American Buddhist Net

Wednesday April 23, 2008

Representatives of Wellington’s Tibetan, Buddhist, and human rights communities gathered today at parliament to present a petition to parliament that calls for Helen Clark and the rest of the NZ government to act more strongly on the human rights crisis unfolding in Tibet and to follow up on their recent conversation with the Chinese Government calling for restraint and dialogue.

...The petition itself calls for the New Zealand Government to use any leverage the Free Trade agreement may provide, to strongly urge the Chinese Government:

To respect the human rights of Tibetans (as set out in the Chinese constitution) and to immediately free all Tibetans currently incarcerated for peacefully expressing their political and religious beliefs; to allow international monitors and journalists access to Tibetan areas to ascertain exactly what is happening; and to engage in direct negotiations with the Dalai Lama for a genuine and meaningful solution to the Tibetan issue.

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A set of four priceless archival recordings from the University of Auckland (New Zealand) of the outstanding Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman - arguably the greatest science lecturer ever. Although the recording is of modest technical quality the exceptional personal style and unique delivery shine through.

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March 27, 2008

SYDNEY — A New Zealand man has been sentenced to community service after telling police he was raped by a wombat and the experience had made him speak "Australian".

Arthur Ross Cradock, 48, from the South Island town of Motueka, called police on February 11 and told them he was being raped at his home by the wombat and he needed help, The Nelson Mail newspaper reported.

The orchard worker later called back and said: "Apart from speaking Australian now, I'm pretty all right, you know."

Cradock pleaded guilty in the local court to using a phone for a fictitious purpose. He was sentenced to 75 hours' community work.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Stringer told the court alcohol played a large role in Cradock's life.

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Thursday March 27, 2008
By Lincoln Tan

It was supposed to have been a "happiness connection" tour for six Tibetan monks. Instead it has turned into one of total anguish.

Upon their arrival in New Zealand, the first news from home the group heard was of the crackdown in Tibet.

It just got worse when one of the monks, Sonem Toshi, 33, found his master had been killed in the violence and his younger brother arrested for the March 10 protest.

..."Unlike Westerners [who see] demonstrations and protest as their right, this could be a death sentence in Tibet," said Gen Lama, who has lived in exile for 50 years.

"In fact, the utterance of the word 'Free Tibet' can land one a life sentence, so you can imagine how much the Tibetans must be suffering for them to have the courage to stage this protest."

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Monday March 24, 2008
By Lincoln Tan

Members of New Zealand's Burmese community are hoping one of their revered religious leaders, Venerable Abbot U Pannya Vamsa, can help them make sense of the killings in Tibet during his visit to Auckland this week.

Venerable Vamsa is considered the Burmese equivalent to the Dalai Lama, said Naing Ko Ko, a former political prisoner of Myanmar's military government, who came here as a political refugee last year.

"Many of us Burmese can feel the same pain when we hear about what happened in Tibet because we were in the same situation just a few months ago.

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Saturday, 22 March 2008
By Kathy Marks

After 50 days exploring the frigid waters of Antarctica, a group of New Zealand-led scientists is certain of two things: there are lots of previously unknown creatures out there, and some of them are positively enormous.

The marine life encountered during the 2,000-mile voyage through the Ross Sea, off the north coast of the frozen continent, included jellyfish with 12ft-long tentacles, giant sea snails and starfish the size of food platters.

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Wednesday, 19 March 2008

...We must support the Dalai Lama's efforts to achieve genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people within China - not the fake autonomy we see now where Chinese settlers are pouring into Tibet and controlling its economic, political and cultural life.

The anger of the Tibetan protesters last week was fully understandable. It was an explosion of pent up resentment at decades of denial of their national rights, and the swamping of their culture.

The Green Party believes we can't separate the oppression of the Tibetan people from the preferential trade agreement New Zealand is about to sign with China.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A dolphin swam up to two distressed whales that appeared headed for death in a beach stranding in New Zealand and guided them to safety, witnesses said Wednesday.

The actions of the bottlenose dolphin -- named Moko by residents who said it spends much of its time swimming playfully with humans at the beach -- amazed would-be rescuers and an expert who said they were evidence of the species' friendly nature.

