Khmer convictions: Cambodia, Angelina Jolie

Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; BBC

It is believed that up to 2 million Cambodians died under CIA/Pol Pot's regime (AFP/BBC)

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Cambodian Tomb Raider Angelina Jolie (Lara Croft)

Most Americans are not likely aware that anything much ever happened in Cambodia -- Cambodia? Where's Cambodia? -- even as our government illegally bombed it during our war on Vietnam and our CIA fomented mass murder and crimes against humanity by cultivating dictators. 

 

It does the same now in the geopolitical Middle East just as it did all over Latin America. The CIA's activities there were exposed first hand by the highest ranking officer to ever blow the whistle:
 

Philip Agee, author of Inside the Company: CIA Diary. This seems to be in keeping with the way-of-empire and our American imperial method of making war as we learned it from England, Germany (WW II era Nazis, who came to live and work for the U.S. shadow government), Spain, France, Rome, Greece... It seems to be the Western way.

 

But Americans might know the name Pol Pot from the late 1970s, and we have all certainly heard the expression "killing fields." After all, the world's most famous Cambodian citizen is superstar actor Angelina Jolie. And America's amazing "Buddha Girl" Ratanayani is a Cambodian-American!
 

The Buddha at Battambang, Cambodia (Kim Seng/captainkino.com/flickr.com)

 

Reptilians/Nagas

Cambodia was once a peaceful Theravada Buddhist country in Southeast Asia.
 
But long before that -- mirroring the Mesoamerican empires of ancient Mexico (Aztec, Toltec, and Olmec) -- it was one of the world's greatest empires extending in the jungles from the center of the world at Angkor Wat and its suburbs, which were once home to 1,000,000 residents. It covers more ground than Paris and was built with more stone than the pyramids of Egypt, according to National Geographic.

The greatness is evident because Cambodia's former glory was not limited to the City of Angkor with its central wat (Buddhist temple). Other great stone cities have also been discovered and made much of by National Geographic, but other equally great ruins remain yet to be discovered.
 

Glass pool reservoir at Angkor Wat, Cambodia (Platongkohphoto/flickr.com)

 

But their innovative water system collapsed and their apparent worship of nagas (reptilians, snakes, Quetzalcoatl-like off-planet overlords) ushered in their ruin as a "Rome," "Washington," or "Vatican" -- the capitals of other massive empires.
 
"The Killing Fields," winner of three Academy Awards, tells the story of a New York Times reporter and his Cambodian aide harrowingly trapped in Cambodia's 1975 Khmer Rouge revolution. Sam Waterston, John Malkovich, and "Best Supporting Actor" (Oscar and Golden Globe winner) Haing S. Ngor star in this shattering true story. Rated: R.

 

Jolie's Cambodian shaman/Buddhist tattoos

Americans would have heard of the expression "The Killing Fields" from the popular film, and Pol Pot from the chorus of the Dead Kennedy's ironic and popular punk classic "Holiday in Cambodia," its stone building sunk in jungle thickets from Angelina Jolie as actress (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.

WARNING: Graphic and gruesome violence! (CNN.com, May 1, 2009) CNN's Dan Rivers profiles members of the Khmer Rouge, as they face justice before a U.N.-backed trial.

Top Khmer Rouge leaders convicted: found guilty of crimes against humanity

Ancient megalithic Angkor Wat and its Buddha and kings' faces (Dvillaret/flickr.com)

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(BBC) There was a round of applause as the verdict was reached, according to BBC correspondent Jonathan Head.

Two top Khmer Rouge leaders have been jailed for life after being convicted by Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal of crimes against humanity

 

Nuon Chea, 88, served as leader Pol Pot's deputy and Khieu Samphan, 83, was the Maoist regime's head of state. They are the first top-level leaders to be held accountable for its crimes.
 

Soum Rithy, who lost his father and three siblings, reacts to verdict in Phom Penh (Reuters)

 
Up to two million people are thought to have died under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime -- of starvation and overwork or executed as enemies of the state.

 

Judge Nil Nonn said the men were guilty of "extermination encompassing murder, political persecution, and other inhumane acts comprising forced transfer, enforced disappearances, and attacks against human dignity."

 

Lawyers for the pair said they would appeal against the ruling. "It is unjust for my client. He did not know or commit many of these crimes," Son Arun, a lawyer for Nuon Chea, told journalists. They will remain in detention while this takes place. 
 
