Dalai Lama avoids political speech at Buddhist meet

New Delhi, November 30
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama today carefully avoided making any political statement lest he gets into a controversy at the global Buddhist congregation in the backdrop of the indefinite postponement of the India-China boundary talks.
The four-day conference concluded this evening with the Dalai Lama’s 30-minute valedictory address in which he spoke about different religions, disappointing many in the audience who were expecting him to at least make a passing reference to the situation in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
A scheduled press interaction of the Dalai Lama immediately after the concluding ceremony was cancelled at the last minute by the organisers. Perhaps, they were under instructions from the Indian Government not to allow the media to talk to the Dalai Lama.
As the Dalai Lama was leaving the conference venue, reporters sought his reaction to the postponement of the Sino-Indian border talks, the Tibetan spiritual leader smiled and said “this is a political question… no comment.’’
In his religious discourse, the Dalai Lama said Buddha’s teachings were as relevant today as they were centuries back. “All religions have the potential to create a better world…we all must follow the practice of self-discipline.’’
However, what may irritate Beijing is that the congregation decided to form a new international body, called the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), which will be headquartered in India and serve as a common platform for Buddhists worldwide. “The IBC will operate under the over-arching theme of collective wisdom, united voice and universal responsibility’’, a resolution adopted by delegates from 46 countries said.
It may be mentioned here that China sought postponement of the boundary talks which were to be held on November 28-29 here as they would have coincided with the Buddhist conclave. Beijing wanted the cancellation of the Dalai Lama’s address to the conference but New Delhi refused to do so, saying it was a meeting of religious nature. Top Indian leaders or officials, however, avoided attending the meet.
Meanwhile, Chinese delegates were conspicuous by their absence at a conference ‘Trans Boundary Rivers-Multilateral Framework for Cooperation’, organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis and an Oslo-based research institute. Two Chinese delegates - Eri Hangdan and Jianchu Xu - were to attend the conference but withdrew at the last minute.


Source Credit: The Tribune

China's moral authority hinges on finding solution to issue of Tibet, says Kalon Tripa

DHARAMSHALA: In an interview with Deutsche Welle in Berlin on Thursday, Kalon Tripa Dr Lobsang Sangay said that China's moral authority in the world hinged upon it finding a solution to the Tibetan question.

Without morality, Beijing will be feared perhaps but it won't be respected, he said, and yet this is intrinsic to great power status.

Kalon Tripa said the self-immolations by Tibetans were an act of despair committed by desperate people and that they were in reaction to the repressive policies of the Chinese government.

"However, we do not encourage anybody to choose this form of protest," he insisted. "Life is very valuable," he said and pointed out that the Dalai Lama had also spoken out against them," Dr Sangay added.

"The self-immolations are a sign of hopelessness because many Tibetans believe that the world is no longer interested in their fate," he said, adding that any sign of support from famous people or governments was important. He said such support could once again create hope.

Dr Lobsang Sangay said he was very disappointed that South Africa had refused the Dalai Lama an entry visa in October to attend Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu's birthday celebrations. "A friend of the greatest South African leader, who worked so hard for democracy and Nelson Mandela's release, refuses him entry. That makes me very sad."

He said he had nothing against doing business with China but that one should not throw all one's principles overboard.

In the past 50 years, Dr Lobsang Sangay explained, Tibet has invested in non-violence, democracy and dialogue. If the Tibetans are dropped the message sent out to others struggling for autonomy will be devastating - that violence does not pay.

Dr Lobsang Sangay pointed out that it would be in China's own interest to help Tibet find a "middle way" for autonomy within a Chinese state structure. He even said this would work with the current Chinese constitution. "The 'one country, two systems' model is already practiced in Hong Kong and Macau. Beijing even seems willing to grant Taiwan more autonomy," he said but added that this was perhaps because Chinese people live there, whereas Beijing is wary of Tibetans.

Source Credit: Tibet.net

India-China border talks cancelled over Dalai Lama row: Report PTI | Nov 26, 2011, 07.57PM IST

NEW DELHI: The reported Chinese demand for cancellation of the Dalai Lama's speech at a Buddhist congregation here next week is believed to have led to the postponement of India-China border talks scheduled for Monday.

The Chinese side is said to have called off the 15th round of the talks between Special Representatives (SR) of both the sides after India refused to accept their demand that the congregation which was to be addressed by the Tibetan spiritual leader be called off.

The Dalai Lama was to address the valedictory function of the four-day Global Buddhist Congregation, co-organised by the Public Diplomacy division of the external affairs ministry, on Wednesday.

