December 11

Through My Eyes

Saturday December 11

(We continue to listen to Dalai Lama as he tells of his visit to Delhi! )

" To this day it continues to fund the greater part of our education programme.

Finally, he cautioned that, whilst it was very important for our children to be brought up with thorough knowledge of their own history and culture, it was vital that they should be conversant with the ways of the modern world. I agreed wholeheartedly. For that reason, he said, we would be wise to use English as our medium of instruction, for 'it is the international language of the future.'

Our meeting was followed by lunch, at which point Nehru said he would call Dr Shrimali, the Education Minister. This gave us the opportunity to continue our discussion. Then, that same afternoon, the Prime Minister told me that the Government would announce the formation of the Society that very day. I was highly impressed with such a rapid response.

Over the years now, the people and Government of India have given an extraordinary amount to us Tibetan refugees, both in terms of financial assistance and in many other ways- this despite their own enormous economic difficulties. I doubt whether any other refugees have been so well treated by their hosts. It is always in my mind that , in the meantime, hundreds of thousands of India's own children lack even basic education.

Yet in a way, it is only right that India should come to our aid. For Buddhism came to Tibet from India, along with many other important cultural influences. There is no doubt in my mind that she has a better claim on Tibet that China, whose influence was only ever slight. I often compare the relationship between India and Tibet with that between a teacher and a pupil. When the pupil gets him or herself into difficulty, it is the responsibility of the teacher to come to the pupil's assistance.

Not far behind the generosity of the Indian people has been that of many foreign relief organisations. Much of their assistance has been of a practical nature, especially in the fields of health and education. Also important has been their help in establishing handicraft and other work centres, which have provided meaningful employment for many people. The first were carpet-weaving workshops set up in Darjeeling, the tea producing town high up on the border with Nepal, and at Dalhousie, not far from Dharamsala. Both were founded by the Indian Government towards the end of 1959. These then provided the model for several other such centres set up with the assistance from the overseas agencies-some of whom continue their support to this day. Now, many years later, each of those organisations which were involved at the beginning of our exile have expressed full satisfaction with the progress made by the refugees under their guidance.

The positive way in which Tibetans have responded to the help given them is the best way for us to express our enormous gratitude. This is important, not least because I am conscious that much of the money donated to these agencies often comes from the pockets of people with quite limited resources themselves.

On returning to Mussoorie after this visit to Delhi, I felt that the time was now ripe for me to break my elected silence and, on 20 June, I held a press conference. There were still a great number of newspapermen in Mussoorie waiting to hear something form me. Although the 'story' was by now over two months old, a total of 130 reporters attended, representing countries the world over.

I began by formally repudiating once more the Seventeen-Point 'Agreement'. I explained that, since China herself had broken the terms of her own 'Agreement' , there could no longer be any legal basis for recognising it. I then elaborated on my original short statement and detailed some of the atrocities committed against the Tibetans. I was sure that people would realise that my story was nearer the truth than the incredible fiction put about by the Chinese. But although my latest statement received wide coverage, I had underestimated the power of an efficiently conducted public relations campaign such as the Chinese Government was able to carry out. Or perhaps I overestimated the willingness of mankind to face the truth about itself. I believe that it took first the evidence of the Cultural Revolution, then the sight of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre on its television screens before the world fully accepted the mendacity and barbarity of the Communist Chinese.

That same evening, a communique was issued on behalf of the Indian Government saying that it did not recognise the Dalai Lama's Government in Exile. I was at first a little surprised and hurt by this. I knew perfectly well that it did not support us politically, but such distancing seemed unnecessary. However, my wounded feelings quickly gave way to a sense of enormous gratitude as I saw, really for the first time, the true meaning of the word 'democracy''. The Indian Government vehemently opposed my point of view, but it did nothing to try to prevent me from expressing it, much less from holding it."

