Monday, January 30, 2012

Life and death

Prepare for a life or death struggle


For the long term survival of a people, compatriots, we must articulate the experience (literally ‘joys and sorrows’) of our people in the pure form of our native language, and keep loyalty to our people at the centre of our humble hearts!

Compatriots! Let us march forward together, arm linked in arm, and restore the pure form of our native language to life. This is the common and exclusive responsibility that all red-faced Tibetans must shoulder, and the first step in restoring the source of our collective pride.

Snowlanders! We must even be ready to die for the sake of our people!

Brave compatriots! In the cause of protecting the cherished homeland of the red faces, we must ascend to the pure realms of cultural excellence.

Kye! Kye! People of the snow land of Tibet! The time has come to seize the jewel prize!

January 26th 2012

This is the text of a leaflet distributed by Tarpa, who was arrested by police in Dzamtang county on January 26th, although not the final leaflet that led to his arrest. He and Orgyen, who was shot and killed at that time, were fellow students at a college in Mianyang, Sichuan, and their native villages were traditional subjects of the Tsangchen monastery of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Released by Losang Yeshe and Kanyag Tsering

Kirti monastery in exile

January 28th 2012



(Matthew Akester's -Translator’s note: ‘red faced Tibetans’ is a vernacular idiom for the Tibetan people recalling their common imperial and martial heritage)

ཐར་པའི་སྙན་ངག


ཤི་གསོན་གྱི་སྔོན་བརྡ།

མི་རིགས་ཤིག་ལོ་རྒྱུས་ཐོག་ཡུན་རིང་དུ་གནས་དགོས་ན། སྤུན་ཟླ་ཚོ། ང་ཚོས་ཕ་སྐད་གཙང་མའི་ལམ་ནས་མི་རིགས་ཀྱི་བདེ་སྡུག་གླེང་དགོས་ལ། ཡ་ཆུང་སེམས་པའི་དཀྱིལ་ནས་མི་རིགས་ཀྱི་ལ་རྒྱ་དྲན་དགོས། སྤུན་ཟླ་ཚོ། མདུན་དུ་སྐྱོད་དང་། ང་ཚོ་ལག་རྡང་གཅིག་ཏུ་སྦྲེལ་ནས། འུ་ཅག་གི་ཕ་སྐད་གཙང་མའི་དབུགས་རྒྱུན་སླར་ཡང་གསོ། འདི་ནི་གདོང་དམར་བོད་པ་ཡོངས་ཀྱི་ཕྲག་ཏུ་བབས་པའི་ མ་བགོས་ཐུན་མོང་གི་ལས་འགན་ཉག་གཅིག་ཡིན་ལ། ལ་རྒྱའི་ཚེ་སྲོག་སླར་ཡང་གསོ་བའི་གོམ་པ་དང་པོ་རེད། གངས་ཅན་པ། ང་ཚོ་མི་རིགས་འདིའི་ཆེད་དུ་ཤི་ཡང་ཐུབ་དགོས། ངའི་སྤུན་ཟླ་རྒོད་པོ་ཚོ། འུ་ཅག་གདོང་དམར་བའི་ཕ་གཞི་དྲོན་མོ་སྲུང་བའི་ཕྱིར། ཤེས་རིག་གི་ཞིང་ཁམས་སྙེག་དགོས། ཀྱེ་ཀྱེ། བོད་ཁ་བ་ཅན་པ། ནོར་བུའི་ནོམ་ངོས་ཟིན་དགོས་པའི་དུས་ལ་བབས་འདུག ༢༠༡༢།༠༡།༢༦ ཐར་པ་ནས



Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Monday, January 23, 2012

protestors shot in Drango





Thousands of Tibetan took part in protest and at least three people were shot dead and numbers of them were injured after Chinese crackdown.


http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/killed-01232012124137.html

On Monday morning,

Around 3 to 4 thousands of Tibetan people gathered in Drango County and shouted slogans such as “Free Tibet” “return of Dalai Lama to Tibet”. They were carrying Tibetan traditional scarf, Karta, on top of sticks.

