_________________ 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
______________________________________________________________________
Issue ID: 00/02/25 Compiled by Thubten (Sam) Samdup
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, February 25, 2000
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. U.S. Says Human Rights in China Worsened in 1999
2. U.S. Should Withdraw Permanent NTR Campaign, Says ICT
3. Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion
4. BBC's apology letter to Ms. Stirling Davenport about errors in
their transcription of the Interview with the Dalai Lama
5. Buddhists on the ball - Tibetans monks go nuts over soccer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. U.S. Says Human Rights in China Worsened in 1999
----------------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON, Friday February 25 (Reuters) - China's human rights record
worsened noticeably in 1999 as authorities hit at the China Democracy
Party, the Falun Gong spiritual movement, the media and unregistered
churches, the United States said on Friday.
``Beginning in the spring, Communist Party leaders moved quickly to
suppress what they believed to be organized challenges that threatened
national stability and Communist Party authority,'' the State Department
said in its annual report on the state of human rights around the world.
``The government's poor human rights record deteriorated markedly
throughout the year, as the government intensified efforts to suppress
dissent,'' the report on China said.
Several thousand people are in Chinese jails, in violation of
international conventions, for peacefully expressing their political,
religious and social views, and in 1999 fewer political prisoners than
usual were released early, it said.
By the end of the year almost all the key members of the fledgling
opposition China Democracy Party were in jail, either serving long
prison terms or in custody without formal charges. ''Only a handful of
dissidents nationwide dared to remain active publicly,'' the report
added.
On the Falun Gong movement, an irritant in relations for many months,
the report said tens of thousands of members have been detained. Quoting
``some reports,'' it said the government has started putting members in
psychiatric hospitals.
The Chinese authorities say the mass movement, a mixture of Buddhism,
Taoism, meditation and breathing exercises, is an ''evil cult''
responsible for the death of 1,400 practitioners and a threat to the
country's social stability.
The United States has already announced it will sponsor a resolution
critical of China at a meeting in March in Geneva of the U.N. Commission
on Human Rights.
China said this would be a blow to resuming a bilateral dialogue on
human rights, suspended by China in May 1999 after the United States
bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, briefing reporters on the report,
dismissed the argument that the United States should respond to Chinese
abuses by denying China the permanent normal trade relations which it
seeks.
``We will continue to speak out on behalf of those in China who are
systematically denied basic political and religious freedoms ... but we
also see greater prospects for progress by pursuing our interests
through our ties with China than by cutting those ties,'' she said.
On the media in China, the State Department report said, ''The
government tightened restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press,
and increased controls on the Internet; self-censorship by journalists
also increased.''
``Control and manipulation of the press by the government for political
purposes increased during the year,'' it said.
On religion, which the Communist Party dislikes but tolerates within
limits, the report said, ``The government continued to restrict freedom
of religion and intensified controls on some unregistered churches.''
In some areas, the authorities broke up religious services, harassed and
sometimes fined, detained, beat and tortured church leaders and members,
it said.
The crackdown on dissent extended to outlying regions with restive
ethnic minorities, such as Tibet and the western province of Xinjiang,
which has a large Uighur population.
``Some minority groups, particularly Tibetan Buddhists and Muslim
Uighurs, came under increasing pressure as the government clamped down
on dissent and 'separatist' activities,'' the report said.
In Tibet it expanded and intensified a ``patriotic education campaign''
aimed at controlling the Buddhist monasteries and expelling supporters
of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and national leader of Tibet, it
said.
The State Department did, however, see some improvements in the level of
freedom in China.
It noted village elections took place, as well as experiments with
elections at the higher level of township.
The wealthier social groups played an increasing role in community life
and most Chinese lived under looser economic controls, with more room
for individual choice and more diversity in cultural life, the report
said.
China vigorously defends its human rights record and deeply resents U.S.
criticism. In a white paper released last week it boasted that its 1.2
billion people enjoyed ``unprecedented democracy and freedom'' safe from
hunger, cold and ignorance.
