There has been much in the news regarding the civil unrest in Tibet and also concerning the protests at the opening ceremony to Chinese Olympic Games held in Greece. It would seem that whether for good or bad, the civil rights issues in Tibet are going to be an integral part of our memory of these Games.
The Greek police are accused of incompetence for allowing protesters to make such a highly visible demonstration so close to the Chinese delegation and also for "roughing up" two other protesters during the procession of the Olympic flame. The Olympic Committee, meanwhile, struggle to justify allowing China to host the Games.
The Committee claim that inclusion of China and the high media presence during the Games can only be of help to the civil rights situation in China. Given the draconian state media controls in China and the willingness of Western Governments to turn a blind eye to brutality whenever it threatens international trade or political alliances, this outlook seems rather optimistic.
What can we do to help? At a practical level, probably very little. The least we can do is register our objections to the Chinese treatment of the people of Tibet. This link takes you to an on-line petition. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete. The Chinese Olympics has put Tibet back in the media spotlight and we should all do what we can non-violently to make the use of this extra leverage while it lasts.
This week marked the start of the Peterborough FWBO Buddhism and Meditation Class. Given that the advertising had been very last minute and that the class fell on a Bank Holiday Monday, I am please to report that two people turned up, Barbara and Mark. Both had visited the Cambridge Buddhist Centre in the past and had experience in meditation. Barbara has meditated for eight years and has experience of retreats, training in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and has good links with Amaravati monastery in Hertfordshire.
We started the evening off by building a small Buddhist shrine together. We then went on to do a 30 minute Mindfulness of Breathing Meditation. After a cup of tea we spent the remainder of the evening doing potted life stories and talking about our hopes for the group. It feels like we have a Peterborough Sangha already! A very promising start. Visit our new and slowly improving web page at:- http://buddhistmeditationpeterborough.googlepages.com/
Tomorrow, I'm off to Wolverhampton in Birmingham. This will be my third visit in two weeks. I am preparing shop fitting plans and meeting sub-contractors in order to open a new evolution Shop. Fingers crossed it should be trading by mid May.
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