According to an exiled monk Yeshi Sangpo,from Tibet, “It was Chinese New Year today, but thousands of Tibetan protested in the wake of some threatening self immolation in Drango,but the source did not witness any self immolations. There was huge protest rally joined by thousands of Tibetan lay people. When the protesters were reaching in front of the local Chinese police, then the police shot fire. The armed Chinese police have used tear gas and fired shoot at protesters around 2:30PM, three of them were killed on the spot and while two other sustained injures to their legs. The protest started in the morning and it continues at the time of reporting it was 3:30PM in Tibet. The Tibetan protestors have done serious damages, and destroyed Chinese shops and other Chinese outlets in the area.



Our second source , a monk from kham Drango ,who took part in the protest said.



“one protestor was killed and about 30 people injured and 5 of them very seriously in the protest. The protest began around 9:30am in the morning of Jan 23, at a cross road and then it spread. We shouted slogans calling for Long Live His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Freedom for Tibet and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet,. When we reached the police station, they fired automatic weapons at the protestors. The Chinese police have also used fire fighters, tear gas to disperse the crowd. Yonten, a layman was killed on the spot and his body was brought to Drango monastery. Another 32 people were injured are kept at the Dongo monastery, 5 of them were in serious condition. Many other protestors injured were taken away by their relatives to provide them shelter.

Another source told our reporter, “hundreds of Tibetan were arrested ensuing the protest, Tibetan from Tawu county have come to join the protest in Drango.



Chinese website confirmed the death of one protester http://www.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1019/8/9/3/101989382.html?coluid=0&kindid=0&docid=101989382&mdate=0123223424.









Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sad Loss

 Reaching for comment on the tragic death of a respected monk, the relevant Chinese police in Qinghai said that they are not responsible of prisoner's death occurred outside the prison.  They handled many detention and release cases and not aware of the Geshi Tsutrim's case. For detail read here....

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/torture-01222012193027.htmlhttp://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/torture-01222012193027.html

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tibetan spirit in self immolation


It is no exaggeration to say Tibet is at war. It is an ongoing  fight against authoritarian  repression since the onset of 2008 Tibetan uprising. The spirit of Tibetan people is soaring and the seventeen self immolation  incidents since 2009 is testament of Tibetan people's resolute to fight for their cause. The ultimate self sacrifice of those great Tibetan souls is a defining moment of Tibetan people's aspiration for freedom. The self immolation has opened a new chapter in Tibetan people's struggle for freedom. The self immolation of the seventeen Tibetan truly reflects  Gandhi's mantra of "do or die".

The will to struggle despite of insurmountable challenges.

A peaceful war is waged against the Chinese authoritarian regime to free the Tibetan from the shackle of oppression. It is a peaceful and most extreme form of non violence campaign which has so far produced  12 causalities on The Tibetan sides and not a knuckle on the oppressor leaving  along to shed Chinese blood. To draw a bad comparison these 17 Tibetans' spirit and courage is capable of unimaginable destruction and bloodshed. Instead they chose not to harm any innocent people and not even the oppressors is in strict observance of nonviolence principles. Like Gandhi would never allow his wife and himself to be given any meat even if the denial meant their death. Rarely in any nation's struggle for freedom has witnessed such continuous attempts of self immolation as in Tibet. Tibetans in and outside have accorded their highest respect and honor for the heroic deed. Like any other great sacrifices who offered their selflessness for an ideal and worthy cause, the self immolation attempts draw to achieve such fulfillment as Tibetan people's angst for their spiritual leader's return  and freedom, thereby their action attained them martyrdom.