The document rejected the Western approach to human rights and insisted
China would follow its own path, focusing on the right to subsistence
and economic development.
The State Department said its full report on China was to be available
later on Friday through the State Department's Web site, www.state.gov.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. U.S. Should Withdraw Permanent NTR Campaign, Says ICT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tibetans Suffer "serious human rights abuses" according to U.S. State
Department Report:
February 25, 2000, Washington, D.C. (ICT) -- The State Department
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999 described in detail a
situation in Tibet of "tight controls on religion and on other
fundamental freedoms."
"This report provides ample evidence of why the Administration should
abandon its effort to secure permanent normal trade status with China
and keep its annual review process," said John Ackerly, President of the
International Campaign for Tibet.
"Abandoning the effort to secure permanent NTR would show to Europe and
the rest of the world that the U.S. is consistent in its stated
commitment to censure China at the United Nations Human Rights
Commission in Geneva," Mr. Ackerly added.
Thirteen pages of considered reporting by the State Department is a
marked improvement from years' past. However, the report continues to
contain a number of defeciencies and relies heavily on NGO reporting,
reflecting poor first-hand intelligence gathering abilities.
Nevertheless, this year, the report provided significantly more detail
about human rights abuses to Tibetans throughout Tibetan areas, not just
in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
According to the report, systematic abuses occurred this year against
Tibetan Buddhism, including gross interference by government authorities
in monasteries, and on many religious practices. The government also
"downgraded use of Tibetan in education", and purged so-called
"separatist materials" and certain historic and religious texts in
schools;
Among the most serious findings in the Tibet report are:--
* the lack of information about the 11th Panchen Lama who in 1999 is
presumed to have entered into a 4th year of detention.:-- "The
Government denied press reports in November that Gendun Choekyi Nyima
died and was cremated secretly; however, the Government continues to
refuse international observers the access necessary to confirm his
well-being";
* the escalation of reincarnation politics on the part of Beijing:--
"Agya Rinpoche, former abbot of Kumbum monastery in Qinghai province,
senior Tibetan religious figure, and an official at the deputy minister
level, left China in November 1998 due to differences with the Chinese
authorities... including, a heightened role demanded of him by the
Government in its campaign to legitimize Gyaltsen Norbu," (the Chinese
appointed Panchen Lama);
* Chadrel Rinpoche, who was accused of betraying state secrets while
helping the Dalai Lama choose the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen
Lama, has been held in a secret compound since his 1997 sentence;
* "In late December, the 14-year old Karmapa Lama left Tibet secretly,
reportedly to seek religious teaching in India."
* according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, 2,903 Tibetans
fled to exile during the year;"
* Chinese Government admission that "Ngawang Choephel, a Tibetan
ethnomusicologist sentenced in 1996 to 18 years in prison on charges of
espionage ... had developed symptoms of bronchitis, pulmonary infection,
and hepatitis;"
* Ngawang Sangdrol, a Tibetan nun first imprisoned at age 13, "has been
beaten badly on several occasion because of repeated participation in
protests at Drapchi prison .. Phuntsog Nyidrol, a Tibetan nun who
reportedly tried to shield Ngawang Sangdrol from beatings" was herself
beaten severely,
* female political prisoners "since 1987, have died at a rate of one in
22 while in prison" as a result of torture, beatings or other harsh
treatment;
* "an orphanage that housed more than 60 Tibetan children in Lhasa was
closed by local authorities ... and the children, ranging in age from 1
to 14 years, reportedly either were returned to their home prefectures,
turned out into the streets, or placed in a local orphanage where
conditions were reportedly extremely poor."
Contact: Mary Beth Markey, Bhuchung Tsering - 202 785-1515
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[This article was not complete yesterday. Therefore, we are reproducing
this today. WTN]
BY ELLIS WIDNER
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
FORT WORTH - To some, he is famous because he is film actress Uma
Thurman's father.
