September 10

Through My Eyes

Saturday September 10

(We continue to listen to the Dalai Lama as he tells of the cruelty of the Chinese regime in Tibet.)

" After that, the people were reduced to eating leaves or grass. A month's butter ration, for example, which would in former times have been used in a single serving of tea, could only be used to smear the lips. And, everywhere they went, the delegates found the local people stunted in growth from malnutrition and dressed literally in rags. Gone, needless to say, were the gay ornaments and pieces of jewelry -earrings and so forth- which even the least exalted Tibetan would have had in former times.

On top of this extraordinary hardship, people were taxed unbelievably, though of course the charges were not called taxes: it was 'rent', or whatever. Even nomads were forced to pay for the privileges of their precarious livelihood. All in all, China's economic programme for Tibet was itself a form of torture.

As if this were not enough, with regard to Tibetan culture the delegates found that it had been brutally suppressed. For example, the only songs allowed were political paeans sung to Chinese tunes. Formal religion was banned. Thousands of monasteries and nunneries had been desecrated. They heard how this had been systematically carried out from the late 1950's onwards. Each building was visited first by clerks who documented the contents. They were followed by teams of workers who loaded everything of immediate value on to trucks which went straight back to China, where the booty was either melted down for bullion or sold on the international art market in exchange for hard currency. Next, more workers would be sent in to remove any other materials that could be useful, including the roof tiles and timber. Finally, members of the local population would be forced to 'show their contempt' for the old society and the 'corrupt' monks. Within a matter of weeks, there would be nothing left but piles of rubble.

The contents of these monasteries represented the real disposable wealth of Tibet. . For hundreds of years, they had amassed the donations of succeeding generations of families who always gave the best they could afford. Now, all this had vanished into the insatiable stomach of the Chinese nation.

Still not content with this, the Chinese authorities had also determined to control the Tibetan population. A limit of two children per couple had been imposed in Tibet ( and not just in China itself as was claimed). Those who exceeded this quota were sent to medical facilities like the one known simply as ' the butchery' in Gyantse, where pregnant women had their foetuses forcibly aborted prior to sterilisation. Indeed, many women were involuntarily forced into using birth control, as we now know from recent arrivals from Tibet who were discovered to have been fitted with crude copper intra-uterine devices.

And when the people rose in revolt, which they did on several different occasions after 1959, whole villages were razed, their inhabitants murdered, while tens of thousands of the remaining population were put into prison. There they were kept under the most vile conditions, with forced labour by day, thamizing sessions until late at night, and only starvation rations to nourish them. I myself have since spoken to a number of people who were prisoners of the Chinese. One of them was Dr. Tenzin Choedrak, who had been appointed my junior personal physician in the late 1950's. When the first fact-finding mission went to Peking, I requested that they ask the authorities there that he be released and allowed to join me in exile.

Nothing came of this at first, but a year later he was finally freed and, at the end of 1980, he came to Dharamsala. The stories of cruelty and degradation he brought with him were almost unbelievable. Many times over the twenty years of his incarceration he had been close to death from starvation. He told me of how he and his fellow prisoners were forced to consume their own clothing for food and how one inmate, with whom he was in hospital at one time, was so desperate for nourishment that when he passed a worm in his meagre stool, he washed it and ate it.

I do not repeat any of this information gratuitously. I write as a Buddhist monk not to antagonized my Chinese brothers and sisters but because I want to educate people. There are undoubtedly many good Chinese people who are unaware of the true situation in Tibet. Nor do I relate such grim facts out of bitterness. On the contrary, these things have happened, so there is nothing to be done except look to the future.

Since the return of the first fact-finding delegation, more than ten years ago now, its findings have been confirmed from numerous other sources, including further Tibetan delegations and foreign journalists and tourists, as well as a few sympathetic Chinese. Unfortunately, in the interval, although there has been some further material progress, the picture has in many ways worsened. "

( The horrors of the Chinese occupation. 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.

