January 22

Through My Eyes

Saturday January 22

(We continue to listen to Dalai Lama as he tells of Dharamsala!)

"Within a fortnight our arrival in Dharamsala, I was able to open the first nursery for Tibetan refugee children. This was established in a small, previously derelict building rented for us by the Indian Government to house the growing number of orphans amongst the new arrivals. I appointed my elder sister, Tsering Dolma, to run it. There was not much room for them when the initial consignment of fifty children arrived. But they lived in luxury compared compared with later on, for, by the end of the year, their numbers had multiplied tenfold, with no end to the increase in sight. At one point, 120 shared a single bedroom. They had to sleep five or six to a bed, lying across it so that they could all fit in. But although conditions were harsh, I could not help feeling joy every time I went to visit my sister and here new extended family. For, parentless as they were, these destitutes were so full of laughter and joy that they seemed to make a mockery of their hardship.

My sister proved to be an excellent leader, who never gave in to despair. She was a powerful woman and quite strict, having inherited the family temper in good measure. At heart though, she was a very kind person with a good sense of humour. Her contribution in those difficult times was invaluable. As a simple village girl, she had had no education whatever and much of her early life was spent helping my mother run the family house. She had an enormous capacity for hard work. This, coupled with here rather fierce nature, made her an excellent leader.

However, it soon became apparent that neither we nor the Indian Government had sufficient resources to cope with all our orphans, and I came to the conclusion that it was necessary to have at least some of them adopted overseas, if that were possible. I therefore contacted a Swiss friend, Dr Aeschmann, and asked him to look into the possibility. Switzerland seemed to me an ideal place, given the fact that it is a relatively small country with excellent communications and, as a bonus, mountains which are reminiscent of home.

The Swiss Government was co-operative from the start and said it was willing to take 200 children immediately. Furthermore, it agreed to take steps to help ensure that, although the children were to be adopted into ordinary Swiss families, as far as possible there would be opportunities for them to pursue their own unique Tibetan culture and identity.

This first batch of children was followed by others, and later there was also a scheme not only for some older students to study in Switzerland but also for the resettlement of 1,000 adult refugees. As our situation improved, we no longer needed to call on the generosity of the Swiss nation. But I continue to be tremendously grateful to them for all they have done for my people.

Soon after arriving in Dharamsala, I came into personal contact with members of the International Commission of Jurists, whose work the previous year had done so much to encourage us. They invited me to give evidence to the Commission's Legal Inquiry Committee, which I gladly did. The results of these investigations were published in Geneva during August 1960. Once again, the Jurists entirely vindicated the Tibetan viewpoint: China, it reported, had violated sixteen articles of the Universal Declaration of Human rights and was guilty of genocide in Tibet. They also detailed some of the vile atrocities I have already mentioned.

On a practical level, I learned one very useful thing from my discussions with the Commission. One of its members, an Englishman I think, asked me whether we had someone monitoring Peking's radio broadcasts. No, I replied, we had not. He was a little shocked at this and explained in some detail the necessity of listening carefully to what they said. It is a comment on our lack of sophistication that this had not occurred to us. As far as we were concerned, Radio Peking did nothing but disseminate lies and propaganda. We did not see the value of listening to it for an indication of what was going on in the Chinese mind. However, I could see the logic of doing so and immediately instructed the Kashag to organise a monitoring team- whose successors carry on their work to this day.

Throughout 1960, I continued to work at reforming the Tibetan Administration and, together with the Kashag and others, I began the difficult process of full democratisation. On 2 September, I inaugurated the Commission of Tibetan People's Deputies. Membership of this organisation, the highest legislative body of the Government, was open to freely elected representatives of the three regions of Tibet, U-Tsang, Amdo and Kham. Each of the main traditions of Tibetan Buddhism likewise had seats. Later, followers of the old Bon religion were also included. The Commission, now known as the Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies, or Bhoe Mimang Chetui Lhenkhang, functions much like a house of parliament. Its members meet with the Kashag and the secretaries of the different Departments, or Lhenkhangus, for discussions once a month. On specific occasions, it meets with the full National Working Committee, or Gyunle, which comprises the heads of the Lhenkhangs and members of the Kashag (whose members are today no longer appointed by me but elected). Anything put to the vote by the People's Deputy must be carried out according to the result."

