_________________WTN-L World Tibet Network News _________________

Published by: The Canada Tibet Committee

Editorial Board: Brian Given, Conrad Richter, Nima Dorjee,

Tseten Samdup, Thubten (Sam) Samdup

WTN Editors: wtn-editors@tibet.ca

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ISSUE ID: 00/01/20 Compiled by Tseten Samdup

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Thursday, January 20, 2000

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Contents:

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1. Indian Minister Urges Tibetan Monk To Take Over Rumtek Monastery (BBC)

2. China confirms Karmapa left Tibet without permission (Kyodo)

3. China protests HHDL's visit to Thailand (HT)

4. Religion in conflict situations: Problem or solution? (II)

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1. Indian Minister Urges Tibetan Monk To Take Over Rumtek Monastery (BBC)

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BBC

19 January 2000

Federal Law Minister Ram Jethmalani Tuesday [18th January] favoured the

17th Karmapa Urygen Trinley Dorje taking over the Rumtek monastery in

Sikkim, saying he had always lobbied for it. I have always lobbied for it.

And I don't change my views, he told PTI here. I have been writing on the

subject for long. It is nothing new, Jethmalani said, when asked to comment

on a report in a section of the press that he, along with Defence Minister

George Fernandes, was lobbying within the government to install the Karmapa

as head of the Rumtek monastery. Jethmalani, however, said, I do not know

about George (Fernandes), but I am not lobbying within the government. Ab

to agey dekhna hai (now it is time to look ahead), he said. Justifying his

stand, the law minister said, I firmly believe that in this type of

matters, we should go by what the Dalai Lama says. In this case, Dalai Lama

has anointed Karmapa. He should head the Rumtek monastery.

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2. China confirms Karmapa left Tibet without permission (Kyodo)

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BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Kyodo) -- A senior official of the Chinese government's

public relations agency said Thursday the Karmapa lama, a teenage Tibetan

Buddhist spiritual leader, left Tibet without permission from China,

confirming for the first time the boy lama's departure for India was

unauthorized.

The official of China's Information Office of the State Council said the

17th Karmapa, the 14-year-old leader of the Kagyu sect of Tibetan

Buddhism, bypassed immigration procedures when he left for India late last

year.

"If he returns, it is all right. Even if he does not come back, it cannot

be helped," the official said, suggesting the Chinese government's pothe

monastery or the Chinese leadership.

But a U.S. branch of the Kagyu sect on Jan. 8 dismissed the Chinese

government's explanation of the spiritual leader's departure, saying he

secretly left the country because Beijing refused to grant him a visa,

despite repeated requests.

China fends off criticism of ``living Buddha'' choice

BEIJING, Jan 20 (Reuters) - China shrugged off criticism of its ordination

of a two-year-old boy as the reincarnation of a Tibetan "living Buddha,"

saying he had been chosen according to established practice.

The ordination of the Seventh Reting Lama in Lhasa on Sunday was "in

accordance with established historic and religious practice," Foreign

Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told reporters.

Ordinary Tibetans and monks had beseeched the Chinese government to search

for the reincarnation of the Sixth Reting, who died in February 1998, the

spokesman said.

The search group was composed of Tibetan monks, he added.

The Tibetan government in exile denounced the ordination, saying it did not

have the Dalai Lama's approval and calling it a political appointment.

The Reting is significant as one of the few Tibetan lamas who can act as

regent in the absence of the Dalai Lama, who held political power in Tibet

before Chinese communists took power in Beijing in 1949.

The Dala Lama fled to exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising

against Chinese rule.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for advocating a non-violent campaign

for genuine autonomy that would preserve and promote Tibetan culture,

religion and language.

The installation of high lamas selected by Beijing appears to be a key

Chinese strategy in quelling separatist sentiment in Tibet and winning the

allegiance of the Himalayan region's predominantly Buddhist population.

