September 17

Through My Eyes

Saturday September 17

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

" We now know that more than 300,000 Chinese troops are stationed in Tibet, many of them along the still-disputed border with India, but also at least 50,000 based within a day's journey from Lhasa. On top of this, China maintains at least one-third of its nuclear weaponry on Tibetan soil. And because Tibet contains one of the world's richest deposits of uranium, the Chinese are likely to render large areas of the country hazardous form radio-active waste through their mining activities. In Amdo, the north-eastern province where I was born, there exists the largest gulag known to man-big enough, by some estimates, to cater for the internment of up to ten million prisoners.

And following a massive immigration programme, the population of Chinese in Tibet now comfortably exceeds that of Tibetans. My countrymen and women are today in grave danger of becoming nothing more than a tourist attraction in their own country.

The second and third fact finding missions both left India for Tibet during May 1980. One was comprised of younger people, the other of educators. In the first instance, I wanted to try to gain an impression of how the situation in Tibet appeared to the people whose perspective had the freshness of youth. In the second, I wanted to know what were the prospects for the youth of Tibet itself.

Unfortunately, the young people's mission was unable to complete its investigations. When Tibetans began turning out in force to greet the exiles and to denounce the Chinese presence, the authorities accused the delegates of inciting the masses to acts of defiance and expelled the delegation from Tibet for endangering the 'unity of the Motherland'. Naturally, I was disturbed by this turn of events. Far from 'seeking truth from facts' , it seemed that the Chinese were determined to ignore facts altogether. But, at least this expulsion showed that they were taking some notice of the feelings of Tibetans.

The third delegation, which was led by my sister Jetsun Pema, was permitted to stay however. Returning to Dharamsala in October 1980, its findings made clear that although there had been a slight improvement in the general standard of education over the past twenty years, this was not much of a blessing, for it seemed that, to the Chinese, the real value of reading was to enable children to study the thoughts of Chairman Mao and of writing to enable them to produce 'confessions'.

Overall, the information gathered by the fact finding missions revealed not only the full extent of China's rape of Tibet, but also that living conditions for Tibetans continued to be wretched. And although, compared with the suffering of the previous twenty years, the situation had undoubtedly improved, it was evident that the Chinese authorities still considered Tibetans to be ' backward, ignorant, cruel and barbaric', as they put it.

In 1981, my mother died after a short period of illness following a stroke. All her long life ( she was as old as the century) she had enjoyed good health, so to be bedridden was a new experience for her. It meant that for the first time she was dependent on others. Previously, my mother had always taken care of herself. For example, although she liked to get up very early, she never imposed this on her servants, always fetching her own tea in the morning, despite an injured wrist which made it difficult for her to manage.

During the last months of her life, Tenzin Choegyal, who at that time lived with her, asked her quite candidly which one of her children was her favourite. I think he was hoping that he would receive the citation. But no, she replied that it was Lobsang Samten. I tell this story because, as it turned out, Lobsang Samten was the only one of her children present at her passing. I myself saw here shortly beforehand, when I walked down to her cottage, but at the actual time I was away at Bodh Gaya.

As soon as I heard the news, I began to say prayers asking that she should have a good rebirth. I was joined in this by every Tibetan present; it was very touching to see the depth of feeling shown by all these other people. Naturally, the Government sent a letter of condolence too. This was addressed to Ling Rinpoche, who was supposed to break the news. But for some reason it was delivered directly to me. An amusing incident followed. Having read the letter, I passed it on to him. When he in turn had read it, he came up to me puzzled and, scratching his head, said: ' I see that I was supposed to convey this letter to you, not the other way around. Now what am I to do?' It was the only time I ever saw Ling Rinpoche lost for words."