Tibetan resolute:

Kalon Tripa, Dr. Lobsang Sangay was quoted by media as saying soon after his inauguration  that the Tibetan spirit inside Tibet is stronger than the people's liberation army. The Dalai Lama said to BBC the self immolation are courageous act,but what is the effect. As the cliche goes where there is a will there is a way. The unwavering will of Tibetan people through the self immolation and other form  epitomizes the Tibetan people's dogged determination and  rare resolute not to buckle under Comie's repression and crackdown.  There cant be anything else that illustrates such resolute than the ultimate self sacrifice. The people are fully aware of the consequence of self immolation. It is premeditated, and calculated and well thought political protest against the Chinese government by sensible people by their unfathomable courage. It maybe a copycat, and searing spirit. it is reported that one of the nuns Palden Choezom who has succumbed to self immolation has kept a list of those who attempted self immolation. The latest self immolation victim, reincarnate and Turku Sopa has written in his leaflet to dedicate his sacrifice to those earlier attempts and the deceased. If the majority of the Tibetan people has a pinch of  their will and courage and self awareness, then the  fruit of struggle would be reaped much easier and fast.
At address to Uropean The united front deputy chair Zhu Wu Chi when addressing Europen official, and journalist said "The self immolation incident occurred at four monasteries; Tibet and other Tibetan inhabited areas have a total of 3452 monasteries, with 140000 clergy; therefore the Dalai's clique claim that the entire Tibetan inhibated areas were on fire was entirely groundless" he further most monasteries did not indulge in such incident rather they have denounced. But the fact is self immolation and protest spread to other parts of Tibetan inhibated areas by now including Chamdo in TAR and Qinghai. Besides Zhu said the self immolation incident will not change China's policy on Tibet.
Those people who have self immolated have not done so for the hope of immediate breakthrough and change of China's mind. These brave souls have led the ;ath  to freedom and demonstrated the unflagging courage of Tibetan people. The Chinese will not change their policy on Tibet and the Tibetans will not change their protestation against that policy. As Richard gere was recently quoted,  the Chinese regime has to murder all Tibetans to change them.  Human spirit and strong yearning for freedom and truth will triumph against brutal force that the Chinese are so relied to quell any oppositions.

 
 Courage
The principled campaign:  Through their political protests and slogans, it is discernible the raising awareness of Tibetan people for their human rights. Their slogans are and protest arerealistic and practical in tone with the PRC constitution. Tibetan inside took the lead and they have launched a principled campaign for freedom and people's aspiration. Their protest are peaceful, disciplined and well planned echoing unified demands for the return of Dalai lama and more freedom for Tibet. Despite of insurmountable challenges the struggle face, there is much room for optimism and hopefulness.  The Chinese are wary of the Tibetans in the Amdo and Kham, they have assessed the courage of the these people during earlier resistance after Chinese occupation, therefore the Chinese government have been crackdown on those people, while the central Tibet is relatively relaxed. The self immolates have drunk kerosene, and they have intended to give up their lives with doubt. The Chinese contended that the self immolation is incited and advocated by Tibetan groups. However, as the saying goes, you can take a horse to water, but you cannt make it drink. It is a outlandish lies and statement. The self immolations are never encouraged and it has been completely voluntarily, and notes have been left as their testament, or

   

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Reading Gandhi

In a self-improvement book, "The Success Principle", the author admonishes  us  to read autobiographies of great men and women. For he contends great knowledge, wisdom and good life skills, practical experience  to be gleaned/adopted, acquired/imbibed from those books. The author for the same reason mocks those people who spent their precious time watching other people in movies, and televisions. Those according to this successful men is a distraction, a waste of time.  Hence I have detached myself from the idiot box and make effort to understand the lives of great men. My first pick is Gandhi's autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth. I am mesmerized by his stories. Gandhi's struggle, and his insistence on truth and his effort toward self realization is extremely inspirational. His ideas and wisdom resonates with me deeply.
I have only go through half of the book and there are interesting quotes that I come across and i would like to put them down.


