American Buddhist Net

7th August 2008
By Shaun Inguanzo

SPRINGVALE’S Buddhist community celebrated the Hungry Ghost Festival this week.

The Hungry Ghost Festival is a traditional Buddhist ceremony held annually on the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

The belief is that the festival is held when spirits come to Earth from above, living Buddhists offer prayers, chants, food and burn incense to satisfy ghosts and attract good fortune.

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Aug 1, 2008

SYDNEY - AUSTRALIAN doctors have raised concerns about clinics offering vaginal cosmetic surgery, warning the trend towards so-called 'designer vaginas' may be exploiting vulnerable women.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said procedures being offered included 'vaginal rejuvenation, revirgination, designer vaginoplasty and G-spot amplification'.

'What is involved in these procedures is often unclear since recognised clinical nomenclature is not being used,' it said in a position paper released this week.

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August 1, 2008
Joel Gibson

AT THE 2007 NSW Liquor Store of the Year, staff were instructed to keep "coloureds" out of the shop unless they were willing to come in individually and be searched - and to call police if they refused.

Tim Leonard, owner of Old Bar Cellars near Taree on the NSW north coast, wrote a memo to staff in February outlining new rules for Aboriginal customers, "due to the fact that we have now had three known incidents of shoplifting involving the one coloured girl plus friends".

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29th July 2008

An Australian publisher has refused demands by its Hong Kong-based printer to revise a new reference book to please nervous Chinese officials on the eve of the Olympic Games.

Melbourne-based publishers Hardie Grant say passages in its new Book of Knowledge relating to Mao Zedong, Tibetan Buddhism and the Chinese Communist Party are off limits, The Age newspaper reported on Tuesday.

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By TIM JOHNSTON
Published: July 18, 2008

SYDNEY, Australia — Pope Benedict XVI used his first major address at the Roman Catholic Church’s youth festival on Thursday to warn that the world was being scarred and its natural resources used up by humanity’s “insatiable consumption.”

In a broad criticism of consumer culture, before a crowd of more than 140,000 on a dock in Sydney harbor, Benedict reinforced the Vatican’s growing concern with protecting the environment, a theme he has addressed before.

“Perhaps reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our earth: erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world’s mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption," he said.

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Community Hosting 350 Youth Day Pilgrims

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils is praying for peace and harmony among all people of good will during the World Youth Day activities in Sydney.

President Ikebal Patel sent out a statement this week in which he extended "sincere greetings to the Catholic community of Australia on behalf of the Muslims of Australia."

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July 14, 2008

A 108-year-old Australian woman hailed as the world's "oldest blogger" died Saturday after posting her final entry on June 26th, news.com.au reports.

Olive Riley, who was born in 1899, shared tales of growing up in the early 20th century, recounting everything from washing day ("You 21st century people live a different life than the one I lived as a youngster in the early 1900s," she wrote) to living through two world wars.

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Dharamsala, June 16: Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Sunday wrapped up a five-day Australia tour, which was highlighted by his meeting with Australian acting Prime Minister and Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans.

Evans described his discussions with the Dalai Lama that took place on Friday as open and instructive. He said he conveyed the Australian Government's enthusiasm for continued talks between Chinese officials and envoys of the Dalai Lama.

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Melbourne, June 14 : The Dalai Lama gave a glimpse of his remarkable sense of humour by taking a shot at cosmetics and insisting that these beautifying products make people look like creatures from outer space.

While speaking at a public talk at The Dome in Sydney Olympic Park, the Tibetan spiritual leader stressed that youngsters these days prefer external beauty and in its spell they tend to disregard the inner beauty, which is far more important than what meets the eye.

His holiness said that youngsters these days fall in love due to external attraction, which will eventually wear off, and this leaving them with the inevitable focus on "the inner ugliness''.

"External beauty - you can make ...I think quite expensive. Some makes them look like (they) come from outer space. Therefore, I think inner beauty very important,'' News.com.au quoted him, as saying.

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By Byron Kaye
June 12, 2008 12:00am

A BUDDHIST monk and self-confessed drug dealer has been charged with lying to police to get his passport back.

Jose Sanz-Tonnelier, who claims to be a Laotian Buddhist monk, fronted court yesterday in flowing orange robes to plead guilty to charges of dealing marijuana from a Kings Cross laundromat.

