David Loy’s “Buddhist” revanchism: five more examples

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David Loy & the White Buddhist’s Burden
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Some deep background on Sudeshna Sarkar’s smear campaign against Nepali Buddhism.

Other coverage of the false allegations concerning the (non-existent) “expulsion” of the raped Nepali nun:

• Who is Sudeshna Sarkar? Is there a right-wing Christian agenda behind the smear campaign against Nepali Buddhism?
• Sudeshna Sarkar’s Journalistic Jihad Against Nepali Buddhism
• Chronology of a Smear Campaign
• “I wanted to murder whoever did this to my daughter.”
• Don’t Believe The Lies About The Raped Nepali Nun

The only problem is that there is no evidence to substantiate Sudeshna Sarkar’s allegations. And it seems that now, finally, Sarkar has at least tacitly admitted to making it all up.

Sarkar’s latest redaction of the story appeared yesterday (August 16) in a piece, under the title “Gangraped Buddhist nun faces new ordeal in Nepal“. This was picked up by several news outlets, sometimes with Sarkar’s name attached to it, sometimes only being credited to the Indo-Asian News Service, IANS. Her name is given on the byline for the piece as it appears at MSN India, at Yahoo News, at GreaterKashmir.Com , and at TwoCircles.Net, while Sarkar’s name is not found at the Asian Age, the Deccan Chronicle, and the Gulf Times.

And isn’t it odd that the story does not appear in the Times of India, which so prominently published Sarkar’s original allegations?

Recall that when Sudeshna Sarkar first “broke” the phony story about the nun’s purportedly impending expulsion, the headline was brutal and direct: “Gangraped Nepal nun now faces expulsion from nunnery“. In the body of that story, Sarkar claimed that “15 Buddhist organisations said that as a result [of being raped], she had lost ‘her religion’ and could be no longer regarded as fit to be a nun.” Sarkar also “quoted” an official of the Nepal Buddhist Federation, Norbu Sherpa claiming that Sherpa referred to the raped nun as a “damaged vessel”, and that she “can no longer be considered ordained.”

There followed (see Chronology of a Smear Campaign) a steady barrage of other articles rehashing and elaborating on the same allegations. Some of these were by Sarkar, many appeared with no byline other than a wire service acronym, and some were by other “journalists” who simply regurgitated Sarkar’s lies. Some stories claimed that there was a raging “debate” among Nepali Buddhists over the fate of the nun. Other stories claimed that the raped nun had already been “expelled”, but that now Nepali Buddhists were “debating” whether or not to “reinstate” her. Another bogus story line told the harrowing tale of brave Nepali Buddhists who “supported” and were “rallying around” the nun against the evil Buddhist establishment who wanted to expel her, or possibly had already done so. None of it was true. Not one word.

Now, over a month after first making those false allegations, Sarkar is still writing about the nun, but she has become strangely silent on the matter of the supposed “expulsion” (the expulsion that never happened and that was never “debated”). And she also makes no mention of any statement by “15 Buddhist organizations” (a statement that never existed, issued by organizations that Sarkar, in true McCarthyite style, never named). And Norbu Sherpa’s name, the one name that Sarkar did name, is now nowhere to be found.

Instead, in her August 16 article, Sarkar buries what is left of her smear campaign in the final paragraphs of the story. And even then all she will allow herself is a feeble passive-voiced vague-to-the-point-of-meaningless insinuation that “there was a debate over whether the raped nun was still eligible to remain a nun and her future became uncertain.” Who debated? What did they say? When did they say it? How, when, and where was the debate settled? And: What is it that is supposedly “uncertain” about the nun’s “future”? For that matter, is anyone’s future ever “certain”?

Since Sarkar took it upon herself to cynically transform an unimaginably heartbreaking personal tragedy into a propaganda war against Buddhism, it is only fair to wonder what her motivation might be, and, in particular, what her own views on religion are. I have no way of knowing whether or not she is a Muslim, but her writings often appear in news outlets owned and run by Muslims and/or targeted at Muslim readers, such Al Jazeera, Greater Kashmir, Two Circles, Gulf Times, and The Muslim World Review. Her stories often focus on various social causes, and she takes a special interest in purported instances of “abuse” and/or “oppression” perpetrated in the name of Hinduism and Buddhism. But despite frequently writing for a Muslim audience, and frequently writing about what she views as religious injustices, one never encounters anything written by her concerning social problems, abuses, or oppression associated with Islamic societies. Or, wait a minute, maybe that is precisely why her writing is popular with Muslim publications? Hmmmm. At any rate, she certainly has a special hatred for the Dharma, and has no qualms about fabricating outrageous falsehoods in order to further her anti-Buddhist Jihad.

