There’s been a great deal of concern regarding Rohinga Mulsims being persecuted and driven out of Myanamar, a predohere’s been a great deal of concern regarding Rohinga Mulsims being persecuted and driven out of Myanamar, a predominately Buddhist country. Those who follow Buddhism in the West wonder how this could happen and why it’s happening. For the most part, all we hear is what Western writers are saying.
Just last week, Renowned Tibetan Buddhism teacher Dzongzar Kyentse Rinpoche has come to the defense of Aung San Suu Kyi over her treatment by the West, which he calls “blatant double standards.” Suu Kyi has had several honors stripped away from her because of the Rohinga issue.
As a Buddhist, Dzongzar Kyentse Rinpoche opposes completely the mistreatment of Rohinga Muslims. In his letter of support to Aung San Suu Kyi, he challenges the West in these ways:
1. The West is unfair and biased. He says that the removal of many of Suu Kyi’s awards - from the cities of Edinburgh, Oxford, Glasgow and Dublin to honorary Canadian citizenship. “Those shocking actions against you reveal a blatant double standard” he writes and notes: “Without doing anything and just eight months into office, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet no one demanded it be taken away after he killed thousands of civilians in Mideast drone strikes and bombings. In fact, de-nuclearizing North Korea will do more for world peace than anything Obama ever did, making Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un far worthier of a Nobel Prize.”
2. The Rohinga issue is the result of British (Western) colonialism. “Nothing I write here denies the suffering of the Rohingya people. But instead of blaming you, will the British at least acknowledge their colonial responsibility for bringing most Rohingyas from Bengal in the 19th and 20th centuries as cheap labour to work the Burmese rice paddies? If the British really care and want to redress the harm they've done to Burma and the Rohingya, they will migrate the Rohingya to the U.K. and give them citizenship instead of letting them languish in refugee camps. And instead of revoking your awards as they've done, Oxford, Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow will resettle the Rohingya there.”
3. Historically the West has not acted humanely nor democratically toward Asians. “We're badgered to feel guilt for the European Holocaust of World War II, while our own holocausts are conveniently forgotten and buried in the dustbin of history. How many westerners mourn the 15 million displaced and million killed in Britain's partition of India, or the five million civilians killed in Korea and Vietnam? Who recalls that the US. dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos between 1964 and 1973. almost equal to all the bombs it dropped on Europe and Asia during all of World War II - making Laos the most heavily bombed country in history relative to population size. And how quickly have we forgotten the genocidal holocausts of the 16'” to 18th centuries that killed an estimated 130 million native Americans - more than 90% of indigenous peoples there. We non-westerners have considerable cause for grievance against those European invaders who now claim moral authority over our lives.”
Read his full statement here:
http://buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,13276,0,0,1,0#.XA0zpRBMESU
Just last week, Renowned Tibetan Buddhism teacher Dzongzar Kyentse Rinpoche has come to the defense of Aung San Suu Kyi over her treatment by the West, which he calls “blatant double standards.” Suu Kyi has had several honors stripped away from her because of the Rohinga issue.
As a Buddhist, Dzongzar Kyentse Rinpoche opposes completely the mistreatment of Rohinga Muslims. In his letter of support to Aung San Suu Kyi, he challenges the West in these ways:
1. The West is unfair and biased. He says that the removal of many of Suu Kyi’s awards - from the cities of Edinburgh, Oxford, Glasgow and Dublin to honorary Canadian citizenship. “Those shocking actions against you reveal a blatant double standard” he writes and notes: “Without doing anything and just eight months into office, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet no one demanded it be taken away after he killed thousands of civilians in Mideast drone strikes and bombings. In fact, de-nuclearizing North Korea will do more for world peace than anything Obama ever did, making Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un far worthier of a Nobel Prize.”
2. The Rohinga issue is the result of British (Western) colonialism. “Nothing I write here denies the suffering of the Rohingya people. But instead of blaming you, will the British at least acknowledge their colonial responsibility for bringing most Rohingyas from Bengal in the 19th and 20th centuries as cheap labour to work the Burmese rice paddies? If the British really care and want to redress the harm they've done to Burma and the Rohingya, they will migrate the Rohingya to the U.K. and give them citizenship instead of letting them languish in refugee camps. And instead of revoking your awards as they've done, Oxford, Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow will resettle the Rohingya there.”
3. Historically the West has not acted humanely nor democratically toward Asians. “We're badgered to feel guilt for the European Holocaust of World War II, while our own holocausts are conveniently forgotten and buried in the dustbin of history. How many westerners mourn the 15 million displaced and million killed in Britain's partition of India, or the five million civilians killed in Korea and Vietnam? Who recalls that the US. dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos between 1964 and 1973. almost equal to all the bombs it dropped on Europe and Asia during all of World War II - making Laos the most heavily bombed country in history relative to population size. And how quickly have we forgotten the genocidal holocausts of the 16'” to 18th centuries that killed an estimated 130 million native Americans - more than 90% of indigenous peoples there. We non-westerners have considerable cause for grievance against those European invaders who now claim moral authority over our lives.”
Read his full statement here:
http://buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,13276,0,0,1,0#.XA0zpRBMESU
RSS Feed