Akong Rinpoche cremation ceremony planned in Tibet

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Akong Rinpoche founded the Samye Ling Tibetan centre and monastery in 1967 Akong Rinpoche's body is being taken to Tibet for cremation

Beijing, China -- The body of the founder of the Samye Ling Buddhist centre at Eskdalemuir in Dumfriesshire is being taken to his native Tibet for cremation.

Akong Rinpoche was killed in China on Tuesday along with his nephew and his driver.

A statement on the Samye Ling website confirmed plans for a ceremony in accordance with his high standing.

It will take place at his monastery, Dolma Lhakang, in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

That was where, at the age of four, he was identified as the reincarnation of an earlier leader, enthroned, and began the spiritual education required for a future abbot.

A statement from his brother - Lama Yeshe - said Akong Rinpoche was travelling in China to distribute funds to projects supported by the charity Rokpa International which he founded - and was killed by individuals trying to rob him.

Chinese police have already said that three Tibetan men are in custody for the triple killing.

Akong Rinpoche left a wife and three children and they have expressed thanks to people in the UK and overseas for the many messages of condolences they have received.

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Buddhist nun dies after setting herself ablaze in eastern Tibet

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Dharamshala, India -- Emerging reports coming out Tibet say, a Tibetan Buddhist nun has set herself ablaze on Tuesday evening, June 11, 2013 (5pm local time) in Tawu county, Karze, Kham province of eastern Tibet, in an apparent protest against Chinese repressive rule in Tibet.

Latest sources coming out Tibet on June 15 stated that the Tibetan nun has been identified as Wangchen Dolma and a 31-year old.

The authorities have surreptitiously cremated her body at the hospital and kept the family members of the deceased under house arrest.

"Now Chinese authorities shut down communication networks completely and putting heavy restrictions on the movement of local Tibetans," sources further confirmed.

The details of the nun were not known as the authorities have immediately imposed a heavy restriction shortly after the incident.

Dolma who set himself on fire to protest the Chinese repressive policies in Tibet, has succumbed to her burn injuries, while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dartsedho county on 14 June.

"Immediately after her self-immolation protest, she was taken to a hospital in Dhartsedho county, eastern Tibet, but it is not mentioned whether she was taken by Chinese police or local authorities," Yama Tsering, a monk from Gaden Monastery in Soutt India told The Tibet Post International (TPI), citing sources in the region.

"She set herself on fire near Nyatso Monastery, Kham region of eastern Tibet, where over 3000 thousands of Buddhist monks from over 50 monasteries in Kham region are currently holding a 10-day annual Buddhist debate meet, started on June 10," Tsering added.

"The Buddhist debate meet is still going ahead this evening, not been affected so far by the incident," he said.

Since 2009, at least 119 Tibetans have self-immolated reportedly to protest Chinese hardline and repressive rule in Tibet and of them 102 were reportedly passed-away due to their severe injuries.

Most of them have called for the return of the spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama to his homeland and freedom for Tibetans.

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Two more Buddhist Monks Self-Immolate in Tibet Protest

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Beijing, China -- Two Buddhist monks are reported dead in southwestern China, after setting themselves on fire at a monastery to protest Beijing's policies in Tibet.

Tibet Immolations - updated April 25, 2013

Sources with contacts in the region tell VOA the 20-year-old and 23-year-old protesters were monks at the flashpoint Kirti monastery who had spent most of their lives at the facility -- home to more than 700 Buddhists.

More than 100 monks, nuns and their supporters have self-immolated in Tibet and Tibetan regions since February 2009, when Chinese authorities renewed their crackdown on protests against Chinese rule.

The Kirti monastery has been under Chinese guard since early 2011, when Beijing responded to a similar self-immolation by seizing more than 300 monks from the facility.

Beijing initially denied involvement in the disappearances, but later acknowledged that the monks were undergoing enforced "legal education" at undisclosed locations.

China has often accused Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his followers of advocating for Tibetan secession. For his part, the Dalai Lama has repeatedly sought to assure Beijing that he is merely seeking dialogue aimed at establishing Tibetan autonomy.

Early this year, Beijing moved to criminalize acts of self-immolation, and to jail those accused of inciting such protests. The crackdown also was aimed at targeting individuals that authorities say have sent videos and photographs of such acts to contacts outside China.

Tibet's government-in-exile has operated from northern India since 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

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A Buddhist monk dies in latest self-immolation protest in Tibet

"A Tibetan Buddhist monk died in latest self-immolation protest against to end repressive policies on Tibet. He became seventh Tibetan who set himself on fire in Lhuchu county to protest against Chinse rule," Kanyak Tsering from exile Kirti Monastery told The Tibet Post International (TPI).

"Konchok Tenzin, 28-year old a monk of Mogru Samphel-ling Monastery in Lhuchu county of Amdho region, eastern Tibet (CHinese: Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province), died after burning himself on a road junction, near his monastery on Tuesday evening, at approximately 7am locally.," the sources coming out of the region said.

As Chinese authorities bar customary religious rituals to enforce quick cremation of Tibetan who self-immolated, local Tibetans in Lhuchu county immediately "took his body for cremation near the monastery after holding a traditional prayer service on the same day the incident occurred," according to the same source.

This incident has pushed the total number of self-immolations in Tibet to 114 since 2009, 96 of them reportedly passed-away due to burn injuries.

Most self-immolators were lay and the younger generation of Tibetans in recent months, who are speaking up against the Chinese regime's failed policies in Tibet, called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and freedom for Tibetan people.

Beijing rejects any criticism of its rule, pointing to economic development of Tibet. Tibetans say its not because of China, these kinds of development can be seen in every corner of the world.

He was survived by his parents- Lhakho and Lhamo Tso and six brothers and sisters. Konchok was the youngest of his siblings. He joined the Monastery at his young age to study the monastic ritual prayer texts-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. After finishing monastic ritual studies, he started to learn Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan literature, according to the sources.

Mogru Samphel-ling Monastery or Zamtsai Mogru Geden Jampehl-ling monastery is situated in Lhuchu county, Amdho region of eastern Tibet. The monastery was founded in 1780 by Zamtsa Sertri Jigmey Namkha, a well-known Tibetan Buddhist scholar.

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Another tragic self-immolation has occurred in Tibet

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Dharmsala, India -- The tensions in Tibet have continued on a daily basis with another self-immolation having occurred. On March 16, 2013, Phayul.com has reported, "Breaking: Kirti monk marks March 16 with self-immolation, Toll rises to 108". At the anniversary of five years since the 2008 peaceful protests in Tibet, a Tibetan monk in Ngaba region of eastern Tibet has become the 108th Tibetan living under China’s rule to self-immolate.

<< Lobsang Thokmey

Lobsang Thokmey, 28, a monk from the Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire today at around 2:40 pm local time. Lobsang Thokmey passed away during his protest.

The Dharamshala based Kirti Monastery has said Lobsang Thokmey doused his body with kerosene in front of his monastic quarters in the west of the Kirti Monastery and than he started running towards the east.

The Kirti Monastery said in a news release, “Lobsang Thokmey was in flames as he began running with the Buddhist flag in his hands. Before he could reach the main gate, he fell on the ground.”

Lobsang Thokmey was carried to the local hospital by monks and other people gathered at the scene of his lethal protest. Shortly thereafter he succumbed to his injuries. The Kirti Monastetry source said, “A large number of Chinese security personnel arrived at the hospital soon after Lobsang Thokmey was admitted and later forcibly took away the deceased’s body to the regional headquarters of Barkham.”

Lobsang Thokmey became a monk at the Kirti Monastery at a young age and had a reputation for having had excellent conduct and he was extremely diligent in his studies.

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China Must Realize Tibet And Tibetans Are A Reality – Analysis

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Beijing, China -- The Chinese authorities, that is the Communist Party of China (CPC), must realistically admit that its minorities especially the Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians are flesh and blood people.

Many of the country’s minorities have either disappeared or are too small in number to demand their identity. That, however, is not the case at least for the Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang (East Turkistan) and Tibet.

The Uighurs, who are of Turkish origin, were settled in these areas centuries before the Han Chinese conquered them. They enjoy empathy if not open support in Turkey and the neighbouring Central Asian Republics (CARs) like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. But China’s rise has bulldozed these countries into submission, especially the oil rich and land locked countries of the CARs. Uighur struggles, however, are beginning to get some recognition internationally.

The Tibet issue is different and in some ways, unique. The Tibetans are a deeply religious lamastic society. Their recognition came not from the Han Chinese but the Mongols. The name “Dalai Lama” (Ocean of wisdom) comes from the Mongol Khan dynasty. The Chinese emperors came much later. Tibet was independent for most of history. When the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) invaded Tibet in 1950-51, history was forced to change. Eventually, the 14th Dalai Lama accepted the position adopted by Beijing. He renounced independence of Tibet but asked for genuine autonomy.

