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28 March 2008 [For Immediate Release] Over hundred of monks arrested after a raid in Ngaba Kirti Monastery After days of unrest and protests in Ngaba County since 15 March, which saw the death of at least 23 Tibetans, arrest and injury of over hundreds, the Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) and Public Security Bureau (PSB) forces arrested over a hundred monks from Ngaba Kirti Monastery during a raid of the monastery this afternoon, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Earlier this morning, hundreds of PAP and PSB came to Ngaba...

Tibet monks disrupt China media event By Geoff Dyer in Lhasa Published: March 27 2008 12:27 | Last updated: March 27 2008 12:39 The simmering political tensions in Tibet burst into the open on Thursday in one of Lhasa’s most important temples when a group of 30 young Buddhist monks interrupted a government-organised visit by journalists with shouts about the lack of freedom in Tibet and in support of the Dalai Lama. The monks were clearly agitated and several wept openly as they accused the authorities of lying to the visiting journalists and promised further demonstrations. “We want a free...

25 March 2008 [Press Release] Protest erupts after prayer for deceased in Drango County Following a peaceful protest in Drango County (Ch: Luhuo xian), Kardze "TAP", Sichuan Province, on 24 March 2008 which resulted in the death of one Tibetan and another left in critical condition after People's Armed Police (PAP) fired indiscriminately into the protesting crowd, the monks of Drango Gaden Rabten Nampargyalpeling Monastery organized a special prayer session for the deceased in the morning of 25 March. According to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), at around 8:00 AM (Beijing Standard...

Nepalese Police Beat Monks, Refugees in Tibetan Protest; 40 Arrested March 24, 2008 KATMANDU, Nepal — Police in Nepal broke up a protest by 200 Tibetan refugees and monks near the offices of the United Nations on Monday by beating them with bamboo sticks and arresting 40. The refugees demonstrating in Katmandu were demanding that the U.N. investigate the recent crackdown in Tibet by Chinese authorities. Chanting "China, stop killings in Tibet. U.N., we want justice," the protesters were marching to U.N. headquarters when police stopped them about 300 feet from the office and snatched their banners. When the Tibetans...

Dig at homes site uncovers skeletons of eight monks By Nicola Fenwick BURIAL SITE: Mark Randerson, of Durham University's archaeology department, with two of the monks uncovered at the site in Northallerton ARCHAEOLOGISTS have discovered the complete skeletons of eight Carmelite monks. The excavation in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, also revealed that the town's priory is unique, because its layout differs from all other known Carmelite priories and monasteries in Europe. Housing developer Castle Homes owns the site and will be building a residential development there. But it has given assurances that the design of the building will ensure the preservation...

PEOSTA, Iowa (CNS) -- For the craftsmen and artisans at New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, a relatively new ministry has expanded into a new state-of-the-art, 40,000-square-foot factory, almost five times larger than their previous facility. "Because of increasing demands for caskets, we were unable to keep up with production to satisfy demand, so we had to develop a new woodworking facility," said Sam Mulgrew, the operation's general manager. "It's not a highly automated factory. It has good dust collection, air quality and other features." In their work, the monks strive to produce burial caskets and urns that reflect their values...

The monks at Mepkin Abbey have supported their contemplative lives for 40 years largely by supplying eggs to local grocery stores. No more. The abbey has succumbed to a campaign undertaken last year by the animal-rights activist group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Too bad. In announcing its decision to phase out its operation over the next year and a half, a Mepkin spokesman said PETA's campaign had become a distraction to the Trappist community: "While the monks are sad to give up work that has sustained them for many years, a hard and honorable work of which...

More than 100 monks have marched in central Burma, the first time they have returned to the streets since last month's bloody crackdown on protests. The monks chanted and prayed as they marched through Pakokku, the site of an incident last month that triggered pro-democracy protests nationwide. The government said 10 people died during the crackdown, but diplomats believe the toll was much higher. Thousands more - many of them monks - were thought to have been detained. Separately, the Human Rights Watch organisation has accused the Burmese army of forcibly recruiting children to cover gaps left by a lack...

Hong Kong - The Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao reports that monks in Tibet have been involved in clashes with the police over the last four days. The monks in the capital Lhasa wanted to celebrate the award of the United States Congressional Gold Medal to their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. About 1,100 monks have been confined to a monastery in Lhasa following the clashes, but it remains unclear whether arrests have been made. US President George W Bush attended the award of the medal, the highest civilian honour given by Congress, to the Dalai Lama in Washington on...

