Why are rangzen people allowed to live in Tibetan communities?

Those who fight for rangzen (independence) claim to be pro-Tibet. In reality, while they may be pro-Tibet, their very platform is anti-Dalai Lama because they oppose the Dalai Lama who has said very clearly that umaylam (autonomy) is the best approach for all Tibetans.

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: Ringzin Tsomo

DHARAMSALA – The past few months have been awash with news about Lobsang Sangay and Penpa Tsering’s catfight dragged into the public eye. While the Tibetan public’s attention has been captured by this, another underlying problem continues to brew and seethe, that most have become distracted from and few continue to pay attention to.

The public squabbling between Penpa Tsering (left) and Lobsang Sangay (right) has overshadowed the rangzen versus umaylam debate, a topic that affects the entire Tibetan community. Was the squabbling manufactured to distract the Tibetans from the rangzen versus umaylam issue? With the Tibetan leadership, any underhanded tactics like these are always possible.

Before this latest scandal erupted, and through it all, His Holiness the Dalai Lama repeatedly stated that he is for the Middle Way Approach, also known as umaylam or meaningful autonomy. It is the Dalai Lama’s belief that this is the best route for all Tibetans and their future. However, this statement has clearly fallen onto many deaf ears as prominent rangzen (independence) activists continue to fight for full independence for Tibet.

While no one denies that it is a person’s right to support whatever they like, what cannot be ignored is the fact these people are directly opposing something the Dalai Lama has said very clearly will be for the betterment of all Tibetans. And despite His Holiness’ clear and unchanging views on the matter, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA; Tibetan leadership in Dharamsala) do nothing about the festering rangzen group. In fact, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay has even been filmed saying the Dalai Lama’s umaylam has failed. If umaylam does not work, what is the alternative but rangzen? Could it be that Sangay is a closet rangzen supporter and has been lying to the people about his umaylam supporting all this while?


Or watch on server | download video (right click & save file)

In view of all of this, the author would like to draw attention to a few salient points:

  • The rangzen group is clearly and overtly against the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way Approach or umaylam. This policy is about something fundamental (Tibet’s freedom versus autonomy under China) and it affects every single Tibetan now and in the future, for generations to come.
  • By comparison, the Dorje Shugden issue affects far fewer people than “rangzen versus umaylam”. The Dorje Shugden practice only concerns Gelugpas, and not all Tibetans are Gelug. However, rangzen fighters are opposing the Dalai Lama on a topic that affects all Tibetans, whether they are Gelug, Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma.
  • The rangzen issue has been allowed to develop and rangzen supporters have been allowed unfettered access to the Tibetan community to gain support for their political views. Western rangzen supporters flood the Internet pushing for their view, and drawing support from the Tibetan community in exile who live in foreign countries. All of this is supported by the Tibetan leadership’s silence on the matter.
  • Logically speaking therefore, the behavior of rangzen individuals has the potential to jeopardize the Dalai Lama’s plans with China which concerns the wellbeing and future of six million Tibetans. Yet, the CTA stays silent on the matter of rangzen individuals gathering support amongst Tibetans to oppose the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way policy. No wonder Samdhong Rinpoche, the former Tibetan prime minister, came to the astute observation that rangzen supporters are more dangerous than Dorje Shugden practitioners, as you can see in this video below.


  • The CTA are clearly imposing double standards on their people. For example, it has been claimed that Dorje Shugden practice shortens the Dalai Lama’s life. That false accusation became part of the basis for the ban on the practice; the CTA said they had to safeguard the Dalai Lama’s long life by banning the practice. On the other hand, the Dalai Lama has stated that all Tibetans should work towards umaylam, not rangzen. The Dalai Lama said that if people do not support umaylam, there is no reason for him to live to 113 years old. So by that logic, it would mean that by keeping the fight for rangzen alive, the rangzen group are shortening the Dalai Lama’s life too, by directly opposing the Dalai Lama’s wishes.

Rangzen supporters organized a conference in Paris, France against the Dalai Lama’s explicit statement that umaylam is the best for all Tibetans. How come the CTA remains silent in the face of Tibetans clearly organizing to go against the Dalai Lama? How come the CTA’s own members of parliament attend the conference to brainstorm and strategize against the Dalai Lama, and the CTA says nothing? But yet, the CTA will violently enforce the Dorje Shugden ban because they claim it is against the Dalai Lama? The double standards are astounding.

  • This therefore begs the question – how come it is OK for rangzen people to shorten the Dalai Lama’s life by opposing his views on umaylam, but when people falsely accuse Dorje Shugden people of doing the same thing by refusing to give up the practice, the CTA must take action against them? No one is asking for the Dalai Lama’s life to be shortened and in fact, everyone wishes him long life. The point here is, how come the CTA stays silent and does not act against rangzen supporters who are clearly opposing the Dalai Lama’s views and clearly displeasing him, but they will impose a violent ban on Dorje Shugden practitioners? And how come Lobsang Sangay can say umaylam has failed but he is still allowed to lead the exiled government? Can the leader of the Tibetan people, who is now the Dalai Lama’s special envoy, be allowed to so obviously oppose his boss’ views? Does Sangay represent the best interests of the Tibetan people, if he thinks what the Dalai Lama has said is the best for all Tibetan people will not work?
  • Extrapolating from that, the CTA have previously said that Dorje Shugden practitioners are banned from the Dalai Lama’s talks because they have broken samaya (guru-disciple relationship) by refusing to follow the Dalai Lama’s instructions to give up the practice. Therefore they cannot receive teachings from the Dalai Lama because of this broken samaya. If that is the case, how come rangzen people who break samaya with the Dalai Lama by going against his umaylam instructions, can attend His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s religious talks even after having broken samaya with him? And how come they can attend his secular talks even though they oppose him secularly and politically? Dorje Shugden people, at the very least, should be allowed to attend the secular talks, since they are only an issue religiously-speaking, and their practice has nothing to do with politics governing all Tibetans. Logically speaking, the samaya infraction by rangzen activists against the Dalai Lama is much bigger than the infraction by Shugden practitioners, since the rangzen issue affects all Tibetans (while the Shugden one affects some Tibetans).
  • The CTA has previously enforced the removal and segregation of Dorje Shugden people from the general Tibetan community so they do not ‘infect’ other Tibetans with their practice and religious views. That being that case, how come rangzen people are allowed to stay in the settlements and talk, and continue to sow bad thoughts into people’s minds? What they are doing by encouraging rangzen is encouraging people to oppose the Dalai Lama! If the Dalai Lama supports umaylam, and this group are encouraging rangzen and people to oppose the Dalai Lama, should they not be separated too, just like how Shugden practitioners were separated from everyone else?

As ridiculous as it sounds, this is precisely the type of double standards that the CTA practices. It is important to note that it is not that we want division or for anyone to be separated. Rangzen or umaylam, Dorje Shugden or non-Dorje Shugden – as long as a person is Tibetan or identifies as Tibetan, they should all have equal rights and should be afforded equal representation under and by the Tibetan leadership.

This author is merely pointing out the archaic thinking that the CTA has. Policies are applied without thought or care, as and when it suits them, with no regard for the betterment of the entire community. The CTA has demonstrated no real long-term planning for their people, as exemplified by their community who continues to languish in exile and oftentimes, and sadly, their “betterment” is misused as a smokescreen for the CTA’s real motive – to divide and conquer their own people, and treat them as pawns in a political chess game they have been losing since 1959.

Unless the CTA stops engaging in childish manipulations, and swiftly implements equality throughout the settlements, there is little hope they will ever accomplish anything. And for that, the community should hunker down because with the way things are going, the next 50 years looks to be nothing more than a long and weary journey to nowhere.

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  1. During the international security conference in Moscow, India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with her Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on the sidelines. Although no official details of the meeting are available, it is understood that the geopolitical security is one of the main concerns and border issues between the two countries were discussed.

    With the Dalai Lama’s wish for Tibet to remain in China, the topic of Tibetan independence can no longer be used to maintain India’s geopolitical security. Hence India is now taking a more proactive approach in directly negotiating practical solutions with China.