The international community has taken a similar stand. What both the Dalai Lama and the international community demand are respect for the human rights of the Tibetans, security of their language, culture and heritage, and administration of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) by Tibetans, within the constitution of the People’s Republic of China.

Basically, the demand is very simple. That Beijing implement its own laws and rules in TAR. Autonomy for major minority areas is a law of China. Freedom to practise religion is in the statute books. The Chinese authorities pride themselves on these laws.

Yet, there is no freedom of religion in Tibet. Possession of a photograph of the Dalai Lama is a crime. And where is autonomy? In fact, autonomous regions like Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are much more policed than any other administrative region in China. Minorities hardly ever rise in the hierarchy. To start with, they are suspect.

The Chinese authorities are correct when they claim development has been brought to Tibet. But who are the beneficiaries? Not the Tibetans but the Han Chinese who have been brought in. This is also a cause of resentment among the Tibetans.

But the authorities do not want to admit it, nor do they want to correct themselves. When Chinese NGOs point this out they are black listed and banned. Why?

Another problematic policy is ethnic engineering in autonomous regions. With the excuse of educating minority youth better and provide them suitable employment, they are being dispersed across the country and replaced by Hans. Today, Han Chinese are getting to be a majority in capitals and important centers in autonomous regions.

Where do minorities like the Tibetans stand? They are always suspect, as is the Dalai Lama. The Chinese authorities have suspended talks with Dalai Lama’s emissaries. This signalled a much harder position on Tibet. The Dalai Lama gave up all his political responsibilities and the Tibetan government in exile is now headed by Harvard educated Lobsang Sangey, a lay man. The Chinese authorities suspect every move from the Dalai Lama and his set-up.

The Chinese authorities were taken aback by self-immolation by Tibetan monks, nuns and even lay people since February, 2012, protesting against Chinese occupation of Tibet and demanding the return of the Dalai Lama. On a count, 99 have committed self immolation at the time of writing this article, and there are no signs that this will abate soon.

The authorities have failed to stop these self-immolations simply because they are not part of an organized affair. The Dalai Lama has also declined to interfere, despite Chinese exhortations.

In a desperate attempt, the Chinese authorities have launched a propaganda that all those who have immolated themselves had their own personal problems, mostly shameful and of personal frustrations. Some pro-government Tibetan monks were made to declare that suicide was against Buddhist religious tenets. It made no difference, and the Chinese authorities have failed to explain why these self immolators shout anti-Chinese slogans and pray for the Dalai Lama.

What is interesting is that these self-immolations are not taking place in Lhasa or the TAR. They are taking place in Tibetan areas outside the TAR in Qinghai and Sichuan provinces, parts of which the Tibetans want included in TAR. This, of course, is not acceptable to Beijing. Conceding this would give way to new questions on Chinese claim on historical sovereignty over Tibet.

At the moment, China is in a catch-22 situation on Tibet and the entire Tibetan issue. With its economy, military strength and growing influence, China is a member at the highest table in the world. It has to behave with a certain amount of responsibility. These self-immolations are not only a diplomatic embarrassment for China, but internally too people’s ideas on the Tibet issue may be changing. Many Han Chinese are resorting to Buddhism, and some of them have met the Dalai Lama. According to Chinese official media report (People’s Daily, Feb 11), an estimated 80,000 people went to the Yonghe Buddhist temple in Beijing to burn incense and pray on ‘Chinese’ new year’s day.

For most Han Chinese, Tibet is a distant, harsh place and alien to the Han way of life. The government has to give special incentives to Han Chinese to serve in TAR. This is hardly a situation that defends Chinese policy on Tibet.

Where is China going to take their war against the Dalai Lama? Their recent propaganda says that the Dalai Lama was running an anti-China training establishment in India and these people were sneaking into China to encourage Tibetans to commit self-immolation.

This propaganda has very deep and serious implications for India-China bilateral relations. The accusation comes from an official Chinese propaganda outlet and indirectly accuses India of collaborating with the Dalai Lama to sabotage China’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Of course, China has not yet taken up the issue with India officially. But the issue has been recorded, allegedly as confessions from two Tibetans who had gone there from Dharamsala recently. The accusation is in the diplomatic brief case, to be taken out as and when necessary.

What would be the next step? China has already pressured Nepal to arrest Tibetan refugees fleeing to India (Dharamsala) and return them to China. But India as a signatory to the UN Refugee convention cannot turn away refugees. In fact, India hosts the largest number of political refugees in the world, from a vast array of countries. This is a humanitarian issue.

The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan diaspora in India remains China’s target. At one time, the Dalai Lama was described by the Chinese as the “serpent’s head” which must be crushed. The Dalai Lama’s security had to be enhanced.

The Dalai Lama has made every effort to cooperate with the Chinese. This includes the recognition of Ugyen Thinley Dorjee (UTD), one of the two major claimants as the 17th Karmapa, whose monastery is in Sikkim. The 16th Gyalva Karma came from Tibet to India and established the Karma-Kargyu seat at the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim. After his death the regents of the ministry quarrelled among themselves to find their own 17th Karmapa. Tai Situ Rimpoche (TSR), one of the regents who has close relations with the Chinese, discovered UTD. Another regent Samar Rimpoche, discovered his own 17th Karmpa in Thaye Thinley Dorjee (TTD) also in Tibet. Hence, the seat of the Karmapa is in contest. The Dalai Lama recognized UTD as the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa on the advice of TSR when he was in Rio de Janeiro to attend the Earth Summit in 1992.

UTD came to India in December, 2000. The story was he escaped from Chinese security and travelled for four nights and five days to come to India without the Chinese realizing he had escaped. It is highly inconceivable that UTD could escape from Chinese security without being discovered for such a long time. The Chinese official news agency, the Xinhua, reported his escape only after he crossed over to India. Another mystery, indeed!

UTD is a young man now and has studied religion under the Dalai Lama. But it is interesting to note that the Chinese authorities have never ever criticized UTD. And he, in turn, reciprocated the Chinese good will. This raises serious questions about India’s security, especially because Chinese officials have expressed concerns about UTD’s security.

Available evidence suggests communication exists between UTD and the Chinese authorities. This reportedly takes place through emissaries, and verbally. The argument that UTD came to India at a young age and whatever Chinese indoctrination he may have received could not last this long, does not wash. Streams of Chinese come to see him.

A trend, very clandestinely and cautiously growing over the last decade indicates an eventual Chinese controlled Karma-Kargyu seat in Sikkim. After the Dalai Lama passes away, UTD would become more free in the Tibetan Buddhism affairs. The Karma-Kargyus are a very important Tibetan sect, perhaps the richest. Without the 14th Dalai Lama, the Gelugpas will be weakened. There is no certainty about a 15th Dalai Lama. Even if there is, he will take years to mature into the unquestioned leader. The Chinese could bring the war inside India and create pro-China monasteries along the Indo-Himalayan belt.

The scenario is not a fantasy. It is time that UTD clearly demonstrated his position on Tibetans and the Tibet question. His road to the Rumtek seat is still not clear. His allegiance to the Dalai Lama and the Tibet issue is still to be tested.

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The writer is a New Delhi based strategic analyst. He can be reached at e-mail grouchohart@yahoo.com

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Russian Buddhists' Newly Found Link with Tibet and India

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New Delhi, India -- The brand new, upmarket Hotel Kempinsky in East Delhi has suddenly morphed into a Buddhist monastery -- though temporarily for four days this week. Its lobbies and convention halls are reverberating with Buddhist mantras, teachings and laughter of the most celebrated man of our era -- Dalai Lama. Over 800 Buddhist devotees from the three republics of Russia namely Kalmykia, Buryatia and Tuva are here to have teachings from their supreme spiritual Guru. Over a hundred more from other parts of the world too have joined in.

To the politically uninitiated, this gathering of Russian Buddhists might look like an advance party of President Vladimir Putin whose two-day visit falls precisely in the middle of these teachings. However, the reality is that the Buddhist Russians have travelled all the distance to India for Dalai Lama's teachings because Putin's government has been persistently shying away from issuing visa to the Tibetan leader for past ten years just to ensure that Beijing leaders are not enraged.

