The Dalai Lama's 75th birthday on July 6 marks a bittersweet milestone. The anniversary is cause for celebration that his message of peace has become so widespread, yet it is also illustrative of his mortal frailty as China's power grows and the Dalai Lama's fades.
But there is also a deeper resonance -- and controversy -- to his preachings: that peace and compassion are more important than prosperity and financial advancement. It is a message, at one time straightforward and prehensile, that now poses a dilemma, particularly to the West, in our troubled times. Practicing what the Dalai Lama preaches, for some, has never been harder.
In September 2006 a murder on a remote mountainside on the Tibet/Nepalese border perfectly illustrated the West's conflicted response when the moral imperative to speak up for human rights and spiritual freedom comes at the risk of increasing prosperity. Near Choy Oyu, the sixth tallest mountain in the world, a group of Chinese People's Armed Police opened fire on a group of 74 Tibetan refugees in full view of 100 or so Western climbers.
Among them was 17-year-old Tibetan Kelsang Namtso. Forbidden from becoming a nun by her family in Tibet for fear that it would lead her into trouble with the Chinese authorities, she took her vows in secret. A year later, frustrated that that she could not practice her faith in a working nunnery because of draconian regulations and interference from Communist party officials, she decided the only option she had left to find spiritual fulfillment was to cross the high Himalaya. A chance of a few seconds with the Dalai Lama and the opportunity to practice her faith freely in India was worth a grueling journey beset with danger. Together with her best friend Dolma Palkyi, she set out. After 12 brutal days, just 20 minutes from the border, Kelsang Namtso was shot in the back and killed as Western climbers watched.
Shortly afterwards children, monks and others who couldn't escape were led through the climbers' camp at gunpoint, some later to be tortured in a mountaintop military compound.
Some of the Western mountaineers, making considerable amounts of money leading climbing expeditions, urged others in camp not to talk about the murder lest the Chinese retaliate by banning them from climbing in Tibet. In short, the climbers faced the same dilemma that the West faces in that if it wants to economically prosper together with the Middle Kingdom it must, at China's insistence, turn a blind eye to its human rights abuses. A few climbers broke the adopted code of silence -- one Romanian filmed the murder -- and the story shortly thereafter became an international incident as the footage contradicted China's assertion that the soldiers killed in self-defense. It was the first time a human rights murder in Tibet had been captured on film since the Chinese invasion in 1950.
Kelsang's best friend, Dolma Palkyi, and 43 others made it to India where they met the Dalai Lama.
I too met the Dalai Lama shortly after Kelsang Namtso's murder and found a profoundly human presence, rather than a lofty god-king. He was above all else direct and simply angry, not only at the murder but also at the West's apathetic response to China's brutal treatment of Tibetans. He told me that the West was often consumed with indifference, self-interest and quite simply racism.
"In the sixties, seventies and eighties, we went through incredible suffering," he explained. "But they [the west] all looked at Russia and not China." His chest was heaving as he spoke. "Perhaps it is because we are Asian, they don't care?" he asked me directly. "So you see there is even discrimination in human rights!"
Now the West, however uncomfortably, is forced to deal with the dilemma China presents to the world. Our economic future is increasingly tied to an emergent superpower with a dismal rights record, where Christians are forced to worship in underground churches. In Tibet, according to the Dalai Lama, the authorities are carrying out "cultural genocide" by extinguishing any vestige of Tibet Buddhism in order to ensure loyalty to the "motherland."
Yet, despite China's demands that governments refuse visits with the Dalai Lama and not publicly talk about Tibet, the supreme temporal and spiritual leader of Tibet is an international phenomenon who inspires devotion from millions the world over. In the West, he inspires soul-seekers like the thousands who packed Radio City music hall in New York in May, indicative of his enduring universality across the globe.
A new generation in Tibet, despite having access to Western influences and the Internet, was raised in a Chinese-occupied land where free speech is criminalized and owning a picture of their Dalai Lama can lead to five years in prison. Still, a meeting with him, as with their ancestors before them, is still worth risking their lives for. They set out across the high passes of the Himalayas, sustained on the dangerous journey largely by faith alone.