To others, Robert A.F. Thurman is famous because he is the best-known
American authority on Tibetan culture and Buddhism and a close friend of
the Dalai Lama. The professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at
Columbia University and co-founder of New York's Tibet House, Thurman
has written many books (including Inner Revolution and Essential Tibetan
Buddhism) and was named one of the 25 most influential Americans by Time
magazine in 1997.
It was in his role of Tibetan scholar that Thurman came to the Kimbell
Art Museum to discuss "Worlds of Transformation," the second show of
Tibetan religious paintings - called tangkas - he has helped organize.
Its predecessor, 1991's "Wisdom and Compassion," is still touring around
the world. He also co-wrote the exhibits' extensive catalogs.
Thurman, 58, describes the tangkas, painted on silk or cotton and often
framed with brocade, as "a fascinating doorway into the very finest
artistic productions of Asian civilizations.
"Forget what you know or don't know about Tibet," Thurman says. "These
paintings can be approached as pieces of very beautiful and fine art
like people would approach a Russian icon or Renaissance paintings of
the Virgin." Punctuating his comments with a booming baritone voice, a
professorial tone and theatrical gestures, Thurman, wearing a dark suit
and long, yellow scarf, was an affable guide through this 60-piece
exhibit. The paintings, taken from the Shelley and Donald Rubin
collection, span 800 years - works of art that are religious, historical
and philosophical documents.
The wildly colorful deities depicted in the tangkas are shape-shifters,
who through their compassion for all living beings, take on whatever
form it takes to open us to the mind of enlightenment. Sometimes these
forms are peaceful and reassuring, others unsettling, erotic and even
scary.
It's hard for Thurman, a former monk, to choose a favorite among the
tangkas. But he pauses in front of a dynamic and colorful painting of
Maitreya, the Buddha of the future.
"It's marvelous," he says of the vibrant 600-year-old work. "This
painting is the reason I decided to curate this exhibit. It is
beautifully preserved ... but it was pretty dark in the monasteries so
it didn't fade in sunlight. The yak butter that was burned in the lamps
created a layer of grease over the paintings which kept oxygen away.
Also, they are painted with mineral pigment, so it's like gems on the
surface held in with glue."
But there's more to these works than a surface beauty, Thurman says.
"If people are open to the magic of spiritual growth, they will find in
these powerful documents of the human psyche a vision of divinity that
is very unique. [In Tibet] the human capacity to imagine the beauty and
nearness of the divine was cultivated to an extraordinary degree."
It is, Thurman says, as though these painters were seeing and painting
the inner visions of the Roman Catholic mystics and saints Hildegard von
Bingen, Teresa of Avila and Francis of Assisi.
"These images [present] an idea of the ultimate divinity of the universe
... this culture approached the divine as a mother-father union as the
primal scene, as the Freudian psychologists might say."
Thurman sees the ferocious, protector deities - with glaring red eyes,
bared fangs, wreathed in flames and wearing necklaces and crowns made of
human skulls - as dealing with the fierce natural aggressive energy that
is inside all people.
"Tibet was a wild, warrior country that conquered China several times
and beat up on its other neighbors. But Buddhism changed them from a
militaristic, violent society to a culture that sought bliss. It was by
no means a perfect society, Tibet was not Shangri-La.
"After Buddhism arrived, Tibetans did not repress that aggressive energy
nor did they express it in violence. They confronted it, sublimated it,
integrated it into their psyche. That is what these fierce archetypes
[represent]." Influential psychologist Carl Jung has written extensively
on Tibetan art. Thurman equates the fierce protector beings with the
Seraphim of Christianity. "[Tibetans believe] the force of compassion
and love in the universe is so powerful that it can be more fierce than
evil. That idea is in the works of Milton. In the battle with Lucifer,
the archangels Michael and Gabriel are very ferocious, they destroy the
other bad angels and throw them down. But it's not depicted [visually]
because of the nature of western culture. In a Byzantine cathedral, if
you look up in the corners you'll find a pair of giant wings, folded.
There are folded arms in front of the wings, but no body. They only show
the wings because people would be too scared to see [the fierce angel]."