Dalai Lama has been to Russia five times since 1979. In 1992 he went to all the three Buddhist republics. But in 1991 he could go only to Buryatia. In 1996 he could visit Kalmykia only on a transit visit while flying to Mongolia. In 2004 too he could visit Kalmykia only for a day and half. On one occasion all Russian flights were cancelled just to ensure that Dalai Lama could not stop in Russia on his way to Mongolia. Changed status of Russia vis-a-vis China in the post USSR period has obliged Kremlin to keep the Chinese sensitivities on Tibet and Dalai Lama at top priority.

In current political scenario when economic depression in Europe has taken its toll on European governments along with the US pressure, Russia has lost a huge business in supply of oil to Western Europe. China's emergence as a major buyer of Russian oil, gas and military equipment has pushed Kremlin further at the mercy of Beijing. With Syria and Iran being on hot pursuit of the US and its western allies, Russia finds itself badly squeezed with China in a tight corner. All this has left hardly any elbow room for Russia to take any independent step which China does not approve of. That explains Putin's predicament with the three Buddhist republics.

This keenness of the Russian Buddhists to receive blessings and teachings from the Dalai Lama can be fathomed from the fact that following persistent denial of visa to him by their government, they have, of late, started an annual pilgrimage to India. In 2009 about 800 Russian Buddhist devotees came to India to seek blessings and teachings from Dalai Lama. This number increased to 1300 in 2010 and to 1600 in 2011. Erdne Ombadykow (39) the energetic Head of Buddhism in the Republic of Kalmyikia has played important role in this new movement of reviving Buddhism in Kalmykia. In Mahayana Buddhist parlance he is popularly known as Telo Rinpoche as he was recognized as the reincarnation of Telopa, a great Indian Buddhist scholar of 11th century.

Telo Rinpoche had planned to meet President Putin during his Delhi visit and to present him a jointly signed petition from the Russian Buddhists. This petition calls upon the President to review his government's decision on the issue of visa to the Dalai Lama. President Putin had recently indicated in a youth camp in at Lake Seliger in Tver region of Russia, that his government intended to do something in this direction.

Answering a question from a Kalmykian youth during his question-answer session with the participants of the camp on 31st July this year, President Putin made it clear that it was the Chinese pressure which was stopping the Kremlin government from letting Dalai Lama visit Russia. “For those who are not familiar with the details of this issue, I can say that this problem is related to the fact that the Dalai Lama is viewed more as a political leader than a religious one,” Putin said.

Outgoing and pro-active in his approach, Telo Rinpoche is at the forefront of reviving and rehabilitating Buddhism to its past glory of days before Communists destroyed Buddhism and the Kalmykian identity. He presents an interesting mix of traits which reflect his multi coloured background. He was born to a Kalmykian refugee couple in Philadelphia, who had settled in USA after being uprooted from the erstwhile USSR in post-second World War months. In 1979 when the Dalai Lama visited Philadelphia, he came across this 7-year-old baby who had walked into his lap during a public audience. Later Dalai Lama recognised him as the reincarnation of Telopa.

The previous incarnation of Telopa was a Mongolian who played an important political role in resisting the Bolsheviks who destroyed over 2000 Buddhist temples and killed about 30,000 Buddhist monks in Mongolia in 1939. Following the failed Mongolian resistance, he had migrated to the USA and later established a Buddhist temple in Philadelphia where he died in 1965.

Following his recognition as an incarnate Tulku, Telo Rinpoche was sent to the Tibetan monastery Drepung in Mundgod town of Karnataka in Southern India where he studied Buddhism. Later following the fall of communism and disintegration of USSR, he decided to work in Mongolia and Kalmykia to revive Buddhism on the advice of the Dalai Lama.

Telo Tulku Rinpoche
"Before the communists occupied Kalmykia, there were over 100 monasteries and about 7000 monks. They destroyed everything and we lost most of it during 70 years of communist rule. Buddhism met same fate in Buryatia and Tuva. In past 20 years we have rebuilt 27 monasteries and revived Buddhism to a good extent in Kalmykia. Same process has been going on in the other two Buddhist republics," says Telo Rinpoche.

Buddhism arrived in these three republics of Russia 400 years ago from Tibet via Mongolia. Most of these followers are of Mongolian origin. Today there are about 1.5 million Buddhists in the three republics. New opportunities to travel abroad and international exposure has attracted millions of Russians towards many new spiritual ideas and philosophies. The number of neo-Buddhists among Russians today is estimated around 0.5 million. Buddhism is a constitutionally recognised religion along with the Orthodox Christian church, Islam and Judaism.

"We have all freedoms and liberties in practicing Buddhism provided we don't mix religion and politics," says Telo Rinpoche. Other Buddhists communities of Buryatia and Tuva too have common motivations as the Kalmykians. A new surge of Buddhist temples, learning centres and visits of Tibetan Buddhist scholars from India reflects this enthusiasm.

Kalmykian experience during the communist days in USSR, especially under Joseph Stalin, has so many parallels like the Nazi holocaust which now work as a motivator. Nazis invaded USSR from the Caspian Sea direction. Kalmykia was the first region to fall. Nazis enrolled the Kalmykians and Chechens to fight the Russian communists. There was no shortage of enthusiasts among the two races who took it as a chance to get rid of the communist occupation and slavery. But following the fall of Germany, Stalin branded the Kalmykians as 'traitors' and ordered entire Kalmykian population to be deported to distant labour camps of Siberia. Over a million Kalmykians were pushed into railway cattle wagons to be further tortured in Siberian labour camps.

"About half of our population died in the process. All this happened within thirteen years. Following the death of Stalin, Khrushchev ordered repatriation of Kalmykians to their homeland. But all good lands, houses and jobs had since been occupied by the Russian communists in our homeland. Ban on our language and religious practices almost finished our identity until the USSR collapsed in early 1990s," says Telo Rinpoche.

Newly established link with the Mongolians and Tibetans has helped the three Russian republics in a big way to revive and rehabilitate their lost Buddhist identity. Underling the significance of this relationship, Telo Rinpoche says, "Kalmykians and Tibetans have a lot to learn from each other. We lost our language but Tibetan refugees still read and speak their language even fifty years after their exile to India. We have to learn in this field from them. But we saved our determination to save our identity despite 70 years of ruthless communist rule. I am sure Tibetans can learn from us."

No doubt, the process of learning from each other is already on the rails. Buddhists of the three Russian Buddhist republics now keenly took towards Mr. Putin to allow Dalai Lama to visit their republics.

-----
The author is a New Delhi based senior Indian journalist and well known Tibetologist. He can be contacted at v.kranti@gmail.com. Website & Blog : www.vijaykranti.com

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His Holiness Urges Tibetans From Tibet to Study Buddhist Philosophy

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Dharamshala, India -- The spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has urged Tibetans who have recently arrived in India to study Buddhist philosophy, rather than simply familiarizing themselves with prayer.

The 77-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader made his point in front of around 30,000 people from 53 countries, who are currently attending his 14 day teaching on the 18 Great Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lam Rim) at Gaden Changtse monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka, on December 1.

The crowd included monks from Karnataka's great university monasteries, Drepung, Ganden and Sera, which were all resurrected in the south Indian state after their Tibetan predecessors were overrun and controlled by Chinese forces following China's occupation of the country in 1959.

“In Tibet, many Tibetans feel that studying Buddhism is only the responsibility of monks,” he said.

“Some monasteries offer only prayer, no philosophical study, and many lay people are good at prayer, but have no concern about studying Buddhist philosophy. This is a big mistake.

“Nowadays in Tibet the situation is very critical and many people who have studied Buddhism, the older generation, have passed away, and it is very rare to see a new generation of Buddhist practitioners.

“Usually nowadays I’m not only talking to Tibetans, but to Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Burmese, Sri-Lankan and Taiwanese Buddhist friends. We are all the same Buddhists as our grandparents, and now we should all be 21st Century Buddhists.

“We should study and understand what Buddhism is,” he continued.

“Buddhism is different from other religions which believe that God created everything, as the Buddha said that we are all our own protectors.

“Everything we do, we do by ourselves, so studying Buddhist philosophy is very important.”

The Dalai Lama arrived in India's largest Tibetan settlement on November 29, before commencing the teaching the following day.

Upon arrival he visited Drepung monastery, where he met with the head of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, Gadan Tri Rinpoche, and the monastery's abbot, Lobsang Tenpa, who made long life offerings in his honour, before he visited a stupa containing the relics of his former tutor, the sixth Ling Rinpoche.

Alluding to his decision last year to retire from his role as Tibetan political leader, after which Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay was democratically elected to lead Tibet's exiled community, His Holiness the Dalai Lama explained how the Gadang Podrang, part of the original Drepung monastery in Lhasa, had been the traditional seat of the Dalai Lamas until 1642, when the fifth Dalai Lama became Tibet's political and spiritual leader and established the city's iconic Potala Palace, where they remained until the current Dalai Lama's escape from the country following Chinese occupation.