He is also charged with false representation after police alleged he reported his passport stolen so that he could apply for a new one.

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June 12, 2008

A MILLIONAIRE-turned-Buddhist monk will plead guilty to growing hydroponic cannabis out the back of his Sydney laundrette, a court has been told.

Jose Maria Sanz-Tonnelier, 63, today pleaded guilty to one charge of supplying cannabis and three of possessing the drug, following raids on his Kings Cross laundromat last year.

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Sydney, June 11: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd dismissed suggestions he was deliberately avoiding the Dalai Lama as the Tibetan spiritual leader began a series of meditation lectures Wednesday in Sydney.

Human rights advocates criticized Rudd for not arranging to meet the Dalai Lama during his five-day visit through Sunday evening.

Rudd is on a state visit to Japan and Indonesia and is scheduled to return to Australia late Saturday.

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Be sure to see this for deep context: His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Advice Concerning Dolgyal (Shugden). ABN
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June 11, 2008 - 8:57PM

The Dalai Lama arrived in Australia today to a warm welcome from supporters but was branded a "liar" and a "hypocrite" by some 50 protesting Buddhist monks and nuns.

Members of a Buddhist group known as the Western Shugden Society (WSS) accuse the Dalai Lama of suppressing religious freedom and driving them out of the Buddhist community.

They chanted "Dalai Lama stop lying" and waved placards calling for religious freedom when the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader held a meditation seminar at Sydney's Olympic Park.

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Jun 10, 2008
By Shar Adams

Unprecedented security will surround His Holiness the Dalai Lama during his visit to Australia.

The Dalai Lama will deliver five-days of intensive meditation teaching at the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park from June 11–15, 2008.

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Tuesday 10th June, 2008

Melbourne, June 10 : Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will not meet the Dalai Lama during his Australian tour.

The Tibetan spiritual leader will give paid lectures to supporters in Sydney from Wednesday to Sunday.

A Federal Government spokesperson today said that Immigration Minister Chris Evans would meet with the Dalai Lama in his capacity as acting Prime Minister while Rudd and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard are overseas.

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Duke Helfand in Los Angeles
June 9, 2008

AN AUSTRALIAN bishop has rejected demands by 12 leading Catholic bishops that he cancel a month-long tour of the US to promote his controversial book about sexual abuse by the clergy.

Following direction from the Vatican, the bishops have asked Geoffrey Robinson, a retired auxiliary bishop of Sydney, to avoid their dioceses because of his "problematic positions" on priestly celibacy and other issues.

In his book, Confronting Power And Sex In The Catholic Church: Reclaiming The Spirit Of Jesus, Bishop Robinson argues that the church's celibacy requirement has contributed to the sex abuse crisis. He openly criticises the papacy for failing to provide leadership, and wonders whether the church has been more concerned with managing the scandal than confronting it.

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June 06, 2008 12:50am

FOREIGN Minister Stephen Smith can't say whether he or Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will meet the Dalai Lama when he is in Australia next week.
The Tibetan spiritual leader will be giving paid lectures to Australian supporters in Sydney from Wednesday, June 11, to Sunday, June 15.

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June 5th, 2008 by Jared Bland in The Shelf

Lincoln Hall’s new book, Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest, is pretty much what it sounds like: an account of how Hall, who had nearly reached the summit of Everest in 1984, suffered a cerebral edema and was left high on the mountain during his second attempt in May 2006. Presumed dead after hours of immobility and non-responsiveness, he was found alive the next morning having miraculously survived the night with no shelter, oxygen, water, or warmth. As far as things to have done go, that’s pretty impressive.

"...The big thing I see is that what I had believed to be the nature of reality—the barrier between life and death, the dichotomy, I suppose—is actually not what I thought. And two things: the impossible can be possible, and death is not the grim reaper. It’s more welcoming. And it’s not like a trap, a welcoming trap. It’s actually just the next phase. I’ve been a card-carrying Buddhist for a dozen years now, and had Buddhist sympathies for a dozen years before that, but what happened this time around, on Everest, was that my appreciation of the Buddhist understanding of reality suddenly became real to me. That death isn’t the end, that it’s a cycle. So that’s the really potent life-changing message, even though I’m much the same person outwardly."

