Westerners. Spring Washam, 37, a founding teacher of the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, which has brought Buddhism to poorer, more diverse neighborhoods, said the attendees at her center want support, connection and friendship.

"These people want to be happy in their lives," Washam said. "They're not going to be monastics."

One of the most startling developments for elders has been the formation of the Dharma Punx, who participated in the conference. The relatively new, popular movement mixes punk rock-inspired rebellion and Buddhism, seeing both as seeking freedom from suffering. Amid the grey hair and muted clothes of the attendees, the Dharma Punx stood out, with their tattoo-covered arms and T-shirts the color of traffic cones. The movement emerged from the work of Noah Levine, the son of American Buddhist author Stephen Levine. The younger Levine rediscovered Buddhism after a troubled youth; he and his colleagues have built a reputation for successfully bringing Buddhist practices into juvenile detention centers — a sign of the social activism that young Buddhists tie to their meditation practice.

"I'm all about adaptability," said Vinny Ferraro, a Dharma Punx teacher, who said it would make no sense for him to "go off to a cave" and meditate for years.

"What attracts people is relevance," he said. "Youth is suffering. These are prime suffering years, but I need it in my language."

Whatever the elders think of these new approaches, they know they need the energy young innovators are bringing to the communities.

In the 1980s and early '90s, few twenty- and thirtysomethings took up Buddhism. Leaders attributed the problem to a 1980s' backlash against spiritual seeking and society's focus in that era on accumulating wealth. (One Western convert at the Garrison Institute, who became a Tibetan monk, said that when he wore his robes in North America in the 1980s, he was treated like "a nut case.") Interest among young adults slowly grew in the last decade or so, but a still common complaint is that American Buddhists, outside of immigrant Asian communities, have been overwhelmingly older, wealthy and white.

Weik said he doesn't want Buddhist parents to feel they must leave their family behind when they practice. He and his wife started a Sunday dharma school for children as young as 4 years old, and they are trying to develop rites-of-passage for young adults so they feel included. Study groups are meeting online and newcomers are learning about mindfulness meditation through yoga.

Weik said he understood the concerns about the future of Buddhism, but he said the teachings have always had multiple expressions in different cultures.

"That's what's going on here," Weik said. "Our job collectively is to do what's always been done. To authentically make this up as we go."

International Court of Justice's latest Decisions

2011-07-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

Request for interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand) (Cambodia v. Thailand) - Order - Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures. Please click here for full article.

Latest press releases "Case concerning theTemple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand)"

2011-07-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Request for interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the Case concerning theTemple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand) (Cambodia v. Thailand) - Request for the indication of provisional measures - The Court finds that both Parties must immediately withdraw their military personnel currently present in the provisional demilitarized zone defined by it, and refrain from any military presence within that zone and from any armed activity directed at that zone. Please click here for full Press Release.

Footprints In The Dust I

2011-06-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

Posted by Shravasti Dhammika at 5:10 PM

The only two of the great religious teachers who were successful during their own lifetimes were the Mohammed and Siddhatta Gotama, the Buddha. Both had long teaching careers and both lived to see their respective religions firmly established. Prof. Basham has written that Buddhism was a minor religion until its adoption and promotion by King Asoka. Basham bases his assumption on the fact that there is no archaeological evidence of Buddhism before Asoka’s time but this seems to me to be a rather weak argument. What physical evidence are wandering ascetics, which are what the Buddha’s disciples were, likely to leave? They established few permanent monasteries and those they did build were made of mud, bamboo and thatch. As for stupas, these did not become an important feature of Buddhist worship until about the 2nd century BCE. The Pali Tipitaka offers ample and convincing evidence that the Buddha was well known throughout wide tracts of northern India and that his Dhamma attracted large numbers of converts from all classes, especially the elite.

The highly critical attitude of Jains and brahmins towards the new teaching as recorded in the Tipitaka suggests that they saw it as a real threat. An important cause of the Buddha’s success was no doubt his extraordinary personality. Even despite the great distance in time between he and us, the heavy editing of the suttas and their rather stilted language, the Buddha’s warm and compassionate presence shines through on nearly every page. The logical consistency of his Dhamma must have been an important factor also. However, no matter how appealing a teacher or how common-sense a teaching it will not attract converts unless they can come into contact with it. The Buddha was a missionary from the very beginning and this was, together with the two things mentioned above, the most important factor in the early success of his teachings. He had a still heart but a very mobile body.

According to the Tipitaka, almost the first thing the Buddha did after his enlightenment was to embark on a long journey in order to teach others what he had discovered. Equally significantly, his instructions to his first five disciples was that they should ‘wander forth’ to teach others what he had taught them.

The area in which the Buddha wandered during his life corresponds roughly to the modern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The furthermost east he went which can still be identified is Kajangla (now Kankjol, 18 k south of Rajmahal right on the Indo-Bangladesh border) and the furthermost west he is known to have gone is Mathura, some 180 kilometres south of Delhi. These two locations are nearly a thousand kilometers apart. The Buddha’s movements northwards were of course limited by the then impenetrable jungles of the Himalayan foothills and it is unlikely that he ever went further south than the southern edge of the Ganges watershed. Still, this would mean that his wanderings covered an area roughly equivalent to 200,000 square kilometers, a huge area by any standards.

The evidence suggests that the Buddha only occasionally visited the outer edges of this region. For example, he only visited Mathura once and he probably visited Anga in the east (i.e. Campa, Bhaddiya and Kajangla corresponding to modern Bhagalpur District) only once also. Incidentally, I believe that Bhaddiya or Bhaddiyanagara as it is also sometimes called in the Tipitaka, can be safely identified with the village of Bhadariya some 12 kilometers south of Bhagalpur. However, most of the Buddha’s wanderings took place in the eastern part of this area, between the great cities of Savatthi, Rajagaha, Vesali and Kosambi. The Tipitaka mention carriageways in towns and paths, roads and highways through the countryside. However there is little doubt that these names referred to the frequency of traffic on these arteries, not to the quality of their paving or their width. All roads in ancient India were little more than dusty, rutted tracks in the summer and impassable rivers of mud in the rainy season. Banditry added to the risks of long distance travel.

Travellers on the road between Savatthi and Sakheta were often robbed (Vin, IV: 87) and of course the fearsome Angulimala was a robber and murderer who operated in forested areas around Savatthi. Once the Buddha and an attendant were on tour of Kosala when they came to a fork in the road. The Buddha said they should take one fork while the attendant said they should take the other. This debate continued for some time until in a huff the attendant put the Buddha’s bowl down and walked off on the way he thought correct. He hadn’t gone far before he was attacked by bandits who ‘struck him with their fists and feet and tore his robe’ (Ud, 90). In the more remote districts travellers might have difficulty finding food, water and shelter. The Tipitaka mentions a traveller getting down on all fours to drink from a puddle in a cows footprint because no other water was available and of two parents lost in the wilderness who saved themselves from starvation by killing and eating their child. More normally though travel was just uncomfortable, tedious and undertaken only when necessary. And yet it seems that the Buddha spent most of his time on the road in order to reach as many people as possible. Such was his determination and compassion.

In keeping with the rules laid down by himself and in accordance with long established samana tradition, the Buddha spent three months of the rainy season in one location and the rest of the year on what were called ‘walking tours’. According to the commentarial tradition after the 20th year of his ministry he spent every rainy season in or near Savatthi, the capital of Kosala. The fact that more of his discourses are set in this city that in any other place suggests that there is some foundation in this tradition and if it is true he may have decided to limit his wanderings at that time due to age. He would have been sixty years old at the time. All the Buddha’s journeys were undertaken on foot although as there are numerous rivers in the land he knew he must have often had to use boats or ferries despite being no specific mention of him ever actually doing this.

We read of monks once crossing a river by holding on to the tails and backs of a herd of cattle that was swimming across the same river suggesting that when there was neither bridges, boats or rafts that the Buddha might have had to improvise as these monks did. There is no mention of the Buddha travelling by carriage or cart. In only one place is he described as wearing sandals, so he probably went bare footed most of the time (Vin,IV:186).

The Tipitaka mentions the itinerary of many of the Buddha’s journeys giving us an idea of the distances he sometimes travelled. For example, we know that within the first twelve months after his enlightenment he went from Uruvela to Isipatthana via Gaya and Benares, spent the three months of the rainy season there and then travelled to Rajagaha via Benares, Gaya, Uruvela and Lativanna. All these places can be identified with certainly and thus we can calculate that he must have walked at least 300 kilometers. In the longest single journey recorded in the Tipitaka, he went from Rajagaha: to Vesali to Savatthi and back to Rajagaha via Kitigiri and Avali, a round trip of at least 1600 kilometres (Vin,IV,189). It is likely that he would have started a trip like this at the end of the rains retreat and arrived back in time for the next retreat nine months later. Unfortunately, it is not possible to know how much time these or any of the other journeys might have taken.

In the famous Mahaparinibbana Sutta we know that he went from Rajagaha to Kusinara via Nalanda, Patna and Vesali, a total distance of about 300 kilometers. According to the sutta he left Vesali at the end of the rains retreat (October) and of course he is supposed to have attained final nirvana in Kusinara on the full moon of Vesakha (May). This suggests that he took seven months to travel about 95 kilometres. Even allowing for the fact that he was old and in ill health this seems like a very long time. It should be pointed out that only later text in the Tipitaka mention that the Buddha’s parinivana took place at Vesakha and the sutta gives the impression that while his last journey was slow it was at a steady pace. However, it seems likely that the Buddha conducted his journeys at a leisurely pace.

The evidence suggests that he would wake before sunrise, go for pindapata in the nearest town or village just after sunrise and having eaten, would set off while it was still cool. He would walk until the midday heat became unpleasant and then take an afternoon rest. If there was a village nearby he might stay until the next morning and if not he might continue walking until he got to the next village. How long he stayed at a particular place would have depended on many factors - whether local people came to talk with and listen with him, whether food and water was available, whether the atmosphere was congenial. We know for example that he cut short his first stay in Rajagaha when people began to complain that too many young men were leaving their families to become monks (Vin,IV:43). Once he arrived in the village of Thuna to find that there was no water to drink because the brahmin inhabitants, hearing that he was coming, had blocked up their wells with rice husks and cow dung (Ud,78). The warm and respectful reception that Buddhist monks get today was not always available to the Buddha and his disciples. He is often described as travelling with either 500 monks (a conventional number meaning ‘a lot’) or simply with ‘a large group of monks’. At other times he would dismiss his attendant and companions telling them that he wanted to wander by himself for a while (S.III:94).

Thailand has no one to blame but itself

2011-06-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Published: 28/06/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Bangkok Post

Puangthong: We ‘should have known’

Chulalongkorn University political scientist Puangthong Pawakapan believes the decision to withdraw Thailand from the World Heritage Convention will cast a negative light on the country's image. The academic shares her opinions with AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK on the issue.

What's wrong with Thailand's foreign policy on the world stage?

We have to look at the overall problem. Thai and Cambodia have been at loggerheads over Preah Vihear since Cambodia managed to get the ancient temple listed as a World Heritage Site in 2008. Thailand's opposition has hurt its image. The country is viewed as losing a boxing match, but it and its fans refuse to accept the defeat.

Does a conflict over the 4.6-sq km disputed area (near Preah Vihear temple) not carry enough weight for the WHC to listen to Thailand?

The Abhisit government explained that the listing of the temple and its management plan has allegedly encroached on Thai soil. But the government failed to produce clear evidence showing the alleged encroachment.

If we look at a map submitted by Cambodia for the listing of the temple, the listing has not included the 4.6-sq km disputed area. This area had been removed from Cambodia's application since the Samak Sundaravej government was in office.

Only the temple and areas on the eastern and western sides of it were listed as a World Heritage site. Evidence about the alleged encroachment must be produced when Mr Suwit opposed the listing before the WHC. But I think we have no evidence, only words.

Why did Thailand fail to lobby other membership countries to back its stance?

It's hard to lobby them as we have to produce clear evidence about alleged encroachment. The kingdom should have opposed the management plan before the WHC held a meeting.

The WHC had invited Thailand to participate in a panel to consider Cambodia's management plan but we refused so we had no opportunity to oppose the plan at that time. It's too late to cast an opposition when the WHC meeting [had been] called.

Wasn't the government aware of such procedures?

I think the government was fully aware, but opted not to tell the public. I don't know why it had to make public its opposition to Cambodia's management plan during the WHC meeting.

Cambodia had submitted the plan in February last year.

Thailand also has its representative on the WHC and should have know what was going on.

The management plan is not confidential as its details are displayed on several websites.

Which country has [gained] an advantage and which one stands to lose over Thailand's withdrawal from the WHC?

Most of members of the WHC show an inclination to support Cambodia. Thailand's image over the issue has been badly affected.

This prompts other countries to back Cambodia despite the fact that they don't like Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen for being an authoritarian. Even foreign media based in Cambodia also dislike Hun Sen, but they support Cambodia over the issue.

The Meaning Of Life by Venerable Shravasti Dhammika

2011-06-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

From the biological perspective the purpose of life is to acquire the necessities for continued existence, to reproduce and to survive. But what about the purpose of life from the religious point of view? If life has a single and specific purpose, as some religions and philosophies claim, then one would expect everybody, sooner or later, to naturally gravitate towards it, discover it and then strive to achieve it. In actual fact, we see that the various religions posit quite different and sometimes contradictory purposes of life. We also notice that many people manage to get through life alright without ever asking or thinking about whether or not life has a meaning. Others take one path, then another, according to circumstance, embrace each one, and manage to get through. We see yet others who claim that what they believe has ‘given their life meaning’ but later we here they have abandoned it for something else. This suggests very strongly that beyond the biological, life does not have any innate purpose or meaning.

From the Buddhist point of view, this is a good thing - it means that we have the freedom and the possibility to give our life the meaning that we want. If we decide to make the accumulation of wealth or power the purpose of our life, then it will become so. If we decide to make the pursuit of pleasure, dedication to our family or the contemplation of the divine the purpose of our life, then it will become so. Whenever one of his disciples attained enlightenment and became an arahat, the Buddha would always say that he or she had `done what had to be done' (S.III,68). From this we can deduce that for the Buddha, the meaning, the purpose and the fulfillment of life is to attain the joy and freedom of enlightenment.

HUMANITY DIVIDED BY RELIGIONS

2011-06-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

Below is a discussion about Christian groups working in Cambodia to help poor Cambodians. Opinions are divided whether they are helping Cambodians or trying to convert Cambodians, who are predominantly Buddhists, to Christianity. Please have a read:

Anonymous said...

I have nothing against Christians but they really need to learn tolerance. Khmer people will lose pride in the Hindu and Buddhist temples they built if this keeps up.
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Anonymous said...

One after another, Christians opportunists trying to grab hold of Cambodian populations through exploitation of their disadvantages by injecting Jesus Christ into their lives. These Christians are on the brink of madness to convert every living human being on earth to believe that only Jesus Christ can save them. The white Christians are notoriously tenacious in their mission of conversion. This is why there are attacks on Christian all over the world.
--------------------------------
Anonymous said...

These Christians are helping poor Khmers so we should welcome their works. When you are poor, religion is secondary, you tend to follow whatever religion that can feed your stomach. Good job.
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Anonymous said...

Something is wrong with the social fabric in Cambodia. I blame on the believing system that contribute to this social ill. You can see the poor kids work and skip school while the capable adults and young adults lived a sedentary lives in monasteries. Monks engaged in outrageous sexual scandals and made money by performing some questionable rituals. Domestic violence and rape are skyrocketing and other crimes and drugs abusing are widespread. I'm coming to admire our Khmer Islam minority whose community is more safe in term of rarely having rapes and less vices etc...
Also the new Christian faith groups are doing well too. Khmer spent a lot of time and resources on Buddhism, let's hope this main stream believing system can serve the society well in this present live and the next.
14 June 2011 1:00 PM
---------------------------------
Anonymous said...

1:00 PM, you're a disgrace for insulting Buddhism, assuming you're not a Buddhist, assuming you're a Christian or a Catholic. These two faiths have committed so much sins onto themselves that they don't even realize it. The history of atrocity committed by these two faiths by the believers have earned themselves a special place in hell. You're just picking and choosing the negative side of a few misbehaved Buddhism monks who have committed sins and generalized that as the fault of Buddhism and blaming the poor and suffering of people who are Buddhists. This is base on your Christian or Catholic ignorance.

You're telling me that Christians or Catholics have no scandals? Well, I hope you remember those huge scandals involving priests molesting and having sex with young boys? Should I blame that on the priests or your faiths?

