Prayers, Inner & Outer Action for Burma

sunny sun-downer, with freshly-shaven head (1st time since grade school), cut in solidarity & in mourning, protests the myanmar military's brutal attacks on the thousands of peaceful Burmese Buddhist demonstrators for democracy, in Hollywood Calif. on Sat. Oct. 6, 2007 (gregorian calendar).

This is one of many messages I sent out to my list the first week of October, 2007 (g.c.)
(What the Burmese Buddhist Monks & their supporters
were undoubtedly chanting when being taken away to be tortured &/or murdered...

While outward activism for Burma is essential...

This can help us the most in dealing with it inwardly...-=0=-)

www.bpf.org

You may have read that the Burmese monastics and lay people have been chanting the Buddha's words on loving kindness or "metta" during many of their marches.
If you do not know it already, here are the words in Pali and in English.

The Karaniya Metta Sutta

the Buddha's discourse on Loving Kindness

1
Karaniyam atthakusalena
Yan tam santam padam abhisamecca
Sakko uju ca suju ca
Suvaco c'assa mudu anatimani

This is what should be done

By one who is skilled in goodness

Having glimpsed the state of perfect peace,

Let them be able, honest and upright,

Gentle in speech, meek and not proud.

2
Santussako ca subharo ca
Appakicco ca sallahukavutti
Santindriyo ca nipako ca
Appagabbho kulesu ananugiddho

Contented and easy to support,

With few duties, and simple in living.

Tranquil their senses, masterful and modest,

without greed for supporters

3

Na ca khuddam samacare kinci
Yena viññu pare upavadeyyum
Sukhino va khemino hontu
Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta

Also, let them not do the slightest thing

That the wise would later reprove.

Let them cultivate the thought:

May all be well and secure,

May all beings be happy

4
Ye keci panabhut'atthi
Tasa va thavara va anavasesa
Digha va ye mahanta va
Majjhima rassakanukathula

Whatever living creatures there be,

Without exception, weak or strong,

Long, huge or middle-sized,

Or short, minute or bulky

5

Dittha va yeva adittha
Ye ca dure vasanti avidure
Bhuta va sambhavesi va
Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta

Whether visible or invisible,

And those living far or near,

The born and those seeking birth,

May all beings be happy

6
Na paro param nikubbetha
Natimaññetha katthacinam kanci
Byarosana patighasañña
Naññamaññassa dukkham iccheyya

Let none deceive another

Or despise any being in any state;

Let none wish others harm

In resentment or in hate.

7
Mata yatha niyam puttam
Ayusa ekaputtam anurakkhe
Evampi sabbabhutesu
Manasam bhavaye aparimanam

Just as with her own life

A mother shields her child,

her only child, from hurt

Let all-embracing thoughts

For all beings be yours.

8

Mettañ ca sabba-lokasmim
Manasam bhavaye aparimanam
Uddham adho ca tiriyanca
Asambadham averam asapattam

Cultivate a limitless heart of goodwill

For all throughout the cosmos,

In all its height, depth and breadth --

Love that is untroubled

And beyond hatred or enmity.

9
Titthañ caram nisinno va
Sayano va yavat'assa vigatamiddho
Etam satim adhittheyya
Brahmam etam viharam idhamahu

As you stand, walk, sit or lie,

So long as you are awake,

Pursue this awareness with your might:

It is deemed the Divine Abiding- here and

now.

10
Ditthiñca anupagamma silava
Dassanena sampanno
Kamesu vineyya gedham
Na hi jatu gabbhaseyyam punar eti't

i

Holding no more to wrong views,

A pure-hearted one, having clarity

of vision, being freed from all sense desires,

Is not born again into this world.

--  

..· ´*¸ ¨¨)) -::-

Feel Love´¨¨))

((¸¸.·´ .. ·´ -- and when you do...everything around you transforms...