And for all I know Sarkar might be a Maoist, or a fellow traveler, engaged in the glorious struggle against the opiate of the people. And if she isn’t already on the Maoist payroll, she should seriously consider sending them a bill. And if you honestly think Maoism hasn’t nothing to do with this, check out this latest bit of news from today’s People’s Daily: Nepal Reaffirms Support for China.

On the night of June 24, a 21 year old Nepalese Buddhist nun was raped by five men. Over two weeks after the rape occurred, allegations appeared that a number of Buddhist organizations in Nepal had called for the rape victim to be expelled from her nunnery because she was no longer a virgin. Although no evidence has ever been presented that any such call for expulsion was ever made by any Nepalese Buddhist organization, this false allegation spread quickly on the Internet arousing outrage around the world.

Below is a list of 29 links (significantly expanded from this earlier list) to news stories and other material related to the rape of the Nepali nun and the subsequent outrage over the false claims about her “expulsion”. If one reads through all of the following, one will not find one shred of evidence that at any time was any attempt made to “expel” the rape victim from the Sangha of Buddhist nuns in Nepal. It looks, sadly, as if the world failed to learn anything from “the smoking gun in the shape of a mushroom cloud”, and “we will be greeted as liberators”. The more a falsehood is mindlessly repeated, it seems, the more it is believed.

It is interesting to note that the most recent version of the story, found in the Asian Age article published just today (August 16, see the last item on the list below), does not claim that the nun was expelled, but does still claim that there was a “debate” about expelling her, and that her future as a nun is “uncertain”, although both of those claims are directly contradicted by the public position taken (nearly a month ago) by both the nunnery in question and by the Nepal Buddhist Federation (see their statement of July 19 below, and also the July 22 Nepali Times article also listed below).

1. Times of India (TOI), Sudeshna Sarkar June 27:
   Buddhist nun gangraped in Nepal bus
2. My Republica (English language website based in Nepal), Prem Dhakal, July 6:
   Gang-raped nun’s family seeks justice
3. TOI, Sudeshna Sarkar, July 11:
   Gangraped Nepal nun now faces expulsion from nunnery
4. Sujato’s Blog (a blog from Australian Buddhist monk Anthony Best), July 12:
   Gangraped Nepal nun now faces expulsion from nunnery
5. TOI, Times News Network (TNN), July 16:
   Debate grows in Nepal about gangraped nun (reprinted at Buddhist Channel website here)
6. My Republica, Prem Dhakal, July 17:
   TUTH refused to treat raped nun
7. Nepal Blogs, Matthew Frazer, July 18:
   In Support of Raped Nepali Nun
8. Sujato (Anthony Best) again, July 18:
   Nuns and Rape: some links and a message
9. Nepal Buddhist Federation, July 19:
   Official Press Release
10. Federation of Australian Buddhist Councils, July 19:
    Letter to Nepal Buddhist Federation
11. TOI, TNN, July 21:
    Gangraped Nepal nun likely to get re-admission in nunnery
12. The Times of Iran, Bismillah News Agency, July 21:
    Gangraped Nepal nun likely to get readmission to nunnery
13. Gulf Times, IANS (Indo-Asian News Service), July 22:
    Support grows for raped nun
14. GlobalPost.Com, Jason Overdorf, July 22:
    Gang-raped Buddhist nun likely to be reinstated
15. Nepali Times, Dewan Rai, July 22:
    “I wanted to murder whoever did this to my daughter”
16. Aid Netherlands, Shreedeep Rayamajhi, July 22:
    A national level hospital denies admission to a rape victim
17. Syracuse Buddhism Examiner, Harold Mandel, July 24:
    Gang raped Buddhist nun may come back to nunnery
18. Inter Press Service, Sudeshna Sarkar, July 28:
    Religious Practices Oppress Women
19. OneWorld South Asia, Sudeshna Sarkar, Aug 2:
    Nepal: Oppressing women in the name of religion
20. GreaterKashmir.Com, Sudeshna Sarkar, Aug 3:
    Nepal’s Buddhist nuns rally behind rape victim
21. My Republica, Prem Dhakal, Aug 3:
    Ani Choying takes gang-raped nun under her wing
22. TOI, TNN, Aug 3:
    Nepal’s ‘singing nun’ comes to gangraped nun’s rescue
23. News Today (Bangladesh), [no byline given], Aug 4:
    Religious practices oppress women
24. UK Independent, Andrew Buncombe, Aug 5:
    Nepalese chant star gives refuge to nun shunned after gang rape
25. My Republica, Surendra Phuyal, Aug 8:
    Where even a Buddhist nun isn’t spared (reprinted at the Buddhist Channel website here)
26. Salt Lake City Deseret News, Michael De Groote, Aug. 9:
    Raped Buddhist nun’s lost virginity might mean she no longer can serve (Also reprinted at the Buddhist Channel website here)
27. Twin Cities Star Tribune, Susan Hogan, Aug 10:
    Buddhist Nunsense: East vs. West over gang rape
28. The Interdependence Project, Lawrence Grecco, Aug 15:
    The Importance of Following a Noble Path Over a Narrow One
29. The Asian Age, IANS (Indo-Asian News Service), Aug 16:
    Gangraped Buddhist nun faces new ordeal in Nepal