Buddha, Yesua (Jesus Christ), and Mohammed are masters or great teachers. Please try to open your eyes and realize that all those great masters of each religion preaches to people to do good to one another. As time past, believers take things into their own hands and twisted a bit to serve their purpose. If you don't agree, then you are not practicing the teaching of your religion. If you are practicing the teaching of your religion, don't do it because you are a Christian or a Catholic, but do it because you want to help another human being. If we can do that, we are all god's (whoever he or she might be) children. I'm a Buddhist, when I help another person for whatever reason, I did it not because I'm a Buddhist or make any hint that I'm a Buddhist. I did it because I want to help that human being. His/her appreciation for my help is what god sees in me. This is why I love god and fear god.
-----------------------------------
Anonymous said...

HUMANITY DIVIDED BY RELIGIONS,

I can't help it but to say a few more things. Religions seems to be connected with violence virtually everywhere. In recent years, religious violence has erupted among right-wing Christians in America, angry Muslims and Jews in the Middle East, quarrelling Hindus and Muslims in South Asia, and violence clashed in Southeast Asia between 2 Buddhist neighbors of Cambodia and Thailand. The human family is divided by religions with several major religious power locked in perpetual rivalry. Is there any reason to believe that Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims will ever help each other to ever exist together peacefully?

Another sad reality is the fragmentation that exist within each of those principle religious blocs. According to one estimate, Christiandom is broken up into more than 30,000 denominations. Islam is also divided by conflicting beliefs. Disunity amongst Muslims is the root cause of the problems in the Islamic world. Other influential religions such as Hinduism and Judaism are likewise, fractured into many conflicting sects.

Religions seem to influence nearly every aspect of secular life. Religious people are getting more vocal and misrepresent in all sorts of fields in business and politic. Religion is also creeping up in economics. The more damaging influence has to do with the long-standing history of religion meddling in politic. They should be separated. Religions is more likely to be the cause of war when religion and the state authorities become closely allied or intertwined. Religion has been to this day, tightly interlocked with politic. In many part of the world, predominant religions have become symbols of patriotic and racial identities. As a result, the line between nationalistic hatred, racial prejudice, ethnic rivalry and religious enmity are virtually indistinguishable. This explosive cocktail has the necessary ingredients to tear the world apart. The perplexing paradox in all of this is that much of the religions such as Christian, claim to represent the God of the Bible, the Creator. Does it make any sense that an almighty, all-wise, see-all, know-all, loving Creator would have anything to do with divisive and blood-guilty religions?

Source: Khmerization

Clash between fed up villagers and cops in Kampong Speu

2011-06-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

Source: Reuters // Reuters

PHNOM PENH, June 9 (Reuters) – At least 11 people were injured when armed police broke up a protest in Cambodia on Thursday by about 300 villagers resisting a court order to transfer farmland to a Taiwanese businessman, villagers and witnesses said.

The clash comes amid growing discontent over forced evictions in Cambodia that have outraged rights groups and foreign donors, who say the government is driving people off their land to benefit cronies in cahoots with foreign firms.

The bone of contention is a lack of title deeds in Cambodia, since most legal documents were destroyed during the ultra Maoist Khmer Rouge era in the late 1970s, when an estimated 1.7 million people were killed.

Four policemen were among those wounded when 200 officers with assault rifles and electric batons clashed with villagers carrying sticks and knives in Kampong Speu province, about 40 km from capital Phnom Penh.

“We never sold our land, we have owned the land from our ancestors, so why are the title deeds now in Chinese names?” Sun Bunchhuon, 42, a representative of the villagers told Reuters by telephone, adding three villagers had been shot and four beaten and shocked with electric batons.

The provincial police chief Keo Pisey and his deputy Som Bora declined to comment on the clashes.

Protests over land grabs are taking place regularly in Cambodia and Housing Rights Task Force, a group monitoring forced evictions, reported 30,000 Cambodians were moved off their land last year, up from 27,000 in 2009.

Chheng Sophors, a representative of local rights group Licado, witnessed the incident and said the government was making no effort to tackle the problem at national level.

“Violence over land issue has been getting worse and worse and there have been no solutions. People are always the victims of economic land concessions,” Chheng Sophors said.

In a recent visit, Surya Subedi, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, expressed concern about crackdowns on protesters and legal action taken against land activists and people who made claims to disputed land.

He also urged foreign investors to be responsible in their business dealings in Cambodia. (Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Martin Petty and Miral Fahmy)

Poem & Picture dedicated to the 62nd anniversary of the loss of Kampuchea Krom on 04 June 2011

2011-06-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

Source: Sacrava & Kamnapkumnou

ROYAL-DeCREE-EnG on Animals and Plants as National Symbols of Cambodia

2011-06-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

Click the picture to read.

Cambodian (Khmer Krom) will commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the loss of Kampuchea Krom on 04 June 2011

2011-06-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

Cambodian (Khmer Krom) will commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the loss of Kampuchea Krom on 04 June 2011. Click here to read full article.

Summary of ICJ Judgment of 15 June 1962 - Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand)

2011-06-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

Summary of the Summary of the Judgment of 15 June 1962

(website of International Court of Justice)

CASE CONCERNING THE TEMPLE OF PREAH VIHEAR

(MERITS)

Judgment of 15 June 1962

Proceedings in the case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear, between Cambodia and Thailand, were instituted on 6 October 1959 by an Application of the Government of Cambodia; the Government of Thailand having raised two preliminary objections, the Court, by its Judgment of 26 May 1961, found that it had jurisdiction.

In its Judgment on the merits the Court, by nine votes to three, found that the Temple of Preah Vihear was situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia and, in consequence, that Thailand was under an obligation to withdraw any military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, stationed by her at the Temple, or in its vicinity on Cambodian territory.

By seven votes to five, the Court found that Thailand was under an obligation to restore to Cambodia any sculptures, stelae, fragments of monuments, sandstone model and ancient pottery which might, since the date of the occupation of the Temple by Thailand in 1954, have been removed from the Temple or the Temple area by the Thai authorities.

Judge Tanaka and Judge Morelli appended to the Judgment a Joint Declaration. Vice-President Alfaro and Judge Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice appended Separate Opinions; Judges Moreno Quintana, Wellington Koo and Sir Percy Spender appended Dissenting Opinions.

* *

In its Judgment, the Court found that the subject of the dispute was sovereignty over the region of the Temple of Preah Vihear. This ancient sanctuary, partially in ruins, stood on a promontory of the Dangrek range of mountains which constituted the boundary between Cambodia and Thailand. The dispute had its fons et origo in the boundary settlements made in the period 1904-1908 between France, then conducting the foreign relations of Indo-China, and Siam. The application of the Treaty of 13 February 1904 was, in particular, involved. That Treaty established the general character of the frontier the exact boundary of which was to be delimited by a Franco-Siamese Mixed Commission

In the eastern sector of the Dangrek range, in which Preah Vihear was situated, the frontier was to follow the watershed line. For the purpose of delimiting that frontier, it was agreed, at a meeting held on 2 December 1906, that the Mixed Commission should travel along the Dangrek range carrying out all the necessary reconnaissance, and that a survey officer of the French section of the Commission should survey the whole of the eastern part of the range. It had not been contested that the Presidents of the French and Siamese sections duly made this journey, in the course of which they visited the Temple of Preah Vihear. In January-February 1907, the President of the French section had reported to his Government that the frontier-line had been definitely established. It therefore seemed clear that a frontier had been surveyed and fixed, although there was no record of any decision and no reference to the Dangrek region in any minutes of the meetings of the Commission after 2 December 1906. Moreover, at the time when the Commission might have met for the purpose of winding up its work, attention was directed towards the conclusion of a further Franco-Siamese boundary treaty, the Treaty of 23 March 1907.

The final stage of the delimitation was the preparation of maps. The Siamese Government, which did not dispose of adequate technical means, had requested that French officers should map the frontier region. These maps were completed in the autumn of 1907 by a team of French officers, some of whom had been members of the Mixed Commission, and they were communicated to the Siamese Government in 1908. Amongst them was a map of the Dangrek range showing Preah Vihear on the Cambodian side. It was on that map (filed as Annex I to its Memorial) that Cambodia had principally relied in support of her claim to sovereignty over the Temple. Thailand, on the other hand, had contended that the map, not being the work of the Mixed Commission, had no binding character; that the frontier indicated on it was not the true watershed line and that the true watershed line would place the Temple in Thailand, that the map had never been accepted by Thailand or, alternatively, that if Thailand had accepted it she had done so only because of a mistaken belief that the frontier indicated corresponded with the watershed line.

The Annex I map was never formally approved by the Mixed Commission, which had ceased to function some months before its production. While there could be no reasonable doubt that it was based on the work of the surveying officers in the Dangrek sector, the Court nevertheless concluded that, in its inception, it had no binding character. It was clear from the record, however, that the maps were communicated to the Siamese Government as purporting to represent the outcome of the work of delimitation; since there was no reaction on the part of the Siamese authorities, either then or for many years, they must be held to have acquiesced. The maps were moreover communicated to the Siamese members of the Mixed Commission, who said nothing. to the Siamese Minister of the Interior, Prince Damrong, who thanked the French Minister in Bangkok for them, and to the Siamese provincial governors, some of whom knew of Preah Vihear. If the Siamese authorities accepted the Annex I map without investigation, they could not now plead any error vitiating the reality of their consent.

The Siamese Government and later the Thai Government had raised no query about the Annex I map prior to its negotiations with Cambodia in Bangkok in 1958. But in 1934-1935 a survey had established a divergence between the map line and the true line of the watershed, and other maps had been produced showing the Temple as being in Thailand: Thailand had nevertheless continued also to use and indeed to publish maps showing Preah Vihear as lying in Cambodia. Moreover, in the course of the negotiations for the 1925 and 1937 Franco-Siamese Treaties, which confirmed the existing frontiers, and in 1947 in Washington before the Franco-Siamese Conciliation Commission, it would have been natural for Thailand to raise the matter: she did not do so. The natural inference was that she had accepted the frontier at Preah Vihear as it was drawn on the map, irrespective of its correspondence with the watershed line. Thailand had stated that having been, at all material times, in possession of Preah Vihear, she had had no need to raise the matter; she had indeed instanced the acts of her administrative authorities on the ground as evidence that she had never accepted the Annex I line at Preah Vihear. But the Court found it difficult to regard such local acts as negativing the consistent attitude of the central authorities. Moreover, when in 1930 Prince Damrong, on a visit to the Temple, was officially received there by the French Resident for the adjoining Cambodian province, Siam failed to react.

From these facts, the court concluded that Thailand had accepted the Annex I map. Even if there were any doubt in this connection, Thailand was not precluded from asserting that she had not accepted it since France and Cambodia had relied upon her acceptance and she had for fifty years enjoyed such benefits as the Treaty of 1904 has conferred on her. Furthermore, the acceptance of the Annex I map caused it to enter the treaty settlement; the Parties had at that time adopted an interpretation of that settlement which caused the map line to prevail over the provisions of the Treaty and, as there was no reason to think that the Parties had attached any special importance to the line of the watershed as such, as compared with the overriding importance of a final regulation of their own frontiers, the Court considered that the interpretation to be given now would be the same.

The Court therefore felt bound to pronounce in favour of the frontier indicated on the Annex I map in the disputed area and it became unnecessary to consider whether the line as mapped did in fact correspond to the true watershed line.

For these reasons, the Court upheld the submissions of Cambodia concerning sovereignty over Preah Vihear.

* * *

Source: International Court of Justice

Khmer people

2011-06-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Khmer people (ខ្មែរ, English pronunciation: /ˈkmɛər/ or /kəˈmɛər/) are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million^[1] people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon-Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia. The majority of the Khmer are followers of the Khmer style of Buddhism, a highly syncretic version which blends elements of Theravada Buddhism, Hinduism, animism and ancestor-spirit worship.^[9] Significant populations of Khmers reside in adjacent areas of Thailand (Northern Khmer) and the Mekong Delta region of neighboring Vietnam (Khmer Krom). Full article at: Khmer People

Heroic Oknha Son Kuy, Khmer national hero, Governor of Preah Trapeang Province, Kampuchea Krom

2011-06-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Click the image above to read the story!

Australian Defence Forces seek a Buddhist chaplain – any takers?

2011-06-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

The number of Buddhists in the Australian Defence Forces has now exceeded 350. This means the ADF is seeking a chaplain to minister to their needs. This issue has been discussed a number of times over the years, but it is only now that the number of Buddhists is great enough that the ADF is actively seeking a chaplain for them.

The role would be as an officer, who would receive basic ‘brush & comb’ training in protocol and so on, but would not go through boot camp. They would minister to the spiritual needs of Buddhists in the Defence Forces – which, one can imagine, would be a tough call.

This call has come through the FABC. If anyone’s interested, let me know and I’ll put you in touch.

In this Resource Package Related to Buddhist Chaplaincy, you’ll find an interesting selection of material on this issue, complied by the ADF.

Source: sujato

Cambodia-Thailand border dispute at UN court

2011-05-31T21:07:00.000-07:00

A view of the International Court of Justice in the The Hague as it waits to hear a request for interpretation of its 1962 judgement over Preah Vihear temple. AFP

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — "Murderous armed incursions" by the Thai military around a historic temple in a disputed border region form a "grave threat" to regional peace and security, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told the U.N.'s highest court Monday.

Fighting between the two nations has cost some 20 lives, wounded dozens and sent tens of thousands fleeing since 2008, when the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple was given U.N. World Heritage status, overriding Thailand's objections.

Bas Czerwinski, Associated Press

Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong, right, Sir Franklin Berman, member of the English Bar, center, and Jean-Marc Sorel, Professor of International Law at the University of Paris, left, are seen at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, May 30, 2011. Thailand and Cambodia will face off at the United Nations' highest court Monday, in the latest move to settle a decades-old battle for control of a disputed border region that has erupted into deadly military clashes. Cambodia is asking the court to order Thailand to withdraw troops and halt military activity around a temple at the center of the dispute between the Southeast Asian neighbors.

In a fresh attempt to settle a dispute that has simmered for decades between the Southeast Asian neighbors, Cambodia is asking the International Court of Justice for a new interpretation of its 1962 judgment that gave Cambodia control of the temple.

Hor Namhong said Thailand is basing its recent military action on an interpretation of the 1962 judgment that is "both erroneous and unacceptable."

Bas Czerwinski, Associated Press

Thailand's Ambassador to the Netherlands Virachai Plasai, left, Thailand's Director-General, Department of Treaties and Legal affairs, Ittiporn Boonpracong, center, and Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasit Piromya, right, attend the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, May 30, 2011.

Thailand, he said, is using its reading of the ruling "to provide legal cover for armed incursions into Cambodian territory."

A high-level Thai delegation at the court, led by Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, refused to comment before entering the wood-panelled Great Hall of Justice. They were due to present their arguments to the 16-judge panel later Monday.

Monday's hearing was focused on Cambodia's request for the court to issue an emergency order to Thailand to withdraw its troops from the disputed region. The court could make a decision on the request within weeks, but will likely take years to settle the underlying border dispute.

Tensions along the border have been exacerbated in recent months in part by pressure from influential Thai nationalist groups that have protested in Bangkok, urging the government to take back disputed border territory. Hardcore nationalists insist a 1962 World Court ruling awarding the Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia was unfair.

Bas Czerwinski, Associated Press

Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong is seen at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, May 30, 2011.

The flare-up also comes as the Thai military raises its profile in domestic politics ahead of a general election scheduled for July 3.

"Thailand does not merely challenge Cambodia's sovereignty in this region, but is imposing its own interpretation by occupying this zone by murderous armed incursions," Hor Namhong said.

According to its World Heritage listing, the temple dedicated to Shiva "is exceptional for the quality of its architecture, which is adapted to the natural environment and the religious function of the temple, as well as for the exceptional quality of its carved stone ornamentation."

Talks mediated by Indonesia's president in early May between the two countries' prime ministers failed to hammer out a lasting cease-fire.

"The two armies confront one another on a daily basis and new Thai aggression could arise at any moment," Hor Namhong told the judges. "It is time for international law to speak loudly."

By Mike Corder, Associated Press

Thailand hires 3 foreigners to fight case at ICJ

2011-05-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

Published: 31/05/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

Thailand has hired three foreign legal advisers to help fight an International Court of Justice case filed by Cambodia. The three attorneys are from Australia, Canada, and France. Considering the importance of the case, the Bangkok Post is providing an introduction to the lawyers.

Crawford: One of the top UK barristers

Prof James Crawford
Australia national

Mr Crawford is a professor of international law at the University of Cambridge, the United Kingdom. He is one of England's top international barristers and has worked on cases in several international courts, including the ICJ.

He represented Malaysia in a dispute with Singapore over the sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh island and in another dispute with Indonesia over the Ligitan-Sipadan islands.

McRae: Teaches law at Ottawa University

Prof Donald M. McRae
Canada/New Zealand national

Mr McRae currently holds the Hyman Soloway Chair in Business and Trade Law and teaches international law at the University of Ottawa.

Mr McRae has been a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration since 1988. He was elected to the United Nations' International Law Commission in 2006.