The Indian side is believed to have conveyed to China that the xongregation was of a religious nature and not a political event and it cannot cancel it.

There was no official word on the reasons for the cancellation of the SR talks from both side.

The Chinese embassy here also declined to comment.

Chinese Special Representative Dai Bingguo was to travel to Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart Shivshankar Menon to follow up on their talks in the 14th round in Beijing in November last year.

The external affairs ministry issued a terse statement "We are looking forward to the 15th round of SRs talks in the near future and the two sides remain in touch to find convenient dates for the meeting."

Dai and Menon were expected to discuss putting in place a mechanism for border management mooted by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his visit to India last year. A decision to set up the mechanism was taken at a meeting Wen had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Sanya in April.

Source credit: Times of India

Tibet: Self-immolation won’t trigger China Spring

Source  Credit: Zeenews.com

In recent months, many Tibetan monks and nuns have set themselves ablaze to protest China's rule in Tibet. As expected, angry Chinese officials claim that the protests are sponsored by the Dalai Lama.

In an exclusive interview with Kamna Arora of Zeenews.com, Dr Dibyesh Anand, an expert on Tibet, discusses the reason behind self-immolations and evaluates the response of the Dalai Lama and China.

Dr Dibyesh Anand is Associate Professor of International Relations at London's Westminster University and the author of 'Tibet: A Victim of Geopolitics'.

Kamna: Why have Tibetans resorted to self-immolations to challenge China’s policies? What is happening in these Tibetan communities?

Dr Anand: Tibetan resistance against the Chinese rule has taken various forms, often subtle like the possession of the banned picture of the Dalai Lama in prayer rooms, but occasionally spectacular like the massive protests across the Tibetan plateau in 2008 or the recent spate of self-immolations.

Self-immolation protests should be understood in terms of continuity with a politics of resistance and not as a radical break from the past. Even though this form involves violence against one's own body, it is in the tradition of politics that avoids harming the oppressor and seeks to raise awareness and remind the Chinese government and the rest of the world that Tibetan people are facing a crisis in their everyday life. The exact causes and specific forms of state repression in this locality are unlikely to be known to any outsider for a simple reason - the Chinese government allows no independent media, researcher or observer. Limited information coming out suggests a combination of factors including an overzealous implementation of hardline policies, closing off all avenues for expressing disquiet, and a total securitisation of every aspect of life.

The Dalai Lama is more than a religious leader or a sacred figure to the Tibetans. He is the symbol of the Tibetan nation. A constant attack on the Dalai Lama by the Chinese government is seen as nothing but contempt for the Tibetan way of life and disrespect to the dignity of Tibetan people. Now, if an individual Tibetan wants to protest against this, what avenues does he have? So, a highly repressive system and desperation amongst the Tibetans to highlight the injustices they suffer create the explosive climate in which self-immolations take place. But there is another factor here - a rapidly changing social context in which self-immolation becomes an acceptable practice, in fact a martyrdom. The more individuals burn themselves in protests, the greater chances there are of additional people doing the same in solidarity unless the context and content of the Chinese rule changes.

Since the Chinese government seems to be implementing even harsher security regime in response to the renewed protests to prevent the information from spreading out of the area, the tragic situation is set to get worse.

Kamna: Who is to be blamed for this?

Dr Anand: China is a huge country ruled by a complex network of institutions. Contrary to the commonly held myth of Communist Party of China as a monolith, there are several factors involved in governing minority areas. Whether the primary fault lies with overzealous local officials or with Beijing's overall Tibet policy, it cannot be denied that China is facing a crisis of credibility in Tibetan regions. Its familiar approach of blaming the Dalai Lama for all the problems in Tibet contradicts its own denial of there being any 'Tibet issue' or its stance that Tibetans are happy members of the great Chinese motherland and the Dalai Lama is an insignificant figure.

Given the top-down system that China has, one wonders whether the top leadership ever gets to hear an honest appraisal of the approach toward Tibet. A free and independent media may have enabled the wider Chinese population to know of the tragedy in Tibet. But on the other hand, it may also have fanned a hypernationalist anti-Tibetan antagonism.

Kamna: How can Tibetans challenge China’s policies otherwise?

