Tibetan Buddhism, the biggest loser: A commentary on China-India’s rivalry over Buddhism’s soft power

The opinion piece below was sent to dorjeshugden.com for publication. We accept submissions from the public, please send in your articles to [email protected].

 


 

By: Shashi Kei

It is common to hear the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA; Tibetan leadership based in Dharamsala) accuse China of wishing to destroy Buddhism. This narrative is part of an ongoing campaign of indoctrination spearheaded by the Dalai Lama and Tibetan-cause exponents to amass support for the Tibetan struggle. For example, Robert Thurman, known as the Dalai Lama’s man in America, quoted the Tibetan spiritual leader as having said that the Chinese are working to “deliberately annihilate Buddhism”. Thurman further wrote in his 2010 doomsayer article ‘China Is Attempting to Wipe Out Buddhism‘ that “…it became the established policy of the Chinese Communist Party –which is one and the same as the Chinese government – to destroy Tibetan Buddhism…”. The Tibetan President Lobsang Sangay has since redefined the Tibetan struggle not as the political act of the CTA regaining control of Tibet, but as a competition between Communism and Buddhism. Sangay’s inference is that the Communist Party of China (CPC) seeks to destroy Buddhism while the CTA, which Sangay implies is the embodiment of Buddhism, is fighting to preserve it.

Amitabh Mathur

Nothing however, could be further from the truth, according to Amitabh Mathur, the recently-retired Advisor on Tibet Affairs to the Indian government. Mathur wrote in his AniNews.com article (“China using Buddhism to increase its influence in South Asia“, 7th Dec 2018) that on the contrary, China is in fact seeking to emerge as a leader in the Buddhist world. If Mathur’s observations of China’s intention are correct, then it would be counter-productive for China to wish to destroy Buddhism.

While it is true that Mao Zedong did view religion as poison, the CPC came to see the pitfalls of banning religions. In 1982, under Deng Xiao Ping’s ‘Reform and Opening’, the CPC promulgated what is known as Document 19 that signaled a critical change in the Chinese government’s religious policy. Document 19 saw to the gradual release of religious prisoners from all faiths and religious sects, the reopening of monasteries, churches and convents and the return of seized assets to respective religious bodies. It is still the primary guideline steering CPC religious policy in the present era. In fact, one of President Xi Jinping’s signature lines is “if the people have faith, the nation has hope, and the country has strength” to realize a “virtuous and harmonious society” at home and to create a global “community of shared destiny.” It would appear that far from a desire to destroy Buddhism, China regards it as an asset and has made considerable efforts to develop ethical and cultural capital (‘soft power’) to pacify sentiments in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and enhance diplomatic ties with its South Asian neighbors.

Mr. Mathur noted that amongst other initiatives, China has assumed management of the Common Text Project (CTP), an ambitious project to develop a single manuscript consisting of key texts from the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, that will be translated from Tibetan, Pali, Sanskrit and Chinese languages, into English. Mathur enumerated other Chinese initiatives to preserve and promote Buddhism including establishing the Nanhai Buddhist Academy to teach Buddhist courses in Chinese, Pali and Tibetan. The Nanhai Academy is based on the Nālandā Māha Vihāra, the progenitor of the Nalanda tradition that the Dalai Lama has consistently emphasized the importance of. China has also been heavily involved in developing the Gandhara trail of Buddhism, and funding the joint Chinese-Bangladeshi excavation of Nateshwar associated with the ancient Vajrayogini Village, the birth place of the renowned Buddhist monk Atisha Dipankara Srijnana.

