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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Kapilavastu Day as Part of the World Peace Movement



Ram Kumar Shrestha



We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels; we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.” (Anton Chekhov) Undoubtedly a peaceful world is everybody’s yearning and dream and many philosophers and humanitarian activists are optimistic that we will get there, however; every day results make it seem that we are not making much progress. The world peace mission has been complicated because of the divergence of people involved and their ways of thinking. This suggests to us that we need to work in different ways to coordinate and cooperate with each other to achieve this goal. Although this mission is very difficult, it is not impossible if we are serious about bringing change. As part of the World Peace Movement, Nepali intellectuals living in different countries decided to commemorate Kapilavastu, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, Day as a global holiday in order to spread the peace message all over the world. Gautam Buddha, has been revered as a Peace Ambassador who is more and more able to persuade his followers to work more seriously in the World Peace Movement. This day could be very important for researchers interested in collecting information about Buddha and Buddhism as there could be flood of information especially on Facebook, Twitter and other online medias.

Kapilavastu, located close to Lumbini, is considered a holy pilgrimage place for Buddhists since it is known to be the birthplace of the Lord Buddha. The result of years of excavation and research by numerous international teams has concluded that Kapilavastu is in Nepal. UNESCO affirms the findings and has named Kapilavastu, and Lumbini as World Heritage sites.

Originally, on December 1, 1896, Dr Anton Führer, a German archaeologist, had claimed to have discovered the Buddha’s birthplace when he found the Asoka Pillar at Lumbini. Even though this site was originally discovered by Khadga Shamsher before Führer, Führer was credited with the find as he brought it to light and made it known to the international community. The Asoka Pillar is the most important evidence that proves that Buddha was born in Lumbini. Therefore, we decided to celebrate December 1st as Kapilavastu Day.

Buddha taught that the world must be thought of in procedural terms and not in terms of things or substances. The Buddha advised viewing reality as comprised of dependently originated phenomena and Buddhists deem this approach to experience as avoiding the two extremes of Reification and Nihilism. This is the understanding that any phenomenon exists only because of the existence of other phenomena in an incredibly complex web of cause and effect covering past, present and future. Stated in another way, everything depends on everything else and this seems to be the basic of Newton’s law of Motion, ''To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction”. A human being's existence in any given moment is dependent on the condition of everything else in the world at that moment, and in an equally significant way, the condition of everything in the world in that moment depends conversely on the character and condition of that human being. Everything in the universe is interconnected through the web of cause and effect; such that the whole and the parts are mutually interdependent. The character and condition of entities at any given time are intimately connected with the character and condition of all other entities that superficially may appear to be unconnected or unrelated. All things, therefore, are conditioned and transient; they have no real independent identity and thus do not truly exist, although to ordinary minds this appears to be the case. All phenomena are therefore fundamentally flimsy and empty. People with a broad mind are those who "see things as they are", renouncing attachment and clinging, transforming energy of desire into awareness and understanding, and eventually transcending the conditioned realm of form becoming Buddhas.

Buddha Dhamma (Sanskrit: Dharma) is not a religion, it does not give credence to a god or philosophy, but is the Law of Nature about how we should handle spirit, soul and body to bring them together in harmony and to begin to annul the ego and to stop any sorrow or affliction in our life! This way we can learn to cultivate true happiness and not create a dependent happiness that is just for a fleeting moment eventually taking us back to the root of our problems. It takes a lot of insight and deep reflection about us to see this reality.

Buddha counselled, “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” The main problem for many is that even when one agrees with the reason, in practise we disagree with the way to be followed. Because of this we complicate the problem, making it worse every day thus making ourselves and others unhappy. Problems do not arise from those who do not know, but from those who know but pretend not to know. Due to this attitude, the world is devastated a lot. Until we purge ourselves of this habit nothing will happen on the journey to create a wonderful and safe world for future generations.