Wherever possible in the above list, the author is given by name. In some cases the only attribution available is to a wire service, such as TNN or IANS, and in other cases the proper attribution is to an organization.

It is clear that a single “journalist”, Sudeshna Sarkar, has been the main source of the endlessly repeated and baseless “vituperative attacks” (a term found in the Reuters Handbook of Journalism) against Nepalese Buddhism. But this smear campaign would not have been nearly so effective without the enthusiastic support of the Buddhist Channel and two Western Buddhist bloggers: Matthew Frazer and Anthony Best (aka, Sujato).

There is a great deal of repetition in what one finds at the 29 different links listed above. But that repetition (and especially what gets repeated and what doesn’t) is essential to how propaganda works. We choose what we want to hear, what we want to believe, and what we repeat to others. The truth is in there, but it is invisible to those who only look on the surface.

(Follow this link to the original story at the Nepali Times website)

DEWAN RAI
FROM ISSUE #563 (22 JULY 2011 – 28 JULY 2011)

[BY HER SIDE: Krishna Tamang tends to his daughter at the Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu. She hasn't spoken to anyone since the rape a month ago. Photo by BIKRAM RAI.]

Krishna Tamang had taken his cattle out to graze on a meadow near his farm in Bhojpur in eastern Nepal. Dark clouds were gathering over the mountains beyond, and he had a sense of foreboding. At 2 pm, a neighbour ran up to tell him his daughter had fallen sick in Chainpur. Krishna borrowed some money and headed off with his brother.

Krishna says he felt like he had fallen off a cliff when police in Chainpur told him what had happened to his daughter. A 21-year-old apprentice at the Laligurans Rimthen Chholing Boudha Gumba in Dilkharka, the nun had been raped repeatedly by the driver and crew of a bus she was travelling in. They also stole the Rs 130,000 she was carrying that her sister Kabita Tamang, who lives in India, had sent home for constructing a new house in the village.

She was travelling from Khandbari to Dharan on 24 June, but a flooded river on the way forced the bus to make an unscheduled night stop. All the lodges in the village were full because of stranded passengers.

Although some passengers offered to share their room, the crew convinced her to spend the night in the bus. At 11pm, Drona Rai, sleeping in a bus parked nearby heard a scream and went to help. He was beaten up by the rapists.

The next morning there was commotion as word spread about what had happened. Members of the Limbuwan Volunteers were alerted, they caught the culprits in a place called Kharang and handed them over to Chainpur police.

By the time Krishna reached Chainpur the next day his daughter had been taken by relatives to Paramount Hospital in Siliguri in India after initial treatment at a local health centre. It took Krishna two more days to reach Siliguri and be by his daughter’s side.

“She was in a terrible state,” Krishna recalls, “she was still unconscious in the ICU. I wanted to murder whoever did this to my daughter.”

When her family couldn’t pay and the bills had exceeded INR 200,000, the Siliguri hospital evicted her. The family flew her back to Kathmandu on 15 July, but the Teaching Hospital refused to admit her despite request from members of National Women’s Commission.

“We were told that the government hospital does not take this kind of case,” recalls the nun’s uncle, Surya Tamang. “We returned got to a relative’s house at 9pm after waiting at the hospital all day.”

After much lobbying with politicians, Teaching Hospital finally took the nun in the next day. Doctors told us she is suffering from extreme post-traumatic stress disorder. “She needs psychological and social support at this time more than medical treatment,” Vidya Dev Sharma of the hospital’s psychiatry wing, said.

The nun’s sister, Kabita, watches as she tosses and turns in bed, moaning. Her bed is near the door of a large ward full of patients. She covers her face with her blanket every time someone walks past. Kabita says her sister hasn’t spoken a word to her family, or to the doctors. She says: “Look at what those demons did to her, a young woman who has devoted her life to god.”