Yangon - Myanmar's ruling military junta has released 80 monks and 149 women, believed to be nuns, who were rounded up in last week's demonstrations. A Burmese journalist has also been released. Earlier on Wednesday morning, more opponents of the military regime were arrested in the country's most important city Yangon. At least eight lorry loads of prisoners were taken to an undisclosed location. The arrests came a few hours after the departure of Ibrahim Gambari, the UN's special envoy to Myanmar. He met with junta leader General Than Shwe and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an attempt...

Blogger Niknayman has a list of names and affiliations of over 300 monks and civilians who have been arrested by the Myanmar Military Regime. Many are from the National League of Democracy, the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Newspapers across Asia are putting the number of detained people at 1500. Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norwegian organization reports that the number of arrested is much higher at over 2000. Death toll is rumoured to be in the hundreds, though the Myanmar Junta refuses to confirm the official number. Democratic Voice of Burma is quoting this announcement from Ko...

I’m sick and tired of all the hand-wringing and whining going on in the liberal media over the supposed “crisis” in Burma. Seriously, who cares? Let the Burmese worry about Burma, I always say. Here’s a typical example of the kind of biased reporting I’m talking about, from the Daily Mail: [T]he bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle … Well, yeah, duh. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for that. Only the blood of monks can quench the thirst of the mighty teak tree. And teak is one of Burma's major exports, to make futons...

The country's top brass seem to have learned nothing from the contempt they drew from the international community for their conduct 19 years ago when Burmese generals put down the popular uprising in 1988. Then Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, as the country's army commander-in-chief, blithely headed a high-ranking delegation to Rangoon shortly after the junta's resort to violence left some 3,000 people dead, and sent hundreds of thousands seeking refuge in Thailand. The visit was tantamount to condoning a military dictatorship elsewhere decried for the excesses against demonstrators. The trade-off? Some kind of arrangement involving Burmese timber and fishery. Not long...

Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed. The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand." Mr Win, who spoke out as a Swedish diplomat predicted that the revolt has failed, said he fled when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men. He has now reached the border with Thailand....

Thousands dead in the massacre of the monksLast updated at 01:05am on 1st October 2007 Comments Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed. The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: 'Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand.' Mr Win, who spoke out as a Swedish diplomat predicted that the revolt has failed, said he fled when he was ordered...

The US has banned dozens of members of Burma's military government from obtaining US travel visas because of ongoing violence against protesters. A state department spokesman said more officials would be added to the list if they were judged responsible for human rights abuses. Reports from Burma say military may have succeeded in limiting the scale of the protests in the main city, Rangoon.

Violent crackdown launched in Myanmar AP Security forces shot and wounded three people, and beat and dragged away dozens of Buddhist monks Wednesday in the most violent crackdown against the protests that began last month, witnesses said. About 300 monks and activists were arrested, dissidents said. Reports from exiled Myanmar journalists and activists in Thailand said security forces had shot and killed as many as five people in Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon. The reports could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press. The U.N. Security Council will meet later Wednesday to discuss Myanmar, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told...

The monks have vowed to continue their action Lorries with loudspeakers have been driving through Burma's main city of Rangoon warning residents to stop anti-government protests.The broadcasts threatened that "action will be taken against those who violate this order". But hundreds of monks and civilians defied the threats and began fresh protests at the Shwedagon pagoda. On Monday, there were protests in at least 25 towns, with tens of thousands of people marching in Rangoon. Several military trucks are now parked near Shwedagon pagoda, which has been the focus of the protests. Eyewitnesses said several hundred monks gathered at...

Burma's ruling military junta has warned it is ready to "take action" against Buddhist monks leading mounting protests, state media have reported. Brig Gen Thura Myint Maung, minister for religion, warned them not to break Buddhist "rules and regulations" as Rangoon saw the largest march yet. He blamed the protests on "destructive elements" opposed to peace in Burma. President George W Bush is set to announce fresh US sanctions on Burmese leaders, the White House says.

Myanmar protesters hit 100,000 mark As many as 100,000 anti-government protesters led by a phalanx of Buddhist monks marched Monday through Yangon, the largest crowd to demonstrate in Myanmar's biggest city since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the military. From the front of the march, witnesses could see a one-mile stretch of eight-lane road was filled with people. Some participants said there were several hundred thousand marchers in their ranks, but an international aid agency official with employees monitoring the crowd estimated said the size was well over 50,000 and approaching 100,000. It was the latest...