Dr Anand: It is tempting to buy the narrative that Tibetans have no option but to give up their life. This is the main message being relayed by exile Tibetan activists and their supporters. But this is only part of the full picture. The attitude of Tibetans inside Tibet toward China ranges from complicity to antipathy. Tibetans who work within the current system in China are not betraying their people or culture. Many of them contribute significantly in ensuring the survival of Tibetan religion and culture. They are compelled to be more creative in surviving and at the same time being subversive. Experience of living as Tibetans inside China also exposes racism and discriminatory practices held by the Han majority. There are Tibetans in different parts of China who work tirelessly to make the system more equitable and just. They do not challenge China, but seek to bring a genuine harmony between Tibetans and other ethnic groups, a harmony based on dignity and not paternalism of the majority. Their focus is on incremental change. Therefore, this radical form of protest using self-immolation is neither inevitable nor desirable.

Let me clarify why it is not desirable. Some exile Tibetans point out to the self-immolation by a young vendor in Tunisia triggering a serious delegitimation of the existing government and the start of the Arab Spring. This is a wrong example. If self-immolations lead to a moral self-reflection amongst the population in whose name the government operates, it may have some importance. In the case of Tibetan self-immolations, since the Chinese government censors all information and because the Han attitude toward the Tibetans ranges from racist chauvinism to paternalism, very few Chinese blame their government for the spate of deaths. On the contrary, if they ever find out about these protests, they are likely to be intrigued by what they consider to be excess religiosity of Tibetans because taking of one's own life for political purpose is incomprehensible to those who do not understand how unfair their government's policies are.

Kamna: Do you find Dalai Lama’s response to self-immolations satisfactory?

Dr Anand: The Dalai Lama's stance on self-immolations is clear. He has expressed his opposition to it in the past. During the recent incidents, he has repeated his position but so far avoided urging Tibetans inside Tibet to resist giving up their life. This is understandable that his urge would increase frustration amongst the radicalised activists who respect him a lot. It has to be realised that the middle-way approach of solving the problem through negotiations has achieved nothing concrete. Even if he had urged, and if the spate of self-immolations had stopped, the Chinese government would have held that as a proof that it was the Dalai Lama who was orchestrating everything in the first place. If the self-immolations continued, Beijing would have said this proves that the Dalai Lama has no influence whatsoever. Personally, I had stated publicly that even at the risk of alienating their followers, it is incumbent upon the religious leaders to request Tibetans not to adopt this dangerous form of sacrifice. It was heartening to see the Karmapa urging the Tibetans that the struggle cannot continue if Tibetans lose their lives. Karmapa thus is stating publicly what the Dalai Lama's stance has been so far. The media should desist from seeing any chasm between the two senior most religious figures in exile for both share a similarity of outlook. If this form of protest continues, the Dalai Lama should however rethink whether it is not more important to try to dissuade his followers from giving up their lives as a matter of urgency rather than emphasise the causes of this misery - the repressive Chinese policies. These protests raise questions for the exile community in general. Since the Chinese policies are likely to get harsher, is self-immolation an effective form of protest if the aim is not martyrdom by all but the future of the Tibetan people?

Kamna: How should China address the causes of Tibet self-immolations?

Dr Anand: It first needs to acknowledge that its position of pretending there is no problem in Tibet is untenable. It then has to reflect as to why after more than half a century of the so-called 'democratic reforms', more Tibetans respect and venerate the Dalai Lama than ever before. Young Tibetans who have grown up in the Chinese system are often more alienated. Why? This is because while they may see Chinese rule as economically beneficial in absolute terms, relative to other ethnic groups, they feel discriminated against. More importantly, money and development cannot buy people's loyalty when their dignity is perceived to be trampled. China can bring about a revolutionary change in Tibetan attitude toward Beijing if it starts negotiating sincerely with the Dalai Lama and endeavours to get him back to his homeland. And until that happens, less of security and surveillance and more of empathy and understanding may be helpful. 