He was a counsel for Canada during an arbitration with France over the St Pierre and Miquelon maritime boundary dispute in l991 and 1992, was a legal adviser to New Zealand on maritime boundary issues from 2000 to 2005, and counsel to Suriname in a dispute with Guyana in 2006.

Pellet: French expert on international law

Prof Alain Pellet
French national

Mr Pellet is an international law professor at Universite' Paris Ouest-Nanterre-La De'fense.

He is one of the most distinguished French experts on international law and has made a name for himself as the representative of several countries before the ICJ in the Hague.

He is one of the most active lawyers practising before the ICJ.

In addition, he serves in an advisory capacity to international organisations on issues concerning administration and international legislation. He has been a member of the UN's International Law Commission since 1990. He was the commission's chairman in 1997.

The Lord's Compassion

2011-05-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

Putting aside the bonds offspring have for their parents, and giving up the love he felt for his wife and child, the Lord renounced the world and dedicated himself to the quest of truth. He did this for the good of the many, for the welfare of the many, for the good, the welfare and the happiness of gods and humans, out of compassion of the world.

Turning his back on wealth and royal glory, and all the security they provide, the Lord renounced his palace to live in the lonely forest. He exchanged a golden palace for the roots of the trees. He did this for the good of the many, for the welfare of the many, out of compassion of the world.

Assailed by Mara and his army, attacked by fearful shapes and sounds, enduring menace and doubt, the Lord remained calm and resolute, never being diverted from his noble quest. He overcame Mara and his army for the good of the many, for the welfare of the many, out of compassion of the world.

When the Lord attained enlightenment and achieved his high purpose, he decided to teach what he had realized to others, rather than enjoy the happiness of liberation alone. The Lord did this for the good of the many, for the welfare of the many, out of compassion of the world.

When he heard that Angulimala was waylaying travelers and murdering them, the Lord disregarded the dangers of the lonely roads and went to teach him the Dhamma of peace. He did this for the good of the many, for the welfare of the many, out of compassion of the world. When the Lord could have partaken in royal banquets, he was content to eat scraps and simple fare. He could have worn cloth of gold gowns but he was satisfied with a robe of rags. The Lord did this for the good of the many, for the welfare of the many, out of compassion of the world.

Disregarding the heat and dust of summer and the icy gusts of the winter, the Lord traversed long roads and paths, byways and jungle tracks, to teach the Dhamma to one and all. He undertook such journeys for the good of the many, for the welfare of the many, out of compassion of the world.

Although abused by Asurinda, denied alms by the people of Pancasala, and mocked by the ascetic Nigrodha, the Lord never turned his back on the hostile, but remained open and friendly to all. He acted thus for the good of the many, for the welfare of the many, for the good, the welfare and the happiness of gods and humans, out of compassion of the world.

Composed by Bhante S. Dhammika

Buddha, Buddha, who is "the Buddha"?

2011-05-28T19:17:00.000-07:00

Bhikkhu Bodhi was born in New York in 1944. He received a B.A. from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in philosophy after moving to California to attend the Claremont Graduate School as he prepared to become a Theravada monk. He moved to the Washington Buddhist Vihara, a Sri Lankan temple. Eventually he moved to the island of Sri Lanka where he studied under an eminent and accomplished monk Ven. Ananda Maitreya.

Bhikkhu Bodhi learned Pali and continued his scholarship under the guidance of the German monks who had arrived a generation earlier. Ven. Nyanatiloka, who created the Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of terms and Doctrines, was the teacher of the German monk Ven. Nyanaponika. Ven. Nyanaponika founded and was editor of the prolific Buddhist Publication Society, before transferring that honor to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the greatest living translator of Buddhist texts.

While living in Washington, Bhikkhu Bodhi was often asked to teach, which impacted his practice. So he created a solution -- a mail order way to learn Buddhism. This was a ten tape series of lectures and accompanying material called The Buddha's Teaching: As It Is. "The Buddha" was the first tape in the series. More in the series may be found here (sobhana.net). After 25 years in Sri Lanka, he returned to the US and currently lives in Upstate New York, at a Buddhist temple called Chaung Yen Monastery, where he teaches and is able to continue his scholarship and English translations.

Original posted at: Wisdom Quarterly

Seven Days in (Buddhist) Los Angeles

2011-05-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

The City of Angels has far too much for Buddhists to do. May means Buddhist X-mas: The Buddha's birthday, great enlightenment (maha-bodhi), and final nirvana are all celebrated on the full-moon day in May.

With a growing number of Buddhist temples and communities, it is being celebrated in various cultural traditions throughout the month. (The Mahayana school celebrates the days over the year, but the older Theravada follows references in the sutras that point out the coincidence).

From May Day to Mother's Day to Labor Day, May is already busy on the American calendar. Add Asian American celebrations from Bangladeshi, Burmese, Cambodian, Indian, Indonesian, Laotian, Sri Lankan, and Thai communities (Theravada) to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese (Mahayana/Zen) communities to Bhutanese, Nepalese, and Tibetan (Vajrayana) communities, Los Angeles is awash in saffron, yellow, red, white, and, blue.

Then there are the ordinary spiritual events that fill the week, protests, concerts, and pretty soon there's hardly time for work, family, and TV. The last Saturday in May marks the last two Vesak/2600th Buddha Festival celebrations in the Los Angeles area.

The California Bodhi Vihara (Indian Theravada from Chittagong, Bangladesh) is holding its opening ceremony in Long Beach with monks from many traditions, a Bodhi tree planting, exotic Thai and Cambodian dancers, and food galore.
Orange County's Sri Lankan community will close out the month with a 1,000 person strong showing at 6:30 pm in the relatively new Anaheim temple.

Original posted at: Wisdom Quarterly

Kampuchea Krom at a glance

2011-05-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

MAP OF KAMPUCHEA KROM

Originally posted at: Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community.

Kampuchea Krom is rich in history and civilized culture before the Vietnamese settlers arrived on the northern border with Champa Kingdom.

Kampuchea Krom is the oldest land in Southeast Asia.

The Khmers called this part of the Khmer Empire [Present day Kingdom of Cambodia], Kampuchea Krom. Kampuchea Krom is also known as Lower Cambodia, Mekong Delta, or Cochin China. The Khmer populations of this beautiful landscapes share the same race,
religion, national language, culture, custom, tradition, and great history as the Khmers in Cambodia. Kampuchea Krom is slightly smaller in size than her motherland, Kingdom of Cambodia.

Kampuchea Krom or Cochinchina becomes part of French Indochina on October 17, 1887.

KAMPUCHEA KROM AT A GLANCE

Kampuchea Krom is composed of 68,965 square kilometers, 21 provinces and municipalities, two large islands - Koh Tral and Koh Tralach, 171 districts, 1,368 communes, 14,778 villages, more than 13 million Khmers, more than 567 Buddhist pagodas and more than 20,000 Theravada Buddhist monks.

99% of populations are Theravada Buddhists.

The Khmer kings, governments, regimes and citizens have never relinquish (give up) this part of their country to foreigners.

Kampuchea Krom has been under an ongoing colonial control since her division from motherland, Cambodia.

June 4, 1949 is the date that the Khmer Kampuchea Krom citizens grieve. The Khmer Kampuchea Krom people have organized Buddhist Service annually to honor the fallen Khmer Buddhist monks and heroes, who sacrificed their lives for Kampuchea Krom and Theravada Buddhism.

Colonial France divided, ceded and transferred Kampuchea Krom to colonial Vietnam on this date. The freedom of Khmer Kampuchea Krom has been mostly stripped by the Vietnamese ruling regimes and governments since. The French colonial administration committed injustice upon the more than 13 million Khmers of this beautiful fertile land.

Justice remains elusive for Cambodia, Kampuchea Krom and her citizens.

And...The struggle to regain freedom and human rights by the Khmers in Kampuchea Krom continues as long as injustice commits by the ruling Vietnamese regime(s) has not produced a fruitful result.

The followings are Khmer provincial, municipal and island names that the Vietnamese authorities have changed repeatedly.

1. Preah Trapeang province
in Vietnamese - Tra Vinh
(Vinh Binh)
circa 1731, 1840 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

2. Khleang province
in Vietnamese - Soc Trang
circa 1758, 1840 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

3. Mort Chrouk province
in Vietnamese - Chau Doc
circa 1715, 1757 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

4. Kramuon Sor province
in Vietnamese - Rach Gia
circa 1715, 1757, 1758 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

5. Pol Leav province
in Vietnamese - Bac Lieu
circa 1840 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

6. Tuk Khmau province
in Vietnamese - Ca Mau
circa 1840 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

7. Peam Banteay Meas province
in Vietnamese - Ha Tien
circa 1715 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

8. Prek Russey province
in Vietnamese - Can Tho
circa 1758, 1840 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

9. Long Hor province
in Vietnamese - Vinh Long
circa 1731 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

10. Peam Barach province
in Vietnamese - Long Xuyen
circa 1715, 1731 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

11. Raung Domrei province
in Vietnamese - Tay Ninh
circa 1770 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

12. Prey Nokor city
in Vietnamese - Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon)
circa 1696 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

13. Tuol Tamoak province
in Vietnamese - Thu Du Mot
circa 1696 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

14. Phsar Dek province
in Vietnamese - Sadec
circa 1757 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

15. Changva Trapeang Sraka Trey
province in Vietnamese - Bien Hoa
circa 1651 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

16. Me Sor province
in Vietnamese - My Tho
circa 1731 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

17. Preah Suorkea province
in Vietnamese - Baria
circa 1651 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

18. Koh Koang province
in Vietnamese - Go Cong
circa 1731 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

19. Kampong Russey province
in Vietnamese - Ben Tre
circa 1732 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

20. Kampong Kou province
(New name) in Vietnamese - Tan An
circa 1669 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

21. O Kab province
in Vietnamese - Vung Tau
circa 1651 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

22. Koh Tralach (Tralach Island)
in Vietnamese - Con Dao (Con Son)
circa 1765 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

23. Koh Tral (Tral Island)
in Vietnamese - Phu Quoc island
circa 1939 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

Koh Tral Island has an area of 567 square kilometers; about 62 kilometers long and between 3 kilometers and 28 kilometers wide. The island physically is located closest to Cambodia's Kep seaside city. Visitors can see Koh Tral Island from the coastline of Kep. It is about a 30-minute motorized boat ride.

Cambodian Buddhists march to mark Buddha's day

2011-05-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

PHNOM PENH, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Buddhists and Buddhist monks on Tuesday morning marched around Preah Reach Trap Mountain, where the relics of Buddha are housed, in order to mark Visak Bochea's day, or Buddha's day.

In Cambodia, the Buddha's relics are housed at the cliff of Preah Reach Trap Mountain, located in Kampong Speu province's Oddong district, some 40 kilometers north of Phnom Penh.

The event was also attended by the President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin and Deputy Prime Minister Kong Sam Ol, minister of the royal palace.

Visak Bochea day is the anniversary of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death; it's a religious holiday in Cambodia.

During the event, participants had brought praying stuff such as candles, incense sticks, flowers to pray to the Lord Buddha and offered foods and cash donations to about 800 Buddhist monks in order to dedicate to their ancestors.

In a related event later in the day, 2,600 Buddhist monks marched in Phnom Penh to mark the day. The procession had been participated by Deputy Prime Ministers Yim Chhay Ly and Man Sam An as well as thousands of Buddhists.

Buddhism is the state religion in Cambodia. About 90 percent of the country's 14.3 million people are Buddhists.

According to the figure of the Ministry of Cults and Religion, the country has approximately 4,400 Buddhist pagodas with more than 50,000 monks.

Editor: Bi Mingx

PHNOM PENH, May 17 (Xinhua)

VISAKHA PUJA DAY: THE INTERNATIOAL DAY OF VESAK AT UNITED NATIONS

2011-05-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF VISAKHA AT UNITED NATIONS

In the year of 1999, as the United Nations is the world organization that people around the world have recognized its activities, consented to announce the Visakha Day as the international important day of the world on December 15, 1999 that has been encouraged by Buddhist organizations from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Lao, South Korea, Vietnam, Bhutan, Indonesia, Nepal, Cambodia, India, Pakistan; and Thailand agreed to present to the United Nations in Bangkok in order to do official announcement on 25th April 2000. It has brought about delight to Thai Buddhist people as well as Thai government. The activities of the promotion of Buddhism are held by Thai Sangha and people in the Visakha Festival all over Thailand.

Visakha Puja Day is one of the greatest Buddhist holidays which falls on the 15th day of the new moon in the 6th lunar month that is the month of May, in the year with extra eighth lunar month; the Visakha Puja Day will fall on 15th day of the new moon in the 7th lunar moth.

Visakha Puja Day is regarded as an important Buddhist holiday, because it is connected with three important events in the life of the Buddha i.e. birth, enlightenment and death ; these three days fall on the same day miraculously. It is the most sacred day in the Buddhist calendar, when the day has come; both monks and lay people specially perform ceremonies recollecting the wisdom, purity and the great compassion of the Buddha.

BIRTH OF THE BUDDHA

The Buddha was the king by birth, Gotama by lineage and Sakya by race, born in 80 years before the Buddhist Era in the middle country at Lumbini park (Lumpini, nowadays, is Lumminde in Nepal) between Kapilavasthu of Sakya and Devadaha of the Koliya region, which is on the full Moon in the month of May in 625 B.C.. Buddha’s father was Suddhodana, his mother was Mahâmâyâ who wanted to go to Devadaha, her native place, when she was far- gone in pregnancy, in the morning of Visâkha Punnami Day, came over the beautiful Lummbi Grove on the way to Devadaha, had a break of her traveling under the shade of a flowering Sal tree; but that was not to be, then she gave birth to her child. When the news was heard, the King of Sakya and the King of Koliya were very pleased. Mahâmâyâ and her son were brought to Kapilavasthu.

HIS ENLIGHTENMENT

The prince Siddhattha had been taken care and instructed well since he was a child until he was a young, married with Yasodharâ, the princess of Devadaha, had a son called “Rahula”. With the advance of age and maturity, the prince began to glimpse the woes of the world. He renounced his wife and a child as well as a crown that held the promise of power and glory, became a monk on the bank of the Anomâ River, and then he sought guidance from the famous sages who would teach him all they knew, being led he practiced concentration reached the highest meditative attainments possible thereby, but it was not satisfied with anything for attaining Supreme Enlightenment, left them in search of the still unknown. In his wanderings he finally reached Uruvelâ of Magadha (in Bodhgaya, Bihar state, India), practiced alone until attained the Enlightenment on the Full-Moon Day of the 6th lunar month in 45 years before the Buddhist Era.
What is enlightened are the four Noble truths:-
1. Dukkha is unsatisfactionariness, physical and mental suffering.
2. Samudaya is cause of suffering.
3. Nirodha is cessation of suffering.
4. Magga is the path leading to cessation of suffering.
These four are the truth which is called “Ariyasacca” that is discovered by the Buddha, and more sublime than common reality.

HIS PARINIBBANA (DEATH)

The Buddha, after his Enlightenment, had done daily routine, taught the persons who could be instructed until they have attained the Eye of Truth, sent his disciples to villages, districts and capital cities to introduce his teachings until Buddhism has been established and wide-spread. He attained Nibbana on Tuesday 15th day of the new moon in the 6th lunar month in the year of the small snake at Sal Grove in Kusinagar of Malla, Uttra Pradesh, India when he was 80 year old.
On the occasion of the Visakha Day, a grand religious ceremony has been continuously held in Jambudipa or India where it is the land of Buddhism; since Buddhism has spreaded into Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Lao and Sri Lanka, the religious ceremony of Visakha Day has been performed still now.

One of the genuine delights of Vesakha in Sri Lanka is the lanterns (Vesaka kudu) people make to celebrate the festival. For a week before children and young men spend their spare time making these lanterns out of bamboo and semi-transparent paper. Then they hang them on trees or in front of their houses and put a light inside them. The traditional ones sway gracefully in the breeze, the more innovative ones are slowly with electric motors as they illuminate the night with their subtle pastel colours. Crowds spend Vesakha eve walking around admiring other peoples’ lanterns.

ACTIVITIES ON VISAKHA PUJA DAY

1. Offer alms to monks and pour the water for dedicating the merit to all beings and departed ones.
2. Practice meditation and listen to the Dhamma preaching.
3. Observe five precepts or eight precepts and abstain from the causes of bad bodily and verbal deeds.
4. Perform the candle procession around the respected place of worship, and participate in the activities of the Visakha Puja Day.
5. Arrange an exhibition of Visahka Day.
6. Hoist the flags at the houses, monasteries and government offices.
However, accomplishment of charity, morality and practicing meditation are more important than others.

Source: Dhamma Musings and Facebook Note

Best Wish for the New Year !!

2011-04-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Khmer New Year Buddhist Era 2555 !!