"Anger remains"

The regime sought to create an agrarian society: cities were emptied and their residents forced to work on rural co-operatives. Many were worked to death while others starved as the economy imploded. 

 

During four violent years, the Khmer Rouge also killed all those it perceived as enemies -- intellectuals, minorities, former officials -- and their families. More

"Holiday in Cambodia"
(DKs555) "Apocalypse Now" illegally in Cambodia, where the US/CIA had no right or justification to be. Yet, it dropped more cluster bombs and committed as many if not more secret war crimes in Cambodia and Laos than it did in Vietnam.

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U.S. bombing Buddhist Laos (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman, Nermeen Shaikh

Laotian Theravada Buddhist devotion, Luang Prabang, Laos (William Day/flickr.com)

 

Fifty years ago this month, the United States began raining down bombs on Laos [a landlocked Theravada Buddhist nation in Southeast Asia near Vietnam, China, Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia], in what would become the largest bombing campaign in history.

From June 1964 to March 1973, the United States dropped at least two million tons of bombs on the small, landlocked southeast Asian country. That is the equivalent of one planeload every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years -- more than was dropped on Germany and Japan during World War II.
 

40 years after secret U.S. war in Laos, millions of bomblets (seen here) keep killing

 
This part of the deadly legacy of the U.S. War on Vietnam lives on: In a sense the bombing continues today because of unexploded cluster bombs (scattering bomblets), which had about a 30 percent failure rate when they were thrown from American planes over large swaths of Laos.

Experts estimate that Laos today is littered with as many as 80 million "bombies" or bomblets -- baseball-sized bombs designed into cluster bombs to scatter on impact to kill long after the initial bombing.

Since the initial bombing stopped four decades ago, tens of thousands of people have been injured, maimed, and killed as a result. Democracy Now! is joined by Karen Coates and Jerry Redfern, co-authors of Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos (eternalharvestthebook.com).
 

The full Democracy Now! episode, June 25, 2014

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Martial Law declared all over Buddhist Thailand

Wisdom Quarterly; Pacifica Radio, Berkeley (KPFA.org); G.P. Malalasekera

Martial law was declared throughout the most Buddhist country in the world this morning with an announcement from the military, Pacifica is reporting from Berkeley, claiming that it is due to the interim "caretaker" governing PM refusing to step down. Monastics are presumably trapped in hermitages unable to seek alms food (pindapat') as is done daily throughout the country according to ancient tradition laid down by the Buddha.

Going on Alms round

G.P. Malalasekera; Wisdom Quarterly (Pinda Sutta)

Buddha walking (WQ)

Once the Buddha was at Pañcasālā when the day came for all young people to send gifts to one another.

The Buddha went on alms round to the village as was the custom of wandering ascetics in India. But the villagers, influenced by Māra, gave nothing, and he returned with his bowl empty.

Māra tried to influence the Buddha to go a second time, but he refused to do so (S.i.113; the incident is also found at DhA.iii., p. 257f).

The Commentary explains (SA.i.141) that Māra did not want the Buddha to accept the gifts of the maidens and to preach to them, because then they would pass beyond his lustful, fearful, delusive influence.

"Little Buddhist monks" - child novices (photos)

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Dietmar Temps (dietmartemps.com, DeepBlue66/flickr.com)

Novitiate initiation in Pagan, Burma (Bagan, Myanmar)

Dressed like Prince Rahula

For a boy in Burma it is customary to enter a Buddhist monastery as a novice (samanera, "little ascetic") between the ages of 7-20.
 
One has his head shaven and vows to adhere to ten precepts (rather than the monks' 227 rules) for at least a week.

The renunciation ceremony

Sometimes the boys are even younger, in rare cases only 5 or 6 years old. For Burmese people, the novitiate initiation is a very important ceremony and a big event for the family.

The temporary ordination ceremony is called Shinbyu in Burmese. The practice is not limited to Theravada Buddhists in Southeast Asia but is practiced throughout the Buddhist world except in Sri Lanka where temporary ordination is not done. The first Buddhist novice was the Buddha's son, Prince Rahula, who became a monastic at age 7.

