March 19

Through My Eyes

Saturday March 19

(We continue to listen to the Dalai Lama as he tells of the events in Tibet during the Cultural Revolution.)

" It turned out that not only was this a period of aimless madness, but the behaviour of Jiang Qing, Mao's wife, resembled that of an Empress. At the same time, I realised that the Communist leaders, who at first I had thought of as having a single mind inhabiting their different bodies, were all at each other's throats.

Then, however, it was not possible to do more than guess at the extent of the turmoil. Along with many Tibetans I realised that terrible things were happening in our beloved homeland. But communications had dried up entirely. Our only sources of news were individual Nepalese traders who were occasionally allowed over the border. However, such information as they were able to give us was scant and invariably outdated. For example, it was not until over a year later that I learned of a large-scale revolt that took place in several different parts of Tibet during 1969. According to some reports, even more people were killed during the reprisals that followed than in 1959.

We know now that many such outbreaks of unrest occurred. Of course, I had no direct contact with the leaders in Peking, who, at this time, began to refer to me as the 'wolf in monk's robes'. I became the focus of the Chinese Government's bile and was regularly denounced in Lhasa as someone who merely posed as a religious leader. In reality, the Chinese said, I was a thief, a murderer and a rapist. They also suggested that I performed certain quite surprising sexual services for Mrs. Ghandi!

Thus, for almost fifteen years, the Tibetan refugees entered a periods of darkness. The prospect of returning to our homeland seemed further off then when we had first come into exile. But of course night is the time for regeneration and during these years the resettlement programme was brought into fruition. Gradually, more and more people were taken off the roads and put into the new settlements around India. Also, a few of the refugees left India to found small communities around the world. At the time of writing, there are approximately 1,200 spread throughout Canada and the United States ( in equal proportions), some 2,000 in Switzerland, 100 in Great Britain, and a handful in almost every other European country, including one young family in the Republic of Ireland.

In tandem with this second wave of resettlement, the Tibetan Government in Exile opened offices in several counties overseas. The first of these was in Kathmandu, the second in New York, followed by Zurich, Tokyo, London, and Washington respectively. As well as looking after the interests of Tibetans living in these countries, the Offices of Tibet also do what they can to disseminate information about our country, culture, history and way of life both in exile and at home.

In 1968, I made plans to move from Swarg Ashram, my home for eight years, into a small house called Bryn Cottage. The building itself was no bigger than the last one, but it had the advantage of a newly constructed compound, which housed the Private Offices and the Indian Security Office, along with an audience-room and an office for myself. The Tibetan Government in Exile had grown to be an organisation several hundred strong and most of them were now moved into a complex of offices some distance away. At the same time as this reorganisation was taking place, my mother also moved to a new house, Kashmir Cottage ( though not very willingly at first), enabling me to live a truly monastic life once more.

Shortly after moving to Bryn cottage, I was able to refound Namgyal monastery, whose monks were previously living in a small house above Swarg Ashram. Today it occupies a building not far from my own residence. A little later, in 1970, work was also completed on a new temple, the Tsuglakhang. This meant that I now had the opportunity to take part in the various ceremonies of the traditional Tibetan calendar in an appropriate setting. Today, adjacent to the buildings at Namgyal, is housed the School of Buddhist Dialectics, which helps to keep alive the art of debating within our monastic community. Most afternoons, the courtyard outside the temple is now full of young monks in maroon robes clapping their hands and shaking their heads and laughing as they practise for their examinations.

In 1963, I had called a meeting of all heads of the different traditions, together with representatives of the Bon religion. Together we discussed our common difficulties and strategies for overcoming them in order to preserve and propagate the different aspects of our Tibetan Buddhist culture. At the end of several days, I was satisfied that, if we could only provide ourselves with the right facilities, our religion would survive. And now, soon after reinaugurating my own monastery, I re-established Ganden, Drepung, and Sera, in the southern state of Karntaka, initially with a complement of 1,300 monks- the survivors from Buxa Duar."

