June 15

Through My Eyes

Sunday June 15

( In Lhassa!.)

"The Tibetan market street in old-town Lhasa, Dekyl Shar Lam, is a river of animated commerce, high-pitched laughter, and pungent smells. Khampas, handsome men from Kham in Eastern Tibet, with long braided hair tied up in tassels of red silk, tend their wooden carts piled with fatless haunches of yak meat. With large knives they slice off thick steaks of the dark flesh. Khampa men walk with a singular sense of arrogance and macho pride. They swagger and strut, wearing heavy wool coats and white shirts, with carved daggers tucked into their belts. Stylish warriors, Khampas command attention and respect.

It was the proud, fearless Khampa guerrillas who led the resistance against Mao Zedong's troops when China invaded Kham from 1956 to 1958. As the Chinese troops orchestrated a traveling circus of horrors, often including public executions by crucifixion, vivisection, and scalding alive, the Khampas trained themselves in commando warfare. Tibetans are peaceful Buddhist people, to be sure, but the Khampas fought back, unlike most Tibetans, who still believed that compassion alone could win out over evil. The Dalai Lama once said that progress had cost the Chinese people their individuality, for "they not only dressed the same, but all spoke and behaved the same and, I believe, all thought the same." The Khampas pride themselves on their individuality and have many different leaders who forcefully protect their own communities. But in 1957, the Khampas joined together because they "just wanted to kill Chinese and get their country back". And , not missing a chance to fight Communism on the world stage, the CIA supported the Kham rebellion by dropping American arms to the Khampa guerillas. Yet it was not the CIA but the monks who gave the most support to the Tibetan rebels. Consequently, it was the Kham monasteries that the Chinese relentlessly and mercilessly bombed from the air. Along with the monks, the unarmed pastoral nomads also felt the wrath of China's aggressive retaliation after America became involved with the Khampa rebels.

The most notorious civilian bombing was of Lithang monastery in southeast Kham. The Chinese asked the abbots to inventory all the valuable objects in the monastery for shipment to China. The monks refused, and with the villagers, six thousand people locked themselves inside the monastery. For sixty-four days the Chinese laid siege before saying that they would bomb the monastery if the monks did not give up. The monks once more refused. So as a result, more than four thousand people, many of them women and children, were killed. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama soon realized, the Tibetans "would never be able to defeat the Chinese army. And however long it went on, it would be the Tibetan people, especially the women and children, who would suffer". "

( This is hard sad reading. It is what happened however and it was repeated throughout Tibet. The American government's support was actually rather paltry; the arms were mostly outdated world war vintage weapons and eventually all aid ceased with a change in administration policy. In fact,the Dalai Lama actually never endorsed armed resistance to the Chinese as he never felt it would solve anything.) I promise to add more tomorrow...

*( please click here to read of the day with me )

* This is once again from Art Perry's book the Tibetans.

( Please see my spinning for you!.)

(Tashi, gentle one! It's getting really hot up in the Grove now! I bought some horribly stinky repellant and sprayed it on the trees around Groundhog's hole. It was composed of rotten eggs and garlic. Ugh. I've discovered the deer are now browsing on the grapes so I sprayed those too. It's that time of year! I went through a catalog and bought a quart of ladybugs, some parasite wasps, and some ladybug lure to help with the aphids. This catalog was amazing; they had all kinds of beneficial insects for sale. Most importantly of course, they offer overnight delivery. I discovered that the Tibetan language book came in yesterday so I looked at it for a while. In the afternoon, I sprayed the trees with that bacterial spray again. I'm not certain yet but it seems to be helping. I hope you liked the poem. I made a few changes that occurred to me later. I've added our wildflowers so we can visit them now. It's been a long hard day so I'd better get to sleep. I'll try to add a map so we can see where we are travelling in Tibet. You've worked hard this week too I'm sure!

And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow

my one gentle beautiful patient dream bright

long dark mane in sunlight

so for now I bid goodnight... Sim-jah nahn-go!)