-- ((¸¸. ·´

Olivia de Haulleville, C.Ht, CATS - Holistic Consultant

Check out "Pilgrimage to Java" at Amazon.com or:

http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-14861-1

Chevron's Pipeline Is the Burmese Regime's Lifeline
By Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate
Posted on October 3, 2007, Printed on October 4, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/64310/
The image was stunning: tens of thousands of saffron-robed Buddhist monks marching through the streets of Rangoon [also known as Yangon], protesting the military dictatorship of Burma. The monks marched in front of the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was seen weeping and praying quietly as they passed. She hadn't been seen for years. The democratically elected leader of Burma, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since 2003. She is considered the Nelson Mandela of Burma, the Southeast Asian nation renamed Myanmar by the regime.
After almost two weeks of protest, the monks have disappeared. The monasteries have been emptied. One report says thousands of monks are imprisoned in the north of the country.
No one believes that this is the end of the protests, dubbed "The Saffron Revolution." Nor do they believe the official body count of 10 dead. The trickle of video, photos and oral accounts of the violence that leaked out on Burma's cellular phone and Internet lines has been largely stifled by government censorship. Still, gruesome images of murdered monks and other activists and accounts of executions make it out to the global public. At the time of this writing, several unconfirmed accounts of prisoners being burned alive have been posted to Burma-solidarity Web sites.
The Bush administration is making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime. President Bush declared increased sanctions in his U.N. General Assembly speech. First lady Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements. Explaining that she has a cousin who is a Burma activist, Laura Bush said, "The deplorable acts of violence being perpetrated against Buddhist monks and peaceful Burmese demonstrators shame the military regime."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, "The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place." Keeping an international focus is essential, but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron.
Fueling the military junta that has ruled for decades are Burma's natural gas reserves, controlled by the Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron, the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm. Offshore natural gas facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma's Yadana pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military.
The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.
Chevron's role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. According to Marco Simons, U.S. legal director at EarthRights International: "Sanctions haven't worked because gas is the lifeline of the regime. Before Yadana went online, Burma's regime was facing severe shortages of currency. It's really Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers."
The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997. A loophole exists, though, for companies grandfathered in. Unocal's exemption from the Burma sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron.
Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.
Human-rights groups around the world have called for a global day of action on Saturday, Oct. 6, in solidarity with the people of Burma. Like the brave activists and citizen journalists sending news and photos out of the country, the organizers of the Oct. 6 protest are using the Internet to pull together what will probably be the largest demonstration ever in support of Burma. Among the demands are calls for companies to stop doing business with Burma's brutal regime.
Amy Goodman is the host of the nationally syndicated radio news program, Democracy Now!
© 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/64310/


------ End of Forwarded Message

---

From: Tal Car [mailto:tal4tibet@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2007 9:00 AM
To: tal4tibet@yahoo.com
Subject: Support the Monks, Free Burma: Global Day of Action Saturday October 6, Washington DC Noon

A request to pass this on...

Yesterday, a large group of Buddhists drew together for an evening of meditation and prayer in front of the Burmese Embassy at 2300 S Street, NW in Washington, D.C. There was much positive energy and confidence that with increased attention to the suffering of monks and all oppressed people in this country that change can occur.

You likely know of the estimated 4,000 monks that were dragged from their monasteries and sent to internment camps in remote areas of Burma. Many more people than were officially reported died, including monks who were brutally beaten to death. Many are missing, others are fleeing.

More information is found at the following link

http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/

Saturday, at noon, a larger group of people will gather to rally and march to the Chinese and Indian Embassies.

Many of us have campaigned for Tibet and continue to do so. It took many years for us to learn of the millions of Tibetans and Chinese who died due to ruthless, one party rule, to wake up, to act. And of course, we continue to do so, to both wake up and to act.

Burmese have been dying for many years now too, and like many, I only wake up now to what is happening. Let's turn our attention to helping our brothers and sisters inside Burma as well as those inside Tibet, and of course, broadening our vision to a world that may one day live in religious freedom and peace.

"Wear Red to Show You're for the Monks."

God-Goddess Bless Code Pink!

