A Letter to Pakistan

Dear Pakistan,
I hope all is well with you. On this, your 65th birthday, I wanted to write a long letter congratulating you on your achievements. But how can I? Where have you come: you are now a pimple on the face of the world that refuses to go away. I remember you being quoted and known as the most dynamic young Muslim nation that people looked up to, and your airline’s slogan ‘Great people to fly with’ made us proud. Now, on the national carrier and in the Land of the Pure alike, it’s more like “great people to die with.” From the most progressive airline in the world which trained others, and uniforms from designers like Hardy Amies who designs for Queen Elizabeth, to Pierre Cardin, the renowned Parisian couturier who designed PIA’s second uniform, and Madam Carven in the seventies, the airline has now become an international pariah. But why expect anything different when you, its motherland, have evolved into a convoluted nation of contradictions, with cheap politicians and even cheaper clerics who have raped you in the name of religion.
Not that you never made us proud – with your sons like Abdul Sattar Edhi, Dr Abdus Salam, Nusrat Fateh Ali, Mehdi Hassan, Imran Khan, Jehangir Khan, Aisam ul Haq, and many others. Not that you haven’t shown the world intellectuals, authors, artists and directors like Bapsi Sidhwa, Hanif Kureshi, Sadequain, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, and many others. But these have always been your lone soldiers, shining beacons emitting solitary rays. And what have you done for them except at best, give them awards, and that too conferred either by a military dictator or a corrupt politician, or much, much worse, excommunicate them and leave them to perish on alien soil as you did to your only Nobel prize winner, Dr Abdus Salam.
It is sad that in your history you have always selected the wrong person for the job. It is sad that instead of becoming the Dubai or Singapore you could have become, you have turned into a banana republic. I cry for you, Pakistan, for I fear that in my lifetime I will not ever see you happy and prosperous, that I will always see you with a begging bowl in hand , lying to the world and trying to get more money from anywhere you can, at whatever expense to yourself, to fatten the bellies and pockets of your so called sons, parading as leaders.
And so I am amazed by the resilience of your people, how they manage to survive in this country, where the snap of the fingers of one of your illustrious sons shuts down the seventh largest city in the world.
And yet, Pakistan, I will always love you for what you have given me, a sense of belonging, fame and respect. For me you will always be home. But sadly, I don’t know if my kids would say the same thing. For them the greener pastures they will aspire to are not your fields of hay and barley, the sweet fruit of success will not come from the mango trees of my childhood. For them, I imagine those will be the Canadian maples and for them the greener pastures of Central Park in New York.
For as minority citizens, could they ever really call you home?
I remain your humble son,
Deepak Perwani

Letters to Pakistan: Part I

To commemorate Pakistan’s 65th anniversary, Newsline requested Pakistanis to write a letter to their motherland. From columnists to chowkidaars, fashion designers to milkmen – the letters trickled in. Read on…

Dear Pakistan,
Let me remind you that you were created to be a prosperous homeland for the ‘minorities’ of the subcontinent who were subjected to prejudice and persecution. You were supposed to be a welfare state to serve and protect all your citizens equally.
Please recall that awe-inspiring moment when your founding father, Quaid-e-Azam M.A. Jinnah, made the following promises:
“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan…You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State…. and you will find that in due course Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State”
Let me state plainly, with my heart filled with pain, that you have failed to be the promised-land even after 65 years. Here the mosques are bombed, temples are demolished and the ‘places of worship’ Jinnah spoke of are in ruins.
You have banned a non-Muslim from becoming head of state (Article 41-2) and from being eligible to be elected Prime Minister (Article 91-3). Religion, sect, caste and creed play a decisive role in your territory, and its citizens are certainly not treated as ‘equal citizens of one state’. A citizen, for instance, cannot get an identity card or passport unless he/she apostatises another citizen. Your courts are bound to sentence a ‘minority’ to imprisonment and even death for propagating or practicing certain beliefs that may ‘hurt’ the ‘majority.’
Dear Pakistan, you have unfortunately become a home, a safe haven for people who proudly march towards a colony to “make mincemeat of the Christians” without being stopped by anyone, including your law enforcement agencies. And the self-proclaimed custodians of your ideology slaughter Shia Muslims with impunity on a daily basis.
It seems as if you are comfortable with the beheadings, massacre and forced conversion of minorities. If not, why is your media silent towards such atrocities? Why are your otherwise omnipotent and omnipresent security forces failing to protect your citizens? How long will your elected government excuse itself saying “our hands are tied” and peruse its ‘policy of appeasement’ when it comes to safeguarding the lives of ethnic, sectarian and religious minorities?
The Baloch are being killed, and hundreds of others have gone missing just because they demanded their due rights. Meanwhile, the law enforcement agencies respond only by blaming a ‘foreign hand’ for all the human rights violations taking place in your poorest but largest province, even while the Supreme Court recently stated that there is plenty of evidence indicating involvement of the security forces in forced disappearances.
The Pakhtuns are subjected to mass murder at the hands of your strategic assets – the ‘good,’ ‘naïve’ and ‘angry’ children you have fostered for assorted agendas – i.e. religious zealots.
And the Hazaras are being put under ‘house arrest’ after a decade of being subjected to an ongoing murderous campaign against them. Your self-proclaimed lovers and defenders are killing these Pakistanis, almost every day, just because they are a minority in the Land of the Pure.
We are not free. Not to worship and increasingly clearly, not even to live.

 by: Dr Saleem Javed is a Quetta-based freelance journalist and activist, as well as a Sino-Af-Pak analyst

 

Shias vs Sunni (Islam) / Theravada vs Mahayana (Buddhism)

I don't know, Pakistan though predominantly Islamic country; being practicing a religion of peace (Islam) why fighting, bombing, hate and argue. Sunni and Shias sectarian clashes every time i read Pakistan news. I hope, without fighting for who is right or wrong why can't they take an example from Buddhists sects? Although Buddhism may be seen differently from the eyes of Muslims, at least using some common sense they can follow some good examples from others. We are human beings, we feel the pain of others because we have everything what others have.

Buddhism though has 3 main sects Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, i never hear or see any violence, killings or fighting who is right or wrong. If they have anything to talk about, they talk, they have great dialogues and conferences. They are much peaceful. I may not take the side, but i see this through my observation.

This link made me write this post. I felt so sorry for those who died. May Allah has mercy on those people.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\08\17\story_17-8-2012_pg1_2
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012

Violence In Rakhine State of Burma (Myanmar)

I am so surprised that, in Rakhine state of Myanmar (Burma), both Buddhists and Muslims are killed. But the media and news i found in Google; the topics are like 'Buddhists are killing Muslims in Burma'. If there is a good person who has good understanding and full of wisdom, using common sense would not choose those kinds of topic.
   If you see with common sense, i so surprised that Muslims community in the world can not stay peacefully with other religious faiths. Why is that? Historically, areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh were once majority Buddhists and Hindus. But at present where have Buddhists and Hindus gone? If you see with archaeological and historical evidences, those Buddhists and Buddhist monasteries or Buddhist worshiping sacred places were destroyed by Muslims. They occupied the lands by wars and destruction of other faiths. Muslims hate idle worshipers and can not stay together with non believers of Islam. In this case, how can Islam can be a religion of peace.
    At that time of past, Buddhists were helpless and they belief in destiny and karma. They have no self defense. They were killed and looted and destroyed all the their ancestors' wealth. Even now, innocents Buddhists can not claim anything and no one to tell their brutal stories as Muslims dominated by population with birth control.
   At present, population of Islam is too much in Pakistan and Bangladesh, even though almost fully Islamic country where majority of population are Muslims, yet killings, stealing, rapes and violent happen almost everyday. The most populated Islamic countries in Asia are Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
   In every corner of the world, every news in BBC and CNN, news like bombing, killings, rapes,  and violence are done by Muslims. Can be still call they follow the religion of peace? If it is, many of it's followers would be much peaceful ones.

Islam will dominate Thailand

Global Jihad

Although the principal targets of the current wave of terrorism are primarily Jews and Christians, Buddhists are also victims of jihad, and historically have suffered far worse casualities than any other faith.

History of jihad against Buddhists

Destruction of Nalanda

"After the second battle of Tarain in 1192 when the forces of Islam were victorius there was nothing to keep them from invading the so-called Middle Land where Nalanda was located. In 1193 Mohammad Bakhtyar and his armies swept across the Gangetic Plain destroying all Buddhistic temples and institution he found and killing all Buddhist monks who fell into his hands. Nalanda was almost completely plundered, but a few monks who had managed to survive the onslaught returned and attempted to revive the institution. A second attack by the Moslems followed and this time Nalanda was destroyed for good. The abandoned ruins of the once great monastery slowly crumbled into dust, only to be restored, at least in part, in the twentieth century."

Extermination of 10 million Buddhists along the Silk Road"The first Western Buddhists were the Greeks descended from Alexander the Great’s army in what is now Afghanistan. Jihad destroyed all Buddhism along the silk route. About 10 million Buddhists died. The conquest of Buddhism is the practical result of pacifism.

Zoroasterianism was eliminated from Persia.

The Jews became permanent dhimmis throughout Islam.

In Africa over 120 million Christians and animists have died over the last 1400 years of jihad.

Approximately 270 million nonbelievers died over the last 1400 years in the jihad of political Islam. These are the Tears of Jihad, a subject which is not taught in any school."

Islam will dominate by Shariah

History of the Jihad against Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines"The clash of the gentle ancestors of the Malays and Indonesians with the violent Muslims is a clash of contrasts.

This is so as there is no greater contrast than that between Buddhism and Islam. While Buddhism is intrinsically and universally non-violent, Islam is a violent, cruel and murderous paranoia as we witnessed in 9/11, 7/7, 3/11 and numerous other events in recent history. The 14 century long history of Islam has been equally violent and bloodied and cruel.

When attacked and massacred by the Muslims, the Buddhists initially did not make any attempt to escape from their murderers. They accepted death with an air of fatalism and destiny. And hence they are not around today to tell their story."

Islam will dominate Thailand

Nirvana versus Jihad

"If there is one conflict that truly shows up Muslims for the intolerant, violent and oppressive fanatics they really are it is the Islamic jihad being waged in Southern Thailand against the Buddhists.

Yes, you read that correctly, Buddhists. Those people who believe strictly in non-violence and peace, who believe no living creature should be harmed and who have pretty much caused no harm to any other people are now being treated to the delights of "The Religion of Peace." Over 3,300 Buddhists have been slaughtered to date by fanatical Islamic jihadists who fight in Allah's cause.