China is also reaching out quite successfully to the international Buddhist community through its influence in organizations such as the International Council of Vesak (ICDV), the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) and the World Buddhist Forum (WBF). The WBF is held every three years, the most recent being the 5th that was held in Putian, Fujian Province, in October this year. The event, which was recorded as a success, was attended by 1000 representatives from 55 different countries. And then there are China’s investments in Buddhism abroad such as the Lotus Sutra Tower in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka and China’s offer of $3 billion for the Lumbini Project in Nepal. As for Tibetan Buddhism, the Chinese government is reported to be investing $97 billion to boost the economy, building roads, hospitals, schools and other infrastructural and development projects in the TAR. To revive Tibetan Buddhism, China has to date injected in excess of $450 million into restoring Tibet’s major monasteries and other religious sites, with another additional $290 million apportioned for the next five years. The bent of Amitabh Mathur’s article is not so much to suggest that it is wrong for China to seek a handle on Buddhism’s soft power, but that it is doing so at the expense of the “narrative of India-centric Buddhism”. Mathur concluded that India would be doing itself a tremendous disservice if it were to cede control of this power to China. Mathur’s opinion is understandable. After all, India can claim historical legitimacy over Buddhism, evidenced by the fact that it hosts seven out of the eight most significant Buddhist pilgrimage sites. It has also been suggested by Shantanu Kishwar, an intern at India’s Observer Research Foundation (ORF) that the presence of the 14th Dalai Lama in India gives the country some standing as a custodian of the religion in the global Buddhist community.

Mathur and Kishawar may be right about India’s natural claim to the Buddhist religion but the presence of the Dalai Lama with his CTA in India is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the Dalai Lama as the most visible Buddhist figure could boost India’s image as a protector of Buddhism. On the other hand, the Dalai Lama is not just a spiritual figure but one of the most prominent politicians this century has seen, and one who wields the Buddhist religion as a formidable weapon in his statecraft. The Dalai Lama’s presence on Indian soil has often been a source of friction between India and China, sending India into war with China once and now threatens to do the same again. China regards the Dalai Lama as a ‘separatist’ and views India’s protection of the Tibetan spiritual leader as harboring a dangerous agitator, in the same way India is frustrated by China’s blocking of their repeated attempts at the United Nations to list certain individuals as global terrorists. China’s complaint is not without basis. After a failed armed rebellion against China in the early days of exile, the Dalai Lama seems to have resorted to disseminating unrest into the TAR, understanding that insurrection and instability in China’s troubled frontier regions is what the Beijing government fears most. To do this most directly in the TAR, the Dalai Lama banned Dorje Shugden, an ancient Tibetan Buddhist deity widely practiced by the Gelug sect that accounts for the bulk of the Tibetan populace and a large percentage of non-Tibetan adherents globally. So Dorje Shugden was chosen not only because it would affect most Tibetans in the TAR but because as a popular deity within the Gelug tradition which the Dalai Lama dominates, there would be no one in the lineage who would oppose his ban. Similarly, no one from the other Tibetan Buddhist sects would oppose a ban on the practice as it does not directly concern them. Incidentally the Dalai Lama and the CTA denies this is a religious ban as it contravenes the CTA’s claim to be a democracy. Nevertheless, the Human Rights Watch Report (HRW) on Tibet in 2004 documents this as a religious ban and outlines clashes in areas of the TAR as the result of Dalai Lama loyalists taking up arms against Dorje Shugden Buddhists who were forced to defend themselves. The HRW report focuses on China’s support of Shugden Buddhists (understandably so given its pro-NATO stance), which Mathur also referenced in his article. Shugden Buddhists around the world, even those with no part in the Sino-Tibetan affair, were tagged ‘anti-Dalai Lama’ and ‘destroyers of Buddhism’. Lamas who rely on Dorje Shugden were accused of being fake, ‘unqualified’ teachers. In that way, the Tibetan leadership’s ban created chaos and infringed on the religious rights of Shugden Buddhists worldwide. In this issue, both the HRW and Mathur neglect to ask a few crucial questions:

  1. Do they have jurisdiction? Does the Dalai Lama, or indeed any international religious figure, have jurisdiction to override the individual religious freedom and human rights of any citizen of the free world and unilaterally ban a religious practice, and then declare, instigate and perpetuate a witch-hunt against practitioners of that religion?
  2. Is this democratic? How does banning a religious practice that involves millions of Tibetan Buddhists around the world, be an act permissible by a supposedly democratic government?
  3. Why does the Dalai Lama seek the dissolution of an important chapter of Tibetan Buddhism and, more significantly to present context, how does this fit into the narrative of the Dalai Lama being a guardian of Buddhism and a lauded symbol of religious harmony?

