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His Holiness calls for more research into missing Lama
His Holiness speaks on ‘Growing Wisdom’ Vol. 03, Issue 141, Print Issue 65, September 30, 2015 His Holiness cancels US trip after medical check-up By Yeshe Choesang: September 28, 2015
Dharamshala — The spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, canceled all of his U.S. visits for October at the advice of doctors following a medical check-up this week, his office said in a statement on September 25. The statement said doctors had urged the Nobel Peace Laureate to rest for several weeks, though it gave no indication that he was ill nor details about his state of health. On Sunday, Mayo spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo confirmed he remained at the clinic for evaluation but said she could offer no further details about his stay. “His Holiness the Dalai Lama is in the United States for a medical check-up,” the statement said. “The doctors have advised His Holiness to rest for the next several weeks. As a result, His Holiness’ planned October U.S. visit has been cancelled,” his office said. “We deeply regret the inconvenience caused by this decision and apologize to all the people who have worked so hard in organizing the visit as well as to the public,” it said, adding: “We thank you for your support and understanding.” Smith College issued a statement on Friday saying “the Dalai Lama had canceled scheduled appearances for October there and at two nearby Massachusetts schools, Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.” 12 Tibetans were detained over land-grab protest in Ngaba
Tibetans petition in Dzoge County in Ngaba, north-eastern Tibet for the return of land seized by local Chinese government, September 22, 2015. Photo: RFA/Mandarin By Yeshi Choesang: September 24, 2015
Dharamshala — Authorities in Ngaba County of northeastern Tibet have detained at least a dozen Tibetans, later releasing one, who reoccupied land taken from them five years ago for a government development project. Local Tibetans from Thangkor town in Dzoge (Ch: Ruo’ergai) County in the Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture had appealed to the government for the return of their land on May 15 as no developer had begun construction and local authorities were leasing it out to private individuals, a local source told said. But local officials, angered by the appeal, retaliated by withdrawing subsidies for local families, the source told the Tibet Post International, speaking on condition of anonymity. When residents complained, the local government pledged to resolve the dispute by September 20, but when the deadline passed, “the local Tibetans reoccupied the land,” he said. “In response, the authorities dispatched a contingent of police from the Dzoge County and other counties in Ngaba and cracked down on the Tibetans on Sept. 22.” According to the source, at least 12 Tibetans were taken into custody, including six who had assisted in writing up the appeal—Jigjey Kyab, Tsepak, Sonam Gyatso, Phurkho, Dorbe, Jitruk, Tsering Kyab, Patra, Tsering Tashi, Yeshe and Tsokyi. Tsokyi, the sister of appeal organizer Jigjey Kyab, was “severely beaten and then released,” he said, while 11 others “are still detained in [neighboring] Marthang (Hongyuan) county.” The source said Jigje Kyab, 39, is now missing “and nobody knows about his condition.” Ngaba County is under heavy surveillance and presence of armed security personnel. Communication lines including internet and social media, a major medium of flow of information to the outside world, tightly controlled except in government offices.
TYC’s Hunger Strike reaches Day 20
Tibetan Youth Congress marks 20th day of their hunger strike with a rally in Delhi, hoping to gain UN attention. September 28, 2015. Photo: TPI September 28, 2015
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Dirty politics if the motivation is selfish: His Holiness By Yeshe Choesang: September 23, 2015
London, England — Responding to questions about dirty politics, His Holiness the Dalai Lama clarified that the quality of all human activities depends primarily on the motivation. It’s not that politics is dirty, but if the motivation is selfish, it is likely to become so. On September 19, His Holiness was greeted with fulsome cheers from an audience of 10,000 as he came onto the stage in the O2 Arena, the Greenwich peninsula in south-east London, England. A young Tibetan woman led a recitation of a prayer for his long life before introducing Ngawang Lodup, a former monk from Amdo region of Tibet. Lodup performed a poignant mountain song followed by one of his own compositions, which praised His Holiness as the light of the 21st century and the soul of the people of the Land of Snow. Next, a group of 52 Tibetan children aged between 6 and 14 sang a song that longed for the reunion of Tibetans in Tibet and an end to their sufferings. “I’m very happy to be here with you and to have this opportunity to share some of my thoughts and experiences with you. And when it comes to the question and answer session, I hope I’ll learn something from you,” His Holiness said, adding: “I very much appreciate the organizers for providing us with this opportunity and I thank you for coming. “I’m just one of the 7 billion human beings alive today. We are all physically, mentally and emotionally the same. We all face problems, but we also have the same potential to deal with them. Scientists have shown that even very small children respond positively to images of help and recoil from images of harm, demonstrating that basic human nature is compassionate and good. “We can use our own common sense to see this too. Look at your neighbours. They may be well-off, but if they lack a sense of warm-heartedness, if they tend to be suspicious of each other, they won’t be happy, whereas those who are trusting and warmhearted clearly are happy.” His Holiness declared that at 80 years old he belongs to the 20th
His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s talk on ‘Compassion - the Foundation of Well-Being’ at the 02 Arena in London, England on September 19, 2015. Photo/Ian Cumming
century generation. Those young people who are less than 30 years old belong to the generation of the 21st century. He conceded that the generation of the 20th century had created many problems, including damage to the environment. Some of their ideas, such as the notion that problems can be solved by force are now completely out of date. He added: “I want to live a happy life and others want to live a happy life too. This is something we all have a right to do. I believe that if we all make an effort and take a long view of the future, we can change the world for the better. Now for some questions.”