“When I was 16, I took political responsibility for Tibet from Sikyong Tadrak Rinpoche (who ran the country while he was still considered a minor,)” he said.

“Sixty years later, I was able to proudly and happily hand over that responsibility to a political leader elected by a majority of Tibetan people.

“When we first arrived in India we tried to establish a democratic system and now this has happened my long term wishes and hopes have been fulfilled.

“If I were in Tibet it would now be time for me to return to Drepung monastery.”

He then visited the nearby Gaden Chartse monastery, where he opened a scholar's debate on the Jangchup Lam Rim Chemo text (Atisha's lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.) 

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On self-immolations in Tibet

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DHARAMSALA, India --  I've just returned from the Special International Meeting of Friends of Tibet in Dharamsala and the number of self-immolations had been spiking up in November.

<< This image from video footage released by Students For A Free Tibet via APTN purports to show Buddhist nun Palden Choetso engulfed in flames in her self-immolation protest against Chinese rule on a street in Tawu, Tibetan Ganzi prefecture, in China’s Sichuan Province Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011.

Around the 18th Congress of Chinese Communist Party, there were about 78 self-immolations.  Approximately half have been committed by lay people, half by monks/nuns. The activities are not coordinated by any organization within Tibet and are not directed by Tibetan leadership outside Tibet. This voluntary, self-determined form of activist resistance is in line with the "lhakar" movement.

A few words about Lhakar. First, Lhakar means "white Wednesday," as Wednesday is associated with HH Dalai Lama. Activists choose ways to resist, meaning to assert Tibetan identity in the face of its repression. One fits the resistance to the practicalities of the
situation - i.e., how to do it without getting arrested/tortured. This might include wearing traditional dress (chupa) or a kata (white scarf), or it might involve speaking Tibetan in situations where Chinese is being forwarded in ways meant to displace Tibetan language/culture (e.g., educational contexts). 

The same kind of repression has happened many times in the world, e.g., punishments for speaking Gaelic in Ireland under British rule and punishments for speaking Okinawan dialect (Hogen) in Okinawa/Ryukyu/Uchina under Chinese rule.  Lhakar is always peaceful, voluntary, and motivated by the wish to preserve Tibetan culture.

No one who speaks about self-immolation directly has spoken in favor of it, to my knowledge.  The Prime Minister (PM) of the CTA (Central Tibetan Administration, or govt in exile), Lobsang Sangay, is a Harvard-educated PhD who did his comparative research on govts in exile.  He insists that CTA is not even encouraging PROTEST in Tibet, since anything like that will result in political imprisonment and probably torture.  There is, therefore, no lawful way to express "civil disobedience" whatsoever. Furthermore, the world has more or less lost interest in the Tibetan plight, relative, say, to the "angry monk syndrome" protests of 2008, around the Chinese Olympics.  Tibetan soft power is running against the wall of Chinese financial leverage (Confucius Institutes, etc), which, Joseph Nye explained to Lobsang Sangay, is not the same thing at all as "soft power." Soft power is the invitation to respond as one will without manipulation or power-politics determination.

One might respond:  "Okay, the Tibetans are not encouraging self-immolation, but neither are they condemning it."  Prof. Stephen Prothero has written in the CNN Blog that the Dalai Lama has "blood on his hands" for not condemning self-immolation absolutely.  I asked prominent Tibetan intellectuals what they made of this.  Geshe Lhakdor, director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, finds it a "precious" response.  His feeling is that some people who have no understanding of the degree of repression of Tibetans as a whole condemn the violence of self-immolation without understanding the courageous willingness to take pain on oneself in order to call attention to the issue in ways that will reduce the suffering of others.

Dr Lobsang Sangay, in his address to the Special International Meeting, said that his government did not wish Tibetans to self-immolate or even protest, but, given the fact of such actions, they felt it would be unconscionable to condemn such selfless self-sacrifice. Going further, he said it was a "sacred duty" to understand such actions properly in terms of the real causes, e.g., the rampant repression of Chinese culture.

Extrapolating just a bit, one could say that the most constructive way to be against self-immolation, since we can't even communicate directly in closed Chinese Tibet with potential self-immolators, would be to do everything we possibly can to call attention to the conditions that lead people citizens with husbands/wives and children, as well as monks and nuns, many of them quite young - to self immolate.  Calling attention to these conditions does not mean hating Chinese people that was emphasized several times but, rather, doing everything possible to encourage China to come to a constructive form
of engagement.

There have been ideological attempts in the Chinese media to discredit self-immolaters, e.g., by saying they are depressed or otherwise mentally disturbed people.  Tibetan spokespersons have been attempting to publish information of the suicide notes and biographical particulars of the self-sacrificers in order to counter these claims.

One non-Tibetan, a British monk, has self-immolated. I don't know why he's not listed on the International Campaign page. Some Tibetans in Dharamsala were worried that his motivations were not proper. It was believed that he died alone in his room, but this link from the Daily Mail says that he immolated himself in the monastery garden.

Lobsang Sangay (PM), Tempa Tsering, and Chimme Rinzin (sect. to HHDL) all insist that we must acknowledge than any self-immolater could have run into a Chinese shop or otherwise have hurt a Chinese person if the wish was to do violence against another person.  HH Dalai Lama, in his address on 17 November to the Special International Meeting (Nov 16-18, Tibetan Children's Village, Dharamsala, HP) acknowledge that there was an element of violence to self-immolation, but he said we must acknowledge the context: there is no other way for these Tibetans to call attention to their plight, and they are specifically tailoring their actions in such a way that they do not burn other people.

We should recall that there was plenty of ambiguity about monks protesting in 2008.  The question, "Is angry-looking a protest?"  looks quite anachronistic now.  We might ask, was it self-violence for Martin Luther King's satyagraha activists to sit at all-white restaurant counters, knowing that their actions would lead to abusive and even violent behavior?  That response would be, as Geshe Lhakdor has said, "precious." Oh, look at me: I'm SO committed to non-violence. Let's go have a latte and talk about how ambivalent we are about this matter.

When I gave talks at Central University of Tibetan Studies in Varanasi (March 2012), the Q&A session turned to self-immolation no matter what the topic was.  After a talk on Khyentse Norbu's THE CUP students wanted to ask whether I thought self-immolation was Buddhist.  I can't really say it is.  I discouraged self-immolation as much as I possibly could - one of those passionate students might very well be sitting on the fence.  That said, it's a bit stomach-turning, to me personally, to turn around after a self-immolation and say "That person did a bad thing."  One wouldn't wish death-by-fire on one's worst enemy, but it
could be seen as interpretive violence to construe this act as "violence" when we cannot imagine a better response than passively allowing the systematic destruction of one's culture. 

Anyone who does not understand that China is systematically destroying Tibetan culture is not paying attention. Repression of language, ideological conditioning in the schools, displacement of nomadic peoples, torture and disappearance of activists or even mild resistors, mass colonization through the influx of ethnic Chinese into the region, and billion-dollar investments in railroads and theme parks intended to condition tourist understanding of Tibet - if this is not the systematic destruction of a culture, what would be?

No one I have spoken to is "for" self-immolation. It is really a question of how to end it.  Tibetans-in-exile will insist that the answer has to include the amelioration of oppressive conditions for Tibetans in Tibet.  The best way to be "against self-immolation" would be to find ways to help that happen.

For information via wikipedia on self-immolation,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation

The wiki on Tibetan self-immolation is not up-to-date and does not
reflect the dramatic spike in the last month:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_protests_by_Tibetans_in_China

Complete list available from International Campaign for Tibet:
http://www.savetibet.org/resource-center/maps-data-fact-sheets/self-immolation-fact-sheet

----------
John Whalen-Bridge is Associate Professor at the Department of English Language & Literature, National University Of Singapore. He is currently co-editing a series of books for SUNY Press with Gary Storhoff called "Buddhism and American Culture.

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His Holiness The Dalai Lama Embraces The Addition Of Western Science To The Core Curriculum At Tibet

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Boston, MA (USA) -- During his visit to Boston last week, His Holiness the Dalai Lama addressed attendees at a private benefit hosted by Boston philanthropist Bobby Sager to support the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT.

The Dalai Lama discussed the impact of the "Science for Monks" program, designed to incorporate Western science into the core monastic curriculum taught at the major Tibetan Buddhism institutions in India.

"Now at these monastic institutions, science as a subject has been incorporated into the monastic curriculum, not just for selected individual students," the Dalai Lama said. He described the addition of Western science as the most important change in the monastic curriculum in centuries. Topics like neurobiology, cosmology and quantum physics will now be taught alongside traditional topics of monastic study, such as Buddhist philosophy.