    So not only did the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) render themselves useless to the Indian government, but this was reaffirmed by the meeting between Sitharaman and Wei – China and India will now deal directly with one another, without the CTA as an interference. So once again, the CTA has proven themselves to be a failure. In publicly stating they wish to be a part of China, the CTA sent a strong message to India that they will do what it takes to become a part of China, and therefore not do anything to support their kind host of 60 years.

    At this rate, it won’t be long that the Tibetans are asked to leave India.

    Nirmala Sitharaman Meets Chinese Defence Minister In Moscow
    They are understood to have exchanged views on bilateral issues, particularly on the situation along the nearly 4,000 km-border between the two countries
    All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: April 05, 2018 09:56 IST
    The two leaders are in Moscow to attend the 7th Moscow Conference.
    NEW DELHI:  Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met her Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of an international security conference in Moscow.
    They are understood to have exchanged views on bilateral issues, particularly on the situation along the nearly 4,000 km-border between the two countries, official sources said.
    Both Nirmala Sitharaman and Wei are in Moscow to attend the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security.
    Nirmala Sitharaman herself tweeted a picture of her meeting with Wei.
    There was no official details about the meeting.
    Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face-off ended on August 28.
    https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/nirmala-sitharaman-meets-chinese-defence-minister-in-moscow-1833063

    Nirmala Sitharaman Meets Chinese Defence Minister In Moscow

  2. The news of Karmapa Ogyen Trinley being allowed by the Central government of India to enter Sikkim is not well received by everyone.

    The 3rd claimant to the Karmapa’s throne, Lama Dawa Sangpo Dorjee is challenging Karmapa Ogyen Trinley to be tested for authenticity. Karmapa Ogyen Trinley was recognised by Tai Situpa, a high lama in the Kagyu tradition while Lama Dawa Sangpo Dorjee was identified by Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, another lama in the Kagyu tradition as the incarnation of the 16th Karmapa.

    This adds to the messy affair and confusion in the Kagyu lineage as there are 3 Karmapas recognised by 3 different lamas in the Kagyu tradition. Which one is the real one?

    Karmapa claimant seeks Ogyen Trinley tests
    Statesman News Service | Gangtok | April 10, 2018 4:38 am
    One of the three claimants to the 17th Karmapa title, Lama Dawa Sangpo Dorjee, has said that Sikkim will face a “big loss” if the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje is allowed to visit the state.
    The claimant has once again challenged Ogyen Trinley to undergo tests–scientific, divine and traditional– if he considers himself the original incarnation of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
    “If I fail in the said tests, then I am ready to bow down before him and accept him as the real Karmapa,” Lama Dawa Sangpo told a press conference here on Monday.
    “If Ogyen Trinley visits Sikkim, me and my supporters (Sikkim Karmapa Committee) will wear black bands in our forehead and march in a protest rally in the capital here. If I am not allowed to enter Rumtek, then I won’t allow a false claimant to enter there either,” he said.
    He also alleged that MLA from Sangha constituency Sonam Lama is doing a “very shameful deed’ by putting monks into relay hunger strike. “He is playing a game with the monks and the people of Sikkim. He is selling the dharma,” he alleged.
    He also said that if the authorities concerned do not take any step, he will serve an ultimatum of 45 days in the future and make a third attempt to enter Rumtek, the seat of the Karmapa.
    Wangdi Tshering Lama of the Sikkim Karmapa Committee said that their demand was unheard by the Centre, state and other organisations just because they are a minority Buddhist community.
    “We are being dominated by the high-profile Buddhist community, which is not only illegal but an open crime,” he said. Dawa Sangpo Dorjee was born on 30th May 1977 in Mangan in North Sikkim.
    He proclaimed himself as the Karmapa at the age of 2.5 years. In 1987-1988, after the traditional test, Dawa Sangpo Dorjee was identified by Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche as the incarnation of the 16th Karmapa.
    After the demise of the Kongtrul Rinpoche, a controversy surfaced after the Situ Rinpoche and the Dalai Lama endorsed Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Shamar Rinpoche nominated Thaye Thinaly Dorjee as the incarnation of the 16th Karmapa. It may be mentioned here that the Central government recently allowed Ogyen trinley Dorje to enter Sikkim, but barred his visit to Rumtek.
    https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/karmapa-claimant-seeks-ogyen-trinley-tests-1502619916.html

    Karmapa claimant seeks Ogyen Trinley tests

  3. The Tibetan leadership seems determined to sabotage the union between India and China at a time when it was made known that India is trying hard to mend its relationship with China. Despite being asked to move their Thank You India event out of Delhi and a memo sent to all Indian ministers to not attend any Tibetan event, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) insisted on organising such an unnecessary event and went ahead to put up a show. Because of this, India was forced to send representatives to Dharamsala for the event, apprehensive of the potential damage and friction with China.

    On top of that, the CTA’s Secretary for the Department of Information and International Relations tried to throw the responsibility of the Tibetan struggle onto India with the public statement that India is the foundation of the Tibetan cause. So, not only have they freeloaded off India for 60 years, they want to now dump their issues with China on India. This desperation must have arisen since the US no longer sees the value of the Dalai Lama and the Tibet card in their geopolitical negotiations with China.

    Is that how the Tibetans “thank” someone they appreciate? Well, India’s message back cannot be any clearer, if Tibetans in exile really want to thank India, then it’s time for them to go back to Tibet.