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Thu Jan 10, 2008

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's Sir Edmund Hillary, who along with Nepal's Tenzing Norgay Sherpa became the first to conquer Mount Everest, has died. He was 88.

"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived. But most of all he was a quintessential Kiwi," New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Friday in announcing Hillary's death.

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What I want to know is how come Fo Guang Shan gets in so many fights with its neighbors, or with the communities within which it establishes overseas temples? ABN
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By REBECCA GARDINER
Wednesday, 05 December 2007

PLANS to build a pagoda in Botany’s Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple look set to go ahead following the withdrawal of an Environment Court appeal.

An appeal against the proposed 19m structure was lodged by Baverstock Oaks School, which is adjacent to the Buddhist temple.

Principal Mary Wilson says the primary school cannot afford the $100,000 it needs to pursue the appeal.

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Barbara McMahon in Sydney
Tuesday November 13, 2007
The Guardian

A 22-year-old woman has been killed during an exorcism ritual in New Zealand, drowning in the house of a relative as up to 40 family members looked on, police said yesterday.

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Wednesday, 31 October 2007

The Wellington City Council's (WCC) overturned the organiser's decision to include Falun Gong's brass band and dancers in the Cuba Street Carnival and the Chinese New Year Parade - by labelling Falun Gong as a “political group”.

...Former Deputy Mayor Alick Shaw, when pressed about the reasons behind the ban, said he could not deny that the Council wanted to maintain a good relationship with the Chinese Embassy due to sister city relationships with Xiamen and Bejing.

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Second link: Falun Gong takes on Wellington City Council

This is a terrific idea and I hope it spreads to other applications. All laws before the US Congress should be put on-line in draft form so the public can comment and amend. Blogs have run circles around mainstream news, providing depth and opinion that the "professionals" have long ceased giving. Imagine how something like this would shake up Congress. No more hiding one-line, weird provisions late at night, people would actually read and ponder legislation before it was passed, absurdities and unconstitutional items would be noticed before laws are signed, adios pork, hello gov't by the people. I hope another small, reasonable country tries this very soon. Send a link to this story to your Congress-person and friends. ABN
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By ARJUN RAMACHANDRAN - SMH | Wednesday, 26 September 2007

It's said the powerful write their own laws, but now everyone can.

Due to a new wiki launched by New Zealand police, members of the public can now contribute to the drafting of the new policing act.

NZ Police Superintendent Hamish McCardle, the officer in charge of developing the new act, said the initiative had already been described as a "new frontier of democracy".

"People are calling it 'extreme democracy' and perhaps it is," he said.

"It's a novel move but when it comes to the principles that go into policing, the person on the street has a good idea ... as they are a customer," he said.

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By SUSANA TALAGI - Western Leader | Friday, 21 September 2007

Thai monk Chaovana Ngamsanguanprapa came to New Zealand a year ago to oversee construction of a Buddhist centre in Kelston.

Now his journey has come full circle.

The 46-year-old, who comes from Chiang Mai north of Thailand, will be among those celebrating when the foundation stone is laid this Sunday.

Chaovana, a computer engineering graduate, became a monk 12 years ago to help others.

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By KAREN ARNOLD - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 19 August 2007

Poison in children's clothing is emerging as the latest health risk from China.

TV3's Target programme will this week detail how scientists found formaldehyde in woollen and cotton clothes at levels 500 times higher than is safe.

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5:00PM Saturday July 21, 2007
By Vanessa Walker

Thousands of New Zealanders from all walks of life have one thing in common: they are followers of Buddhism.

Twenty-four years ago, Charlotte Wrightson used to thrash around angrily in an Auckland punk band called The Plague, making a commotion about the evils of private property, capitalism and conformity.

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"Mummy, whatever are we to do? The people are not happy with our TERRIBLE POLICIES and OBVIOUS lack of INTELLIGENCE..."

ABN
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July 19, 2007

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in New Zealand are against a recent rule approved by lawmakers that bans using images captured inside Parliament to satirize, ridicule or denigrate lawmakers on broadcast and print media, according to a poll by TNS released by TV3. 71 per cent of respondents disapprove of this measure.

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IAN STEWARD - The Press | Saturday, 16 June 2007

As the Dalai Lama jetted in to town, talking (or not) to the Prime Minister, addressing stadiums of thousands, five Buddhist monks in Marshland rejoiced at the latest offering from their local devotees – electric blankets.

