Events & thoughts

I was reading the paper today, and came across an article on the Buddhist monks that have been protesting the Chinese gov't rule over their exiled society. It said that they are acting out despite their normally non-violent beliefs ('Monks activism runs counter to passive image of Buddhism' was the title of the article). The fact the the Chinese gov't is demanding that they be a part of the Chinese state, when the Tibetan monks lived in exile because their religious beliefs spoke against certain factors of the Chinese and their sort of gov't.

Although it's not quite true that Buddhist's have always been pacifists when it comes to politics and issues.
"These scenes run counter to Buddhism's philosophy of shunning politics and embracing even bitter enemies – something the faith has adhered to, with some tumultuous exceptions, throughout its 2,500-year history.
But political activism and occasional eruptions of violence have become increasingly common in Asia's Buddhist societies as they variously struggle against foreign domination, oppressive regimes, social injustice and environmental destruction...
“In modern times, preaching is not enough. Monks must act to improve society, to remove evil,” said Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile and a high-ranking lama."
Since they were first limited on their political autonomy back in the 50's, even before that, in the 1930's a monk was hailed as a hero after leading a revolt against the Brits. His peasant army held of some 12000 British troops.
One thing thats crazy about the current protest, and something that's now a standard of media control by china, is to hear the death toll rates. The Beijing paper report that only 22 casualties have occur ed, when the Tibetan monks count the toll to 144!. Other information in the article spoke about the last time the monks protested was after a annual celebration of something, it motivated the people to act forward for their sooty. Seeing how the Olympics are in China later this year, its a good time to raise this issue before a world event.

Then I got to thinking, how long do you stand for your religious rights, before your human rights start to be sacrificed? I guess what is happening in Tibet and Sri Lanka it's more about the political oppression is limiting their religious beliefs. Also similarly is in the Middle east where the religious beliefs are taking away some human rights, mainly women's. So, to what point, is there a point, where religion/beliefs trump your basic human rights? How can beliefs make that so? Its so strange to think about, maybe because I've lived in America all my life, where religion is 'supposedly' so separate from our gov't, that the idea of having your beliefs limited by the gov't. Its such a paradox with the Buddhist belief being non-aggressive, yet having this force trying to infiltrate your practices. I don't know, my mind is just stuck in a circle about this.