August 6

Through My Eyes

Saturday August 6

(We continue to listen to the Dalai Lama as he tells of the release of imprisoned Tibetans!)

" Then in November 1978, thirty-four prisoners, mostly elderly members of my own administration, were publicly released with great ceremony in Lhasa. These men were purportedly the last of the 'rebel leaders'. Chinese newspapers stated that, after being taken on a month long tour of the 'New Tibet', they were to be assisted in finding jobs and even in going abroad if that was what they desired.

The arrival of the New Year brought no let up in this spate of extraordinary developments. On 1 February 1979, coincidentally the day that the People's Republic of China was formally recognised by the US, the Panchen Lama, in his first public appearance for fourteen years, added his voice to those calling for the Dalai Lama and his fellow exiles to return. ' If the Dalai Lama is genuinely interested in the happiness and welfare of the Tibetan masses, he need have no doubts about,' he said. ' I can guarantee that the present standard of living of the Tibetan people in Tibet is many times better than that of the old society.' A week later, this invitation was repeated by Radio Lhasa as it announced the formation of a special welcoming committee to receive Tibetans from abroad.

This was followed just a week later by the unexpected arrival of Gyalo Thondup in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) where I was attending a religious conference. To my surprise, he announced that he had heard through some old and trusted friends of his in Hong Kong (where he now lives) that Xinhua, the New China News Agency, which constitutes China's official legation to the British colony, wanted to make contact with him. Following this, he had met a personal emissary of Deng Xiaoping, who explained that the Chinese leader wanted to open communications with the Dalai Lama. As a mark of his goodwill, Deng wanted to invite Gyalo Thondup to Peking for talks. My brother had refused as he wanted to seek my opinion first.

This was totally unexpected, and I did not reply immediately. The developments of the past two years all looked very promising. However , as the ancient Indian saying goes,'When you have once been bitten by a snake, you become cautious even of rope.' And unfortunately, all my experience of the Chinese leadership suggested that it was untrustworthy. Not only did the authorities in question lie, but worse, when these lies were exposed they were not the least bit ashamed. The Cultural Revolution had been a 'tremendous success' whilst it was going on; now it was a failure-but there was no sense of humility in this admission. Nor was there anything to suggest that these people ever kept their promises. Despite the concrete undertaking of the clause thirteen of the Seventeen-Point 'Agreement' that the Chinese would 'not arbitrarily take a needle or thread' from the Tibetans, they had ransacked the whole country. On top of this, through countless atrocities, they had shown a total disrespect for human rights. It seemed that to the Chinese mind, perhaps because of the huge size of their own population, human life is considered to be a cheap commodity- and Tibetan lives to be of still less value. I therefore felt it necessary to exercise extreme caution.

On the other hand, my basic belief is that human problems can only be solved through human contact. So there could be no harm in hearing what the Chinese had to say. Hopefully we could simultaneously explain our own views. We certainly had nothing to hide. Also, if the authorities in Peking were in earnest, we might even be able to send some fact-finding missions to discover for ourselves the real situation.

With these considerations in mind, and knowing that our cause was 100 per cent just and in accordance with the wishes of the entire population of Tibet, I told my brother he was free to go. After he had seen the Chinese leaders, we would consider the next step. At the same time, I sent word to Peking via the Chinese Embassy in India, proposing that a fact-finding mission from Dharamsala should be permitted to visit Tibet with a view to discovering the real situation there and reporting back to me. I also suggested to my brothers that he should see whether this might be feasible.

Soon afterwards, I received another exciting piece of news form an entirely different quarter. This came in the form of an invitation to visit the Buddhist communities of the Republic of Mongolia and of the USSR. I realised that to go might not please my friends in Peking, but, on the other hand, I felt that as a Buddhist monk and furthermore as the Dalai Lama, I had a responsibility to serve my co-religionists. Besides, how could I refuse the very people who gave me my title!

And moreover, since I had not been able to fulfil my dream of visiting Russia when I was a high Chinese official (albeit one whose movements were severely restricted), I did not wish to miss the opportunity of going as a Tibetan refugee. I therefore accepted joyfully.

In the event, there were no negative repercussions and, when Gyalo Thondup returned to Dharamsala at the end of March, he announced the Chinese had accepted my proposal to send a fact-finding mission to Tibet. This encouraged me enormously. It appeared that China was at last trying to find a peaceful solution to the Tibetan question."

( This must be the trip when the communist government of the USSR was embarrassed by the huge crowds that came to see the Dalai Lama! I promise to add more tomorrow...)

*( please click here to read of the day with me )

* This is from the book Freedom in Exile The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth

Dalai Lama of Tibet.

Through my eyes

( Please see my spinning for you!)

( Tahshi Deleh gentle one! Kehrahng kusu debo yinpeh? I began the day in our studio spinning for you then worked on the printing block which with we two working as one pulling strongly and patiently together is going quite well! After that I worked in the studio with clay and did some drawing. After that I wandered about taking pictures before heading up gang rinpoche ngah tso gi to check our trees and native plants. Then I rested by your Medlar tree as usual before returning to our studio to work on our a land of Tibet. You'll notice the usual changes in the pages. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages. I'm going to put the pages up on our infosite; I'll put this up a bit early so we can rest.

And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow

my one gentle beautiful patient swift dream bright

long dark mane in sunlight

so for now I bid goodnight...Simjah Nahngo!)