    How the Tibetan Management Failed the Tibetan Trigger
    By now, everyone should have heard about India’s change of policy towards the Tibetan people’s struggle to regain their country. While it is glazed with the usual dose of diplomacy, the Indian government’s message to the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) is clear — it’s time to go home.
    Tibetan politicians have come out in force to put on a show of gratitude towards Mother India and at the same time, sought to put Modi’s government in a moral bind. Dhardon Sharling, the Secretary for the CTA’s Department of Information and International Relations, said in a recent interview that India is the foundation of the Tibetan cause, hinting that if the Tibetan people’s struggle were to fail, it is on India’s head. But that is not entirely correct.
    If India is the CTA’s crutch, then the United States of America (US) must be its wooden leg. The impact of India’s decision to distance itself from the Tibetan struggle is exacerbated by the fact that at the same time, the US under the Trump presidency appears to no longer view the Dalai Lama and the Tibet card as valuable assets in its geopolitical manoeuvring amid the changing global order spurred by China’s relentless rise.
    The presence of a Tibetan ‘government’ on Indian soil has strained relationships between India and China for 60 years.
    In his concluding remarks at the 5th session of the 16th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, the CTA President Dr Lobsang Sangay boasted success in the procurement of ongoing US support for the Tibetan struggle. He was alluding to a spending bill President Trump signed a day before which, among other items the US Congress passed, included a grant to the CTA and the Tibetan struggle. Sangay claimed that the US grant “sends a political message” presumably that the Tibetan struggle can expect to remain vibrant, with the US playing the offensive line to Sangay’s quarterback.
    However, the reality is not as flattering as Sangay would like the Tibetan refugees to believe. President Trump had in fact proposed zero aid to the Tibetan cause, but may have had to concede some spending as quid pro quo for certain items he wanted from Congress such as an enhanced defence budget and money for his vaunted ‘Mexican wall’. The CTA getting the money was the result of a trade-off and does not reflect Trump’s support of the Dalai Lama’s mission to regain control of Tibet. Trump is first and foremost a businessman, and any businessman worth his salt can see that there is far more to gain in making friends with the rising mighty dragon than to flog a somewhat anaemic old donkey.
    In fact, Trump was not shy about making his feelings known, and he insinuated in the post Bill-signing press conference that the CTA grant ($8M for NGO programs in Tibet, $6M for programs in Tibetan refugee settlements, $3M for the CTA) was amongst those he considered a waste of American taxpayers’ money.
    But Tibetans had begun losing US support even before that. During the December 2017 hearing on U.S. Policy towards Tibet, actor Richard Gere, as Chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet, urged the Committee to deploy a number of actions needed to maintain the impetus of the Tibetan struggle.
    Hearing on “U.S. Policy towards Tibet with the Testimony by Mr. Richard Gere. The original can be downloaded here.
    He got none of what he asked for apart from what is in truth a minuscule grant which, when divided by the number of its intended beneficiaries, amounted to merely a few dollars per year per Tibetan refugee. This, under the utopian circumstances that the CTA will spend most if not every dollar on the Tibetan refugees.
    This paltry sum that Sangay was celebrating pales into insignificance when weighed against an estimated $27 billion in foreign aid that was earmarked by the US for 2018/2019. The $17M received by the Tibetans represents a mere 0.06% of this sum and even then, it had to be forced out of Trump. And so, if indeed the US was sending a political message to the CTA, then the message is simply that the Tibetan struggle has outlived its usefulness.
    What went wrong?
    The CTA and supporters of the Dalai Lama would of course blame China’s deep pockets for the relegation of the Tibetan cause. They say China flashed the yuan strapped to her lacy garter belt and the nations of the world quickly abandoned their values and ethics and left the poor Tibetans to their own devices. China’s ascendancy is without a doubt a prime factor, but to blame everything on China is far too simplistic and shallow, although rather convenient. China didn’t become an economic powerhouse overnight, and it was decades before she managed to shake off the effects of Chairman Mao who, on his death, left China an economically backward and deeply divided and damaged nation.
    There is more to the failure of the Tibetan cause than the China factor alone. The Tibetan leadership itself made its own significant contribution to the breakdown of the movement through a series of missteps that led to its loss of legitimacy, and it must accept a large share of the blame.
    Here are some of the ways the CTA precipitated its own demise:
    1. Feudal lords by any other name In a recent interview, the President of the CTA, Lobsang Sangay suggested that the CTA was a better choice than the Chinese Communist Party, and therefore deserving of global support, as though the comparison was between ‘Communism’ and ‘Buddhism’. While this grandiose assessment may sound appealing to some, it is nothing more than sophistry. Tibet pre-1959 was nothing like a Buddhist paradise for almost the entirety of its population. In fact, it was hell on earth and the majority of Tibetan people were not even regarded as citizens but as chattel, owned by their feudal lords.
    Pre-Chinese invasion, Tibet was a brutal feudal theocracy where the majority of the Tibetan people were regarded as chattels by feudal lords and masters.
    A more apt comparison would be between a historically and characteristically strict Communist regime that is making some effort to be more open and liberal, and an old and brutal feudal theocracy that, while it wears the mask of democracy deemed necessary to win the hearts and minds of Western supporters, in fact still thinks and acts like an overlord of the Tibetan people in exile.
    The Tibetan leadership is characterized by the way it treats public resources like its own property (see the way Lobsang Sangay directed $1.5 Million from the Tibet Fund to prop up his Sikyong election campaign); demands and rewards personal loyalty to the point that corrupt officials such as the now suspended emissary Tenzin Dhonden are placed in key positions not for their capability but as a reward for their fealty to one or another of the CTA’s modern overlords, (Kaydor Akutsang is another example); and imposes a hierarchical social structure reinforced by religion. These are all traits of feudalism, not Buddhism.
    Moreover, as much as one rejects or fears the CCP, it is also a fact that the Chinese government is opening up and relaxing its strict laws on matters such as religion.
    In the meantime, the Tibetan leadership has all the veneer of a democratic government but has not hesitated to undermine its own constitution by:
    Commandeering the management of Radio Free Asia (RFA), established to be the voice of democracy;
    Unilaterally changing the ultimate objective goal of the Tibetan struggle without consulting the public;
    Gerrymandering electoral rules to ouster political opponents such as Lukar Jam;
    Firing officials (Penpa Tsering) for raising questions about irregularities in the accounts of a representative office of the CTA;
    Prohibiting the practice of religions the leadership deems to be in competition for the people’s loyalty, and using parliamentary instrument to oppress the victims — see the CTA’s Dorje Shugden persecutions;
    Forcing the closure of Mangsto (“Democracy”), a Tibetan newspaper that reviewed and commented on Tibetan exile politics;
    While the above are just some of the known travesties perpetrated by the CTA, they mirror the reality of the CTA’s political intention, and the public knows this. And therefore whilst the CTA has managed to arouse enough condemnation of China, it has failed to transcend its own poor rap sheet, and ultimately failed to convince the world that it could do a better job than the CCP for the 6 million Tibetans back home.
    2. No substance beyond rhetoric
    The American politician William Clay once said of politics, “There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interests,” and never has this saying resonated more than in the situation the CTA finds itself today.
    In a nutshell, the Tibetan leadership has failed to recognize that simple truth and to leverage the nigh 60 years of support it received from friendly and powerful nations in many different forms. The CTA never did bother to develop and finesse approaches and campaigns to engage with China even though it claimed not to seek rangzen (independence) but only umaylam (autonomy) which China has to some extent shown that she is capable of offering vis-à-vis Hong Kong.
    President Donald Trump proposed zero aid to the Tibetan cause. The Unites States of America acknowledges the One China policy.
    Instead, for 60 years, the Tibetan leadership was a one-trick pony. And that trick was to avail itself as a ready and willing instrument of US-led NATO members to needle China, to embarrass her in the eyes of the global public, and provoke her at every opportunity into actions that would justify NATO in further condemning her. This worked brilliantly for the CTA during the Cold War when NATO was in need of agents provocateurs, but when Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev took steps to thaw relations between the two respective blocs, and when the Berlin wall came down in 1991, the utility of the CTA began to decline. By 2018, India and the US’s interest had shifted towards China; the CTA now finds itself out in the cold.
    Today, it would be quite challenging to find just a handful of supporters of the Tibetan struggle who can define accurately, let alone comprehensively, what exactly the ‘Tibetan cause’ is. Not even the Tibetans in exile agree on what they are supposed to be fighting for. Whether this is by the CTA’s design or negligence, the Tibetan leadership has allowed three generations of Tibetan lives to be no more than propaganda pawns, and when examined closely the so-called ‘Tibetan cause’ is all form and no substance.
    Over time the global public has started to see that the CTA is quite content being a subsidized professional nuisance without much of an agenda apart from keeping the same song and dance going, an attitude very much reflected in the behaviour of the many pro-Tibet NGO’s who see the Tibetan people’s woes as an opportunity to help themselves.
    3. Splintering the force behind the Tibetan struggle The worst crime the CTA inflicted on its own people was to sow the seeds of discord amongst an estranged community that was already small and weak. But the CTA’s lack of a plan, lack of sincere effort, and complete absence of progress meant that sooner or later, the Tibetan people would demand answers, and so it became necessary to create intra-communal conflicts. This, they did extremely effectively, interfering in the succession of the Karma Kagyu’s leadership, imposing prohibitions on the Dorje Shugden practice, promulgating old regional interests and conflicts, splitting the Tibetan people in exile over rangzen versus umaylam arguments. It is far easier to divide and rule than to do the hard yards and engage with China.
    So whilst the CTA waxed lyrical about the critical importance of uniting behind a common cause, they were in fact creating causes for the opposite to happen. The Dorje Shugden prohibition was especially damaging to the Tibetan people for the simple reason it was an assault on the Gelug lineage which accounts for the largest percentage of the Tibetan populace. Ironically it also did the most harm to the CTA’s integrity because it exposed the CTA’s lack of sincere interest in upholding a democracy, the basis of its claim to be better than Communist China.
    The Shugden ban was enforced by CTA proxies globally, and in their turn adherents of the ancient and sacred ritual defended their religious rights globally, turning the world into a reluctant stage for the airing of the Tibetan government’s dirty linen.
    The CTA blames China for creating and feeding the conflict but it could never explain why China would foment unrest affecting 6 million Tibetans inside China whom it would eventually have to deal with. The Chinese government’s biggest headache is internal discord that could escalate into uprisings in its border regions and in fact, a conflict such as the Dorje Shugden turmoil does not benefit China. The CTA however, finds this ability to create problems for the CCP inside their own borders to be quite useful. History will judge whether the CTA sacrificed the ultimate Tibetan dream and mortgaged the unity of its own people so that it could continue to receive grants and subsidies simply for being a thorn in China’s side.
    4. Personal agendas weaken leadership There is no denying that the odds were against the Tibetan government in exile. All the more important, then, that the Tibetan struggle should be carried forward by a capable leader who, in the words of Napoleon Bonaparte, is a dealer in hope and can inspire the people to action.
    In 2012, the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile made changes to its by-laws which in effect placed Lobsang Sangay at the apex of the Tibetan political structure. This is the man Tibetans had empowered, who would lead them into the Promised Land or into oblivion, depending on his calibre and the strength of his resolution.
    The CTA President Lobsang Sangay under whose leadership the Central Tibetan Administration was embroiled in a string of scandals and controversies.
    It should have raised concerns that from the very beginning, Lobsang Sangay already had one foot out the door. The Tibetan people’s struggle does not mean the same to Lobsang Sangay (and indeed many CTA officials) as it does to ordinary Tibetan refugees.
    To the people, the Tibetan cause goes way beyond merely seeking to reclaim their homeland. Its failure means that they have given up their lives for nothing, that they had hoped in vain for three generations, that they will have nothing to look forward to and to build their future on.
    In the meantime, Lobsang Sangay’s home is in leafy Boston, USA, where his entire family resides. Sangay is an American citizen with a slush fund ready and therefore for him, it’s not a do-or-die mission but a question of a career move. If the Tibetan struggle eventually collapses, it would be no big affair for Sangay to resume his life as an American college lecturer and make a very good living by accepting speaking engagements and writing books reminiscing about a Tibet he has never set foot in. Hence, there was never any urgency, nor passion, nor innovation in Sagay’s lead.
    In fact, under his presidency the CTA was beset by infighting and a string of allegations of corruption and abuse of power. As a result, the Tibetan struggle lost traction and began to fade as one country after another distanced itself from the Tibetan cause.
    Sangay tells the Tibetan people to remain as poor refugees even though many qualify for Indian citizenship. Under his directive the CTA made it effectively taboo for anyone to even consider Indian citizenship, which is a key to a new life. Sangay feared that if enough people were given the opportunity to reconstruct their lives, the Tibetan cause would lose the vital element of human suffering. In order to retain his relevance, he needed the Tibetan people to remain a visible reminder of China’s oppression. In the meantime, Sangay and most of his Cabinet were quietly hanging on to their foreign passports and permanent residency.
    Aung San Suu Kyi changed the face of Myanmar politics whilst in a 14-year house arrest.
    Nelson Mandela who became the embodiment of political change in South Africa by his sacrifices.
    In the end many Tibetan refugees found that they were better off on their own as they began to strike out for distant lands such as the US, Canada and parts of Europe — as well as the more immediate Nepal — rather than wait for the leaders to get their act together. As news of Tibetans in China doing better became more common and residents of the Tibet Autonomous Region experienced increasing prosperity ), other Tibetans in exile decided to find their way home without relying on the CTA.
    The simple fact is the CTA has suffered from poor leadership whose initiatives did nothing more than arm the Dalai Lama’s charisma and send it into war with China. As the Dalai Lama grew older and weaker, so did the Tibetan cause.
    Lobsang Sangay would argue that facing tremendous disadvantage, there was little he could have done. But then again, Nelson Mandela shaped the evolution of South African politics while sitting in prison for 27 years and Aung San Suu Kyi achieved her objectives for the Burmese people during her 14 years under house arrest.
    The Tibetan Government in Exile has had almost 60 year to prove its mettle. During that time, it has enjoyed moral and financial support from around the world in its David versus Goliath struggle with China. But in its single minded focus on one-upmanship and demonization of its powerful neighbour, it has forgotten about the very people for whom it is supposed to be fighting, and even today, its plans and programmes to facilitate their homeland, or at least improve their future — or even their present — remain nebulous at best. The CTA has fast become irrelevant, and it has only itself to blame.
    https://pacific.epeak.in/2018/04/05/how-the-tibetan-management-failed-the-tibetan-trigger/