The heaviest burden of the Dalai Lama and CTA’s politicization of Tibetan Buddhism is borne by the religion itself, as it becomes an instrument of conflict rather than one that fosters harmony and peace. The second heaviest is borne by the Tibetan people in the TAR as they are forced to choose between traditional allegiance to the Dalai Lama and their own wellbeing and ability to live harmoniously with all sentient beings, which is what Buddhism actually advocates. In fact, if the CTA is genuinely concerned about the fate and happiness of the Tibetan people in TAR and the future of Tibetan Buddhism, they would stop inciting violence and unrest inside TAR. This is because the brunt of China’s response is felt fully by the Tibetan people in TAR, not by anyone in the CTA who continue to live in relative luxury in Dharamsala. It is not Lobsang Sangay, any CTA official or the likes of Robert Thurman who suffer but the Tibetans in TAR; it is easy to incite violence by proxy when you do not need to experience the consequences.

So while the CTA and those who support the Tibetan struggle accuse China of being heavy-handed in their governing of the Tibetan people, the Chinese response is only logical given the way the CTA is constantly seeking to provoke insurrection, even to the point of encouraging Tibetan self-immolation. Any government would fiercely guard against the potential of insurgency on their own soil. We have even seen how Western powers such as the United States have invaded and attacked other foreign countries which they regard as a threat to their domestic harmony, not based on facts but based on opinion. We have seen how they have literally destroyed entire nations, deposed and / or exterminated the leaders and replaced the government, all in the name of ‘American national security’. Is China not entitled to its own national security?

China has demonstrated its willingness to rebuild Buddhism but as long as the CTA uses the Tibetan Buddhism as a weapon, it will invite caution towards (if not a full clamping down of) that religion.

In the final analysis, the Tibetan leadership and China have switched roles as protector and detractor of Buddhism. China who once banned Buddhism along with other forms of faith-based worship has become one of its most dynamic proponents today. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama’s government has become one of the religion’s biggest detractors by corrupting it with personal political agendas. Being in exile accorded the Dalai Lama’s inner circle the opportunity to exercise more power over their people than they actually wielded in Tibet. As the Tibetan leadership-in-exile sought to consolidate this power by weakening the hold of respective Tibetan Buddhist sects over their people, they destabilized the foundations of Tibetan Buddhism in the process. They compounded the damage when they initiated the Dorje Shugden conflict with the aim of spreading unrest in China, which was met with a firm response by the Chinese government.

Thus the Dalai Lama’s decision turned an ancient Buddhist practice into a battleground and what ensued was general confusion as both sides issued conflicting narratives that have far-reaching consequences into the rudimentary tenets of Tibetan Buddhism. The result is a loss of confidence in Tibetan Buddhism.In the meantime, China and India vie for predominance in commanding Buddhism as soft power, the space that once belonged exclusively to the Dalai Lama.

 

[ANINEWS] China using Buddhism to increase its influence in South Asia

Source: https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/china-using-buddhism-to-increase-its-influence-in-south-asia201812071718360003/. Click to enlarge.

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20 total comments on this postSubmit yours
  1. China leadership think big while CTA leadership think small. After 6 decades see the result for yourself! 👎👎👎 Buddhism are better of with China than in the hands on corrupted CTA.

  2. Foolish of the Dalai Lama and CTA to have overtly abused Tibetan Buddhism for political purposes. China and India may also want to use Buddhism as soft power but at least they will also contribute to its growth and spread. The CTA in the meantime does nothing for Tibetan Buddhism but throw it into confusion.

    I think the era of “Tibetan” Buddhism is over. Soon it will only be known as Vajrayana. Calling it Tibetan Buddhism was wrong to begin with because it gave everyone the impression that the Tibetan government owns it. That’s what Lobsang Sangay has been going around the world implying, that the Sino-Tibetan struggle is a fight between Communism and Buddhism. It is not. It is a fight between a brutal feudal lord and a communist regime that is opening up.

  3. I’ve been operating an online hate group on FB against the NKT. I use to be a part of that organization. I loved my guru Geshe Kelsang, but I didn’t like some of the underlings who ran the organization. I was there for over a decade and it was time for me to be given a position of a teacher and have the respect I felt I deserved. I didn’t get what I wanted and I felt angry and slighted. It reminded me of my abandonment issues I’ve had throughout my life. I’ve never belonged anywhere and people usually left me and I just couldn’t stand it. I got my personal emotional issues mixed up with my spiritual direction. I projected my personal issues onto my teacher and the organization and I have done that so many times in my life ruining good situations.

