Do you believe in religious freedom? It is something we almost take for granted in our nation and in our world. However, there are places where religious freedom is a precious gift that must be struggled for to make a reality. This is the case in Vietnam.

For 39 years Nobel Prize Nominee and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) has lived in exile in France because he challenged the status quo of violence in his Motherland. Even after the “American War” ended, Thay was not allowed to return. That all changed in 2005 when he returned home to tour the country and give talks and share the dharma. He returned again in 2007 and 2008. I was honored to be a part of the initial delegation in 2005 and experienced the elation and joy of the Vietnamese people and the apparent opening up of the nation to new ideas and newfound religious freedom.

The trip also coincided with Vietnam’s desire to join the World Trade Organization, which has since happened. On a related note, the President of Vietnam just assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council.

During that initial trip in 2005, and in subsequent trips, a home was established for students of Thay to practice as monastics in the tradition of Plum Village. Approximately $1 million was spent to build up the monastery, including a meditation hall for 1800 people. The land was a gift of a local abbot, who maintains ownership, in the Lam Dong province and it was called Bat Nha Monastery (also known as Prajna Temple). The monastic sangha grew to 400 young monks and nuns, mostly under the age of 25. It is my understanding that this is the largest independent monastic community in Vietnam not under the direct control of the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha.

On October 29, 2008, the Government’s Committee on Religious Affairs (GCRA) accused Thich Nhat Hanh of distorting Vietnam’s religious policies and stated that the monastic and lay practitioners at Prajna no longer have legal rights to stay at Prajna and have to leave the monastery.

Unfortunately, it appears the government’s objective was to breakup the community of monastic practitioners rather than allow them to find another location in Vietnam. The monastics chose to remain together at Bat Nha Monastery. In June 2009, the power and water was shut off at the monastery. State-linked religious authorities had given Thay’s followers until September 2 to leave the monastery but they had refused to go. On September 27, 2009 a siege to evict the monastics took place. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured during the eviction but the monastery was damaged, several monastics were arrested, and the approximately 379 young monastics have taken refuge in a temple in the neighboring district.

Since taking refuge at the Phuoc Hue temple, the police have continued to attempt to remove them. At this time, the Phuoc Hue Abott has been able to allow them to stay and resist governmental pressure. Local reports suggest the police have stepped up their campaign, placing the followers under 24-hour guard and ordering them to leave Phuoc Hue temple.

In a gesture of religious solidarity, the local Catholic Church has offered to provide refuge to the monastics if they are evicted from Phuoc Hue temple too.

Much of what has occurred has been covered in the international press and on the Help Bat Nha web site. This is a complicated matter and I’ve attempted to give a birds eye view of what is happening in Vietnam.

In our local community, we are supporting the young monks and nuns of Bat Nha Monastery by participating in the Global Sit for Bat Nha on Sunday, October 4. If you would like to join us, we’ll meet at the Being Peace Zendo at 9:00am. Located at 308 Drown in Ojai. We will have a silent sit for 30-minutes. Please bring a small strip of yellow cloth for a picture we will send to Vietnam.

If you are interested in doing more, please read how you can help.

Recently I was sharing about a personal relationship issue with a monastic friend and teacher and he suggested I start with a period of fasting. I was not completely clear on how this could help or be related, but I trust my friend and know that fasting is a common practice in the monastery. The intention here is not a detox fast, but one of a more spiritual nature. I started practicing with the fast for a 1-2 weeks by fasting for dinner. It wasn’t too difficult to eat two meals a day, the most difficult time being late afternoon. This did raise my confidence and understanding in fasting.

For this fasting practice, I decided to take the experience as it happened without putting too much pressure on myself. Though he had suggested 10-days, I decided to just take it one day at a time. I also decided to make it primarily a water only fast with a couple of exceptions – namely, I would drink 2-ounces of a juice blend in the morning and evening and would allow myself a cup of tea in the morning. Aside from that, it was water. The fast was three days.