And yet once again, the media give little coverage to this conflict, focusing attention instead on the Palestinian cause conveniently ignoring the fact that Muslims are oppressing and slaughtering thousands upon thousands of non-believers around the world all to the cry of "Allahu Akhbar!" as they devoutly follow the perfect example of their faith, the insane paedophile, murderer and enslaver Mohammed."

Global Jihad

Global Jihad

Although the principal targets of the current wave of terrorism are primarily Jews and Christians, Buddhists are also victims of jihad, and historically have suffered far worse casualities than any other faith.

History of jihad against Buddhists

Destruction of Nalanda

"After the second battle of Tarain in 1192 when the forces of Islam were victorius there was nothing to keep them from invading the so-called Middle Land where Nalanda was located. In 1193 Mohammad Bakhtyar and his armies swept across the Gangetic Plain destroying all Buddhistic temples and institution he found and killing all Buddhist monks who fell into his hands. Nalanda was almost completely plundered, but a few monks who had managed to survive the onslaught returned and attempted to revive the institution. A second attack by the Moslems followed and this time Nalanda was destroyed for good. The abandoned ruins of the once great monastery slowly crumbled into dust, only to be restored, at least in part, in the twentieth century."

Extermination of 10 million Buddhists along the Silk Road"The first Western Buddhists were the Greeks descended from Alexander the Great’s army in what is now Afghanistan. Jihad destroyed all Buddhism along the silk route. About 10 million Buddhists died. The conquest of Buddhism is the practical result of pacifism.

Zoroasterianism was eliminated from Persia.

The Jews became permanent dhimmis throughout Islam.

In Africa over 120 million Christians and animists have died over the last 1400 years of jihad.

Approximately 270 million nonbelievers died over the last 1400 years in the jihad of political Islam. These are the Tears of Jihad, a subject which is not taught in any school."

Islam will dominate the World

Fatwa on Dalai Lama

"Lumbini (AsiaNews) – Nepal’s three million Buddhists are alarmed over death threats made against the Dalai Lama, allegedly by Islamic extremist group Lashkar-e-Toiba. In Lumbini, Buddha’s birth place in southern Nepal, monks and lay people are praying for him.

A local monk, Bhante Jaydeo, told AsiaNews that the Dalai Lama “is an apostle of non violence and peace. In spite of being a victim of Chinese Communist violence he has never preached for a violent uprising in Tibet and has always called for reconciliation” with Beijing. “Here in town monks and the faithful have prepared special prayers for his safety.”

When an Indian paper reported the threat on April 1, police in Dharamsala (India) where the Dalai Lama lives in exile stepped up security arrangements.

Lashkar-e-Toiba is based in Pakistani-held Kashmir and is among the most powerful Islamic terrorist groups in South Asia. It is thought to be tied to al-Qaeda and it has been held responsible for many attacks in India.

For experts, the threat made against the Buddhist leader is probably connected to a recent statement attributed to Osama bin Laden against all religions other than Islam, including “pagan Buddhism.”

The Dalai Lama’s secretary Tanzin Tekla has refused any comment."

The Buddha Meets Holger Danske

" Almost all the harm inflicted upon Buddhism throughout history has been caused by Islam, says Ole Nydahl. He finds it embarrassing that Buddhists never defended themselves. Muslim extremists now threaten Buddhists with renewed violence.

"...According to a report dated April 4th. 2007 from the internet portal Asia News the Islamic extremist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, located in the Pakistan-dominated part of Kashmir, issued threats against expatriate leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama. Lashkar-e-Toiba is among the most powerful Islamic groups in Southeast Asia. It has been connected with several deadly onslaughts throughout India and is allegedly connected to Al-Qaeda.

The threats against the Dalai Lama were surprising because the prominent Buddhist leader on several occasions praised Islam as being a peaceful religion.

The Dharamsala Police in Northern India, where the Dalai Lama lives, take the threats seriously and have enhanced their security precautions.

Those threats are in accordance with the anti-Buddhist campaign mentioned by Osama bin Laden in his speech on the Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera on April 23, 2006. Besides the usual threats against “crusaders”, countries supporting Denmark in its conflict over the Mohammed cartoons, the United Nations, etc., his message contained a specific reference to Buddhists. It was delivered when he spoke about the UN Security Council which Osama bin Laden accused of excluding Islamic nations all the while granting the rights of veto to “Crusaders of the world and Buddhist pagans.”

islam-watch.orgBuddhists Attacked First In Myanmar

According to a report by the independent Arakanese news agency Narinjara, in the Muslims-dominated township of Rambree in Arakan State in Myanmar (Burma), a gang of Muslims robbed a Buddhist girl, ganged-raped her and murdered her in grisly manner (rape, sexual mutilation then death).

She was intercepted while returning home from work on the evening of 28 May 2012. She was killed by slitting her throat. Her dead-body also showed several stabbing wounds on the chest, as well as wounds and cuts on the vaginal and pubic regions.

After news of the grisly rape and murder spread, nearly 1000 angry protesters from nearby villages marched to the police station on 29 May, demanding police action against the barbaric murderers. Three Muslim culprits were arrested on the same night.

A Burmese source tells us that angered by arrest of the Muslim culprits, Bengali Muslims started riots on 8th June 2012 in Moung Daw Township in Arakan State, which borders the line between Bangladesh and Myanmar. According to the source, the riot was continuing at the time of reporting at about 9pm Myanmar Time on 8th June.

Muslims started the riots after the Friday Ju'ma (congregation) prayers, which is a common occasion for Muslims to launch violent Jihadi actions and protests all over the world.

"Bengali Muslims killed at least 10 Arakanese Buddhists and burnt down over 20 Arakanese Buddhist Villages in Moung Daw Town," wrote the source.

"Muslims burnt down Buddhist Monastery and school," the source added.

Another news-report by The Irrawaddy that covers Burma and South Asia claimed of three deaths that included a doctor and his wife, and 14 burnt-down villages. Police exchanged fired with armed Muslim rioters on Friday afternoon.

"Fourteen villages in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships were torched by rioters while authorities struggled to maintain control," according to Facebook page of a President Office official.

"The security forces have been trying to protect the 14 villages which (were) burned," it added.

Five primary schools and a number of Arakanese-owned buildings were burned down by rioters, reported The Voice Weekly journal, warranting deployment of Burmese troops in the area. There were rumours of martial law being imposed.

In Moung Daw Town, inhabited by 20,000 native Buddhists, has been flooded by 400,000 illegal Bengali Muslims settlers.

Every year, Bengali Muslims engage in riots and kill Buddhists in dozens not only inside Burma but also in tribal areas in Bangladesh. Violence against ethnic Arakanese Buddhist people, living in Bangladesh, and murdered of them by Bangladeshi Muslims can be read at the following links:

http://www.angelfire.com/ab/jumma/news2006/index.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ab/jumma/

http://www.angelfire.com/ab/jumma/rape.html

The native Buddhist people in the Arakanese state in Myanmar have been under distress in the face of massive Muslim infiltration and Islamization, which can be read here:http://waihninpwintthon.blogspot.sg/

Islam will Dominate - The Islamic Threat to BuddhismIslam will dominate!

seanrobsville.blogspot.comFrom Islam's War Against Buddhism:

"I feel, through my direct experiences of it, that Islam has not changed its ways in the least. In fact it has become more aggressive now than at any time since its period of greatest expansion in the 900s to the 1200s.

“Modern” Islam seeks to return humanity to those very same times – a revival of the dark ages of Islamic slaughter, mayhem, and pillage – all in the name of Allah.

We Buddhists must realize that we, and our cherished practices, would be swept away entirely and crushed utterly, should Islam ever gain ascendancy in this world in which we live. Islam is the only belief that propagates itself thus – by the sword.And it is very patient."

Pak-extremists ‘exaggerating’ violence against Burma’s Muslims ‘to fund own agendas’

Washington, Aug 4 (ANI): Islamist groups in Pakistan are exaggerating the incidences of ill-treatment of Muslims in Myanmar to recruit people for their cause and fund their own agendas, a report has said.
The international community recently raised concerns about human rights abuses against Muslim Rohingyas following their clashes in June with the Buddhist community.
Human rights activists slammed the Burmese government for failing to protect Rohingyas and to stop the violence that left 78 dead.
But on the streets of Pakistan, the rhetoric runs much hotter with protesters claiming ‘thousands’ of Rohingyas are being slaughtered in western Myanmar, The Christian Science Monitor reports.
According to the report, a series of doctored and misidentified photographs are circulating widely in Pakistani social media that show violence against Rohingyas.
It cited one photo posted on a Facebook page originating from Pakistan showing Buddhists dressed in their traditional red robes standing in the middle of two rows of dead bodies, with the caption reading: “Bodies of Muslims killed by Buddhists.”
In reality, this picture was from an earthquake incident in China in 2010, where Tibetan monks came to help with the rescue efforts, the report said.
Shahzad Ahmad, the Pakistan country director for the global online activism group called Bytes for All, pointed out that stories of Muslim victimization around the world are exaggerated in Pakistan by Islamist groups on the Internet.
“They use such campaigns not only to fund themselves but also to gain more political ground and recruit people for their cause,” the paper quoted Ahmad, as saying.
“Our research shows that there are many fake photographs being used to propagate [stories of] atrocities against Muslims on many of the Facebook pages which originate from Pakistan,” he added.
According to the paper, among the groups involved in stirring the activism are Jamat-ud-Dawa, Jamat-e-Islami and Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam, three Islamist groups which hold significant street power in the country. (ANI)

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U.S. in first effort to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam

(CNN) -- The United States has pitched in for the first time to clean up part of the toxic legacy left by the millions of gallons of the chemical compound code named Agent Orange that it dumped on Vietnam during the war there in the 1960s and '70s.

The U.S. military used Agent Orange, also known as dioxin, to kill trees and plants that blocked visibility from the air during the Vietnam War. But the chemical, which can cause cancer and birth defects, also harmed humans and left areas of Vietnam contaminated.

In an effort to start addressing this noxious remnant of the war, the U.S. and Vietnamese governments, along with partnering organizations, are treating a contaminated zone at the airport of the central Vietnamese city of Danang.

Workers will dig up soil, stockpile it, and treat it using high temperatures that break down the dioxin.

"We are both moving earth and taking the first steps to bury the legacies of our past," David Shear, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, said Thursday at a ceremony opening the project at the airport. He described the effort as "a historic milestone" for the relationship between the two countries.