( It was shameful that the nations of the world should have believed what the Chinese government told them. 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 working more on those technical problems; with us working two as one it went quite well as usual! After that I wandered about outside the studio and took a few pictures. I wore the chest waders and went to look at Beaver's dam. The stream is still quite high and running very strongly over it so we didn't go up gang rinpoche ngah-tso gi but just watched the water as it rushed over the top of the dam. It was an incredible sight! After that I returned to our studio to spin for you then continued work on the printing block. Two as one we've completed carving the name of Tibet in script! Then I printed the design of our prayer flag to try a bit of the script there. The script is actually quite small! I began this then decided to make the script larger as it is quite difficult to carve with the gouges I have. We'll need to make the prayer flags bigger when we use the printing blocks! With us working two as one together it is going quite well though! Then I continued to work on our a land of Tibet. Hopefully two as one we'll head up gang rinpoche ngah-tso gi to the Grove. You notice we've put on a lot of that paint. I think it looks a bit unnatural but I wanted to prevent as much winter injury as possible. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages as usual. I'm going to put the pages up on our infosite;I'll put this up for now 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 December 11 (We continue to listen to Dalai Lama as he tells of his visit to Delhi! ) " To this day it continues to fund the greater part of our education programme. Finally, he cautioned that, whilst it was very important for our children to be brought up with thorough knowledge of their own history and culture, it was vital that they should be conversant with the ways of the modern world. I agreed wholeheartedly. For that reason, he said, we would be wise to use English as our medium of instruction, for 'it is the international language of the future.' Our meeting was followed by lunch, at which point Nehru said he would call Dr Shrimali, the Education Minister. This gave us the opportunity to continue our discussion. Then, that same afternoon, the Prime Minister told me that the Government would announce the formation of the Society that very day. I was highly impressed with such a rapid response. Over the years now, the people and Government of India have given an extraordinary amount to us Tibetan refugees, both in terms of financial assistance and in many other ways- this despite their own enormous economic difficulties. I doubt whether any other refugees have been so well treated by their hosts. It is always in my mind that , in the meantime, hundreds of thousands of India's own children lack even basic education. Yet in a way, it is only right that India should come to our aid. For Buddhism came to Tibet from India, along with many other important cultural influences. There is no doubt in my mind that she has a better claim on Tibet that China, whose influence was only ever slight. I often compare the relationship between India and Tibet with that between a teacher and a pupil. When the pupil gets him or herself into difficulty, it is the responsibility of the teacher to come to the pupil's assistance. Not far behind the generosity of the Indian people has been that of many foreign relief organisations. Much of their assistance has been of a practical nature, especially in the fields of health and education. Also important has been their help in establishing handicraft and other work centres, which have provided meaningful employment for many people. The first were carpet-weaving workshops set up in Darjeeling, the tea producing town high up on the border with Nepal, and at Dalhousie, not far from Dharamsala. Both were founded by the Indian Government towards the end of 1959. These then provided the model for several other such centres set up with the assistance from the overseas agencies-some of whom continue their support to this day. Now, many years later, each of those organisations which were involved at the beginning of our exile have expressed full satisfaction with the progress made by the refugees under their guidance. The positive way in which Tibetans have responded to the help given them is the best way for us to express our enormous gratitude. This is important, not least because I am conscious that much of the money donated to these agencies often comes from the pockets of people with quite limited resources themselves. On returning to Mussoorie after this visit to Delhi, I felt that the time was now ripe for me to break my elected silence and, on 20 June, I held a press conference. There were still a great number of newspapermen in Mussoorie waiting to hear something form me. Although the 'story' was by now over two months old, a total of 130 reporters attended, representing countries the world over. I began by formally repudiating once more the Seventeen-Point 'Agreement'. I explained that, since China herself had broken the terms of her own 'Agreement' , there could no longer be any legal basis for recognising it. I then elaborated on my original short statement and detailed some of the atrocities committed against the Tibetans. I was sure that people would realise that my story was nearer the truth than the incredible fiction put about by the Chinese. But although my latest statement received wide coverage, I had underestimated the power of an efficiently conducted public relations campaign such as the Chinese Government was able to carry out. Or perhaps I overestimated the willingness of mankind to face the truth about itself. I believe that it took first the evidence of the Cultural Revolution, then the sight of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre on its television screens before the world fully accepted the mendacity and barbarity of the Communist Chinese. That same evening, a communique was issued on behalf of the Indian Government saying that it did not recognise the Dalai Lama's Government in Exile. I was at first a little surprised and hurt by this. I knew perfectly well that it did not support us politically, but such distancing seemed unnecessary. However, my wounded feelings quickly gave way to a sense of enormous gratitude as I saw, really for the first time, the true meaning of the word 'democracy''. The Indian Government vehemently opposed my point of view, but it did nothing to try to prevent me from expressing it, much less from holding it." ( It was shameful that the nations of the world should have believed what the Chinese government told them. 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 working more on those technical problems; with us working two as one it went quite well as usual! After that I wandered about outside the studio and took a few pictures. I wore the chest waders and went to look at Beaver's dam. The stream is still quite high and running very strongly over it so we didn't go up gang rinpoche ngah-tso gi but just watched the water as it rushed over the top of the dam. It was an incredible sight! After that I returned to our studio to spin for you then continued work on the printing block. Two as one we've completed carving the name of Tibet in script! Then I printed the design of our prayer flag to try a bit of the script there. The script is actually quite small! I began this then decided to make the script larger as it is quite difficult to carve with the gouges I have. We'll need to make the prayer flags bigger when we use the printing blocks! With us working two as one together it is going quite well though! Then I continued to work on our a land of Tibet. Hopefully two as one we'll head up gang rinpoche ngah-tso gi to the Grove. You notice we've put on a lot of that paint. I think it looks a bit unnatural but I wanted to prevent as much winter injury as possible. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages as usual. I'm going to put the pages up on our infosite;I'll put this up for now 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!)