2011-04-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

Please click here to see the attached program of event in detail in Khmer.

Cambodian New Year in Philadelphia Buddhist Era 2555

Time: Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 6:30pm - Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 7:30pm

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Location: Preah Buddha Rangsey Temple
2400 S. 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA. 19148

This is an opportunity to honor Cambodia's culture and its accomplishments.

We offer best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous new year. May peace and happiness be upon all being.

The three days of the new year:

...

Maha Songkran (មហាសង្រ្កាន្ត)

Maha Songkran, derived from Sanskrit Maha Sankranti, is the name of the first day of the new year celebration. It is the ending of the year and the beginning of a new one. People dress up and light candles and burn incense sticks at shrines, where the members of each family pay homage to offer thanks for the Buddha's teachings by bowing, kneeling and prostrating themselves three times before his image. For good luck people wash their face with holy water in the morning, their chests at noon, and their feet in the evening before they go to bed.

Virak Wanabat (វ័នបត)

Virak Wanabat is the name of the second day of the new year celebration. People contribute charity to the less fortunate by helping the poor, servants, homeless, and low-income families. Families attend a dedication ceremony to their ancestors at the monastery.

Tngay Leang Saka (ថ្ងៃឡើងស័ក)

Tngay Leang Saka is the name of the third day of the new year celebration. Buddhists cleanse the Buddha statues and their elders with perfumed water. Bathing the Buddha images is the symbol that water will be needed for all kinds of plants and lives. It is also thought to be a kind deed that will bring longevity, good luck, happiness and prosperity in life. By bathing their grandparents and parents, children can obtain from them best wishes and good advice for the future.

New Year's customs

In temples, people erect a sand hillock on temple grounds. They mound up a big pointed hill of sand or dome in the center which represents sakyamuni satya, the stupa at Tavatimsa, where the Buddha's hair and diadem are buried. The big stupa is surrounded by four small ones, which represent the stupas of the Buddha's favorite disciples: Sariputta, Moggallana, Ananda, and Maha Kassapa. There is another tradition: pouring water or liquid plaster (a mixture of water with some chalk powder) on someone.

The Khmer New Year is also a time to prepare special dishes. One of these is a "kralan": a cake made from steamed rice mixed with beans or peas, grated coconut and coconut milk. The mixture is stuffed inside a bamboo stick and slowly roasted.[2]

Khmer games (ល្បែងប្រជាប្រិយ)

Cambodia is home to a variety of games played to transform the dull days into memorable occasions. These games are similar to those played at Manipur, a north-eastern state in India. [3] Throughout the Khmer New Year, street corners often are crowded with friends and families enjoying a break from routine, filling their free time with dancing and games. Typically, Khmer games help maintain one's mental and physical dexterity. The body's blood pressure, muscle system and brain are challenged and strengthened for fun.

* "Tres"

A game played by throwing and catching a ball with one hand while trying to catch an increasing number of sticks with the other hand. Usually, pens or chopsticks are used as the sticks to be caught.

* "Chol Chhoung (ចោលឈូង) "

A game played especially on the first nightfall of the Khmer New Year by two groups of boys and girls. Ten or 20 people comprise each group, standing in two rows opposite each other. One group throws the "chhoung" to the other group. When it is caught, it will be rapidly thrown back to the first group. If someone is hit by the "chhoung," the whole group must dance to get the "chhoung" back while the other group sings.

* "Chab Kon Kleng (ចាប់កូនខ្លែង) "

A game played by imitating a hen as she protects her chicks from a crow. Adults typically play this game on the night of the first New Year's Day. Participants usually appoint a strong player to play the hen who protects "her" chicks, while another person is picked to be the "crow". While both sides sing a song of bargaining, the crow tries to catch as many chicks as possible as they hide behind the hen.

* "Bos Angkunh (បោះអង្គុញ)"

A game played by two groups of boys and girls. Each group throws their own "angkunh" to hit the master "angkunhs," which belong to the other group and are placed on the ground. The winners must knock the knees of the losers with the "angkunh." "Angkunh" is also the name of an inedible fruit seed, which looks like a knee bone.

* "Leak Kanseng (លាក់⁣កន្សែង) "

A game played by a group of children sitting in a circle. Someone holding a "kanseng" (Cambodian towel) that is twisted into a round shape walks around the circle while singing a song. The person walking secretly tries to place the "kanseng" behind one of the children. If that chosen child realizes what is happening, he or she must pick up the "kanseng" and beat the person sitting next to him or her.

* "Bay Khon"

A game played by two children in rural or urban areas during their leisure time. Ten holes are dug in the shape of an oval into a board in the ground. The game is played with 42 small beads, stones or fruit seeds. Before starting the game, five beads are put into each of the two holes located at the tip of the board. Four beads are placed in each of the remaining eight holes. The first player takes all the beads from any hole and drops them one by one in the other holes. He or she must repeat this process until they have dropped the last bead into a hole that lies besides any empty one. Then they must take all the beads in the hole that follows the empty one. At this point, the second player may have his turn. The game ends when all the holes are empty. The player with the greatest number of beads wins the game. It is possibly similar to congkak.

* "Klah Klok (ខ្លា ឃ្លោក) "

A game played by Cambodians of all ages. It is a gambling game that is fun for all ages involving a mat and some dice. You put money on the object that you believe the person rolling the dice (which is usually shaken in a type of bowl) and you wait. If the objects face up on the dice are the same as the objects you put money on, you double it. If there are two of yours, you triple, and so on.

Source: Wikipedia

សមាជហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិច ជ្រើសតាំងលោកញ៉ឹក ប៊ុនឆៃ ជាប្រធានប្រតិបត្តិគណបក្ស

2011-04-02T05:40:00.000-07:00

កម្ពុជា - អត្ថបទចុះផ្សាយនៅថ្ងៃ សៅរ៍ 02 មេសា 2011 - ព័ត៌មានទើបកែប្រើលើកចុងក្រោយ ថ្ងៃ សៅរ៍ 02 មេសា 2011

សមាជហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិច ជ្រើសតាំងលោកញ៉ឹក ប៊ុនឆៃ ជាប្រធានប្រតិបត្តិគណបក្ស

គណបក្ស ហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិចបានបើកអង្គសមាជនៅព្រឹកថ្ងៃសៅរ៍ទី២ខែមេសាឆ្នាំ២០១១ © សុវណ្ណរ៉ា

ដោយ ប៉ែន បូណា

ដូចការគ្រោងទុក គណបក្ស ហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិច បានបើកអង្គសមាជរបស់ខ្លួននៅព្រឹកថ្ងៃសៅរ៍ទី២ខែមេសានេះដើម្បី បោះឆ្នោតជ្រើសតាំងមេដឹកនាំសម្រាប់អាណត្តិថ្មី និងបានកែសម្រួលរចនាសម្ពន្ធ័គណបក្សមួយចំនួន។ លោក ញ៉ឹក ប៊ុនឆៃ ត្រូវបានជ្រើសតាំងជាប្រធានប្រតិបត្តិរបស់គណបក្ស។ ប្រធានប្រតិបត្តិដែលជាអ្នកដឹកនាំសំខាន់របស់គណបក្ស។ រីឯលោក កែវ ពុធរស្មី អតីតប្រធានគណបក្សត្រូវបានជ្រើសរើសជាមគ្គុទេសក៏ របស់គណបក្សហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិច។ អង្គសមាជនេះក៏បានសម្រេចគាំទ្រសមាសភាពក្រុមប្រឹក្សាជាតិដែលមាន សមាជិក៣ពាន់នាក់និងសមាជិកគណៈនាយកចំនួន ១២០នាក់ផងដែរ។ ហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិចដែលមានតែ២កៅអីក្នុងរដ្ឋសភានៅតែប្រកាសជំហរធ្វើជាដៃគូ ជាមួយគណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជា។

សេចក្តីរាយការណ៍របស់ ប៉ែន បូណា

02/04/2011
by ប៉ែន បូណា

ស្តាប់ (02:24)

សកម្មជន ក្បាលម៉ាស៊ីនគណបក្ស ហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិច ចំនួនប្រមាណជា ៣០០០ នាក់ដែលបានចូលរួមអង្គសមាជនៅព្រឹកមិញនេះបានបោះឆ្នោតជ្រើតាំង លោក ញ៉ឹក ប៊ុនឆៃ អតីតអគ្គលេខាធិការគណបក្សឱ្យធ្វើជាប្រធានប្រតិបត្តិគណបក្ស ហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិច សម្រាប់អាណត្តិ៥ឆ្នាំខាងមុខ។ ប្រធានប្រតិបត្តិគឺជាតំណែងដឹកនាំសំខាន់ជាងគេនៅក្នុងគណបក្សនេះ។ ចំណែកលោក កែវ ពុធរស្មី អតីតប្រធានគណបក្ស ហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិច ត្រូវបានជ្រើសតាំងជាមគ្គុទេសក៏របស់គណបក្ស។
អង្គសមាជដែលបានប្រារព្ធធ្វើនៅព្រឹកថ្ងៃទី២មេសានេះនៅឯ ទីស្នាក់ការថ្មីគណបក្ស ហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិច នៅក្នុងសង្កាត់បាក់ខែង ខណ្ឌឬស្សីកែវ ជាយរាជធានីភ្នំពេញ ក៏បានគាំទ្រសមាសភាពក្រុមប្រឹក្សាជាតិរបស់គណបក្សសម្រាប់អាណត្តិ ថ្មីនេះចំនួន ៣០០០ នាក់ និងគាំទ្រសមាសភាពសមាជិកពេញសិទ្ធិគណៈកម្មាធិការនាយកដែលមានចំនួន ១២០នាក់ និងសមាជិកបម្រុង៤៥នាក់។
លោកកែវ ពុធរស្មី បានថ្លែងបើកអង្គសមាជដោយអះអាងថា គណបក្ស ហ្វ៊ុនស៊ិនប៉ិច នឹងមិនសាបសូន្យឡើយដោយសារតែគណបក្សនេះ បានចូលរួមក្នុងការរំដោះជាតិ និងកសាងជាតិក្នុងរយៈពេលជិត៣ទសវត្សរ៍ចុងក្រោយនេះ។ ម្យ៉ាងទៀត បើយោងតាមលោក កែវ ពុធរស្មីហ្វ៊ុនស៊ិនប៉ិច នៅតែរក្សាគោលការណ៍របស់ខ្លួនគឺ ជាគណបក្ស សីហនុនិយម។

លោក កែវ ពុធរស្មី បន្តថា គណបក្សហ្វ៊ុនស៊ិនប៉ិច ប្រកាន់គោលការណ៍ផ្សះផ្សាបង្រួបបង្រួមជាតិ និងចូលរួមជាមួយគណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជាក្នុងការដោះស្រាយបញ្ហា បូរណភាពទឹកដីដែលទទួលរងការឈ្លានពានពីប្រទេសជិតខាង។ លោកបានលើកយកប្រសាសន៍របស់លោក នាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីហ៊ុន សែន ដែលអះអាងថា មានតែគណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជា និងហ្វ៊ុនស៊ិនប៉ិច ប៉ុណ្ណោះដែលរួមគ្នាកសាងប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ និងរបបរាជានិយមទី២នៅកម្ពុជា។

សូមបញ្ជាក់ថា នៅក្នុងសមាជនោះ ក៏មានតំណាងគណបក្ស នរោត្តម រណឬទ្ធិ ដែលជាបងប្អូនគូសត្រូវចូលរួមផងដែរ។ ព្រះអង្គម្ចាស់ នរោត្តម រណឬទ្ធិ ក៏បានផ្ញើសារអបអរសាទរចំពោះអង្គសមាជនេះនិងផ្តល់ក្តីសង្ឃឹមលើការ បង្រួបបង្រួមគ្នានៅថ្ងៃណាមួយ។ អង្គសមាជថ្ងៃនេះក៏មានការចូលរួមពីមន្ត្រីសំខាន់ៗរបស់ហ្វ៊ុនស៊ិនប៉ិច ដែលធ្លាប់បែកបាក់គ្នាកន្លងទៅ មានដូចជា លោក កែវ ពុធរស្មី លោក ញ៉ឹក ប៊ុនឆៃ លោក លឺ ឡាយស្រេង និងព្រះអង្គម្ចាស់ស៊ីសុវត្ថិសិរីរត្ន័ ជាដើម។

អង្គសមាជថ្ងៃនេះក៏បានកើតឡើងបន្ទាប់ពីមានកិច្ចសម្របសម្រួល ផ្ទៃក្នុងមួយរវាងមន្ត្រីគណបក្សហ៊្វុនស៊ិនប៉ិចក្រោយពីពួកគេបាន ខ្វែងគំនិតគ្នាយ៉ាងខ្លាំងអំពីកំណែទម្រង់ដែលនាំដល់ការផ្តល់ អំណាចសំខាន់ឱ្យលោក ញ៉ឹក ប៊ុនឆៃ៕

Khmer School in Surin

2011-04-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

ថ្នាក់រៀនភាសាខ្មែរវត្តគាប

Website carrying ancient Cambodian manuscripts launched

2011-03-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

By Monica Kotwani
Channel News Asia
Posted: 30 March 2011
http://www.khmermanuscripts.org/

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Embassy in Cambodia, together with UNESCO, has launched a website, carrying contents of ancient Cambodian manuscripts.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Embassy has been supporting UNESCO, through a fund, for the last two years in its work to digitise the manuscripts.

The manuscripts, written on latania leaves, faced extinction in the 1990s.

They are Cambodia’s only written heritage available, apart from stone inscriptions, and an information source for researchers on the country’s religious and cultural practices and customs.

The website was launched on Wednesday evening at the French Cultural Centre in Phnom Penh.

-CNA/wk

Former sex slave speaks

2011-03-28T03:47:00.000-07:00

A person’s past does not necessarily determine their future, Cambodian human rights activist Somaly Mam said in a lecture Friday afternoon in the State Farm Room of the Business and Aerospace Building.

As the keynote speaker for the annual Global Discourses in Women’s and Gender Studies conference, Mam discussed how she spent much of her early life as a sex slave but has dedicated the rest of it to helping others escape the abuse and illness she grew up with.

Mam said she was sold in slavery when she was a young teenager by a man posing as her grandfather. Even today, she said she does not know exactly how old she is or who her parents were. She also does not know her real name.

Her owner forced her to live in a snake and scorpion infested brothel with other young slaves, she said.

Even though she was beaten and starved, Mam said she did not consider running away at first because, in the brothel, she at least had people surrounding her. Outside, she said, she had no one.

It was only after the owner killed her best friend in front of her that she escaped.

Since then, Mam has made it her life’s work to help other girls escape from slavery and learn to move on with their lives.

In 2007, she established the Somaly Mam Foundation, a worldwide organization that has thus far helped more than 7,000 girls break the bonds of slavery.

“I teach them forgiveness,” Mam said. “Not to forgive them, but yourself – so you can be happy.”

Tina Johnson, director of the university’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program, said sex trafficking is a “very important issue in women’s studies.” Though males are also often victims of slavery, women and girls are more vulnerable to sex slavery, she said.

“She did not stop to think about the girls she left behind,” Johnson said. “She is a tower of strength.”

Mam, who has no formal education, said she admires the girls she helps. One is now attending law school, she said.

“I just have a heart,” Mam said. “They have brains. They’re my heroes.”

Worldwide, sex slavery is an annually $32 billion industry, Johnson said, adding that it is estimated four to five million people are living as slaves and two million of those are children.

Extreme poverty is one of the main reasons children are sold as slaves, Mam said.

Cambodia is divided between the “very rich and the very poor,” she said.

Clare Bratten, a professor of electronic media production, said this divide is not only found in Cambodia. People from “poor countries are being sent to rich countries,” she said.

Mam said more research is needed to determine other causes of sex slavery and better ways to combat it in a global setting.

“Life is love,” she said. “Love costs you nothing.”

By Kelsey Wells
Staff Writer

http://www.mtsusidelines.com/news/former-sex-slave-speaks-1.2126477

Thai Soldiers Fire Machine Guns, Throw Grenades into Cambodia

2011-02-16T04:45:00.000-08:00

PREAH VIHEAR, CAMBODIA, FEB 16, 2011-Thai armies on Tuesday night fired at Cambodian troops at Preah Vihear border despite the UN Security Council insisted the two neighboring practice permanent cease fire at the conflict border.

A military source at Preah Vihear temple of Cambodia confirmed that hundreds of grenades and artillery were fired and threw into Cambodia territory, starting from 6:52pm, on Tuesday evening to 5:00am on Wednesday morning around Phnom Troab, near Preah Vihear temple

The source added that Cambodian soldiers remained calm, citing that they would fight back if Thai soldier across to Cambodia’s.

The official also told Deum Ampil Media Center that around 8:00pm on February 15th, Thai military commander telephoned Cambodian army commanders and accused Cambodia soldier moving under a barb fences into their territory.