Led by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense, the cleanup in Danang aims to reclaim an area of 29 hectares.

It will cost an estimated $43 million, and is expected to finish in 2015, according to the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington. U.S. officials had no immediate comment on the cost and timetable of the project.

Agent Orange is "one of the most toxic compounds known to humans," according to the United Nations.

The use of the chemical by the U.S. military in Southeast Asia between 1961 and 1971 devastated large swathes of the Vietnamese countryside and affected millions of people.

As many as one million people in Vietnam have disabilities or other health problems associated with Agent Orange, the Vietnamese Red Cross has estimated, citing local studies.

About 2.6 million U.S. military personnel are believed to have been exposed to the chemical, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans are estimated to be alive and eligible for treatment for Agent Orange-related illnesses, the department says. It has compiled a list of health problems believed to be associated with exposure to Agent Orange, including cancer, Parkinson's and a type of heart disease.

The Vietnamese government has underscored the need to "pursue efforts to overcome the aftermath of toxic substances left by the war" in other areas around the country, according to the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington.

The U.S. government is planning to carry out an environmental assessment of another contaminated area -- in Bien Hoa, southern Vietnam -- in coordination with the Vietnamese government , the United Nations and others, Shear said Thursday.

By Jessica King, CNN

August 10, 2012 -- Updated 1138 GMT (1938 HKT)

Moon lander prototype blows up in NASA test

(CNN) -- An unmanned moon lander under development crashed and blew up during an engine test Thursday afternoon at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the space agency reported.

There were no injuries in the failed test of the lander, dubbed "Morpheus." The craft had gone through several previous exercises in which it was hung from a crane, but Thursday was to have been its first free flight.

Instead, the prototype rose a short distance, rolled over and slammed into the ground. The craft caught fire immediately and exploded about 30 seconds later.

"The vehicle itself is lost," Jon Olansen, the Morpheus project manager, told reporters. "But we are working currently on gathering more data and information to understand what occurred in the test and how we can learn from it and move forward."

Read more about space and science on CNN's Light Years blog

Olansen said operators have recovered memory devices from the wreckage and will be pulling the data off of them for clues to the cause of the accident.

"From early indications, it seems to be within our guidance navigation control system, seems to point toward hardware," Olansen said.

In a written statement, NASA said failure is "part of the development process for any complex spaceflight hardware," and designers will learn from whatever caused Thursday's crash.

The Morpheus lander is designed to carry up to 1,100 pounds of cargo for a future moon mission. Its engines are fueled partly by methane, which the agency says is easier to handle and store than other propellants such as liquid hydrogen or hydrazine.

Olansen said the space agency has spent about $7 million on the project over two and a half years, and the test lander lost Thursday was "in the $500,000 class." Another one is currently under construction at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and may be complete in two to three months.

"We want to make sure that what we learn today gets applied to that next vehicle," he said.

By the CNN Wire Staff

August 10, 2012 -- Updated 0114 GMT (0914 HKT)

US PGA: Tiger Woods frustrated by recent major results

Tiger Woods admits he is frustrated by his failure to win recent majors, ahead of the US PGA Championship starting at Kiawah Island on Thursday.

Woods won the last of his 14 majors at the 2008 US Open and remains four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus.

"I've played in three majors this year and didn't win any of them," he said. "Things have progressed but not winning a major doesn't feel very good."
Woods tees off with defending champion Keegan Bradley and Martin Kaymer.
Remarkably, the last 16 majors have been won by 16 different players, with Americans Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson becoming first-time major champions this year.
"Golf's getting deep, there are so many guys with a chance to win and that's kind of how sport is, the margin is getting smaller," said 36-year-old Woods, who missed the cut by six strokes at last year's US PGA.
The former world number one dropped out of the top 50 last year, for the first time in 15 years, but was joint third at last month's Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes and has risen to number two in the world rankings behind Englishman Luke Donald.
"There may have been 16 different winners but what you have to look at is the cuts are getting lower," he said.
"The scores between the leader and the guy who is 70 and tied, sometimes it is 10 shots or less, which is amazing. If you've got margins that small, you're going to get guys who win once here and there."
Asked about his pursuit of the Nicklaus record, Woods added: "Jack didn't finish his until he was 46, so if you go by that timetable I've got 10 more years. That's 40 more majors, so I've got plenty of time.

"With the training regimes we have now and seeing guys play well, you could get on the right golf course and contend. You see what happened with Tom [Watson] being 59 [reaching a play-off at the 2009 Open Championship], Greg [Norman] almost did it at Birkdale at 53, so we can play late in our careers."

The Pete Dye-designed par 72 Ocean course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, measures 7,676 yards and will be the longest in major championship history.
It is famous for hosting the 1991 Ryder Cup, when the United States won an acrimonious match dubbed "The War on the Shore."
By his high standards, Woods does not have a particularly impressive record on Dye courses in previous majors, finishing in a share of 28th in the 2010 US PGA at Whistling Straits and tied for 24th at the same venue in the 2004 version of the Championship.
Donald, 34, who is yet to win a major, tied for third at the 2006 US PGA and produced a strong display at last month's Open Championship, finishing in a share of fifth - five shots behind winner Ernie Els.
Compatriot Lee Westwood, who was second in two majors in 2010 and has also finished third or in a share of third on five occasions in majors, has slipped to fourth in the rankings after a disappointing 45th at Lytham.
The 39-year-old has won twice this year and was fifth at the Masters and 10th at the US Open.
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion, has missed the cut in his last two appearances at the US PGA but has a consistent record in this year's majors, finishing joint 12th at the Masters, tied for second at the US Open and in a share of fifth at the Open.
The 33-year-old, without a title since 2010, has recorded four top-10 finishes in 12 events in the US this year.
Rory McIlroy, who was one shot behind Kaymer in the 2010 US PGA at the Ocean course, has failed to finish in the top 20 of a major since winning the 2011 US Open. He was a lowly 60th at Lytham.
The world number three, 23,has won once and recorded six top-10 finishes in 11 appearances on the US Tour this year, but missed the cut in his defence of the US Open.
The top 100 ranked players will all feature for the first time in the same event since the world ranking system came into effect in 1986.

Usain Bolt wins 200m to make Olympic athletics history

Bolt matched Michael Johnson's then world-record time from the Atlanta Games of 19.32 seconds as he held off training partner Yohan Blake in silver and Warren Weir in bronze.
Blake had beaten Bolt at the Jamaican trials, his last race over the distance before London, but the double 100m champion ran a brilliant bend from lane seven to lead by a metre coming into the straight.
Glancing to his left he was aware of Blake closing in a fraction at 150m, but held his form to cross the line with a finger to his lips.
"This is what I wanted and I got it. I'm very proud of myself," the 25-year-old told BBC Sport.
"After a rough season I came out here and did it. I thought the world record was possible. I guess I was fast but not fit enough.
"I could feel my back strain a little bit, so all I did was to keep my form. I'm very dedicated to my work and London meant so much to me."

Blake's 19.44 secs was a season's best, while 22-year-old Weir set a new personal best with 19.84 secs to complete the Jamaican party.

But this was Bolt's race, and these have once again been Bolt's Games.
A month ago, his form questionable and his hamstrings and back giving him serious problems, there was genuine doubt whether the 25-year-old could retain one Olympic title here in London, let alone two.
Bolt has made those misgivings seem laughable. He now has five Olympic gold medals, the most decorated Jamaican Olympian of all time, and with the 4x100m still to come can make it six before he heads home to the embrace of an ecstatic nation.

On a warm, still summer evening perfect for sprinting, Bolt had clowned around as he waited to be called to his blocks, as ever a study in easy relaxation despite the magnitude of the occasion.

He flirted with the girl looking after his kit and then gave a regal wave before taking his rivals apart from the moment the gun sounded.
While there was no new mark on Thursday evening, this was the joint fourth fastest 200m in history - a display to rank among the best the event Bolt calls his own has ever seen.

Dalai Lama: A Brief Biography

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is both the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born on 6 July 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet.  At the age of two the child, who was named Lhamo Dhondup at that time was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.  The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet.  Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity.

Education in Tibet
His Holiness began his monastic education at the age of six.  The curriculum consisted of five major and five minor subjects.  The major subjects were logic, Tibetan art and culture, Sanskrit, medicine, and Buddhist philosophy which was further divided into a further five categories: Prajnaparimita, the perfection of wisdom; Madhyamika, the philosophy of the middle Way; Vinaya, the canon of monastic discipline; Abidharma, metaphysics; and Pramana, logic and epistemology.  The five minor subjects were poetry, music and drama, astrology, motre and phrasing, and synonyms.  At 23 he sat for his final examination in the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, during the annual Monlam (prayer) Festival in 1959.  He passed with honours and was awarded the Geshe Lharampa degree, the highest-level degree equivalent to a doctorate of Buddhist philosophy. Leadership Responsibilities

In 1950 His Holiness was called upon to assume full political power after China's invasion of Tibet in 1949.  In 1954, he went to Beijing for peace talks with Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders, including Deng Xiaoping and Chou Enlai.  But finally, in 1959, with the brutal suppression of the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa by Chinese troops, His Holiness was forced to escape into exile.  Since then he has been living in Dharamsala, northern India, the seat of the Tibetan political administration in exile.

Since the Chinese invasion, His Holiness has appealed to the United Nations on the question of Tibet. The General Assembly adopted three resolutions on Tibet in 1959, 1961 and 1965.

Democratisation Process
In 1963 His Holiness presented a draft democratic constitution for Tibet that was followed by a number of reforms to democratise our administrative set-up.  The new democratic constitution promulgated as a result of this reform was named "The Charter of Tibetans in Exile".  The charter enshrines freedom of speech, belief, assembly and movement.  It also provides detailed guidelines on the functioning of the Tibetan government with respect to those living in exile.

In 1992 His Holiness issued guidelines for the constitution of a future, free Tibet.  He announced that when Tibet becomes free the immediate task would be to set up an interim government whose first responsibility will be to elect a constitutional assembly to frame and adopt Tibet's democratic constitution.  On that day His Holiness would transfer all his historical and political authority to the Interim President and live as an ordinary citizen.  His Holiness also stated that he hoped that Tibet, comprising of the three traditional provinces of U-Tsang, Amdo and Kham, would be federal and democratic.

