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I was, believe it or not, in Tibet when this story was first published (in a British newspaper).
What is happening there is nothing short of cultural genocide. Tibet is a world entirely dfferent from China - a nation within a state, if you will. Can you imagine getting pulled over on the highway by military police who didn't speak your language?
The city of Lhasa is divided into east and west, with the Potala Palace in the center. The east side of the city is Tibetan; the west, Chinese. It is like night and day - the Chinese side looks like any other city in mainland China, with stores blasting women talking loudly in Mandarin, Chinese characters on everything, cars, a huge memorial square that dominates the view from the top of the Potala (built in the last three years).
The Tibetan side of the city is still a maze of narrow streets filled with vendors selling yak butter, tea, prayer wheels, prayer scarves, incense. Pilgrims wait three hours in summer and more in winter to enter the Jokheng Temple, Buddhism's holiest site. Even our guide, who lived with an American family in Shanghai and Chengdu in China for years and speaks near perfect English and passable Chinese, wore a medallion around his neck with a picture of the 10th Panchen Lama, given to him by a monk.
The Chinese have done some good things, like building up infrastructure and roads. But they also dump nuclear waste on the plateau and are draining at least one sacred lake - a dead one, with no source of water - to power hydro-electric plants.
A few years ago, according to our guide, Tibetan monasteries displayed pictures of the Dalai Lama with relative freedom. One day, a directive came down from somewhere, and military police entered monasteries to remove the pictures. In one monastery outside Lhasa, they slammed the picture frames to the floor and forced the monks to walk in the broken glass.
The missing 11th Panchen Lama? About six years old when he was incarcerated. After the Dalai Lama announced he had been chosen, he and his family disappeared and haven't been seen since.
This news story about totalitarian control of reincarnation is funny on the surface, but in reality it's a way for the Chinese government to excuse the imprisonment of Buddhas and and the new Dalai Lama while hiding under the guise of "the rule of law" when forced to face the international community.
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Kasie H: The missing 11th Panchen Lama? About six years old when he was incarcerated. After the Dalai Lama announced he had been chosen, he and his family disappeared and haven't been seen since.
This news story about totalitarian control of reincarnation is funny on the surface, but in reality it's a way for the Chinese government to excuse the imprisonment of Buddhas and and the new Dalai Lama while hiding under the guise of "the rule of law" when forced to face the international community.
Kasie, that's how I feel: it's funny and absurd but ultimately tragic.
This quote was telling:
quote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchen_Lama The Chinese government claims that he is attending school and leading a normal life somewhere in China, and that his whereabouts are kept undisclosed to protect him.
Protect him? Protect him from whom? Why do people bother telling such transparent lies that only make them look foolish?
Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:A few years ago, according to our guide, Tibetan monasteries displayed pictures of the Dalai Lama with relative freedom. One day, a directive came down from somewhere, and military police entered monasteries to remove the pictures. In one monastery outside Lhasa, they slammed the picture frames to the floor and forced the monks to walk in the broken glass.
A friend of my mother's smuggled drugs across borders in his youth. Then, he converted to Buddhism.
More recently, he has smuggled pictures of the Dalai Lama and other banned religious items across the border into Tibet.
Posts: 3580 | Registered: Aug 2005
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