However, Cambodia soldier has rejected, adding that they stood only in Cambodian territory.

The action of Thai soldiers are violating UNSC’s declaration because Thai soldier wanted Cambodian soldiers to reduce patience and fight back but Cambodians did not.

Ajahn Brahm to give talks on Feb 16, 17 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

2011-02-14T07:05:00.000-08:00

The New Straits Times, Feb 8, 2011

Johor Baru, Malaysia -- BUDDHIST devotees should keep Feb 16 and 17 free as the Venerable Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera will be in Johor Baru.

<< Venerable Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera will teach meditation techniques on Feb 17

Ajahn, who was born Peter Betts in London, will be at the Grand Bluewave Hotel at 8pm on Feb 16 to give a talk entitled Dif - ficulties are Unavoidable but Misery is Optional.

All are welcome and admission is free, as all costs are borne by members of the Metta Lodge Buddhist Centre Johor Baru.

On Feb 17, Ajahn will teach meditation techniques at the Metta Lodge. This will be followed by a talk entitled How do I Get Enlightened in this Life? at 8pm.

Due to space constraints, Metta Lodge can only accommodate 40 par ticipants.

Ajahn, a Theravada monk, is also the abbot of the Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, Western Australia.

Coming from a working-class background, Ajahn won a scholarship to study theoretical physics at Cambridge University in the late 1960s, graduating with first-class honours.

After Cambridge, he taught in a high school for one year before going to Thailand to become a monk and train under Ajahn Chah, a monk renowned for his strict monastic discipline, simplicity of life and the practice of forest tradition.

Forest tradition involves using the remote wilderness and forest dwellings as training grounds for spiritual practice.

Ajahn was ordained in Bangkok when he was 23 years old. He subsequently spent nine years studying the forest tradition.

He is a sought-after dhamma teacher.

Ajahn dedicates his time and attention to the sick, those in prisons and people wanting to learn medi t at i o n .

Ajahn has written two books entitled Opening the Door of Your Hear t (formerly published as Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?) and Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond: A Meditator’s Handbook.

Ajahn’s Dhamma talks are available for free download in both digital audio and video format.

For details, call 019-779 6007 or 016-761 1666.

Source: Buddhist Channel

Humans walked upright 3.2 million years ago

2011-02-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

Thomas H. Maugh II (LA Times, Feb. 12, 2011)

The 3.2-million-year-old skeleton called Lucy, left, and a life-size model on display in 2007 in Houston's Museum of Natural Science. Lucy's feet were probably arched for walking, new evidence indicates (Michael Stravato/AP).

A foot bone from a species made famous by the 1974 discovery of the specimen called Lucy had arched feet like the feet of modern humans.

A fossilized foot bone from Ethiopia indicates that human ancestors had largely abandoned swinging from trees by 3.2 million years ago and were spending virtually all of their time walking upright, researchers said this week.

The metatarsal bone from Australopithecus afarensis -- the species made famous by the 1974 discovery of the specimen known as Lucy -- clearly shows that the species had stiff, arched feet just like modern humans. Such feet are stiff enough to push off from the ground when taking a step and flexible enough to absorb shock when the foot touches down. But they have lost the ability to grasp branches and other objects, a distinguishing characteristic of Lucy's predecessors, Ardipithecus ramidus. More>>

Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

Evolution is partly right, and so is the "other" theory. It was not Natural Selection that originated the evolving human form. However, it seems clear that evolution continues by natural (i.e., impersonal) processes. Such mechanisms result in our physical form. Karma accounts for much else, but it is inextricably enmeshed with form. Genetic manipulation has taken place, is being conducted now, and our DNA origins in more primitive (less like devas) form is hardly in dispute. The real history of the planet is so convoluted that this could hardly surprise anyone. The many kinds of humans did not evolve from a single forbear.

Ancestors may have left Africa earlier than thought

Ancient winery found in Armenia

Modern humans wore clothing way back

Neanderthals liked their veggies, too

Source: Wisdom Quarterly

Cambodians, Thais point fingers over cross-border fight

2011-02-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

Each side accused the other of starting the latest shelling. The dispute involves the location of a temple.

February 6, 2011

By SETH MYDANS

New York Times

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen asked the U.N. Security Council on Sunday to convene an urgent meeting to "stop Thailand's aggression" after a third day of cross-border shelling by both sides.

The Cambodian government said the shelling had damaged part of an 11th-century Hindu temple that is claimed by both nations and has been the focus of tension and periodic military clashes since 2008.

Each side accused the other of starting the latest fighting, which has claimed at least two lives and caused a number of injuries since it broke out Friday. No deaths were reported Sunday, but both sides said there were some injuries.

"Cambodians always open fire first," said Thai Army spokesman Col. Sansern Keowkamnderd. "We will cease fire when the Cambodians stop firing at us."

The Cambodian government also said Thai military aircraft had flown near the border, an escalation of previous encounters, but Sansern denied the report.

It was not clear how seriously the temple, Preah Vihear, had been damaged. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the temple was slightly damaged by shelling in the last serious clash a year ago.

"A wing of our Preah Vihear temple has collapsed as a direct result of the Thai artillery bombardment," a Cambodian military commander was quoted as saying in a press statement.

The statement also quoted the unidentified commander as saying the Thai side had used "gas shells" as it fired artillery rounds at Cambodian soldiers, but it did not elaborate.

The dispute involves conflicting century-old maps and a ruling in 1962 by the International Court of Justice awarding the temple to Cambodia. New tensions were set off in July 2008 when UNESCO named the temple a World Heritage site and also placed it inside Cambodia.

Tensions along the border have become entwined in Thailand's political disputes, with the faction known as the yellow shirts accusing the government of failing to defend Thai sovereignty. The issue has become a rallying cry in recent weeks for the yellow shirts, who have begun a new sit-in near the prime minister's office, where they staged a blockade for more than six months in 2008.

Bora Touch counters the Thai Foreign Ministry's statement on border dispute

2011-02-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

By Bora Touch
Lawyer at the Supreme Court of State of New South Wales, Australia
Member of the Cambodian Bar Association
A founder and Board director of the Legal Aid of Cambodia

Below is my response to: "Thailand's Foreign Ministry statement concerning the Cambodian flag over Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda" published by The Nations, February 1, 2011. My comments begin with "Bora Touch" and the Thai Foreign Ministry's statement begins with "Thai FM"

Thai FM: The Foreign Ministry's statement concerning the Cambodian flag over Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda:

"With reference to the declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international cooperation of the Kingdom of Cambodia dated January 28, 2011 regarding the issue of the flag of the Kingdom of Cambodia that is flying over the "Keo Sikha Kiri Svara" Pagoda, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand wishes to state the following:

1. According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia on the Survey and Demarcation of Land Boundary of 2000, the 1904 and 1907 Treaties and "other documents relating to the application" of both treaties are the relevant legal documents to determine the boundary line. Thailand therefore does not accept the assertion by Cambodia that the 1:200,000 map is the basis for determining the boundary.

BORA TOUCH: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962 ruled that the 1:200,000 map, or the Dangrek Section or Annex I Map as known in the ICJ proceeding, (and all of the 1:200,000 maps) is valid and forms part of the 1904 and 1907 Siam - France (Cambodia) delimitation treaties. The Memorandum of Understanding on the Survey and Demarcation of Land Boundary of 2000 stipulates:

Article 1: The survey and demarcation of the land boundary between the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kingdom of Thailand shall be jointly conducted in accordance with the following documents:

a) ... The Convention between France [Cambodia] and Siam [Thailand] modifying the stipulations of the Treaty of 3 October 1893, regarding the Territorial Boundaries and Other Arrangements, signed at Paris, 13 February 1904.

b) ... The Treaty between the His Majesty the King of Siam and the President of the Republic of France, singed at Bangkok, 23 March 1907 ... and the Protocol Concerning the Delimitation of Boundaries and Annexed to the Treaty of 23 march 1907; and

c) Maps which are the results of the demarcation works of the Commissions of the Delimitation of the Boundary of the Indochina [Cambodia] and Siam ... set up under the Covnention of 1904 and the Treaty of 1907 between France [Cambodia] and Siam [Thailand] and other documents relating to the application of the Convention of 1904 and the Treaty of 1907 between France[Cambodia] and Siam [Thaiand].

The Terms of Reference and Master Plan for the Joint Survey and Demarcation of Land Boundary between Cambodia and Thailand (TOR) of 23 March 2003 stipulates:

1.1.3. Maps which are the results of the Demarcation Works of the Commissions of Delimitation of boundary between Indochina [Cambodia] and Siam [Thailand].. sep up under the Convention of 1904 and the Treaty of 1907 between France [Cambodia] and Siam [Thailand] (theferafter referred to as "the maps of 1:200,000") and other documents relating to the application of the Convention of 1904 and the Treaty of 1907 between France [Cambodia] and Siam [Thailand].

Paragraph 10 of the Terms of Reference emphasises:

"This TOR is without prejudice to the legal value of the previous agreements between France and Siam concerning the delimitation of boundary, nor to the value of the Maps of the Commissions of the Delimitation of Boundary between Indochina [Cambodia] and Siam [Thailand] set up under the Convention of 13 February 1904 and the Treaty of 23 March 1907, reflecting the boundary line of Indochina and Siam"

Clearly the maps referred to are the 1:200,000 map(s) which, as mentioned above, the ICJ in 1962 ruled to be valid and forms part of the 1904 (and 1907) treaties. Thailand is therefore not in a position to assert that the 1:200,000 maps (one of which is known as Dangrek Section or Annex I map in which the PreahVihear Temple is situated) are not valid. There is no legal basis for such an assertion and to make such an assertion would amount to saying that, in contravention of the UN Charter, Thailand does not accept and will not enforce the Judgment of the ICJ.

Thai FM: 2. Cambodia also admitted in the aforementioned declaration that the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 1962 did not rule on the question of the boundary line between Thailand and Cambodia.

Bora Touch: Contrary to Thailand's assertion, in 1962 the ICJ ruled unambiguously that the 1:200,000 maps (the Dangrek Section or Annex I Map included) is valid and is a part of the 1904 and 1907 treaties. Since the ICJ accepted and ruled that the map(s), which is the result of the boundary demarcation of the French-Siamese Joint Commissions, is valid and a part the treaties, the ICJ decided that it was unnecessary to rule on the question of boundary because the matter was decided (the map was ruled to be valid). The question did not need an answer as it was determined by the map(s). As scholar Kieth Highet (1987) pointed out: "the Court held that since the location indicated in the map had been accepted, it was unncessary to examine the physical location of boundary as derived from the terms of the Treaty". The ICJ did rule on the boundary question by ruling that map was valid.

Thai FM: 3. Thailand maintains that the "Keo Sikha Kiri Svara" Pagoda is situated on Thai territory, and demands that Cambodia remove both the pagoda and the Cambodian flag flying over the pagoda. This is a reiteration of the many protests that Thailand has submitted to Cambodia regarding the activities carried out in the pagoda and the surrounding area, all of which constitute violations of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Thailand.

Bora Touch: According to the 1:200,000 map (or the Dangkrek Section or Annex I map), the Preah Vihear Temple and the 4.6 sq km parcel of land undisputedly are inside Cambodian territory. Thailand and Cambodia agree that the "Keo Sikha Kiri Svara" Pagoda is situated in the 4.6 sqkm parcel of land.

Thai FM: 4. The Ministry reaffirms Thailand's commitment to resolving all boundary issues with Cambodia in accordance with international law through peaceful means under the framework of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC). The determination of the boundary line in the area of the Temple of Phra Viharn [Preah Vihear Temple] is still subject to ongoing negotiation under the framework of the JBC."

Bora Touch: It is misleading for Thailand to say it applies international law in this regard. It obviously failed to perform the obligations as stipulated under the ICJ Judgment of 1962. It thus has violated article 94(1) of the UN Charter/. Cambodia complains to the UN Security Council for appropriate measures against Thailand: Art 94(2).

Original ពង្សសាវតាខ្មែរ (Pung Savada Khmer)

2011-02-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

ឆាកប្រយុទ្ធលើកនេះគឺជាវិញ្ញាសាចុងក្រោយសម្រាប់កម្ពុជា

2011-02-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

Please click on the icon to listen.

Tensions Erupt on Thai-Cambodian Border

2011-02-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

Dramatic footage from the front lines of battle that broke out along the Thai and Cambodian border.

Cambodian soldiers launched rocket-propelled grenades and artillery toward the Thais, and received a hailstorm of bullets in return.

Artillery shells fell on houses of an evacuated village on the Thai side, as residents scrambled to the safety of bomb shelters.

Fighting has been on and off for two days bringing the casualties to four – two Cambodian soldiers and one Thai soldier, as well as a Thai villager.

At the center of the dispute – the grounds surrounding a 900-year-old Hindu temple, which both sides claim is theirs. The temple sits on land awarded to Cambodia by an international court and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Thailand is unhappy with Cambodia's claim to the temple and the feud has become a wedge issue in both Thai and Cambodian politics.

Thai "yellow shirt" supporters called for the government to take stronger action against Cambodia.

While in Cambodia, people said their country should not let Thailand off so easily.

[Prum Sothea, Cambodian National]: "Whenever they enter our land we must fight to stop them from being so aggressive. If we are quiet then they think that we do not have enough ammunition to fight them, but now we have plenty of ammunition."

Leaders from both countries met Friday for talks on a host of border issues, although no disputes were resolved.

Photos from casualties from armed clashes between Cambodian Thai troops

2011-02-04T15:01:00.000-08:00

(All photos: CEN)

Click on Picture on the left to read.

By Khmerization
Source: CEN

Cambodian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement (pictured) claiming that Thai shells, fired during a three-hour armed clashes with Cambodian troops at 3 p.m Friday yesterday, had caused significant damages to the world heritage-listed Preah Vihear temple and also caused the deaths and injuries to 10 Cambodian soldiers.

The statement said that Thai troops had entered deep into Cambodian territories in 3 spots to attack Cambodian troops, namely in Khmum area (Sombok Khmum), which is located about 500 metres from the staircase of Preah Vihear temple, Veal Entry, which is situated 1,12o metres inside Cambodian territory and Phnom Trop, which is situated 1,600 metres inside Cambodian.

The statement had also accused Thai troops of firing many 130 milimetres and 155 milimetres artillery shells as deep as 20 kilometres inside Cambodian territory.

It said that Cambodian troops have no choice, but to use self-defence rights to protect Cambodian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Latest: One Cambodian soldier killed and 5 wounded, 7 Thai soldiers killed and many wounded in clashes near Preah Vihear temple

2011-02-04T06:11:00.000-08:00

BM-21 rockets test fired in Kampong Chhnang on 4th March, 2010.

By Khmerization
Source: CEN

Latest report of casualties from armed clashes between Cambodian Thai troops at 3 p.m today has resulted in one Cambodian soldier killed and 5 wounded, one rock roller and an excavator had been destroyed.

Cambodian military sources said that Cambodian troops had fired 20 baskets of M-21 rockets. The same sources said that it is believed that 7 Thai soldiers, 4 at Phnom Trop battlefield and 3 at Sombok Khmum/Red House battlefield, had been killed as well as many more were wounded.

At the time of this article going to press, the flames are still burning from the Thai Red House used as a command base which was hit by Cambodian artillery shells. The fighting started at 3:10 p.m and stopped at 5:48 p.m Cambodian time.

The fighting stopped when the Thai side requested for a negotiation and Prime Minister Hun Sen gave permission the defence ministers of both countries to talk at the request of the Thai side.

តុល្យការបណ្តោះអាសន្នចុងក្រោយនៅល្ងាចថ្ងៃទី៤កុម្ភៈដែលទទួលបាន ពីប្រភពយោធាឱ្យដឹងថា មានទាហានកម្ពុជាម្នាក់បានស្លាប់ និង៥នាក់រងរបួស។ ក្រៅពីនោះ ក៏មានឆេះរ៉ឡូកិនថ្ម មួយគ្រឿង និងអេស្កាវ៉ាទ័រមួយគ្រឿងរបស់កងវិស្វកម្មដែលធ្វើផ្លូវទៅកាន់ ប្រាសាទព្រះវិហារ។

កម្ពុជាបានប្រើប្រាស់អាវុធធុនធ្ងន់ ប្រភេទកាំជ្រួចប្រតិកម្ម BM 21 អស់២០កញ្ច្រែង។ ប្រភពដដែលឱ្យដឹងថា ទាហានថៃត្រូវគេជឿថាស្លាប់៧នាក់ក្នុងនោះ៤នាក់នៅភ្នំទ្រព្យនិង ៣នាក់នៅក្បែរផ្ទះក្រហម និងរងរបួសមួយចំនួនទៀត។

មកទល់នឹង ម៉ោងនេះ គេនៅឃើញមានភ្លើងឆេះនៅក្បែរផ្ទះក្រហមរបស់ថៃនៅឡើយ។ អាវុធ បានចាប់ផ្តើមផ្ទុះនៅវេលាម៉ោង៣និង១០នាទី និងស្ងាត់ទៅវិញនៅម៉ោង៥និង៤៨នាទី។ ការស្ងប់ស្ងាត់បណ្តាលមកពីភាគីថៃ បានស្នើសុំចរចា ហើយសម្តចនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីហ៊ុន សែន បានយល់ព្រមឱ្យរដ្ឋមន្ត្រីការពារជាតិទាំងពីរជួបចរចាគ្នាតាម សំណើររបស់ថៃ ៕

Some Temporary ordinations.