Each Tibetan tangka, Thurman says, offers the potential for
transformation. "Before contemporary art, there was a tendency in the
west to think of the object of art as a definite thing outside yourself-
you enjoy that horse, that tree. Only in contemporary times did western
artists - Degas, Picasso, Cezanne, Braque, the cubists, the
impressionists - shatter the object. They began to create a world in
which the art would challenge you and open you up in some way. Art
becomes contemplative and you can become transformed within it. Tibetan
art is masterful at that."
Each tangka, Thurman says, offers an environment to experience the
divine through contemplation of the art.
"If you look at a tangka contemplatively, you enter into the painting,
see the transformation that is taking place and you participate in that
in a way. And you can experience a transformation within yourself."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4. BBC's apology letter to Ms. Stirling Davenport about errors in
their transcription of the Interview with the Dalai Lama
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Stirling
Thank you for your email.
We do apologise for some of the transcription errors in the Dalai Lama's
responses on Forum/Talking Point. Our aim was to transcribe the
interview with the Dalai Lama live as the interview was broadcast so
that our readers could read the interview as soon as possible after the
broadcast. Unfortunately, the interview was extremely difficult to hear
in parts and as a result some errors in the transcription were made.
We can only apologise for this and assure you that the errors you refer
to have been rectified.
Thank you for your vigilance and we do hope that it did not spoil your
enjoyment of the broadcast.
Regards
BBC News Online
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
-----Original Message-----
Dear Editors of BBC News:
Your coverage was really excellent and presentation was beautifully
done. I have one or two criticisms, however, in the fact that you
misreported the actual words of the Dalai Lama about the Karmapa. He
(correctly) refers to him as the Karmapa, as do all Tibetans (not the
Karmapa Lama). And secondly, he stated that the main motivation for the
Karmapa leaving Tibet was to serve the dharma (i.e., Buddhist
teachings)--not the government (as you put it). I think a retraction
would be very beneficial--or at least, your reference IN FUTURE to the
Karmapa as "the Karmapa"--thus setting a good example for other
newspeople. (Otherwise, how can people know the correct address for
such an important figure?)
Thanks for listening.
Sincerely,
Stirling Davenport, U.S.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Buddhists on the ball - Tibetans monks go nuts over soccer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
By MATTHEW HAYS
The Cup takes us inside a Buddhist monastery, where monks-in-training
worship the game of football
Montreal, February 24, 2000 (The Mirror) - That Western audiences have a
fascination with Eastern cultures is pretty much a given. That cinematic
dalliances with East-meets-West themes are successful isn't always a
given. Witness the recent Jodie Foster effort Anna and the King, or The
Replacement Killers, or Lethal Weapon 4 even. When the big studios do
chime in on the East, it's usually either a flagrant effort to cash in,
blatantly phony and condescending, or both.
And that's a big part of the success of The Cup, a film about Buddhist
monks living in a monastery in India who are obsessed with catching the
'98 World Cup on TV. That the film is both refreshing and pleasing
should come as little surprise, considering that it wasn't made by an
outsider; first-time director Khyentse Norbu is himself a pre-eminent
lama of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Aside from its lack of a condescending tone, perhaps what is most
striking about The Cup is its sheer simplicity. The young monk Orgyen
(Mayyang Lodro) and his friend Lodo (Neten Chokling) are two dedicated
young students of the Buddhist tradition. But coming of age in a
monastery isn't all fun and laughs; both young men are dying to catch
the '98 World Cup. They sneak out in the middle of the night to catch a
game at a seedy joint where they can pay to gaze at a TV.
Finally, Orgyen hatches a plan to locate a TV and to buy and hoist a
satellite dish above the monastery so all of the monks can enjoy the
final match. Part of this task involves convincing the monk hierarchy
that this slice of decidedly Western culture will be as innocuous as it
is fun. While the younger monks revel in their fascination with the
sport, the older monks attempt to reconcile their holy traditions with
this new, exotic influence in their midst.
