_________________ 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: 00/02/07 Compiled by Thubten (Sam) Samdup
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Monday, February 7, 2000
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Contents:
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1. Tibetan fugitive puts his charisma on display
2. Escaped Tibetan religious leader to stay in India
3. Tibet's shy warrior
4. Tibetan presence expanding here
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1. Tibetan fugitive puts his charisma on display
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By Marion Lloyd, Globe Correspondent
The Boston Globe
February 7, 2000
DHARAMSALA, India - Though only 14, the monk viewed as a possible
successor to the Dalai Lama has already displayed the same star quality,
combining flashes of brilliance with humility and composure with impish
humor, an infectious mix that has helped his mentor win international
sympathy for the Tibetan cause.
Urgyen Trinley Dorje, believed by Tibetans to be the 17th incarnation of
the revered Karmapa lama, unleashed a flurry of speculation when he fled
Chinese-ruled Tibet for India last month. Many saw his escape as a blow
to China's propaganda campaign in the territory, while Beijing insisted
he had not defected and had gone to India only to retrieve religious
artifacts.
But if there was any doubt of the affinity between the young monk and
the Dalai Lama - China's enemy number one - it was dispelled yesterday,
when exiles held their traditional Tibetan New Year's celebration. The
elder monk, who refrained from breaking a two-month retreat to attend
the festivities, gave a private blessing to the Karmapa at his home in
this northern Indian town.
Nearly 1,000 supporters lined the road from the Dalai Lama's residence
to catch a glimpse of his young guest, who was whisked away by car from
the heavily guarded compound.
After weeks in forced seclusion, the Karmapa emerged publicly for the
first time last week, addressing a series of small audiences at a
monastery outside Dharamsala.
''Hopefully with the work of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tibetans will
soon have freedom and peace,'' he told a crowd of fellow Tibetan
refugees and Western devotees, during his third day of public meetings
on Friday. Earlier, he delighted his visitors by bowing to them from the
rooftop of the Gyuto monastery, his crimson robes flapping in the wind
and the snowcapped Himalayas at his back.
The remarks, a thinly veiled jab at China's crackdown on religion in the
Himalayan territory, left little doubt about the Karmapa's opposition to
Chinese rule. They also fueled speculation that unlike his predecessor,
the 16th Karmapa, he would not confine his role to that of spiritual
leader. The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu sect, the second most
important of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
However, any immediate attempt to get involved in politics could get him
into trouble with New Delhi, which has yet to decide whether to allow
him to stay in India. India's government had earlier barred him from
speaking publicly for fear of angering China and out of concern for his
safety.
Officials here are worried that the young monk could become the target
of a rival faction within his sect that recognizes a different Tibetan
teenager as the 17th Karmapa and has launched a propaganda campaign
against Urgyen Dorje. He also faces a potential threat from the Chinese
government, which recently detained several monks at his monastery in
Lhasa, presumably on suspicion of facilitating his escape.
Beijing had presented the young monk as a supporter of Chinese rule in
Tibet in an attempt to back its claims of allowing religious freedom in
the territory.
His surprise arrival Jan. 5 on the doorstep of the Dalai Lama proved
otherwise for most Tibetan exiles. In the tall, fresh-faced monk they
saw not a collaborator but a possible solution to an increasingly
nagging problem: Who should lead the struggle for Tibetan autonomy after
the death of the Dalai Lama, now 64.
With Tibetan culture facing extinction within Tibet, many exiles feel
they cannot afford to wait for a successor to the Dalai Lama to come of
age. Many would be willing to break with tradition and hand over
leadership of the autonomy movement to the Karmapa, whose sect once
ruled Tibet, as long as he proved himself worthy and had the approval of
the Dalai Lama.
So far, he appears to be winning points on both fronts. The Dalai Lama
has emerged from his retreat several times to meet with the Karmapa. He
also sent a letter to New Delhi requesting that the young monk be
granted political asylum.
The Karmapa showed his diplomatic skill during another audience on
Saturday. Seated humbly beneath a portrait of the Dalai Lama, he thanked
the Indian government for giving refuge to 150,000 Tibetan refugees and
for allowing the Dalai Lama to set up his exile administration in
Dharamsala.
He also revealed a more lighthearted side, joking that while people
should be content with long life, he also wished the crowd pots of money
to ease their old age.
