Author: Danielle Levy

The Chinese Government is frowning upon the Tibetan monks who are helping the recent earthquake victims in Qinghai province. They’ve been helping dig through the rubbles brought survivors food and also helped erecting tents. The government which has a long history of suspicion and antagonism towards religion in general and Tibetan Buddhism in particular has now ordered the monks out of the area.
In another area of the world the Iranian government seems to be going along with those clerics who predict that a deadly quake will soon hit Tehran as punishment from god. The religious leaders are asking people to repent. The capital, inhabited by 12 million people sits on the intersection of two major tectonic plates. According to The Washington Post President Ahmadinejad has noted in a recent speech that such an earthquake was unavoidable. As a result plans are being drawn to relocate some 5 million in the coming years and there is talk to move the headquarters of several state institutions. What adds to the picture of what looks like the flight of common sense is that there is also an email circulated by anti-government forces. The email warns that an earthquake will come not as god’s punishment but triggered by Iran’s leaders who believe that such an earthquake would deter the United States from attacking them, for who would attack a country hit by a natural disaster?
It would be easy to make light of all this Still, one can’t help feel compassion for the people affected.

Certain Buddhist leaders in South Korea are uncomfortable with Protestants. It’s not a religious argument it’s just competition for the hearts of North Koreans. Several Protestant sects have been developing links between North and South, discreetly of course, as secretly as they can so that one day when the two countries are united, they can have a strong foothold in the North. Religions are banned in North Korea and people can be prosecuted—or is it persecuted—for practicing. Still, it appears that some find secret ways of connecting to a higher reality, or as some anthropologists have said after talking to North Korean defectors, people are disillusioned with the personality cult of the leader Kim Il-sung and are yearning to fill the void. In that view Jesus is beating Buddha. Hence the interest of the Venerable Bop Ta, one of South Korea’s leading Abbots. He is trying to make sure Buddha has a chance and Buddhism which has a 1500-year history in Korea can eventually overtake Christianity. Although the interplay between these two religions is in itself noteworthy, what is even more so is that they both predicate their actions on the fact that one day Korea will be reunited, and as they do they almost create a self-fulfilling prophecy by the links they ever so secretly establish.

The price of gold is at a premium, at least on the stock exchanges of the world. Those who buy and sell it, those who own it feel very pleased. But there is a real price to gold, one we all share. Mining this metal causes significant loss of land, contaminates ground water supplies and also leaves behind toxic waste that pollutes oceans. Chemicals, particularly cyanide, which are used to separate gold from the earth it is embedded in are responsible for a lot of environmental problems. Mining companies operating in countries like the United States are a bit more careful. There is however a double standard and in Africa, Latin America and Asia, the problems are far worse, often displacing people and leading to the release of harmful substances like sulfuric acid and to much environmental waste. Experts see the need for uniform standards and for laws to protect the rights of local residents along with the environment. Until then we ought to remember that given current practices to extract enough gold for a wedding ring can generate 20 tons of waste.

The recent West Virginia mine tragedy is a reminder of how much we owe countless people who risk their lives for our benefit. The agents who infiltrated the religious militia are another example. Of course without those who engage in human intelligence our lives would be far more precarious and uncertain. We tend to glorify spies and they often are quite well compensated for their efforts, but miners are just plain ordinary hard working folks who risk their lives for comparatively small salaries. The fruit of their labor is not heralded. We don’t much give thought to coal and other ores mined out from within the Earth, don’t acknowledge our need and where we would be without them. Even with the mining precious metals and gems we might make a fuss when a movie on the subject comes out or talk about blood diamonds at Christmas time, and then our attention recedes and our list of priorities shifts. But for those brave people who work the mines in West Virginia and elsewhere the dangers persist. To them in particular we ought to give our admiration and our thanks.