As Malcom X exclaimed, “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. And, as Albert Einstein said, “Laws alone cannot secure freedom of expression; for every man to present his views without penalty there must be a spirit of tolerance in the entire population.” Most people think seriously about their responsibilities and rights but not about their duty to others. So many use their freedom to rape others and deny them of their freedom. This attitude could be the result of not having this broad thinking spoken of earlier and not respecting others. Ultimately this results in missing our goal of attaining world peace.

“The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established,” said Bahá'u'lláh. Arms could not be the source for a secure feeling. This always creates knowing or unknowing pressure both to the owner and the other party. The United Nations Security Council Summit’s resolution calling for the elimination of all nuclear weapons was its first resolution dedicated to nuclear proliferation and disarmament and the first chaired by a U.S. President. In addressing the Security Council’s members, President Obama declared: "The historic resolution we just adopted enshrines our shared commitment to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons." Building on the extraordinary leadership of Presidents Obama and Medvedev, (who in April committed to working together to eliminate all nuclear weapons), this resolution is a significant step toward an international consensus on this goal and a stirring moment for so many who have worked on this issue for so long. World leaders are recognizing that whatever stability nuclear arsenals may have provided during the Cold War is now outweighed by the growing risks of proliferation and nuclear terrorism; and the only way to eliminate the nuclear threat is to eliminate all nuclear weapons. They have resolved to work together in the common interest of security to achieve this goal. The US has spent more than 5.5 trillion dollars in developing their nuclear arsenal and France has spent about 1.5 trillion dollars; these figures do not include the costs of testing, fissile material production, storage and disposal. As these figures are larger than many developing countries’ annual budget, we can imagine how much the situation of the world would improve if these funds were used for the benefit of the people worldwide who are currently struggling to have education, minimum health care, food and housing. Eliminating all nuclear weapons will require people from around the world to get involved. Let’s join our hands with the citizens from every country around the world who are already part of this movement and join “Global Zero” at www.globalzero.org.

A peace movement could be defined as a collection of activities aimed at ending, or at least minimizing, violence and wars in a variety of different situations through an assortment of methods. Due to the complex nature of this goal, it is deemed necessary to properly coordinate cooperation among different peace movement forerunners and organisations for peace to become a worldwide reality. Even though the path to world peace has been rough and the goal, as of yet, unattained, this has not deterred those who are committed to achieving peace in their lifetime.

Even though people claim to love their children dearly, many are irresponsible when it comes to making the world a better place for them. Instead of taking action, they blame others and defend or hide their irresponsible behaviour due to egoism. This is very interesting and sad. As human beings are responsible for the deteriorating situation, they are also responsible for improving the situation and saving their own children. So which way will we go? Will we be blamed as slaughterers or kind and wise by our own children and grandchildren? This decision is in our hands. Currently, it is not too late, however, tomorrow it could be.