It's that same knack for weaving humor into a discourse on the plight of
Tibetans that has helped the Dalai Lama win widespread support for his
campaign against Chinese rule. It paid off in 1989, when he was awarded
the Nobel Peace prize, despite the fact that most countries do not
officially recognize his claim that Tibet is a sovereign nation.
The ability to wear many hats also appears to come naturally to the
Karmapa.
''He has many faces,'' Ngodup Burkhar, a prominent lay member of the
Karmapa's sect, said of the young monk. He described how one minute the
Karmapa would seem like a typical teenage boy, refusing to eat food he
disliked and wrestling with his fellow monks. Then in the next, he said,
he would rattle off lines of original poetry that would take Tibetan
scholars a lifetime to compose.
''It's like this shadow comes across his face and he recalls his mission
here,'' he said, adding, ''then his face changes and he becomes this
grand, holy figure.'' Burkhar served as translator to the previous
Karmapa from 1972 until the monk's death in 1981, and was hopeful he
would provide the same service to the 17th Karmapa.
He described how on a recent visit to Lhasa, he had entertained the
Karmapa with imitations of different Tibetan accents. ''He told me,
`hey, do a Khampa,''' Burkhar said, referring to the natives of the
eastern Kham district - the Tibetan equivalent of the American Wild
West. ''He definitely has an appetite for humor,'' said Burkhar.
To outsiders, such breadth of character seems incredible for a
14-year-old boy, particularly one whose parents were illiterate farmers
and who has spent virtually his entire life within the confines of a
monastery. But not so for Tibetans. They believe that as the 17th
incarnation of an ''enlightened one,'' the Karmapa possesses the
accumulated knowledge of his 16 previous lives.
Even non-Buddhists emerged from their brief meeting impressed.
''He definitely had a presence. Something illuminated from him,'' said
Megan Banigan, a visiting college student from New Canaan, Conn. She
said initially she had been skeptical of the adulation surrounding the
monk. But, she said, ''there was definitely something there.''
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2. Escaped Tibetan religious leader to stay in India
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by M.R. Narayan Swamy
NEW DELHI, Feb 6 (AFP) - A Tibetan religious leader who escaped from
China a month ago has signalled his intention to remain in India by
publicly hailing the Dalai Lama, analysts said Sunday.
The 14-year old Karmapa lama, one of Tibetan Buddism's top spiritual
leaders, gave his first sermon late Friday at Palampur in northern
India, near the seat of the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile.
It is believed to be the first time the Karmapa has publicly praised the
Dalai Lama. Buddhist monks based in Tibet are routinely expected by
Beijing to denounce Tibet's supreme spiritual leader.
The Karmapa told a gathering of his followers at a monastery at Palampur
that he hoped Tibetans around the world would one day return to their
homeland under the leadership of the Dalai Lama.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted him as saying that the Dalai Lama
was "the highest spiritual leader of Buddhists and his preaching of
peace and non-violence had contributed immensely to world peace."
The Karmapa, who heads the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, also said
that individual freedom was a must for peace.
PTI said his audience comprised of Tibetans and foreigners, including
some Japanese. Both Indian and Tibetan officials enforced tight security
during the sermon.
A day earlier, the Karmapa appeared several times on the terrace of the
Gyodo monastery in nearby Dharmsala, where he received monks and
well-wishers ahead of the Tibetan New Year on Sunday.
Some 100 devotees, including a dozen foreigners, were that day allowed
into the monastery after passing through two separate security checks.
Until then the Karmapa had made only fleeting public appearances, with
audiences reserved for special invitees.
An Indian expert on Tibetan affairs said the Karmapa's remarks at the
public sermon indicated that he was preparing to remain in India,
although New Delhi has not granted him refugee status or political
asylum.
"Maybe the Karmapa does not want to be here for ever, but at least until
the time the needs of his religious education are met," said Deepak
Thakur, an advocate who is also a member of the sect headed by the
Karmapa.
"The remarks are an expression of his own feelings, the status of the
Dalai Lama and the situation inside Tibet with regard to religious
freedom," Thakur told AFP.
"I don't think the Karmapa has made such a statement in public so far."
The 17th Karmapa arrived in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala,
where the Dalai Lama is based, on January 5 after a dramatic trek out of
Tibet across the Himalayas.