    How the Tibetan Management Failed the Tibetan Trigger

  4. The Dalai Lama’s health has been a concern for many around the world, especially for the Tibetan community. It’s really sad to know that the Dalai Lama last year reported and confirmed that he has prostate cancer, and had to undergo radiation treatment for his condition. It is mentioned here on the Dalai Lama’s own website, confirming his ailment.

    It was announced at the end of last month that the Dalai Lama canceled all foreign travel for the rest of the year due to age and exhaustion. Last week, the Dalai Lama was rushed to Delhi for a check up and surprisingly declared fit upon his return. Is the Tibetan leadership trying to cover the truth about the Dalai Lama’s state of health because they want to continue to use him to attract donations and support?

    Addressing 2000 Tibetans in Boston
    June 25, 2017
    Boston, MA, USA – On a bright and breezy morning His Holiness the Dalai Lama drove across Boston today to address a gathering of 2000 Tibetans from the city and up and down the east coast. Backstage he met and comforted the elderly and infirm.
    The event began with a representative delivering a citation from the Governor of Massachusetts, another presenting a gift from the Mayor of Boston and the President of the Boston Tibetan Association making his report. His Holiness began,
    “I’m here to meet Richie Davidson, so the opportunity arose also to meet all of you. Like Tibetans everywhere, you are keeping the spirit of Tibet alive. We’ve been in exile 58 years. In India we have the CTA. Major monasteries have been re-established and are thriving. Tibetans in exile are scattered all over the world, but wherever we are we form local communities, as you have done here, to preserve our identity and traditions. Those who live in free countries outside Tibet have a responsibility to keep up our spirits to encourage our brothers and sisters in Tibet who remain impressively determined.
    “In the face of restrictions on education in Tibetan, their spirit remains strong. But they are not free to do what they want. There is discrimination when Tibetans’ loyalty to their community is regarded with suspicion and labelled splittist, while Chinese loyalty to their community is praised. There needs to be equality.
    “Historically Tibet was a free and independent country in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries, after which it fragmented. What has since held us together is our common religion, culture and language. Today, it’s very important that Tibetans of the Three Provinces remain united. While remaining within the PRC we want genuine autonomy so we can continue to keep our culture, language and traditions alive.”
    “Historically Tibet was a free and independent country in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries, after which it fragmented. What has since held us together is our common religion, culture and language. Today, it’s very important that Tibetans of the Three Provinces remain united. While remaining within the PRC we want genuine autonomy so we can continue to keep our culture, language and traditions alive.”
    His Holiness recalled that in 1959 nobody knew what would happen to Tibetans who had become refugees. The priority was finding ways to survive and the Government of India were generous with their help.
    “There was a time when Tibetan Buddhism was dismissed as Lamaism as if it was not a proper Buddhist tradition,” His Holiness remarked. “Since we came into exile we have been able to show that it is in fact a pure and complete form of Buddhism. The tradition handed down to us from Nalanda includes profound philosophy and logic, as well as a rich understanding of the workings of the mind and emotions. We have kept this alive for more than 1000 years and now are in a position to draw from it to make a positive contribution to the well-being of humanity.”
    “Lately in India I’ve been urging people to study, to develop a sound understanding not content to rely only on faith. In monasteries and nunneries from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh efforts are being made to study. It’s on this basis that Buddhism will last for centuries to come. China was historically a Buddhist country following the Nalanda tradition as we do. What the Chinese lacked was the command of logic and epistemology that we have maintained and a corresponding path of rigorous study.”
    “In 7th century, Thönmi Sambhota devised a Tibetan script or improved on what already existed taking the Indian alphabet as a model. In 8th century, Trisong Detsen turned not to China, but to India to invite Shantarakshita to Tibet. Right from the start, he, and following him, his student Kamalashila, established the importance of employing logic and reason. It’s because of this that over the last more than 30 years we have been able to hold fruitful conversations with modern scientists. Scepticism about the mind’s being any more than a function of the brain has given way to an acknowledgment of neuroplasticity, recognition that developing the mind can change the brain.”
    “We have a responsibility to uphold this Nalanda tradition that has been handed down to us, not out of attachment, but because it provides us an opportunity to be of service to others. Ensuring that the younger generation have a command of Tibetan ensures that they too have access to it.”
    His Holiness concluded his talk by guiding the audience in generating the awakening mind of bodhichitta as they recited the common verse for taking refuge three times:
    To the Buddha, Dharma, and the Highest Assembly
    Until enlightenment I turn for refuge.
    Through the store of wisdom and merit accrued by giving and other virtues
    May I achieve Buddhahood to benefit all wandering beings.
    After that he gave the transmission of the mantras of the Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, Arya Tara, Hayagriva and so forth and encouraged those gathered to make their lives meaningful.
    His Holiness mentioned that in 2015 his physicians found indications of prostate cancer and decided to give him focused radiation treatment instead of surgery last year. This year his recent check-up at the Mayo Clinic has revealed all traces have gone. His Holiness declared that he’s physically healthy, mentally sharp and sleeps well.
    After lunch His Holiness joined his old friend and Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Richie Davidson and business leaders discussing human well-being. He told them that it’s basic human nature to be warm-hearted because our lives depend on having a sense of care for others. But the pressing reason for exploring well-being today is that we find ourselves facing problems that are prompted by anger, self-centredness and intolerance.
    “We are all endowed with a biological seed of compassion, but we have to nurture it with intelligence. If we don’t change direction, this century will end up like the one that went before overwhelmed by intimidation, violence and bloodshed. Nobody wants that.
    “If something is worth doing, do it. If, in fact, you fail, there’ll be no cause for regret. You can try again. To die without even having tried, will be to die disappointed. We all have opportunities to contribute making a better world; we must seize them with far-sighted vision. I’m encouraged that so many people are becoming interested in the well-being of humanity. This is surely a sign of hope.”
    Early tomorrow, His Holiness will fly from Boston to Frankfurt; the first leg of his journey back to India.
    https://www.dalailama.com/news/2017/addressing-2000-tibetans-in-boston

