Annual General Meeting of European Buddhist Union - statement on Burma

I returned from Cadzand (Holland) where I attended the Annual General Meeting of European Buddhist Union. I had a lot of useful discussions and good time there with representatives of various Buddhist denominations in Europe. Among the many things we talked there is also a statement we release on the topic of Burma. You can read it here:

28th September 2007
The European Buddhist Union Annual General Meeting
Cadzand, Netherlands

We, the representatives of The European Buddhist Union at our Annual General Meeting being held in the Netherlands, extend our support and solidarity with the recent peaceful movement for democracy in Myanmar/Burma. The people of Myanmar/Burma deserve the support of the international community and we therefore call upon you and all concerned agencies to take special responsibility to see that the situation receives immediate attention to avoid further harm, bloodshed and conflict. Day by day we closely follow the news. We are shocked and appalled that the military powers in control in Myanmar/Burma, whilst claiming to act in the interests of the citizens, support the killing and torturing of innocent and peaceful citizens thus trampling the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We implore the military regime to stop this killing and torturing and to accede to the wishes of the people of Myanmar/Burma. Also to respond to the outrage felt throughout the world by establishing the conditions for the flowering of justice, peace and liberty. In particular we strongly support the peaceful expression of loving-kindness and compassion for Myanmar/Burmese society by the Buddhist monks and nuns and their call for freedom and democracy. We take this opportunity to appeal to like-minded people all over the world to support such non-violent movements. We wish to convey our sincere appreciation and admiration to the large number of Buddhist monks, nuns and fellow Buddhist practitioners taking part. We are appealing to the members of the military regime who believe in Buddhism to act in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings of compassion and non-violence. We pray for the success of this peace movement and the early release of Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

ps: here you can read about the situation in Burma:
http://www.buddhist channel.tv/ index.php? myanmar

pictures from Burma
http://www.buddhist channel.tv/ myanmar270907/

photo1: morning recitation in the temple of Naropa Institute
photo2: participants at the meeting - photo group in Brugge