With the support of the Sager Family Foundation, the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, and the Dalai Lama, the 12-year "Science for Monks" program has laid the groundwork for historic change. In 2000, "Science for Monks" started as a pilot program, sending professors from U.S. universities to India to teach science to a group of 40 monks and nuns at two-week workshops outside of their traditional monastic studies.

"Initially, some senior monks and abbots were hesitant to study science," the Dalai Lama said. "But then eventually, after we explained the importance of learning science, they supported it."

"12 years ago, we started this renegade program called 'Science for Monks' outside the required monastic curriculum," Bobby Sager, founder of Sager Family Foundation, said at the event. "Now studying science has gone into the bloodstream of Tibetan Buddhism."

Sager's new book "Beyond the Robe," published by powerHouse Books, tells the story of the "Science for Monks" program over this 12-year period and what it reveals about the larger role Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns can play in their monasteries, in their communities, and in the world at large. "Beyond the Robe" is a collection of essays and Sager's photographs illustrating the first insights and observations that have come out of that historic effort, including an insider's look at the monks and nuns involved in the program.

An excellent example of the potential for Tibetan monks and nuns to play a larger role is "Science, Monks and Technology," a new program by Sager Family Foundation and The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT announced at the October 16 event in Boston. The initiative creates a platform for Tibetan monks and nuns to collaborate with engineering and business students at MIT in designing and implementing technologies that can impact communities in the Tibetan diaspora, such as solar power or clean water.

"Monks have long served as leaders and community organizers in the Tibetan diaspora in India and Nepal; Science, Monks and Technology will enable them to add an additional dimension to their societal contribution," said the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, director of the Dalai Lama Center at MIT.

For information about Sager Family Foundation, visit www.teamsager.org, become a fan on Facebook, or join the conversation on Twitter at @SagerFoundation. For information about The Dalai Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, go to thecenter.mit.edu.

To purchase "Beyond the Robe," go to www.beyondtherobe.org. A preview is available at www.powerhousebooks.com/preview/beyondtherobepreview.pdf. All of Sager Family Foundation's proceeds from this book are going to support programs that promote teaching Western science to Tibetan monks and nuns.

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The riches of Tibet

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Mumbai, India -- The Buddha may have lived a simple life and advocated the middle path for his followers, but there’s nothing average about Buddhist sacred art and traditional Tibetan jewellery.“ Think of it as a sculpted painting,” says designer Sapan More, whose most recent exhibition shows jewellery inspired by ancient Buddhist art.

The pieces on display show impressive craftsmanship. Some of her jewellery uses tiny figurines of the Buddha - some no bigger than an inch - carved out of corals and stones, and inlaid with semi-precious stones and silver filigree work. “This is the most intricate jewellery you will find in this part of the world,” she says.

More was six years old when she took the first steps towards becoming a designer: she started instructing tailors on how to design her clothes. Born in Kathmandu, her father’s Japanese textile business formed her world back then. She didn’t know that a few houses away from her home, young boys her age were learning and keeping alive the ancient craft of creating Tibetan jewellery.

By the time More was 21, she was certain she wanted to be a designer. When More stumbled upon traditional Tibetan jewellery, she was inspired by its beauty and skill. As a local, she had an advantage: she met the craftsmen and artists, got to know them well and gained their confidence.

This was necessary because most artists in Nepal - thangka artists, silversmiths, sculptors etc - don’t want to share their techniques with strangers. Much of the art and craft that More sources traces its roots back to the art of the thangka. Thangkas are Tibetan silk paintings that feature intricate painted and and/ or embroidered (in gold) Buddhist deities, scenes and mandalas (geometric patterns that have different significance in Buddhist culture, representing the universe or serving as a receptacle for deities).

“Their craft is very clannish. They will not let it get out of the family,” says More. Unfortunately, most of Nepal’s younger generation isn’t particularly interested in carrying on these traditions.
More, who has lived in Mumbai for the past 15 years, now visits Nepal every few months, partly to see her parents and to source more jewellery. Finding Tibetan jewellery in Nepal is easy but not all of it is genuine and neither is it necessarily of high quality. “Ever since the fall of the royal family about a decade ago, things have turned worse in Nepal. The economy isn’t great and tourism is extremely scarce. Most artists prefer making and selling low quality products at cheaper rates because they sell more,” says More.

Most of the Tibetan jewellery that More has displayed is based on Tibetan Buddhist traditions that find their way into pendants and bracelets; usually taking the form of Buddhist deities and motifs placed on circular backgrounds. The motifs are all handcrafted on material like coral, shell and turquoise. Some are studded with precious stones like rubies and emeralds. The designs are Tibetan; the silver is Indian and the bejewelled details may be sourced from places as close to home as Jaipur or as far-flung as Japan and China.

Some of the items on display are original pieces that she bought back from her Nepal trips and others are her own original designs. Usually, More’s contribution to the jewellery is at the planning stages, when she gives her colour and size preferences to the artists. More’s designs retain the traditional heft and boldness of Tibetan jewellery. “They do a lot of work with copper and silver and occasionally on 24 carat gold,” says More. Once the elements that the Nepali artisans are making for her have been completed, she adds beads and string accents to create the final piece.

More hopes that by displaying such works, she can help people understand that Tibetan jewellery, no matter how heavy or traditional, can work well as a fashion statement. Which is why many of her designed pieces can be matched with the clothes that are also on display. “It’s all a matter of design,” she says.

Sapan More’s Treasures from Tibet will be on till Sunday, October 27 at Artisan’s art gallery.

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A Monk Sentenced in Eastern Tibet, Another Presumed Dead

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Dharamshala, India -- Shonu, a monk as well as a staff member of Drakgo Monastery, Drakgo county, eastern Tibet whose whereabouts remained unknown since his arrest in February 2012, is in Mianyang Prison (Sichuan Province), according to Dharamshala based Tibetan Human Rights group.

<< Tibetan monk Shonu, 42, was sentenced in June 2012 to 18 months in prison for unknown charges

According to Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCRD), Shonu, 42, was sentenced in June 2012 to 18 months in prison for charges unknown at the moment.

In February 2012, security officers detained Shonu and four other staff members of Drakgo Monastery at an Internet café in Tridu (Chinese: Chengdu) city, capital of Sichuan Province. The whereabouts of the four monk officials: Tulku Lobsang Tenzin, a reincarnated lama; Geshe Tsewang Namgyal , a teacher and a staff; Thinlay, manager; and Tashi Topgyal aka Dralha, accountant, remain unknown to this day.

Shonu was born in 1969 in Garwa village in Drakgo County. In 1987, he joined Drepung Loseling Monastery in south India to study Buddhism. He returned and began working at Drakgo Monastery. He was arrested soon after the 23 January 2012 protests in Drango (Chinese: Luhuo/Chaggo).

The case of another ‘missing' monk, Tsering Gyaltsen of Drakgo Monastery, has taken a curious turn. In May 2012, less than four months after his arrest and subsequent ‘disappearance', Tsering Gyatsen's family and relatives held necessary rites and rituals to observe his ‘death' after sustained efforts to know about his whereabouts failed, the same source told TCHRD. Although he is presumed dead by his family members, they have yet to receive his 'body'.

On 9 February 2012, Tsering Gyaltsen, 40, was severely beaten and detained by Public Security Bureau personnel. He was born in Norpa village in Drakgo County. At a young age, he became a monk at Drakgo Monastery.

An unspecified number of Tibetans had been detained or ‘disappeared' soon after the 23 and 24 January 2012 protests in Drakgo, Sertha (Chinese: Seda) and Ngaba County. The protests themselves were violently suppressed by security forces who fired upon unarmed Tibetan protesters in Drakgo, injuring over 36 and killing six known Tibetans.

On 22 March 2012, Xinhua, the Chinese government-owned news agency reported the sentencing of seven Tibetans to 10 to 13 years imprisonment for their participation in the protest in Drakgo. On 26 April 2012, the Intermediate People's Court in Kardze (Chinese:Ganzi) Prefecture sentenced 16 Tibetans, including both monks and laymen, for their alleged involvement in the 23 January 2012 protest in Drakgo.

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Self-immolation cases spread beyond monks, nuns in Tibet over Chinese repression

On Wednesday, two more young Tibetans, a mother and a monk, set themselves on fire in protest against the continued exile of the Dalai Lama and the lack of freedom in Tibet, raising the number of Tibetan self-immolations to 45, most of them having taken place since March 2011.
The immolations started with Buddhist monks and nuns, who see themselves in an increasingly desperate struggle for the ancient land and its people, and who say that their Tibetan identity and faith is being stamped out by aggressive Chinese policies and actions.