Dalai Lama questions wisdom of self-immolations

The Dalai Lama speaks exclusively to the BBC about his worries for Tibetan monks and nuns
The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, says he is very worried about the growing number of monks and nuns setting themselves on fire to protest against Chinese rule in Tibet.
He told the BBC he was not encouraging such actions - saying there was no doubt they required courage, but questioning how effective they were.
There have been 11 cases of self-immolation so far this year. Most have resulted in death - the latest a 35-year-old nun two weeks ago.
The BBC has obtained graphic footage of the moment she set herself alight, prompting horrified cries from onlookers. Later, Chinese security forces flooded the area.The shocking video footage was smuggled across the border to India and shown to the BBC.Tibetan monks and nuns are using self-immolation as the latest tactic in their struggle against 60 years of Chinese rule, says the BBC's Andrew North. But it is a sensitive issue for the man they are dying for - the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader.
'How much effect?'
In an interview with our correspondent, he said he was not encouraging his followers to sacrifice themselves - as alleged by China. "The question is how much effect" the self-immolations have, the Dalai Lama said. "That's the question. There is courage - very strong courage. But how much effect? "Courage alone is no substitute. You must utilise your wisdom." Asked whether he feared the actions could make life worse for people in Tibet, he said: "Many Tibetans sacrifice their lives. "Nobody knows how many people killed and tortured - I mean death through torture. Nobody knows. "But a lot of people suffer. But how much effect? The Chinese respond harder." China has condemned the self-immolation campaign as immoral and inhuman, saying it will never succeed. The growing number of monks and nuns prepared to set themselves on fire is a sign of increasing desperation in Tibet, our correspondent says. They know while the West has backed the Arab Spring, with China it talks with a much quieter voice, he says. That leaves Tibetans with few options to shine a light on their struggle. From inside Tibet, the word is that more monks are preparing to make the ultimate sacrifice, our correspondent adds.
Source Credit: BBC

Continue reading the main story

Exiled Abbot of Tibetan Monastery Rebukes China

The chief abbot and spiritual leader-in-exile of a Tibetan monastery at the epicenter of a series of self-immolation protests against Chinese rule spoke out forcefully in New York on Wednesday, detailing what he called new and harsh repressive measures taken against the resident monks at the monastery since the immolations started in March.

The abbot, Kirti Rinpoche, 70, said that the Chinese authorities had completely isolated the monastery, Kirti, in a restive area of Sichuan Province’s Ganzi prefecture known as Aba, or Ngaba in Tibetan.

He said that in the last eight months, the Chinese had installed surveillance cameras and deployed as many as 800 security officials inside the monastery as part of an intense “patriotic re-education campaign” meant to prevent any more self-immolations. Although he did not have an exact figure for the number of monks now residing at the monastery,  he said it was possible that the security officials outnumber them.

The abbot said that senior monks were removed from the monastery and the other residents were divided into 55 groups, subjected to re-education classes and frequently interrogated about their opinions.

At least 11 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March in visceral acts of protest over China’s policies in Tibet and adjoining areas populated by ethnic Tibetans; six of them have died, according to documents compiled by Tibetan advocacy groups. Eight of the Tibetans, including the first, were monks or former monks of the Kirti monastery, which was a focal point of a violent uprising against the Chinese authorities in 2008.

The self-immolations, which have been described by human rights groups as troubling new evidence of desperation by aggrieved Tibetans in areas of Chinese control, have become an embarrassment to China. The government has called them a form of terrorism encouraged by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader-in-exile. The abbot, a contemporary of the Dalai Lama who fled with him into exile in 1959, rejected China’s view.

“The reason why this situation is taking place in Tibet, and particular in Ngaba, is because of the drastic nature of the repression that the Chinese government has been waging all over Tibet and in particular in Ngaba,” the abbot said.

He spoke through a translator at a news conference organized by Human Rights in China, an advocacy group based in New York, and said he was doing so because of what he called the intolerable situation in Tibetan areas and China’s suppression of news about it.

“China is hiding the truth from its own people,” he said.

The abbot gave reporters a list of 40 Tibetans in Ngaba who he said had been killed or had committed suicide since 2008, and a second list of 693 who he said had been arrested or sentenced to prison since then.

Asked about the sources of his information, the abbot said he had a number of “underground channels” who, at great personal risk,  conveyed to him the details of the current situation in and around Kirti

The abbot, regarded as the spiritual head of the Kirti monastic community,  lives in Dharamsala, India, the home of Tibet’s government-in-exile. He re-established the Kirti Jaepa monastery and has held a number of senior positions in the government-in-exile. He said he was allowed to return to China’s Tibetan-populated areas in 1984 and 1985, but his movements were severely restricted.

Source Credit: NYT

Only dialogue can resolve Tibet issue: Dalai Lama aide

The Tibet issue can only be resolved through a dialogue with China, the Dalai Lama's special envoy has said.

"The present tragic situation in Tibet and the most repressive policies of the Chinese authorities makes one wonder if it is even worth making any efforts for the dialogue. On the other hand, the prevailing situation confronts every sensible person (with the fact) that the only way is through dialogue," the Dalai Lama's special envoy Lodi G. Gyari said in a post on the official website of the Tibetan government-in-exile Monday.

Gyari has participated in all rounds of talks with the Chinese on granting more autonomy to Tibet.

China and the Dalai Lama's envoys have held nine rounds of talks since 2002 so far, but no major breakthrough has been achieved.