In May 1990, the reforms called for by His Holiness saw the realisation of a truly democratic administration in exile for the Tibetan community.  The Tibetan Cabinet (Kashag), which till then had been appointed by His Holiness, was dissolved along with the Tenth Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies (Tibetan parliament in exile).  In the same year, exile Tibetans on the Indian sub-continent and in more than 33 other countries elected 46 members to the expanded Eleventh Tibetan Assembly on a one-man one-vote basis.  The Assembly, in its turn, elected the new members of the cabinet.  In September 2001, a further major step in democratisation was taken when the Tibetan electorate directly elected the Kalon Tripa, the senior-most minister of the Cabinet.  The Kalon Tripa in turn appointed his own cabinet who had to be approved by the Tibetan Assembly.  In Tibet's long history, this was the first time that the people elected the political leadership of Tibet.

Peace Initiatives
In September 1987 His Holiness proposed the Five Point Peace Plan for Tibet as the first step towards a peaceful solution to the worsening situation in Tibet.  He envisaged that Tibet would become a sanctuary; a zone of peace at the heart of Asia, where all sentient beings can exist in harmony and the delicate environment can be preserved. China has so far failed to respond positively to the various peace proposals put forward by His Holiness

The Five Point Peace Plan
In his address to members of the United States Congress in Washington, D.C. on 21 September 1987, His Holiness proposed the following peace plan, which contains five basic components: 

1. Transformation of the whole of Tibet into a zone of peace.
2. Abandonment of China's population transfer policy that threatens the very existence of the Tibetans as a people.
3. Respect for the Tibetan people's fundamental human rights and democratic freedoms.
4. Restoration and protection of Tibet's natural environment and the abandonment of China's use of Tibet for the production of nuclear weapons and dumping of nuclear waste.
5. Commencement of earnest negotiations on the future status of Tibet and of relations between the Tibetan and Chinese peoples.

Strasbourg Proposal
In his address to members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 15 June 1988, His Holiness made another detailed proposal elaborating on the last point of the Five Point Peace Plan.  He proposed talks between the Chinese and Tibetans leading to a self-governing democratic political entity for all three provinces of Tibet.  This entity would be in association with the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Government would continue to remain responsible for Tibet's foreign policy and defence. 

Universal Recognition
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a man of peace.  In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet.  He has consistently advocated policies of non-violence, even in the face of extreme aggression. He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems.

His Holiness has travelled to more than 62 countries spanning 6 continents.  He has met with presidents, prime ministers and crowned rulers of major nations.  He has held dialogues with the heads of different religions and many well-known scientists.

Since 1959 His Holiness has received over 84 awards, honorary doctorates, prizes, etc., in recognition of his message of peace, non-violence, inter-religious understanding, universal responsibility and compassion.  His Holiness has also authored more than 72 books.

His Holiness describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk.

Aung San Suu Kyi and Meditation

Aung San Suu Kyi has made big sacrifices for the people of Burma. In the recently released film, “The Lady”, Michelle Yeoh the actress makes great efforts with passion to portray Suu Kyi, to the extent that Yeoh even becomes terribly thin in order to play the hunger strike scene appropriately. In the film, Suu Kyi’s deep sorrow from the separation from her husband is delicately depicted, and the scenes of the brutal treatments to the arrested students are astonishing. All these scenes will surely make you shed your tears, and especially to me, when I think of the Burmese people who have treated me so well.

 

I personally have visited the meditation centers in Yangon: Chanmyay in Pyin Oo Lwin, Panditarama, and Shwe Oo Min where the masters have given me guidance on Vipassana, and Loving Kindness (Metta) meditation. The enthusiastic volunteers there run around every day just to help us get our visas, buy things, cook and wash the dishes. These volunteers truly understand how the mind works. They work very hard to overcome their own personal greed, and they do their best to help those beginners like us in our mindfulness practices despite numerous demands, dissatisfaction and even rudeness at times from the visiting newcomers.   

 

When asked how they could remain so patient, a volunteer replied kindly, “you left your countries to come all the way here to learn, and mindfulness practices are not easy at all. Therefore, we should take good care of you”. I was truly touched. Every time I leave Burma, I feel great gratitude and tears just come down. The film “The Lady” is showing now, and I enjoy watching it. Just by seeing the Myanmar landscapes again, its sky and the Shwedagon Pagoda will ease some of the melancholy in my thoughts of my Burmese friends.   

Once, a Burmese volunteer drove me and several other friends from around the world to a place, passing by Suu Kyi’s residence. It was surrounded by a dense foliage on which laid some red banners and flags of the Democratic Alliance. The volunteer explained, Panditarama Sayadaw has taught Suu Kyi in meditation, and thus the government did not like the Zen master, and has made things difficult for him”. I am sure that Suu Kyi must have had very good meditation practices under such good guidance. A few months ago, when Daw Than Myint came and visited us, she mentioned that once when Suu Kyi was under house arrest, Chanmyay Sayadaw went to her home to visit and gave her guidance on her meditation practices. And after that the government had forbidden Sayadaw to visit her further.

Unfortunately, the movie does not contain any scenes of Suu Kyi’s sitting or walking meditations.

 

A journalist once asked Suu Kyi, When you speak to the people you talk a lot about religion, why is that? Suu Kyi replied, Because politics is about people, and you can’t separate people from their spiritual values”. On the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, Suu Kyi’s son Alexander Ari gave an acceptance speech on behalf of his mother and he said: “Although my mother is often described as a political dissident who strives by peaceful means for democratic change, we should remember that her quest is basically spiritual”.

The book “Freedom from Fear and Other Writings” is a collection of Suu Kyi’s speeches, letters, and interviews, and in the ‘My Country and My People’ article, Suu Kyi recounts the Burmese style, the history and the festivals derived from Buddhism. She delineates the rise and fall of the ancient dynasties of Myanmar, briefly talks about the evolutions of different Buddhist schools, the history and the teachings of the Buddha including the Noble Eightfold Path, the Precepts, and the pursuit of liberation. These all show fully her familiarity with, and her passion for the Buddhist teachings. In one article in “Freedom from Fear, she gives a detailed analysis on our mind:

 

“It is no power that corrupts but fear itself. Fear of losing power, corrupts those who wield it, and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. Most Burmese are familiar with the four kinds of corruption from the Agati Sutta. Chanda-agati, corruption induced by desire, is deviation from the right path in pursuit of bribes or for the sake of those one loves. Dosa-agati  is taking the wrong path to spite those against whom one bears ill will, and moga-agati  is aberration due to ignorance. But perhaps the worst of the four is bhaya-agati, for not only does bhaya (fear) stifle and slowly destroy all sense of right and wrong, it so often lies at the root of the other three kinds of corruption”.

 

That Suu Kyi was able to make these remarks showed that she certainly has close observation of the operation of the mind. She has experienced and demonstrated selflessness, particularly when she was released from house arrest and showed no hatred or personal grudge against those who had  imprisoned her. She humbly remarked after she left her lakeside home-cum-prison that she believed that there are no evil people, but only people who do evil things. And when she saw her own image in taxis, people’s homes and in public places, she was shocked and showed no pleasure in such worship towards her. It reflects that Suu Kyi has very little ego involved. Her modesty and humbleness are the result of many years of meditation practices. After she was released, she attended the official commemoration of her father, and even used her international influence to prevent the Myanmar government from foreign economic sanctions.

Suu Kyi’s virtuous “fruit” is something that can be easily expected. As she has learned from meditation practice, she can see through the fears in the mind. She is never alone because she is supported by the strength of the entire Buddhist tradition and her spiritual Sangha. People of different religions, race, skin color - all sympathize with her and bless her. Spiritually, she is inspired by two great people: one is her father, General Aung San who led the people of Myanmar to freedom from the rule of Britain and Japan, and the other is Gandhi. In the film, there are many appearances of the portraits of General Aung San, and Suu Kyi and the female students all adore the books by Gandhi. The spiritual connotation between the two is the same: both General Aung San and Ghandi had the freedom to combat their fears.

In fact, when General Aung San died, Suu Kyi was only two years old. Her knowledge of her father came mostly from her mother who was a diplomat, and from the articles about her father that her mother collected. She found that she and her father shared the same beliefs which establish a strong spiritual connection with the heritage. General Aung San asked the people of Myanmar to not just rely on other people, but that they should have the courage to be great people themselves. Gandhi encouraged the Indians to bravely face battering without resistance, and to steadfastly maintain their inner peace in order to achieve peace in the outside world. This practice takes lots of discipline. Suu Kyi is a very disciplined person herself and last year she gave a speech to Hong Kong University students via a video link, and she encouraged them to have discipline. While under house arrest, Suu Kyi continued to practice and tried to maintain mindful thoughts, even when she often had to repair the electrical appliances by herself. Unfortunately, the film has not reached this depth, and the actress who portrayed her might in fact have over-expressed some grief, stubbornness and anger. Of course in real life, Suu Kyi does feel pain, and she surely would cry, and yet she is more likely to use mindfulness practices to watch the mind and overcome suppression and prolonged pain. Suu Kyi has learned that no emotions are permanent when she stated:

 

“Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions; courage that could be described as 'grace under pressure' - grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.”

 

 

If you can sit quietly for 45 minutes to try and keep still and concentrated, you can surely experience the fears that stiffen the body, and the fears that trouble the mind. You can also experience your inertia to escape from, resist and hate fears. However, skilled meditation practitioners just sit steadfastly and are calmly aware of all this. Gradually, you will find a new way to face fears: using curiosity, gratitude, faith and compassion to calmly face fears. On the outside nothing seems to be happening, and yet inside, you will have an inner journey to explore the mind, reflect and learn. This is how we learn and develop self confidence. 

Sometimes Vipassana meditation practice can seem very dull, and another method is to switch to loving kindness meditation. According to Chanmyay Sayadaw, this is like when a traveler has walked in the hot sun for a long time, he will need a little rest in the shade. In the loving kindness meditation, one needs to repeat short sentences of blessings in order to train the mind to concentrate on virtuous thoughts and cultivate the virtue of loving kindness. I am sure that Suu Kyi must have practiced loving kindness meditation. In August 26, 1988, she gave her famous speech at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, and she concluded the speech:

 

“May the entire people be united and disciplined. May our people always do what is in complete accord with rightful principles. May the people be free from all harm.”

 

Also in her speech to the Hong Kong University students in 2011, Suu Kyi said:

 

“The highest form of learning would be that which makes us caring and responsible citizens of this world, and equips us with the intellectual means necessary to translate our concerns into specific needs.”