Soccer not sex
Like the character in his screenplay, Norbu reports that one of the
trickiest things about making The Cup was convincing the older Tibetan
inhabitants of the Chokling Monastery (located near the Himalayas) that
filmmaking itself didn't involve anything too nasty. "People were
initially very uncomfortable doing a film," Norbu recalls. "Tibetans
tend to think that all film is about sex and violence. I knew what my
story was about, but they didn't. And I couldn't wander around
explaining the entire thing to everyone. I also had a bit of an inner
struggle with this--I'm trained as a philosophy teacher, not a
filmmaker."
For Norbu, accuracy was an incredibly important element to The Cup. His
cast is made up entirely of non-professional actors, most of them
plucked from the monastery where the film is shot. Since the budget was
tight, Norbu says most scenes were done in three takes or less, a
testament, he argues, to the strict concentration demanded of young
monks. Norbu says he doubts this level of accuracy could have been
attained by an outsider. "Maybe not. Certainly not the performances; the
backstories, those might have been hard for the cast to tell. The monks
wouldn't feel comfortable about discussing their crushes on girls, for
example, with someone else. But we're friends, and I know what we've
been through in the past."
A world of inspiration
Though the injection of the game of football into a monastery may sound
like the symbolic juxtaposition of a screenwriter, Norbu says this too
was rooted in fact. For whatever reason, he says when he grew up in a
monastery, a common obsession of the monks was soccer. People's
fascination with sports, Norbu points out, often borders on the
religious.
"India is a cricket nation. But Tibet is more of a football nation.
There's something about the simplicity of it all. It's economical; there
are no helmets, masks or uniforms. And the rules--it's basically just
about getting the ball in between those posts."
Norbu--who cites both Japan's Yasujiro Ozu and India's Satyajit Ray as
influences--describes the toughest part of creating The Cup as the
production period itself. "Logistically, it was so tiring. The
locations. The camera from Australia. The flying, driving, walking. We
had no electricity, so that meant no dailies. We couldn't see what we
were doing as we went along."
Though the filmmaking practice may have been new, Norbu, cast and crew
employed traditional Buddhist practices while creating the film. The
monastery was transformed into a film set for several weeks, meaning
much of the cast and crew was up before 4 a.m. daily to pray before
shooting would begin. Every decision surrounding the production was made
after Norbu carefully consulted with yogis, oracles and diviners.
Unpredictable weather was also a concern; numerous ritual prayer
sessions were arranged to aid in a smooth shooting schedule (the film
ended up in the can on time).
Culture clash?
But the results for the finished film have easily outstretched Norbu's
wildest imagination, now that The Cup is winning over audiences
internationally. "I didn't know it would take off like this. In Germany,
the film is entering its 14th week--I guess it's understandable that the
football idea would do extra well in Europe. I thought filmmaking would
involve writing, shooting and maybe a few festivals. All this promotion
is certainly new."
Early in his childhood, Norbu was identified by Buddhist religious
leaders as the third incarnation of the historic Khyentse lineage (his
duties include running a number of monasteries and colleges). Recently
his duties have involved granting interviews to pump up The Cup,
distributed in Canada by the nation's largest film company, the glitzy
Alliance-Atlantis.
Forgive me for asking, as the question certainly implies a stereotypical
comprehension of the Buddhist faith, but doesn't all this commercial,
film-biz-related capitalist hype kind of clash with Norbu's traditional
religious faith?
"It's true, we have to depend on foreign funding for filmmaking because
of the expense. And our producers at least want to make their money
back. But I feel one should make friends with this culture, then
influence it to be more humanist. Instead of being influenced, to try to
be the influence." :
The Cup opens Friday, February 18
___________________________________________________________________________
Send articles to: wtn-editors@tibet.ca
Subscriptions to: listserv@lists.mcgill.ca (SUB WTN-L [your name])
Cancellations to: listserv@lists.mcgill.ca (SIGNOFF WTN-L)
WTN Archived at: http://www.tibet.ca
___________________________________________________________________________