Thousands of monks and civilians are marching through Burma's former capital in what appears to be the biggest anti-government protest so far. Eyewitnesses said the number of people demonstrating on Monday was as high as 30,000. It follows Sunday's march in Rangoon by 20,000 monks and nuns, in what was the largest protest for almost 20 years. Events are now moving unpredictably, analysts say. So far the ruling generals are showing unusual restraint. Monks are revered in Burma and any action against them by the military government would spark an outcry. But there are fears of a repeat of 1988,...

20,000 march against Myanmar government About 20,000 people led by Buddhist monks demonstrated against Myanmar's military junta Sunday, in what has quickly become the largest anti-government demonstrations since the failed democratic uprising in 1988. The 10,000 monks marched from Yangon's famous Shwedagon Pagoda to the nearby Sule Pagoda before passing the U.S. Embassy, witnesses said. Monks shouted support for detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, while the crowd of 10,000 protected them by forming a human chain along the route. It was the sixth straight day monks have marched in Yangon, and came a day after they were allowed...

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has greeted Buddhist monks protesting against the military junta. Apparently unable to hold her tears, Aung San Suu Kyi came out of the house she has been detained in since 2003 as the monks were let through a roadblock. At least 2,000 monks are staging a sixth day of protests through the streets of the main city of Rangoon. Up to 10,000 marched through Mandalay with protests also taking place in five townships across Burma. (snip) The area around University Avenue where Ms Suu Kyi's house is located has been closed to traffic...

10,000 protest against Myanmar gov't Myanmar police allowed a group of more than 500 Buddhist monks to march Saturday past the house where opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is detained, witnesses said, on a day that saw some of the largest protests since 1988. A monk said in a speech later to anti-government protesters that Suu Kyi came to her gate to greet them. His account could not immediately be confirmed. Suu Kyi has been under detention continuously since May 2003 at her Yangon home, and for 11 of the past 18 years. The monks stopped briefly in front...

Leaders of protests by Buddhist monks in Burma say they intend to continue their peaceful demonstrations until the military government collapses. The statement by the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks came as 1,500 monks took to the streets of Rangoon in their biggest protest yet. This is the fifth straight day of marches by monks in protest at recent government attempts to silence critics. Diplomats at the United Nations have expressed concern at the crisis. In a strongly-worded statement, seen by the BBC, the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks described the military government as "the enemy of the...

Hundreds of Buddhist monks have marched around Burma's most revered temple, in a third consecutive day of protests against the military government. The monks were allowed into the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon for the first time since their protests began. They walked through the city surrounded by a human chain of civilians holding hands to protect them. They want a government apology for the violent break-up of a recent rally, triggered by protests over price rises.

Thousands of Buddhist monks have protested in several Burmese cities in escalating protests against the military government. In the western port city of Sittwe, nearly 2,000 monks demanded the release of four monks arrested on Tuesday. About 1,000 monks marched through Mandalay, and several hundred more in Rangoon, the former capital.

Military officials in Burma have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of monks holding a rally in the north-west city of Sittwe, reports from the area say. Some of them were beaten and several were arrested, eyewitnesses say. Large numbers of monks have also held protests in at least five other towns and cities across the country, including the former capital Rangoon.

Many people in Burma have been surprised by the sheer persistence of the protests in recent weeks. In a country where the authorities show zero tolerance of even the slightest criticism, such public displays of defiance have not been seen for almost 20 years. These protests stem from a decision by the military government to suddenly raise the price of fuel by up to five times on 15 August. Transport fares rose and that triggered a sharp rise in the price of consumer goods, hitting poor people particularly hard. The generals must have hoped that the momentum of the demonstrations...

PATTANI, Thailand (Reuters) - A bomb hidden under a bench in front of a food shop killed one person and wounded 10 others in Thailand's Muslim south on Saturday, police said. The remote-controlled device exploded while Buddhist Thais were waiting to give food to monks in the town of Pattani in one of three southernmost provinces where more than 2,500 people have been killed in violence since 2004, police said. Two civilians were seriously wounded while the shop owner was killed, police said. Monks and the soldiers escorting them were also among the wounded. Nobody claims responsibility for the daily...

The thin stream of blood extended the length of the sidewalk running by the Catholic monastery's front door, trickled around the corner and ended midway down the block. The friars who live inside assumed a gunshot victim had collapsed. There, the monks gathered one night last summer and prayed, as residents of 13th Avenue in Newark's West Ward looked on. Two months later, the friars showed up in religious garb at a fu neral for another young area gunshot victim, and they again drew stares. Last autumn, the friars learned that people liked having them in the neighborhood. A man...