 

 

She has inherited these values from the Buddhist teachings, from her father and from Mahatma Gandhi. And I can see these values within the beautiful people of Myanmar.

Po Yi Translated by Brenda Leung
2012-04-01

May peace be with Suu Kyi.

May the Burmese people be safe.

May all beings be well.

 

 

Medical emergency reported at U.S. station in Antarctica

(CNN) -- A medical emergency was under way Wednesday at the largest research station in Antarctica, which is the hub of the U.S. Antarctic Program.

Australia said its Antarctic Division was asked to "assist in the repatriation of an expeditioner from the American Antarctic McMurdo station."

The U.S. National Science Foundation is coordinating the operation, a statement from the Australian government said.

The NSF did not immediately release any details.

Nations "work together very cooperatively" in such situations, said Dr. Tony Fleming, director of the Australian Antarctic Division.

An Australian team was headed to Christchurch, New Zealand, and will fly to McMurdo station "when weather and light permit," the statement from Australia said.

The station, established in 1955, is built on bare volcanic rock on Ross Island, the solid ground farthest south that is accessible by ship, according to the NSF, an independent U.S. government agency.

The station has landing strips on sea ice and shelf ice, as well as a helicopter pad.

Temperatures Wednesday were 9 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (23 below zero Celsius), with the wind chill making it feel like 19 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (28 degrees below zero Celsius), according to the U.S. Antarctic Program.

Researchers there conduct studies in astrophysics, biology, medicine, geology, glaciology and ocean and climate systems.

By the CNN Wire Staff

August 8, 2012 -- Updated 1218 GMT (2018 HKT)

Tinted prejudice in China

Beijing (CNN) -- A Caucasian American businessman gets into a cab in Beijing. At first he's relieved-- the last few taxis passed straight by him, which is not unusual-- it can be difficult for non-Chinese nationals to get a cab. But then comes an uncomfortable question from the driver: "Isn't it difficult living in a country with so many black people?"

A question that highlighted another issue: while non-Chinese nationals can have trouble getting a cab, it can be even worse for those with darker skin.

Project manager Kris Derban has lived in China for eight years. He long suspected that taxis were not picking him up because he is an African-American. Recently his suspicions were confirmed when he asked a driver why he had hesitated to take him. "The driver said, 'I worry Africans will run off and not pay.'"

But catching a cab isn't the only problem. Another common misconception Derban has to contend with is that he is a drug dealer, he said. "I'll be with a group of friends and someone specifically comes up to ask me if I have drugs. At first I was offended. Now I tease them and say: 'No, do you have drugs?'"

Derban laughs off such incidents, finding humor in the ignorance. Others have been less fortunate.

Liberian student David Johnson moved to China just two months ago. He said he has already been subjected to several racist remarks. "One time I was walking down the street and someone called me a stupid black c***," he reported.

"Maybe it was because I was with a Chinese girl and they don't like that."

Reports of this kind of racism date back to when Africans were first welcomed into China to study at Chinese universities in the 1960s. And in 1988, a violent, 300-strong mob broke into an African students' dormitory at Nanjing University and destroyed their possessions while chanting "down with the black devils."

The number of Africans and foreigners living in China has risen significantly since then. Communities have grown up in major cities such as Guangzhou, where 20,000 Africans now live, according to official figures. Some scholars, trying to account for the number of undocumented migrants, put the estimate at around 200,000.

However, "even in those cities where there is now a concentration of black people, still most Chinese have little to no contact with them," said Barry Sautman, a professor of social sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology who specializes in the issue of race in China. As such, their ideas about blacks are largely shaped by the media, Sautman, said, adding, "In the media, Africa is portrayed as a house of horrors, with a huge number of people dying from diseases, wars and extremely high crime rates."

Cultural bias against dark skin

But it is not just Africans and those of African descent who report prejudices in China; others with darker skin are also affected.

Hatim Shah from Mumbai in India has worked in finance in China for six years. He recalled Beijing's visa crackdown on foreigners working or living illegally in the city around the time of the 2008 Olympics.

"I was set to move into a house, but when I went with the landlord to the police station to register, he told me I couldn't live there because the police didn't want brown people in the vicinity," he recalled. "My white South African roommate had no problem." Although Shah believes the situation has since improved, he still feels that "if you are brown here, you are not equal."

He added: "They assume dark skinned people are doing something dodgy. If there's a white person in the room, they'd rather speak to the white person."

Paler skin has historically been prized in China and much of Asia. Even today skin-lightening products remain popular.

"Conversely, darker skin is associated with being a peasant," said Sautman. "So, if you think peasants are oafish and backwards, you associate darker skin with that."

However, experts say, just because there is a historic prejudice against dark skin in China, it was never a given that this prejudice would automatically translate into prejudice against races with darker skins. Sautman believes that type of prejudice was imported from the West.

"It was imported as early as the 1880s by Chinese intellectuals exposed to the Western racist literature. During the Maoist era, expressing such ideas fell out of fashion. Instead, the state promoted the idea that the Chinese should join Africans and rise up together against the white imperialists," said Sautman. But from the beginning of China's reform era from the late 1970s, some Western ideas were allowed to flood back in.

While the Chinese government maintains there is no racisim here-- many clearly beg to differ. But they say, given that racism seems less historically entrenched in China than in the West, there is hope it can be stamped out more easily.

The 'Obama effect'

Some non-Chinese nationals say the election of U.S. President Barack Obama and the growing number of black sports stars playing for Chinese teams - such as basketball's Stephon Marbury and footballer Didier Drogba - has helped change perceptions.

A study conducted by Yunying Zhang at Austin Peay State University and Alexis Tan at Washington State University showed that negative stereotypes held about African-Americans-- for example, that they were 'violent', 'loud' or 'aggressive' -- were less likely to be held by Chinese people after President Obama's election. Meanwhile Africans and African-Americans living in China report that since the election, Chinese people they meet are now more likely to bring up the president or the latest athlete signed to a Chinese team than mention negative stereotypes.

Real-life encounters with ordinary Africans and African-Americans also play a part in dispelling racist myths. In a study of attitudes in Guangzhou, Sautman found a correlation between Chinese people actually living and working with Africans and having a more positive attitude towards the African community there.

Derban, for his part, said: "I try to present myself in such a way that I always leave a good impression. The racism here might be blatant, but, unlike the West, because it's not hidden, I know what I am dealing with. I can openly talk to people about it and help change impressions."

Loretta Evans, an African-American who has been in China for eight years feels the same. "Yes, I've sometimes had people stare or touch my skin, as if to see whether it's going to rub off," she said. "But I think this comes from curiosity not negativity. Here I don't feel the racial tension I feel back home. I've done things, such as setting up my own geophysics company, which as I black woman I might not have been able to do in the States.

"Yes, I'm treated differently from Chinese people. But here I'm different first, black second."

By Gabrielle Jaffe, for CNN

July 24, 2012 -- Updated 0448 GMT (1248 HKT)

Murder trial at heart of Chinese political scandal set to begin

Beijing (CNN) -- Gu Kailai, the wife of a recently deposed highflier in the Chinese Communist Party, is expected to go on trial Thursday, accused of killing a British businessman in a case that has blended political intrigue with the plot twists of a murder mystery.

The trial is the latest phase in the fall from grace of the prominent family of Bo Xilai, Gu's husband, who until earlier this year had appeared destined to join the elite committee of leaders at the top of China's ruling party.

The saga has become the most sensational Chinese political scandal in recent years, creating an extraordinary set of challenges for the central government as it prepares for a once-in-a-decade leadership transition later this year.

Gu and a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, are accused of poisoning Neil Heywood, the 41-year-old British citizen who was found dead in November in a hotel in the southwestern Chinese metropolis of Chongqing, the city where Bo was the Communist Party chief.

The trial is taking place in the city of Hefei, in Anhui province, more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) east of Chongqing, where there is lingering support for Bo and his family.

"This is definitely more than a criminal trial," said Wenran Jiang, a professor of political science at the University of Alberta. He added that the process is being closely watched for signs of what might happen to Bo, who is being investigated for "serious discipline violations" after being removed from his Chongqing and party posts.

Gu's family had wanted to hire two prominent Beijing lawyers to represent her, but Chinese authorities have chosen two local attorneys to form her defense team, a family friend told CNN on Wednesday.

The family is sending the pair into the courtroom as observers, with the approval of the court, said the friend, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case.

The cards appear to be stacked against Gu and Zhang, who are at the mercy of a Chinese court system that has been criticized by human rights advocates as being little more than a tool of the country's powerful state security apparatus.

"In this trial, frankly speaking, nobody believes that it's a totally independent judiciary and it will be judged just on the merits of the case," Jiang said. "It has been managed by the most senior level of leadership at every step."

The defendants haven't seen their relatives since they were arrested in early April, a friend of Gu's family said last week. Bo has not been seen in public since he was stripped of his titles.

When the murder charges were announced last month, Xinhua, the state-run news agency, reported that "the facts of the two defendants' crime are clear, and the evidence is irrefutable and substantial." If convicted, the two could face the death penalty.

The Xinhua report said that Gu and the couple's son, Bo Guagua, had "conflicts" with Heywood "over economic interests." It alleged that Gu and Zhang had poisoned the Briton because Gu was worried that he was "threat to her son's personal security."

International media reports have speculated about the nature of Heywood's work in China and his ties to the Bo family. He had lived in China for more than a decade and was married to a Chinese woman. Among the companies he advised was a consulting firm founded by former officers of the British spy agency MI6.

Bo Guagua, 24, said in an e-mail Tuesday that he had submitted a witness statement to the defense team for his mother.

"I have faith that facts will speak for themselves," wrote Bo, who graduated from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in May. He previously attended Oxford, graduating in 2010.

His illustrious education is an indication of the influence and ambitions of his family, which is now engulfed by scandal.

As the son of Bo Yibo, one the "eight immortals" of the revolution that created modern China, Bo Xilai was considered a strong contender for promotion into the Standing Committee of the party's Politburo, whose nine members decide how to run China.

He stood out as one of China's most dynamic and controversial politicians, notably for his populist policies in Chongqing that promoted Chinese Communist culture and aimed to crack down on organized crime.

Timeline: Bo Xilai scandal

Gu is also descended from a revolutionary hero: Maj. Gen. Gu Jingsheng, a prominent military figure.

Fluent in English, she is a lawyer who took a leading role in a legal battle in the United States involving several Chinese firms. She eventually won the lawsuit for the Chinese companies and later wrote a book about it.