    I left NKT and told whoever would listen to me who I was abused in NKT. I started a FB page to encourage other ‘victims’ to speak out against NKT. Being the vast organization that NKT is, it was not difficult to find other people who had left for one reason or another and had things to say against NKT. Our little group even got close to some of the events coordinators of the Dalai Lama and we were given a chance to take pictures with Dalai Lama which we promptly did. The photo with the Dalai Lama we thought gave us some validation towards our stance against NKT-but it backfired. It gave us a high to have a photo with the Dalai Lama but after a while we realized we can never be close to the Dalai Lama. We can never get the care and amount of teachings we use to get from Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Being close to the Dalai Lama is like celebrity worship not so much as having a personal guru who is there for us.

    I regret opening my FB page as it vented out my rage and it was the platform for many other people who had blame and anger issues to collect vast amounts of negative karma. We were never able to have any cases or legal suits against NKT with all of our bantering because there was nothing substantial or genuine in the so called abuses we claimed we received while in NKT. NKT continues to grow while the rest of us who left are nowhere in life. Nowhere in our spiritual practice and just living empty lives. For me I’ve gotten tired of the page I’ve started and FB and it’s a horrendous effort to go there to post things or read any comments. Barely anyone visits the page anyways these days. How much can people vent out their anger at someone or something which is not to blame in the first place?

    I don’t have the courage to apologize to my teacher or rejoin NKT because I am a coward. I’ve always been a coward looking for the easy way out. But I am thinking about it. I realize my mistakes. I realized my mistakes which comes from me.

  4. It is easy to see who is benefiting Buddhism more. It is obvious that the Tibetan Administration has an ulterior motive and does not follow the refuge vows as they discriminate so many Dorje Shugden practitioners and lamas. On top, Dorje Shugden practitioners lose their family and friends who are not to be seen with their former daughter, son or friend.

    The choice is clear either give up your Dorje Shugden practice or leave your family, friend or even your teacher and leave the monastery.

    This is the result of the Central Tibetan Administration who is doing such harm to Tibetan Buddhism, confuse people and show such bad behaviour against high lamas and practitioners who have practiced Dorje Shugden all their life.

  5. It is very true that the CTA or Central Tibetan Administration only makes people lose faith in Buddhism as they do so much damage to the whole Tibetan society through the Dorje Shugden ban and also through their money games and hidden agendas.

    It is China now who promotes Buddhism, is protecting Buddhism and makes Buddhism grow.

  6. Karmapa Thaye Dorje Ignores the Dalai Lama

    (1) Decades ago, the Shamarpa asked the Dalai Lama to endorse Thaye Dorje as the Karmapa. Shamarpa proved to the Dalai Lama that Thaye Dorje was the Karmapa. The Dalai Lama still refused as it will make the Dalai Lama look bad for endorsing Ogyen Trinley. ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJJXYAz3Bz0

    It is known that Tai Situ Rinpoche recognized Ogyen Trinley by stealth. Tai Situ Rinpoche used the Dalai Lama’s fame to promote his Ogyen Trinley candidate in order to secure the Karmapa wealth of many generations.

    (2) Even though the Dalai Lama endorsed Ogyen Trinley as Karmapa, Thaye Dorje could not be restrained and continues to grow immensely in popularity all over the world. Even without the Dalai Lama’s endorsement, the Karmapa Thaye Dorje is growing in importance. Tai Situ Rinpoche thought that without the Dalai Lama’s endorsement, the Karmapa Thaye Dorje would fall and become nothing. He was wrong.

    (3) Shamarpa Rinpoche had asked the Dalai Lama to at least ordain Thaye Dorje as a monk when he was very young and the Dalai Lama refused. This refusal hurt Shamarpa and the Karmapa Thaye Dorje very much. The Dalai Lama sidelined Shamarpa Rinpoche and Thaye Dorje. It was a grievous insult and detrimental interference. In the Karma Kagyu tradition it is the Shamarpa who is the first and foremost to recognize the Karmapas and only in his absence do other regents recognize the Karmapas. Not only did the Dalai Lama interfere in Karma Kagyu affairs but the Dalai Lama took sides. That caused so much fighting and disharmony within the Karma Kagyu school of Buddhism. Tai Situ Rinpoche was wrong not to consult with Shamarpa Rinpoche in all of this.

