Autumn & winter 2016 Edition
VIDEO
Problems in the "nation of hapiness"
Bhutan is often called a “ nation of happiness” mainly because of the unique policy named “Gross National Product”, which is contrary to GNP, measuring people's level of happiness by their spiritual satisfaction. On the other hand, Bhutan faces several serious problems such as the promotion of democratization, improvement of infrastructure, radical change of youths’ culture by globalization and so on. The former prime minister showed his view on them.
Nonviolence never dies
Mr. Gene Sharp is an American political scholar who has been researching nonviolence including Gandhi’s words and actions for a long time. He propounds elaborate nonviolent methods to come true a demo-cracy. His book “From Dictator- ship to Democracy” has been translated into 34 languages, which became a theoretical support for people in revolutions including the “Revolutions of 1989.”
A state as a giant violence
“A sate has a violence-nature fundamentally”, says many sages including Gandhi. Big powers such as US, former Soviet, England, Japan, etc. showed the nature in the past. Now, in the international community, China has been exposing it with its gigantic military and economic force. Where is “the ballooning ego” called the sate going?
The tragedy of
India’s division
Gandhi truly hoped the Inde-pendent India would become a nation where Hindus, Muslims and others could live together peacefully. He foresaw the tragedy that if India would be divided, the confusion and hatred among them would be intense and the division would lead to serious problems in the future. He was right. The conflict between India and Pakistan never ends.
Article / Document
“It is my dream that the entire Tibetan plateau should become a free refuge where humanity and nature can live in peace and in harmonious balance, “ said the Dalai Lama in the Nobel Lecture, 1989. Since we have been facing very serious problems including global warming, terrorism, refugee influx and so on, his vision should be discussed now more seriously in the global community.
Gandhi wanted India to become a nation, which would consist of self-sufficient villages based on nonviolence, equality and self-reliance. Contrary to his vision, now in India, the urban areas enjoy the rapid economic growth, the rich-poor gap widens, and many blindly accept commercialism like many others in the world. Moreover, it possess nuclear arms, the present prime minister is a Hindu supremacist and extreme violence toward women often gets international headlines…
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, had been remained under house arrest for about 20 years by the Burmese military regime. Now, as one of the major politicians, she tries to lead Burma to be a genuine democratic nation. Her non-violent struggle with perseverance and self-discipline is backed by her sincere devotion for Buddhism. In fact, Buddhism has played an important role for the democratization of Burma.
Bhutan, a small nation in the Himalayas, has got much attention from the international community mainly because of the unique policy called Gross National Happiness. Renowned economists, writers, Journalists and many give unstinted praise for it. However, at home, the criticism and question toward the policy is increasing and the charismatic current prime minister also points out problems for GNH.
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Many ordinary Bhutanese-Nepalese have been kicked out and become refugees, which the UN considers as a serious problem.
What is the true nonviolent method?
An Indian writer sharply criticizes deception
of great powers
How to start a revolution
A Tibetan refugee musician looked out with tears over Tibet captured by China.
What is Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s belief which moti-vates her to continue her mission?
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Words of
the Himalayan Wisdom
"The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul,but as the State is a soulless machine,it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence."
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The Himalaya Archive Japan running Himalaya Awareness Archives is a Japanese nonprofit organization with the organizational concept “Thinking of the Earth, Thinking from the Himalaya.”