The first novice

Rahula, his father the Buddha, and Ananda

Rāhula (who lived at least 25 centuries ago) was the only son of Prince Siddhartha Gautama (who later became the ascetic Siddhartha and then the Buddha) and his wife Bimba-devi (who is known to the world as Princess Yasodharā then the Buddhist nun Ven. Bhaddakaccānā). He was the first child to become a Buddhist novice (samanera) at his father's behest. One account of his life is given in the Pāli language canon. More

Bang the gong not the tympani, venerable. I'll ring the bell, handle the vajra. You guys chant.

Vajrayana child novices enjoy temporary ordination throughout the Himalayas -- in India (Ladakh, Dharmsala, AP, HP, Sikkim...), Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, China (dietmartemps.com)

Dietmar Temps is a world class photographer who travels the globe to bring to light cultures and kids rapidly fading into memory due to Western hegemony and the homogenization of the planet (dietmartemps.com).

Thai Buddhism going GAY Catholic? (video)

Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; The Woody TalkShow

The Monastic Disciplinary Code says pandakas (transsexual or transgender, often gay, individuals) may NOT fully ordain but might be novices as a school interprets its Vinaya.

(The Woody Show interview, April 2014 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, English subtitles)
 

Openly gay Thai novice says it should be okay for gays to be monks

Gays are found worldwide but are rarely "out"

According to Theravada Buddhist texts -- from the explanatory stories found in the "Monastic Disciplinary Code" (Vinaya), as translated by Leonard Zwilling (published in Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender, edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon) -- homosexuality would NOT in keeping with the monastic code. Theravada is the Buddhist tradition followed by 95% of Thailand.

Just friends, Burma* (JLH)

Certainly homosexuals are loved and accepted in the lay Buddhist community. And many gays feel very welcome in traditional Asian Buddhist cultures, not the least of which is Thailand's very welcoming one with its third-gender kathoeys ("lady-boys").

But that acceptance does not extend to official full monastic ordination. Many gays certainly seem to be "monks" (bhikkhus), but they are actually novices (samaneras or "trainees," "probationers," "new recruits").

• PHOTO: *Just friends? A curious thing about Asia, which many closeted gays must find comforting, is that males hold hands and touch one another the way females do in Western society, and no one thinks of it as "gay" or odd or at all sexual. The two novices or monks shown here at Burma's Shwedagon Pagoda  may hold on to one another, and no one in that society would think this was indicative of homosexuality or even an effeminate thing. But as Western tourists we can hardly think it indicates anything else. Females in Asia are not as demonstrably touchy-feely as in the West, but there is some innocent sisterly affection.

Novices are generally young males under 20 who take temporary ordination in fulfillment of their Southeast Asian (Thai, Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian) Theravada religio-cultural obligations.
 
Genrally, ALL Thai males (gay or not) are expected to ordain temporarily in the capacity of a samanera (female samaneri) for at least a week. [Everything said of gay males here would equally apply to females seeking FULL ordination (whether heteroflexible, bisexual, ambisexual, pansexual, lesbian, or experimental), which is distinct from the Ten Precept status (Thai Mae Chee) most females were traditionally restricted to in Theravada countries. Female can now be fully ordained thanks to newer generations of nuns who successfully reinstituted the tradition.]
 

Gender is socially constructed yet very real

Some might do it for a shorter duration, others for a summer vacation (or a traditional three-month "Rains Retreat" period). Of these, it is expected that only a tiny fraction would choose the lifelong celibate, ascetic, formal monastic lifestyle. But few people would be able to tell a novice from a monk (bhikkhu). Usually, age is the giveaway. Most novices are from 7-20 years of age (taking into consideration that in Asia one is born a 1-year-old, the novitiate state is mostly for teens); however, one may temporarily take robes at any age as a novice with the cooperation of a temple and its abbot.

• Buddhism and Sexual Orientation 
• What the Buddha Never Taught: A "Behind the Robes" Account of Life in a Thai Forest Monastery (20th Anniversary Edition) is a funny and enlightening behind-the-scenes account of life in a Thai forest monastery by Tim Ward. 
• What the Buddha Never Taught is a wonderful true-life story by a journalist who wanted to see what it was like to live at Wat Pah Nanachat, the International Forest Monastery open to Westerners in Northeast Thailand. We visited it, asked around, and found it to be just as Ward described even years later. He did not find a nest of homosexuality, but some novices are gay and forced to temporarily ordain as if they were Catholic boys in Rome. Ward tries to explain Thai culture, which as Westerners we are forced to think is so sexual and "anything goes." But apart from the Bangkok Red Light District strip clubs (like Pat Pong) and misleading massage parlors (which actually do massage and are not fronts for prostitution since prostitution can be found everywhere else).