Yet, 13 of the self-immolations in Tibet this year suggest that ordinary Tibetans are starting to torch themselves, and that the cases appear to be spreading geographically and are less confined to a few dissident monasteries.
"The self-immolations have now jumped a number of fences. There are more of them and they are more diverse," Christian Science Monitor quoted Steven Marshall, a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in Washington, who had extensive experience in Tibet in the 1980s and 1990s, as saying.

"We are seeing immolations in the lay community, not only among monks and nuns where it started. It is also spreading into a greater area, not just the [Tibet Autonomous Region], but Qinghai and Gansu [provinces abutting the Tibet Autonomous Region]."

While the Dalai Lama has consistently opposed self-immolations as a violation of the sacredness of life, Tibetans are continuing to do it in an act seen as indicative of their depth of desperation."They are calling for Dalai Lama's return because they are in this very serious moment, very serious, in which the Tibetan nation, identity, culture, the spiritual tradition, are all being closed down by Chinese aggression," Kate Saunders, the spokeswoman for International Campaign for Tibet in London, said.

In Tibetan monasteries, China continues to oversee aspects of religious instruction, control the appointment of teachers, give patriotic loyalty tests-actions that many Tibetans protest as serious infringements by Beijing on the faith.
Photos of the Dalai Lama in Tibet are forbidden.

"All monasteries must display pictures of Mao Zedong and Chinese President Hu Jintao and fly the Chinese flag. In numerous monasteries, forced patriotic reeducation campaigns are under way," states Lobsang Sangay, who now heads a newly democratic government in exile in Dharamsala, India, in a statement this week.

Some Tibetan experts say the past year of self-immolations represent a "tipping point" in the deepening clashes between locals and Chinese authorities.
The region, meanwhile, is shut off from most foreign and Western journalists, NGOs, and human rights groups.

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China plans £3bn theme park in Tibet

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Authorities want to attract 15 million tourists to Tibet per year but local groups worry about damage to traditional culture

Lhasa, Tibet (China) -- Chinese officials have announced plans to build a £3bn Tibetan culture theme park outside Lhasa in three to five years.

<< Jokhang temple in Lhasa, Tibet
A worshipper at Jokhang temple in Lhasa: Chinese authorities say proposed theme park would reduce tourist pressure on the city's main sights. Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian

Authorities see developing tourism as crucial to the economic future of Tibet and have set a goal of attracting 15 million tourists a year by 2015, generating up to 18bn yuan (£1.8bn), in a region with a population of just 3 million.

But Tibetan groups have expressed concern that the surge in tourism has also eroded traditional culture and that the income has economically benefited Han Chinese more than Tibetans.

Ma Xinming, deputy mayor of the city, told journalists that the park would cover 800 hectares (1980 acres) on a site just over a mile from the centre. He said it would improve the Tibetan capital's attractiveness to tourists and be a landmark for its cultural industry, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The mayor said it would include attractions themed around Princess Wencheng – the seventh-century niece of a Tang-dynasty emperor who married a king from Tibet's Yarlung dynasty – whose tale has been embraced by Chinese authorities as a parable of ethnic harmony.

The park will include outdoor shows about the princess, along with other educational and entertainment facilities. Business and residential districts would also be included.

Ma said the park would also reduce tourist pressure on the Jokhang Temple and the Barkhor in the heart of old Lhasa, helping to protect the city's heritage.

According to state media, the number of visitors to the region rose by 25.7% year-on-year in the first five months of 2012. The tourism bureau has said Tibet expects 10 million tourists this year – up one million from last year – with tourism revenues growing to 12bn yuan. But foreigners were last month indefinitely banned from visiting, amid growing tension.

The announcement came after two Tibetan men set fire to themselves in Lhasa. Tibetan areas across western China have seen a spate of self-immolations, with those involved protesting against Chinese policies.

Officials in China often see theme parks as a way to develop tourism, though many have failed to attract the investment and visitors they anticipated. Whether the Lhasa government ends up building the project on the massive scale envisaged remains to be seen.

Professor Robert Barnett, an expert on Tibetan culture at Columbia University, said that while some officials had talked about environmentally and culturally appropriate tourism in Tibet, "this represents a nail in the coffin – symbolically and perhaps practically – of attempts by Tibetans and Chinese to promote that."

He added: "To recoup that cost, you have to have tourism on an unimaginable scale."

Barnett said Tibetans might well go to the theme park themselves, but would also be likely to question whether it was good for their culture and worth the huge investment.

"They are very acutely aware of these issues ... but I am not sure they have any form to ask them publicly," he said.

Xinhua reported last month that officials have also earmarked more than 400m yuan to develop tourism in Nyingchi prefecture in southeastern Tibet, renowned for its scenic beauty.

In addition to creating an international "Swiss-style" tourism town, the schemes will involve building 22 "model villages", where tourists will be able to enjoy homestays. Critics have warned the plan could damage the fragile environment.

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Tibet: So near yet so far

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Van Schaik exposes China on Dalai Lama

New Delhi, India -- Though we share thousands of kilometers of our border with Tibet, our knowledge of that country woeful. One reason for it the forbidding presence the Himalayas that limits intercourse.

<< Tibet: A history by Sam Van Schaik; Amaryllis; Yale; Rs.695

The other, more germane, is the fact that China, which now controls Tibet, disputes the entire length of its border with India. This led to a short war in 1962 that brought defeat to India. Since then, the border has been marked by a Line Actual Control, which a virtual line, not a real one, that remains to be determined.

Yet in the last two decades, Tibet has opened itself to even Indians. Well-heeled people often fly to Lhasa and hire SUVs visit Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash, or catch a helicopter ride from Nepal. Even so, where Indians are concerned, the relationship is anything but neighbourly - trade is permitted across some points, and the only cross-border point where you can enter Tibet is through Lipu Lekh pass in Uttarakhand.

Sam Van Schaik's book is an ideal entry point for anyone keen know about or travel to Tibet. Written in an easy narrative style, the book takes you through its early history, its contact with Buddhism, China, Mongolia and India, the emergence of the lama system, and the rise and fall of the Dalai Lama. early the Studies Though Tibet rest as everything kingdom Shangri-status Though world, that there ambiguous main fact and Dalai Lama. Van Schaik is a specialist in early Buddhism and a lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Though a neighbour of India, Tibet is remote and exotic for the rest of the world. It has been seen everything from a xenophobic kingdom run by monks to the Shangri-la. More intriguing is the status of Tibet as a political entity.

Though most countries of the world, including India, recognise that Tibet is part of China, there is something ambiguous about its status. In the main this arises from the fact that its last spiritual and temporal ruler, the Dalai Lama, lives in exile with over tens of thousands Tibetans who fled Chinese rule. The Chinese have poured in a vast fortune to transform the region, but they have not been able to get the loyalty of Tibetans.

Van Schaik brings out the important distinction between the ethnographic Tibet and the political. Ethnographically, Tibet has extended beyond its political boundaries as the ' Tibet Autonomous Region of China' - it stretches out into the provinces of Chinghai, Amdo, Kham, Hor, Gansu and Sichuan. Indeed, one of the striking aspects of the recent protests of Tibetans have been their occurrence in this extended Greater Tibet area where Tibetans today are in a minority. Historically, too, Tibetan kings controlled a vast empire between the 8th and 17th centuries that extended from modern Xinjiang to territories deep into China in the east.

Though China was a great power, Tibet was never its vassal, but actually at many points its equal. Theirs was a complex relationship where Tibetan lamas were preceptors to Chinese emperors and warlords.

Van Schaik takes us through the twists and turns of Tibetan history, both political and religious. Indeed, it is not surprising that they were often intertwined. India looms large in this, not as a conqueror, but as a provider of teachers and tradition. Many of the names - Shantarakshita, Padmasambhava, Kamalashila, Shraddhakaravarman and Atisha, to name but a few - played a significant role in shaping the Buddhist culture of Tibet. Mongol rule left a strong imprint on Tibet, but after the collapse of the Mongol Empire in the middle of the 14th century, Tibet became free of military incursions and developed good relations with the Ming dynasty that succeeded the Mongols in China.

The Mings were succeeded by the Manchus, who invited the Dalai Lama to become the preceptor of their emperor. Chinese historians often cite this to claim that the Dalai Lama had submitted to the Chinese government, but the reality is much more complex, and Van Schaik notes that this interpretation is " hardly borne out by either the Tibetan or the Chinese records of the time".

The history of the Chinese conquest of Tibet in 1949-50 is better known, as is the flight of the Dalai Lama and his exile in India. The Chinese ought to have learnt by now that material progress is not everything.