As well as being involved in her most notable professional triumph, the United States has also played a role in her undoing.

The case she is now facing may never have come to light had it not been for an extraordinary series of actions by Wang Lijun, Bo's longtime lieutenant.

Officials had quickly blamed Heywood's death on excessive alcohol consumption, and his body was cremated without an autopsy.

But on February 6, Wang, the former police chief who had run the anti-crime push in Chongqing that helped to build Bo's reputation, sought refuge at the U.S. Consulate in nearby Chengdu.

He wanted political asylum and apparently feared for his life. Media reports and online posts have claimed that he had clashed with Bo after suggesting that Heywood had been poisoned amid a business dispute with Gu.

He gave information about Heywood's death to U.S. officials before he left the consulate and was taken into custody by Chinese security forces. The British government was made aware of Wang's comments and made a formal request to the Chinese authorities to investigate the case on February 15.

A month later, Xinhua announced that Bo had been removed as party secretary of Chongqing. And less than a month after that, Gu and Zhang were arrested.

The case has forced the Communist leadership to confront allegations of wrongdoing by a high-ranking member in an unusually public way, according to Douglas Paal, a top China analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

"The disruption of his departure from office and his wife's crimes have made it difficult to present a facade of unity to their people," Paal said.

That united front has been key to ruling China for 2,000 years, he said. The current generation of leaders has been particularly sensitive to maintaining it since 1989, when the party hierarchy split over how to deal with the pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

From Jaime A. FlorCruz and Steven Jiang, CNN

Technology: Billionaires: Russian Mogul Wants to Upload Your Brains Into Immortality

Earlier this year, a Russian media mogul named Dmitry Itskov formally announced his intention to disembody our conscious minds and upload them to a hologram--an avatar--by 2045. In other words he outlined a plan to achieve immortality, removing the human mind from the physical constraints presented by the biological human body. He was serious. And now, in a letter to the members of the Forbes World’s Billionaire’s List, he’s offering up that immortality to the world’s 1,266 richest people.

“Many of you who have accumulated great wealth by making success of your businesses are supporting science, the arts and charities. I urge you to take note of the vital importance of funding scientific development in the field of cybernetic immortality and the artificial body,” Itskov wrote in the letter. “Such research has the potential to free you, as well as the majority of all people on our planet, from disease, old age and even death.”

The 2045 Initiative claims to have hired 30 scientists to help it pursue its immortality goal. It is opening a San Francisco office this summer and launching a major social media effort to get scientists talking about cybernetic technologies. It’s hosting another Global Future Congress next year in New York City (the last one was in Moscow earlier this year). In other words, as crazy as this sounds Itskov is dead serious and the wheels are turning on this project.
The idea, as you can see above, is to incrementally move the human mind into more disembodied and--no better way to say it--futuristic vehicles: first a humanoid robot controlled entirely by a human brain via brain-machine interface, then a conscious human brain transplanted into a humanoid robot, then consciousness uploaded (sans biological gray matter) to a computer, and finally a hologram that contains a full conscious human mind.
Somehow. It seems far-fetched, but while that timeline seems ambitious we’re the last people that are going to say something is technologically impossible. If Itskov can rally the world’s richest to pay for the R&D, who knows what cool technology they might come up with--even the unintentional discoveries along the way could be mind blowing, even if offering immortality to the world’s richest people sounds something like the nefarious plot underpinning a comic book series. At least he’s asking them to invest in scientific achievement rather than investing in another billion.
“Currently you invest in business projects that will bring you yet another billion,” Itskov writes. “You also have the ability to finance the extension of your own life up to immortality. Our civilization has come very close to the creation of such technologies: it's not a science fiction fantasy. It is in your power to make sure that this goal will be achieved in your lifetime.”
We shall see.

By Clay Dillow

Technology: Use Your Body's Electrical Field To Uniquely Identify Yourself

You are unique. This is one of the more obscure ways you're unique: An alternating current of different frequencies running through you causes a reaction that's noticeably different from anyone else's. Researchers from Dartmouth University are trying to put this difference to use by creating wearable electronics that respond to--and only to--their intended user.
The design they're discussing is called "Amulet," a device "not unlike a watch" that could take a measurement like this, confirming the identity of a person. The device would use small electrodes to measure how the body's tissue react to the alternating current, which changes from person to person. It's a lock that's keyed into your biology; when it's set up with the device, it only unlocks it for you.
After that, it gets even better: once that connection has been established, researchers say, that device can coordinate with others. Those devices would join the party through physical contact--maybe as easily as being slipped into a pocket, and staying securely rooted in your unique biology.
A system like that could be used to better monitor a person's health; a single device attached directly to the body could monitor that person from anywhere, without causing wireless security concerns. But researchers are conceding that a better way of reliably interpreting the data coming from the sensor will still take time, and reliability is more than a little important for something like this.

By Colin Lecher

Sri Lankan arrested for idol worship in Saudi Arabia

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- A Sri Lankan youth employed as a domestic aid has been arrested in Saudi Arabia for worshiping a statue of the Buddha, which is considered an offence according to Shariah law.

 

According to the Bodu Bala Senaa, the youth bearing passport no. 2353715 identified as Premanath Pereralage Thungasiri has been arrested by Umulmahami Police, which is a grave situation.

 

The organisation states that information has been received regarding a plan that is underway to behead a Sri Lankan youth employed in domestic service in Saudi Arabia. Although a complaint has been lodged at the Foreign Employment Bureau, Battaramulla, under complaint no: CN/158/1205, so far no action has been taken.

 

While the youth is a Buddhist, the charge levelled against him is that he paid obeisance to the Buddha at the house where he was employed.

 

The Bodu Bala Senaa organisation further said those employed in Muslim countries are prevented from practicing their religious faiths, and if found to do so are punished severely. Recently a Sri Lankan woman was arrested for gazing at a child at a shopping complex, where she was accused of witchcraft, on the grounds that she had a black cord around her wrist.

 

However, the organisation accused the Foreign Employment Bureau officials of not educating the Sri Lankan workers travelling to Saudi Arabia regarding the laws in those countries pertaining to religious rights. Therefore, many of our migrant workers in Saudi Arabia face these situations due to their ignorance of the prevailing laws of those countries.

 

On prior occasions too many Sri Lankan female domestic workers were forced to embrace Islam, and wear the traditional attire, while so far four Sri Lankan youth have been beheaded in that country.

 

Ceylon Today
2012-07-10

A Buddhist Middle Way Approach in Therapy Mark O’Donoghue

Mark O’Donoghue. Originally published in Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, Volume 23, Number 4, 2002, pp. 196-201. Mark O’Donoghue is a counsellor at Adelaide University and is a Buddhist practitioner and meditator (since 1987). Address for correspondence: Adelaide University, SA 5005, Australia or email: mark.odonoghue@adelaide.edu.au

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For many years I have been practising Buddhist meditation in my personal life. In this article, I present one way in which Buddhism has influenced my work. People who seek counselling often swing between two unsustainable or unsatisfactory alternatives, for example being ‘full on’ or doing nothing. Polarisations that trap people can be lived, remembered or imagined.
Buddhism proposes the middle way as a path out of these extremes. I present ways to deconstruct dichotomies, allowing people to find more effective alternatives. I show how to actualise a ‘middle way’ approach that is appropriate to Western therapy. I will also examine times when a middle way is not an ethically acceptable response.
Introduction
This article is my attempt to adapt Buddhist ideas and practices, in a careful and critical way, to therapy. Buddhism and therapy have two very different aims. Therapy is to help people live their day-to-day lives more effectively and perhaps with less pain. The central problem of Buddhism is how to deal with the inevitability of sickness, old age, death and anguish in general. Someone may have a life that does not require or desire therapy, and yet may not have confronted the central concerns of Buddhism. Equally a person may have resolved the central concerns of Buddhism, but on a more ordinary level, may not be living a good life (Kornfield, 1998). Kornfield shows that many meditation practitioners and teachers have been left with serious problems such as alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, or misuse of power and money. Over the last ten years, many stories of this nature have been coming out and I have observed some myself. Kornfield also notes that even when these larger problems do not exist, meditators may still need to sort ordinary parts of their lives, e.g. how to relate to people, hold a job or have intimate relationships. So in bringing Buddhist ideas and practices into the therapy domain, I do not wish to deny the aims of therapy. If therapy tries to persuade people that they should become Buddhists, that is not useful. However, I believe Buddhism can contribute to therapy.
There are two ways that Buddhism can be related to therapy. Firstly, as transpersonal therapists do, by developing a therapy that fully embraces the ‘spiritual dimension’, such as Assagioli’s Psychosynthesis (Assagioli, 1971), which incorporates the Hindu Higher Self, and Fenner’s approach (1995) which draws on Buddhist notions of emptiness. The limitation of these approaches is that if one’s spiritual values are not consistent with those being incorporated, then there will not be an appropriate fit. It makes sense to seek out a therapy that aligns with one’s spiritual commitments. The second way is to maintain a non-spiritual therapeutic position, but to include the useful insights from spiritual traditions, as I will do here with the Buddhist middle way.
The Buddhist Middle Way

