Barbara's Buddhism Blog

What is "angry monk syndrome"? John Whalen-Bridge, co-editor of a series of books on Buddhism, coined the phrase to refer to the growing political activism of Asia's Buddhist monks. In an article published in Himal Southasian, Whalen-Bridge writes that to most people Buddhist monks represent detachment and other-worldly spiritual values. Yet angry monk syndrome (AMS) is on the rise.

"The period from mid-2007 to mid-2008 has, however, been marked by numerous outbreaks of AMS," Whalen Bridge writes. Last September, monks in Burma (Myanmar) protested government policies. This past March, monks in Tibet led anti-government demonstrations. Recently, South Korean monks protested importing beef from the U.S. because of a concern over "mad cow" disease. Monks of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam also are engaging in political and social activism.

There actually is a long tradition of social engagement on the part of Buddhist monks. Indeed, in most traditions the ideal is the enlightened master who returns to the world to benefit others. But Whalen-Bridge notes that in no time in the past have so many monks seemed so angry. Engaged Buddhism or enraged Buddhism?

See also "Asia's Angry Monk Syndrome" by Megawati Wijaya in Asia Times.

The wildfires threatening Tassajara Zen Mountain Center near Big Sur, California, moved no closer to the monastery on Friday and Saturday. However, the blogger of Sitting With Fire reported last night that the fire is more active now. The weather is getting hotter and windier.

Fire officials said the Basin Complex fire, near Big Sur, was pressing against containment lines in the south, and in the east was moving toward the narrow gravel road that leads to the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, where a group of monks remained behind to fight the flames.

Click "Read More" for the recap.

A few days ago a Canadian journalist reported on the strange absence of Buddhist monks from the streets of Lhasa, Tibet. Now Jane McCartney of the Times of London reports that few monks remain in Lhasa's three main monasteries, Drepung, Sera and Ganden. Each monastery had several hundred monks in residence before the March demonstrations, and now they are nearly empty.

McCartney says dozens, if not hundreds, of monks have been detained by Chinese authorities because of their suspected role in violent protests that rocked Lhasa last March before spreading to other parts of Tibet. This did not account for the empty halls of the monasteries, however.

Now Tibetan sources say more than 1,000 additional monks have been imprisoned or placed in detention camps. McCartney says the "detained monks are all young ethnic Tibetans from surrounding regions who had made their way to Lhasa, their spiritual capital, to study and pray in the most prestigious spiritual centres on the Roof of the World."

Today's Monterey County (California) Herald features a story by Dennis Taylor on the effort to save Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, thought to be the oldest Buddhist monastery in the Western Hemisphere, from being consumed by fire. Fire fighters who have seen their work have told the monks of Tassajara the the complex is defendable. Still, the threat is far from over.

The San Francisco Zen Center website has a map showing the fires in relation to Tassajara. According to SFZC, "The fires continue to move slowly down Tassajara Creek Canyon; in Willow Creek Canyon they have moved about one mile towards Tassajara and are now at the intersection of the Tony Trail and Willow Creek; there is no new activity at the Oryoki Bowls."

I will update this blog post if there are any new developments today.

Fires continue to creep toward Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, according to the San Francisco Zen Center web site. As explained in the three previous blog posts, TZMC is a Soto Zen monastery in the Carmel Valley/Big Sur area of California. It is, I believe, the oldest Buddhist monastery in the Western Hemisphere.

I want to share with you something else I found on the San Francisco Zen Center web site. Last night Senior Dharma Teacher Blanche Hartman led a well-being ceremony for Tassajara, the monks remaining behind to save the buildings, and all beings affected by the fires. SFZC has posted excerpts from this beautiful ceremony.

The service began with chanting of the Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo, an evocation of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. Then the participants chanted for the benefit of Tassajara and all those fighting the wildfires, and Blanche Hartman asked,

"What is this? What are we doing when we do a chant like this? What are we calling on when we call on the great compassionate mind of Avalokiteshvara? I think this is an expression of our faith and devotion and it’s a calling forth of the great compassionate mind of each one of us and turning our intention and attention toward whoever we’re dedicating it to. It’s calling up our compassionate mind. Avalokiteshvara is just the combination of all of the compassionate minds of all of us together [and that’s what] make[s] Avalokiteshvara appear in the world.”