2011-02-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

In Burma and in Thailand it is very common for a man, especially a young man, to ordain as a monk temporarily, often for just a few days. This constitutes a completely valid ordination, going through all the steps, including shaving the head and beginning to wear the robes. But in this case the intention is not to remain a monk for long. Almost all Burmese men are ordained temporarily at some point, and of course many permanently. I don’t think there is temporary ordination for women, since ordination for nuns is a different kind of thing (that is quickly changing in the West, and in Sri Lanka).

Last weekend I participated in a temporary ordination, and next weekend I will participate in another. Next weekend will involve three novices (under 20 years old) and five full monks (bhikkhus), and apparently they will live here at the Vihara for about a week. Interestingly I will be the senior monk from July 26 on, and so I will be responsible for offering them some training, scheduling meditation, etc. An ordination is an Sangha Action, that is it is actually offered by a group of ordained monks, a sangha, who thereby accept new members. So when I say I participated, it was as an existing member of a sangha.

I learned a couple of interesting new customs at last week’s ordination ceremony, which I would like to describe here. One is boat ordination, and the other is maidens offering the use of their hair.

A complicated aspect of ordination is that it, as an Act of a Sangha, has to take place within a clearly marked territory, called a sima. This is necessary because all monks within the sima are asked to participate, and monks outside of the sima are presumed to belong to other sanghas. It is all very legalistic. A sima can be a given monastery, it can also be something like the City of Maplewood, with its established boundaries. An ordination requires at least five fully ordained monks, so we generally need to assemble the sangha from more than one monastery, at least in the USA. One way to easily define a sima is simply to have the ordination on a boat, and declare the boat the sima. The acting sangha then consists of any monks who are on the boat. That is what we did last weekend for the temporary ordination ceremony.

We filled a power boat on one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes with monks, pushed away from shore and conducted the ordination in the boat. There is actually a part of an ordination ceremony in which the ordainees and their teacher need to separate themselves from the existing sangha. This was accomplished by using a second boat, which is technically outside the sima of the first boat, but can be steered close enough for monks to hop from one boat to the other and back. Of course the whole scene was quite a curiosity for the other totally uninvolved people who had brought their boats to the lake to fish: a boat crowded with bald, burgundy-robed, chanting monks was more than they expected.

The second custom was enacted after the ordination, on shore. A lot of Burmese came to make offerings to the old and new monks. This takes the form of an alms round, with a long line of people offering various things like toothpaste, snacks, soap, flowers, finally culminating in a lunch lunch offered at a picnic table. The custom I had never seen before was enacted at the beginning of the alms round.

Three young women with long hair knelt, and leaning forward, their foreheads touching the grass, and their hair spread forward across the path the monks were about to walk on. The monks then began the alms round by walking on their hair! I had to ask what this was about after the event.

Buddhist practice often involves many forms of ritual symbolic offerings. This is as true from my experience in Japanese Zen as in Burmese Theravada. A prime example is a food offering made to a Buddha statue. Such enactments in Buddhism, though symbolic, have a quite practical purpose: they bring forth positive states of mind which are reinforced through the mindfulness of ritual. So, for instance, although there is no Buddha actually there as a recipient to receive a food offering, the enactment of the donation creates merit for the donor. This means it actually helps the donors character develop karmically in a positive direction. This is the logic of symbolic offerings.

The maidens offering their hair in this way is apparently a reenactment of a Sir Walter Raleigh-like story of someone who did this with hair rather than with cloak, presumably for the Buddha so that he wouldn’t soil or dampen his feet. For the maidens it produces merit, as in a food offering. However in this case the offering is symbolic not because there are no recipients for the donation (we monks were the recipients), but rather because nothing was actually offered (our feet were in no real danger of becoming soiled for want of hair). Mostly the whole thing was fun.

By Bhikkhucintita

Document Events of KC 50 in Khmer Kampuchea Krom by Thach Xe

2011-02-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

Click on the cover to dowload PDF file.

Source The Prey Nokor News

UCC to celebrate centenary of Dhammaloka 'the Irish Buddhist'

2011-02-01T01:07:00.000-08:00

<<< Dhammaloka in 1902 aged about 50 by OLIVIA KELLEHER

THE LIFE of one of the first Western Buddhist monks, an Irishman who adopted the name Dhammaloka, is to be marked by an international line-up of scholars at University College Cork later this month.

The centenary of Dhammaloka, tried for sedition on January 31st 1911, by a judge in colonial Rangoon, will be remembered at UCC on February 19th.

“Dhammaloka Day” also sees the Irish launch of the special issue of the journal Contemporary Buddhism, devoted to the Dublin-born migrant worker who crossed the world to become a pioneering European Buddhist monk in Asia.

Dhammaloka was born in 1856 in Dublin and was known by several names, including Laurence Carroll and William Colvin. Dhammaloka was his Buddhist name given at ordination. Many knew him simply as “the Irish Buddhist”.

The details of his Dublin family, his life as a hobo in the US and a beachcomber in Asia are as mysterious as his eventual disappearance or death and a fake obituary in 1912.

He lived according to the strict rules of the ancient Burmese Buddhist monastic order; yellow-robed, shaven-headed, walking barefoot and taking only one meal a day.

He travelled extensively between 1900 and 1914 in countries such as colonial Burma, Siam, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaya, Japan, China and India.

Dhammaloka became known in many parts of southeast Asia in his time and drew large crowds when giving talks.

He was tried for sedition in Burma by Mr Justice Daniel Harold Ryan Twomey, a native of Carrigtwohill in Co Cork.

Dhammaloka Day will feature an international line-up of scholars of colonial-period and contemporary Buddhism including Burma expert Prof Alicia Turner, York University, Toronto; historian of American Buddhism Prof Thomas Tweed, University of North Carolina; historian of Irish Buddhism Dr Laurence Cox, NUI Maynooth; and scholar of Japanese religions Prof Brian Bocking, UCC.

Uncovering Dhammaloka’s story has involved research by Prof Bocking and his research colleagues Alicia Turner and Laurence Cox.

Source: The Irish Times

Tensions on the borders as Thailand and Cambodia reinforced troops

2011-01-28T17:58:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of Cambodian tanks were seen being trucked out of their bases in Longvek town heading toward the Khmer-Thai borders.

By Khmerization
Sources: Koh Santepheap, everyday.com.kh and Kampuchea Thmey

Cambodian military sources said that tensions along the Khmer-Thai border in Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey provinces have heightened after Thailand reinforced troops and conducted military exercises in the areas.

The sources said that Thai troops had conducted military drills by firing live ammunition about 3 kilometres from the contentious Ta Krabey temple in Oddar Meanchey province on the morning of Friday, 28th January.

At the same time, there are reports that about 100 Thai troops have sneaked in to occupy the nearby Ta Moan Thom temple at around 7-8 p.m on Thursday night. They only withdrew from the temple at 2 p.m the next day when confronted by Cambodian troops.

In Preah Vihear province near Preah Vihear temple, there are also reports of tensions after the Thai Army reinforced their troops and conducted military drills in the areas when Cambodia refused a Thai demand to remove the Cambodian flag from the compound of Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvarak pagoda. Cambodian military sources said that on Thursday night, the Thai Army had trucked in about 8 to 9 truckloads of troops to the area and threatened to dismantle the pagoda gate and pulled down the Cambodian flag by force.

In response to the Thai threats, top Cambodian military commanders had been ordered by Prime Minister Hun Sen to move their command bases to the Khmer-Thai border areas, including Deputy Commander-in-Chief Chea dara, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Kun Kim, Gen. Srey Doek, Commander of Preah Vihear Intervention Forces, Gen. Kheng Somedh, Commander of Engineering Unit as well both Mr. Hun Sen's sons, Maj-Gen. Hun Manet, Deputy Commander of Royal Cambodian Army and Hun Manith.

At the same time, Mr. Hun Sen had ordered the Defence Ministry to reinforce border defence and to send thousands of troops and tanks to the areas.

On the morning of Friday 28th January, hundreds of tanks and armoured personnel carriers had been seen trucked out of their bases at Longvek town in Pursat province, heading toward the Khmer-Thai borders. Gen. Chea Dara cannot be reached for comments regarding the troop mobilisations. Gen. Srey Doek, when reached by telephone, refused to comment by directing all questions to 4-star Gen. Kun Kim who then said that he is on a plane and could not comment.

However, Maj-Gen. Reth Sitha, Deputy General Staff of Mr. Hun Sen's Bodyguard Unit and Commander of the Tank Unit, said that Prime Minister Hun Sen and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Gen. Hing Bunheang had ordered the transportation of tanks to the border areas in Preah Vihear province. And Lt-Gen. Chao Phirun, Director of Technical Material and Logistics at the Ministry of Defence, said that Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian commander-in-chief (Pol Saroeun) had ordered him to mobilise tanks and armoured personnel carriers to defend the Preah Vihear areas against any Thai invasion. He added that the Cambodian Army was well equipped with armoured personnel carriers, tanks, anti-aircraft missiles and multiple rocket launchers, which he said some of them had already reached the border areas on Friday.

Source: Khmerization

Two Photos Of Paris

2011-01-27T14:41:00.000-08:00

By Venerable Shravasti Dhammika

During my time in Paris I had ample opportunity to visit quite a few of the museums and monuments the city is famous for. Here are two of the many photos I took. The first is of the frieze above the mail portal of Notre Dame Cathedral. It depicts the Judgment Day. At the bottom the dead push aside their tomb stones as they come to life. Directly above this is an angel and a devil using a pair of scales to weigh the souls of the dead. A smaller devil is trying to pull one arm of the scale down, the more souls to be sent to hell. On the right a grinning devil leads the damned, chained and wailing, to hell. Note that amongst these unlucky souls is a knight, a king, a monk, and a little further along out of the picture, a bishop. On the left of the angel are the saved, crowned in glory and looking up to Jerusalem and above that, to Christ. It is a wonderful piece of sculpture. I could imagine Medieval peasants, tradesmen and burgers going into the cathedral, looking up and seeing the scene, and being filled with both hope and dread.

I took this second picture in the Cambodian gallery at Musse Guimet. Rarely have I ever seen artifacts more beautifully organized and presented. Every exhibit was a masterpiece but two that moved me most were these Buddha heads. With what skill and loving care did the Cambodian sculptors capture and then depict the Buddha’s smiling confidence and inner peace.

Egypt's Revolution by Facebook !!!

2011-01-26T07:16:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Tunisia, Egyptians began their protests online and then added hard tactics on the ground in their effort to bring down a crushingly effective police state. Mike Giglio on why President Hosni Mubarak should be worried.

Basem Fathi, an organizer of Monday’s protests in Cairo, was scrambling around the capital, trying to buy towels and tents. On a day in which tens of thousands of people thronged the streets in the type of large-scale protests that authoritarian Egypt hasn’t seen in decades, demonstrators had occupied the central Tahrir Square, where they had the parliament building surrounded. Now they looked ready to stay the night. Fathi seemed taken aback by the success. “We didn’t have a boss for this, but the heads of the protest are trying to supply some logistics,” he said. He added that he had no idea what came next. “Nobody knows. But at least people are starting to believe that they can do something—and not just today.”

Inspired by the revolution in Tunisia, the Monday protests began a little more than a week ago, with a campaign on a popular Facebook page. Even as online pledges to participate approached 90,000, however, a large-scale demonstration in the Tunisia mold seemed unlikely. The Jasmine revolution was spontaneous, sparked by a college-educated fruit vendor’s self-immolation, not an organized activist push. And Egypt is a crushingly effective police state, with a long history of imprisoning dissidents and no-holds-barred crowd control. Attempts to organize large-scale protests in Egypt tend to fall flat.

Mohamed ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood , the two opposition players most likely to draw people to the street, had offered only moral support. The Brotherhood in particular had been viewed as the only group in Egypt capable of bringing big numbers to the streets. “The pattern in the past is that there’s a lot of Internet activism, but there’s not always a big turnout on the streets,” says Jason Brownlee, a visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center who specializes in U.S.-Egypt relations.

Yet protest organizers combined an Internet savvy with hard tactics on the ground. They got online supporters to coordinate with friends and family by text and word-of-mouth as well as join with traditional activists to put up flyers and reach out to people on the street. In an interview last week, “ElShaheeed,” the anonymous administrator of the main Facebook page behind the protest, told NEWSWEEK that organizing something significant would take more than just activism on the Web. “It’s not just posting,” he said. “To get people to the streets you need to rally. Rally very hard.”

Protest organizers, who also included the April 6 Student Movement and a number of smaller opposition groups, also came up with a strategy for subverting government efforts at crowd control. In the interview, ElShaheeed said protesters would meet in three squares next to poorer areas throughout the city and converge from there on a pre-selected place. He hoped this would give the protests time to attract ordinary people from the street. Instructions to that effect were posted on the Facebook page. The plan paid off, despite the reported presence of 20,000 police. The Cairo protests began in Mostafa Mahmoud, Matraya and Shubra squares, before the crowd met to occupy Tahrir Square.

A crowd of demonstrators walk through Cairo, Tuesday Jan. 25, to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30 years in power. (AP Photo)

As many as 12 cities across the country, meanwhile, had smaller but like-minded protests under way. In the Nile Delta city of Mahallah, successive protests seemed only to gain steam, according to Ahmad Abdel Fattah, a journalist covering the events for the daily newspaper Almasry-Alyoum. An afternoon march of a couple thousand had been followed by one three times as large, he estimated, and protesters were taking the bold steps of tearing apart the Mubarak posters that lined the streets, even setting some on fire. By nightfall, a third protest was taking shape. “In the first demonstration it was mainly activists. The second group was normal people,” Fattah said.

“It’s not just Internet posting,” said ElShaheeed, the anonymous Facebook page administrator. “To get people to the streets you need to rally. Rally very hard.”

That protests so large in scale could be organized largely over the internet and independent of Egypt’s traditional opposition, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, should give Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak plenty of cause for concern, says Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center. It shows the extent to which regular Egyptians are fed up with authoritarian rule, and how quickly that frustration can spread—lending it shades of the uprising in Tunisia. “It’s not an Islamist-organized protest. This really is unprecedented. It’s just everyday Egyptians getting angry,” he says. “If I was a regime official, I’d be pacing in my room right now.”

Mike Giglio is a reporter at Newsweek.

Source: The Daily Beast

Clearing a Thicket of Wrong Views

2011-01-25T17:32:00.000-08:00

Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal translations and essays on the subject of "Right View"

Did I exist in a past lives? Who was I? Who will I become? (expirationchug.com)

The Buddha explains: An uninstructed ordinary person... does not know-and-see what ideas are fit and unfit for attention. This being so, one does not attend to ideas fit for attention and instead attends to ideas unfit for attention...

One reflects in an unbeneficial way by asking such questions as: "Was I in the past (in a former life)? Was I not in the past (arising out of chance and meaningless circumstance)? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? Having been what, what was I in the past? Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I be in the future?"

Or one is inwardly perplexed about the present: "Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going?"

Pondering in this way, one of six kinds of [WRONG] VIEW arises:

"The view I have a self arises as true and established,
or the view I have no self...
or the view, 'It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self...'
or the view, 'It is precisely by means of self that I perceive not-self...'
or the view, 'It is precisely by means of not-self that I perceive self arises as true and established,'
or else one has a view like this: 'This very self of mine -- the knower [witness, experiencer, who like Descartes concludes, "I think therefore I am"] that is sensitive here and there to the ripening of skillful and unskillful actions (karma) -- is the self of mine that is constant, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and will endure past death as long as eternity."

This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views.

Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed ordinary person is not freed from birth, aging, or death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair. One is not freed, I declare, from suffering (dukkha).

The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones... knows-and-sees what ideas are fit and unfit for attention. This being so, one does not attend to unprofitable ideas but instead attends to profitable ideas:

This is suffering (dukkha)...
This is the cause of suffering...
This is the cessation of suffering...
This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

Giving attention in this way, three fetters [binding one to samsara] are abandoned: identity-view, doubt, and attachment to precepts and practices* (MN 2). [Alternative translation of this sutra by Ven. Thanissaro at accesstoinsight.org].

*To abandon these three fetters is synonymous with gaining the first stage of Buddhist enlightenment (stream entry).