"What part of 'War is a violation of human rights' don't you understand, Rep. Lantos?!" (God-Goddess Bless Code Pink!)
Assemblage of Facts & Commentary by Sunny Sun-Downer-=0=-

From the website of Senator Tom Lantos (D-CA): "The Congressional Human Rights Caucus was founded in 1983 by Congressman Tom Lantos and former Congressman John Edward Porter (R-Illinois). Tom Lantos serves as the Democratic co-chairman and Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) serves as the Republican co-chairman. The Human Rights Caucus was established to focus broad bipartisan attention on individual civil and human rights, which are America's legacy to the world. The Congressional Human Rights Caucus, which is open to participation by all Members of Congress, is the leading voice in the Congress in defense of human rights."

Bono Praises Sen. Lantos as U2 receives Human Rights award at Chile's National Stadium

�AI

Related documents Ambassador of Conscience Award 2005 (Real Media) 02/27/2006 Ambassador of Conscience Award 2005 (Windows Media) 02/27/2006

Press release, 02/27/2006

"The broad range of human rights organizations present at the ceremony clearly show that human rights in the 21st century need to look beyond prison walls and into the lives of women, men and children marginalized through discrimination and poverty, deprived of basic human rights. Human rights concerns in Chile and in all the Americas are not just a thing of the past, we need to understand what that means for us today" said Margarita Byler, Amnesty International Senior Director of International Mobilization - in Chile on behalf of Irene Khan, Amnesty International Secretary General.

Amnesty International's representatives noted how thousands of people in Chile and across the Americas continue to suffer grave human rights abuses - including torture, injustice, discrimination and lack of access to basic rights such as work, health, land and education.

"Who is accountable for those human rights abuses? It is those governments who defend the use of torture and ill treatment; those governments, corporations and armed groups who persist in abusing the rights of the very people they claim to protect or in whose defense they claim to act." Said Margarita Byler.

"There are still people in this country that are silent, they're sick with their secrets. Their secrets are making them sick. I would like to say to them, this is the moment, the beginning of a new Chile, to set you free from those secrets," Said Bono, leader of U2.

"US Congressman Tom Lantos was, as a child, taken to the death camps in Hungary, by the Nazis. He said that the things that haunted him the most in his life was not the brutal treatment of the Nazis but the things that haunted him later on his life were the faces of the passers by, who saw them as children being put on trains and sent to the concentration camps. The mute faces. The silence. Not asking questions..."

"So, when it comes to the poor that you have in Chile, I would like to say that we will not turn away because we know where these people are going. We will go down to the train and we will lie on the tracks and that is our job as artists and as human beings," said Bono.

Sunny Sun-Downer comments: And Yet Mr. Lantos, you have the nerve to silence & have illegally arrested brave U.S. Citizens who are doing something to counter what haunted you. These Code Pink Organization members are the very "passers-by" you were asking for when you were being shipped off to the German concentration camp.
Ms. Ali-Fairooz and these women have the opposite of "the mute faces...", the opposite of "the silence, not asking questions..."! that Bono told the world has haunted you... THEY ARE "going down to the trains & laying down on the tracks..." because nobody else will...
NOW this is what I find REALLY IRONIC & OH-SO-HYPOCRITICAL Mr. Lantos: You, just a week before at Capitol Hill, gave deep words of praise to the world's most famous yet most humble War Protester: His Holiness Dalai Lama of Tibet, in your speech at the Congressional Medal of Honor Award Ceremony that came about from legislation that YOU CO-AUTHORED!!!
And you've continually pressed for sanctions against the repressive Myanmar military regime and heralded the cause of human rights on many other fronts here in the U.S. & internationally.
Are certain wars alright but others not?
So all I can do is continually ask you, Mr. Lantos... "What part of 'War is a violation of Human Rights'' do you not understand!?!"
I was "Shocked & Awed" when I saw the name of the Calif. Senator that I had nothing but praise for the week before- for his praise of the Dalai Lama... apparently siding with the Cheney-BushCo. Administration against letting these brave "passers-by" exercise their 1st Amendment Rights! But that would coincide with the U.S. President-select likewise giving nothing but praise to the world's most famous Buddhist Monk for his struggle for peace & human rights for the Tibetan people at the same ceremony, and a week later asking for another $196.4 BILLION MORE for his War-Based-On-Lies... wouldn't it?
-Sunny Sun-Downer
ConchusTimes.org

`Bloodied' anti-war protester gets in face of `criminal' Rice

Oct 25, 2007 04:30 AM

WASHINGTON�An anti-war protester waved blood-coloured hands in U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's face at a congressional hearing yesterday and shouted "war criminal!" before being pushed away and detained by police.