The Buddha was an historical person whose life and teachings gave rise to the religion called Buddhism. The story as we know it describes a person brought up as a prince, living an indulgent life that was protected from anguish. He then for the first time encountered a sick person, an old person and a dead person, conditions which had been unknown to him. He realised that his princely life had not prepared him to deal with sickness, old age and death. He rejected all worldly pleasures, adopting an ascetic’s life of mortification and meditation. This was the second extreme, the first being his former life of pleasure. This second life still did not prepare him to deal with sickness, old age and death. He continued to meditate, but modified his ascetic practices and this provided a suitable foundation for his enlightenment. He concluded that neither the extreme of sensual pleasure (indulgence) nor physical deprivation (mortification) (Bachelor, 1997) was the way to go, and thus proposed the ‘middle way’ between these two.
The middle way was subsequently prescribed as ‘the way’. Advice from a middle way perspective on how to write this paper would go something like this: do not make the article too long or too short; do not go into too much detail nor too little detail; do not write too forcefully nor too softly. Thus a space of non-extremes would be created. Many Buddhist writers since have defined ‘right behaviour’ in this way.
A concern with a middle way, or with ‘being balanced’ is not unique to Buddhism; it is also a part of the ‘common sense’ of our own culture. A journalist captures this: ‘The balance is difficult to maintain — too much influence is seen as prescriptive and patronising, and too little as indifferent’ (McPhedran, 10.6.2000: 69).
Although lay wisdom includes a middle way approach, it also includes other approaches, exemplified by phrases such as ‘Go for the max’, ‘Pull out all the stops’ and ‘Crash through or crash’, that are not consistent with a middle way approach. Within Buddhism, the middle way is given a more central place, and is drawn from more consistently.
My Use of the Buddhist Middle Way
If therapy becomes simply a prescription for a space of non-extremes, it becomes yet another standard against which people’s lives can be measured and to which they must conform, rather than assisting people to find out the way that will best suit, and serve, their lives.
In the Buddhist and lay wisdom, the middle way often becomes an ethical prescription. People can be accused of ‘going too far’ or ‘not far enough’. Recently I saw someone on television describe their position as the ‘middle of the road’ in contrast to the ‘mad greenies’. These are all ways of saying the speaker is right because they have the ‘middle ground’. They are claims to moral superiority, often deviously so, because they avoid debate about the ethics of different positions. This is very similar to the tactic of declaring one’s position to be ‘neutral’ and thus morally superior and beyond question.
There are many extremes I find it important to support. For example, to talk of a middle way between ‘too much’ and ‘too little’ abuse, rape or assault is totally against my values. The middle way I have found useful for therapy is a way out of polarities rather than the prescription for an ethical position.
I have found a middle way approach most useful when people swing between two unsatisfactory or unsustainable extremes. This is a very common reason for people coming to therapy. Some dichotomies that have trapped people who have come to counselling with me are: trust vs distrust; optimism vs pessimism; positivity vs negativity; idealised happy self vs depression; over-indulgence vs self hatred; perfection vs imperfection; total control vs no control; and the possession of very good friends vs friendlessness.
Sometimes people have found a way to do things that works, but as time goes on, this position ‘drifts’ towards an extreme, so that it becomes unsustainable. In these cases, a brief reference to the extreme usually suffices to situate change within the middle way.
A Simple Case Example
When I see people who are very stressed, I will often ask them to imagine a stress scale from zero to ten. When they are at the ten end of that scale, they are so stressed that they cannot work effectively. When I suggest that they need to reduce their stress a bit so that they can begin to work effectively again, they agree with me. One day I discovered that Mario and I had not been talking a common language: on closer examination I found that even though Mario (not his real name) said ‘Yes’, he was thinking ‘No’ because he thought I was saying his stress should be at zero, i.e. he should give up work entirely. I was talking a language that has a series of graded steps between zero and ten, whereas Mario was hearing only zero and ten.
Kelly’s ‘Personal Constructs’
The Buddha advised us to take the middle way rather than either extreme. However, he did not elaborate a theory to account for the polarised nature of our thinking. For such a theory I have turned to George Kelly and to Buddhist Madhyamika philosophy (Fenner, 1990, 1995).
George Kelly founded his Psychology of Personal Constructs on one postulate: ‘A person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he [sic] anticipates events’ (1955: 46); and eleven corollaries. For Middle Way therapy, the most relevant corollary is the Dichotomy Corollary: ‘A person’s construction system is composed of a finite number of dichotomous constructs’ (56). Kelly ascribes ‘… a dichotomous quality to all human thinking’ (1955: 109). The conceptualisation of constructs as polarised is contrasted with ‘concepts’ and ‘categories’, both of which are unipolar ways of describing thought (Bannister & Fransella, 1980: 21).
Expanding on this, Kelly wrote:
Each construct involves two poles, one at each end of its dichotomy. The elements associated with each pole are like each other with respect to the construct and are unlike the element at the other pole (Kelly, 1955: 137).
Polarities can be either explicit or implicit (Bannister & Fransella, 1980: 22). Explicit polarities are obvious to most people. For example, ‘small’, ‘slow’, ‘short’ imply the corresponding polarities ‘big’, ‘fast’ and ‘tall’. Implicit polarities are not so obvious. Kelly argues that all statements are at least implicitly linked to their opposite, for example, ‘red’ and ‘not red’, ‘talk’ and ‘not talk’ and ‘sitting’ and ‘standing’.
The ‘common abstraction’ that defines a construct is itself defined in contrast to other constructs, and so on. For example, when we look at the construct ‘chairs’, we might have at one pole lounge chairs, and at another, kitchen chairs. ‘Chairness’ is the aspect they have in common, that makes possible the comparison of two types of chairs. Again, chairs might be one pole of the construct ‘furniture’.
The Madhyamika (Middle Path) Theory of Dichotomies
In the Middle Path tradition of the Buddhist writers Nagarjuna (2nd Century) and Candrakirti (7th Century), ‘analytic’ meditation is used to achieve a state of liberation or unconditional freedom (Fenner, 1995: 29). Analytic meditations take many forms, one of which is to collapse two polarities into each other, thus dissolving the polarity. An example of this in ordinary life is to be neither aggressive nor passive. The result is dissolution of the conceptual category that is made up by the dichotomies. Taking this route results in a cessation of conceptuality, resulting in a direct perception of reality unmediated by conceptuality, which is the Buddhist enlightenment. This is not the aim of therapy, at least as most people (including myself) practise it, although the various Transpersonal Therapies may constitute an exception. However, the Middle Path meditators’ understanding of how conceptuality works provides another useful answer to the question: ‘Why dichotomies?’

Within a Middle Path account of dichotomies, there are five developmental steps: (1) undifferentiated objects; (2) characterised objects; (3) concepts; (4) thoughts and (5) language. According to Middle Path theory, the world is made up of undifferentiated ‘objects’. The undifferentiated objects of the world are divided up into separate objects by a conceptual process of the ‘characterisation of objects (via dichotomies)’. Based on a characterisation of objects, concepts are formed and these are in turn the basis for thoughts and language.
Concepts are formed by a process of defining what the concept is and is not, for example, ‘good’ and ‘not good’ define the concept ‘good’. According to this theory, ‘good’ is not an intrinsic quality but is a relative one, because ‘good’ only exists in relation to ‘not good’. In thought and language we refer to one end of the dichotomyon on its own. This gives the illusion that the concept (e.g. ‘good’) exists in and of itself, isolated from its opposite. However, the two ends remain connected in some way, which continues to influence their use. It is this connection that results in all the forms of polarisation and their consequences. Thus if we identify ‘good’, then implicitly there must be ‘bad’, and vice versa. Because the two poles are connected in this way, people’s judgements may shift from one pole to another if one pole is not sustainable.
To demonstrate how this theory works, I will use the example of a ‘table’ and show the evolution from an undifferentiated ‘object’ to defining an object as existing separately from all other objects (Fenner, 1995: 37–38). The world is made up of undifferentiated objects. Through a conceptual process, the undifferentiated ‘objects’ are divided up into objects that have been ascribed the relevant characteristics of tables and those that do not. Tables and not tables are explicitly linked because they are defined in opposition to each other. We then go on to use the word ‘table’ as if it is not defined in opposition to ‘not tables’. We cease to be aware of the other pole, that is, ‘not tables’, but of course, the polarity between tables and not tables still structures our thinking.
Therapy and Middle Path Buddhists
In the Middle Path analysis, dichotomies are brought together to generate a paradox and thus produce liberation by ‘destructur(ing) conceptuality” (Fenner, 1995: 44). Middle Path meditators aim for a state where all conceptuality, which is necessarily bipolar, is destructured, leaving a non-conceptual state that ends anguish, since anguish is itself a concept. In contrast, the Middle Way approach to therapy that I am proposing can begin with a deconstruction of particular concepts which will be replaced by other concepts — ones that are less painful or more in alignment with what the people who see me want, but of course still bipolar.
When people are caught in a swing between two poles, the dichotomous structure of the concept shifts them between the two poles as if they were in a maze in which they are trapped. When one pole is unsustainable or unsatisfactory people tend to shift to the other pole, which leaves them no room to display any other behaviour, feeling or thought. The role of the counsellor is to locate this trap and help people out of it. When one pole is sustainable, workable or satisfactory people will not swing to the pole to which it is linked.
Bipolarities can be divided into two types, one that is necessarily always present and another that exists within the former but has varying degrees of bipolarity or different bipolarities. These are sometimes called ‘bipolar’ and ‘scalar’ (Bannister & Fransella, 1980: 22). Scalar constructs exist as a product of bipolar constructs. For example, black and white can be two poles of a bipolar construct and shades of grey is a scalar construct that can exist between these two poles. Another example may help. There are two types of choices that we can be given. One involves a bipolarity that is either 0 or 10 and we must choose which number we want, giving us only two choices. The second set of bipolarities is 0 &1, 1 & 2, 2 & 3 ... 9 & 10. In the second set, we can choose between ten separate dichotomies. If people believe they have only the first set of choices (as Mario did in my earlier case example) and this is unsatisfactory for them in some way, we can assist them to have access to the second set, thus giving them more and different choices.
Obviousness
When I describe the way thinking is dichotomised, and how the middle way leads out of that situation, the solution looks obvious. However the way out does not look obvious to a person caught in such a polarity. The middle way is obvious from a middle way paradigm but not from a bipolar paradigm, in the same way that visual gestalts (like the picture which is ‘both’ an old woman ‘and’ a young girl simultaneously) are obvious once you see them, but not if you cannot see them. We therapists get trapped in the obviousness, which can block us from the creative ways to assist people to step out of such dichotomies. For example, just saying to someone that they need to be balanced has little benefit, since the obviousness of this statement renders it ineffective. What we need is a systematic way to bring about this change.
A Middle Way Therapy
I have distinguished four types of middle way, which I will demonstrate by using the example of how a person might deal with someone with whom they are in conflict.
Firstly, for a scalar construct, a middle way is half way between the two defining poles. Passive or aggressive communications are two poles that people often get caught between. A common middle way out of these dichotomies is assertive communication. Halfway along a scale is probably ‘the’ middle way as defined within the original Buddhist middle way presentation. However, subsequent developments in Buddhist philosophy and practice defined the middle way as neither a nor b, thus including the scalar middle way but also other possibilities. This second type of middle way includes all points along the scale between the two poles, not just the half way point. Then, the option ‘neither passive nor aggressive’ could be replaced by a large range of possibilities including: less aggressive, slightly aggressive, assertive, less passive or slightly passive — anywhere along the scale other than the two extremes.
A third type of middle way can be obtained by stepping out of a specific construct altogether. This is appropriate when both extremes are located within a non-helpful or non-preferred construct, for example if the construct is aggression and the extremes are verbal aggression and physical aggression. Such a construct might make a person swing between two unsatisfactory types of aggression that are dichotomously linked. We might question the construct’s usefulness or preferability, and perhaps locate another more useful construct, for example, ‘communication’. Thus a person could be neither verbally nor physically aggressive, but respond in a way that is not within the construct of aggression, but perhaps can be located within the construct of ‘communication’.
Fourthly, following Madhyamika philosophy, we can devise another category that steps out of both poles but does not step into another construct, thus moving to a non-conceptual realm outside of all constructs. Such a state cannot really be described by language, because by definition language is founded on dichotomies; it involves a direct non conceptual experience of reality as it is. Such a person would be in (Fenner, 1995: 29) ‘a state of liberation’ and ‘unconditional freedom’. Such a person might have a more fluid sense of reality, such that things and states form and dissolve continuously, removing the likelihood of being caught in any one state.
Lived, Remembered and Imagined Polarities
So far I have written about polarities in peoples’ lives, and will call them ‘lived polarities’. Polarities can also be remembered as lived in the past or imagined as possibilities for the future; both of these can also trap us.
The memory of a past extreme can result in people living at the alternative extreme. The memories of abused trust can lead people to be overly distrustful; recalling that they failed because they did not work hard enough can induce people to try so hard that they get exhausted and fail again, and memories of times when they have been naively idealistic can lead people to be overly cynical.
A polarity can also be imagined. Sometimes people can imagine only an extreme and unsatisfactory alternative and this keeps them in their current and unsustainable extreme. An example is students who work too hard and come to me in a stressed condition. The only alternative they can imagine is not to work at all. Because they have worked so hard for so long, this becomes a very appealing alternative for them. Their thinking becomes trapped in this polarity.
People can also worry about being too kind or too harsh. For some this has never happened, but they imagine it and know that the imagined extreme is not workable. The imagined extreme becomes the reference point that keeps them ‘stuck’ at the other polarity. For example, when counselling someone who is very harsh with her or him self, we might look to kindness as a way out. Such people often comment that you can be too kind, and I agree. When kindness is located between harshness and being too kind, we have a more precise definition of appropriate kindness that is not trapped in a dichotomy.
How I Present this Information
Earlier in my career, I used to present this concept very dramatically. On two sides of a white board, I would write a list of the two extremes and all the things that would go with them. I also might ask about the voice tone, colour, feeling and phrases associated with these ways of thinking or looking or feeling. I would explore consequences of that belief and why they were not acceptable or working for the person. This is very useful in locating statements, beliefs, actions and feelings within these extremes. Once I had done this and the person was clear why each did not work, the swings stopped or were deconstructed. I would then dramatically draw a circle in the middle and ask if this was the way out. People would usually agree that it was but would be at a loss to know what this middle way would look like. This was not surprising, because their thinking and responses had been structured by a dichotomy, and some creative work was needed to create a middle position. At that time I was more influenced by the strategic approach to family therapy as exemplified by Haley (1973), Erickson (Rosen, 1982) and the earlier White (1979, 1986). I now mostly prefer a more ordinary and less dramatic presentation.
Samantha: An Illustration from My Work
Samantha came to counselling to deal with a range of problems. For the purposes of this article I will focus only on the problem we called ‘stewing’. Stewing would involve Samantha going over and over events in her life, which she was not happy about. As she kept going over these events, she would feel worse and worse until she was like a rabbit caught in a spotlight unable to escape. For her the solution was the non-existence of stewing.
In the first week of meeting we discovered a contrast between ‘thinking’ and ‘stewing’ as responses to a supervisor with whom Samantha had difficulties. When she stewed on the interactions with the supervisor she became angrier and could not study. Thinking put these difficulties in context and again gave her a perspective that allowed her to continue studying and working with her supervisor. During the next week, we discovered a number of ways Samantha had used to get out of stewing. These included recognising that stewing was happening, using thinking to reduce the intensity of stewing, laughing at herself for stewing and thinking about roller blading.
Samantha objected that ‘I cannot always laugh’ as a way to stop stewing. The benefit of thinking about roller blading was that ‘Stewing was sitting on the side’. When measured against the extreme of the non-existence of stewing, however, these did not count as ways out of stewing. These two responses to two of the potential ways out of stewing both indicate that Samantha has in mind some state where there is no stewing, rather than steps to reduce stewing. We have a polarisation between ‘stewing’ and ‘non existence of stewing’. The non-existence of stewing is an idealised, non-sustainable and imagined extreme and was destined to fail as a goal.
I have (at least) two ways of responding to such a polarity. Firstly, I use a process of questioning that deconstructs the extreme preference. This then allows for the discovery of other ways out of stewing that are not extreme. Secondly, I present some counter ideas and examples for consideration.
I ask questions such as ‘Is it possible for there ever to be totally no stewing?’ Samantha replied: ‘NO’. (If the answer had been ‘Yes’, I could have asked, ‘If someone is to get to a point of no stewing do you think there will be steps along the way, which will include some stewing? Is half stewing better than all stewing? Is three quarters stewing better than all stewing?’)