The body is strange and powerful. The body felt solid and grounded for most of the fast but at the same time it allowed the mind to soften and wander a bit further than normal. I participated in some physical activity in the yard and in the house, went to a meeting at work one day, and worked on the computer. The key to success seemed to be having the option to rest whenever needed because I did get tired more quickly and easily than normal.

On a physical level, fasting really brings a person in touch with the body itself. The needs. The functions. The different parts. Experiencing hunger pains. Numbness. Dizziness. A person cannot act and behave normally when hungry.

On a mental level, fasting gives your mind the freedom to touch its relationship to the body. More importantly, the mind slows with the body. I had an intention with my fast, to focus on my personal relationship, and with each moment of physical discomfort and tightness of the stomach I could bring awareness to that relationship. This is important to me. I will work on this more. How can things be improved?

On the third day I discovered what the most important part of the fast was for me. Namely, I slowed down. The pace of life was reduced dramatically. I could still participate and do life’s activities but at a completely different rate. Wow, so this is it. To be present. With that I decided to end the fast. I had gained some insight and also realized that I needed to lend more support to my family by having more energy and strength (by eating again).

I hope to fast again in the future and also know that I could continue beyond three days if I wanted to journey further into my consciousness. Thank you Br. Phap Dung, Leslie, and the kids for being my support.

First, it made for a more inclusive and broad environment for discussions to occur. On more than one occasion, meetings being held in person were enriched by tweets from afar. Bringing in those voices make ALA more open and accessible – especially for those who cannot attend. Secondly, since there are so many overlapping meetings The Twitter helped attendees to be at more than one meeting at once. So yes, you can be in two places at once. In the LITA Town Hall meeting I sat at a physical table with eight other folks. We decided to hold our conversation on Twitter so we could easily log the conversation. Two things happened: more people joined virtually and, when I had to leave, I could continue participating from the next location. This provided for rich content and open participation. Also, see LITA’s well known Top Technology Trends program as it unfolded on Twitter. 

Granted, this was a certain crowd at this annual librarian meeting. However, it played heavily into my program and activities by allowing me to participate more widely and connect more closely with my colleagues. Big kudos go out to the BIGWIG folks for testing out many new technologies (for ALA) and reach a broader audience.

For the record, typically I tweet about 10 per day but I spiked with 88 tweets on Sunday. Fun!

The City of Denver and the Colorado Convention Center made this super easy because WiFi was ubiquitous and free. It seems pointless to blog about the normal ALA-related activites because you can follow much of the conversation on the links above from Twitter. The one BIG downer from the weekend was my shattered iPhone.

Did you participate in ALA from afar via technology? What was the experience? Did you use Twitter to connect with others at the conference? In what ways? What application does this have for the further virtualization of meetings and programs? I’d love to hear from you.

Today is Blog Action Day 2008 and our focus this year is on poverty. It is a day when bloggers around the world can unite together to highlight an issue. I’m happy to participate and hope that it contributes to global awareness around poverty. Despite the fiscal crisis taking place in the United States, we still have one of the highest standards of living in the world. It is easy for us to grow distraught about our own personal finances, but most of us probably have clean running water, employment, housing, clothing. If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes to wear, a roof on your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than the 75% of the people who live on this Earth. If you have money in your bank account and your wallet and some loose change in some little box, you are one of the world’s 8% well-to-do population. And yet, even here in the United States we have many that live in poverty. Here in Ojai, I typically spend time in the winter staying at the Ojai Valley Family Shelter once a week with the two dozen people who choose to stay in the shelter. Check out some of the other resources put together on the Blog Action Day Web Resources page. Or, you can watch the following video if you haven’t seen it already:

What are you doing for those with less? What is your experience with poverty?

Perhaps the easiest route to peace is to find peace within yourself. My teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay), is well known for his statements and actions on peace. He tries to keep things real simple by encouraging us to come back to ourselves and learn to live in peace each moment of daily life. I have been honored to practice with Thay for the past decade and to learn the practice of true peace. As a spiritual leader in my community, I have been asked to share a few minutes at an InterSpiritual Service that is part of Living Peace in Ojai. Instead of talking about peace, we will practice peace by using the following exercise. As Thay has said, “Even in the midst of suffering, it is possible to bring our awareness to the good qualities within yourself and allow them to manifest in your consciousness. Practice mindful breathing to remind yourself of your Buddha nature, of the great compassion and understanding in you.”