    (4) The Dalai Lama had no business interfering in Karma Kagyu traditions by recognizing a Karmapa. In the history of the Karma Kagyu school, there has not been one Karmapa recognized by a Dalai Lama nor did they ever need the Dalai Lama’s endorsement. This interference by the Dalai Lama has caused the Karma Kagyu school to take two sides and broke them up and created much disharmony. The disharmony, fighting and mud-slinging as to which one is the real Karmapa has continued to this day in 2019.

    (5) Shamarpa Rinpoche passed away in 2014 and it is up to the Karmapa to recognize his incarnation without the endorsement or interference of the Dalai Lama.

    (6) Now the Karmapa Thaye Dorje recognizes his son born in 2018 as Shamarpa Rinpoche’s incarnation and he does not ask the Dalai Lama to endorse this incarnation. He does not need it. The Dalai Lama has done enough damage. This will shift the dynamics of the Karma Kagyu school again in favor of the Shamarpa Rinpoche’s side. Unfortunately, it will make Ogyen Trinley look strange and left out in the cold. Within the Kagyu school, the Shamarpa is the next highest incarnation after the Karmapa. The Karmapas always recognized Shamarpas and vice versa. It shows that the Karmapa Thaye Dorje has the full authority to recognize the next highest incarnation within their school on his own. This Shamarpa will be spiritually trained by the Karmapa Thaye Dorje himself without the influence of the aged Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile which most Karma Kagyus consider a regime.

    (7) During the Kagyu Monlam prayers in Bodhgaya on January 2019, Thaye Dorje was there leading the Monlam (New Year’s prayers) and so was the Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya, giving teachings in another location nearby. The Dalai Lama, while in Bodhgaya, wanted to meet Thaye Dorje but Thaye Dorje refused. Thaye Dorje avoided the Dalai Lama. It was an insult to the Dalai Lama that he had to accept for all the damage he had done in their Karmapa affair and Karma Kagyu school.

    The Dalai Lama had sidelined Shamarpa and Thaye Dorje when asked to endorse Thaye Dorje decades ago. Now that the Karmapa Ogyen Trinley has run away to the USA, the Dalai Lama wants to be friendly with Thaye Dorje so that he can get on the Karma Kagyu school’s good side. Without the Dalai Lama’s permission, the two Karmapas met in France and decided to mend the rift. This will make the Dalai Lama look bad. Even the Dalai Lama did not think in such a big way or a middle way to help mend the rift. Too bad and too late for the Dalai Lama to make friends with the Karma Kagyu school of Buddhism.

    So much damage has been done. But the Karmapa Thaye Dorje is on the way to mending all this.

    Karma Tsogyal

    thayedorjeson1

  7. CTA may say whatever they want, accusing China for suppressing religious freedom in Tibet, and requiring buddhist monks to learn up politics, to be more patriotic etc. But one thing that China never did is to create more confusion in Tibetan Buddhism. This is what CTA good at. Which one is more harmful to Buddhism? To instill political elements into sangha community or create more confusions in Tibetans’ mind such as implementing Dorje Shugden ban and creating two Karmapas issue? Which one will cause more Tibetans to lose faith in Buddhism? Which one will bring more harm?

  8. Contemplate this-

    Indian journalists sound desperate when they talk about terrorist attacks on India. As this article correctly states, there is little that India can do to address terrorism as they seem to operate from Pakistan. To deal with the terrorists, Indians will have to literally attack Pakistan which it cannot do.

    Well, there is something India can do which is to stop Dharamsala’s terrorist activities against China being executed from Indian soil. The Tibetans have been attacking China for decades, yet they say they wish to return to Tibet. How do you return to a place you constantly criticize? The Dalai Lama is literally begging China to allow him to visit the Five Peaks of Manjushri pilgrimage site in China and also his birthplace in Amdo, Tibet. But if the Dalai Lama keeps criticizing China, why would they sit at the bargaining table with him? India allows for all of this to happen on Indian soil, so that would irritate China.

