[Buddha-l] Is there any basis for the allegations concerning the "expulsi...

[Kdorje at aol.com]

An Indian journalist lied in order to create a news story that was more  
interesting than the facts? I am shocked, shocked.
 
But seriously, print media on the sub-continent often portrays a  parallel 
universe.(Kathmandu's "Republica" seems to be an exception.) News  stories 
contain facts that are allegedly shocking to the author, who  anticipates 
that his/her readers will be equally outraged, but contextualize  with so 
little background information that one wonders what teapot that tempest  is 
looking for. Op-ed pieces are often full of false premises and syllogisms  that 
would make logicians blanche, but which nonetheless serve to back up  the 
writer's (and perhaps publisher's) political point of view. And the  purple 
prose would keep most Western editors running low on red pencils. I  used to 
find them irritating, but have come to be more often amused. It must  have 
been what William Randolph Hearst's yellow journalism was like some 100  years 
ago. And not so different from today's Fox News. 
 
Of course the result among Indians and Nepalis who I talk to about this is  
that few give much credence to print media, a problem when more serious 
issues  are addressed. Few believe them either.
 
 
In a message dated 8/19/2011 1:06:59 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
curt at cola.iges.org writes:

Norbu  Sherpa statement (that he had been misquoted) was in a major story 
that  appeared in the Nepali Times on July 22 (so it was not quite a 
month ago).  Here is the quote from Norbu Sherpa: "I was misquoted in the 
Indian media,  she was never expelled, there is no provision in Buddhism 
for  excommunication."

In addition, Palden Lama of the Nepal Tamang Lama  Ghedung was quoted in 
the same article: "Her celibacy was broken against  her will, Buddhist 
philosophy is about protecting, rescuing and  rehabilitating the victim 
instead of adding to the pain."

The Nepal  Tamang Lama Ghedung is the only other Nepali Buddhist 
organization,  besides the NBF, that was ever identified by name as 
supposedly calling  for the nun's "expulsion". Sushendra Sarkar 
repeatedly claimed that "15  Buddhist organizations" had put out a joint 
call for this "expulsion", but  she never produced even a single word 
quoted directly from this  nonexistent statement, and the only two 
organizations that she ever named  have both made it clear that they 
never issued any such call for  "expulsion". In other words she lied.

Here is a link to the article at  the Nepali Times website with the 
quotes from Norbu Sherpa and Palden  Lama:
http://nepalitimes.com/issue/2011/07/22/Nation/18400

Curt  Steinmetz

On 8/19/11 12:51 PM, Curt Steinmetz wrote:
> On 8/18/11  10:46 AM, Rahula wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> The latest  news has it that Norbu Sherpa claiming that he was 
misquoted. But NBF said it  was his personal views.....Very confusing....
>>
> First of  all, this is not "the latest news", but is rather news from
> over a  month ago. It's just that the truth was not sufficiently
> salacious to  get the attention that Sushendra Sarkar's lies were given
> (so some  people are only just now finding out about this old news).
>
>  Second of all, there is no contradiction between (1) the NBF saying  that
> Norbu Sherpa spoke as an individual, and (2) Norbu Sherpa saying  he was
> misquoted. So there is no cause for being " very  confused".
>
> Curt Steinmetz
>
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