Buddha

A 112-year-old nun who is one of the two oldest currently living in Taiwan, proclaimed that her secret to a long life was simply to practice Buddhism. She is from the central area of Taiwan’s Nantou County.

Liu Ching-huan was brought to Taiwan from China’s Sichuan Province, where she was born, when the late President Chiang Kai-shek’s forces pushed her along with many others out of the province. In 1965 at a young age, she was ordained at a Buddhist temple in the county’s Puli Township.

She is currently taken care of by a nurse at a government-funded nursing home since August of 2010 and is in overall good health although she is in a wheelchair.

Liu’s caregiver said that just last month, Liu travelled on the Taiwan High Speed Railway to attend the Face of Changing Phase which is a photo exhibition that highlights Taiwan’s centenarians and the Republic of China centennial.

Liu who has devoted her life to the teachings of Buddhism still enjoys reading the religious classics related to the religion.

Liu told the Nantou Magistrate Lee Chao-ching that chanting “Nam Amitofo” is the secret to a long life. Chao-ching presented her with the centenarian cash gift plus a gold pendant with a peach-shaped “Shoutao.” This is a symbol commonly used to celebrate the birthdays of elders in the community.

Director general of the county’s government department of social affairs, Lin Jung-sen said that the other oldest living women is coincidentally also the same age as Liu and lives in Hulaien County in eastern Taiwan.

Currently in the Nantou County, there are 13 men and 29 women equalling a total of 42 centenarians. Majority of the living individual practice Buddhism and 14 of them will be celebrating their 100th birthday this year, Jung-sen said.

Buddhist temples span across India

By Sandeep Sharma

No less a person than Mahatma Gandhi once estimated that nearly a quarter of Hindus had converted to Islam over the past on thousand years. How true is this statement ?

Hinduism has been associated with the Indian subcontinent since time immemorial. The teachings of the sages of the Vedas emanate from the mists of the past with a chain of Gurus and Saints stretching to the modern day. Amongst the myriad of thoughts coming from this ‘land of saints’ range from the pure stream of Vedanta to the mystical experiences of a Mirabai and to the compassion of Guatam Buddha.

By the dawn of the first millennia CE the Hindu world straddled across the same contiguous region as the Buddhist world. Stretching from the islands of the Indonesian archipelago to the wild regions of Central Asia. The Buddhists with an organized priesthood had ranged furthest with missions to the island of the Indian Ocean and across the Himalayas into China and beyond.

A happy coexistence with little conflict to the point where it was common for people of the same region, tribes and even families to be both Hindu and Buddhist. The kings of the nations under Dharma or Dhamma would donate equally to both religious centres and preachers without distinction.

This however all began to change in the seventh century. The Arab tribes erupted from their desert homes armed with the zeal of a new faith Islam burst into the lands of these ancient faiths. The age old faith of Zoarasterism and Eastern Christianity was almost obliterated within a generation up to and including the venerable Persian lands.

After reaching Sindh a decisive repulse from a coalition of Hindu kings in the battle of Rajasthan in 738 AD the Arabs turned their attention to the north. The Chinese empire was defeated in the Battle of Talas in 751 AD and the field of Central Asia with its patchwork of predominantly Buddhist kingdoms was laid open.

What followed was a relentless pressure of Islamisation which lasted for the next two centuries. In this time with the tides of warfare ever changing the Buddhist kingdoms began to fall one by one.

The destruction of the monasteries and murders of their priests led to a leaderless Buddhist community being unable to resist the pressures of the Islamic missionaries and soldiers. A stream of refuges and priests began to head for the spiritual homeland of India lending vigour to the infancy of the much acclaimed bhakti movement. By the end of the millennia the Buddhists had almost been wiped of the map of Central Asia to the borders of India and Tibet and the newly Islamised Turk tribes now eyed the vast Indian subcontinent.

Here meeting sterner resistance after a wave of incursions on an around 1000 AD the Turks eventually broke into the subcontinents around 1200AD leading to a tidal wave of bloodletting that has scarce comparison in human history. The Buddhist regions of Afghanistan and Western Punjab fell rapidly to the Islamic crusaders as did the far flung regions of predominantly Buddhist East Bengal. The same story of Central Asia was repeated with the destruction of the great Buddhist centres like at Nalanda and the slaying of their organised priesthood leaving a confused and leaderless populace.