In a rare act of unity between Beijing and the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing

reviles as a "splittist," both sides approved a boy as the reincarnation of

the 16th Karmapa Lama in 1992.

That boy, now 14, created a religious and diplomatic storm this month when

he arrived in the Dalai Lama's Indian headquarters in the town of

Dharamsala after a week-long journey over the snowbound Himalayas from his

monastery near Lhasa.

China says he left Tibet to collect symbolic ritual implements that

belonged to the previous Karmapa Lama, leaving the door open for his return.

The Tibetan government in exile said the Karmapa Lama fled Tibet to avoid

religious repression and human rights abuses.

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3. China protests HHDL's visit to Thailand (HT)

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Hindustan Times

20 JANUARY 200

Thai scholar's invitation to Dalai upsets China Bangkok, January 19

Chinese Authorities have expressed their concerns over reports that Tibetan

spiritual leader-in-exile, the Dalai Lama, has been invited to Thailand to

attend a religious conference later this year, a news report said today.

Diplomats from China's embassy to Bangkok recently met Thai Foreign

Ministry officials to seek an explanation about the upcoming visit. Sulak

Sivaraksa, a renowned Thai scholar and social critic, has invited the

Dalai Lama to attend a seminar on religion. He has not specified the exact

date of the seminar for fear of drawing Beijing's protests to the visit.

Sulak said the Thai Government had given him the "green light" to invite

the Dalai Lama.

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4. Religion in conflict situations: Problem or solution? (II)

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The possibilities of dialogue

Insight Israel

January 17, 2000

During the last week of November, 1999, I participated in a remarkable

dialogue that was held at the beautiful Beit Gavriel Conference Center on

the southern shores of the Sea of Galilee with twenty-five religious

leaders from hot spots around the world, including religious leaders from

Israel and Palestine. This dialogue which featured His Holiness the Dalai

Lama as well as religious leaders from Ireland, Bosnia, South Africa, the

United States, The Netherlands and India -- was part of a larger conference

on World Peace co-sponsored by the Interreligious Coordinating Council in

Israel (ICCI) and Jubillenium.

Many of the people who gathered in Israel for these three days are used to

going to large international conferences with lots of big plenums and major

speeches. This was a very different kind of encounter. Instead of a series

of monologues, this was a genuine dialogue, where people actually spoke

with one another and shared experiences and insights in an ambience of

complete mutual trust and utmost sincerity.

Much of the success of this process can be attributed to the professional

facilitators who moderated the discussions with quiet and sensitive

expertise and compassion. Professor Mari Fitzduff, of the University of

Ulster of Northern Ireland and Professor Ron Burr of the University of

Southern Mississippi, teamed up with Robin Twite, a veteran facilitator in

the field of conflict resolution in Israel/Palestine, to provide the right

mixture of guidance and good spirit that were needed. This served to

motivate this extraordinary group of people to share their experiences and

knowledge in a forthright and candid manner, which turned out to be

personally meaningful to each participant in the group.

The impetus for the idea for this dialogue came from The Israel Friends of

Tibet, an organization in Israel devoted to helping the Tibetan people in

exile. Over a year ago, representatives of this organization approached

ICCI with the challenge of organizing an interreligious seminar in Israel

which the Dalai Lama would attend. He had been to Israel in 1994 on a

pilgrimage (during which ICCI hosted him for a lecture) and he wanted to

return if we could organize a dialogue with other religious leaders. We

took up the challenge, and a team of people -- consisting of myself, Rabbi

David Rosen, director-general of the Anti-Defamation League in Israel and

Co-Vicechairperson of ICCI, Robin Twite, secretary-general of the WCRP

(World Conference of Religion and Peace) Israel chapter, and Yonatan Tsevi,

a member of ICCI and a representative of the Israel Friends of Tibet began

to meet regularly. At a later stage, we were joined by Mr. Rafi Luzon of

Jubillenium. All of this led to the Dalai Lama coming to the dialogue and,

in his typical fashion, he was an active listener as well as a genuine

participant.