With Samantha, I talked about change being a process of small steps and contrasted this with trying to take one big step. I drew a diagram on my white board to represent this (see Diag. 1) in which a person swings between ‘all at once and going nowhere’ and ‘giving up and going nowhere’. I then contrasted these two extremes with ‘one step at a time and getting there’ (Diagram 2) which is a middle way for the polarities of ‘all at once and going nowhere’. If one step is too large, we can break it up into smaller steps and if those are too large, then we break them down into smaller steps and so on, until a step is found that can be taken. I also like to suggest that we zoom in as if we have a telephoto lens and keep doing this until we find steps that can be taken.
  

Figure 1 'All at once' or 'Giving up'

Figure 2 'One Step at a Time and getting There'

During week three, Samantha spent one weekend off with her family, did not stew and during the following week studied for a few days. A new criterion began to emerge against which these developments could be measured and could contribute towards reducing stewing. We then had a concept of degrees of stewing. Samantha could see changes and answer ‘Yes’ when asked if these new ways out of stewing were desirable.
The first polarisation was between stewing and non-stewing and a second polarisation was uncovered between there being no solutions and only one solution. We discussed the possibility of laughter as a way to overcome stewing and Samantha said, ‘I cannot always laugh every time when I am stewing’. Her statement was based on the presupposition that laugher could be the only response to overcoming stewing.
I asked if it was possible that only one thing would solve the problem, or was it more likely that a diversity of approaches would help, so that she could move from one to the other if one approach did not work. I drew on the analogy of a tool bag filled with many different tools for dealing with stewing. I also drew a diagram with many lines converging on one point to suggest a multitude of approaches to solving one problem.
Before using a Middle Way approach, I would have focused much of our effort on thinking as a way out of stewing. Within the domain of thinking, we would have had both thinking that was a way out of stewing and thinking that was a polarisation of stewing, which would have inevitably flipped back to the other pole, stewing. Now I can better help her to focus the domain of ‘thinking’ so that we separate thinking that is useful and thinking that is an extreme and unsustainable. I still ask people to assess whether ‘thinking’ is useful, but they have different criteria against which to measure it.
Conclusion
A Middle Way approach to therapy can deal with the pervasive tendency to polarise and swing between two unsustainable extremes. The Buddhist middle way made this clear to me, and the work of Fenner and Kelly explained why it is so.
Over the years I have considered grounding this work in a number of alternative theories including: Hegel’s dialectics; Russell’s work on logical types and Bateson’s subsequent use of that work; Derrida may also have relevant things to say from a post modern perspective and Trialectics has also been suggested as a compatible approach. Rather than focus on these authors I decided to focus on Buddhism’s contribution and Kelly’s theory. I chose Kelly because his work provided a clear and close fit to my practice. However, I wrote this article from a Buddhist perspective for two reasons. Firstly, Buddhism was the source of inspiration for my middle way approach. Secondly, it provided a new, inspiring and, I believe, interesting source of ideas from which to draw.
In my work as a therapist, I am always attending to the influence of dichotomies either in the background or explicitly. It has helped the people who consult me to step out of the polarisations that trap and limit their lives. I have tried to avoid naively or inappropriately pushing Buddhism into the western therapeutic tradition, and I have endeavoured to engage critically with the Buddhist approach.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank people who have made comments on earlier drafts of the article: Jane Copeland, Natalie Fuller, Sally Hebenstreit, Greg Smith and Denis Heath. I have presented versions of this paper at The South Australian ANZSSZ Conference, 2000, and The Pan Pacific Family Therapy Conference, Melbourne, 2001.
References
Assagioli, R., 1971. Psychosynthesis: A Manual of Principles and Techniques, NY, Viking.
Bachelor, S., 1997. Buddhism without Belief: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening, London, Bloomsbury Publishing.
Bannister, D. & Fransella, F., 1980. Inquiring Man: The Psychology of Personal Constructs, 2nd edn, Harmondsworth, Penguin.
Fenner, P., 1990. The Ontology of the Middle Way, Dordrecht/Boston/London, Kluwer Academic.
Fenner, P., 1995. Reasoning into Reality: A System-Cybernetics Model and Therapeutic Interpretation of Buddhist Middle Path Analysis, Boston, Wisdom.
Haley, J., 1973. Uncommon Therapy: The Psychiatric Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., NY, London, Norton.
Kelly, G., 1955. The Psychology of Personal Constructs, Vols 1 and 2. 2nd edn. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Kornfield, J., 1998. Even the Best Meditators Have Old Wounds to Heal, Psychotherapy in Australia, 4, 3: 37–40.
McPhedran, I., Trouble in Paradise, The Advertiser (Adelaide), 10.6.2000: 69.
Rosen, S., 1982. My Voice will Go With You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., NY, London, Norton.
White, M., 1979. Structural and Strategic Approaches to Psychosomatic Families, Family Process, 18, 3: 303–314.
White, M., 1986. Negative Explanation, Restraint and Double Description: A Template for Family Therapy, Family Process, 25, 2: 169–186.
Mark is a counsellor at The University of Adelaide and OCAR Services.
Address for correspondence: The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005.
Fenner writes about ‘destructuring’ which is different from deconstructing. To destructure is to undo and not replace with another concept. To deconstruct is to undo but to replace that concept with another one. This distinction hinges on whether you believe unmediated experience is possible, as Madhyamika Buddhists do.

I often draw simple diagrams in counselling sessions because people find them useful. I suspect other counsellors do the same but we do not write or tak about this so I have decided to include some in this paper. It might be a useful thing for others to do.


From: buddhanet