(The beginnngs of the Tibetan Government in exile! 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 wandering about taking pictures; the stream has frozen solidly enough to walk on now so I was able to walk on it over the stream! After that I headed up gang rinpoche ngah-tso gi to check on our trees and native plants then rested by your Medlar tree as usual before returning to our studio to spin for you then work a bit more on the printing block which with us working two as one is going quite well! After that I worked on the Grove pages a bit then headed out to shovel lots of snow! Mom's shovel works better if it's used every few hours so that it isn't pushing snow that's more than a few inches deep so we take turns. After that I continued work on our a land of Tibet. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages as usual. Be not concerned about these beautiful one. There's just a lot going on! 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 January 22 (We continue to listen to Dalai Lama as he tells of Dharamsala!) "Within a fortnight our arrival in Dharamsala, I was able to open the first nursery for Tibetan refugee children. This was established in a small, previously derelict building rented for us by the Indian Government to house the growing number of orphans amongst the new arrivals. I appointed my elder sister, Tsering Dolma, to run it. There was not much room for them when the initial consignment of fifty children arrived. But they lived in luxury compared compared with later on, for, by the end of the year, their numbers had multiplied tenfold, with no end to the increase in sight. At one point, 120 shared a single bedroom. They had to sleep five or six to a bed, lying across it so that they could all fit in. But although conditions were harsh, I could not help feeling joy every time I went to visit my sister and here new extended family. For, parentless as they were, these destitutes were so full of laughter and joy that they seemed to make a mockery of their hardship. My sister proved to be an excellent leader, who never gave in to despair. She was a powerful woman and quite strict, having inherited the family temper in good measure. At heart though, she was a very kind person with a good sense of humour. Her contribution in those difficult times was invaluable. As a simple village girl, she had had no education whatever and much of her early life was spent helping my mother run the family house. She had an enormous capacity for hard work. This, coupled with here rather fierce nature, made her an excellent leader. However, it soon became apparent that neither we nor the Indian Government had sufficient resources to cope with all our orphans, and I came to the conclusion that it was necessary to have at least some of them adopted overseas, if that were possible. I therefore contacted a Swiss friend, Dr Aeschmann, and asked him to look into the possibility. Switzerland seemed to me an ideal place, given the fact that it is a relatively small country with excellent communications and, as a bonus, mountains which are reminiscent of home. The Swiss Government was co-operative from the start and said it was willing to take 200 children immediately. Furthermore, it agreed to take steps to help ensure that, although the children were to be adopted into ordinary Swiss families, as far as possible there would be opportunities for them to pursue their own unique Tibetan culture and identity. This first batch of children was followed by others, and later there was also a scheme not only for some older students to study in Switzerland but also for the resettlement of 1,000 adult refugees. As our situation improved, we no longer needed to call on the generosity of the Swiss nation. But I continue to be tremendously grateful to them for all they have done for my people. Soon after arriving in Dharamsala, I came into personal contact with members of the International Commission of Jurists, whose work the previous year had done so much to encourage us. They invited me to give evidence to the Commission's Legal Inquiry Committee, which I gladly did. The results of these investigations were published in Geneva during August 1960. Once again, the Jurists entirely vindicated the Tibetan viewpoint: China, it reported, had violated sixteen articles of the Universal Declaration of Human rights and was guilty of genocide in Tibet. They also detailed some of the vile atrocities I have already mentioned. On a practical level, I learned one very useful thing from my discussions with the Commission. One of its members, an Englishman I think, asked me whether we had someone monitoring Peking's radio broadcasts. No, I replied, we had not. He was a little shocked at this and explained in some detail the necessity of listening carefully to what they said. It is a comment on our lack of sophistication that this had not occurred to us. As far as we were concerned, Radio Peking did nothing but disseminate lies and propaganda. We did not see the value of listening to it for an indication of what was going on in the Chinese mind. However, I could see the logic of doing so and immediately instructed the Kashag to organise a monitoring team- whose successors carry on their work to this day. Throughout 1960, I continued to work at reforming the Tibetan Administration and, together with the Kashag and others, I began the difficult process of full democratisation. On 2 September, I inaugurated the Commission of Tibetan People's Deputies. Membership of this organisation, the highest legislative body of the Government, was open to freely elected representatives of the three regions of Tibet, U-Tsang, Amdo and Kham. Each of the main traditions of Tibetan Buddhism likewise had seats. Later, followers of the old Bon religion were also included. The Commission, now known as the Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies, or Bhoe Mimang Chetui Lhenkhang, functions much like a house of parliament. Its members meet with the Kashag and the secretaries of the different Departments, or Lhenkhangus, for discussions once a month. On specific occasions, it meets with the full National Working Committee, or Gyunle, which comprises the heads of the Lhenkhangs and members of the Kashag (whose members are today no longer appointed by me but elected). Anything put to the vote by the People's Deputy must be carried out according to the result." (The beginnngs of the Tibetan Government in exile! 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 wandering about taking pictures; the stream has frozen solidly enough to walk on now so I was able to walk on it over the stream! After that I headed up gang rinpoche ngah-tso gi to check on our trees and native plants then rested by your Medlar tree as usual before returning to our studio to spin for you then work a bit more on the printing block which with us working two as one is going quite well! After that I worked on the Grove pages a bit then headed out to shovel lots of snow! Mom's shovel works better if it's used every few hours so that it isn't pushing snow that's more than a few inches deep so we take turns. After that I continued work on our a land of Tibet. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages as usual. Be not concerned about these beautiful one. There's just a lot going on! 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!)