At the first session of the dialogue, His Holiness the Dalai Lama shared

with us some of his insights concerning spirituality and pluralism.

Religious traditions can provide some hope in situations of hopelessness,

he said. Moreover, material development alone can not fulfill all of our

human needs. Rather, material development and spiritual development should

go together There should be two kinds of spirituality, one without

religious faith, a sense of caring about one another as human beings,

irrespective of whether one is a believer or not, and one based on

religious faith Indeed, major religious traditions can and do contribute to

the promotion of human values All major religions talk about love,

compassion, and caring, but we don t implement this enough There are many

religious traditions religious pluralism is abounding, and we need to

promote the concept of pluralism

There was much agreement in the room with the Dalai Lama s words and to his

overall message. As in a recent seminar, which also brought him to Israel

last June, under the auspices of the Interreligious Friendship Group of San

Francisco led by Richard Blum and Bishop William Swing -- it was an unusual

privilege to be part of a dialogue with this world spiritual and political

leader. I was impressed again this time not only by his message but also by

his method. It was clear that his practice of mindfulness had trained him

to be able to enter into compassionate conversation with those of us who

were fortunate to be in his presence during those three days.

The Dalai Lama was not the only religious leader at our dialogue who came

with a powerful message to share. Professor Geraldyne Smith of Northern

Ireland, for example, also insisted that churches and church leaders need

to be open to a more pluralist way of dialogue now and in the future. As

more and more groups which previously saw themselves as enemies begin to

engage in reconciliation, as is the case in Ireland, there will be more of

an existential need to listen carefully to the stories of the other side as

well as reminding ourselves of the resources within each of our own

traditions for healing and reconciliation.

Rabbi Mordechai Piron, the former Chief Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces

and now director of the Sapir Educational Center in Jerusalem, when asked

to respond to the central challenges we face as religious leaders today,

was emphatic in his plea for religious leaders to stake out a new way. His

words moved the Dalai Lama deeply. The challenge is very difficult because

the situation is catastrophic, he said. In Israel and the Middle East,

religions don t work to unify human beings. On the contrary, religions have

had the most disastrous influence upon people the worst crimes in history

have been done in the name of God! But, he said, there must be a way out of

this terrible situation.

Indeed, this was the very reason that we had gathered together for three

days of reflection. We had brought religious leaders together from various

troubled spots in the world where they all play a constructive role in

bringing the best of their religious traditions to bear on resolving

complicated conflicts. So we all agreed that there was a way out of these

terrible situations, and the way began by dialogue which could lead to

reconciliation.

Much of what was done in other parts of the world in this field had its

bearing on the situation here in Israel and Palestine. One of the local

Christian leaders who participated in this dialogue made this very

explicit. Bishop Munib Younan, who is the relatively new Palestinian bishop

of the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, spoke poignantly of the way out of the

conflict in our region: The church, synagogue and mosque must have a

prophetic role we have to be ahead of our politicians now is the time for

reconciliation we have to be catalysts, bridge-builders and in so doing we

have to see the otherness of the other now is the time for just peace and

reconciliation.

Much of the discussion during the next two days revolved around these

questions: Why is it so difficult for religious leaders to intervene

constructively in conflict? How can we more effectively be bridge-builders?

How can we be catalysts for reconciliation?

These were difficult questions with no easy answers. But those of us who

were fortunate to be part of this unique dialogue were able to meet and

learn from some people who had engaged creatively and constructively to

bring reconciliation to warring sides in some very complex conflicts in

this century. We plan to seek ways to keep this dialogue going through

e-mail and internet and in ongoing dialogues in various parts of the world,

including our region in the months and years ahead.

Dr. Ron Kronish, a rabbi and educator who has lived in Jerusalem for 20

years, serves as the Director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in

Israel.

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