_________________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: 00/01/26 Compiled by Tseten Samdup
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Wednesday, January 26, 2000
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Contents:
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1. Hungry for a cause (BH)
1. Battle of Lamas (IT)
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1. Hungry for a cause (BH)
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Hungry for a cause: Cambridge Rindge and Latin students fast to heighten
awareness of Tibetan oppression
The boston herald
January 24, 2000
When the bell rang for first lunch at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High
School last Thursday morning, dozens of students spilled into the hallways
and headed for the cafeteria to scarf down French bread pizza, macaroni and
cheese or a sandwich.
But not Allison Roth.
``Hey Al, aren't you hungry?'' taunted one classmate as she sauntered by.
Roth smiled and walked on.
``You know, I was in physics this morning, and my teacher started comparing
the universe to pancakes,'' said Roth, a 16-year-old junior. ``After he
said that, I couldn't concentrate.''
Such is the sacrifice of a teen activist. Roth, along with about 30 of her
classmates, all members of the school's Students for a Free Tibet chapter,
are taking turns fasting for 24 hours during the next three weeks.
``It's like a relay thing,'' said Keyzom Ngodup, 17, a junior. ``One person
fasts a day, and then another and another. We're doing it for three weeks,
but hopefully, more people will become aware of the issues and will want to
fast in support of a free Tibet, and we can keep it going.''
Cambridge students are fasting along with other supporters across the
world, following the lead of a continuing hunger strike in New Delhi,
India, in support of a free Tibet.
The students also have written to U.S. leaders, asking them to lobby the
United Nations to aid Tibet and its people.
China invaded Tibet in 1959 and has been criticized across the world for
its suppression of Tibetan culture and religion.
The Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibet, fled
the country nearly 40 years ago. Since then he has worked to win Tibet's
independence, or at least establish its autonomy within China.
``People might think, why fast? But it's important for teens to let people
know that we feel strongly about issues, even ones that are happening
halfway around the world,'' Roth said.
Ngoduop, who co-organized the relay fast with Roth, has family in Tibet,
which is one reason she is adamant about getting the word out about Tibet.
``My aunt and cousins live there,'' she said. ``I'd like to see them.''
Phil Sima, who munched on a tuna sandwich before starting his fast at noon
last Thursday, said he felt compelled to support Students for a Free Tibet
because he's had a privileged upbringing.
``Living in America is pretty good,'' said the 17-year-old junior. ``And I
thought it was time to commit to a cause. Plus, I know a lot of Tibetan
people who go to my school.''
Sarah Graves, 16, who was the first to fast in her group, said just 24
hours of fasting prompted discussion about Tibet among her classmates.
``Not a lot of people know about it,'' said the junior. ``They think it's
all about Brad Pitt or Richard Gere. But when my classmates found out I was
fasting, they started to ask questions about the whole issue. And that's
part of the point of the relay fast.''
Caroline Hunter, student government adviser at Cambridge Rindge and Latin,
said young people always have been able to instigate change.
``I think it's a fantastic idea for these kids to do this,'' she said.
``Movements start with young people making sacrifices and we should support
them.''
The teens admitted their parents weren't thrilled when they told them of
their plans to fast for 24 hours, but most are supported by their families
and friends.
``My mother just told me to break the fast if I get dizzy,'' Roth said.
``I'm fine. But I have to admit, it's a big deal not to eat for 24 hours.''
There are some fellow students who think fasting is a waste of time, but
Roth disagrees.
``Tibet is a catalyst for change,'' she said. ``I think if change can
happen there, people will see that change can happen anywhere. Even if it's
just a few kids fasting in a small city in Massachusetts, it's important.
Something has to happen eventually. You can't just sit by and let people
die because it seems like it's too big of a problem.''
Placing their orders
These are the four specific demands of the Students for a Free Tibet:
The United Nations must recognize Tibet's historical differences from the
Chinese and give support to the Tibetan freedom struggle.
The United Nations must put pressure on the Chinese government to stop the
systematic destruction of Tibetan culture and religion.
The United States must stop the Chinese government from environmental
degradation through massive deforestation, rampant killings of endangered
species, reckless mining and dumping of nuclear waste in Tibet.
The United Nations must force the Chinese government to respect human
rights in Tibet and to release all Tibetan political prisoners.
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2. Battle of the Lamas (IT)
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Battle of the Lamas
India Today
21 January 2000
The boy Karmapa's arrival in Dharamsala embroils India in the bitter
feuding of the Tibetan clergy -- and heightens mutual suspicions between
Delhi and Beijing.
By Ashok Malik and Avirook Sen
When the Iron Bird will fly and horses will gallop on wheels Tibetans will
be scattered like ants All over the world Dharma will reach the Land of the
Red Man.