Gyari was re-appointed as the Dalai Lama's special envoy in June this year by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) after the spiritual leader relinquished his political powers.

"I will be continuing in my present capacity as special envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for some time for the dialogue process, including leading our efforts in our talks with the Chinese leadership, with envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen," the statement dated Nov 11 said.

Last month Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay called a meeting of the task force, which was set up in 1999 to assist the envoys to hold talks with the Chinese, here to mull ways to restart the dialogue process.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet along with many of his supporters and took refuge in India when Chinese troops moved in and took control of Lhasa in 1959.

Source Credit: DNA

Tibetan Leaders Struggle to Cope With Spate of Self-Immolations

In his first overtly political statement, one of the most senior Tibetan religious figures—a young man who is likely to step into the shoes of the Dalai Lama as de facto religious leader of the Tibetan people—this week called on Tibetans to end a string of spectacular acts of self-immolation in protest against Chinese rule.
In the statement he issued in India, where he’s lived in exile ever since his dramatic escape from Tibet a dozen years ago, the youthful 17th Karmapa praised the “pure motivation” of the Buddhist devotees who set themselves on fire, saying “these desperate acts… are a cry against the injustice and repression under which they live.” However, in the first such statement from a senior Tibetan religious figure, the Karmapa went on to request that Tibetan“preserve their lives and find other, constructive ways to work for the cause of Tibet… We Tibetans are few in number, so every Tibetan life is of value to the cause of Tibet.”

As Tibet begins to look toward life without the Dalai Lama, a young leader takes on a new crisis—a spate of self-immolations by nuns and monks protesting Chinese rule.

The fact that the 17th Karmapa is recognized by both Tibetan exiles and by Beijing makes him a powerful figure. When the Dalai Lama dies, the Karmapa is likely to take the Dalai Lama’s place as the most influential adult spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.

So far this year, 11 Tibetan Buddhist monks, former monks, and nuns have set themselves on fire in Tibetan communities of China’s southwestern province of Sichuan, in acts of protest against official Chinese repression. In a 12th case, a man dressed in monk’s robes and draped in a Tibetan flag reportedly chanted “Long live Tibet” before setting himself on fire Thursday in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, which shares a long border with Tibet.

“These desperate acts… are a cry against the injustice and repression under which they live,” the 17th Karmapa says.

Exiled Tibetan monks offer prayers to express solidarity with the plight of the people of Tibet at Janter Manter on October 21 in New Delhi. Tibetans continued to protest after nine Tibetans set themselves on fire in an apparent protest against China's tight grip over Buddhist practices in Tibet., Hindustan Times / Getty Images

The Karmapa's statements mark the first time the increasingly influential young religious leader has openly criticized Chinese policies in such stark terms, declaring that Tibetans are living under "unbearably difficult" circumstances and appealing for Beijing to "heed Tibetans' legitimate demands and to enter into meaningful dialogue with them instead of brutally trying to achieve their silence." His words also suggest that senior Tibetan lamas have no control over the suicides and hope to reign them in for fear that more fiery acts of protest would trigger greater repression from Chinese authorities.

Although Tibetan Buddhists revere life as a precious gift, if the motivation for taking a life is altruistic (and not motivated by selfish desires), the result of such actions does not necessarily generate bad karma. As a result, Tibetan Buddhists are not generally vegetarian—and while suicides are rare among Tibetans, the recent self-immolations evoke a similar phenomenon during the 1960s, triggered by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc, who set himself on fire and burned to death in a Saigon intersection to protest the anti-Buddhist policies of South Vietnam's Ngo Dinh Diem administration—a fiery act that was captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph.

The 25-year-old Karmapa’s unusual criticism of Beijing underscores his fast-growing popularity—and movie-star good looks—leading many to see him as a quasi-successor to the aging Dalai Lama as the spiritual leader of exiled Tibetans.

In his first clearly political statements in exile, the Karmapa appears more than ever to be exhibiting the caliber of leadership and authority that Tibetans are longing to see as the hugely popular Dalai Lama prepares for his succession. (Although he remains the top Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama recently passed political authority over the Tibetan government-in-exile to a Western-educated Tibetan, Lobsang Sangay.) The Karmapa's political attitudes seem very much in line with the non-violent stance of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has blamed Chinese authorities’ “cultural genocide” for the self-immolations, but has not openly called for an end to the suicides. This month during a visit to Tokyo, the 76-year-old Nobel laureate said Beijing’s hardline policies in Tibetan communities over the past 10 to 15 years are why “these sorts of sad incidents happen, due to the desperateness of the situation.”