Buddhas in a Pagoda in Sagaing, Burma (allmyanmar.com)

So when is such knowledge truly one's own?

Right View

Kaccayana said to the Buddha: " 'Right view, right view,' it is said. To what extent is one in possession of right view (samma-ditthi)?"

The Buddha replied: "By and large, Kaccayana, this world focuses on two equally mistaken extremes [in view] of existence and non-existence. But when one sees the origination of the world as it actually is with right view, 'non-existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one.

"When one sees the cessation of the world as it actually is with right view, 'existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one.

"By and large, Kaccayana, this world is in bondage to attachments, biases, and things clung to [supporting conditions that sustain the illusion of there being a self independent of or embedded in the Five Aggregates of Clinging]. But one such as this does not get involved with or cling to these attachments, fixations of mind, biases, or obsessions. Nor is such a person resolved on 'my self.'

"One has no doubt that when there is arising, only suffering [Dependent Origination] itself is arising. When there is passing away, only suffering is passing away. In this, one's knowledge is independent of others. It is to this extent, Kaccayana, that there is right view" (SN 12.15).

The way to overcome biases in both directions and see things just as they are is the practice of serene-concentration (jhana, samma-samadhi), which purifies the mind, and insight-contemplation (vipassana), which pierces the illusion and reveals the liberating truth by applying the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

How to Arrive at Enlightenment"Truly, meditators, a noble [enlightened] disciple who has seen and has known (understood) -- independent of faith in others -- that 'When there is this, then there is that, that with the arising of this, that arises, with the cessation of this, that ceases...' [this is a direct reference to Dependent Origination as practiced with a purified mind during insight-meditation, not as learned in theory]. When a noble disciple thus fully knows-and-sees the arising and cessation of the world as it is, that disciple is said to be:

endowed with perfect view
endowed with perfect vision
an attainer of the true Dharma
in possession of the initiate's knowledge and skill
one who has entered the stream of the Dharma
a noble disciple replete with purifying knowledge
one who is at the very door of the Deathless" (S.II.79).

CARTOON: Enlightenment is a lot rarer and easier than people imagine.

How?

Wisdom Quarterly (SUMMARY)
It takes an accomplished teacher to guide one quickly to the goal. But in America we are taught the opposite: "Be your own guru. Buy a new book. Follow an easy plan." That's a great way to live but no way to get enlightened. Maybe a trip to Asia is necessary, but plenty of teachers from Asia now come here.

Here are the three steps if easy steps are what's needed: First, let go, which means feeling safe in a world aimed in every way at keeping us scared. Second, practice what the Buddha taught (virtue, gentle and compassionate self-restraint, the path to meditative-concentration). Third, take the mind now made tractable, with a memory suddenly enhanced by concentration, and practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

There are no rites and rituals, nothing to accept on faith, no fees to pay to a teacher, no ordination (or a temporary one is enough), no lifelong commitments or conversions. It's as easy as that.

Wisdom Quarterly has seen, met, and spoken with enlightened Westerners (even modern Americans) who did it this way! All of our Dharma study (reading and debating) -- clearing our own thicket of wrong views -- and attempts at meditation did not bring us to this conclusion. We have seen it. Our advice to readers for what to do today? Make good karma.

by Wisdom Quarterly

Tennis Players Offer Food To Monks

2011-01-24T22:53:00.000-08:00

By BC

Four international tennis players started their 2011 season by visiting Thailand recently. World No.1 Caroline Wozniaki of Denmark and world no.3 Kim Clijsters of Belgium were in the resort city of Hua Hin in Thailand for the World Tennis Invitation Exhibition match. In the match, held on new year, Kim Clijsters defeated Caroline Wozniaki. Top men's doubles of Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan of the US were also in Hua Hin to conduct a tennis clinic for talented Thai youngsters.

While in Hua Hin, Caroline and Kim took the opportunity to offer food to Buddhist monks and in return received blessings from the monks.

Veils And Veiling - A Buddhist View

2011-01-23T02:23:00.000-08:00

By Venerable Shravasti Dhammika

A veil (ogunthana) is a piece of cloth used as a covering. Some religions and cultures require women to veil themselves in public, considering it to be a sign of modesty. The Bible says women should veil themselves while in church (1 Corinthians 4-16) and the sheer veil a Western bride wears during her marriage is a leftover of this practice. In most Islamic cultures women must wear a veil to cover their hair or sometimes even their whole face when in public. At the time of the Buddha some women wore a veil although more as an equivalent to a hat than to conceal the face. But by around the beginning of the first millennium it was starting to be considered appropriate for upper-class women and those in royal households to veil their faces. This was the beginning of what is called purdah, the exclusion of women from public life, a trend that became more widespread in India with the introduction of Islam in the 13th century. Village women in India will still pull their sari over their face in the presence of males not related to them (see picture).

The Lalitavistara, a fanciful biography of the Buddha composed between about the 1st century BCE and the 3rd century CE, has an interesting story pertaining to the issue of female veiling. According to this work, after Yasodhara was selected to become Prince Siddhattha’s wife, people criticized her for not veiling herself in the presence of her father-in-law and mother-in-law. This was taken to be a sign of immodesty and willfulness. The Lalitavistara depicts the young women defending herself in these words. ‘Those who are restrained in body and behavior, measured in speech, with senses controlled, calm and at peace, why should they veil their faces? Even if covered with a thousand veils, if they are shameless and immodest, dishonest and devoid of virtue, they live in this world uncovered and exposed. Even without being veiled if their senses and their minds are well-guarded, they are faithful to one husband, never thinking of another, they shine like the sun and the moon. So why should they veil their faces? The sage reading the minds of others knows my intentions as do the gods know my conduct and virtue, my discipline and my modesty. Therefore why should I veil my face?’

Although this story is apocryphal it is in harmony with the Buddha’s idea that the psychological and the internal are more important than the material and the external.

Documenting the Ubuse Crisis in the Roman Catholic Church

2011-01-22T15:31:00.000-08:00

Barbara Blaine is the founder and President of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a national advocacy group for survivors of clerical sexual abuse. She alleges that she was sexually abused during her teenage years from junior high school until graduation (the abuse occurred from 1969–1974) by a priest. She revealed this in 1989.^[1] The priest, Chet Warren, was removed from ministry and has been defrocked after she and others came forward. Read more at: Wikipedia

WHO IS "Bisho Accountability" ???

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY "ACCOUNTABILITY"?

It is a matter of public record that U.S. bishops have knowingly transferred thousands of abusive priests into unsuspecting parishes and dioceses, placing fear of "scandal" ahead of the welfare of children. The bishops themselves have apologized for what they call their "mistake," but they say nothing about the crucial actions that constitute accountability.

For true "bishop accountability" to occur, two things must happen: 1) there must be a full "account" of the bishops' responsibility for the sexual abuse crisis, both individually and collectively, and 2) bishops who have caused the abuse of children and vulnerable adults must be "held accountable."

1) How will a full account be given? The "account" of the bishops' responsibility for the crisis has so far come through the witness of survivors, through documents unearthed by law enforcement and the legal system, through depositions taken by lawyers, and through media reports. BishopAccountability.org is dedicated to consolidating and preserving that record.

The "account" has not come from the bishops. Indeed, during this 60-year crisis they have made every effort to conceal the truth from parishioners, from victims with whom they negotiated settlements, and sometimes even from each other. In their new era of embarrassed transparency, many of them are fighting the publication of accused priests' names, and even the production of legally subpoenaed files. In our view, all diocesan and conference files relating to the crisis should be made public, so that a full accounting may begin. Every day that the bishops delay, their "moral authority" weakens further, and the damage that they have done to the Catholic church increases.

"Studies" by their own hand-picked boards, working with whatever data the bishops themselves choose to relinquish, is not a full accounting.

2) Who will hold the bishops accountable? Bishops serve at the Pope's pleasure, and he will accept the resignation of any bishop who is credibly and publicly accused of abuse (Weakland of Milwaukee WI and O'Connell of Palm Beach FL), who is indicted or arrested (O'Brien of Phoenix AZ), or who is a liability because his people and especially his priests no longer want him (Law of Boston MA).

It is our hope that the information we are collecting at BishopAccountability.org will help expose bishops who have abused children or vulnerable adults, or have aided abusers. We hope we can encourage an informed public to demand indictments of bishops where appropriate. And failing these legal remedies, we hope that our Web site will embolden priests and laity to beg the removal of culpable bishops by the Pope.

BishopAccountability.org aims to facilitate the accountability of the U.S. bishops under civil, criminal, and canon law. We document the debates about root causes and remedies, because important information has surfaced during those debates. We take no position on the root causes, and we do not advocate particular remedies. If the facts are fully known, the causes and remedies will become clear.

Source: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/Who_We_Are/

South Korean Buddhists pray for animals killed during foot-and-mouth disease epidemic

2011-01-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

SEOUL — Hundreds of South Korean Buddhist monks and believers offered prayers Wednesday for more than 1.93 million cows, pigs and other animals that have been put to death in the country's worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

The Buddhists endured subfreezing temperatures to hold the rite at Jogye Temple, the headquarters of the Jogye Order, South Korea's largest Buddhist sect.

Some monks clad in gray-and-saffron robes offered white chrysanthemums -- a traditional Korean symbol of grief -- and bowed in front of photos of animals inside the temple in central Seoul.

They also bowed toward two big golden statues of Buddha and chanted sutras before circling around a pagoda and burning mortuary tablets and incense.

The animals -- mostly pigs -- have been killed in an attempt to halt the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which was reported in November, according to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.

The highly infectious disease is often fatal for cloven-hoofed animals including cows, sheep, pigs and goats, causing blisters on the mouth and feet.

A monk named Hyechong said the temple held the rite to help guide the spirits of the animals to heaven.

"We have to do our best to make animals infected with foot-and-mouth disease die peacefully with the help of the government and citizen's groups," he said, alluding to criticism that animals have been inhumanely killed.

Quarantine workers have administered muscle relaxants before killing the animals and burying them, said Park Yong-wook, a ministry official handling the issue. He said authorities vaccinated more than 4.6 million cows and pigs as part of efforts to halt the outbreak.

However, animal-rights activists claimed that most of the pigs were buried alive. "We should not kill animals in this way," said Lee Won-bok, head of the Korea Assn. for Animal Protection.

In central Seoul, a group of about 10 activists dressed in white and wearing animal masks called on the government to introduce more humane ways to kill the animals, said Gail Jun, an official of the Korean Animal Welfare Assn.

After praying at the temple, Park Young-hae, 74, wrote a message of condolence on a small, white banner and attached it to a bulletin board. "I hope that the dead animals will go to paradise," she said.

Another banner read: "It must have been painful and you cried a lot. I hope that you go to a good place and enjoy happiness."

The disease last hit South Korea in January 2010 -- for the first time in eight years -- when more than 55,800 pigs and cows were killed, the ministry said.

-- Haeran Hyun, Associated Press
Photo: Buddhist monks attend a memorial service to mourn animals killed by foot-and-mouth disease at a temple in Seoul on Wendesday. Credit: Rim Hun-jung / Reuters

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2011/01/south-korean-buddhists-pray-for-dead-animals-.html

នាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី គម្រាមកុំឲ្យក្រុមប្រឆាំង បះបោរដូចនៅប្រទេសទុយនីស៊ី

2011-01-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

លោក ហ៊ុន សែន នាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីកម្ពុជា បានធ្វើការព្រមានមិនឲ្យក្រុមអ្នកប្រឆាំង ធ្វើការបះបោរដូចនៅប្រទេសទុយនីស៊ីឡើយ។

ដោយ លី ម៉េងហួរ

នៅថ្ងៃព្រហស្បតិ៍នេះ លោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន ដែលបានឡើងកាន់តំណែង ២៦ ឆ្នាំមកហើយ បានធ្វើការព្រមានជាថ្មី ដោយមិនឲ្យក្រុមអ្នកប្រឆាំង ធ្វើការបះបោរ ដូចនៅប្រទេសទុយនីស៊ីឡើយ។ ប្រទេសទុយនីស៊ី នៅអាហ្វ្រិកខាងជើង កំពុងកើតមានកុប្បកម្ម បង្កដោយកម្លាំងប្រជាជន ដើម្បីបណ្តេញលោក បិន អាលី ដែលកាន់អំណាច ២៣ ឆ្នាំមកហើយ ចេញពីតំណែងប្រធានាធិបតី។ ក្នុងពិធីសម្ពោធអាគារមន្ទីរពេទ្យខេត្តកំពង់ចាម នៅព្រឹកមិញ លោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន ក៏បានបញ្ជាក់ថា គណបក្សប្រឆាំង ចុះខ្សោយ ឬខ្លាំង គឺមិនចំណុះលើរូបលោកឡើយ។

ឆ្លើយតប ទៅនឹងការលើកឡើងដែលថា កម្ពុជាគួរមើលគំរូនៃការធ្វើមហាបាតុកម្ម ក្នុងប្រទេសទុយនីស៊ី ដែលបានបណ្តេញប្រធានាធិបតីចេញពីអំណាច នៅថ្ងៃព្រហស្បតិ៍នេះ លោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន បានព្រមានទុកជាមុនថា បើចង់យកប្រធានបទនៅប្រទេសទុយនីស៊ី មកធ្វើនៅកម្ពុជា ដើម្បីបះបោរបណ្តេញប្រមុខដឹកនាំប្រទេស នោះលោកនឹងចាត់វិធានការក្តៅ ដើម្បីបង្ក្រាបយ៉ាងចាស់ដៃជាមិនខាន។

វិធានការបង្ក្រាប ត្រូវបានលោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន ដែលបានឡើងកាន់តំណែងជានាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ចាប់តាំងពីថ្ងៃ១៤មករា ឆ្នាំ១៩៨៥ អះអាងថា ដើម្បីការពាររដ្ឋធម្មនុញ្ញ ក្នុងនាមជានាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ដែលជ្រើសតាំងដោយការបោះឆ្នោត។

ប្រតិកម្មរបស់លោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីយ៉ាងដូច្នេះ បានធ្វើឡើងក្នុងពិធីសម្ពោធអាគារមន្ទីរពេទ្យខេត្តកំពង់ចាម នៅព្រឹកថ្ងៃ២០មករានេះ។

មួយវិញទៀត លោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន បានលើកឡើងថា គណបក្សប្រឆាំង ដែលចុះខ្សោយសព្វថ្ងៃ មិនមែនមកពីរូបលោក ឬគណបក្សប្រជាជនទេ ប៉ុន្តែមកពីការដឹកនាំរបស់គណបក្សប្រឆាំងខ្លួនឯង។ តាមលោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី លោកនឹងមិនត្រឹមតែធ្វើឲ្យគណបក្សប្រឆាំងនៅកម្ពុជាចុះខ្សោយប៉ុណ្ណោះ ទេ ប៉ុន្តែលោកក៏នឹងធ្វើឱ្យបក្សប្រឆាំងងាប់តែម្តង។

ប្រតិកម្មរបស់លោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីដូច្នេះ បានសំដៅលើអ្នករិះគន់មួយចំនួន ជាពិសេសការរិះគន់របស់លោក ប្រេដ អាដាម នាយកអង្គការឃ្លាំមើលសិទ្ធិមនុស្សប្រចាំអាស៊ីប៉ាស៊ីហ្វិក ដែលអះអាងថា លោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី បានប្រើវិធីបំបែក ដើម្បីគ្រប់គ្រងអំណាច និងធ្វើឲ្យបក្សប្រឆាំងចុះខ្សោយ។ រីឯអ្នកវិភាគនយោបាយខ្លះ ក៏បានលើកឡើងពីព្រឹត្តិការណ៍បះបោរ នៅប្រទេសទុយនីស៊ីសព្វថ្ងៃ ដែលបានបណ្តេញប្រធានាធិបតី កាន់អំណាចជាង ២៣ ឆ្នាំ ចេញពីតំណែង នាំឲ្យប្រទេសធ្លាក់ក្នុងវិបត្តិសង្គ្រាមស៊ីវិល។

យ៉ាងណាក៏ដោយ លោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី បានបញ្ជាក់ថា ក្នុងការបោះឆ្នោត នៅឆ្នាំ២០១៣ ខាងមុខ បើសិនជាគណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជារបស់លោកចាញ់ឆ្នោត លោកនឹងចុះពីតំណែង និងប្រគល់អំណាចដល់គណបក្សឈ្នះឆ្នោត ដោយសន្តិវិធី៕

Source: rfi

Blockage of blog denied (No more blogger in Cambodia) ?

2011-01-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, 19 January 2011 21:19 Meas Sokchea and Summer Walker

The government has denied that it has ordered local internet service providers to block a domain hosting controversial antigovernment news blog KI-Media, amid reports customers of the Ezecom ISP were unable to access the site today.