The family is now worried about her future. Although there were initial reports that the nunnery where she studied in Pharping had excommunicated her, the Nepal Buddhist Federation (NBF) has denied this. “I was misquoted in the Indian media, she was never expelled, there is no provision in Buddhism for excommunication,” said the NBF’s Norbu Sherpa.

The Nepal Tamang Lama Ghedung, an organisation of Tamang Lamas, has said it will reinstate the nun in the local Gumba in Sankhuwasabha once she gets well. Palden Lama of the Ghedung said: “Her celibacy was broken against her will, Buddhist philosophy is about protecting, rescuing and rehabilitating the victim instead of adding to the pain.”

The Sankhuwasabha District Court has sent all five accused to jail for further investigation. In Khandbari, government lawyer Krishna Bhandari says the court has recommended compensation and medical expenses for the victim. “The court will give its verdict once the legal procedures are complete. All we need now is statement of the victim,” Bhandari told Nepali Times.

Two members of the bus crew, bus driver Raj Limbu and conductor Bhuwan Gurung have already confessed to the crime, while the rest have pleaded not guilty. The maximum punishment is a jail term for up to 10 years, but since there is also a robbery charge, they could get an additional six year sentence.

However, the bus syndicates in Sankhuwasabha are lobbying with the local administration to have the accused released. They brought transportation to a halt in four districts in eastern Nepal this week to put pressure on the administration.

Donation inquiries should be sent to:
9851022411/nwf@choying.com

Didn’t we learn anything from “the smoking gun in the shape of a mushroom cloud”, and “we will be greeted as liberators”??

Times of India (TOI), June 27:
Buddhist nun gangraped in Nepal bus

TOI July 11:
Gangraped Nepal nun now faces expulsion from nunnery

Sujato’s Blog (a Buddhist blog from Australia) July 12:
Gangraped Nepal nun now faces expulsion from nunnery

TOI, July 16:
Debate grows in Nepal about gangraped nun
(reprinted at Buddhist Channel website here)

Sujato again, July 18:
Nuns and Rape: some links and a message

Nepal Buddhist Federation, July 19:
Official Press Release

Federation of Australian Buddhist Councils, July 19:
Letter to Nepal Buddhist Federation

TOI, July 21:
Gangraped Nepal nun likely to get re-admission in nunnery

UK Independent, Aug 5:
Nepalese chant star gives refuge to nun shunned after gang rape

My Republica (English language website based in Nepal), Aug 8:
Where even a Buddhist nun isn’t spared
(reprinted at the Buddhist Channel website here)

Salt Lake City Deseret News, Aug. 9:
Raped Buddhist nun’s lost virginity might mean she no longer can serve
(Also reprinted at the Buddhist Channel website here)

Twin Cities Star Tribune, Aug 10:
Buddhist Nunsense: East vs. West over gang rape

• “I wanted to murder whoever did this to my daughter.”
• Chronology of a Smear Campaign
• Sudeshna Sarkar’s Journalistic Jihad Against Nepali Buddhism

…………………..

On July 19th, the Nepal Buddhist Federation issued a press release concerning the horrifying case of a Buddhist nun from Nepal who was gang raped while traveling in India. The Press Release was in response to claims made in the Times of India that the rape victim was to be expelled from her nunnery because of the attack.
The Nepal Buddhist Federation statement makes it absolutely clear that the rape victim is still a nun and will be returned to her nunnery as soon as she is physically able to do so (she is hospitalized and still recovering from the attack).

The following are three direct quotes from the NBF statement (full text here):

1. “Nepal Buddhist Federation has never said that she is expelled from the nunnery.”

2. “The members of the NBF personally met her and her relatives in the hospital where her condition is still very unstable. NBF also met the authorities of the Karma Samtenling Nunnery at Pharbing, which she left a year ago when she went to India to pursue further studies. She is not expelled from the nunnery.“

3. “NBF in collaboration with our allied Association Tamang Lama Gedung Sangh and the concerned nunnery is taking steps to accommodate her back into the nunnery when she recovers and discharged from the hospital. NBF will do everything in its power to help restore the dignity of the nun and continue to fight for justice.“

A number of Buddhist bloggers have seized upon this story with a great deal of hysterical self-righteous outrage, but without stopping to look into the facts. What is it about some Buddhists that they are so eager to believe the worst about the Dharma and the Sangha?

The original story in the Times of India (link) claims that “15 Buddhist organisations said that as a result [of being raped], she had lost ‘her religion’ and could be no longer regarded as fit to be a nun.”