( A remarkable meeting it must have been! 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 continued working on the printing block which with we two working as one pulling strongly and patiently together is going quite well! After that I headed up gang rinpoche ngah tso gi to check our trees and native plants then rested by your Medlar tree as usual. It wasn't our warm and bright future day of course but it was wonderful up there with the sparkling white snow beneath the intensely blue sky and the birds singing! After that I returned to our studio to continue creating room on the site. Two as one we've moved many of the monthly pages to our infosite without difficulty so we've a lot more room! Then I headed outside to wander about for awhile taking pictures. 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. 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 March 19 (We continue to listen to the Dalai Lama as he tells of the events in Tibet during the Cultural Revolution.) " It turned out that not only was this a period of aimless madness, but the behaviour of Jiang Qing, Mao's wife, resembled that of an Empress. At the same time, I realised that the Communist leaders, who at first I had thought of as having a single mind inhabiting their different bodies, were all at each other's throats. Then, however, it was not possible to do more than guess at the extent of the turmoil. Along with many Tibetans I realised that terrible things were happening in our beloved homeland. But communications had dried up entirely. Our only sources of news were individual Nepalese traders who were occasionally allowed over the border. However, such information as they were able to give us was scant and invariably outdated. For example, it was not until over a year later that I learned of a large-scale revolt that took place in several different parts of Tibet during 1969. According to some reports, even more people were killed during the reprisals that followed than in 1959. We know now that many such outbreaks of unrest occurred. Of course, I had no direct contact with the leaders in Peking, who, at this time, began to refer to me as the 'wolf in monk's robes'. I became the focus of the Chinese Government's bile and was regularly denounced in Lhasa as someone who merely posed as a religious leader. In reality, the Chinese said, I was a thief, a murderer and a rapist. They also suggested that I performed certain quite surprising sexual services for Mrs. Ghandi! Thus, for almost fifteen years, the Tibetan refugees entered a periods of darkness. The prospect of returning to our homeland seemed further off then when we had first come into exile. But of course night is the time for regeneration and during these years the resettlement programme was brought into fruition. Gradually, more and more people were taken off the roads and put into the new settlements around India. Also, a few of the refugees left India to found small communities around the world. At the time of writing, there are approximately 1,200 spread throughout Canada and the United States ( in equal proportions), some 2,000 in Switzerland, 100 in Great Britain, and a handful in almost every other European country, including one young family in the Republic of Ireland. In tandem with this second wave of resettlement, the Tibetan Government in Exile opened offices in several counties overseas. The first of these was in Kathmandu, the second in New York, followed by Zurich, Tokyo, London, and Washington respectively. As well as looking after the interests of Tibetans living in these countries, the Offices of Tibet also do what they can to disseminate information about our country, culture, history and way of life both in exile and at home. In 1968, I made plans to move from Swarg Ashram, my home for eight years, into a small house called Bryn Cottage. The building itself was no bigger than the last one, but it had the advantage of a newly constructed compound, which housed the Private Offices and the Indian Security Office, along with an audience-room and an office for myself. The Tibetan Government in Exile had grown to be an organisation several hundred strong and most of them were now moved into a complex of offices some distance away. At the same time as this reorganisation was taking place, my mother also moved to a new house, Kashmir Cottage ( though not very willingly at first), enabling me to live a truly monastic life once more. Shortly after moving to Bryn cottage, I was able to refound Namgyal monastery, whose monks were previously living in a small house above Swarg Ashram. Today it occupies a building not far from my own residence. A little later, in 1970, work was also completed on a new temple, the Tsuglakhang. This meant that I now had the opportunity to take part in the various ceremonies of the traditional Tibetan calendar in an appropriate setting. Today, adjacent to the buildings at Namgyal, is housed the School of Buddhist Dialectics, which helps to keep alive the art of debating within our monastic community. Most afternoons, the courtyard outside the temple is now full of young monks in maroon robes clapping their hands and shaking their heads and laughing as they practise for their examinations. In 1963, I had called a meeting of all heads of the different traditions, together with representatives of the Bon religion. Together we discussed our common difficulties and strategies for overcoming them in order to preserve and propagate the different aspects of our Tibetan Buddhist culture. At the end of several days, I was satisfied that, if we could only provide ourselves with the right facilities, our religion would survive. And now, soon after reinaugurating my own monastery, I re-established Ganden, Drepung, and Sera, in the southern state of Karntaka, initially with a complement of 1,300 monks- the survivors from Buxa Duar." ( A remarkable meeting it must have been! 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 continued working on the printing block which with we two working as one pulling strongly and patiently together is going quite well! After that I headed up gang rinpoche ngah tso gi to check our trees and native plants then rested by your Medlar tree as usual. It wasn't our warm and bright future day of course but it was wonderful up there with the sparkling white snow beneath the intensely blue sky and the birds singing! After that I returned to our studio to continue creating room on the site. Two as one we've moved many of the monthly pages to our infosite without difficulty so we've a lot more room! Then I headed outside to wander about for awhile taking pictures. 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. 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!)