The Karmapa's importance lies not only in his position as the head of
the Kagyu sect but in the fact that he is recognised by the Dalai Lama
as well as the Chinese government.
His escape from Tibet has been a major embarrassment for China, which
insists that it allows religious freedom in Tibet.
His arrival in India has also placed New Delhi in a difficult position,
as it seeks to balance its traditional support for Tibetan exiles
against a desire to improve relations with Beijing.
India is home to some 100,000 Tibetans.
The Dalai Lama recently warned that India would be making a serious
error if it did not allow the Karmapa to remain here.
"It will be a terrible mistake, both for India's image as well as in
substance, if the Karmapa is not allowed to stay on in India," the Dalai
Lama said in a letter to former parliamentary speaker Rabi Ray.
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3. Tibet's shy warrior
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By Samara Kalk
Capital Times Madison WI 02-07-00
Her Chinese torturers bound her feet with iron shackles for 1" years,
hung her from a ceiling beam with her arms tied behind her back, punched
her in the face repeatedly, and beat her with boards and wet bamboo.
Tibetan nun Ani Pachen, encouraged by actor and Tibetan freedom activist
Richard Gere, wrote about the 21 years she spent imprisoned by the
Chinese government in "Sorrow Mountain: The Journey of a Tibetan Warrior
Nun,'' and she is in Madison this week to talk about it.
It is the second stop on a monthlong book tour Pachen began four days
ago in New York, where she was warmly received by Gere. Her book is also
introduced by the Dalai Lama.
She arrived here Sunday -- on the Tibetan New Year -- and spent the
evening nearly anonymously at a New Year's celebration amid about half
of the Madison's area Tibetan community, which is estimated at almost
400.
Pachen, in fact, was giving an interview in a separate room with her
ghost writer and an interpreter when her presence was announced to the
250 Tibetans and others gathered in the gymnasium of the Eagle Heights
Community Center for dinner, dancing and socializing.
It was just as well that she wasn't there for the introduction, said
Berkeley, Calif., writer Adelaide Donnelley later. Donnelley, who helped
Pachen with the book, explained that the 67-year-old nun is rather shy
and not comfortable being paraded in front of large groups.
So, in a small, back office, which with its bright fluorescent light
resembled an interrogation room, the animated Pachen and her entourage
slipped away from the throng of Tibetan school kids dancing to hip-hop
music and discussed her book and her imprisonment.
Pachen, alternately lively and yawning, demonstrated how her captors
pulled her ears, nose, lips and hair.
It was because of her "karma,'' she said, that she endured any of it.
"It wasn't time to die,'' she said through her interpreter. "I managed
to survive prison by praying regularly. It helped me get through the
worst moments.''
Now, 19 years after her release, Pachen is being celebrated by people
such as "The Color Purple'' author Alice Walker, who said Pachen's story
is "one of many layers of invasion and revelation restrained and
eloquent.''
Daniel Goleman, who wrote "Emotional Intelligence,'' deemed it
"spellbinding, moving, inspiring.''
"Love Medicine'' author Louise Erdrich calls it an "account of cruelty
beyond dreams, apocalyptic loss and a woman's quiet courage.''
The Dalai Lama wrote the foreword, and Gere wrote the preface.
Pachen said she just hopes everyone can gain something by reading about
her experience.
"I hope that this book will bring awareness to people of all races and
ages,'' said Pachen, who keeps her black hair cropped short and wears a
loose-fitting brown robe.
Pachen was born to a powerful chieftain in eastern Tibet, said co-author
Donnelley.
"They had great wealth, servants and a dining room that held 100
people,'' said Donnelley, who spent three months working on Pachen's
story in Dharmsala, India, where Pachen lives, along with the Dalai Lama
and his government in exile.
When the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1950, Pachen was training to be a nun.
Then when her father died in 1958, she was forced to abandon her
practice and take over as chieftain, leading her people in a resistance
movement.
She took her supporters into the hills and was captured six months
later. She was tortured for her leadership role and her refusal to
denounce the Dalai Lama.
When she was released in 1981, she took part in early independence
demonstrations in Lhasa, Tibet's capital. Afraid she'd be arrested
again, she fled on foot over enormous mountains to Nepal and finally to
Dharmsala.
The Dalai Lama said that Pachen's story represents the "largest Tibetan
story because it covers so many aspects,'' Donnelley said.