	Through My Eyes Sunday June 15 ( In Lhassa!.) "The Tibetan market street in old-town Lhasa, Dekyl Shar Lam, is a river of animated commerce, high-pitched laughter, and pungent smells. Khampas, handsome men from Kham in Eastern Tibet, with long braided hair tied up in tassels of red silk, tend their wooden carts piled with fatless haunches of yak meat. With large knives they slice off thick steaks of the dark flesh. Khampa men walk with a singular sense of arrogance and macho pride. They swagger and strut, wearing heavy wool coats and white shirts, with carved daggers tucked into their belts. Stylish warriors, Khampas command attention and respect. It was the proud, fearless Khampa guerrillas who led the resistance against Mao Zedong's troops when China invaded Kham from 1956 to 1958. As the Chinese troops orchestrated a traveling circus of horrors, often including public executions by crucifixion, vivisection, and scalding alive, the Khampas trained themselves in commando warfare. Tibetans are peaceful Buddhist people, to be sure, but the Khampas fought back, unlike most Tibetans, who still believed that compassion alone could win out over evil. The Dalai Lama once said that progress had cost the Chinese people their individuality, for "they not only dressed the same, but all spoke and behaved the same and, I believe, all thought the same." The Khampas pride themselves on their individuality and have many different leaders who forcefully protect their own communities. But in 1957, the Khampas joined together because they "just wanted to kill Chinese and get their country back". And , not missing a chance to fight Communism on the world stage, the CIA supported the Kham rebellion by dropping American arms to the Khampa guerillas. Yet it was not the CIA but the monks who gave the most support to the Tibetan rebels. Consequently, it was the Kham monasteries that the Chinese relentlessly and mercilessly bombed from the air. Along with the monks, the unarmed pastoral nomads also felt the wrath of China's aggressive retaliation after America became involved with the Khampa rebels. The most notorious civilian bombing was of Lithang monastery in southeast Kham. The Chinese asked the abbots to inventory all the valuable objects in the monastery for shipment to China. The monks refused, and with the villagers, six thousand people locked themselves inside the monastery. For sixty-four days the Chinese laid siege before saying that they would bomb the monastery if the monks did not give up. The monks once more refused. So as a result, more than four thousand people, many of them women and children, were killed. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama soon realized, the Tibetans "would never be able to defeat the Chinese army. And however long it went on, it would be the Tibetan people, especially the women and children, who would suffer". " ( This is hard sad reading. It is what happened however and it was repeated throughout Tibet. The American government's support was actually rather paltry; the arms were mostly outdated world war vintage weapons and eventually all aid ceased with a change in administration policy. In fact,the Dalai Lama actually never endorsed armed resistance to the Chinese as he never felt it would solve anything.) I promise to add more tomorrow... ( please click here to read of the day with me ) This is once again from Art Perry's book the Tibetans. ( Please see my spinning for you!.) (Tashi, gentle one! It's getting really hot up in the Grove now! I bought some horribly stinky repellant and sprayed it on the trees around Groundhog's hole. It was composed of rotten eggs and garlic. Ugh. I've discovered the deer are now browsing on the grapes so I sprayed those too. It's that time of year! I went through a catalog and bought a quart of ladybugs, some parasite wasps, and some ladybug lure to help with the aphids. This catalog was amazing; they had all kinds of beneficial insects for sale. Most importantly of course, they offer overnight delivery. I discovered that the Tibetan language book came in yesterday so I looked at it for a while. In the afternoon, I sprayed the trees with that bacterial spray again. I'm not certain yet but it seems to be helping. I hope you liked the poem. I made a few changes that occurred to me later. I've added our wildflowers so we can visit them now. It's been a long hard day so I'd better get to sleep. I'll try to add a map so we can see where we are travelling in Tibet. You've worked hard this week too I'm sure! And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow my one gentle beautiful patient dream bright long dark mane in sunlight so for now I bid goodnight... Sim-jah nahn-go!)