Recent peaceful protest yields detainment of monks, one grandmother
Without waiting for the moderator to be introduced, at this point someone from the back of the hall cried out indistinctly, “Is there discrimination in the Tibetan community? Is this true?” His Holiness responded directly. “I suppose you are asking about the Shugden question, a controversy that has been going on for nearly 400 years. However, it’s only come to prominence in the last 80 years or so. In my own case, while I propitiated this spirit, I had no religious freedom. I only gained that freedom once I understood its nature and background and stopped that practice. P-2... A senior Tibetan monk returns to Tibet: State run media
By Yangchen Dolma: September 29, 2015
Dorjee Dolma, a native of village no. 2 of Meruma town, Ngaba County in Amdho Region of north-eastern Tibet Tibet. Photo: TPI By Molly Lortie: September 17, 2015
Dharamshala — It emerged that on the afternoon of September 10th in Tibet’s Ngaba County of Amdo region in north-eastern Tibet, two young men began a peaceful protest that slowly incorporated much of the local residents. During the protest, police arrived and allegedly arrested one woman, a 64 year old grandmother on the scene. Her whereabouts remain unknown. “The incarcerated grandmother’s family name is Namkha Kyab and is originally from Rongkarsar, Ngaba. She has nine siblings and works as a street cleaner, according to Ven Lobsang Yeshi,” Lobsang Yeshi and Kanya Tsering from Kirti Monastery told the Tibet Post International. “The day of the protest, other protesters were also allegedly arrested by police, however their identities remain unknown.” The day after the incident, on September 11th, five monks from Kirti Monastery were also allegedly arbitrarily detained while going for a walk, and were not sentenced for a crime. Most of the monks were released from jail after the third day, however 22 year old monk Lobsang Sonam remains in detainment on charges unreleased by local authorities. “Lobsang Sonam is also from Rongkarsar, Ngaba. His father’s name is Kalsang, and his mother’s name Tsering
Dolma, and he has three younger brothers,” said Ven Lobsang Yeshi. “He has been a monk at Kirti Monastery since he was a child.” This protest follows another from last month, on the morning of August 20th, when Dorjee Dolma, a 29 year old mother performed a solo peaceful protest and was immediately arrested by ten policemen, Ven Kanyag Tsering, a monk with close contacts in the Tibetan region, told the TPI. “Dolma is the second of four daughters of father Dorjee Rabten and mother Tamdrin Tso, of the Tendartsang house in division no.2 of Me’uruma village, and is the mother of three children.” “Dorjee Dolma, a native of village no. 2 of Meruma town, Ngaba County in Amdo Region of north-eastern Tibet Tibet (Ch: Aba County, Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in the north-west of Sichuan Province),” Ven Tsering added, saying “her current conditions remain unknown.” Her father’s name is Dorjee Rabten, and mother’s name Tamtin Tso. She has three sisters and three sons of her own. The Ngaba area has been under military lock-down since major protests were held in the area following the spread of protests across the Tibetan plateau beginning in March, 2008. The Chinese authorities are clamping down on the contents of popular social media, and particularly on the posting of photos, videos, and text that could be considered to be anti-China.
Dharamshala — “A senior Buddhist monk has returned to settle in Tibet,” Chinese officials claimed, saying “he decided to settle down in Ngaba County after receiving approval in April. The China Tibet Information Center, a government-run news website said late on September 26 that Achok Rinpoche “a senior Buddhist monk” China Tibet Information Center had returned in May and was now living permanently in Ngaba, part of the southwestern province of Sichuan. “I’ve now really become a Chinese citizen,” he was quoted as telling senior Sichuan government official Cui Baohua last week. The report said that Cui heads the United Front Work Department in Sichuan, which is in charge of co-opting religious groups and ethnic minorities. The website showed a picture of the Rinpoche and Cui Baohua walking around a temple in Ngaba. A detail report also published on the Tibetan version of the goverment run website. Although he was invited to the Dalai Lama’s birthday celebrations in July, what he wanted to do more was come home and settle down, the website said. He also lived in Beijing for a year in 1987 at request of the late Panchen Lama, working at a school for reincarnated lamas, the report added, saying Rinpoche and Cui Baohua are “old friends.” Achok Rinpoche, who was born in Sichuan in 1944 and left in 1959 after a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, first came back to China in 1982 as part of an effort by Beijing to engage with exiled Tibetans, the Chinese website said. Achok Rinpoche had headed a Tibetan hospital and worked as a senior librarian in exile, the Chinese website said. But Rinpoche was the director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, which is an autonomous body in exile. He fell and injured himself while in Nepal in December 2014 and asked to be taken to China for treatment, which Cui organized, the report said. During each trip Achok Rinpoche could see with his own eyes and that religious and ethnic groups were well-treated, the website said. “The motherland and home are the best. The motherland is the warmest,” it said.