Journey through Buddhist tradition

Stephen Batchelor's new book on Buddhism provokes and challenges even as it stirs up an old debate.

What Stephen Batchelor says about what the Buddha actually taught — whether you end up embracing it or not — is undeniably startling, beautiful and visionary: Gotama, he tells us, spoke of the middle way as “an ancient path travelled upon by people in the past…On following it he came upon the ruins of a city with parks, ponds, groves, ramparts, a delightful place. He tells the king to renovate the city so it would become successful, prosperous and filled with people once again…Gotama did not say the path led to nirvana but to the restoration of a city — his teaching, the Dhamma — as a template for a civilization.”

Radical shift
Buddhism, Batchelor affirms, is “not a creedal religion but a broad culture of awakening.” His new book, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, has stirred up an old debate, dividing Buddhist circles: That the true heart of the Buddha's teaching is non-theistic, non-religious; a secular, not mystical practice. This emphasis — that the Buddha did not found a religion — is not new, but Batchelor is one of contemporary Buddhism's most respected and widely read writers and his reading that the Buddha's enlightenment “involved a radical shift of perspective than the gaining of privileged knowledge into some higher truth” has provoked, challenged (and delighted) practising Buddhists in a way that other agnostic writings on Buddhism has not.

Full report here Hindu

India exporting English to China

Beijing's publishers are lining up to check if books by Indian authors could teach Chinese students and call-centre employees better English than American textbooks. At a time when bilateral ties are strained, the neighbours are finding common ground over a foreign language. India is the country of honour at the 58-nation Beijing International Book Fair that opened on Monday with 27 Indian publishers showcasing 3,500 titles.

“The Chinese are greatly interested in copyright and translation rights for books to learn call-centre English," Sanjiv Chawla, manager of exports at the Delhi-based Orient BlackSwan told HT at the fair. “The Chinese have a fixed idea that English is best taught by the Americans and British, so we have to explain that English is like a second-language for Indians.’’

Books on Buddhism, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru are the centrepiece of India’s pavilion so that past cultural linkages strike a bond with China. But the Chinese publishers are mainly interested in India’s legacy of English education, to see if the books could be adapted to modernise Chinese teaching.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Indian focus at Beijing book fair

India, the country of honor at the Beijing International Book Fair 2010 (BIBF), which kicks off Monday, August 30, is focusing on publications on Buddha and Buddhism, works by Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and those on and by the country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru to mark 60 years of Sino-Indian diplomatic ties.

India's 27 major English language publishers also have a special exhibition of recent books centering on areas such as science and technology, children's literature, medical and social sciences and English language learning books and aids. In total, nearly 3,500 titles are on display at the India pavilion named A Courtyard of Possibilities.

The organizer said that they hope to deepen ties between Indian and Chinese publishers and intellectuals.

"The slogan of the presentation is Exploring the Middle Path, which not only connects it with the Buddhist tradition shared by India and China but also finds a connect with and echoes India's contemporary endeavors to find a common platform of social, economic, cultural and political dialogue with China," said Satish Kumar, director of India's National Book Trust (NBT), organizer of BIBF's Indian programs.

Full report here Global Times

Nalanda University finally takes shape

The countdown for the revival of the long awaited Nalanda University, once considered to be the most coveted university in the world is finally about to get over.

The Law Ministry vetted the Nalalanda University Bill, which is now expected to be tabled in the Parliament in this session.

With former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as its honorary Visiting Rector, the university is expected to have seven schools and tie-ups with international varsities, while Dr. Gopa Sabharwal will be the inaugural Rector.

The university is likely to adopt the seal of the ancient Buddhist varsity as its emblem.

Full report here IndiaEdunews

Lankan writer arrested for offending Buddhism

In a blatantly anti-democratic move, Sri Lanka police arrested writer Sarah Malini Perera, 38, on March 20 for allegedly offending Buddhism. Perera, who resides in Bahrain and was arrested while on holiday in Sri Lanka, has written two books in vernacular Sinhala detailing her conversion from Buddhism to Islam while working in the Middle East. Her lawyers filed a case on March 30 demanding her immediate release, but she remains in custody.

Lakshan Dias, Perera’s lawyer, told the World Socialist Web Site that the writer was taken into police custody by a special unit of Mirihana police station when she went to a cargo service to ask about shipping copies of her books—From Darkness to Light and Questions and Answers—overseas. “I have gone through those two books but there are no harmful things for Buddhism,” the lawyer said.

According to Dias, Perera is being held under Sri Lanka’s draconian emergency laws, with a detention order issued by the defence ministry. Police have not brought her before a court and no specific charges have been laid against her. The continuing state of emergency has been used to detain tens of thousands of young Tamils without trial since the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last May.

Full report here World Socialist Web Site

Author arrested for "offensive" books against Buddhism

Human rights activists have urged Sri Lankan authorities to free Sarah Malanie Perera who was arrested under the country’s stringent emergency laws last week for writing two books allegedly offensive to Buddhism.

Perera, a Sinhalese who converted from Buddhism to Islam more than 10 years ago, is a resident of Bahrain. She was on her way back to Bahrain from Colombo last week after spending three months here when she was arrested.

She compiled the two books written in Sinhalese while in Colombo and had got it printed here. According to reports, Perera was sending some copies through freight when she was apprehended. The arrest of the 38-year-old author came in the same week the Sri Lankan government said it will not allow rapper and R&B singer Akon to perform in Colombo because one of his music videos was found to have demeaned Buddhism.

Police here have remained tight-lipped about Perera’s arrest.  Police spokesperson, SSP P Jayakody, told HT that he was waiting to get more details from the concerned police officers. "I have asked for a report,’’ he said. The Bahrain-based Gulf Daily News reported that the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) secretary-general Dr Abdulla Al Deerazi has said that it would do everything it could to bring her back.

Full report here Hindustan Times 

Myanmarese writer Ma Thida, in India for the recent Jaipur Literature Festival, opens up about what it means to be a doctor and an activist and how the two impact her writing.

Ma Thida, writer, human rights activist, and practising surgeon from Myanmar, has deconstructed her role in life and abides by her beliefs, convictions and her writer's instincts with a simplicity that both charms and puzzles.

The author of The Sunflower and In the Shade of an Indian Almond Tree, among others, Thida has also documented the damage done to her country by successive repressive regimes. “I have been writing since 1985, 15 years already. Why should I give up writing?” In 1993, she was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for “endangering public peace, having contact with illegal organisations, and distributing unlawful literature.”

Way of release
She found a way of release through Vipassana and meditation. “I started reading Buddhist teachings at the age of 13, so my first exposure to reading was through religious books. I went to a meditation retreat when I was 16 or 17 but it was without a calling from the heart. As a Buddhist I had to do it. But when I had to serve a term for 20 years, I thought ‘Why not take advantage of being in prison to change my life and get out of the cycle to find total liberation… not physical freedom but total freedom. So I meditated for 20 hours. When I was younger, I used to be aggressive, angry, arrogant. After Vipassana, I changed.”

On being both doctor and writer, she says, “I started writing when I began medical school so both go together; it's not a big deal. I manage both since I write from my heart. I am happy to read anything. I like autobiographies; I love to know about people. Fiction is my next choice. Some people's lives have touched me, like Gandhi and Mother Teresa.”

Full report here The Hindu