The Buddhist Temple on Marshland Road is never short of incongruous sights: yesterday a group of orange-robed monks with shaved eyebrows and close-cropped hair stood in a dirt semi-circle before a giant statue of Buddha.

They were talking to a Kiwi builder about how best to construct their feature pond and keep the ducks out of it.

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We hope this is not a "diplomatic" way for her to bow to Chinese pressure to avoid the Dalai Lama when he visits New Zealand next week. ABN
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June 14, 2007 - 6:09AM

The Dalai Lama is in Sydney on the final leg of an 11 day Australian tour.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader stepped off a Qantas flight about 9.40am (AEST) and he was greeted by about 100 people waiting at Sydney airport.

...New Zealand Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark was on the same flight, on the final leg of a five-day trade mission to Australia.

...The pair discussed New Zealand initiatives to promote inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue, including the recent meeting at Waitangi of the Asia Pacific Regional Inter-Faith Dialogue, and the Auckland meeting of the Symposium on the UN and Alliance of Civilisations.

The Dalai Lama indicated that New Zealand's model of reconciliation with indigenous people was of great interest to him, along with the implication that New Zealand practised inter-cultural dialogue in its own domestic policy, the spokesperson said.

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This (link) was a very good way to handle the problem. See also this link. ABN
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Government comes under fire for not disclosing whether Prime Minister Helen Clark will meet the Dalai Lama.

By Susan Watson
Epoch Times Auckland Staff
Jun 13, 2007

The Chinese Embassy has been pressuring New Zealand politicians to avoid meeting the Dalai Lama after he arrives in New Zealand later this week.

Green Party Foreign Affairs spokesperson Keith Locke said an embassy official had approached members of the Green Party discouraging a meeting with the spiritual leader of Tibet.

Mr Locke said Prime Minister Helen Clark's delay in confirming a meeting with the Dalai Lama was probably because of pressure from the Chinese embassy.

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The medical school report, by researcher Marita Broadstock, found snus users had a lower risk than smokers of head, neck and gastro-intestinal cancers.
Snus users also had no higher risk of these cancers than people who did not use tobacco in any form.
Five out of six studies of cardiovascular disease risks - mainly heart disease and stroke - in men found "no significantly increased prevalence" of the diseases for snus users compared with no tobacco use.

Friday March 30, 2007
By Martin Johnston

An anti-smoking group is calling for tax cuts on a type of Swedish oral tobacco after a New Zealand review found it carries lower health risks than smoking.

The study by the Christchurch School of Medicine reviews the health effects of snus, a ground-up form of tobacco sold in pouches like tiny teabags. They are put under the lip to deliver nicotine.

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Monday February 19, 2007
By Simon Collins

Non-Christians say New Zealand is not welcoming to other religions and they want more than mere "tolerance" of their faiths.

Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims at a national forum in Hamilton yesterday all objected to the word "tolerance" in a draft National Statement on Religious Diversity.

But they all supported other clauses in the draft statement which are opposed by evangelical Christian churches - a principle that New Zealand "has no state religion", and another stating that all schools should teach about diverse religions "in an impartial manner".

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13.01.2007
RACHEL PINDER
The house on Tamatea's Norfolk Street looks like any other, but it's not.

Six months ago, Hawke's Bay people from the Thai and Laos communities decided to club together and buy a house to convert into a temple, and so the Samma Patipadaram Monastery was born.

It is a centre of Buddhism and meditation, and is the only monastery outside Auckland and Wellington.

Each day, members of the community bring food offerings for the two monks who reside at the monastery, Phra Ajarn Sudhiro and Phra Ajarn Phramaha Thavorn.

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GeelongInfo[Saturday, June 24, 2006 20:07]
Australia, June 24: The Dalai Lama will visit Geelong next year. Buddhism's global figurehead will return to the bay city on June 11, 2007, as part of a tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The exiled Tibetan leader will bless the new Drol Kar Buddhist Centre at Paraparap near Bellbrae, and is also expected to host public events at Skilled Stadium. About 15,000 people turned out to listen to the Dalai Lama at his 2002 Geelong visit, with organisers hoping for a crowd of up to 20,000 next year.

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