The Hindus however reacted differently. The existence of numerous tribes and clans and religious groupings led to a deficiency in common action. However each region and tribe despite the destruction of many temples and slaughter of holy men managed to maintain its viability. The absence of an organized priesthood and single doctrine foiled the Turk and Afghan attempted to obliterate the Hindu religion. The defeat of a single Hindu clan in a particular region was quickly replaced by another Hindu tribe/warrior community to fill the vacuum almost instantly. After overwhelming the mainly Buddhist regions the Turks found themselves holding certain urban centres in a sea of Hindu resistance.

The burgeoning bhakti movement helped by the headlong demise of Buddhism, though no Buddhist ideas expanded to cover the entire subcontinent in a challenge to the nascent Islamistation in many regions.

The bloodletting continued. The Muslims historian Firishta in his book Tarikh i Farishta talks of tens and thousands of Muslim solders having to immigrate to India each year to cover the losses in the endless wars with the Hindus. The Hindu kings being pushed back by the heavy Turk Cavalry which had defeated the Crusaders of Western Europe adopted tactics to harry and punish Muslim warriors at each and every opportunity. A bloody stalemate was reached in which it began to dawn on the Muslim armies that the Hindus could not be wiped out in the same manner as the Jews, Zoroastrians, Pharsees, and the erstwhile Buddhists of west and South Asia.

What happened was a regeneration of Hindu thought. A reaction based on dogged resistance backed by religious inspiration. The inspiration allowed the Hindus to stop the Arabic Jihad in its tracks after overwhelming all resistance from the border of India to Spain. It foiled the Turks for three hundred years whilst they beat back the combined might of the Europe in the Crusades. The waves of attacks emanating from central Asia were beaten back on numerous occasions and eve after the plundering and penetrative raids of Mahmud Ghaznnavi and two centuries later of Mohammed Ghori the fighting did not end. Indeed whilst the hapless Buddhists of South Asia were almost wiped from the face of the subcontinent with a large number falling under the flag of the ummah the Hindus crucially proved the ability to regenerate.

The open system of worship without a central authority and a defined priest hood or single place of pilgrimage allowed Hinduism to resist, adapt, regenerate and eventually thrive in the face of genocidal attack. The Muslim historians whilst lauding the achievements of their kings in entering and establishing rule in India lamented their failure to convert the land into the land of Islam. Eventually realising the futility of their operations we have the sight of the Mughal emperor , Akbar renouncing traditional Islam and establishing his own Din i Ilahi in line with the syncretic traditions of the people. When his successor broke this tenuous compromise the Empire was broken into pieces with predominantly Hindu warrior lands rising over its ruins and obliterating the Islamic rule. Indeed by the time of the advent of the British the surviving Muslims kings either had folded to the new Hindu revival or ran into the waiting arms of the British Empire for protection.

Buddhism is happily making a return to India, the land of its origin. Pilgrims from East Asia and the Americas now make pious journeys to the land of Buddha’s Birth. It is however a sober reminder to humanity of the need to preserve an ethos of toleration and acceptance and resistance in the face of genocidal terror. It is the lesson of the history of Hinduism.

The truths of conversion are far more complicated than envisaged by modern day self proclaimed scholars. The idea of a mono religious India prior to the Islamic invasions defies historical truth. A multi cultural, multi religious India was assailed by the determined forces of monotheistic jihad. The end of a millennia of attack saw nearly a quarter of the subcontinent embrace the middle eastern faith but the concept that a uniformly Hindu nation became in part Muslim is a falsehood. The very word for ‘idol breaker’ is but shikan – (lit- breaker of the Buddha) a tragic reference to the obliteration of the once widespread Buddhist faith from the lands of its birth and beyond. In contrast – though suffering terrible pain the Hindus resisted, regenerated and in parts expanded showing clearly that the values of Dharma are essential not only for survival but for the very future of mankind

‘…What is to emerge? In what way will the soul of Tibet manifest? What will be the new religious-spiritual experience after the ordeal of the “labour pains” is over? Of this we cannot as yet be certain. But it is sure that the soul of Tibet awaits a higher manifestation, a field wherein it can express the higher triad of planets and the quarter of Unity [last quarter] of the zodiac. It could no longer survive under the yoke of Scorpio, imprisoned in the area of the Asteroid belt, so to speak – thrust to and fro between Mars and Jupiter, carrying one over to the other and trying to impose this on today’s birth; menaced on the other hand by violence and aggression and on the other limited by dogmas of a religion and philosophy which must now give way to a new experience of the soul, a true awakening of the Spirit in accordance with the times.