    Addressing-2000-Tibetans-in-Boston

  5. In 1992, Tai Situ, a regent of the Karma Kagyu lineage recognized a boy as the 17th Karmapa, endorsed by the Tibetan leadership in Dharamsala. This move went against tradition as the Tibetan leadership has NEVER been involved in the recognition of the Karmapas AND it has been the Shamarpa who is traditionally responsible for recognizing the incarnations of the Karmapa.

    As a result of the Tibetan leadership’s involvement, a feud arose between the two candidates’ supporters and split the Karma Kagyu lineage into two factions. One group supported the Sharmapa’s candidate; the other group supported Tai Situ’s candidate because he got the endorsement of the Tibetan leadership.

    Tai Situ was subsequently banned from entering India from 1994 to 1998 for his alleged pro-China and anti-India activities, after he travelled frequently to Tibet to enthrone his Karmapa candidate at Tsurphu Monastery, which is the traditional seat of the Karmapas in Tibet.

    Because of the Tibetan leadership’s validation of one of the candidates, the two Karmapas situation continues to be unresolved today, with many disputes and scandals. This unprecedented strife destroys the harmony and sanctity of the Karma Kagyu school of Buddhism, all because the Tibetan leadership had to get involved and exert its power, even in matters where it has no authority over.

    Today, Rumtek Monastery, the main seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage outside Tibet is not known for its sacred relics, but as a focal point for the sectarian tensions and violence because of the Karmapa rivalry, thanks to the Tibetan leadership.