"The blood of millions of Iraqis is on your hands!" yelled protester Desiree Anita Ali-Fairooz of the Code Pink organization.

Rice, an architect of U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraq policy, appeared unfazed by the incident, which occurred when she entered a House of Representatives meeting room to testify at a hearing on U.S. Middle East policy.

"Out!" shouted the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Representative Tom Lantos, as security men and police hustled the woman away. The California Democrat also ordered the removal of several other Code Pink activists.

Capitol police said later five people were arrested, including Ali-Fairooz, who was charged with disorderly conduct and assault on a police officer.

Meanwhile, two Code Pink activists who were denied entry into Canada because their arrests for protesting the Iraq war landed them on an FBI-run database say they will try again to enter the country today.

The activists and their supporters presented petitions Tuesday at Canadian consulates in several U.S. cities, demanding Canada reverse what they say is a policy that keeps foes of the Iraq war from visiting.

Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel and diplomat, was turned back at the border along with fellow Code Pink member Medea Benjamin on Oct. 3. She said they plan to fly to Ottawa today in the hopes of attending a public forum organized by NDP MP Alexa McDonough.
For videos of the event & great ideas on how you can "Stop The Next War Before It Starts:
http://www.codepink4peace.org/

Comment Posted on Rep. Lantos' website-
Subject:
Unlawful arrest and harassment of peace people

To:
Rep. Tom Lantos

October 25, 2007

I was surprised to see Tom Lantos interfering with the freedom of speech of courageous Americans of CODE PINK trying to stop the slaughter in Iraq. Condi Rice and all of the Bush Admin. have blood on their hands. We elected Democrats to stop this war. Tom, who is your constituency?? What do you believe in? Where do you stand?
P_______
Oakland , CA

Here's a letter I was inspired to write today & send to the Desert Sun, the Idyllwild Town (En)Crier and the Lost Angeles Times...
Will they print it?
Time will tell...
-=0=-

The "paved" road known as 8th Street between Palm Dr. & Cactus street in Desert Hot Springs that I've driven to work on for over 4 years has, in that time, reminded me of explosion-ridden roads I've seen in reports of the Iraq War. Hmm... well, it would make sense that it's been in a total state of dis-repair for that amount of time, as that is when this war started. Hmm... come to think of it, all of the over 276,000 U.S. National Guard troops that have that have been serving over there, many, more than one tour, were sorely missed during the recent week of So. Calif. fire storms. Half the Guard's equipment, like all-terrain vehicles, generators, tents, etc., also sorely missed that week, is over there. Along with the current administration's saber-rattling over Iran come rumors of bomber jet planes readying for attack, while DC-10s with a payload of 12,000 gallons of fire-retardant are too few and far between here in California.
This administration has spent $604 billion dollars so far on the Iraq & Afghanistan wars. They are currently asking $196.4 billion more this year for a war that, some people seem to keep forgetting, is based on lies. The Congressional Budget Office now estimates the Iraq and Afghanistan War will cost over $2.4 trillion or $8,0000 for each Calif. resident over the coming decade. I still don't see how our congressional representative Mary Bono & the others of like mind justify these expenditures instead of allocating their use for our infrastructure improvements, police and firefighting, human social services, education, environmental action... the list goes on. These are my thoughts as I bounce down 8th Street.

The Dawn of the Conchus Times Blog

I sunny sundowner hereby do solemnly pledge to make this world better for the sake of all beings by communicating to the world the Truth of the Fully Awakened State of the Ancestors and Lineage-holders who guide us from the Pure Land... (& to help people remember that the label "Buddha" refers to "Fully Awakened Mind, Un-obscured by defilements & illusion- that which separates...)-=0=-