Monday, October 19, 2009

The illusion of past, present and future

by Robert Lanza and Deepak Chopra

The universe evolves backward in time, not the other way around as we were taught in school. "The histories of the universe," concedes Stephen Hawking, the famed physicist "depend on what is being measured, contrary to the usual idea that the universe has an objective observer-independent history."
Life is not just a collection of atoms -- proteins and molecules spinning like planets around the sun. It is true that the laws of chemistry can tackle the rudimentary biology of living systems, but there is more to us than the sum of our biochemical functions. Conversely, physical existence cannot be divorced from the animal life that coordinates experience. We are connected not only by intertwined consciousness, but by a pattern that is a template for the universe itself.
Quantum physics tells us that objects exist in a suspended physical state until observed, when they collapse to just one outcome -- we don't know what happens until we investigate, and our investigation influences that reality. Whether or not certain events may have happened some time ago, may not actually be determined until some time in your future -- it may actually be contingent upon actions that have not yet taken place.
Bizarre? Maybe you don't believe this is real. Consider an experiment that was published in Science a couple of years ago. Scientists in France shot particles of light "photons" into a measuring apparatus, and showed that what they did -- now, in the present -- could retroactively change something that had already happened in the past. As the photons passed a fork in the apparatus, they had to decide whether to behave like particles or waves when they hit a beam splitter. Later on -- well after the photons passed the fork -- the experimenter could randomly switch a second beam splitter on and off electronically. It turns out that what the observer decided at that point, determined what the particle actually did at the fork in the past. At that moment, the experimenter chose his reality.
Of course, we live in the same world. No physicist challenges the fact that particles do not exist with definite physical properties until they are observed. Every particle has a range of possible physical states, but it's not until the actual act of observation that it takes on defined properties. So until the present is determined, how can there be a past?
According to eminent physicist John Wheeler, one of Albert Einstein's last collaborators, "The quantum principle shows that there is a sense in which what an observer will do in the future defines what happens in the past."
It was only with the advent of quantum physics that scientists began to consider again the old question of the possibility of comprehending the world as a form of mind. Since that time, physicists have analyzed and revised their equations in a vain attempt to arrive at a statement of natural laws that in no way depends on the circumstances of the observer. It seems only natural that the daily circuit of, say, moon round earth, though satiable only by a mind, was independent of any perception whatever. But this was to prove an illusion.
In these days of experiment and disconnected theory, one point seems certain: the nature of the universe cannot be divorced from the nature of life itself. Indeed, the quantum theory implies that consciousness must exist, and that the content of the mind is the ultimate reality. If we do not look at it, the moon is gone. In this world, only an act of observation can confer shape and form to reality -- to a dandelion in a meadow, or a seed pod, or the sun or wind or rain. Anyway, it's amazing, and even your dog can do it too.
According to biocentrism, space and time are not the hard objects we think (Lanza and Berman, Biocentrism, BenBella, 2009). Wave your hand through the air. If you take everything away, what's left? The answer, of course, is nothing. The same thing applies for time -- you can't put it in a marmalade jar. Look at anything -- say this page. You can't see it through the bone that surrounds your brain. Everything you see and experience right now is a whirl of information occurring in your mind. Space and time are simply the mind's tools for putting everything together. We carry them around with us like turtles with shells. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, they are not "real and insurmountable."
In the end, even Einstein admitted, "Now Besso" (one of his oldest friends) "has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us...know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
(To be continued)
Robert Lanza, MD is considered one of the leading scientists in the world. He is the author of Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe

Published in the San Francisco Chronicle


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/the-illusion-of-past-pres_b_326250.html

Friday, October 16, 2009

ओबामाका परमाणु कार्यसूची

जोसेफ एस. न्ये


घरेलु राजनीति तथा आफ्नो आणविक कार्यसूचीसम्बन्धमा अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय कूटनीतिमा पाउने सफलताले नै ओबामा विश्व नेताका रूपमा प्रभावकारी हुने नहुने निर्धारण गर्नेछ।

इरानको एउटा सैनिक शिविरमा आणविक प्रशोधनको गोप्य क्षमता विकास गरिएको घोषणाले राष्ट्रपति बाराक ओबामाको परमाणु प्रसारको विषयलाई विश्वको प्रमुख कार्यसूची बनाउने प्रयास स्पष्ट बनाएको छ। सन् २०१० को वर्ष निकै गम्भीर हुनेछ।
सेप्टेम्बर महिनामा पिटसबर्गको जी-२० शिखर सम्मेलन र संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघमा धेरै मुलुकहरू ओबामाको आणविक कार्यसूचीमा काम गर्न सहमत भएका थिए। यिनै बैठकबीच इरानले गोप्यरूपमा आणविक अश्त्र निर्माण गर्नसक्ने स्तरको युरेनियम उत्पादन गर्न अर्को आणविक प्रशोधन कारखाना गोप्यरूपमा बनाइरहेको थाहा भयो।
अक्टोबरको सुरुमा, इरानी अधिकारीहरूले जेनेभामा संयुक्त राष्ट्र सुरक्षा परिषद्का स्थायी समितिका सदस्य र जर्मनीका प्रतिनिधिसँग भेट गरी अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय परमाणु ऊर्र्जा एजेन्सीलाई गोप्य कारखानालगायतको निरीक्षण गर्न दिने सहमति जनाएका थिए। यसबाहेक, उनीहरूले आफ्नो न्यून स्तरको युरोनियमलाई आणविक इन्धन बनाउन इरानबाहिर पठाइने छ पनि भनेका थिए।

