Two-part movie of a dai-sesshin at Bodhi Manda in New Mexico with Joshu Sasaki Roshi, the last of the O.G. Japanese Zen “missionaries” to America. (See A Century of Zen, about his hundredth birthday.)

The film is by Tom Davenport, who writes:

I will be taking this film off revver.com in a few days. This is a draft version — there some mistakes — Bodhi Manda is a “Zen Center” — not a monastery. The Roshi leads about 18 seven days sesshins a year, not 30, but still an impressive number! Also delivery of the narration and camera moves on the still pictures can be improved.

I will be putting the final film on www.folkstreams.net — a free video streaming site that I direct from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There are lots of interesting documentaries on American roots cultures there. You can reach me at tdaven at crosslink dot net.

A photo essay on Slate.

This weekend in 1989, martial law was formally imposed on the Tibetan capital of Lhasa by the Chinese government amid growing protests by Tibetans and violent crackdowns. Magnum presents portraits of Lhasans and images of the transition the country has had to undergo in recent years.

[Photo: LHASA, Tibet—A monk at Jokhang Temple, 2000. © Steve McCurry / Magnum Photos]

Burmese monks strike back at the junta’s proposed constitution.

Buddhist monks in Mandalay in upper Burma on Monday launched a harshly worded poster campaign urging a “Vote No” against the government’s referendum on a draft constitution, said sources close to the campaign.

Meanwhile, the All Burma Monks Alliance earlier issued a hard-hitting statement ridiculing the referendum, the election and the regime.

Teams of volunteers have put up anti-regime posters in Amarapura Township in Mandalay, a monk who asked not to be identified told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

“The posters say the current situation is more important than ‘a fire on your head,’” he said. “If your head is on fire, only you will die. If you endorse the constitution, the next generation will also die.”

Burmese monks taking refuge in Thailand wait, and hope for the best.

More on the Thai monks networking online, including some — to cynical Western ears — fairly mild quotes:

One user who called himself “Monk Chat” sent a message to a woman that said “(I) miss you,” reported Thai Rath, Thailand’s top-selling newspaper.

Bhutan prepares to join the wonderful world of participatory democracy, with all that that implies (including a primary season that may last right up to the convention!)