Tibetans yearn for something more than what the Chinese are willing to offer. The Chinese now probably hope that with the passing of the present Dalai Lama, they will control his succession. But things have never been simple in the complex history of China and Tibet.

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Buddhist nun sets herself on fire as Tibet protests intensify

The nun's self-immolation now means that a total of nine Tibetan monks and nuns have set themselves on fire this year ? and seven in the last calendar month ? apparently in defiance of China's moves to suppress ethnic Tibetan dissent in the region.

Tenzin Wangmo, 20, is said to have cried out for religious freedom and the return of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, before setting herself on fire on Monday. She is reported to have died at the scene.

Free Tibet said the latest suicide in Aba prefecture ? a restive ethnic Tibetan corner of Sichuan Province that borders the Tibetan Autonomous Region ? suggested that the protest movement in Tibet was now growing.

"The unrest in Tibet is escalating and widening. The number and frequency of self-immolations is unprecedented," said Stephanie Brigden, director of Free Tibet.

"Information from Tibet suggests there are more who are willing to give their lives, determined to draw global attention to the persistent and brutal violations Tibetans suffer under Chinese occupation."

She added: "The acts of self-immolation are not taking place in isolation, protests have been reported in the surrounding region and calls for wider protests are growing."

Free Tibet, which also reported that security forces shot and wounded two Tibetans during a protest in Sichuan on Sunday, warned of local reports of envelopes being distributed in restaurants and shops calling for further actions on Wednesday.

According to credible information from inside the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, a large number of Tibetans were planning attend temples on Wednesday to pray and peacefully demonstrate solidarity with those who had lost their lives in this year?s protests. ?This indicates that news of the protests is broadening and is widely understood,? Ms Brigden of Free Tibet told The Telegraph.

China's government is facing mounting international concern over the deteriorating situation in Tibet which has been in the midst of a severe security clampdown since March 2008 when a wave of anti-Chinese riots hit the Tibetan Plateau, including the capital Lhasa.

The startling round of self-immolations began on March 16, on the third anniversary of the 2008, riots which left 10 Tibetans dead and prompted a new series of "strike hard" campaigns against Tibetans, rights groups said.

After a second self-immolation in August and two more in September, the rate of attempted suicides has picked up sharply this month, with monks setting themselves on fire on October 3, October 7 and October 15.

The focus of the protests in Aba prefecture has been Kirti Monastery, where the first self-immolation took place in March and where Tibetan groups said the Chinese authorities had subsequently staged a "patriotic re-education campaign".

Free Tibet said the number of monks at the monastery had fallen to 600 from 2,500 during a six-month campaign, with at least three months handed 10-13 year jail sentences for 'assisting' in the original self-immolation in March.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said that Aba had been the scene of "brutal" security raids, arbitrary detentions of monks, increased surveillance within monasteries, and a permanent police presence inside monasteries to monitor religious activities.

Sophie Richardson, the group's China director said the measures were "exacerbating the tensions" and called on the Chinese government to address underlying grievances in the Tibetan region, in a statement issued last week.

China fiercely rejects any attempt at outside interference in Tibet, banning journalists or any independent monitors from travelling to the region and making it impossible to get independent verification of the claims of both sides.

Since taking control of Tibet in the 1950 and driving the Dalai Lama into exile in India following a failed uprising in 1959, China says it's economic and social reforms have freed many ordinary people from the bonds of what it says was a 'feudal' state.

Last week China's Foreign Ministry responded to the spate of self-immolations, condemning Tibetan rights groups and the government-in-exile in Dharamsala for drawing attention to them as a way to inspire more Tibetans to kill themselves.

"They publicly played it up, spread rumours and incited more people to follow suit," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Beijing, labelling the self-immolations as part of a "separatist plot" to end Chinese rule in Tibet.

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The Trouble Brewing Inside Tibet

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An unprecedented series of suicides erodes Beijing’s repressive policies, hinting at a new wave of unrest

Dhramsala, India -- What is responsible for the unprecedented recent spate of Tibetans setting themselves afire? Over the past eight months, nine monks, former monks and a nun have immolated themselves. At least five have died, in what they have said is an attempt to send a message about dramatically deteriorating relations between Beijing and Tibetans.

Tibetan Buddhists say growing religious repression has gripped the Ngaba (sometimes called Aba) prefecture of China’s eastern Sichuan Province. The most recent incidents have occurred in Kirti Gompa, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and the site of frequent unrest over the past three years. Ngaba County is in a state of siege, activists say.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of encouraging separatism, saying that the self-immolations are part of a plan to violently overthrow Chinese rule in Tibet. Beijing has angrily rejected any foreign interference in regard to Tibet, insisting that Tibet is an integral part of the People’s Republic of China. Authorities have imposed a news blackout and restricted access to the region, making it difficult to independently verify any information coming out of the Tibetan areas.

“In the wake of the incidents, overseas Tibet independence forces and the Dalai Lama group did not criticize the cases but on the contrary glorified such cases and incited more people to follow suit," a Chinese government spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said at a daily news briefing in Beijing. "As we know, such splittist activity at the cost of human life is violence and terrorism in disguise."

The latest self-immolation came on Oct. 17 when Tenzin Wangmo died outside the Dechen Chokorling nunnery. The 20-year-old nun before setting herself ablaze called for religious freedom, an independent Tibet and the return of their exiled spiritual head, the 14th Dalai Lama, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

“That Tibetans feel they must resort to such a form of protest is illustrative of their desperation in the face of China’s brutal and oppressive policies,” said Stephanie Bridgen, director of Free Tibet, a London-based protest NGO. “These young Tibetans (all are under the age of 30, and many are teenagers) are willing to give their lives in order to draw international attention to China’s occupation of Tibet, one of the world’s greatest and longest-standing human rights crises.”

Observers believe the deadly pattern is linked to Chinese authorities’ strict policies and in particular the imposition of regulations in the Kirti monasteries to force ‘patriotic education” onto Tibetan monks. The monks are being urged to sign declarations supporting the Chinese Communist Party. Reports suggest the authorities have made it all but impossible for the monks to go about their normal religious lives. They have reportedly been told to slander the Dalai Lama, which has triggered fresh debate over human rights inside Tibet itself.

The other likely reason is the impasse since January 2010 over talks between the Dalai Lama’s envoys and Beijing authorities. There is also fear over the succession of the current Dalai Lama. Beijing has announced its intention to choose its own reincarnation of the religious leader. In recent months a verbal war between the exiled Dalai Lama and the Communist regime has entered a new high.

At that, it is unsure if the reincarnation tradition will continue. Last month, the 76-year-old religious leader said that when he is ‘about 90’ he will consult the ‘high Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Tibetan public, and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism, and re-evaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not.’

“Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China,” the Buddhist prelate’s statement added.

“There …may be frustration contributing to the self-immolations: the inability of the Tibetan government in exile to attain negotiations with the Chinese government and therefore the lack of significant changes in the relationship between the state and monasteries, such as Kirti, where protest has been prevalent,” said Tibet expert Barry Sautman, an associate professor of social science from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

Although there is no general suppression of religion in China, Sautman said, there is interference with religious practices where there is state concern about separatism, particularly in Tibet and Xinjiang.

“There is a heavy security presence in most Tibetan areas, but the self-immolations have been largely confined to monks at one large monastery, Kirti Gompa, and associated small monasteries and nunneries,” he said.

“China’s policies in Tibet are aimed at cementing China’s occupation of Tibet,” the Free Tibet group told Asia Sentinel. “The Chinese Communist Party’s ruthless determination to integrate Tibet and Tibetans into the ‘Motherland’ is the root of the human rights violations, from arbitrary detentions, torture, lengthy imprisonment for ‘splittism,’ to violations of freedom of religion – including the imposition of patriotic re-education campaigns in monasteries such as Kirti, violations of freedom of expression, the systematic erosion of Tibetan as a language for public life. The Chinese regime works relentlessly to enforce loyalty to the Motherland and to eradicate loyalty to a distinct Tibetan identity which is seen as a threat to the State.”

The first reported self-immolation came of March 16, just after the third anniversary of 2008 riots when Phuntsok, a 21-year-old monk from Kirti monastery, set himself afire outside a hotel and died of his injuries. The pace began to pick up in August, with the death of another monk. In September, two young monks, both from Kirti monastery, were hospitalized in critical condition. Their whereabouts and condition are unknown. Five have immolated themselves in October, with three dying. The whereabouts and condition of the other two are unknown.