‘And when that time arrives there is nothing that can hold the process back; just as there was no power that could hold the Chinese back, for even with the highest Tantric knowledge and understanding of the manifestation of occult forces that the Lamas of Tibet possess, there was no stopping the fall of the nation into the hands of the enemy, nor was there any assistance received from outside…’ (The Gnostic Circle, Chapter 14, page 179, Aeon Books, 1975).

These paragraphs bring to a close the chapter, ‘Tibet: its destiny in the Gnostic Circle’ of my book, The Gnostic Circle. I wrote pointedly ‘…. for even with the highest Tantric knowledge of occult forces that the Lamas of Tibet possess, there was no stopping the fall of the nation into the hands of the enemy, nor was there any assistance received from outside…’

When I wrote these lines I was unaware of the real root of Tibet’s inability to protect herself from the Chinese invasion and occupation. For the fact is that the practice of Tantric occultism and other ancient practices of the same order require – nay, demand – the allegiance of Mahakala, the Great God of Time. In Tibet’s case, as well as in India’s, this allegiance was frittered away over the centuries. Such having been the case, both civilisations have suffered the humiliation of foreign rule. Both have witnessed their land overtaken by forces of the opposite end of the spectrum – spirit/matter.

The signal that Time’s allegiance was lost in Tibet and India goes back to the 12th Century when a disarrangement of the calendars in both nations began. Over the centuries this mismanagement of calendrical matters has assumed alarming proportions. Unfortunately Tibet for the most part follows India’s lead in these matters, having opened its arms many centuries ago to embrace Buddhism, born on Indian soil in approximately 500 BCE. From there Buddhism dug deep roots into Tibet as well as farther east. This adoption of a spiritual path that emphasises the unreality of material existence in favour of the Nirvanic experience of the Void was an underminer of all things rooted in time and space. It was entirely predictable that before long the correct computation of Time for rituals and horoscopy would move away from the true temporal system and that essential connection would be lost.

The results in both cases have been devastating. Tibet lost the power to protect herself, as did India. Given the isolation of Tibet, the effect of the loss was more definitive. There were no attenuating influences which do exist in India’s case, given her traditional openness. Therefore, the signs of the loss in India’s case lie primarily in Kashmir: Partition brought Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin into existence – glaring wounds in the Mother’s Body to remind us constantly that all is not well in the subcontinent. There is much work to be done as yet for the true experience of unity and integration.

In India there was the sobering influence of Science which, while being responsible for the decimation of the Hindu Calendar by imposing the Nirayana system rooted in the constellations rather than reposing on the four Cardinal Poles with their Equinoxes and Solstices – i.e., the solar calendar of the Tropical Zodiac. Thus, on the one hand science meddled in matters beyond its purview to create a complete disconnect with Mahakala, on the other it obliged rationalists of the day to adopt the universal calendar for official purposes which is indeed rooted in the Tropical Zodiac.

India continues to carry the burden of this split between matters material and those of the spirit. While this split continues the Mother’s Body will remain as it is with the many arms of the Goddess severed from her torso, leaving her at the mercy of forces that have no such conflict of interests. China is a prime example.

On the other hand, Tibet was totally insulated from outside influences, trapped in the medieval structure of her temporal-spiritual life without being open to outside influences that could have weakened the hold of those retrograde forces that had disrupted her allegiance with Time. Indeed, similar to what I have written in my latest piece Caste, Calendar and Cosmos, Time was in fact used against itself. One of the calendars Tibetans used is called the Kalachakra – the Wheel of Time. Surely Tibet adopted its time prescriptions from India when she imported Buddhism with its legendary disregard for all things caught in the web of time and space. In both nations the adoption of the ‘more scientific’ Nirayana method was the death knell of their occultism. Time in disarray meant that its power – most essential in all occult practices of worth – was not only withheld but actually used against the very thing it was meant to further. Tibet’s isolation, while saving her from the split in her energy fabric such as we find in India, facilitated the Chinese conquest because there was no attenuating power to contend with. It was simple, predictable – and devastating. It is also predictable that as long as both nations are subject to this calamitous calendrical disease, so long will the energies required to cast out the invaders be suffocated (Tibet) and remain hopelessly divided (India) and inoperative.