    Yet India wants concessions from China on the terrorist issue. Meanwhile, Beijing equates Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed to India supporting the Dalai Lama against China for five decades now. Furthermore, India wants China to speak up against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Masood Azhar. But India does not speak up against Dalai Lama. Whether the world thinks the Dalai Lama is the good guy or not, he is a thorn in China’s side so anyone that supports him is not supporting China. Similar to the situation, LeT’s Hafiz Saeed and JeM’s Masood Azhar are a thorn in India’s side but they do not bother China and her allies, so why should China do anything about them? If India does something on the Dalai Lama, then it would be fair to ask China to do something about their support of Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Masood Azhar. Simple equation.

    These reports are really bare-faced hypocrisy. It implies one nation is helpless against terrorists because the terrorists camp out in another country. But that did not stop the US from heavily bombing Iraq on the basis that it was harboring terrorists. The US did not hesitate to overthrow the government and murder its leader Saddam Hussein.

    It is also very hypocritical that the same journalists who are outraged at China’s annexation of Tibet are quiet about Israel’s annexation of Palestine.

    It is interesting to note that most terrorist attacks are aimed at the US and her allies. Everyone conveniently forgets that the US has been throwing their weight around for decades and can even determine which leader they want in other countries.

    Back to India – if China can convince North Korea to have détente with the US, China can similarly help India with the JeM. India simply has to give up the Tibet card. The article is also a one-sided opinion piece because India faces as many terrorist threats from Bangladesh, with just as many terrorist camps, but because Bangladesh is not China, their involvement is not mentioned.

    India is a great country. China and India as friends will be able to influence the globe literally economically and, eventually, militarily. But India has to play fair. By supporting the Dalai Lama, India will get nothing and furthermore, it will be a stumbling block to China’s 1.4 billion people becoming friends with India’s 1.3 billion people.

    The Dalai Lama has to be compassionate and stop speaking against China because he has to consider the difficulty he places India in as his host. Each time he criticizes and allows his refugees to protest against China and ask for western support, it makes China look bad. So if the Dalai Lama wants China and India to become closer and benefit each other economically then he has to be silent on this already.

    The Diplomat’s Prarthana Basu sums it up very well by saying in the article below that “Now with another terrorist attack infuriating India’s populace, the mystery behind this Chinese silence remains unsolved. While most attribute China’s apparent silence as a favor to Pakistan, as both continue to maintain their “all-weather friendship,” others argue that China holds India responsible for granting political asylum to the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama, whom Beijing equates to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed.”

  9. 1st Time Dalai Lama Finally Admits His Illness Was Serious

    In the past it is customary to cover up the Dalai Lama’s illnesses. It could be to not worry his flock. It could also be to not show the world he is just another vulnerable human being. Or it could be he does not want to disappoint people to show he is not a god? Whatever the reasons, the Dalai Lama and regime are well known for covering up his serious illnesses. In the past few years he had cancer of the prostate and that was covered up till the press dug it up. Now with this new video just out April 2019, Dalai Lama admits he was recently very ill. It was serious.

    Unfortunately the Tibetan cause will die with the Dalai Lama when he passes. He did nothing to groom up a new leader as he is a dictator. A ruler for life. He has been in power for over 60 years. He will never groom up another person to replace him because he is touted as a god.

    http://video.dorjeshugden.com/comment-videos/comment-1556343635.mp4


  10. Unlike 5 years ago, Tibetan leader Lobsang Sangay is not invited to Prime Minister Modi’s swearing-in ceremony this time. It is clear that PM Modi of India snubs the Tibetan leadership once again in favour of deeper ties with China. The Tibetan leadership finds itself increasingly isolated as nobody wants to offend China by lending any support to the ungrateful Tibetans.