At one time 2,500 to 3,000 Tibetans made the dangerous journey but since an uprising in Tibet in 2008, the Chinese authorities have mounted a vicious crackdown. They have built security towers that are manned 24 hours a day in the high Himalaya. And they have blocked all escape routes out of the country. Last year only around 600 made it though.
Yet despite the egregious risks, every day, all over Tibet, the same scene is reenacted in deep secrecy, usually in the dead of night, as young and old, women and children escape to India over the high Himalaya for the chance of a lifetime and many lifetimes to come: a few brief seconds with their exiled spiritual leader. They resist China's supposed modernization of their country and the heralded promise of economic prosperity for spiritual fulfillment.
Like the Tibetans who risk their lives to see the Dalai Lama, many in the West feel that our morality and the basic principles which define our democracy -- freedom of speech, the right to practice religion and to live free of persecution -- are more important than economic prosperity alone. We should look to Tibetans' bold and brave allegiance to spirituality rather than money as inspirational.
Their devotion, like Kelsang Namtso's and the Dalai Lama's legacy, much to the chagrin of China's government, will live on.
Follow Jonathan Green on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JonathanJaGreen
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama | The Office of His Holiness The ...
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14th Dalai Lama - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Official Website of the Central Tibetan Administration
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It is called the "roof of the world", and many interesting elements come from not only the elevation, but other interesting thing that are tied into knowledge.
I had not read about this incident previously. Did the Western media cover it? It seems not. Truly heartbreaking.
And yes, many of us are frustrated and enraged by the West's indifference to China's ongoing brutality towards the Tibetans.
I was shocked by this "code of silence" among these mountaineers, but I believe you are correct to draw a parallel with how our government has ostensibly kept it's mouth shut over the ongoing atrocities that are occurring in Tibet. I find it the height of hypocrisy and I'm ashamed by their behavior. I have lost faith in their ability to wake up and correct their short-sighted policy decisions as they pertain to China.
The Tibetans who continue to resist China's persistent program of cultural genocide are heroes. ?Those of us in the West who support them should make every effort to counter the CCP's propaganda machine and tell the true story of occupied Tibet.
And just think, Bill Clinton is the one who approved sale of the very technology the Chinese needed to make their nuclear missiles have the range and accuracy to hit the US. It's a harm that should never be forgiven. But truth is, American administration after administration spinelessly unresistant and apparently unaware or uncaring or unprepared. When will the consequences come home to roost?
I would go further and suggest that we are culpable, in part, for the ongoing occupation in Tibet as well as all the suffering, torture, and death that has followed.
In the end, economics seems to have trumped ethics.
Tibetan Buddhism and found every teaching thereafter with the Dali Lama a cosmic experience.
The teachings have guided me through many tough times and I often reflect back on the teachings
when making difficult and ethical decisions , however, economics in todays world is as vital as the air we breathe and the food we eat.I think even the Dali Lama has spent some sleepless nights over finances but lets get serious about the Chinese. The Chinese government is no group of choir boys and given the amount of money owed to Chine by the U. S. government rest assured no tangible dialog will be taking place any time soon regarding the destruction of Tibetan culture. In the next year China will become the largest manufacturer in the world , Wall street could care less about religious freedom, who lives or dies, these guys have sold our manufacturing base to China.
As free wheeling freedom loving Americans of all religions we should take to heart to
teachings of the Dali Lama and keep a watchful eye on the Chinese as we could soon fall
prey to the same fate as Tibet.
Gene Stein
US have been taking the freedom of millions away starting from Vietnam to the current Afghan War. Yet people in some of these countries do not harbor hatred to the US. Vietnam is still a communist country yet US citizens are wellcomed in their country.
Sometime you need to understand what is real peace, compassion and freedom. Do not do unto others what you do not wish others do unto you.
The Dalai Lamas' message is about peace and compassion so just leave it as it is.
