Buddhism: Tibet through tears

“I have no hope for the future,” says Lhasang Tsering, one of Tibet’s most famous activists. We are speaking in his home in Dharamsala, where he has lived in exile since fleeing Tibet more than two decades ago. “Time is running out,” he tells me. “Every day, while we’re sitting here praying for world peace, truckloads of Chinese are coming in, and trainloads of Tibetan resources are coming out. Once the Chinese have the land for themselves, they might have a few reservations for ethnic Tibetans, the way you Americans have Native American reservations.”

Tsering puts his head in his hands. I look away. When I glance back, his shoulders are heaving with sobs.

This, from a recent Rolling Stone Article “The end of Tibet”, well portrays the situation both in Tibet and the growing exile community. It also reminds us of just how delicate anything like a ‘moral high ground’ might be.

Please take a look at the article and consider writing your congressperson, donating time or money to a Free Tibet campaign, or anything else you can think of to increase awareness and hopefully bring an end to this terrible situation…

Dear Mr. Baucus, (CC John Tester, Dennis Rehberg)

The Rolling Stone recently published a story detailing the ongoing misery of both the people of Tibet and the growing refugee population in exile. As you probably know, it was just 4 months ago that Chinese boarder guards shot and killed two Tibetans en route to see their spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. One of those killed was a 17 year old nun.

The article is definitely worth the read, even if it is very difficult at times: descriptions of rape and torture of Tibetan nuns and monks, some beaten to death simply for refusing to renounce Buddhism.

The other frightening fact mentioned is that the moral fiber of the Tibetan people is unraveling. Tibetan people are becoming murderers, perhaps even terrorists in their own homeland. The patience and non-violence preached by the Dalai Lama is seen more and more as the luxury of a free man. More and more the Dalai Lama’s message (and that of Tibetan Buddhism and culture) is fading in Tibet, replaced by systematic torture and murder, forced labor, man-made famine, environmental degradation, and cultural destruction.

Please work with your colleagues to increase pressure on China to reverse its abusive human rights policies and cultural genocide in Tibet.

I thank you for your time and continued service to our state and nation.