OUTSIDERS ARE GENERALLY FORBIDDEN to enter the walls of this cloistered monastery, but reporter Jessica Ravitz and photographer Paul Fraughton were invited inside. Though the monks spend most of their days, outside of Mass, in silence, this observance was lifted for the occasion. CLARK, Wyo. -- The goodbye was bid not just to people he adored, but to a life he'd be leaving forever. Nicholas Maroney embraced his weeping mother and grandmother, told them he loved them, then turned to his future. Three times he knocked on the wooden gate and listened as the small community assembled in the yard...

Our Rule explains that as monks we need to earn our keep by the work of our hands. We were praying about what sort of product most people utilize on a daily basis, and it came to us that everyone needs coffee to start the day. On our side of things, roasting coffee can be very contemplative. It only takes one monk to run the roaster and bag the coffee, so it is very complimentary to our life. All the brothers have worked together to perfect the Mystic Monk roasts, from the selection of beans, to the creation of special...

Never mind that it was the creation of eight Tibetan monks who had spent two days cross-legged on the floor of Union Station, meticulously pouring the sand into an intricate design as an expression of their Buddhist faith. They were more than halfway done with the design — called a mandala — on Tuesday when they ended their work for the day and left. The little boy showed up sometime later with his mother, who was taking a package to a post office in the hall. "He did a little tap dance on it, completely destroying it," said Lama Chuck...

Spyros Staveris Differences with the other monasteries on Athos have led to violence, excommunications and criminal trials, exclusions and expulsions and the deprivation of fundamental human rights. ‘We recognize the Ecumenical Patriarchate but not the line the patriarchs are taking,’ the Esphigmenou monks say.By Nikos Vafeiadis - Kathimerini The Esphigmenou Monastery has frequently been in the news since last November in the form of scenes of violence at the Mount Athos port of Karyes, intervention by police, prison sentences for monks, expulsions from the Holy Mountain, riot squads on hand for a visit by the ecumenical patriarch and the...

Monks put their lives in focus with a silent film By Kate Connolly in Berlin Last Updated: 1:29am GMT 11/11/2005 The strictest monastic order in Christendom has opened its cloisters to a film director for the first time, allowing him to shoot a three-hour near-silent documentary about its life.What some critics feared would be this year's most boring movie turns out to be a strangely fascinating meditation on the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps.Into Great Silence depicts its Carthusian monks in the midst of their slow moving daily devotions and duties, from mending shoes to chopping vegetables. advertisement...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- If you accept the maxim that the Catholic Church thinks in terms of centuries, then documentary filmmaker Philip Groning's dealings with a Carthusian monastery in France moved at lightning speed. Groning first approached the monks in 1984 with the idea of filming a documentary about their life in community. He got a reply saying the request had come "too early," and that perhaps in "10 or 13 years" the monastery would be ready. Eventually, 16 years would pass before Groning got word that the monks were ready to discuss the possibility. "The question I asked myself...

BREAKING NEWS -DECEMBER 22, 2006 We have just been informed that the Greek Foreign Minister, Ms. Bakoyianni has given the order to empty the Konaki of Esphigmenou Monastery at Karyes, the Capital of Mount Athos by Sunday. Christmas leaves for the local Police have been cancelled! The government is trampling on the civil rights of the monks and this brotherhood that have lived there continuously for over 1500 years. The monks simply want to be left alone to live out their commitment to a peaceful monastic life of prayer and the government wants to throw over 100 monks out of...

Michael Richards exploded in anger as he performed at a famous L.A. comedy club last Friday, hurling racial epithets that left the crowd gasping, and TMZ has obtained exclusive video of the ugly incident.

Thessalonica, Greece, October 20, 2006 - The Greek Government will move, as early as this weekend, to have armed police forcibly remove the monks of the Holy and Sacred Monastery of Esphigmenou from their monastery property. Over 150 police have been deployed on Mt. Athos, an unprecedented number in a community entirely populated by peaceful and defenseless monks. The monks, who seek only a life of peace and prayer in their monastery, have been subject to a non-stop campaign of official harassment and intimidation by Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul, Turkey, and his accomplices in the Greek government, because of a...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Reuters) -- A scuffle broke out Thursday between saffron-robed monks and anti-war demonstrators at peace rally in Sri Lankan capital. About six or seven monks from a right-wing Buddhist faction had stormed the stage during a peace rally attended by about 1,000 people in the capital, Colombo, shouting pro-war slogans, an AP reporter at the scene said. A member of Sri Lanka's parliament was addressing the crowd when the monks climbed on stage.