No doubt homosexuality exists in the Thai Sanghas, both in the larger more lax Mahanikaya and the more extreme royal Dhammayut schools. The latter has grown famous for its restoration of the ancient Forest Tradition, but some criticize it as illegitimate because it was founded by a Thai king who wanted to ordain, and kings have no business and no authority to found Buddhist schools. They, however, do have the money and authority to fund them. So while Dhammayut is only one-tenth the size of the Mahanikaya, it enjoys prestige, reverence, fame, and financial influence far beyond its size. Most renowned Western monks who studied in Thailand did so in the Forest Tradition, which is often associated with the famous Thai teacher Ajahn Chah.

The most famous is the comedic British monk in Australia, Ajahn Brahm. Others include Jack Kornfield (author of Living Buddhist Masters, who brought attention to Ajahn Chah and other Buddhist saints in the jungles of South and Southeast Asia to the West, reissued as Living Dharma: Teachings of Twelve Buddhist Masters), Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Ajahn Sumedho and other former abbots of WPN, and so on.

 

In spite of what casual visitors may conclude, Thailand may be liberal and tolerant, but as a Buddhist society with 90-95% adherence to Theravada Buddhism, it is very conservative.

Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender explores historical, textual, and social questions relating to the position and experience of women and gay people in the Buddhist world from India and Tibet to Sri Lanka, China, and Japan. It focuses on four key areas: Buddhist history, contemporary culture, Buddhist symbols, and homosexuality (including traditional Japanese pederasty or shudo akin to Roman and Greek practices presumably followed to this day by the closeted Catholic priesthood in the old Mithra temple complex now called the Vatican), and it covers Buddhism’s entire history, from its origins to the present day. The result of original and innovative research, the contributors offer new perspectives on the history of the attitudes toward, and of the self-perception of, women in both ancient and modern Buddhist societies. They explore key social issues such as abortion, examine the use of rhetoric and symbols in Buddhist texts and cultures, and discuss the neglected subject of Buddhism and homosexuality.
 

What leaders do -- be it Obama, Netanyahu, or the Pope -- followers will follow, regardless of the motives of the leaders doing it. Hugs are homeplate, and exemplars are on first base.

 

The question becomes a Roman Catholic one: Are non-practicing homosexuals acceptable for full ordination? That is a question that for all practical purposes has to be left to the abbots who would train and be responsible for them. This is where money enters the picture because Western homosexuals can, due to their affluence, find acceptance in poorer temples with few questions asked. Formally, one would be asked during the ordination process. But what will the abbot or the quorum of monks hear if they do not want to know?

Thai New Year (arztsamui)

"Are you a pandaka [pervert, transsexual, flamboyant homosexual, gender-bending transvestite, eunuch, lascivious person incapable of containing your tendency toward sex, self-soothing, masturbation, or sexual misconduct]?" Honestly speaking, one would probably have to say "probably not in the long run." But practically speaking, who would admit to not having self-control. Surely at the time of ordination, one would feel an imperative to rein it in, conceal from oneself, or conceal it from the gatekeepers to live in the close company of unmarried men. 

What's the big deal? - It is a big deal! (TM)

Karmically, this would be a horrible thing to do, but few people believe in the godlike abilities of karma (intentions with the power to bring forth mental and physical results in the future) or even give much consideration to their actions. How long have gay and bisexual men escaped the hetero-normative world into what they perceive to be the welcoming arms of a cloistered all-male community? Men are comfortable and comforting, and would anyone even know? They would know, and laypeople are unlikely to ask for if they know or figure it out, they would still be kowtowed by religious fears of so much as entertaining the question. Why do young novices and boys in the community end up being molested by some fraction of those who enter and remain in the Sangha as frauds?*

• [*NOTE: This is not to suggest that homosexuality leads one to molest boys, but only to say an almost equally controversial thing: All males who molest boys are engaging in homosexuality, even if one maintains that they are straight or doing it for nonsexual reasons. A terrible thing that happens with molestation, incest, and sexual abuse is that no one talks about it, creating a perfect environment for it to fester and perpetuate itself. Let gays be gays and bis be bis, but let's never let children be molested or victimized because we have too many hang ups to deal with the stark reality of our own issues.]