Take a  minute or two to find a comfortable position and allow yourself to follow each step in this exercise. Spend a few minutes on each segment.

Breathing in, I am aware that I am breathing in.
Breathing out, I am aware that I am breathing out.

Breathing in, I am in touch with the energy of mindfulness in every cell of my body.
Breathing out, I feel nourished by the energy of mindfulness in me.

Breathing in, I am in touch with the energy of solidity in every cell of my body.
Breathing out, I feel nourished by the energy of solidity in me.

Breathing in, I am in touch with the energy of wisdom in every cell of my body.
Breathing out, I feel nourished by the energy of wisdom in me.

Breathing in, I am in touch with the energy of compassion in every cell of my body
Breathing out, I feel nourished by the energy of compassion in me.

Breathing in, I am in touch with the energy of peace in every cell in my body.
Breathing out, I feel nourished by the energy of peace in me.

Breathing in, I am in touch with the energy of freedom in every cell of my body.
Breathing out, I feel nourished by the energy of freedom in me.

Breathing in, I am in touch with the energy of awakening in every cell of my body.
Breathing out, I feel nourished by the energy of awakening in me.

May all beings be peaceful, happy, and free.

Despite all the above, I’ve still had time to try and keep up with my Friendfeed and play with new tools like  12seconds.tv, Twine, Chrome, and Ubiquity. What’s most promising? What am I finding most useful?

I’ve been playing with Twine since spring when I wrote about it here on the blog.  My intention is to talk more about this at my presentation at Internet Librarian, in relation to the semantic web. Twine has definitely improved since the spring as more users come on board. Twine allows me to follow stories, themes, people – similiar to what you might find with Friendfeed and an RSS tool.

12seconds.tv is a video micro-blogging site. Users are able to post 12 second videos from their computer or cell phone. Most are pretty unimportant and mundance, but I also remember how Twitter started out and how that has grown into a robust and useful tool. I keep searching for a “work-related” application for 12seconds, and I’m sure it will manifest eventually, but right now I haven’t found one. They have recently added the ability to leave video comments too; a big improvement to the service. Check out my channel to see what I’ve posted.

If you haven’t tested out Chrome, give it a try. It is a quick and easy web browser for Windows computers only. It is created by Google. It is fast and clean, but it is not a replacement browser for me. I did read a great article for the power user but I’m still not sold. I need my Remember the Milk list in gMail to survive.

The concept of Ubiquity is fantastic and I will talking about this at Internet Librarian too. The biggest weakness for this tool is having my brain remember to use it. When I remember, I love it! You can read more on the link above, but basically it is a keyboard shortcut tool to allow you to bring the web together. Reading something and you want to share it with a friend? Highlight, open Ubiquity, and type email to friend and it’s done. Amazing concept. It’s still in labs, so I’m sure many improvements will be on the horizon.

So, what have you been playing with? Have you tested any of these applications? What do you think; do they hold promise? I’m particularly interested in how your using Twine.

Anyway, back to our dinner and off my little rant. We had 65 Community College Librarians from across the country join us for dinner. The food was excellent. The service was excellent. A good time was had for all. My hosting responsibilities end with this conference.

As the dinner ended, the evening fireworks show began. People were just sitting on the ground in Disney Plaza enjoying the show. My collegue said to me, “Is this the happiest place on earth?” I was feeling pretty happy at the moment.