In a land where the mind sees further than the mountains can reach, an
ancient seer once prophesied thus. To those who call the locale known as
the "Roof of the World" their homeland, these words would seem the
chronicle of a flight foretold. Like all else in the greater cosmic scheme
of things, Orgyen Trinley Dorje was only playing out a karmic inevitability
when he opened his bedroom window that night in the Tibetan year of the
rabbit. It was 11.00 p.m. on a cold wintry December 28, 1999, at the
Tsurphu monastery in Tibet, seat of the Gyalwa Karmapa -- the supreme
master of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Over the following
week, the 14-year-old-boy -- accompanied by a sister 10 years his senior
and five male attendants -- was the hero of a Himalayan adventure that
took him across borders, over the mountains and into Mcleodganj, the hill
station in Himachal Pradesh that is the capital of all Tibetans in exile.
To put it mildly, the Karmapa -- the 17th in a line of reincarnations --
also caused a stir among his new hosts. Not since Sir Francis Younghusband
trotted into Lhasa at the head of a band of intrepid imperial officers had
one country so surprised another.
The Karmapa's escape to India is the third event of its type. In 1959, the
14th (and present) Dalai Lama had escaped Chinese iniquity to Nehru's
India. Earlier, in 1909, the 13th Dalai Lama had come to Lord Minto's
colonial government with similar complaints.
A week after his arrival, the little Karmapa had already moved house from
the Chonor guesthouse to the Gyoto Ramoche temple in Sidhbari, a little
outside Mcleodganj. He was readying for a more momentous move to the Karma
Kagyu sect's Palpung monastery some 70 km away in Sherabling.
The five-storey monastery is a lavish exposition of Tibetan culture,
religion and, ex officio as it were, temporal authority. It has been in the
making for 10 years under the watchful eye of Tai Situ Rimpoche -- the word
rimpoche implies a senior scholar -- friend, philosopher and guide of the
17th Karmapa and close associate of his predecessor and previous avatar,
the 16th Karmapa. Palpung's inauguration is scheduled for November 1, 2000.
The arrival of its boy-king to this new spiritual kingdom in the final
winter -- escape from the guards in Tibet is possible only in the secrecy
the cold months lend you -- before its opening treads the fine line between
happenstance and coincidence. To others, the Ministry of External Affairs
(MEA) in Delhi not excluded, it smells of deliberate action.
It's not difficult to guess why. The 17th Karmapa is only a pawn in a
complicated religio-diplomatic game involving China, the Dalai Lama and his
government-in-exile and the competing groups within the Kagyu clergy. It is
an enormous game of chess, one in which India at times seems no more than
the hapless chessboard. So far seen as a Chinese puppet and an important
factor in Beijing's attempt to control Tibet's monastic power structure,
the Karmapa's arrival has taken the MEA by surprise. This explains why
South Block has been cautious in reaction, waiting for the other players to
show their cards.
In the first few days after the Karmapa's arrival -- and following a call
to the office of The Daily Telegraph in London, which broke the story of
how the little Karmapa had "feared for his life" in Tibet -- the Dalai
Lama's regime in Mcleodganj was cooperation personified. Information was
volunteered and the Karmapa photographed fairly easily, though he was not
available for interviews. The task of publicising achieved and sensing
Delhi was getting uptight about Beijing's reaction, the Karmapa went
incommunicado and was perennially "tired and resting". The Dalai Lama
entered a prolonged "retreat" during which he would "speak to nobody".
Minister for Religion and Culture Tashi Wangdi was the only one available
for the most bland quotes possible and denied the Indian administration had
been sent a request for asylum. He insisted, "The Government knows the
Karmapa is here and we believe it is looking into the matter." A day later,
following a surly response from China, Wangdi said, "We hope India will not
be bullied." If journalists wanted anything more on the Karmapa, they could
look elsewhere. The compact, 10,000-strong Tibetan community in Mcleodganj
went into a collective silence. Buddham stratagem gacchhami was the new
mantra.
Without bias, he pervades in all directions; Without being close to some
and distant from others
In a cryptic message written in January 1981, Ranjung Rigpe Dorje, the16th
Gyalwa Karmapa, had said this of his next incarnation. Dorje died 10 months
later. The throne he occupied at Sikkim's Rumtek monastery, the
headquarters of the Kagyu sect, fell empty. The Karmapa's 17th avatar was
to be found 11 years later, in Lahtok, Tibet. Young Orgyen Trinley Dorje's
clandestine entry into India earlier this month echoes his predecessor's
prophecy, this time in the form of a question: who is he close to and who
is he distant from?
To the layperson, this may seem a vain philosophical query. In Rumtek, it
cuts much closer to the bone. In 1959, when the 16th Karmapa fled Tibet
after the Chinese invasion, he was offered several sites for setting up his
monastery by the then Chogyal of Sikkim, his disciple and then ruler of an
independent kingdom. The 16th Karmapa chose Rumtek, an idyllic village 24
km from Sikkim's capital Gangtok. By 1966, a monastery that resembled the
famous Tsurphu monastery, his original seat, was ready. In Rumtek, he
installed the treasured relics of the Karmapa lineage smuggled in from
Tibet. Chief among these is an ornament-adorned black hat -- the belief is
that it is woven from the hair of female deities -- that is special to the
Karmapa (the word means "black hat lama") and a bell.
A succession struggle ensued 11 years after the death of the 16th Karmapa,
which saw the regents of the monastery divided. Trinley Dorje's ordainment
was disputed vigorously, even though the Dalai Lama had approved his
candidature. His being in Tibet stopped him from coming to Rumtek.