The charismatic Karmapa denies he has any ambition to become a direct successor to the much-revered Dalai Lama. “I face enough challenges fulfilling my role as Karmapa,” he told The Daily Beast in an exclusive interview this year. (Moreover, Tibetologists point out that direct succession is a non-starter since the Karmapa heads the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, which is an entirely different lineage than the Gelug school, which the Dalai Lama heads.) Nevertheless, many Tibetans see the Karmapa gradually taking on the role of a religious authority figure for compatriots both inside and outside Tibet.

The Karmapa agrees that Tibetans face “desperate circumstances” and that “repressive measures can never bring about unity and stability.” However he regretted the deaths of Tibetans, who had mostly been “very young. They had a long future ahead of them, an opportunity to contribute in ways that they have now foregone. In Buddhist teaching life is precious. To achieve anything worthwhile we need to preserve our lives.”

Tibetan exiles have had high hopes for the Karmapa  ever since early 2000, when the teenager virtually materialized on the Dalai Lama’s doorstep in Dharamsala after a harrowing, clandestine escape from Tsurphu monastery outside Lhasa. The elder religious leader took the younger lama under his wing, and recently told The Daily Beast he was impressed by the Karmapa’s “intelligence and his faith toward spirituality.”

Earlier this year, both Tibetan religious leaders appeared together onstage in a rare joint public appearance during a Buddhist teaching in Washington D.C.—“electrifying the audience, as if they were rock stars,” as one Western Buddhist put it. The world no doubt will be hearing and seeing a lot more of the Karmapa, as long as Tibetan culture remains under siege and Chinese authorities continue to sow bad karma in the Himalayas.

And he holds a truly unique trump card allowing him to do so: although Chinese authorities were taken by surprise when the Karmapa fled Tibet in December 1999, Beijing officials have thus far refrained from denouncing him. (By contrast, they vilify the Dalai Lama as advocating "terrorism in disguise.“)  At least for the moment, the Chinese regime’s official line is that the young Karmapa travelled to India for religious reasons—and that he’s welcome to return home so long as he doesn’t “betray the motherland.” Nor has the Karmapa ruled out the possibility of returning to Tibet. “As Karmapa I have the responsibility to do whatever I can do so that Tibetans can fully preserve their culture and religion and not be isolated,” he told The Daily Beast. Like the Dalai Lama, he says he “is not seeking independence for Tibet but full and real autonomy.”

Source Credit: DaliyBeast

Dalai Lama asks China to review Tibet policy

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama  asked the Chinese leadership to review 60 years of its Tibet policy, saying "using force is counterproductive and will not bring peace and stability".
"These incidents (self-immolations in Tibet) are very very sad. 


The leadership in Beijing should look into the ultimate cause of these tragic incidents. These Tibetans have faced tremendous desperate situation, otherwise nobody will commit such drastic acts," he told reporters in Sendai in Japan.

"In 2009, one senior party leader in Guangdong said the Central authority should review the policy on minority nationalities. This approach is right, scientific and realistic. The time has come to review their last 60 years of policy on Tibet," said a post on the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) website quoting the spiritual leader.

The CTA said the Tibetans immolated themselves to protest China’s policies, for their demand of freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama to his homeland.

It said till now 11 Tibetans have set themselves afire.

Asking China to review its repressive polices, the Dalai Lama said: “Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said publicly that China needs political reform and western style of democracy. The Chinese leadership should seriously think about it. The time of using force is gone and outdated. Relying on force is counterproductive and it will never bring unity and stability.”

The CTA, based here, Thursday asked China to stop its repressive policy and allow more freedom of religion and speech.

“Instead of addressing the real problems that drive Tibetans to commit self-immolations, Xinhua (the official news agency of China) blames the Tibetans-in-exile for instigating such desperate and despairing acts. We strongly urge the Chinese government to stop hurling baseless allegations and to start solving the real problems,” a CTA statement said.

India is home to around 100,000 Tibetans and the government-in-exile, which is not recognised by any country.

[source credit: Hindustan Times]

Dalai Lama Blames Chinese 'Cultural Genocide' for Self-Immolations

Photo: AP

Tibetan Buddhist nuns look at a poster showing pictures of those who self-immolated since March in Tibet after a prayer session led by the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala, India, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. The prayer session was to remember Tibetans who immolated themselves since March this year protesting Chinese rule in Tibet. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

The Dalai Lama is blaming hardline Chinese policies, which he describes as "cultural genocide," for a wave of self-immolations by Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns.