Good thing this is only for a week (D_C)

Isn't it because gatekeepers are lax or condoning? They can hardly keep pleading ignorance to the practices and inclinations of someone under their 24 care and oversight. Much the same might be said for parents, but a monastic upbringing is much more structured and controlled than any but the most repressive households, and it is this way by design. Homosexuality in and of itself would not, in our opinion, be "sexual misconduct" (kamesu micchacara), but many Southeast Asian as well as Western societies surely see it that way.

Incredible Thailand (photos)

Richard Dillon Dillon, CC Liu (editor), Wisdom Quarterly

Golden Buddha reclining into final nirvana, riverside Bangkok (Dennison Uy/flickr.com)

 

Four-faced Brahma (asianform.com)

[Theravada] Buddhism is the key religion in Thailand. Thus, it is easy to spot Buddha statues all over the country and not only in Phuket [pronounced, pooh-khet]. 

 

Its capital city, Bangkok [the full name of which is roughly the equivalent of the full name of Los Angeles, both meaning something akin to the City of Angels, and not in an ironic way, as decadent and hedonistic as the megalopolises are], has the famous four-faced Buddha. [This famous statue is not actually the Buddha at all, but a golden Brahma in an intersection.]

Bangkok, Hua-Lamphong train station, Thailand's main train station (Gift-of-Light/flickr)

  

Heavenly temple, Chiang Mai (Swissrock/flickr)

It attracts many tourists from all over the world. For history enthusiasts who are always looking for educational tours, Thailand is the perfect country to explore. [Not only is it tourist-friendly, one of the most welcoming places in the world, it is also ancient, vibrant, the third or fourth most vibrant economy in Asia behind China and Japan, and maybe Singapore, it is also very "Buddhist."]

 

Temple murals (fredMin/flickr)

[It enjoys tropical coastlines and islands in the peninsular south, rainforests in the north, a forest meditation tradition in Isan (northeast Thailand) and elsewhere, as well as thickets of jungle and remaining old-world culture dotting the entire country, alongside skyscrapers, ancient temples, viharas (monasteries), and Southeast Asian architecture influenced by India, China, neighboring Cambodia, and Vietnam.

 

Koh Phi Phi Island (Karpalain tsunami video)

It has many attractions of different natures -- water, land, and air. It is fun, relaxing, and everything happens under the sun. But the country never sleeps, and its nightlife has made it famous. The Pat Pong red light district, the curbside eateries, the warm communal sharing...
 

(Lagoon the_nomad_soul/flickr)

With its many islands, tourists can hop from one adventure to another in no time.

It may not be the best country, but it certainly has to be one of the top three travel destinations.

The south has even more surprises with full moon beach parties, incredible water bound land masses (kohs), remote beaches made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio, and secret lagoons like the one the castaways enjoyed on Gilligan's Island.
 

"The Beach" - Leo in search of adventures in Southeast Asia

Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's history (video)

Ashley Wells (editor), Wisdom Quarterly

The First Buddhist Shrine: Shwedagon, Burma, was first built to enshrine strands of the Buddha's hair given to ancient merchant travelers who saw the Buddha on the road on his way to set in motion the Wheel of the Dharma in the Deer Park at Sarnath, Varanasi, India (L'altra faccia della politica estera/Convegno alla Farnesina/Coop. allo Sviluppo).

 

The Legend of Shwedagon Pagoda

Roger Bischoff (Buddhism in [Burma]: A Short History, BPS Wheel 399), edited by Dhr. Seven

The massive shrine complex that is Shwedagon in central Rangoon, the former capital of Burma before military dictators renamed everything and built a secretive bunker compound in Naypidaw and called that the capital (airpano.com)

 
The Ancient Arrival of the Hair Relics

Buddhist nuns at Shwedagon (AFP)

Two traveling merchant brothers, Tapassu and Bhallika from Ukkala* [identified as Okkalapa near Rangoon, but which some like the Indian government in Orissa believe to be in modern Orissa (Utkala) on India's east coast], were going through Uruvela. They were directed to the Buddha by their familial deva (nat, sprite, nature spirit, angel).

 

The newly enlightened Buddha had just come out of seven weeks of meditation after his great awakening and was sitting under a tree feeling the need for food.