In April 1994 a dissenting Rumtek regent, Shamar Rimpoche, tried to instal
an 11-year-old boy called Tenzin Chentze at a ceremony in Delhi. This rival
claimant to the Karmapa's throne now lives in the Karmapa International
Buddhist Institute in Delhi. Currently on a spiritual tour of Europe,
Chentze (now renamed Thinley Thai Dorje) scoffs at his rival Trinley
Dorje's escape from Tibet, "Maybe he came by helicopter, at least part of
the way. It's cold right now in Tibet ... But I am the Karmapa."
Each Karmapa leaves oral or written instructions as to where his next
incarnation will be found. The 16th Karmapa died without a letter of
prediction. In 1990, Tai Situ discovered a letter written by the 16th
Karmapa inside an amulet given to him by the master. Using this letter, a
search party from Tsurphu located the new Karmapa. On June 30, 1992,
Trinley Dorje was recognised as the 17th Karmapa by the Dalai Lama -- and,
significantly, by the Chinese Government a few months later.
Back in Rumtek, however, a section of the monks led by Shamar Rimpoche
objected on these very grounds: the boy was Chinese, and the Chinese had
recognised a major religious leader for the first time. "This is a Chinese
ploy," said Shamar Rimpoche. He still wonders how the Dalai Lama, having
refused to recognise a Panchen Lama whose nomination was overseen by the
Chinese changed the rules when it came to the Karmapa.
Violence had already broken out at Rumtek in June 1992, following
allegations by Shamar Rimpoche that the prediction letter Tai Situ carried
was a forgery. There were even demands for forensic tests. Shamar Rimpoche
also pointed to contradictions in the letter. It said, for instance, that
the next Karmapa would be born in the "year of the earth ox". The year of
the earth ox came 32 years before the 16th Karmapa died. It will next occur
26 years after his death. If the letter is correct, Trinley Dorje is too
young to be the 17th Karmapa. In a more mundane encounter, Tai Situ's
frequent visits to and close links with China alarmed the Indian
Government. In 1994, he was debarred from entering India for "anti-India"
activities. The ban was lifted in 1997.
If matters were not confusing enough, 21-year-old Dawa Zangpo Dorji tried
to storm the monastery in 1998 claiming he was the real Karmapa. He has
just renewed his claim and says though he was born before the 16th Karmapa
died he lived in a body without a soul, waiting for the Karmapa's passing
for his soul to enter.
What is at stake at Rumtek? Initially, the Chinese issued a statement that
the young Karmapa had come to India to collect some of his belongings --
the black hat and an ancient bell among them. The dissenting monks from
Rumtek believe that the Karmapa's arrival was stage-managed by the Chinese
so that he can take the hat and relics back to China. As if to divorce the
Karmapa from Chinese links, there are stories doing the rounds in
Mcleodganj of how he called Tsurphu on reaching Nepal, how the phone was
answered by a Chinese voice, how the Karmapa heard the sounds and shrieks
of searching and interrogation in the background.
Rumtek isn't just a spiritual battleground though. The Karmapa Charitable
Trust, which raises funds and manages the Karmapa's property, has 350
branches worldwide. They are largely autonomous but their cumulative wealth
is close to a billion dollars.
It is the China factor, however, that has the mea in a bit of a tizzy. So
far Trinley Dorje has been seen as broadly favoured by the Chinese. His
defection is at one level a public-relations disaster for Beijing whose
Tibet policy in recent years has moved from suppression of religious
authority to its manipulation. Initially, Beijing sought to wipe out the
monks' privileges, denounce their faith and swamp Tibet with ethnic Chinese
migrants. It came to realise that the average Tibetan cherished the
Buddhist faith and its institutions with an uncommon fervour.
So when the 10th Panchen Lama died, the Chinese imprisoned the nominee of
the Dalai Lama and chose one of their own, a boy who is ceremonially
paraded on state occasions. With the Dalai Lama, 65 this coming July,
hinting he may be in his final incarnation, his religio-temporal legacy
could pass to the monks next in the hierarchy. Beijing reckons if it has
its own Karmapa and Panchen Lama in place it is at an advantage. The Dalai
Lama's mind is an enigma to South Block. After all, he has expressed his
willingness for an autonomous Tibet under overall Chinese suzerainty,
rather than a fully independent state.
In the circumstances India has two options:
Give the Karmapa the refugee status granted to 1.2 lakh other Tibetans --
but probably after assessing and assuaging China. Tell him to leave,
probably for the US, where a pro-Tibet lobby ranging from Republican
right-wingers to Richard Gere will welcome him.
India's concern is that a Karmapa not unfriendly to China may disturb the
balance in Sikkim. The Kagyu sect wields great influence in this tiny state
-- the accession of which to India China does not recognise.
In his own way the Dalai Lama is prescient. Quoting an old Tibetan proverb
he had said in a message to followers of the Kagyu lineage at the time of
Trinley Dorje's ordainment, "Where there is great Karma there is also great
Mara (the arch-demon)." If the Karmapa's escape from Tibet is looked at as
Karma, then the demons are destined to follow.
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