Extreme Buddhist nationalist positions including hate speech and violence are on the rise in Myanmar. Rather than ineffective bans on broad-based groups like the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion (MaBaTha), the government should address underlying causes and reframe the debate on Buddhism’s place in society and politics.
- AliExpress will never be beaten on choice, quality and price. Every day you’ll find new, online-only offers, store discounts and the opportunity to save even more by collecting coupons. But you may have to act fast as this top buddhist talisman is set to become one of the most sought-after best-sellers in no time.
- Thailand's top Buddhist authority bars women from becoming monks. They can only become white-cloaked nuns. Yet female monastics or 'bhikkhunis' are emerging as a force for reform.
Very smart
Your game is to me very relevant and shows the same clever use of both animating and programming that characterizes all your previous work: I mean that with very few resources you manage to create a fun, coherent and challenging game.
I can seriously tell that it stands to me as a modele, not by itself, but by the fact that you directly aim at which elements help improving the game quality without implying complex means. I think a good animator/programmer is someone who doesn't waste moves or graphics, and by the same doesn't mind sacrifying effects in order to reach an equal quality more straight-forwardly, for global quality induces pleasure from a gamer's point of view, and not the difficulty of the process on small details, which isn't acknowledged in most of the cases.
The concept was simple and amazing, and you set it just hard enough. A better animation matching the moments when you reach nirvana and lose would have improved the mark though. Anyway, good job, you definitely have your seat among the people who can teach flash to beginners and create complete, coherent works in a very short time.
Tuesday, 31 May 2005
About 36% of Cambodia's 59,000 Buddhist monks smoke (Image: Reuters/Chor Sokunthea)
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About a quarter of Thailand's 300,000 Buddhist monks can't kick the habit despite an anti-smoking campaign targeting them, local health authorities say.
The campaign was launched in 2003 in response to statistics showing that the leading cause of death among Thai monks is tobacco related disease.
Associate Professor Supreda Adulayanon of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, an independent agency set up by the government, says the number of smoking monks has decreased, but not by enough.
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The number of monks who smoke fell from 55% 15 years ago to 25% today, according to the foundation.
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'It should be better, but we still hope to decrease it more,' Adulayanon says, adding that much of the decline observed was in the 1990s.
Thailand is among a host of Asian nations whose governments are tightening anti-smoking laws.
Anti-smoking activists have previously enlisted Buddhist monks from Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka to help fight the tobacco habit, but say one of the main challenges is persuading monks themselves to quit.
Asia's monks have also been encouraged to attend workshops on Buddhism and tobacco control.
Smoke in the temple
Lighting up is now illegal in most public places in Bangkok, including shopping malls, schools, restaurants and religious places, yet monks who are unable to break their habit are still allowed to smoke in their temple quarters.
Nicotine addiction remains a serious problem for many monks, says Phra Maha Pisarn, a monk at Wat Pathum Wanaram, a prominent Bangkok temple where about 20 of the 100 monks smoke.
'Monks should set an example for people, so we decided that monks should not smoke in public. But for monks who could not quit smoking, we allow them to smoke in private temple areas,' he says.
Monks are expected to shun vice and life's luxuries yet there is no religious edict banning them from smoking, as there is against drugs or alcohol.
Temples are supposed to be smoke-free environments and leaving cigarettes as offerings - a long-held tradition among followers - has been labelled a sin by the Supreme Sangha, Thailand's top Buddhist authority.
Thailand, with a population of 64 million, has 9.6 million smokers, according to the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.
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Some 39% of Thai males aged 15 or more smoke, down from 60% 20 years ago.
In the northeast, Thailand's poorest region, the smoking rate among monks is at 40%, Adulayanon says, citing a 2004 survey.
'We have asked people not to offer cigarettes to the monks, and that has proved effective.'
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