A 35-year-old nun set herself on fire Thursday in southwestern Sichuan province, bringing to 11 the number of monks and nuns who have turned to self-immolation in recent months to protest Chinese policies.

Speaking Monday in Japan, the Dalai Lama said even Chinese visitors who come to Tibet recognize that things there are terrible. He said some kind of cultural genocide is taking place.

The exiled spiritual leader also said hardline Chinese officials have been sent to govern Tibetan areas over the past 10 to 15 years. He said that accounts for the desperate acts of the monks and nuns.

Most of the self-immolations have been centered around the Kirti monastery in Sichuan, where the first self-immolation took place in March.

The action prompted a harsh Chinese crackdown in which the monks and nuns have been subjected to re-education programs and armed security forces patrol the surrounding streets.

China has accused the Dalai Lama of encouraging the self-immolations, noting that he has failed to condemn the actions as he has done in the past.

The United States said last week that China's policies have created tensions that threaten the unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity of the Tibetan people. 

Source Credit: VOA

In China, tensions rising over Buddhism's quiet resurgence

SERTHAR, China – Breathless but beaming, Sheng Zisu sounds confident after five months in a maze-like Buddhist encampment high on the eastern Tibetan plateau, nearly 400 miles of bad road from the nearest city.

• 
  By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY
  Ye Liping, right, sells rolls at a store at the remote Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Serthar. Two years ago, Ye left his business and family for the monastic hardships of life at Larung Gar.

Enlarge

By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY

Ye Liping, right, sells rolls at a store at the remote Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Serthar. Two years ago, Ye left his business and family for the monastic hardships of life at Larung Gar.

"Look around. They could never find me here," Sheng, 27, says of parents so anxious about their only child's turn to Tibetan Buddhism that they have threatened to kidnap her.

Sheng is far from her home — and from the bars where she used to drink and the ex-boyfriends she says cheated on her. She is here with 2,000 other Han Chinese at the Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Serthar, Sichuan province, the rain-soaked mountainous region of southwest China.

The province is far from the central government in Beijing and a traditional gateway to Tibet, where Tibetans have practiced Buddhism for centuries — and where, for decades, China's Communist Party has suppressed Buddhists, sometimes brutally.

Holy chants and red-robed devotees spill down hillsides blanketed by red wooden cabins, where monks, nuns and disciples spend hours in meditation. More than 2 miles above sea level, Larung Gar is among the largestTibetan Buddhist academies in the world, with about 10,000 mostly Tibetan students.

By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY

In the Nyitso monastery in Tawu, monks and townsfolk have left scarves and small banknotes to commemorate Tsewang Norbu, who killed himself in a call for religious freedom.

The academy and its rising number of converts from China's dominant ethnic group, the Han Chinese, reflect a remarkable and quiet recovery for Buddhist teachings here. Along with a building boom of new or expanded Buddhist monasteries and teaching facilities in the Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture, it amounts to a reversal of some of the damage from Chairman Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.

Mao's efforts to strip China of capitalism and religion while imposing socialism resulted in the destruction of hundreds of Buddhist temples and the deaths of thousands of monks. Just a decade ago, the institute survived a crackdown in which Chinese officials ordered the partial destruction of its buildings.

The late Mao's vision has given way to a more capitalistic and seemingly more tolerant version of communism. But Buddhism's broadening popularity here is stoking tension between Buddhist monks who demand religious freedom and their longtime foe: Communist Party leadership 1,500 miles away.

In Ganzi and neighboring Aba Prefecture, 10 Tibetans — monks, former monks and one nun — have set themselves on fire since March, mostly in recent weeks. At least five have died from their protests for religious liberty, exile groups and state media Xinhuasay.

Through acts of defiance — from self-immolations to the destruction of Communist propaganda signs — Ganzi Tibetans are showing resentment toward their Chinese overlords and loyalty to their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Talks between the two sides in recent years have gone nowhere. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, blames the recent deaths on Chinese officials' "wrong policy, ruthless policy, illogical policy." Beijing accuses "the Dalai Lama clique" of terrorist-like action in fanning the flames of protest.

"These self-immolations are caused by being oppressed and denied religious rights," says Dukthen Kyi, a researcher at the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala, India.

In Ganzi, many people welcome the growing number of Chinese students but complain their own freedoms will be restricted as long as the Dalai Lama remains in India, his home since 1959.

"I am proud so many Han Chinese come to Serthar to study, as it will help relations between the Han and Tibetan peoples," says Tashi Dengzhu, a yak and sheep herder who lives south of Serthar.

