Remember that Tibetans tried to storm the Chinese embassy here in March. Security will be tight. India’s relations with China are fragile enough already.

[The following is a guest post from Tricycle's Copy Editor Karen Ready.]

I’m puzzled that virtually no New York bloggers have posted anything about Evan Brenner’s work in progress The Buddha-In His Own Words, a one-man performance of excerpts from the life and teachings of the Buddha taken directly from the vast collection we know as the Pali canon. These texts form the basis of the Theravada tradition: discourses, teachings, monastic rules, and philosophical texts attributed in large part to the Buddha and his disciples, they were passed on orally and committed to writing only after the Buddha’s death. The play is the result of some four years of work (so far) on Brenner’s part to “assemble the life of the Buddha.” I like his choice of “assemble”: in fact, Mark Epstein has referred to the play as “masterfully crafted,” and both terms provide a good sense of Brenner’s deceptively simple eighty-minute creation, like the attentive folding of an origami shape. Here the actor-playwright takes on all the roles, from the young prince who leaves his royal surroundings to seek an answer to the world of suffering and death he finds beyond the palace gates, to those he encounters along the way (including Mara the tempter), to members of his ever-growing following as well as opponents who brought tragedy to his later years. (more…)

Here’s a collection of links on the recent Burma Peace Walk and other Buddhist activities in the Bay Area, courtesy of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship:

ABC7 Local Network Coverage: Monks march through Golden Gate
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6070807

KRON 4 NEWS Video: Burmese Monks and Supporters Walk Across Golden Gate Bridge
http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1496480847&channel=1274168794

Burma April 9 Torch Protest Featured Coverage:

Salon.com spent a day with Burma protesters and made this feature front page story:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/04/10/torch/

Press Democrat: On day of chaos, quiet march speaks loudly
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080410/NEWS/804100357

YouTube Video of  Peace Walk taken from the Air

San Francisco: Peace Walk begin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-ro6eSs0SE

Peace Walk Across the Golden Gate Bridge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-ro6eSs0SE

Peace Walk Across the Golden Gate Bridge2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4wCF_b7_c4

CNN.com Photo Collection: 

CNN: There photos from Bridge Walk made it to this collection of 14 photos by
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/09/sf.protests.ireport/index.html

The Province: Bridge Walk Photo is used in this Canada Article:  B.C. residents join anti-China demo
 http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=ac65862f-f072-42ba-b23f-a824f50848b0

Flickr: Peace Walk for Burma Photos

Flying Free Burma Banner: San Francisco Olympic Torch Relay and Protests; 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockbandit/2401455533/

Free Burma, Olympic Torch Protest Against China’s Human Rights practices, Led by Burmese Monks on the Golden Gate Bridge, April 9, 2008, San Francisco
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22197407@N04/2402748256/

Peace Walk for Burma Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mybluemuse/sets/72157604468603699/                     

Other coverage where Burma was mentioned: 

Americans take dim view of relay
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23518784-2703,00.html

Olympic Torch Takes Unexpected Route Through SF
http://www.cityonahillpress.com/article.php?id=1137

CBC Canada on the Bridge Walk Coverage: 
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/080410/w041015A.html

USA Today:  Olympic torch run out of sight for most: 
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-09-torch_N.htm

BBC: Confusion strikes US torch relay: 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7339380.stm

The Guardian: San Francisco is braced to greet Olympic torch - and thousands of protesters 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/09/olympicgames2008.usa

AP: Torch concludes bumpy tour of Bay Area:  
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/olympics/2090ap_oly_olympic_torch.html

Some of the coverage before April 9 :

NBC11 Video: Burmese Activists To SF: Drop Torch Run completely
http://www.nbc11.com/newsarchive/15734804/detail.html

Video: Burmese activists protest SF torch run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lfvXVbPjtc

Video: Burmese activists protest SF torch run
ABC7 News: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6048985

Plus, Donna Karan and her Urban Zen Foundation in the Village Voice.

In honor of the Pope and Dalai’s simultaneous visit to our fair shores, the Supreme Court decided by a 7-2 margin that lethal injection as used to kill convicts in Kentucky does not violate the Constitution.

20 activists arrested in Burma. Thanks to Precious Metal for this one.

The Chinese media on guns and bombs supposedly found in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries.

A light piece on how the Dalai Lama is more than a simple Buddhist monk.

A Bu-Jew’s guide to Passover from the Huffington Post.

Casualties for the year approach 3,000.

U.N. special rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro calls Burma’s upcoming constitutional referendum a joke:

Speaking in Brussels, Mr Pinheiro said that the referendum would not have any credibility if opponents were prevented from speaking out.

“How can you have a referendum without any of the basic freedoms?” he was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying.

“It would be important to have international observers to validate the referendum, because if not it would be just a ritual without real content.”

He also said he saw no signs of political progress of any kind in the country.

The torch comes to India, home of the Tibetan exile community. (But the DL is in the U.S., currently getting a checkup at the Mayo Clinic — he has good insurance.) Several protesters have been arrested in India already.

Walter Mondale says theres no need for a boycott. Mondale, as Carter’s VP, was involed in the boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Bush’s foreign policy expert Stephen Hadley (the man who confused Nepal and Tibet) called boycotting the opening ceremonies a “cop-out” and said that instead, the U.S. is engaging in “quiet diplomacy.”

And Anne Wu, an associate at Harvard’s Kennedy Center says to keep Tibet and the Olympics separate:

Using the Tibetan issue as a cunning game of political machinations is unfair both to China and to the Tibetan people.

Foreign reporters highlighted a few weeping monks decrying Tibet’s lack of freedom in the Jokhang Temple after China organized the media trip to Tibet. Didn’t the young Han Chinese man shown separately on Sinovision, whose teenage sister died in the fire set by the mobs, deserve equal coverage?

It would be wrong to assume that the Chinese do not have free minds and that the government orchestrates everything. It’s not surprising that blogs in China have exploded with anti-splittist and anti-West comments of the “Fen Qing” (furious young surfers), expressing anger over the violence and the Western media’s one-sided, twisted reports.

Overseas Chinese have also been energized. A video on YouTube, “Tibet was, is, and always will be a part of China,” produced by a Canadian Chinese student, was clicked 1.2 million times and received 72,000 comments in three days. Patriotism and nationalism are strong among the Chinese. The power of the people’s voice should not be underestimated.

Historical burdens at times prevent people from moving forward. Buddhism’s art of meditation offers wisdom: Let go, develop a refined awareness of the present moment, and reach a clarity of mind.

Well, if you want to leave Tibet out of the Games, how about starting with keeping the torch out of Tibet?