    Situ Rinpoche Returns to India
    Sanjeev Miglani
    A letter from His Holiness the Dalai Lama (September 11, 1998) states:
    “Tai Situ Rinpoche is known to me since many years and I can vouch (for him). I have full confidence in him and I believe that Rinpoche has much to offer through his spiritual leadership in the Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. I am therefore happy that Rinpoche has returned to India since recently.”
    The following report has been compiled by Norma Levine from an article which appeared in the Himalayan Voice Aug/Sept 1998.
    On August 25, 1998, a huge and colourful crowd of monks, nuns and Lamas as well as representatives of the different Tibetan Buddhist sects, and Buddhist organizations gathered at Indira Gandhi International airport to accord a warm and affectionate welcome to HE Tai Situ Rinpoche (who had been banned “due to the persuasion of Sharmapa Lama and his dissident followers”).
    Many of the crowd wore traditional dress and were carrying banners and burning incense (List of various delegations below) The Lamas and Rinpoches formed a long line on both sides of the departure lounge of the airport and waited expectantly for over an hour while the flight was delayed, to receive Rinpoche’s blessing. Finally, Rinpoche came out from the airport amidst a round of warm applause. There were tears in the eyes of many Lamas; some even sobbed.
    The next day, the Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association organized a traditional reception and long life prayers for Rinpoche at the impressive Habitat Centre in New Delhi. Chief guest was the Hon. Minister for Urban Affairs, Mr Ram Jethmalani. After lighting lamps and chanting long life prayers, there were speeches from the Chairman of the Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association, Mr Karma Tobdan, member of the Rajya Sabha from Sikkim, and Dr Ananda Kumar, Professor at Nehru University and Secretary of the Bharat-Tibet Friendship Association. All speakers commented on Rinpoche’s contribution to world peace, specifically his ceaseless battle for the underprivileged, and of the deep faith of the Himalayan people towards him. Guest speaker, Mr Jethmalani apologised on behalf of the Indian Government and claimed it had been a mistake on their part that Rinpoche had been exiled from India.In an emotionally charged speech, he said, “The Buddha is the beacon light and that light will become the shining light of the world” .
    At the end of the reception, Tai Situpa was presented with offering scarves and flowers by representatives and Rinpoches from Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Delhi etc.
    List of Nepalese Buddhist delegations: Dhilyak Monastery, Thrangu Tashi Choling, Nenang Pawo Monastery, Benchen Gompa, Kyodrak Tenyi Gompa, Karma Thinley Gompa, Shechen Tenyi Thargeyling, Karmapa Sewa Sangh Samiti, Him Khar Gompa, Jamgon Labrang, Dege Welfare Ass’n, Yolmo Ass’n, Nangchen Welfare Ass’n, Lingtsang Welfare Ass’n, Deling Dungdrub Society, Ngedon Osel Ling, Swyandbud.
    Areas represented: Ladakh, Lahul, Spiti, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, Darjeeling, Dharmsala and Bhutan.
    The following speech was given by Tai Situ Rinpoche during the reception ceremony held in his honour on the occasion of his return to Sherabling. (published in the Himalayan Voice (II) 3, Aug/Sept 1998 pp. 39-41)
    “I am so happy that you have come today, all of you here lead by our chief guest, the minister for religious affairs, all you incarnate Lamas who have willingly taken rebirth for the sake of sentient beings, you abbots adorned with the nine qualities of noble scholars, the sangha who possess the seven qualities of knowledge and liberation, officials of the government of the Tibetan people in Dharamsala, heads of local settlements, the general public, teachers of the schools, heads of the local Indian regions, local public, and people from Sikkim, Ladakh, Kunnu and other Himalayan regions, and private individuals who have made their own way here from Bhutan, Nepal and so on.
    If I explain why I am so happy: In brief, if you think of me, I am very low in having the intelligence of a wise person and the experiential realisations of an established saint. However, because of the pure lineage of gurus and the kindness of the unique specialisations of the pure lineage of great minds, I have received the blessings of pratimoksa, bodhisattva and vajrayana vows. In the same way that I have received the blessings of these three traditions of vows, I will strive to maintain their purity, without defect in my practice. In addition to that also, I have a name or title, and in accordance with that title, I must strive to maintain the teachings of the Buddha because of my title as a Buddhist elder. Therefore I strive to serve the welfare of sentient beings as much as I can.
    To this purpose, therefore, dusing the past few years, I have been continuously making prayers with a pure heart for the sake of all sentient beings. I pray that there may be no obstructions to the increase of the Buddha’s teachings in the holy land of the noble ones. With regard to my body, however, I didn’t have the chance to be here and fulfill my purpose in India. But now, at this moment, the opportunity has arisen for me to return and serve the purpose of the Buddha’s teachings in India once more. I feel that this is highly meritorious. So I am very happy that you have all come here today on such an occasion and have given me your best wishes, for which I thank you very much.
    All of us here are followers of the Buddha. The blessed Buddha first cultivated the thought of enlightenment and then, through his period of training, he accumulated meritorious virtue for three countless aeons. Finally, at the end of this time, he attained pure and perfect enlightenment, and then he taught the immeasurable and unfathomable lower and higher vehicles of the methods to salvation. To his ordinary followers he gave numberless teachings, and to his rare and gifted disciples he gave profound teachings on the secret path of vajrayana. Whoever follows these teachings is a Buddhist. For all of us who have had the chance to enter the vajrayana, it is as if the flower had fallen upon our own deity and this arises as a result of a vast accumulation of virtue from previous lives. This is highly fortunate. However, having attained this opportunity, we should not waste it. Nor should we allow the dharma to decline. We should cause the Dharma to flourish and increase, and whatever Dharma has declined should be restored. This is the duty and responsibility of all those who practise the Dharma. That duty rests on our own shoulders. Therefore I on my part have continuously striven in this matter. Even now I am striving and will continue to strive for this.
    As for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the sole deity of us Tibetans, he upon whom our flower has fallen and the great object of refuge for all Buddhists in the world, for him too, these are his intentions. The dharma teachings that can help all sentient beings are in our hands. But we did not receive this because we are capable of uplifting all beings, nor did we attain these teachings on our own merits alone, nor because we won them in debate. We hold these teachings due to the blessings of Avalokitesvara, whom we have honoured and worshipped for many lifetimes with body, speech and mind, and our flower has fallen upon him. The spread of Dharma is his intention. In the popular oral tradition there is a saying: ‘One says MANI and mummy at the same time’ (ie Tibetans learn the 6 syllable mantra at their mother’s knee as one of the first things they can say). This is clear proof of our connection with him.
    For all these reasons, we should practise these teachings for the sake of peace in the world as the noble Avalokitesvara intends, not merely with our lips but sincerely from the heart. Lay people, also, should have their own appropriate way of acting. If we do all these things distinctly without mistakes, outwardly, inwardly and secretly, we may serve the Buddha well and accomplish much for the sake of all sentient beings and accomplish the intentions of Avalokitesvara, the father of all the Buddhas.
    When I speak from that viewpoint, it is highly fortunate for me to be back in India serving the cause of sentient beings and the Buddha-Dharma once more. Here, in the holy land of India, we have the opportunity to accomplish the goals of this and future lives. Speaking for myself, I was born in Tibet but brought up here in India. And the same is true for many of the people here. This is because we have some karmic connection with the holy land of India which has been blessed by the feet of the glorious Buddha. It is a matter of great merit and joy that we have this opportunity to practise Dharma and accomplish our own and others’ welfare throughout this and future lives. Thus we may be able to accomplish the intentions of the noble Avalokitesvara by being in India, a land also blessed by the appearance of Avalokitesvara himself, a land that lies under the shadow of his great compassion.
    People of India and the government of India continue to be so kind to us and we think of them with that affection normally reserved for our own parents. They have been so kind as if we were relatives in the same family… (text corruption here)
    I am aware of this from the depths of my heart. I am so fortunate to meet you all here today. I am not able to say many vast and profound things to you all just now, because all I can tell you is as much as I know, as far as I can reach with my mind. I have nothing more to say beyond this. In brief, the teachings of the Buddha are to be good at heart. If someone harms you, you should think of him with pity. He is under the sway of harmful emotions and, not observing the law of karma, he is oppressed by strong emotions. ‘May he not suffer as a result. May he become free of the tyranny of the five poisonous afflictions.’ This is what Buddhists should think. So in whatever circumstances you should find yourself in trouble, with family, friends or neighbours, one should cherish bodhicitta and practise it from the heart, not merely mutter it with the mouth. When the noble Avalokitesvara speaks of the path of non-violence and peace, he refers to bodhicitta. These teachings of good heart are the most important teachings of the Buddha. This is the gist of all the holy ones in the lineage, from the primordial Buddha to one’s own root guru. Therefore we should keep all of this within our minds.
    I am so happy that we could all meet here today. To all of you I wish good fortune. TASHI DELEGS. I pray that the incarnation of the lord Avalokitesvara may live long. May his life be stable and firm and may his activities increase and spread wide. May the victorious Vajradhara Karmapa live long and may his activities prosper. With regard to him also, I pray that the victorious Karmapa may come to India as soon as possible so that he may be established at Rumtek monastery and his many followers may be able to receive his blessings and advice. This is for the benefit of all sentient beings. I also pray fervently that all of you here may turn your minds towards the Dharma, and that the Dharma may be a proper path, and that this path dispels illusion so that illusion gives rise to transcendental wisdom.”
    English translation by Martin Boord and Karma Phunsho, Oxford, November 27, 1998.
    http://www.quietmountain.org/links/situ_rinpoche/situ_return.htm

    Situ Rinpoche Returns to India

  6. The West has finally recognized that the Dalai Lama, the icon of universal peace, love, and tolerance, is undoubtedly the driving force behind the discrimination and ostracization of Dorje Shugden practitioners around the world. His ‘government’ in exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) led by Lobsang Sangay, advocates the ‘Tibetan way’ of democracy that is ‘unique’ – they give the order, and the Tibetans are to follow without question. The undemocratic way of firing people from their jobs, expelling monks from the monasteries and prohibiting Dorje Shugden practitioners from attending the Dalai Lama’s talks are just some of the ways used to intimidate the Tibetans to do what the CTA wants.

    Clearly, the CTA’s democracy and their ‘noble’ Tibetan cause are just a veil that conceals the underlying hypocrisy and abuse of human rights, which is ironic as they are asking China for the same rights. The religious apartheid, segregation, and discrimination continue to be enforced internationally after two decades, just because the Dalai Lama said so.

