“Don’t just do something, sit there!” A Global Day of Mediation
Austin Buddhist Community Comes Together to Support 376 Persecuted Religious Practitioners in Vietnam
Part of a global day of meditation to support Bat Nha refugee monks and nuns, followers of world-renowned Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
WHAT: “Don’t just do something, sit there!” A Global Day of Mediation To Support the 376 Refugee Monks and Nuns from Bat Nha Monastery. Austin event is hosted by Plum Blossom Sangha.
WHEN: Sunday, October 4, 2009 6-8pm
WHERE: 1122 South Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX (next to the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar).
On Sunday, October 4, Austin’s Buddhist community will join an international effort to bring attention to the continued violence against the 400 young Bat Nha monks and nuns in Vietnam, followers of the world-renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. The evening, hosted by the Plum Blossom Sangha, a lay meditation group in Nhat Hanh’s tradition, will include sitting meditation, walking meditation, and discussion geared toward sending compassion to all those affected by the violence.
On September 27 and 28, 2009, the 400 monks and nuns of Bat Nha Monastery were beaten and violently evicted from their practice center by police and local mobs, without official charges. The monastic community, currently residing at a nearby temple that typically houses 5 people, continues to be physically and verbally threatened by police, government officials and local mobs that have sealed off access to the temple.
Thich Nhat Hahn, in whose tradition the Bat Nha monastics and the Plum Blossom Sangha both practice, has called for concerned citizens around the world to gather and meditate for the safety of the Bat Nha monastics on October 4, 2009. All are invited to participate in this evening of support for human rights.
Contacts:
Praween Dayananda, praweend@gmail.com, 909 503 5296
Becca Holtz; beccaholtz@gmail.com, 310 488 4069
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Bat Nha Monastery, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, was a mindfulness center practicing in Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village tradition with 376 monks and nuns. It was Vietnam’s fastest-growing and most progressive monastery – and one of the most popular among Vietnamese youth. Bat Nha was famed for its monthly mindfulness days, which regularly attracted crowds of 800 people, with bus-loads traveling from across the country. The Plum Village monastic community at Bat Nha was started in 2005 when Thich Nhat Hanh was invited by the Abbot of the monastery, with the approval of the Vietnamese Central Government, to create a monastic community that would live and practice there according to the Plum Village tradition. In June 2008, the abbot said he was under pressure from the government (specifically from the religious police and from The Government Committee for Religious Affairs) to not sponsor the monks and nuns to stay there any longer, sparked possibly by suggestions by Thich Nhat Hanh to the President of Vietnam to remove control of religion in Vietnam. The situation since then deteriorated with regular threats and attacks and the violent removal of the entire monastic community from the Monastery on September 27 and 28. The 376 refugee monks and nuns (as of Oct 1) are taking shelter at a nearby temple (with a capacity of housing 5 monastics), however, government-authorized groups of police and local mobs continue to persecute them. The government of Vietnam seems intent on completely disbanding the Plum Village sangha in Vietnam. These attacks come at a time when other religious practitioners in Vietnam have also been attacked.
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese-born monk, author and human rights activist who helped found the “engaged Buddhism movement” and popularize Buddhism in the West. He has sold millions of books worldwide and set up numerous mindfulness practice centers in Europe and America to learn and practice the art of mindful living. Nhat Hanh may have changed the course of U.S. history when he persuaded Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1966 to oppose the Vietnam War publicly, and so helped galvanize the peace movement. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize the following year by Dr. King.
For more information:
http://www.helpbatnha.org
http://plumvillage.org
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/01/world/AP-AS-Vietnam-Buddhist-...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8278336.stm