• Early Historical Background (Donaldson)
• PHOTOS: The Beauty of Golden Burma

The First Two "Buddhists"
Tapussa and Bhallika (the world's first Buddhist lay disciples) saw him and, having been prompted by the deva, made an offering of rice cakes and flower nectar, seeking guidance from two of what would eventually be the Three Guides (ti-sarana), guidance from the Buddha and the Dharma. (The third, the noble Sangha, or "community of enlightened individuals," did not yet exist). As they were about to depart, they asked the Buddha for an object to remember and honor him in his place. He gave them eight hairs from his head.

(U Myintl Win)  Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's sacred relic shrine

 

After the two returned from their journey, they enshrined the three hairs in a reliquary (stupa), which is now the great Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon. It is believed in Burma that the hill upon which the Shwedagon Pagoda stands was not haphazardly chosen by Tapussa and Bhallika. It was, in fact, the site where the three buddhas preceding the Buddha Gotama (Siddhartha Gautama, Shakyamuni) in this world-cycle (maha kalpa) themselves left relics:

 

Iconography...Orissa (Thomas E. Donaldson)

The Buddha Kakusandha is said to have left his staff on Theinguttara Hill, the Buddha Konagamana his water filter, and the Buddha Kassapa a part of his robe. Because of this, the Buddha requested Tapussa and Bhallika to enshrine his hair relics at that particular location.

 

Tapussa and Bhallika traveled far and wide in order to find the hill on which they could balance a tree without its touching the ground either with the roots or with its crown. Eventually, they found the exact spot not far from their home in Lower Burma, where they enshrined the holy relics in a traditional Buddhist burial mound or stupa [Shway Yoe, The Burman (Scotland 1989), pp. 179f.]. The original mound is said to have been 27 feet high. Today the Shwedagon Pagoda has grown to over 370 feet. 

The Buddha's Visits to the Region

Burmese oral tradition speaks of four visits of the Buddha to the region. While these visits were of utmost significance in their own right, they are also important in having established places of pilgrimage up to the present day. More

 

*NOTE: The Theragatha ["Psalms of the Elders"] Commentary (Vol i.48) informs us that the birthplace or residence of the travelers Bhalluka (or Bhaliya) and Tapassu (or Trapassu) was Pokkharavati in Ukkala. The sons of the caravan leader (Satthavaha) started their journey from Pokkharavati. Their destination was Rajagriha (modern Rajgir, India), and according to the Jataka (Jat I. 80) they were on their way to Majjhimadesa ("Middle India"), where they met and offered food to the Buddha and became his first lay devotees.

 

(DokusDeutsch) German documentary, in depth look at Shwedagon Pagoda

NEW ASIAN FRONTIER

Dalai Lama supports The Lady

Legend says that Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon (Yangon), Burma, is about 2,[6]00 years old. According to the ancient Theravada Buddhist tradition, it was built even before the Buddha's passing, which is thought to have occurred in 486 BCE. It is the most sacred Buddhist reliquary and shrine for the Burmese as it preserves the relics of four buddhas, including the hair of the historical Buddha. The life of Burmese culture, embodied in its ancient traditions, now has a new face emerging in Southeast Asia and beyond. The country has continuous and positive development and is in the process of a democratic transition [thanks to the military dictatorship, led by puppet-master Gen. Than Shwe, finally releasing pro-democracy Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a freedom fighter known throughout the land simply as The Lady] and renewed economic dynamism.

(VB) 4-Minute History of Burma (not "Myanmar"!) John Green tells Hank about the situation in formerly rich Buddhist Burma before and after the arrest of The Lady by military dictators.
  

NUOVA FRONTIERA ASIATICA

Ellen Page reveals Asia's "Hitler," Than Shwe

Una leggenda afferma che la pagoda Shwedagon a Rangoon in Birmania abbia circa 2[6]00 anni. Secondo la tradizione Theravada, fu costruita addirittura prima della morte del Buddha, avvenuta nel 486 a.C. È la pagoda buddista più sacra per i birmani poichè conserva le reliquie di quattro Buddha. Il Myanmar vive di cultura e tradizioni millenarie ma ora il suo nuovo volto si sta affacciando sul sud-est asiatico e oltre i suoi confini. Il Paese è in continua e positiva evoluzione e sta attraversando una fase di transizione democratica e di rinnovato dinamismo economico.

• Ambasciata d'Italia a Yangon 
• Associazione Amicizia Italia-Birmania
• PHOTOS: Buddhist Pagan (Bagan), Burma