    PM Modi snubs Tibetan leadership for swearing-in ceremony
    By Tenzin Dharpo
    May. 30, 2019
    DHARAMSHALA, May 30: The Indian Prime Minister who is fresh off of a massive win in the Indian Lok Sabha elections has done a U-turn by not inviting exile Tibetan government’s President to the swearing in ceremony due to be held later today, in a bid to not anger Beijing.
    The President of the exile Tibetan government, known officially as the Central Tibetan Administration, Dr. Lobsang Sangay’s absence today at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi marks a stark contrast to 2014 when the elected Tibetan leader was seated in the former rows at the ceremony when PM Modi was sworn into office the first time around.
    The invitation to Dr. Sangay in May 2014 drew strong objection from the Chinese government who lodged an official protest censuring New Delhi’s disregard for the so-called ‘One-China policy’. Many said at the time that the invite was posturing at most, of Modi’s intent to India’s neighbor and biggest rivals both in Asia and global arenas.
    The New Delhi-Beijing relations post the Doklam stand off and Wuhan summit has meant that India has given a cold shoulder to the exile Tibetan set up, thereby taking a step back in using the much-touted ‘Tibet card’. The shift in policy has markedly been seen on the ground with New Delhi issuing an advisory to senior leaders to avoid His Holiness the Dalai Lama or pushing the CTA to shift the “thank you India” ceremony from New Delhi to Dharamshala last year.
    The head of the Tibetan polity who extended pleasantries to PM Modi on his win, however may have anticipated the snub. Days after Modi’s historic election win, Sangay flew to the United States and is scheduled to return on June 5 to India next week.
    http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=41474&article=PM+Modi+snubs+Tibetan+leadership+for+swearing-in+ceremony

  11. No good cta always sabotage China effort. Cta can’t do anything like what China do for tar. I went tibet recently and was in awe what china do for tibet. So many tourists and business is good everywhere. Everything so beautiful not like last time tibet. So clean and refreshing to be there again. Cta is useless last time even before tibet was lost. Don’t blame it on Dorje Shugden or china. It’s cta incompetence as usual. They fail to do their part.

  12. CTA fail because of broken promises to Tibetans that they can go back to Tibet. So many years passed, CTA didn’t do anything to this community in exile. CTA is a great money sucker that known by entire world. Criminal committed crimes like murdering, corruptions, harassments ….you name it all under CTA safeguard. NO SECURE!

  13. I couldn’t agree more. The whole saga fiasco is tearing Tibetans apart and giving Tibetan Buddhism a bad name. CTA is culpable for this for sure!

  14. Thank to CTA, who break their promise as the so called “government” of the Tibetan. Who break up the Tibetan instead of uniting them. Who bring religion into politics. Religion can never be brought into politics. But the CTA does. CTA is good for, putting money other countries donated into their own pockets, breaking up Tibetans, create rumours, segregate and discriminate Dorje Shugden practice. All these results in, bad KARMA. Good luck CTA!

  15. What is all this nonsense? What has religion got to do with politics? In this case, the biggest culprit is CTA

  16. What is all this nonsense? What has religion got to do with politics? In this case, the biggest culprit is CTA

  17. It’s just sad to see people damaging the teaching of Buddha. 🌎😔

    Dalai-Lama-on-Healers

  18. After 60 years escaped to exile India, what has CTA brought to the Tibetan in exile. Obviously you can see not much and they are still stateless and suffering. More and more country are rejected them and no more financial aid to them. If CTA are good , they should have brought many benefit to Tibetan in exile through so many billions of fund they had been collected within this 60 years. Furthermore they destroyed the unity of Tibetan by ban the practice of Dorje Shugden, the community is divided into 2 groups and the anti Dorje Shugden not allowed shugden practitioners to enter their monastery, hospital and so on.. Therefore, in protecting Buddhism, who is the loser? CTA is the one.

  19. Glad to heard about China is promoting Buddhism unlike CTA only destroy the name of Tibetan buddhism. Even China using politic power to promote buddhism, CTA turn opposite way become like old China way to segegate buddhism for example ban of Dorje Shugden. Look like CTA has never learn from history become bigger loser.

  20. What would Lobsang Sangay and the CTA think of and speak next?

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.…Instead of turning away people who practise Dorje Shugden, we should be kind to them. Give them logic and wisdom without fear, then in time they give up the ‘wrong’ practice. Actually Shugden practitioners are not doing anything wrong. But hypothetically, if they are, wouldn’t it be more Buddhistic to be accepting? So those who have views against Dorje Shugden should contemplate this. Those practicing Dorje Shugden should forbear with extreme patience, fortitude and keep your commitments. The time will come as predicted that Dorje Shugden’s practice and it’s terrific quick benefits will be embraced by the world and it will be a practice of many beings.

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