The embarrassing truth is starting to come out that the Clinton Administration lied to us about Kosovo atrocities which were supposed to justify the bombing of Yugoslavia. In five months of investigation and exhumation of the dead in Kosovo, United Nations war crimes investigators have found only 2,108 bodies. Before the bombing, Clinton and Defense Secretary William Cohen repeatedly tossed out figures of 100,000 dead, and the State Department even claimed that up to 500,000 Kosovars were feared dead. Clinton claimed that his bombing prevented Milosevic from "deliberate, systematic efforts at ethnic cleansing and genocide." The chief prosecutor for the...

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - The chief of Cambodia's Buddhist monks is cutting his charges some slack for the duration of soccer's World Cup: they may watch the matches on television, but no cheering or getting excited. And absolutely no betting. The country's holy men - more than 90 percent of Cambodia's 13 million people are Buddhist - normally aren't supposed to watch television, movies or artistic displays. According to Buddhism's strictest tenets, they should abstain from pleasurable activity. Gambling is a major no-no. But monks get as excited as anyone else at the chance to watch soccer's top stars,...

In a Northern California monastery, 25 monks following the teachings of St. Benedict rise hours before dawn to pray, work the land and make a serious syrah — a full-bodied red wine.The men at the Abbey of New Clairvaux have opened the first Roman Catholic Cistercian winery in North America, though their vineyard has a storied place in California's wine history.The 580-acre spread in this tiny town north of Chico was once owned by Leland Stanford — the railroad magnate, California governor and university founder — who ran what was considered the world's largest winery in the late 1800s, said...

Last Testament of Victim Prior Blesses Murderers TIBHIRINE, Algeria, MARCH 28, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A friend of the prior of the Trappist monks of Tibhirine is trying to stir interest in the spiritual legacy of those men who were murdered a decade ago. On the night of March 26-27, 1996, some 20 gunmen invaded the Monastery of Notre Dame of Atlas in Tibhirine and kidnapped its seven Trappist monks, of French nationality. A month later, Djamel Zitouni, leader of the Armed Islamic Groups, claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and proposed an exchange of prisoners to France. The following month, a second...

When Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI in late April, observers immediately speculated as to what it meant. Papal names often carry great significance.   The name John Paul, for example, indicated a profound sympathy with the pontificates of John XXIII and Paul VI, the popes of Vatican II. Although Benedict XVI has pointed to his desire to carry on the legacy of Pope Benedict XV (1914-22) as a primary reason behind the name, his choice of Benedict naturally calls to mind St. Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-547), by far the most important figure in the history of...

SPARTA, WIS. (FORTUNE Small Business Magazine) - Like many entrepreneurs, Father Bernard McCoy loves to talk about his industry. But as a Cistercian monk, he has a time frame longer than most. "Nine hundred years ago my brothers were making ink, making their own paper, and copying manuscripts," says McCoy. "We were the original social entrepreneurs. We were the first multinationals." McCoy is CEO of LaserMonks.com, an Internet retailer that sells discounted printer cartridges and other office supplies. Customers include individuals and churches, along with giants such as Morgan Stanley (Research) and the U.S. Forest Service. It's a lucrative business....

A Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka, who heads a religious party opposed to a Tamil homeland in the north and east, says the country would be better off if the reclusive rebel leader of the Tamil Tigers were dead. Venerable Ellawala Medhananda, head of the National Heritage Party, or Jathika Hela Urumaya, said the government should be prepared to fight the rebels, led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, to the bitter end if peace talks in Switzerland next week fail. "If Prabhakaran is dead, Sri Lanka is a better place," he told Reuters in an interview at a Buddhist center in the...

The strictest monastic order in Christendom has opened its cloisters to a film director for the first time, allowing him to shoot a three-hour near-silent documentary about its life.What some critics feared would be this year's most boring movie turns out to be a strangely fascinating meditation on the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps.Into Great Silence depicts its Carthusian monks in the midst of their slow moving daily devotions and duties, from mending shoes to chopping vegetables.There are even rare moments of jollity: two monks sliding down a snowy slope in their white habits, laughing hysterically, and an...

The medical world of medieval monks By Jane Elliott BBC News All that remains of the hospital Anaesthetics and disinfectants are thought to be a modern medical invention but evidence is coming to light that medieval doctors knew of them too. Evidence found at the ancient Soutra Hospital site, in Scotland, suggests the medieval Augustine monks also knew how to amputate limbs, fashion surgical instruments, induce birth, stop scurvy and even create hangover cures. The excavations at Soutra have also unearthed fragments of pottery vessels that were once used for storing medicines such as an analgesic salve made from opium...