( 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! We'll actually be working on the block and with the printing process for awhile I think! The printing tests samples aren't bad but there are lots of things that can be done to improve the print quality. This is fine as we can always work on the other things I mentioned more easily when you come and we are weaving together! You'll notice in the picture of me from our sacred place that the tips of my fingers are black from the printing work! After that I did some drawing and worked with the clay. Then it was time to go make offerings to the Tenger and Nature spirits! We're also using cornmeal as one of our offerings; my perception is that this is suitable and welcomed. We were able to use some of what we have raised this year to go with it! In any case the important part is the thankfulness! It's always wonderful doing this because they invariably respond in numerous quiet ways to let you know they received it so the whole day has this welcoming friendly feeling about it. After that we turned on the water system as it was needed. The trees are fine but some of the native plants are showing the moisture stress of the dry weather. It was taking awhile to fill all the lines so I decided to ask the spirits if there were any leaks by trying the technique Machaelle describes. I was told that I could just wait for a few minutes and that everything was working. Not surprisingly this proved to be the case. After that we continued bringing food to the trees and native plants which went quite well! After that I rested by your Medlar tree as usual before returning to our studio to read more from the Perelandra garden workbook then work on our a land of Tibet. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages including that I forgot to mention that we went to our sacred place yesterday evening! 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 September 10 (We continue to listen to the Dalai Lama as he tells of the cruelty of the Chinese regime in Tibet.) " After that, the people were reduced to eating leaves or grass. A month's butter ration, for example, which would in former times have been used in a single serving of tea, could only be used to smear the lips. And, everywhere they went, the delegates found the local people stunted in growth from malnutrition and dressed literally in rags. Gone, needless to say, were the gay ornaments and pieces of jewelry -earrings and so forth- which even the least exalted Tibetan would have had in former times. On top of this extraordinary hardship, people were taxed unbelievably, though of course the charges were not called taxes: it was 'rent', or whatever. Even nomads were forced to pay for the privileges of their precarious livelihood. All in all, China's economic programme for Tibet was itself a form of torture. As if this were not enough, with regard to Tibetan culture the delegates found that it had been brutally suppressed. For example, the only songs allowed were political paeans sung to Chinese tunes. Formal religion was banned. Thousands of monasteries and nunneries had been desecrated. They heard how this had been systematically carried out from the late 1950's onwards. Each building was visited first by clerks who documented the contents. They were followed by teams of workers who loaded everything of immediate value on to trucks which went straight back to China, where the booty was either melted down for bullion or sold on the international art market in exchange for hard currency. Next, more workers would be sent in to remove any other materials that could be useful, including the roof tiles and timber. Finally, members of the local population would be forced to 'show their contempt' for the old society and the 'corrupt' monks. Within a matter of weeks, there would be nothing left but piles of rubble. The contents of these monasteries represented the real disposable wealth of Tibet. . For hundreds of years, they had amassed the donations of succeeding generations of families who always gave the best they could afford. Now, all this had vanished into the insatiable stomach of the Chinese nation. Still not content with this, the Chinese authorities had also determined to control the Tibetan population. A limit of two children per couple had been imposed in Tibet ( and not just in China itself as was claimed). Those who exceeded this quota were sent to medical facilities like the one known simply as ' the butchery' in Gyantse, where pregnant women had their foetuses forcibly aborted prior to sterilisation. Indeed, many women were involuntarily forced into using birth control, as we now know from recent arrivals from Tibet who were discovered to have been fitted with crude copper intra-uterine devices. And when the people rose in revolt, which they did on several different occasions after 1959, whole villages were razed, their inhabitants murdered, while tens of thousands of the remaining population were put into prison. There they were kept under the most vile conditions, with forced labour by day, thamizing sessions until late at night, and only starvation rations to nourish them. I myself have since spoken to a number of people who were prisoners of the Chinese. One of them was Dr. Tenzin Choedrak, who had been appointed my junior personal physician in the late 1950's. When the first fact-finding mission went to Peking, I requested that they ask the authorities there that he be released and allowed to join me in exile. Nothing came of this at first, but a year later he was finally freed and, at the end of 1980, he came to Dharamsala. The stories of cruelty and degradation he brought with him were almost unbelievable. Many times over the twenty years of his incarceration he had been close to death from starvation. He told me of how he and his fellow prisoners were forced to consume their own clothing for food and how one inmate, with whom he was in hospital at one time, was so desperate for nourishment that when he passed a worm in his meagre stool, he washed it and ate it. I do not repeat any of this information gratuitously. I write as a Buddhist monk not to antagonized my Chinese brothers and sisters but because I want to educate people. There are undoubtedly many good Chinese people who are unaware of the true situation in Tibet. Nor do I relate such grim facts out of bitterness. On the contrary, these things have happened, so there is nothing to be done except look to the future. Since the return of the first fact-finding delegation, more than ten years ago now, its findings have been confirmed from numerous other sources, including further Tibetan delegations and foreign journalists and tourists, as well as a few sympathetic Chinese. Unfortunately, in the interval, although there has been some further material progress, the picture has in many ways worsened. " ( The horrors of the Chinese occupation. 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. ( 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! We'll actually be working on the block and with the printing process for awhile I think! The printing tests samples aren't bad but there are lots of things that can be done to improve the print quality. This is fine as we can always work on the other things I mentioned more easily when you come and we are weaving together! You'll notice in the picture of me from our sacred place that the tips of my fingers are black from the printing work! After that I did some drawing and worked with the clay. Then it was time to go make offerings to the Tenger and Nature spirits! We're also using cornmeal as one of our offerings; my perception is that this is suitable and welcomed. We were able to use some of what we have raised this year to go with it! In any case the important part is the thankfulness! It's always wonderful doing this because they invariably respond in numerous quiet ways to let you know they received it so the whole day has this welcoming friendly feeling about it. After that we turned on the water system as it was needed. The trees are fine but some of the native plants are showing the moisture stress of the dry weather. It was taking awhile to fill all the lines so I decided to ask the spirits if there were any leaks by trying the technique Machaelle describes. I was told that I could just wait for a few minutes and that everything was working. Not surprisingly this proved to be the case. After that we continued bringing food to the trees and native plants which went quite well! After that I rested by your Medlar tree as usual before returning to our studio to read more from the Perelandra garden workbook then work on our a land of Tibet. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages including that I forgot to mention that we went to our sacred place yesterday evening! 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!)