And yet the solution is so simple; but perhaps it is this very simplicity that has made it so impossible to see

Ban Ki-Moon is the current UN Secretary-General

Using the principal of geographical rotation, every ten or so years the post of UN Secretary-General is given to individuals from various continents.  Each candidate is usually kept for two terms of five years each. 

The individual selected has a duty and responsibility to represent the people of his/her continent by sharing the beliefs or values of the dominant civilization of any given continent.

There are over 10 Buddhist states in Asia including Sri Lanka, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Bhutan, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Japan, and Mongolia.  Hindu and Buddhist civilizations have been prominent for over two millennia.  There are two large Hindu states in Asia—India and Nepal, in addition to many Sikhs and Jain’s dispersed throughout Asia.   In total these religions comprise of an astounding number of over 2.5 billion within Asia.  This number should be taken into account when the nominees for Secretary-General are selected and voted on.

There have been 8 Secretary –Generals since the beginning of the United States in 1946.  They are listed as follows:

1 ) Trygve Lie
Country : Norway
Religion: Lutheren Christian
Term of Office: 1946 – 1952

2 ) Dag Hammarskjold
Country: Sweden
Religion: Christian
Term of Office: 1953 – 1961

3 ) U Thant
Country : Myanmar ( formerly known as Burma )
Religion: Buddhist
Term of Office: 1961 – 1971

4 ) Kurt Waldheim
Country: Austria
Religion: Roman Catholic
Term of Office: 1972 – 1981

5 ) Javier de Perez de Cuellar
Country: Peru
Religion: Roman Catholic
Term of Office: 1982 – 1991

6 ) Boutros Boutros – Ghali
Country: Egypt
Religion: Coptic Christian
Term of Office: 1992 – 1996

7 ) Kofi Annan
Country: Ghana
Religion: Christian
Term of Office: 1997 — 2006

8 ) Ban Ki – moon
Country: South Korea
Religion: Christian (non – denominational)
Term of Office: 2006 – 2011

 If broken down into continental representation, the post of UN Secretary-General has been held by three Europeans, two Asians, one Latin American and two from the African continent.  All of these posts were chosen on the basis of geographical rotation.

Even though the posts were drawn from different continents on the basis of geographical rotation, It is interesting and important to note that seven of the eight holders of the post were Christian (or nominal Christians).  The only non-Christian post was taken by U Thant from Myanmar. To this day not a single Hindu, Sikh, or Jain has been has been chosen for this post.

The world’s number 1 bureaucratic position job will lose its prestige and influence on the world if posts are continuously given to members of primarily one religion. 

Members of Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain communities should also have equal representation within the posts chosen.  It is now Asia’s turn to be chosen because if a nation from the Asian continent fails to get chosen in the next round in 2011, it will take another 30 years under the principal of continental rotation for Asia to push for a representative from Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain faith.

By Aseem Shukla

Human Rights should be applied to all Religions including Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism which are usually ignored

Q:The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is recommending that the U.S. government develop a strategy to make religion ‘integral’ to American foreign policy. Should U.S. foreign policy get religion?

There is little doubt that U.S. foreign policy apparatchiks have historically been deaf to religion as a driver of nationalism, foreign policy and eventual chaotic governmental transitions overseas. Failing to predict the inevitability of the Shah’s overthrow in Iran or unbridled support to the so-called mujahideen in Pakistan creating our friends, the Talibs (with apologies to the late Charlie Wilson), are legend in the annals of American overreach, miscalculation and religious obtuseness. That our foreign policy assets require an education in global religious literacy is clear and its apparent absence appalling.

This week, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs released a report put forth by a task force it convened to chart a course for engaging religion as a part of foreign policy. But the recommendations released by the task force are fundamentally erroneous at several levels: from the makeup of the task force that authored the report, its basic assumptions, and its potentially dangerous recommendations. Indeed, the entire effort, ostensibly galvanized by President Obama’s similarly flawed address to the “Muslim World,” promotes an Abrahamic framework that fails factually, theoretically and in its myopic parochialism.