But, "we want the Dalai Lama, our leader, to come home," says Dengzhu, 55. "I know it will be very difficult."

A 'mysterious' religion

Chinese visitors frequently describe Tibetan Buddhism, and its environment, as purer than the Buddhism sporadically practiced by more than 100 million Chinese in cities and towns teeming with temptation. Just how many Han Chinese have converted to Tibetan Buddhism is a sensitive and unanswered question in China.

"Ethnic Han who wish to study Tibetan Buddhism in Tibetan areas are often denied permission for long-term study there," according to a U.S. State Department report on religious freedom, released in September.

"Tibetan Buddhism is more attractive than other religions because many Chinese think it's mysterious," suggests Xu Jun, an analyst at Sichuan University's Center for Tibetan Studies. Eight other Chinese Tibetan scholars declined interview requests on this topic.

One reason: The faith offers psychological comfort amid China's rapid social and economic changes, Xu says. The pursuit of material wealth drives most of China, but businessman Ye Liping has opted out.

"I earned $25,000 a year, and I had a happy family, that's what all the world wants," recalls Ye, 40, from Guangzhou in steamy south China. Two years ago, Ye gave up everything — his marketing job, apartment, car, wife and child — for the monastic hardships of life at Larung Gar.

"I sometimes wonder what my daughter looks like now, but I have no regrets," says Ye, despite winter temperatures of minus 10 degrees.

Han Chinese students have risen from 1,000 when she arrived seven years ago to over 2,000 today, says Yuan Yi, a shaven-headed nun from southeast Fujian province. But the senior Tibetan lama they follow, Khenpo So Dargye, refused to discuss the Chinese student body he heads.

Such caution reflects the academy's troubled past and ongoing vulnerability. Founded in what was an uninhabited Larung valley in 1980, the institute became so popular it attracted a large-scale government assault in 2001. Hundreds of homes were demolished and thousands of residents evicted, according to exile groups.

Han students say the institute's popularity lies in its Chinese language provision and inspirational teachers such as Khenpo So Dargye, who embraces social media. Over a half-million followers, on China's Twitter-like micro-blogging service Sina Weibo, receive his posts, usually Buddhist advice.

Don't expect Han converts to soften Beijing's hardline Tibet policy, cautions Thubten Samphel, spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile. Their numbers are dwarfed by China's 1.3 billion population, and their motives are apolitical, he says.

"Through Buddhism, Chinese students will come to a better understanding of the values of Tibetan culture, and realize there is no innate sense of anti-Chineseness in Tibetan culture," Samphel says. "We hope and pray that the same attitude and understanding will be shown by the Chinese Communist Party."

Support from Tibetans

As Yuan Yi walks towards Serthar's gold-roofed assembly halls, a Tibetan nun draws close, sneezes on her head, then turns to two giggling friends. Yuan shrugs off the slight.

"Some Tibetans don't like Han, and feel this is their place, not ours, but I just smile," she says. "If there's more love, then everything will be fine."

For some Tibetan monks, desperation justifies breaking a top Buddhist taboo: suicide. In the town of Tawu, the Nyitso monastery has a daring new shrine, laden with small banknotes from townsfolk. The framed photo at its center is Tsewang Norbu, a monk at Nyitso.

On Aug. 15, Norbu, 29, shouted slogans from a bridge, threw pamphlets calling for freedom in Tibet and the Dalai Lama's return, drank gasoline, doused himself and flicked a lighter.

The trigger was the cutting off of water and electricity to the monastery for commemorating the July 6 birthday of the Dalai Lama, says Dukthen Kyi, the human rights researcher.

While private Tibetan money funds many new facilities, wealthy people in China are being tapped by increasingly savvy lamas who tour Han cities for donations.

In both living standards and customs, this harsh region is starkly different from the areas its Han migrants call home. But its Buddhist faith offers universal lessons for Han and Tibetans alike, argues Yuan Yi, the nun.

At a renowned burial site, Yuan reminds two recent Chinese arrivals of the impermanence of life as monks chant scripture for ten bodies, from an infant to very old.

In a centuries-old ritual, the bodies will be dismembered by a rogyapa, or "body-breaker," and the parts scattered to be eaten by birds of prey . Under parental pressure to deliver a grandchild, but opting for nunhood instead, Sheng Zisu looks on aghast.

"You could be the mayor of Beijing or Shanghai, but however rich or important you are, we all end up like that," says Yuan, before hundreds of vultures close in, so that the dead sustain the living.

Source Credit:  USAToday