The article, does not provide any official statement from even a single Buddhist organization, let alone 15! There are quotes from one official of the NBF (the only “Buddhist Organization” actually named in the article), and if one looks at what he says, it is clear that he at no point says that the victim will be expelled from her nunnery. And in the official statement from the NBF it is made clear that the official quoted in the article was not speaking on behalf of the NBF (nor is it stated directly in the article that he was speaking in an official capacity: this was merely insinuated by the Times of India “journalist”).

Although the Times of India “journalist” could not be bothered to substantiate his false allegations against Nepalese Buddhists with proper sourcing, he (surprise!) did mange to get a proper quote from a Catholic priest who was only too happy to comment on this non-story.

Anyone with a modicum of critical reading and thinking skills should have seen through this transparent smear campaign instantly. Instead, Buddhist themselves have moronically repeated these lies over and over again on blogs and online discussion forums.

meh.

The name of the “witch” in question is Yoo Hee, and the Korean title of the show was “Manyŏ Yoo Hee“, literally, “Witch Yoo Hee”. In Korean this is a rather clever play on words that can also mean “Witch Amusement” or “Witch In Love”.

The reason for referring to Yoo Hee as a “witch” is that she is seen as unfeminine and “cold”. She does not wear make-up and she always dresses in black clothes, and also wears glasses. She is also portrayed as pathetically unsuccessful in her attempts to have relationships with men.

The character of Yoo Hee (played by Han Ga In) is very similar to the Witch character portrayed by Kim Novack in the 1958 “Bell Book and Candle“, and also to the journalist/activist/feminist character played by Katharine Hepburn in the 1942 “Woman of the Year“. For that matter, all three characters show striking parallels with the real life story of Queen Elizabeth I, but with one major difference, for Elizabeth never married, and reigned as one of the most powerful and successful heads of state the western world had seen since the fall of Rome.

In contrast to the “Virgin Queen”, however, the three fictional characters Yoo Hee, Gil Holroyd (Novack), and Tess Harding (Hepburn), all end up surrendering their “unfeminine” independence to comply with social conventions in exchange for that ultimate goal that is the true heart’s desire of all “real” women: the love of a good man. (Don’t worry, I’m not really giving very much away by telling you this….)

As was the case with both “Woman of the Year”, and “Bell Book and Candle”, the lead character in “Witch Yoo Hee” is portrayed as proudly independent and highly successful. Han Ga In’s character is even a martial arts master who can (and when she feels like it, does) kick any man’s ass.

But despite (or rather, because of) her professional success and all around self-sufficiency, Yoo Hee is miserable and lonely, for, as a woman without a man, she is in an unnatural state. In fact, her greatest shame is that she has never had a second date. She has even programmed a list of “dating tips” into her phone to refer to during her unsuccessful string of blind dates (some of these dates turn out to be guys who lost a bet!):

• Try to act cute.
• Have a good appetite.
• Act interested in the other person.
• Try to find things in common.

Now, as I said already, just knowing that Yoo Hee will fall in love doesn’t give very much away. It’s pretty obvious where things are headed already by the end of Episode 1, and Episode 2 quickly removes any lingering doubts. Or does it? Let’s just say there is a lot more to the story than what has been (somewhat misleadingly) revealed here.

If you want to know more about “Witch Amusement” just check out the truly amazing website “dramabeans“, where two Korean-American women bloggers (who go by “javabeans” and “girlfirday”, and who may or may not be sisters, and/or criminals-on-the-run-hiding-from-the-law, and/or the same person,) provide detailed (and wonderfully snarktastic) commentaries on “kdramas” and other facets of “K-Pop” culture generally.

The cool thing, imnsho, about reading about “Witch Amusement” at the website “dramabeans” is that you have this hackneyed western cultural meme of the frustrated/liberated woman/witch being played out in a highly industrialized and in its very own and very strange way highly westernized country (and in a culture with its very own and very much alive-and-kicking ancient indigenous tradition of magical practitioners, most of whom are women), and then this all gets translated and reinterpreted for a western, English speaking audience by young Native-born Americans who happen to be young, successful professional Korean women who are obsessive fans of Korean pop culture. It is a cultural and sociological house of mirrors!

Personally I am very curious about this Korean word translated into English as “Witch”. I poked around and found two other occurrences of the word manyŏ:

사자, 마녀, 옷장 이야기 /
Saja, manyŏ, otchang iyagi /
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (by C.S. Lewis)

포르토벨로의마녀 /
Pʻorŭtʻobello ŭi manyŏ /
The witch of Portobello /
A bruxa de Portobello (by Paul Coelho)