Some of the final recommendations are obvious: government officials should be trained in the “role of religion in world affairs”. Others are stunningly misguided: that the role of the Establishment Clause mandating a separation of church and state needs to be “clarified” to encourage relationships between our government with religious groups overseas that would not pass muster domestically. And absent entirely is a thorough explanation as to how that dangerous admixture of religion and politics could safely transpire.

No observer will argue that our government officials and our citizens, for that matter, must increase their understanding of global religions. But whose version of religion? Hindus, for example, would be mortified if the eroticized, sexualized spoof of Hindu theology long promoted by this nation’s “preeminent” scholar of Hinduism at the University of Chicago Divinity School, Prof. Wendy Doniger, was offered as the expert voice to school foreign policy students. They would much rather that voice be balanced between practicing Hindus and academics who seek to understand and recognize the Hindu tradition from the perspective of the practitioner.

Will the U.S. government promote the radically right-wing version of Christianity aiming to grace Texas schoolbooks, or the Intelligent Design dominated iteration championed by Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin and their ilk? These are difficult questions that will set the tone to our policy wonks’ dance with religion.

Try now to digest the concept of our government modulating the hallowed Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution already under duress from the aforementioned Texas State Board of Education cabal. It is completely naive to conceive of U.S. foreign policy and U.S. domestic policy as two separate entities with little overlap. Take this excerpt from Page 64 of the full report in arguing for limitations on the separation of church and state in foreign affairs:

“For example, at one end of the spectrum is the erroneous view that the Establishment Clause precludes foreign policy initiatives that advance the freedom of religious practice and belief in other countries.”

Read between the lines and the homily to the freedom of religious practice seems far more insidious. One benign reading would be that the State Department would promote freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia or Tibet or Malaysia. But an entirely different fear could be that a Bush Administration redux–freed from the limits of the Establishment Clause–could use foreign policy as a tool to promote Christian evangelism and proselytization. Several global evangelical groups and megachurches already subsidize education and health care, for example, to new converts in Asia and Africa. Such partisan excesses have been covered in detail in the Indian press and here.

And another question: Given the intersection between global and domestic policy, would selective interaction of our government with particular religious groups overseas not require closer relations between representatives of those religious groups that are U.S. based? The danger that one religious tradition would be privileged over others is very real, and there are very valid reasons that the Establishment Clause serves as a bulwark against such misadventures.

That same danger of privileging certain religious groups over others is manifest even in the composition of the Task Force. Of 32 religious leaders, academics and consultants that made the cut, not a single one belongs to a Dharma tradition–Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism or Jainism, let alone many thriving indigenous traditions. Not one. Hindus and Buddhists comprise a growing portion of our foreign service establishment, and the current administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development , Rajiv Shah, is Hindu. But not one made the cut to sit on this task force recommending how our country should deal in a world where more than one in five persons is Hindu or Buddhist. (Tom Wright, the task force’s project director, said “We did reach out to leaders in those religious communities but they weren’t able to participate.”)

If the ostensible goal of the task force was to eschew the imperialistic ham-handedness of our previous foreign policy folly, why create a real credibility dilemma for this panel comprised only of Christians, Muslims and Jews. And the very co-chair of the panel, Richard Cizik, is the President of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, whose Web site’s home page speaks of their “calling to proclaim the Gospel to all the world.” So a task force headed by Cizik recommends that the Obama Administration “clarify the applicability of the Establishment Clause”–how’s that for spectacular gumption!

This task force recommends not only engaging the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), but actually asks that our nation name an Ambassador level envoy to this group. Notwithstanding that the OIC’s record is dubious at best: a well-known platform for anti-Semitic outbursts; pushing through the dangerous UN Resolution against defamation of religion that actually was an international anti-blasphemy measure meant to suppress free speech and other human rights; and repeated attacks on the territorial integrity of India’s state of Jammu and Kashmir. The OIC limits membership to a set group of only Islamic countries–the Muslim world, so to speak, that President Obama has such a penchant for addressing.