“Most Tibetans live in fear because of suppressive and unfair government policies but they dare not speak up," Tibetan writer and activist Tsering Woeser was quoted as saying. “Tibetan Buddhists can't use violence to protest; therefore they can only do violence to themselves, such as self-immolation, to make people pay attention to their situation. This is not suicide; this is sacrifice in order to draw the world's attention.”

In Dharamsala, the exile capital of Tibetans, the Dalai Lama led prayers for the victims on Oct. 19 as Tibetans tended butter lamps. Top lamas and other Tibetan settlements in exile also commemorated the self-immolations. After the prayers, young Tibetans took to the streets shouting anti-China slogans and burning China’s flag. The exiled head of one of the Kirti monastery’s sister complexes, established in Dharamsala, has described the situation in the monastery as a “virtual prison.” Elsewhere hunger strikes, candlelight vigils and protests were reported. Social networking websites are buzzing, calling for a free Tibet and trashing Beijing’s policies.

The elected political head of Tibetan exiles, Lobsang Sangay also paid tribute to the lives lost and expressed solidarity during the prayer service in which he urged China to loosen its control on Tibetan religious freedom and called on the United Nations to send fact-finding teams to the Himalayan region.

"We would like to appeal to the Chinese government to immediately stop its repressive policies in Tibet, and to resolve the issue of Tibet through peaceful means," Sangay said in a prepared statement. “Through its propaganda, Beijing shows a different image, but in reality China practices colonialism and systematic destruction of the unique Tibetan culture, religion, language, and environment because of which Tibetans have peacefully demonstrated time and again.”

China has invested heavily in developing Tibet and other areas with large Tibetan populations in the recent years, including rebuilding monasteries damaged during the Cultural Revolution. China on Oct.20 also opened a Tibet Buddhist Theological Institute, which aims to promote the study of Tibetan Buddhism, in the Tibet autonomous region. More than 600 people, including 150 newly-enrolled students as well as Buddhist delegates and government officials, attended a grand opening ceremony held in the regional capital of Lhasa, according to the state-owned news service Xinhua.

However major world powers and human right have shown serious concerns to the recent incidents believing the tension have reached a critical state. The US State Department in an Oct. 20 press briefing said that: “These acts clearly represent anger and frustration with regard to Tibetan human rights, including religious freedom, inside China. We urge Chinese leaders to address counterproductive policies in Tibetan areas that have created tensions; and to protect Tibet’s unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity,” it said.

A German Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Oct. 21 that China should ‘shape its policies to reduce the existing tension’ and also urged the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to use his influence to stop the young nuns and monks from killing themselves.

The New York based Human Rights Watch indicates from its latest report that the conflict is partly a result of heavy-handed tactics by the security forces. Beijing’s spending on ‘public security’ in Ngaba region is 4.5 times higher the amount spent on keeping the peace in other parts of Sichuan.

Tseten Peldon Zöchbauer, an exiled Tibetan living in Vienna, says: “If the bravest (those self-immolated Tibetans inside Tibet) leave, who'll resist? I think by now most Tibetans prefer to die than to become Chinese but it is time to unite and bring the democratic world to take responsibility by urging a fact finding delegation entering most urgently to Tibet.

And while the more the Dalai Lama and Beijing are at odds given the impasse over Tibet talks and over the incarnation, the more will remain fear among the Tibetans whose fidelity for their religious head is unquestionable. Their responses of support by such demonstrations and actions appeal to the world to understand the gravity of situation inside Tibet.

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Saransh Sehgal is based in the Tibetan exile community of Dharamsala, India. He can be reached at saranshsehgal@gmail.com

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Richard Gere speaks out on suffering in Tibet

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Seoul, South Korea -- American actor and practicing Tibetan Buddhist Richard Gere spoke out on the sufferings of Tibetans under Chinese occupation in Seoul, Wednesday.

“I think it’s impossible to look at these photographs and not realize the extraordinary suffering of the Tibetan people,” Gere told reporters at a press conference promoting his Tibet-themed photo exhibition at Seoul Arts Center. “I think when you see these photographs you have to be aware of the political situation there to understand the depth where I was coming from in offering this exhibition.”

The exhibition, “Pilgrim,” features a total of 64 photographs of Tibet and India taken by Gere, as well as 24 photos of Tibet by 24 renowned photographers, including Annie Leibovitz, Steve Meisel and Jerry Uelsmann. The exhibition currently on at Seoul Arts Center runs till July 24.

Gere, who is the co-founder of the Tibet House in New York City and a persistent advocate for the Tibetan independence movement, is banned from entering China. The photos on exhibit are from a 1993 trip to China and Tibet, the only time he was able to visit those countries.
Hollywood star and practicing Tibetan Buddhist Richard Gere speaks at a press conference promoting his Tibet-themed photo exhibition at the Seoul Arts Center in Seoul, Wednesday. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald)

Back in the late 1980s, while travelling in India, Gere came across a wall that had a series of drawings of Tibetan nuns being tortured by the Chinese in Tibet. He took a photograph of the wall at the time.

“And in 1993, during my only visit in Tibet, I was able to encounter three nuns who had been just released from Chinese prison in Tibet,” Gere told reporters. “And they told me exactly the same stories (with the drawings). So I included the picture of them in the montage of these drawings that I’d seen on the wall.”

Gere did not hesitate to openly criticize the Chinese government for their occupation of Tibet.

“The same kind of torture and deaths in Chinese prisons in Tibet is still taking place today,” Gere said. “Of course it’s not only in Tibet. The Chinese communist government does it to their own people in China as well.”

Such political remarks were contrary to what art CDI, the Korean PR company for Gere’s exhibition in Seoul, told the press prior to the conference.

The PR company had requested that Gere not be asked “questions that are too political” as he was feeling "sensitive" about the local press. Gere, who seemed to be unaware of art CDI’s request, volunteered to talk about the political situation in Tibet without a reporter asking him about it.

The Hollywood star arrived in Seoul on Monday along with his wife, actress Carey Lowell and their son, Homer Gere, to promote his exhibition and experience Korea’s traditional Buddhist culture.

On Tuesday Gere met with Ven. Jaseung, the head of the Jogye Order, Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, at Jogye Temple in central Seoul. The practicing Buddhist signed the temple’s guest book with a message that wished “peace and happiness” for all beings in the world.

“I had a very nice time there,” Gere told reporters about his visit to Jogye Order on Wednesday. “The monks and nuns were so lovely and generous to us. We had the most extraordinary meal across the street from the temple. Really, really nice vegetarian meal. The Jogye form of Buddhism was actually the first form of Buddhism that I studied.”

Gere said although he has met a lot of Korean students of the Dalai Lama in the past and is very much interested in taking photos to do with Korean Buddhism, he thinks he still needs more time to explore the country first.

“What I am aware of is that Buddhism first came to Korea in the 6th century,” Gere said. “And there has been a direct continuity of very high-level Buddhism here in Korea since the very beginning. So I’d really like to explore how that has influenced the culture here and how it can affect in a very modern way present day and future.”

Gere is scheduled to visit Donghwa Temple near Daegu and Tongdo Temple near Yangsan City, South Gyeongsang Province, on Thursday. He will be participating in meditation, chanting and other Buddhist practices that are part of the “temple experience” programs at the two temples.

He is scheduled to leave on Saturday.

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More protests in eastern Tibet, many Tibetans detained

?Nine Tibetans, consisting of a monk of Dhargyal Monastery, four nuns, two lay women, and two youths, staged protests on Saga Dawa, a major Buddhist festival observed on 15 June,? RFA quoted a Tibetan resident of Kardze as saying.

?Their names and other details about them are not known. However, the movements of local people are restricted, and armed police are everywhere.?

The monk from Dhargyal Monastery was identified as Ngawang Lobsang Yoyo, 37.

?On 14 June, he made offerings at the Kardze monastery and prayed in front of a photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,? a Tibetan living India with contacts in Kardze told RFA.

?Then, at about 7:00 a.m. On 15 June, he went to downtown Kardze and chose a spot where the largest number of people had gathered for the holiday. He threw leaflets into the air and knelt down, folding his hands in appeal and calling out for a few minutes for the long life of the Dalai Lama and for the freedom of Tibet,? the man said.

Shortly afterward, the protesting monk was detained and taken away by Chinese security forces, the man said.

A Chinese police official in Kardze answered a phone call from RFA confirming that ?many? had been detained. ?But I don?t know the reasons why. I am busy,? he said, before hanging up.

Meanwhile, a local Tibetan said that Chinese police had blocked Kardze?s downtown area from two sides.

?Monks and nuns are not allowed to enter the city area,? he said, adding that Tibetans traveling from outside villages and nomadic areas must seek permission from local officials before entering Kardze.

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