( Sadness and humility. 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! After that I headed out to get the auto worked on as the alternator had conked out and the muffler needed fixing as it has been very noisy! With that hour and a half trip to the day job each way the mileage and the wear and tear builds up fairly quickly so stuff like this occurs fairly often you notice! After that I went to pick up the generator! It's really awesome, very quiet and clean operating. Then I returned to our studio to do some drawing and work on the sculpture. After that I worked on our a land of Tibet. 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 17 We continue to listen to the Dalai Lama as he tells more of the cruelty of the Chinese regime in Tibet.) " We now know that more than 300,000 Chinese troops are stationed in Tibet, many of them along the still-disputed border with India, but also at least 50,000 based within a day's journey from Lhasa. On top of this, China maintains at least one-third of its nuclear weaponry on Tibetan soil. And because Tibet contains one of the world's richest deposits of uranium, the Chinese are likely to render large areas of the country hazardous form radio-active waste through their mining activities. In Amdo, the north-eastern province where I was born, there exists the largest gulag known to man-big enough, by some estimates, to cater for the internment of up to ten million prisoners. And following a massive immigration programme, the population of Chinese in Tibet now comfortably exceeds that of Tibetans. My countrymen and women are today in grave danger of becoming nothing more than a tourist attraction in their own country. The second and third fact finding missions both left India for Tibet during May 1980. One was comprised of younger people, the other of educators. In the first instance, I wanted to try to gain an impression of how the situation in Tibet appeared to the people whose perspective had the freshness of youth. In the second, I wanted to know what were the prospects for the youth of Tibet itself. Unfortunately, the young people's mission was unable to complete its investigations. When Tibetans began turning out in force to greet the exiles and to denounce the Chinese presence, the authorities accused the delegates of inciting the masses to acts of defiance and expelled the delegation from Tibet for endangering the 'unity of the Motherland'. Naturally, I was disturbed by this turn of events. Far from 'seeking truth from facts' , it seemed that the Chinese were determined to ignore facts altogether. But, at least this expulsion showed that they were taking some notice of the feelings of Tibetans. The third delegation, which was led by my sister Jetsun Pema, was permitted to stay however. Returning to Dharamsala in October 1980, its findings made clear that although there had been a slight improvement in the general standard of education over the past twenty years, this was not much of a blessing, for it seemed that, to the Chinese, the real value of reading was to enable children to study the thoughts of Chairman Mao and of writing to enable them to produce 'confessions'. Overall, the information gathered by the fact finding missions revealed not only the full extent of China's rape of Tibet, but also that living conditions for Tibetans continued to be wretched. And although, compared with the suffering of the previous twenty years, the situation had undoubtedly improved, it was evident that the Chinese authorities still considered Tibetans to be ' backward, ignorant, cruel and barbaric', as they put it. In 1981, my mother died after a short period of illness following a stroke. All her long life ( she was as old as the century) she had enjoyed good health, so to be bedridden was a new experience for her. It meant that for the first time she was dependent on others. Previously, my mother had always taken care of herself. For example, although she liked to get up very early, she never imposed this on her servants, always fetching her own tea in the morning, despite an injured wrist which made it difficult for her to manage. During the last months of her life, Tenzin Choegyal, who at that time lived with her, asked her quite candidly which one of her children was her favourite. I think he was hoping that he would receive the citation. But no, she replied that it was Lobsang Samten. I tell this story because, as it turned out, Lobsang Samten was the only one of her children present at her passing. I myself saw here shortly beforehand, when I walked down to her cottage, but at the actual time I was away at Bodh Gaya. As soon as I heard the news, I began to say prayers asking that she should have a good rebirth. I was joined in this by every Tibetan present; it was very touching to see the depth of feeling shown by all these other people. Naturally, the Government sent a letter of condolence too. This was addressed to Ling Rinpoche, who was supposed to break the news. But for some reason it was delivered directly to me. An amusing incident followed. Having read the letter, I passed it on to him. When he in turn had read it, he came up to me puzzled and, scratching his head, said: ' I see that I was supposed to convey this letter to you, not the other way around. Now what am I to do?' It was the only time I ever saw Ling Rinpoche lost for words." ( Sadness and humility. 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! After that I headed out to get the auto worked on as the alternator had conked out and the muffler needed fixing as it has been very noisy! With that hour and a half trip to the day job each way the mileage and the wear and tear builds up fairly quickly so stuff like this occurs fairly often you notice! After that I went to pick up the generator! It's really awesome, very quiet and clean operating. Then I returned to our studio to do some drawing and work on the sculpture. After that I worked on our a land of Tibet. 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!)