यी उपायहरू कार्यान्वयन गरिएमा त्यो महत्वपूर्ण पाइला हुनेछ। इरानले आणविक अप्रसार सन्धि उल्लंघन गरेर आफ्ना कारखानामा आणविक अश्त्र बनाउने क्षमता बढाउने व्यापक आशंका गरिएको छ। भनाइ र गराइमा कति मेल खान्छ भन्ने स्पष्ट छैन।

यति नै बेला, विश्वको ९० प्रतिशत आणविक अश्त्र भण्डार गर्ने अमेरिका र रुस जेनेभामा यही डिसेम्बरमा समाप्त हुने आणविक अश्त्र नियनत्रणसम्बन्धी पहिलेको सन्धिको ठाउँमा आणविक हतियार न्यूनीकरण रणनीति बनाउन लागेका छन्। वार्ता सफल भएमा सबै प्रकारका आणविक युद्ध सामग्रीमा एक तिहाइसम्म कटौती हुन सक्छ।

त्यसपछि अमेरिकी सिनेटले अर्को वर्ष नयाँ सन्धि अनुमोदन गर्न सक्नेछ। सिनेटले १० वर्षपहिले अस्वीकृत गरेको आणविक परीक्षण निवारण सन्धिको मस्यौदा पुनः प्रस्तुत गर्न पनि ओबामा प्रशासनले कांग्रेससँग परामर्श गरिरहेको छ।

राष्ट्रिय सुरक्षाको आकार र संरचना प्रभावित हुने अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय सम्झौतामा सिनेटमा बढी विवाद हुने गरेको छ। आणविक परीक्षण निषेध सन्धि र हतियार कटौतीसम्बन्धी प्रस्तावित रणनीतिसम्बन्धमा विपक्षी विधायक र विचारकले आशंका व्यक्त गर्न थालिसकेका छन्। ओबामाले दुवै सन्धिहरू २०१० मा सिनेटमा प्रस्तुत गरेमा उनले सन्धिहरूले राष्ट्रिय र अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय सुरक्षालाई सुदृढ बनाउँछन् भनेर जनतालाई सहमत गराउनु पर्नेछ। त्यसो गर्न उनी विफल भएमा सिनेटले एउटा वा दुवै सन्धि अस्वीकृत गर्न सक्छ र त्यसको आणविक अप्रसारका क्षेत्रमा नकारात्मक असर पर्नेछ।

गत मे महिनामा आणविक अप्रसार सन्धिका १८९ सदस्य राष्ट्रहरूले भियनामा यसको वर्तमान स्थितिको समीक्षा गरे। सन् १९७० मा यो सन्धि लागू हुँदा अमेरिका, सोभियत संघ, बेलायत, फ्रान्स र चीन गरी ५ राष्ट्रमा मात्रै आणविक हतियार हुने गरी नियन्त्रण गरिने अपेक्षा राखिएको थियो। समग्रमा भने सन्धि सफल नै भएको हो।

सन् १९६०को दशकमा राष्ट्रपति जोन एफ. केनेडीलगायत धेरैले अहिलेसम्म आणविक अश्त्र भएका बीसौँ मुलुक हुनेछन् र तिनको प्रयोग हुने जोखिम धेरै हुनेछ भन्ने ठानेका थिए। भाग्यवश, स्थिति त्यस्तो भएन।

सन् १९७० पछि सन्धिमा हस्ताक्षरै नगरेका ३ वटा मुलुक भारत, पाकिस्तान र इजरायलले आणविक अश्त्र बनाएका छन्। यसबाहेक, उत्तर कोरियाले सन्धिको उल्लंघन गर्दै २ पटक अश्त्र परीक्षण गरिसकेको छ। इरानको विवादास्पद आणविक अश्त्र कार्यक्रमले अहिले आणविक अप्रसारसम्बन्धी विश्व व्यवस्था नै भताभुंग पार्ने डर उत्पन्न भएको छ।