The U.S. has an Ambassador to the Vatican and Israel, and perhaps, soon, the Muslim world. So we reward those that profess a state religion, persecute infidels in their midsts and laugh off secularism as an irrelevant relic, and we relegate the 1.5 billion adherents of pluralistic, non-proselytizing Dharma religions to no voice at all? Can we reconcile this appeasement to the Muslim world while we deny the agency of religious ambassadorship to India and Thailand, that despite their respective Hindu and Buddhist majorities, maintain democratic and secular governance?

Seek another example of the task force cowtowing to Islamism? Take this excerpt from the Executive Summary recommending that we engage Islamist political parties that may hate us:

“Indeed, no Islamist party elected to national parliament has sought
to put greater emphasis on Sharia laws as the source of legislation, despite pre-election rhetoric to the contrary. Instead, they often become mired in the day-to-day necessities of ruling, which include making good on commitments to tackle corruption and provide
much-needed public services in order to build a record of practical accomplishment.”

To the contrary, the Hindu American Foundation’s annual human rights reports, as well as the State Department documented thousands of atrocities against Hindus, Christians and other minorities in Bangladesh immediately after the Bangladesh National Party-Jamaat Islami combine of parties promoted imposition of Sharia laws between 2001-2006. The task force condones Islamist parties as actually untrue to Sharia based on this reading, but are actually do-gooders tackling corruption and crime! At least they keep the trains running on time, it is as if we are asked to accept. Of course our government must engage with a multitude of partners–Hindu nationalists in India and Christian nationalists in our country–but spare us the paean to Islamism.

In the end, as with too many such task forces or commissions comprised of voices that fail to reflect a nation they profess to advise, and are steered by clear ideological preference, this effort terribly overreaches. And such failures can be miserable. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), chaired by the head of the conservative Federalist Society and similarly bereft of Hindus or Buddhists, stirred controversy and a diplomatic firestorm when it recommended that the State Department place India on a watch list reserved for the likes of Iran and Syria.

There is no argument that religious literacy must be improved and our foreign policy be flexible enough to deal with the shifting sands of religious nationalism and extremism. But let us never compromise the core values of our Bill of Rights and Constitution–indeed we must, as we always have, uphold them as a paradigm for others. We were not attacked on 9/11 because we failed to flatter the Islamists and extremists enough, it is because our attackers were nurtured in environs that had no Constitution as free as ours. And, finally, let us privilege the voices of the pluralists, the pragmatics and those that are religious to the core but secular in governance–for those will be our true allies as we meet the challenges of a changing world.

Views expressed here are the personal views of Dr. Aseem Shukla, and do not necessarily represent those of the University of Minnesota or Hindu American Foundation.

A man gets a tattoo on his back with Buddhist scriptures

Singapore (CHAKRA) – When Ben Loke wanted to boost his luck with financial prospects, he did not turn to hi banker or broker but instead the 35-year-old went to a professional tattoo shop to ink on his back a “sak yant” religious symbol in hopes of wealth and happiness.

 ”I’m a Buddhist, and the scriptures that are being tattooed on my back will give me some protection,” he said, as he prepared for the needle to be wielded by a visiting Thai expert.

The form of tattooing called sak yant originated in Thailand and is gaining popularity in Singapore, a predominantly ethnic Chinese city-state with strong Buddhist and Taoist history and traditions.

Sak yant tattoos are mainly various inscriptions of animals, deity figures, and inscriptions of religious texts, believed by Buddhist to bring luck, good fortune, self-confidence and courage.

This is Loke’s second sak yant tattoo and it is placed beneath a dragon which is surrounded by lines of Buddhist religious text.

Tattoos which were initially associated with gangsters have now come a long way in Singapore.  They are a form of expressions of individuality, invitation to divine assistance, or merely a fashion statement.

Fo Guang Hang, a company specializing in sak yan tattoos, run by Willie Heng, happily welcomed this new trend of sak yant tattoos.

 ”Sak yant is now widely embraced by the general population because of people’s need for a form of spiritual support, aided by the social acceptance of tattoos,” he stated at a recent tattoo convention in Singapore.

More than 300 tattoo artists from all around the world, including Chris Garver, from the hit television series Miami Ink, attended the Singapore Tat2 Show 2010.

Ajahn Thong, 60, Fo Guang Hang’s specialist was the one who drew the most attention at the tattoo convention.