    Dalai Lama preached message of religious tolerance abroad, while ruthlessly persecuting his people at home
    April 11, 2018 | Artvoice
    In 1996 the Tibetan Government in Exile, under the direct control of the Dalai Lama, issued an official ban on the centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist practice of Dorje Shugden.
    Prior to this point Dorje Shugden was widely practised amongst the largest school of Tibetan Buddhism and according to Thupten Wangchen of the Central Tibetan Administration approximately 30% of all Tibetans used to practice this protector Deity.
    The Dalai Lama told his government to release an official decree to all Tibetans stating that, “Propitiating Dolgyal [Dorje Shugden] does great harm to the cause of Tibet. It also imperils the life of the Dalai Lama.”
    A few days later the Dalai Lama then instructed his government to tell all of its employees, “not to indulge in the propitiation of Shugden.”
    This was the beginning of the Dalai Lama’s great purge of Shugden Buddhists from all aspects of mainstream Tibetan society. People were forced to either give up their faith or lose their job.
    In 2008 the Dalai Lama forced all monasteries in South India to expel any monks who still refused to give up their practice of Dorje Shugden.
    As Rebecca Novick (author and editor of 6 books on Tibetan Buddhism and culture) stated in an article for the Huffington Post, “Shugden practitioners gradually became social pariahs. Shopkeepers refused to sell to them, and landlords refused to rent to them. In 2008 the Tibetan leadership ordered the monasteries in South India to purge their populations of Shugden devotees. Monks who had formerly lived like brothers were now forbidden to talk to one another.”
    During this time the Dalai Lama was travelling throughout the West preaching a message of inter-religious tolerance and love, while at home he was ruthlessly persecuting and suppressing his own people.
    Rather than speaking out against religious discrimination the vast majority of Western Buddhist organisations actually spoke out in support of such actions. One such group, the German Buddhist Monastic Association (DBO) issued a press release stating, “In any society it is necessary for the protection of freedom of the majority…to exclude [Dorje Shugden] advocates from public institutions.”
    The unquestioned acceptance of the Dalai Lama as some kind of perfect being by the media, coupled with the support for his own discrimination and prejudice by groups such as the DBO further emboldened him.
    On March 17th 2014 the President of the Dalai Lama’s government, Lobsang Sangay passed a resolution in their Parliament which criminalized all Shugden Buddhists. In the resolution it stated that it, “recognises also the Dolgyal [Dorje Shugden] followers…as criminals in history.”
    Just this week Lobsang Sangay delivered the Berman lecture at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. In it he explained the way that democracy works in the Tibetan exile community, “when the Tibetan cabinet makes a decision, they send the notice to Tibetans around the world and it is followed by all, irrespective of the size of the Tibetan community in the place.”
    It is clear therefore that since 1996 the Dalai Lama has effectively banned the practice of Dorje Shugden within the Tibetan community. He has expelled people from jobs, monasteries, and even told people directly to leave his teachings if they practice Dorje Shugden.
    Can you imagine the headlines if the Dalai Lama banned Jews, Muslims, or Christians from attending any of his public teachings? Why is it acceptable therefore for him to ban Shugden Buddhists?
    The Dalai Lama’s persecution of Shugden Buddhists is also evident to prominent Buddhist scholars such as Dr Robert Barnett at Columbia University who said, “As you know, the exile authorities do not accept that there is a ban on Dorje Shugden practice…and does not accept that there is discrimination towards Dorje Shugden practitioners within the exile community…my view is the opposite on both these questions.”
    Dr Barnett also stated to the BBC World Service that Dorje Shugden practitioners in the Tibetan exile community have faced persecution as a result of the Dalai Lama’s actions towards them.
    Dr Nathan Hill of the SOAS University in London, England also confirmed that discrimination towards Shugden Buddhists has arisen as a result of the Dalai Lama’s actions, “There is absolutely no doubt at all that individuals are discriminated against: they have lost their jobs, they have been told they must not enter restaurants, shops and businesses.”
    Even one of the Dalai Lama’s two personal emissaries, Samdhong Rinpoche, tasked with representing him on foreign trips stated, “It seems that there are some who feel we should make some concessions to the Dholgyal [Dorje Shugden] worshipers who are unable to stop the worship so that they could return to the mainstream society.”, adding, “On our part, it is an easy job to come up with a clear demand. That is to ask them to stop the worship of Dholgyal [Dorje Shugden]. On the very day that they stopped the worship, they could readily enter into the old community. If one asks if there is any way by which they could receive acceptance without having to stop the Dholgyal [Dorje Shugden] worship, then, decidedly, the answer is that there is none.”
    As recently as March 2017 the Dalai Lama held a prayer session in which he had 170 members of his security department make a pledge to never associate with any Dorje Shugden practitioners which he, “joyfully accepted”.
    Clearly the Dalai Lama is the driving force behind the segregation and discrimination of Shugden Buddhists within the Tibetan community. He is acutely aware of the impact of his actions and the suffering they cause within the society he is supposed to cherish and protect. Yet he still expects people to pledge to continue this discrimination. Both of his emissaries, Lobsang Sangay and Samdhong Rinpoche support the criminalization and marginalization of Shugden Buddhists, and yet the Dalai Lama continues to be praised as an icon of peace, love and tolerance.
    How much longer can the west turn a blind eye to the suffering of religious apartheid that the Dalai Lama is inflicting on his own people?
    https://artvoice.com/2018/04/11/dalai-lama-preached-message-religious-tolerance-abroad-ruthlessly-persecuting-people-home/#.Ws_ujdNuaqB

    Dalai Lama preached message of religious tolerance abroad, while ruthlessly persecuting his people at home

  7. Amongst all those who vehemently attack Dorje Shugden practitioners online, one person seems to stand out like a sore thumb – Tenzin Peljor. He is even said to be operating several websites registered under various aliases to negatively influence online discussion regarding the Shugden controversy and sway opinion in his favour. These websites claim to be the premier sources for “authoritative and independent information” on the subject.

    It is more than disturbing that a so-called ‘simple’ Buddhist monk is so engrossed in promoting hatred against Dorje Shugden practitioners. Such behaviour is not becoming of a Buddhist monk. His actions caught the attention of arebuddhistsracist.com to investigate further and what they found was appalling. Hidden behind a monk’s robes, the East German Tenzin Peljor has a complex background including involvement with the Stasi; a huge interest in the dynamics of Nazism, dictatorship, totalitarian systems; and Buddhist cults.

    The investigation uncovered the hidden agenda behind his websites and his connections with the leadership of the Tibetans in-exile. Apparently, he was hired to ensure that propaganda ostracizing and persecuting Shugden practitioners continues unabated, even to the level of inciting violence on innocent people.