In Ojai, our 100 mile range is from San Luis Obispo to Delano to Irvine to out in the ocean. A wealth of crops are grown in this region and we can probably have fresh fruits and vegetables year round. I have three major areas of concern with participating. First, protein sources. As vegetarians, bordering on vegan, we need to be certain our protein needs are met from beans, nuts, soy, etc. Since many of those items may not grow around here, we may need to use one of our three exceptions for a consistent protein source. Beyond the protein, there are the things that I just like to eat. For example, I enjoy coffee, tea, bananas, pasta, bread, oatmeal, granola, rice. Today, typical meals would be

Breakfast: smoothie (soy milk, flax oil, protein powder, blueberries, strawberries) and oatmeal (with brown sugar).

Lunch: sandwich (peanut butter/jelly) or grilled cheese; corn chips; salad

Dinner: stir fry (olive oil, garlic, tofu, greens, carrots, etc.) and rice

Other: almonds, coffee, tea, cookie, granola

It seems doable. There are some processed items that would be a challenge. The bread and oatmeal could be tough. My second area of concern is a transition away from organic produce. Our family have been regular organic produce consumers for well over a decade. We are believers in buying organic and have significant problems with conventional farming (both for health reasons and environmental reasons). In this proposed diet, there will be times when we simply will not be able to eat organic. However, does the change outweigh the benefits of eating locally? Food does not need to be shipping in from thousands of miles away. Packaging of food will be close to nil.

My third area of concern is our children. Do we pursue this diet as a family or will it just be the adults? The kids are already picky eaters and this change may be too challenging and too difficult. If they were a little older it would be easier, but with their young age (they will be 5 and 8 years old) it may be too much to ask. Of course, we can try the majority of their diet locally and supplement it with other sources near and dear to their hearts.

So, why would we do this? Last year I ordered frozen strawberries through our food coop, as I often do in the winter months, and was very dismayed to read the strawberries had been grown in China. This isn’t about China, but that Ventura County (where I live) is one of the top producers of strawberries, and I don’t need strawberries from half way around the world. So, my reason is for the environment first. Others include: To support of regional economy. Because we may all be eating locally within 25 years anyway (whether we want to or not!). To build community. To know and understand our food sources.

If we are going to do this diet, starting January 1, 2009, then we need to start preparing now. Going to the Farmers Market every weeked; canning foods; buying a larger freezer to store food; keeping the garden happy and healthy; etc. Food preparation is a labor intensive process that we have lost touch with in our society.

If you live in Ventura or Santa Barbara counties, and this interests you, please visit the Eat Local, One Year web site and sign on.

As I study and learn more, I have found myself turning to the more radical end of the Christian community. Though evangelical, the Sojourners community has offered much in the area of justice and peace. More recently, I was happy to discover a magazine founded by a Mennonite and an Anabaptist called Geez. Where were these people when I was floundering back in college? I have also found some inspiration from the Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries project here in Southern California. A few years back I remember reading The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg. Wonderful book and very inspirational. And more recently, I have delved into some of the sermons by Pat Moore, an Episcopal priest (and close family member). I believe protecting the environment, serving the poor, and living non-violently as core values taught by Jesus.

All this means to me is that I believe that I live a Christian life based on the values and teachings of Jesus Christ. I also believe in Jesus Christ as a great teacher and model for living and I would consider myself a disciple of his. If there were a church to practice in that could live with this ambiguity of belief, I would probably participate. I guess that I fear calling myself a Christian – and some of my Christian friends choose to call themselves Anabaptists – due to all the associated baggage and misunderstanding to what that means. So much damage, hatred, misunderstanding, and fear have been done, and continues to be done, in the name of Christianity that it can be very depressing. Therefore, it has been easier to say “potential Christian” and then engage people (you) in conversation about what that means. The irony of it all is that it is because of my Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, that I have been able to open my heart and mind to my Christianity. Ten years ago this would not have been the case.

Perhaps the majority of the readers on this blog do not hold these racist views nor do you see this your neighborhood. Despite being an educator in California and having attended many workshops on the topic over the years, and despite feeling aware of race in society, I am surprised and shocked by these events. It seems that my white male skin continues to shield me from the realities for people of color and I must continue to open my heart and my mind. We don’t need a color-blind society, but we could have one that honors and recognizes all people regardless of their race, and this is something worthy to work toward.

Cross posted on Ojai Post