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By TANALEE SMITH – 5 hours ago

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Australia, a staunch U.S. ally and one of the first countries to commit troops to the war in Iraq five years ago, ended combat operations there Sunday.

Soldiers lowered the Australian flag that had flown over Camp Terendak in the southern Iraqi city of Talil. The combat troops were expected to return to Australia over the next few weeks, with the first of them arriving home Sunday.

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Aleks Devic
02Jun08

SURF Coast monk Geshe Sonam Thargye fears his niece has been killed after she was arrested for protesting in Tibet last week.

Geshe Sonam, who was responsible for bringing the Dalai Lama to Geelong on two occasions, said a soldier captured his niece, Sangye Lhamo, along with two other nuns, last Wednesday and nobody had heard of them since.

"Someone saw blood everywhere after a soldier fired a shotgun and then three nuns were put in a police car and taken away," he said.

"We can't get any information and are not sure which nuns they are.

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Paul Bibby | June 2, 2008

TWO-METRE-HIGH steel fences, weapons searches conducted with metal detectors and hundreds of screaming protesters - it seems more reminiscent of a fiery World Trade Organisation meeting than a visit by the world's most respected peace advocate.

But this is the scene likely to greet the Dalai Lama when he arrives this month to lead five days of meditation teachings at Sydney Olympic Park.

Private security consultants and NSW Police have advised the organisers of the Dalai Lama's visit that his arrival on June 11 could be marred by protests from pro-China students and a Buddhist splinter group known as the Western Shugden Society.

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May 20, 2008
By Emma Hall

Kesang Wangmo sits in silent meditation with a handful of others every Sunday, chanting Tibetan prayers while holding her prayer beads. She's been protesting at the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne since the Lunar New Year and has vowed to come to the Consulate until the Olympics. The aim is to bring Tibetan issues into Melbourne's consciousness.

...she has no family left in Tibet now, so she feels she can speak more freely. Kesang's parents and extended family disappeared or died from hunger or imprisonment in Tibet. Now, she lives only with her husband and children in Melbourne. Yet Kesang gains strength from the loss.

"If I let my suffering control me, then I'm also letting the Chinese [Communist Party] have power over me, even though I'm living here in a free country," she quietly says with tolerance and measure in her voice.

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ABC News, no less, though from Australia. ABN
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16 May 2008
Hereward Fenton
ABC.net.au

The collapse of New York's World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 is arguably one of the most well documented events in human history. Less well documented is the controversy over why the buildings fell as they did.

At the time of writing, 357 architectural and engineering professionals have signed a petition which directly challenges the National Institute of Standards & Training's official finding that the destruction of these massive buildings was caused solely by structural damage from the impact of jet airliners and the resulting fires.

The petition, demanding of Congress a truly independent investigation, states, in part:

"...the 9/11 investigation must include a full inquiry into the possible use of explosives that may have been the actual cause behind the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers and WTC Building 7."

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Ajahn Brahmavamso is the Abbot of Bodhiyana Buddhist Monastery & Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia, Perth.

By Ajahn Brahmavamso

Today, Buddhism continues to gain ever-wider acceptance in many lands far beyond its original home. The Buddhist Teaching of the Law of Kamma offers our society a just and incorruptible foundation and reason for the practice of a moral life. It is easy to see how a wider embracing of the Law of Kamma would lead any country towards a stronger, more caring and virtuous society.

The Teaching of Rebirth places this present short lifetime of ours in a broader perspective, giving more meaning to the vital events of birth and death. The understanding of rebirth removes so much of the tragedy and grief surrounding death and turns one's attention to the quality of a lifetime, rather than its mere length.

From the very beginning, the practice of meditation has been at the very heart of the Buddhist Way. Today, meditation grows increasingly popular as the proven benefits to both mental and physical well being become more widely known. When stress is shown to be such a major cause of human suffering, the quieting practice of meditation becomes ever more valued.

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May 14, 2008 8:19am AEST

Archaeologists believe they have found more evidence of the 1880 gun battle between Ned Kelly's gang and police at Glenrowan, in central Victoria.

Bullet fragments were uncovered during excavations at the former Anne Jones Inn site earlier this month.

Now archaeologists have revealed that two bullet cartridges from a Martini-Henry rifle were discovered in the northern section of the site on Friday afternoon.

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