	Through My Eyes Saturday August 6 (We continue to listen to the Dalai Lama as he tells of the release of imprisoned Tibetans!) " Then in November 1978, thirty-four prisoners, mostly elderly members of my own administration, were publicly released with great ceremony in Lhasa. These men were purportedly the last of the 'rebel leaders'. Chinese newspapers stated that, after being taken on a month long tour of the 'New Tibet', they were to be assisted in finding jobs and even in going abroad if that was what they desired. The arrival of the New Year brought no let up in this spate of extraordinary developments. On 1 February 1979, coincidentally the day that the People's Republic of China was formally recognised by the US, the Panchen Lama, in his first public appearance for fourteen years, added his voice to those calling for the Dalai Lama and his fellow exiles to return. ' If the Dalai Lama is genuinely interested in the happiness and welfare of the Tibetan masses, he need have no doubts about,' he said. ' I can guarantee that the present standard of living of the Tibetan people in Tibet is many times better than that of the old society.' A week later, this invitation was repeated by Radio Lhasa as it announced the formation of a special welcoming committee to receive Tibetans from abroad. This was followed just a week later by the unexpected arrival of Gyalo Thondup in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) where I was attending a religious conference. To my surprise, he announced that he had heard through some old and trusted friends of his in Hong Kong (where he now lives) that Xinhua, the New China News Agency, which constitutes China's official legation to the British colony, wanted to make contact with him. Following this, he had met a personal emissary of Deng Xiaoping, who explained that the Chinese leader wanted to open communications with the Dalai Lama. As a mark of his goodwill, Deng wanted to invite Gyalo Thondup to Peking for talks. My brother had refused as he wanted to seek my opinion first. This was totally unexpected, and I did not reply immediately. The developments of the past two years all looked very promising. However , as the ancient Indian saying goes,'When you have once been bitten by a snake, you become cautious even of rope.' And unfortunately, all my experience of the Chinese leadership suggested that it was untrustworthy. Not only did the authorities in question lie, but worse, when these lies were exposed they were not the least bit ashamed. The Cultural Revolution had been a 'tremendous success' whilst it was going on; now it was a failure-but there was no sense of humility in this admission. Nor was there anything to suggest that these people ever kept their promises. Despite the concrete undertaking of the clause thirteen of the Seventeen-Point 'Agreement' that the Chinese would 'not arbitrarily take a needle or thread' from the Tibetans, they had ransacked the whole country. On top of this, through countless atrocities, they had shown a total disrespect for human rights. It seemed that to the Chinese mind, perhaps because of the huge size of their own population, human life is considered to be a cheap commodity- and Tibetan lives to be of still less value. I therefore felt it necessary to exercise extreme caution. On the other hand, my basic belief is that human problems can only be solved through human contact. So there could be no harm in hearing what the Chinese had to say. Hopefully we could simultaneously explain our own views. We certainly had nothing to hide. Also, if the authorities in Peking were in earnest, we might even be able to send some fact-finding missions to discover for ourselves the real situation. With these considerations in mind, and knowing that our cause was 100 per cent just and in accordance with the wishes of the entire population of Tibet, I told my brother he was free to go. After he had seen the Chinese leaders, we would consider the next step. At the same time, I sent word to Peking via the Chinese Embassy in India, proposing that a fact-finding mission from Dharamsala should be permitted to visit Tibet with a view to discovering the real situation there and reporting back to me. I also suggested to my brothers that he should see whether this might be feasible. Soon afterwards, I received another exciting piece of news form an entirely different quarter. This came in the form of an invitation to visit the Buddhist communities of the Republic of Mongolia and of the USSR. I realised that to go might not please my friends in Peking, but, on the other hand, I felt that as a Buddhist monk and furthermore as the Dalai Lama, I had a responsibility to serve my co-religionists. Besides, how could I refuse the very people who gave me my title! And moreover, since I had not been able to fulfil my dream of visiting Russia when I was a high Chinese official (albeit one whose movements were severely restricted), I did not wish to miss the opportunity of going as a Tibetan refugee. I therefore accepted joyfully. In the event, there were no negative repercussions and, when Gyalo Thondup returned to Dharamsala at the end of March, he announced the Chinese had accepted my proposal to send a fact-finding mission to Tibet. This encouraged me enormously. It appeared that China was at last trying to find a peaceful solution to the Tibetan question." ( This must be the trip when the communist government of the USSR was embarrassed by the huge crowds that came to see the Dalai Lama! I promise to add more tomorrow...) ( please click here to read of the day with me ) This is from the book Freedom in Exile The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet. Through my eyes ( Please see my spinning for you!) ( Tahshi Deleh gentle one! Kehrahng kusu debo yinpeh? I began the day in our studio spinning for you then worked on the printing block which with we two working as one pulling strongly and patiently together is going quite well! After that I worked in the studio with clay and did some drawing. After that I wandered about taking pictures before heading up gang rinpoche ngah tso gi to check our trees and native plants. Then I rested by your Medlar tree as usual before returning to our studio to work on our a land of Tibet. You'll notice the usual changes in the pages. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages. I'm going to put the pages up on our infosite; I'll put this up a bit early so we can rest. And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow my one gentle beautiful patient swift dream bright long dark mane in sunlight so for now I bid goodnight...Simjah Nahngo!)