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FEATURES | EASTERN HORIZON 9

BUDDHIST ACTIVISTS

APPEAL TO MYANMAR’S

LEADERS

By Richard Reoch

Born in Toronto, Canada, he was raised in a Buddhist family, eventually serving
as the President of Shambhala, one of the largest Buddhist organizations in the
world, from 2002 to 2015. He joined the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International (1971-1993), becoming its global media chief (1980 – 1993). He
then served as a trustee of The Rainforest Foundation (1996 – 2015).

He continued his work for human rights and peace, engaging with organizations
in Northern Ireland (1994 – 2009) and Sri Lanka (1995 – present). He is now a
global advocate of cross-cultural communication and inter-faith understanding,
speaking out on the rising tide of hatred and violence.

In parallel with his life in public advocacy, he studied the Chinese classical arts
of Tai chi Chuan and Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung for 30 years with Master Lam Kam
Chuen, trained as a practitioner of the Shiatsu system of energetic healing, and
is the author of Dying Well: A Holistic Guide for the Dying and their Carers.

World Buddhist leaders are appealing for peace in Myanmar and Buddhist charities
are bringing aid to victims fleeing the violence.
Buddhist Global Relief, founded by one of the western world’s leading translators of
the Buddha’s teachings, and the Tzu Chi (literally “Compassionate Relief”) Foundation,
launched by a renowned Taiwanese Buddhist nun, are both dedicating relief
resources to what UN Secretary General Antonio Guiterres has called “a humanitarian
and human rights nightmare.”

This is the fastest exodus of human beings from a single country since the outbreak of
the Rwandan genocide.

The United Nations and major aid agencies now report that more than six hundred
thousand people — mainly women, children and the elderly — have fled over the
border between Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Bangladesh since late August.
Thousands more continue to flood in every day.