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center near Big Sur, California, remains in jeopardy from uncontrolled wildfire. A crew of monks remains at Tassajara to fight fires and save buildings. As of this writing, the facilities and the monks are all right.

Eric Bailey and Francisco Vara-Orta write in today's Los Angeles Times that the U.S. Forest Service, while cautiously optimistic, remains concerned that winds could whip up the flames and send them toward Tassajara.

A news video from KION television shows the crew of monks at Tassajara preparing to fight the fire. Tassajara students blogging at Sitting With Fire report that the crew at Tassajara requested a copy of Gary Snyder's Smokey the Bear Sutra. Of course.

Latest word from California is that wildfire has not yet touched Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, although the threat is still very real.

Tassajara is the oldest Japanese Soto Zen monastery in the United States, possibly the oldest Buddhist monastery in the Western Hemisphere, and for the past several days wildfires have threatened it on three sides. The guests and most of the residents evacuated nearly a week ago. However, a crew of monks, priests and students remain behind to fight fires.

Eric Bailey and Steve Chawkins write in the Los Angeles Times about the firefighting monks of Tassajara. The crew has cut branches, laid out fire hoses, and they are prepared to don flame-resistant fire jackets and helmets and stamp out spot fires if it comes to that.

The firefighting monks are prepared to leave Tassajara if lives are threatened. Even so, local authorities have asked them to provide the names of their dentists, for identification purposes.

Wildfires sweeping Big Sur have threatened Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, a mountain retreat affiliated with the San Francisco Zen Center. Garrett Therolf writes for the Los Angeles Times that the remote Zen center is being threatened by fire on three sides. This morning a blaze jumped a fire line just south of the Zen center and consumed 10 acres before firefighters got it under control.

The San Francisco Zen Center reports on its web site that most of the staff and crew of Tassajara evacuated on Wednesday. However, according to Therolf of the L.A. Times, some monks have remained behind to fight the fire if necessary. You can read updates on Tassajara at Sitting With Fire.

Tassajara is the oldest Japanese Soto Zen monastery in the United States. It was established in 1966 by the San Francisco Zen Center while Shunryu Suzuki was abbott. It is located in the Ventana Wilderness inland from Big Sur.

Photo Caption: Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, steps leading to zendo.

Photo Credit: Surharper/flickr, Creative Commons License Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Beginning in March 2001, the Taliban destroyed two giant statues of the Buddha that had stood in central Afghanistan since the 7th century. The Taliban initially shot rifles and stinger missiles at the statues, which had been carved from the side of a sandstone cliff. Then they used mines, bombs and dynamite. Finally the old statues were reduced to rubble.

Bamiyan was a thriving Buddhist religious site from the 2nd to the 9th centuries, with many monasteries and temples full of beautiful Indo-Greek art. The two giant standing figures depicted the Buddhas Vairochana (53 meters, or about 174 feet high) and Shakyamuni (37 meters, or 121 feet high). They were the largest standing Buddha statues in the world.

Aryn Baker writes at Time.com that the statues may be rebuilt. Original fragments of the statues could be pieced together with cement or other materials, which is the same technique used to repair Angkor Wat in Cambodia. However, if less than 50 percent of the pieces can be found, the rebuilt statues would be considered replicas, not restored originals.

Even if sufficient pieces were recovered, some people of the region want to leave empty the niches where the Buddhas used to stand, as a reminder of the brutality of the Taliban. What do you think?

After waves of violent demonstrations rocked Tibet in March 2008, the government of China closed Tibet to foreign visitors. Tibet re-opened this week, three days after the Olympic torch relay passed through Lhasa. I've published a photo gallery of images taken over the weekend in Lhasa that paint a stark picture of Buddhism in Tibet.