A customer service representative for Ezecom, contacted by The Post today, confirmed that his manager told him to block access to the website, saying the government had informed them to shut it down.

Naly Pilorge, director of the rights group Licadho, said her staff could not access any sites on KI-Media’s blogspot.com domain through Ezecom as of this morning, and she had received similar complaints from about 15 others Ezecom customers as early as Tuesday.

She said a customer service representative had also informed her that an unidentified government ministry asked the firm to block the site on Tuesday, due the highly critical commentary posted on the website.

There have been no reports of other ISPs blocking the domain.

Ezecom CEO Paul Blanche-Horgan said he was unaware that any actions had been taken today to shut off access to the website, forwarding questions to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

Government officials contacted today also denied any action to block KI-Media.

“The ministry of posts and telecommunications did not attempt to shut them [KI media] down,” Minister of Posts and Telecommunications So Khun told reporters today.

He said, however, that the government had to “make sure that what is on the website is true” and ensure it doesn’t post any lewd images.

When contacted today, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said he did not know whether the government had ordered Ezecom to block the blogspot.com domain, but added that KI-Media deserved to be shut down.

“I don’t know, but it should be closed,” he said, due to its strong criticisms of the government.

Government spokesman and Information Minister Khieu Kanharith could not be reached for comment today.

Naly Pilorge from Licadho said that if the reports that the government had blocked the site were true, it would mark a significant narrowing of the space for public debate.

“This is a critical moment towards censorship and more repression,” she said.

“Free access to information is vital to any functioning democracy.”

KI-Media last made headlines in December, when Seng Kunnaka, a security guard employed by the United Nations World Food Programme, was charged with incitement and jailed for six months after he showed colleagues an article printed from the website.

Following Seng Kunnaka’s conviction, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told The Post that the article had referred to Prime Minister Hun Sen and Var Kimhong, the senior minister in charge of border affairs, as “traitors”. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SAMOEURN SAMBATH

Source: Phnom Penh Post

កំណាព្យ អបាយមុខ ដោយសម្ដេចព្រះសង្ឃរាជ ជ.ណ. ជោតញ្ញាណោ

2011-01-19T00:45:00.000-08:00

«អបាយមុខ» ប្រែថា ហេតុជាប្រធាននៃសេចក្ដីវិនាស ។ ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនាប្រាប់ថា អបាយមុខ, ដោយសង្ខេបមាន ៤ យ៉ាងគឺ : ១- ឥត្ថីធុត្ត ការលេងស្រី, ២- សុរាធុត្ត ការលេងស្រា, ៣- អក្ខធុត្ត ការលេង ល្បែងភ្នាល់ ឬល្បែងស៊ីសង, ៤- បាបមិត្ត មានជនប្រព្រឹត្តអាក្រក់ជាមិត្ត ។ ទាំង ៤ យ៉ាងនេះ ជប្រមុខនៃការហិនហោច ឬសេចក្ដីវិនាស ។ បណ្ដាអបាយមុខ ៤ យ៉ាងនេះ បុគ្គលណាញៀនជាប់ ទោះត្រង់អបាយមុខណាក៏ដោយ បុគ្គលនោះ ក៏រមែងតែដល់នូវការហិនហោច ឬវិនាសទ្រព្យធន បើមិនច្រើនក៏តិច ពុំដែលខានឡើយ ។

ពាក្យកាព្យបញ្ជាក់ឱ្យងាយចាំ

ពាក្យ ៧

អបាយមុខជង្រុកហិន សង្កិនឱ្យក្ដៅដួងហឫទ័យ

ច្រើននាំអ្នកលេងឱ្យសន្ធៃ យប់ថ្ងៃដេកព្រួយនឹកស្ដាយក្រោយ ។

កំពុងប្រព្រឹត្តងងឹតឈឹង លុះដល់រំពឹងឃើញញឹកញយ

ទើបបានយល់ច្បាស់ថាខ្លួនធ្លោយ ជួនក៏បណ្ដោយដេញជើងទៀត ។

ដេញជើងត្រាតែឃើញលិចលង់ រឹតតែល្ងិតល្ងង់ទ្រូងចង្អៀត

អ្នកខ្លះម្ល៉ឹងហើយនៅតែឆ្លៀត អង្រៀតនឹងស្លាប់ទើបថយក្រោយ ។

ទំរាំភ្ញាក់ខ្លួនជួនអស់ទ្រព្យ ជួនកាលធ្លាក់ជាប់ដល់រូបខ្សោយ

កើតរោគឈឺចាប់ស្លាប់បណ្ដោយ គួរឱ្យព្រឺខ្លាចអបាយមុខ ។

ហេតុនេះយុវ័នយុវតី នាងអ្នកប្រុសស្រីគួរខ្លាចទុក

ឱ្យហើយពីក្មេងទាន់មានសុខ ត្រូវខំសម្រុកប្រឹងរៀនសូត្រ ។

នាងអ្នកចូររៀនកុំធុញទ្រាន់ ទាន់វ័យនៅក្មេងត្រូវខំស្រូត

ស្រូតរៀនឱ្យទាល់តែរហូត បានដល់កោះត្រើយសឹមសម្រាក ។

វិទ្យាជាទ្រព្យដ៏ចម្បង កន្លងលើសលែងឥតទ្រព្យសាក

ជាទ្រព្យស្រាលផងមិនលំបាក វេចជាបង្វេចស្ពាយពុនរែក ។

ទៅមកយកជាប់ទៅជាមួយ វិទ្យាអាចជួយឃើញទាន់ភ្នែក

ចង់បានអ្វី ៗ វិទ្យាស្រែក ហៅទ្រព្យប្លែក ៗ ឱ្យចូលមក ។

វត្តឧណ្ណាលោម ក្រុងភ្នំពេញ, ថ្ងៃចន្ទ្រ ទី ២២ កក្កដា

សម្ដេចព្រះសង្ឃរាជ ជ.ណ. ជោតញ្ញាណោ

Source: Buddhist Institute

SUDAN, A New Nation Will Add to the World Map ???

2011-01-18T22:58:00.000-08:00

Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Updated: Jan. 10, 2011

Overview
Sudan has been at war with itself for almost its entire post-colonial history, starting in 1956. Nearly all of its major ethnic and religious groups have fought one another, and politics continues to be dominated by mistrust, outside interference and combustible animosities. There are dozens of armed groups across the country.

Now the country is getting ready for what could be the continent's biggest divorce. A long-awaited referendum on southern Sudan’s independence, set in motion by a 2005 peace agreement to stop one of Africa’s worst civil wars, began on Jan. 9, 2011. The south is expected to vote by as much as 99 percent for secession, splitting the largest country in Africa in two and taking with it most of Sudan’s oil.

Such a result could bring an end to the nearly one-million-square-mile experiment called Sudan, which for many troubled decades served as a bridge between the Arab and African world.

In its early stages the voting proceeded jubilantly and remarkably smoothly, with high expectations and few serious complaints anywhere across southern Sudan. But if the referendum passes and the south breaks off from the north, a contested area along Sudan’s north-south border where clashes have been occuring will become the next issue to resolve.

Since the peace treaty was signed in 2005, the south has been semi-autonomous, running most of its own affairs. Southern Sudan is different culturally and religiously from the northern part of the country, a contrast between Arab and Muslim influences in the north and animist and Christian beliefs in the south.

The southern leaders have rebuilt towns and invested hundreds of millions, perhaps even billions, in roads, ministries, schools and factories, much of which could be bombed into oblivion in a few days by the north’s growing air force. To keep their dreams of independence alive, the southerners seem ready to make concessions. This includes sharing the oil.

Oil may ultimately hold Sudan together. Though the south produces about 75 percent of Sudan’s crude, it is landlocked, and the pipeline to export the oil runs through the north. Cutting the flow, which provides both north and south with a huge percentage of government revenue, could be a disaster for both sides.

Oil has been behind the country's strong recent growth. According to the International Monetary Fund, Sudan's gross domestic product has nearly tripled since Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir took power in 1989. Oil exports over the past decade have propelled the nation's "longest and strongest growth episode since independence" in 1956, a World Bank report said.

Mr. Bashir handily won the country's first multiparty election in more than 20 years in April 2010. The fruits of the oil boom expansion - more schools, more roads, more hospitals, more opportunity - may explain why so many voters in northern Sudan supported Mr. Bashir, who is suspected of war crimes and is often perceived as a villain in the West.

In southern Sudan, the incumbent there, Salva Kiir, prevailed as well, winning 93 percent of the vote to remain president of that semiautonomous region.

Sudan's Explosive History

In 2005, the country's opposing political parties signed a peace accord that ended Africa's longest-running civil war, which killed an estimated 2.2 million people - 10 times as many as in Darfur. The perennial question is whether the relatively small group of Arabs who live along the northern reaches of the Nile and have historically ruled Sudan will share power and wealth in one of the most diverse populations on the continent. It was political exclusion that drove rebels in the semi-autonomous south to fight, and the same issue inspired the rebellion to the west, in Darfur, which has claimed an estimated 300,000 lives and blown up into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The peace treaty between the north and the south, which American officials helped broker and the Bush administration considered a foreign policy triumph, was supposed to address these center-versus-periphery problems head-on. For the most part, the agreement has stopped the killing in the south, which during the 1980s and 1990s became a wasteland of burned villages, slave raiders and thousands of boys - the famous Lost Boys - trudging through the bush looking for a way out.

North-south tensions go back decades, to even before Sudan's independence in 1956. The north is mostly Muslim and historically has identified with the Arab world, while many southerners are Christian and more connected to Kenya, Uganda and other sub-Saharan nations. Beyond that, there is a huge divide when it comes to development, spawned by years of inequality.

While Khartoum has its luxury hotels and shopping malls, the south is where the roads stop. Flying over it, all you see is miles and miles of emerald green. The streets of the south's biggest cities are boulevards of mud. Children go to school under trees.

Two years after the peace treaty, much of the south was heavily militarized. The reason has been that the north has grown dependent on the oil from the south and if the south secedes, the north stands to lose billions of dollars yearly.

Both the north and south have said they want to avoid another costly war, and leaders from the two sides acknowledged that they need each other - the south has most of the country's oil and the north has most of the infrastructure. But the two sides were deadlocked over the toughest issues the treaty was supposed to solve: how to draw the north-south border, how to reform a very militarized government (the standard children's school uniform in Khartoum, the capital, is camouflage fatigues), and how to split Sudan's booming oil profits.

In July 2009, an international tribunal redefined the borders of the disputed oil region by splitting the contested zone between the two sides. In its ruling, the tribunal, seated at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, overruled a decision by an international commission that Sudan's government rejected four years earlier. The ruling gives the north uncontested rights to rich oil deposits like the Heglig oil field, which had previously been placed within the Abyei region, which sits on the border between north and south. But the decision leaves at least one oil field in Abyei and gives a symbolic victory to the Ngok Dinka, an ethnic group loyal to southern Sudan and likely to vote to join it in a referendum.

Darfur and Sanctions

The International Criminal Court charged Mr. Bashir in 2009 with five counts of crimes against humanity. It was the first time the court sought to detain a sitting head of state. Defiant, Mr. Bashir lambasted the West for the indictment and ordered 13 aid organizations serving millions of people in Darfur to suspend their operations on accusations that they provided false evidence to the court.

Darfur has been the focus of international attention since 2004, when government troops and militia groups known as janjaweed moved to crush rebels who complained that the region's black African ethnic groups had been neglected by the Muslim central government. The janjaweed, backed by government troops, carried out widespread savage killings of civilians. The United Nations estimates that the conflict displaced 2.7 million who are believed to have fled their homes in the face of atrocities and the destruction of villages.

In October 2009, President Obama laid out the general aims of his Sudan policy, pledging to renew "tough sanctions" against the Khartoum government and increase pressure if it failed to improve the situation in Darfur, but also holding out the possibility of incentives if Sudan cooperated.

Violence in turbulent Darfur spiked in 2010. In May, the Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, Darfur’s most powerful rebel group, broke off peace talks that had been taking place in Doha, Qatar, after the Sudanese government rejected its demand that it be the sole negotiator for the rebels at the table. Since then, the group has been trying to reassert itself militarily, and was forced into some confrontations after neighboring Chad improved ties with Khartoum and closed off the group’s usual escape routes over the border.

It is difficult to boil down the complicated tapestry of actors in the region, especially as rebel movements have splintered and increasingly well-armed criminals have flourished in the seven years the war has dragged on.. The conflict was first set off by clashes between nomadic Arab tribes and more sedentary Africans over water supplies. With so many Africans displaced from their lands, the Arab tribes are now fighting among themselves for the spoils, and water resources are even scarcer.

Source: The New York Time

Chinese President Arrives in US for State Visit

2011-01-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

Photo: AP

Chinese President Hu Jintao, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, waves during the arrival ceremony, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011, at Andrews Air Force Base, outside Washington.

China’s President Hu Jintao has arrived in Washington for a state visit. Obama administration officials say they will not avoid difficult issues in meetings with Mr. Hu.

President Hu’s two-day visit includes two dinners with President Barack Obama. Wednesday’s state dinner is the first for a Chinese leader at the White House in 13 years and only the third in Mr. Obama’s two years in office.

A private working dinner, shortly after Mr. Hu’s arrival on Tuesday, was expected to include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and Chinese aides.

After a formal arrival ceremony Wednesday morning, the two presidents will continue their talks, with a one-on-one meeting and an expanded meeting that includes advisers.

Both sides are emphasizing their desire for cooperation. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs calls the relationship between the two countries "cooperative but competitive."

Hu Jintao's Schedule in Washington

Tuesday, Jan. 18

4 p.m.: Chinese President Hu Jintao lands at Andrews Air Force Base, outside Washington.

Wednesday, Jan. 19

9 a.m.: U.S. President Barack Obama hosts an arrival ceremony for Hu on the South Lawn of the White House.

10 a.m.: Obama holds a small meeting with Hu in the Oval Office. Obama later holds an expanded meeting with Hu in the Cabinet Room.

TBA: Obama, Hu meet for about 45 minutes with U.S. and Chinese business leaders at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

TBA: Obama, Hu hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House.

1:30 p.m.: Biden hosts a lunch in honor of Hu's delegation at the State Department.

6 p.m.: Obama welcomes Hu at the North Portico of the White House for a state dinner.

Thursday, Jan. 20

Morning: Hu visits Capitol Hill, meets Republican and Democratic congressional leaders, including heads and ranking members of key committees.

Midday: Hu delivers the main public policy address of his visit at a U.S.-China Business Council forum at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel.

Afternoon: Hu departs for Chicago.

Evening: Hu attends a dinner hosted by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

Friday, Jan. 21

TBA: Hu participates in several Chicago events, before returning to Beijing.

He told reporters Tuesday the leaders will discuss both areas of agreement and more contentious issues. "We have a relationship, as I said, that yields substantial benefits. At the same time, we have some direct and difficult challenges. Most of those will be discussed [Wednesday]," he said.

Many of the issues to be discussed are economic. The United States and China are the world’s two largest economies, and Gibbs says the U.S. will sell $100 billion in goods and services to China this year.

However, the U.S. has an enormous trade deficit with China, and some senators are threatening higher export tariffs against Beijing.

Also, U.S. officials say China’s currency is vastly undervalued, which contributes to the trade imbalance.

Gibbs said the Chinese have taken some limited steps to revalue the yuan, but the Obama administration does not believe those efforts have been adequate. "We believe that more must be done. That is an opinion that is held not just by this country but by many countries around the world," he said.

Steven Dunaway, an adjunct senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, says the Obama administration is starting to take a harder line on the currency issue. "I think there is increasing frustration, particularly on the exchange rate issue, with the pace at which the Chinese have advanced. And that has been reflected, I think, in a toughening of the stance of the administration," he said.

Differences over human rights are also expected to be on the meeting agenda.

Gibbs said Mr. Obama would continue to press his Chinese counterpart to release human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo from prison, as he has since the award was given last October.

The White House spokesman said the president has discussed human rights concerns with Mr. Hu in each of their previous seven meetings.

Chinese and American human rights activists plan to protest outside the White House on Wednesday.

At Tuesday’s White House briefing, reporters repeatedly pressed Gibbs on whether an invitation to a prestigious state dinner amounts to condoning China’s human rights policies.

The president’s spokesman responded that the invitation is simply a reflection of the growing importance of the Asian economies. "This is a dynamic region of the world, one that is growing faster than any other, and one that needs to have the full engagement of the United States of America. That has not always been the case," he said.

Mr. Obama’s other two state dinners were held for the leaders of India and Mexico.

John Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has turned down an invitation to Wednesday’s state dinner. A Boehner spokesman said the top Republican lawmaker would have a chance to meet with Mr. Hu when he visits Capitol Hill on Thursday.

From Washington, the Chinese president goes to Chicago to meet with business leaders.

Source: VOA

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