And I don't understand how you see combining the Dalai Lama's message with the "fight for freedom of Tibet" is like mixing oil with water.
There is no hatred and anger. As in the Buddhas' teachings:
"He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,"--in those who harbor such thoughts hatred will never cease.
"He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,"--in those who do not harbor such thoughts hatred will cease.
For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love alone.
When I said the Dalai Lama is primarily a Buddhist what I imply is his duty is to the Buddhas' teachings comes first and hence his message of Universal Compassion and peace.
In the future when the Dalai Lama passes away will Tibetans forget his words of non violence and cause bloodshed in the fight for their independence? When that happens the spirit of Tibet would have died along with the Dalai Lama. His message of peace and compassion would have fallen into deaf ears.
Tibetan Buddhism is basically Mahayana Buddhism or the Greater Vehicle. Simply it means the practice of the Ten Perfections(paramitas) known as Bodhisattva prsctice. One of the Ten Perfections is Karuna or Universal compasssion. It embrasses all beings.
Lives after lives using compassion as a vehicle to safe sentient beings from sufferings hence the rebirth of these Bodhisattvas and Tulkus are one of these in human form.
During the Buddhas' time there were many kingdoms that made up present day India, Pakistan and Nepal. There were also cruel kings and those who seek to control other kingdoms. The Buddha is above politics and worldly affairs. He also forbid his disciples(Bhikkus and Bhikkunis) to take up high positions or be involved with worldly affairs and politics. So the message of compassion by the Dalai Lama is one of Universal Compassion.
Universal compassion Is Also Forgiving.
Goodness In All Religion Share a Common Ground.
For Christians It Is Divine and for Buddhist,
It is the Cultivation of Our Bodhi Heart or Bodhi Nature.
Buddhist, Do Not Seek to Go to Heaven.
We Cultivate and Pratice Goodnesss,
Without the Bribe of Going to Heaven,
Nor for Rewards.
May You Be Well and Happy!
So you can read into that something more factual, perhaps.
You have disseminated distortions about Dalai Lama on this thread. The record on Sea Shepherds is not what you claim, his stands on war and wars is not what you claim, and your absurd Conspiracy Theory post, since scrubbed by the monitors, does not correspond to the historical timeline and record. You're making the case that your cult disregards the truth when it serves "the cause."
It is sad that not everybody is able or willing to spend even ONE DAY without tv, money, all gadgets, whole circle of so-called friends, to see if they can survive. We are bombarded with messages that WE NEED THIS AND THAT TO 'BE HAPPY'. Well all this stuff is KILLING OUR PLANET, if not ourselves when we realize we'll never make enough money to pay for it all, and we commit suicide, or we live permanently DEPRESSED, in anger.
WE KNOW by now THIS is NOT WORKING, and yet, we persist; we want to make more money WITH THE CHINESE. The only problem is that it makes THEM rich too, I mean the clique, not the SMALL PEOPLE. It GIVES THEM MORE POWER AND MORE GUTS TO ACT WITH DEFIANCE.
The problem there is that IT IS COMING SOON TO YOUR TOWN, and this won't be a movie or a bad dream.
SO, WE NEED TO STOP BOOSTING CHINA'S BARBARISM by givng them the only thing that has value to them; MONEY, simply because they use it to CRUSH PEOPLE DOWN even more. The shame games allowed them to destroy people's homes; it gave them the excuse to clear more protestors, who have vanished now.
It allows them to keep the world away from their abuses BY FEAR OF LOSING $$$$$. shame!
asserts that the paleolithic occupation of Tibet goes back at least
15,000 years and believes the adaptation goes back at least 10,000
years. So it is not the most recent human genetic adaptation yet found,
but it does suggest that the Tibetans have been there at least 10,000
years longer than their Hans.
Take that Beijing.
http://johnhawks.net/weblog
Maybe Tibetans could film more, post more on the internet for more awareness and start Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions movements.
Neither is it much of a choice anymore for most of us in the U.S.