Gere, she said, wanted Pachen to write a book that was more of a novel
and would therefore interest a wider group of people than just those
involved in the "Free Tibet'' movement.
Woven throughout the book are Pachen's spiritual teachings.
"Not only does it speak to the faith of the Tibetan people but it
reaches out to anyone who is struggling -- how spiritual faith can keep
them alive,'' Donnelley said.
Donnelley hosted Pachen in California for five months in 1998 to do more
work on the book she finished in May.
Pachen said that when she first came to the United States she was
impressed with how clean everything was, all the varieties of food --
especially fruit -- and the quality of health service.
"I was impressed with the freedom people enjoy here. It made me envy it
and hope that one day Tibet will enjoy the same thing,'' Pachen said.
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4. Tibetan presence expanding here
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By Samara Kalk
Capital Times Madison WI 02-07-00
No one shows an angry face to anyone else during the Tibetan New Year's
celebration, said Tibetan monk Jampa Khedup.
"Even when you meet with your enemy, you say, `Hello, how are you? Happy
New Year,' '' said Khedup, 32, one of six monks who live at Deer Park
Buddhist Center and monastery south of Madison.
"The first day of the new year, people get up early in the morning
determined to spend the year in a spiritual way,'' he said.
Khedup attended a New Year's party -- or Losar -- with about 250 people,
mostly Tibetans, at the Eagle Heights Community Center Sunday night.
Normally, he said, the Tibetan New Year is celebrated quietly and people
visit the homes of family and friends the day after and hold parties.
Because this year the lunar New Year, which normally falls in February
or March, came on a weekend, it was celebrated in a big way.
"In the lay community,'' Khedup said, "the party can last for the whole
first month.''
Yiga Tenzin -- dressed in a long black velvety dress and mini black
leather jacket with sparkling blue studs in her ears -- seemed ready for
that.
"We're going to sing, we're going to dance. We get to meet everybody we
know,'' the 8-year-old Emerson Elementary School student said excitedly.
"We like to sing to get the Chinese out of our land. They are having fun
there and building new homes,'' she said.
Khedup, who has been a monk since age 11, said there were more people at
this celebration than in past years, remarking that the Tibetan
community in Madison keeps growing.
Madison is one of a small number of cluster sites in the country where
Tibetan refugees settled. Initially in early 1992, the first 80 to 100
Tibetan refugees came here as part of the Tibetan Resettlement Project.
And slowly the original refugees, through hard work -- some worked as
many as 120 hours a week -- have raised enough money to bring their
families over from exile in India.
And because Madison is seen as an immigrant-friendly place, Tibetans
from other cluster sites have chosen to relocate in Madison, said Lori
Cayton, who has a doctorate in Tibetan-Buddhist studies from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"So many of them have houses, condominiums, cars, kids in school,''
Cayton said. "They have done well for themselves. It's amazing in such a
short amount of time.''
Madeline Uraneck, who works for the state Department of Public
Instruction, became involved in the Tibetan community when she got to
know the cleaning woman who worked in her office.
"After 5 p.m. it's an international cleaning crew. They are from
Somalia, Chechnya and they don't speak English,'' said Uraneck.
When Uraneck found out her cleaning woman was from Tibet, she was
amazed, she said.
She was more shocked to hear that the woman had four children under age
12. She was working to bring them here.
It wasn't until she helped the woman process her family's immigration
papers that she really began to understand the struggles involved.
"For the first time I really appreciated what it takes. For the first
generation it is total sacrifice,'' she said.
"Seventy percent of the people in here work 90, 100, 120 hours a week,''
she said, glancing toward the party. "It's just phenomenal. Their kids
will be the ones who graduate from high school, then their kids will be
the third generation.''
Uraneck, an international education consultant for DPI, said that 100
nationalities of kids are represented in the Wisconsin school system.
Many of them do not speak English and are enrolled in ESL, or English as
a second language, classes.
"Kids are coming from all the troubled places of the world,'' she said.
For the last year, Uraneck has been part of the Tibetan Tutoring
Project, providing language and homework assistance to Madison's Tibetan
children.
The tutoring sessions are from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursdays at University
United Methodist Church, 1127 University Ave. (Call 243-1228 or 238-9223
for more information.)
"We need tutors like crazy,'' she said. "We are desperate for more
tutors.''
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