त्यस प्रकारको भय अन्त्य गर्न आउने धेरै वर्षसम्म बारम्बार समन्वित र दिगो प्रयास गर्नु आवश्यक हुन्छ तर एसटीएआरटी र सीटीबीटीको पुनः अनुमोदन सहयोगी हुनसक्छ। उदाहरणका लागि, हतियार कटौटीसम्बन्धी नयाँ सन्धिले अमेरिका र रुस बीचको सम्बन्धमा सुधार हुनेछ र त्यसले इरान र सुरक्षा परिषद्मा रुसको स्थिति सकारात्मक बनाउने छ। सिनेटले सीटीबीटी स्वीकृत गर्दा आणविक परीक्षण निषेधसम्बन्धी अमेरिकी अडानको साख पनि पुनः कायम गर्नेछ।

आगामी मार्च महिनामा ओबामाले आणविक तस्करी र आतंकवाद नियन्त्रण गर्ने नयाँ उपाय खोजी गर्ने उद्देश्य राखेर ओबामाले विश्व आणविक सुरक्षा सम्मेलन आयोजना गर्नेछन्। यसबाहेक आणविक अश्त्र अन्त्य गर्ने उनको दीर्घकालीन लक्ष्यलाई सपना होइन यथार्थ बनाउन अरू थुप्रै तयारी गर्नुपर्ने हुन्छ।

आक्रामक अश्त्र घटाएर विश्वमा स्थिरता कायम राख्न ओबामाले रुसीहरूसँग छोटो दूरीका आणविक अश्त्र र क्षेप्याश्त्र प्रतिरोधक हतियारका विषयमा छलफल गर्नु आवश्यक छ। साथै, कुनै न कुनै बेला उनले आणविक अप्रसार सन्धिको धारा ५ अनुसारको आणविक हतियार क्रमशः समाप्त गर्ने स्पष्ट मार्गचित्रका लागि पारदर्शिता र प्रमाणीकरणको अवस्था अझ राम्ररी बुझ्न चीन, फ्रान्स, बेलायतसँग पनि वार्ता थाल्नु पर्नेछ।

साथै, ओबामाले यस्ता दीर्घकालीन सबालका कारण आफ्नो ध्यान गम्भीर तत्कालीन विषयबाट अन्यत्र लैजान पाउने छैनन्। संसार थुप्रै परमाणु अश्त्रधारी मुलुक भएको खतरनाक ठाउँ भइरहँदासम्म ओबामाले आफ्ना मित्रहरूलाई अमेरिका आणविक प्रसार रोक्न चनाखो भइरहने छ भनेर विश्वास दिलाएर आफ्नो साख बचाइराख्नु पर्नेछ। नत्रभने, हतियार कटौतीमात्र गर्दा अरू मुलुक चिन्तित हुनेछन् र आआफ्नै अश्त्र बनाउनेतर्फ प्रवृत्त हुनेछन्। यसको फलस्वरूप आणविक अश्त्र भएका मुलुकको संख्या बढ्नेछ। ओबामाले अन्ततः दक्षिण अफ्रिकाले जस्तै आणविक अश्त्र त्याग गर्न लगाउने उद्देश्य राखेर उत्तर कोरियालाई ६ पक्षीय वार्तामा फर्कन सहमत गराउनु आवश्यक छ। यस्तै, उनले इरानसँग पनि आणविक अप्रसार सन्धिप्रति प्रतिबद्ध रहन र आणविक हतियार नबनाउने आफ्नो वचन पालना गर्न लगाउन वार्ता गर्नुपर्नेछ।

घरेलु राजनीति तथा आफ्नो आणविक कार्यसूचीमा अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय कूटनीतिमा ओबामाको सफलतामा नै विश्व नेताका रूपमा उनको प्रभावकारिता निर्भर हुन्छ। यस अतिरिक्त, उनले सन् २०१० मा गर्ने प्रगतिमा नै ६० वर्षदेखि कायम आणविक अश्त्र प्रयोग गर्नु हुँदैन भन्ने विश्व मान्यताको भविष्य पनि निर्भर हुनेछ। © Project Syndicate, 2009.


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