“Business was so good that Thong, a Thai sak yant “grandmaster” who flew to Singapore for the show, had to extend his stay after the event to attend to all his customers,” Heng said.

Many of Fo Guang’s clients are businessmen looking for some luck, while a few others just get tattoos for show, Heng said.

“They come for luck,” he added.

Christopher Tan, a 28-year-old owner of a sak yant tattoo shop called Siam Ink, said he had customers of all ages  and diverse backgrounds.

“I got students, bankers, office ladies, PR girls, all kinds of job scope,” he said. He added that the tattoos provide “spiritual support” during hard times.

“Singapore has a lot of Chinese Buddhists, and many of them believe in this,” said Thong from Thailand.

Tattooists stated that generally people fly in from all over the world because they are attracted to sak yant beliefs.

“I got a power punch and a speed tattoo, and it’s spiritually based to help you not just with your fighting, but with your living,” said Badr Fyrkree, an amateur muay Thai boxing practitioner.  He travelled all the way from the United Arab Emirates to get his tattoo.

Gautama Buddha

By: David Nichtern

Lately I’ve been having an ongoing discussion with students regarding the Buddhist idea of karma. It’s a complex and multi-faceted subject.

I’ve found that using the analogy of a game of billiards can be a useful way to describe the process of karma — the table is set up, you hit the ball, it in turn hits other balls, moves the configuration on the table around, and then sets you up for your next shot. After that, maybe another person takes a turn and moves the balls around and then it’s your turn again.

Just as in the analogy of a billiard game, our thoughts and actions ripple outward, collide with others’ thoughts and actions and generate consequences. These consequences create the setting in which we initiate our next set of thoughts and actions. Here we are obviously breaking down a process that is multi-dimensional, fast paced, and very complex into a simple metaphor for the sake of having a look at the process itself.

Even if we agree that, within our lives, cause and effect creates certain patterns beyond just an arbitrary flurry of activity, several questions arise. The first is, when does this highly connective, interactive process between our mind and body and the events that play out in our lives actually begin? Where does it come from?

Are we born into a random body at a random time and suddenly, due to chemical reactions in our little baby brain, start to experience a brand new consciousness that has had no previous cause or condition? When we die will the exact same phenomena happen in reverse? Will our consciousness simply cease to exist in any form whatsoever when the chemical reactions in our body and brain stop occurring? These are obviously very weighty questions and there are a multitude of theories to be found within both science and religion.

Whatever the take on the origin and destination of our consciousness in this life, my students and I agreed that during this very lifetime, it seems that very little, if any, of what occurs to us is truly random or haphazard — especially if we take a close look, moment by moment, day by day, of how events in our world develop and unfold. If we eat a giant lunch with lots of carbs and a huge dessert, than maybe we will feel full and sleepy that afternoon. If we do that every day, then maybe we put on some weight, which might in turn trigger a feeling of being upset with ourselves, which might trigger further craving, comments from others, and so on. To some extent all of us have experienced this kind of downward spiral, when a particular action, not accompanied by clarity of awareness, creates a chain reaction leading towards an undesirable result.

On the other hand, if we are very conscious of other people’s needs at work for example, treat them with respect and appreciation, we might actually find that the atmosphere at our job becomes more positive and people begin to act towards us in a similar way. However, if the other people at work have been up all night fighting with their spouses, then maybe they are grouchy and irritable right off the bat, and our attempt to create a harmonious situation is trumped by some other causes and conditions operating in parallel.

According to the Buddhist view, it is worth cultivating “positive” causes and conditions as the basis of creating beneficial circumstances for oneself and others — or certainly at least not causing harm. Likewise, cultivating “negative” causes and conditions can logically be expected to cause momentum in the direction of aggression, confusion, etc. So at a relative level, Buddhists, through various meditation and contemplation practices, cultivate “positive” thoughts and actions and work towards uprooting or diminishing the influence of “negative” ones.

Many other religious and philosophical traditions also emphasize this kind of common sense ethical behavior, but in Buddhism there is also the notion that the process of karma can be deconstructed completely. When our thoughts and actions are no longer created from a ground of habitual patterns and ignorance, the spiraling cycle of cause and effect (including both “positive” and “negative” karma) can be cut at the root.

As to when the process of karma, when the billiards game, begins or ends — what do you think?