Of parents and children's upbring, Gandhi echoes with what His Holiness the Dalai Lama preach today. The importance of parents influence and role in fostering children's education and wellbeing and how can mother's affection,warmth  can affect the children's future. Gandhi urged that parents and children should not be physically separated. They should remain together at their earlist ages, for  parents are the first line of teacher for their kids. They will leave an indelible mark on their impressionable mind. As Gandhi said " The education of the child begins with the conception. The physical and mental state of the parents at the moment of conception  are reproduced in the baby. Then during the period of pregnancy it continues to be affected by the mother's moods, desires and temperament, as also by her ways of life. After  birth the child imitates the parents, and for a considerable number of years entirely depends on them for its growth".(page 204).

As my wife is in her second pregnancy, it is a timely advice appear to be intended to us. His Holiness the Dalai Lama often cites of the power of mother's compassion. A child who has received maximum affection and love from the parents at their formidable years are grow up to become more compassionate and caring person. Whereas the contrary is the truth for those children who were abused, and neglected tend to be more insecure and troublesome.   I believe there must be such a correlation between parent's treatment their young ones and the quality of their adult life.


Another quote from Ghandi's book is "Things that are heard of  from distance appear to be bigger than they are" is true to what i have been witnessing in my life. 






Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Fate of Tibet

Almost a decade ago, I happen to walk into  a Tibetan  bookstore in Kathmandu. My friend Johnny had an inkling of my interest in books and asked me to pick one that I like and he would pay for it. My eyes fell on title "The Fate of Tibet: When The Big Insect Eat The Small Insect"by Claude Arpi. I have shelved the book since then to gather dust. Only a month or so ago I took out  the book , dust it off and urged myself to read it.  For that way,  I will at least pay back the kindness of my friend and his generous investment would earn its dividend. It was a great choice. One of my best thing I have done in 2011. This meticulously well researched book enriched me with important historical facts and figures. It has opened the door to a vast knowledge of treasure house.

Reading  The Fate of Tibet has piqued my interest on Tibetan history. Author Claude Arpi has done a fantastic research on the Tibetan history and the circumstance that led to the downfall of Tibet nationhood. It made me appreciate the intensity and importance of researched works.  I feel like walked into a great repository of knowledge house, where I am charmed by the author's insights on the Tibet's historical events.
History will repeat itself, and to prepare for the future we should know the past. This book is a must read for all Tibetan and Tibetan supporters.  I have learned the follies and foibles of Tibetan people in dealing with Chinese and their internal management.

The Tibetan  history could have taken a different path, if  our ancestors and aristocrats could view things in a broader prospective, if they could be little more farsighted. If they realized the importance of Tibet's relation with international communities, if more Tibetans were sent to England for modern education, and if Tibetan themselves earned a seat in the UN. Along with this there are many external factors, that has paved the way for Chinese aggression in Tibet. India's weak position and Nehru's fatal flaw on India's Tibet policy and Nehru's trust on the Chinese have eventually broken his heart and the heart of  six million Tibetan. Tibetan  history shows the decision of few individual leaders had far reaching consequences on Asia's geopolitical positions.

Despite of all the wonderful analysis of the historical events and the critical presentation of the events leading from 1947 up to the fateful year 1959 in an objective and balanced approach, the book ended with a great optimistic tone.  It reiterate the strategic importance of  Tibet  as the "Key to peace in Asia lies on the roof of the world". and repeated Acharya Kripalani 's prophetic quote  "It is on the roof of the world that our friendship with China will flourish or flounder".

As a true support of justice, peace and truth  Alaude Arpi echoes the same hope and optimism for Tibet  as our the newly elected Prime Minister of Exile Tibetan government, the last sentence of the book reads "The World is going through a whirlwind of changes, what may look improbable or impossible today maybe a reality tomorrow". This is the hope that all Tibetan clinging to, and this hope keeps the Tibetan spirit  in and outside strong. 

I am very thankful to my friend Johnny for his friendship and for this wonderful book that he got for me.