    Tenzin Peljor – Disgruntled Monk or CTA Puppet?
    Updated, & there is now a further article connected to this subject here.
    In researching the issues around the Dalai Lama controversy I was surprised to see the same group of names kept cropping up. There appeared to be a small Dalai Lama fan club that was aggressively promoting its “anti-protest” stance and within that group there was one name that seemed to dominate all their activities – Tenzin Peljor.
    I stumbled across Mr Peljor early in my research, or to be more precise I had been directed to several of his websites for “authoritative and independent information” on the subject. It would appear that he has become an “unbiased expert” according to his friends in the group, but what they don’t mention are his close ties to the Dalai Lama and the exile leadership.
    They also fail to mention that he has been aggressively campaigning against the protests for over 8 years and that he runs numerous websites registered under different aliases and tries to influence online discussions using several false identities. On further inspection Mr Peljor’s activities are anything but “unbiased and independent”, and more closely resemble those of an activist promoting a specific and clearly defined agenda.
    His “independent websites” are listed as resources for journalists by the Tibetan exile leadership, he is promoted to journalists by Tibetan NGOs, he is the media spokesperson for the German Buddhist organisation DBO, and he targets any journalist and publication that portrays the protests in a positive light. For a monk whose main activities are teaching at a Buddhist centre in Berlin he is remarkably active and engaged in this controversy, almost as if it was his full-time job.
    As with all the sources I come across in my research I did some background checks to see if he was as independent as he claims and to what degree his presentation of information could be influenced by those it benefits. Scratching the surface of his ‘independent monk’ facade revealed quite a bit more than I had initially suspected.
    An ex-NKT Member
    Tenzin Peljor is often very up front about his prior involvement with the NKT, after all he uses this as a basis for his credibility when it comes to the protests. He joined the NKT in 1995/96 according to his biography, becoming ordained in 1998 and later disrobing and leaving the group in 2000.
    Both Tenzin and the teacher he had in the NKT decided to leave at the same time, after which he continued to be her student. He took ordination again in 2002 in Nepal, but disrobed after only 2 months and began studying with a new teacher from the Rime tradition.
    In March 2006 after 4 years in Rime he then took ordination from the Dalai Lama in India, who gave him the name Tenzin Peljor.
    It was soon after his ordination, that Mr Peljor began to take an interest in countering the protests. His approach followed much the same modus operandi as the Tibetan government, namely to try and undermine the credibility of the protests by attacking the NKT.
    It’s worth noting at this point that prior to the protests the Dalai Lama had no problem with Geshe Kelsang Gyatso or the NKT. He had written the foreword to Geshe Kelsang Gyatso’s book, “Buddhism in the Tibetan Tradition”, and a note of praise in another of his books, “Meaningful to Behold”. It was only after the protests began that the Tibetan exile leadership started to attack Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and smear the NKT, attempting to label it as a cult.
    Following his ordination by the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Peljor remained in India and began to assist the Tibetan government (CTA) with their disinformation campaign. He began by editing pages on Wikipedia, rapidly becoming the main editor for the page about the NKT.
    His attempts to redefine the NKT on Wikipedia however seem to have been so clumsy that it aroused the suspicion of other editors. In describing Tenzin’s approach one of the Wikipedia editors stated:
    “I’m very concerned that the opinions and viewpoints of a relatively small number of individuals is drawn upon as the source material for a large portion of the article, which is representative of the point of view of a single editor who, in his determination to ensure that the article fully describes his own perspective, has dominated the editing process.” (ClockworkSoul, 23rd October 2006)
    The Birth of the Survivors
    As Tenzin’s campaign to discredit the NKT on Wikipedia was starting to lose ground he then switched tack and focussed his attention towards online Buddhist chat groups, in particular he became very active on a group called e-Sangha. It was on this group that he struck up a friendship with David Cutshaw, a disillusioned ex-NKT member and encouraged him to start a new discussion group.
    The group that Tenzin wanted Mr Cutshaw to set up was to be focussed only on the negative aspects of the NKT, it was to be named the “NKT Survivors” group and any pro-NKT messages were to be strictly forbidden. The idea was that the group would encourage people to leave the NKT and only post their negative experiences and opinions of them. Their rules state:
    “No NKT members/followers/students are allowed.
    If you are happy with the NKT, and have no desire to leave, this group is not for you. If you join anyway trying to post and try to get Yahoo to delete this group, we can only assume you are a troll trying to cause disharmony. Such people will be banned and removed at once from the group.”
    Tenzin offered to support David in the creation of the group, but wanted to avoid being directly linked to it as its creator. In this way Tenzin had found the perfect surrogate to continue his online activities against the NKT.
    The group was created on May 22nd 2007 and Tenzin was the first person other than David to post on it. He assisted with moderating the group, approving new members, editing its settings, and profile.
    At the time of the groups creation Tenzin was still residing within the Tibetan exile community in India, however a few weeks later he was promoted to the position of Resident Monk at Bodhicharya Centre in Berlin. From his new base in Berlin he continued to be central to its development, shaping the “survivors” group and focussing its narrative portraying the NKT as a cult.
    After a few months the group appeared to be achieving the goal Tenzin had failed to accomplish the previous year with Wikipedia.
    On 31st Dec 2007 he posted to the group stating, “At the New Years Day I will move to Italy, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, and pick up a qualified study there for the next 6 years.”, adding, “I will leave the forum at the New Years Day…If there is anybody who feel he can support David’s moderator activities, please let him know privately.”
    Instituto Lama Tzong Khapa is a centre of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) a Tibetan group that follows the Dalai Lama. Clearly the FPMT centre approved of Tenzin’s activities because within 2 months of his arrival there he resumed his activities on the “survivors” group.
    Weaving Websites and Alliances
    In April 2008 another series of protests began as the Dalai Lama visited the US. In response to these Tenzin created two websites registered under an alias which according to him offered, “fair, neutral, and balanced information regarding NKT and Buddhist cults in general.”
    The websites were registered under the false name of Losang Tashi, to an address in Gotha, the town in East Germany where Tenzin was born. In a post on May 21st 2008 to the “survivors” group he said, “maybe we use the power of the many people here and the motivation to protect others (giving fearlesness) by setting up 1-2 websites.”
    Rather than offering fair or neutral information both websites were a continuation of his online campaign to undermine the protests by attempting to discredit the NKT. Had his intention been wholesome you would need to ask why a Buddhist monk with vows against lying was using a false name when registering websites?
    Then in July 2008 Jamyang Khedrup posted a comment promoting one of Tenzin’s websites under a New York Times article about the protests. What I found interesting was that as I dug deeper into Tenzin’s background I found the same people who have been involved with his campaigning for a long time.
    By this point in my research I had already encountered Jamyang Khedrup whilst investigating his involvement with the LamaGate hacking scandal, but I had no idea his involvement with Tenzin stretched as far back as 2008.
    The reason I didn’t know Khedrup’s involvement went so far back is because he was posting to the ‘survivors’ group using a false identity. For 6 months in 2008 Khedrup used the name Lobsang Jangchub in numerous posts to the group. Many people responded to his comments addressing him by the name Lobsang. At no time did he ever try to correct them or explain that wasn’t his name.
    The fact that both Tenzin and Khedrup were using false identities whilst posting comments to the ‘survivors’ group raises significant questions about the accuracy of other users identities and claims.
    Significant discrepancies have already been uncovered with Khedrup’s accounts of his involvement with LamaGate, and here is yet another occasion where his credibility is called into question.
    The Hidden Hand
    Seeking to expand his sphere of influence beyond his own websites and the “survivors” group Tenzin began to strike up a relationship with Dialogue Ireland, a website which focuses on religious movements. Prior to Tenzin’s involvement his friend, Joanne Clark had also been in touch with them to offer her services as a self-proclaimed”expert” on Tibetan Buddhism.
    Tenzin and Joanne’s approach in the Dialogue Ireland forums seemed to follow a pattern of promoting both Tenzin’s websites and the “survivors” group. In his attempt to form a stronger bond with Dialogue Ireland, Tenzin wrote to them explaining his position:
    “I am much interested into the dynamics of Nazi, Stasi, dictatorship, totalitarian systems, and I am an admirer of Jay Lifton and Margaret Thaler Singer. I run also a website about the dynamics of Buddhist cults in German language. So we share quite a lot.”
    Yet when they tried to ask him questions about his background he became very defensive, refusing to answer them. Tenzin said, “I don’t see any use to answer. My experience recently at DI [Dialogue Ireland] was that whatever I say will be misunderstood or misinterpreted and finally twisted.” adding, “Also I am not interested in any online discussion about me. East German biographies can be complex.”
    A common theme in Tenzin’s response to critics is that they are “twisting” the facts, especially when someone is trying to pin him down on a specific point. It’s interesting that Tenzin used to be in the National People’s Army (NPA) in East Germany, which was strongly influenced by the Soviet Armed Forces, working as a radio operator.
    His comments about the protests often accuse them of using ‘agitprop’, which is a Soviet style of propaganda, a methodology he would have been all too familiar with from his previous training. Unfortunately he didn’t expand on his “complex” biography, so we don’t know what type of activities he was employed to perform by the NPA, or what areas his training encompassed.
    In 2013 Dialogue Ireland started to use Chris Chandler as their expert on Tibetan Buddhism and approached the issue as a problem with Lamaism, rather than just one or two specific traditions. Chris, who had been involved with Tibetan Buddhism for 30 years, raised the issue that Lamaism is a form of Tantric Hinduism. So it was not a question of focussing on the NKT as a cultish form of Buddhism, but was a case of finding the exact same tendencies and attitudes in all forms of Tibetan Buddhism, including those following the Dalai Lama.
    Their new outlook limited the degree to which Tenzin could manipulate their website to promote his own agenda and when they began to look into Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, one of Tenzin’s teachers, he disengaged from them completely. (You can read Dialogue Ireland’s article about Tenzin Peljor in full here https://dialogueireland.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/tenzin-peljor-ordained-by-the-dalai-lama-and-connected-to-ringu-tulku/)
    By this point Joanne had already left the Dialogue Ireland site, but when she heard that Chris was their new expert she returned with a vengence. As one person said, “She was like someone high on drink, totally under the influence.”
    Dialogue Ireland stated:
    “However since Chris has been the catalyst for our understanding of Lamaism as the cultist form of Buddhism Joanne has been like a Banshee on our site morning, noon and night. She disagrees with Chris’s analysis but can’t just get up and go. She is now camping on the site.”
    A Sudden Increase
    Following his failed attempt at using Dialogue Ireland to undermine the NKT, Tenzin Peljor spent the following years expanding the number of his own websites that he could control and direct, rather than having to rely upon others. During this period his group of websites grew from two to eight, and everything was proceeding as normal for him until 2014.
    Prior to 2014 the protests generally garnered a relatively small degree of media coverage. Whilst they were mentioned on several newscasts in the mainstream media it was often along the lines of the Tibetan government’s media briefing notes, so the issues behind the protests were rarely covered.
    That all changed in Oslo when the Dalai Lama returned to celebrate his Nobel Peace Prize and the media took a greater interest in the protests. This attention seemed to gradually build from one protest to another which prompted a corresponding increase in activity from Tenzin Peljor and his compatriots.
    In the 8 months prior to May 2014 there were on average 16 messages a month posted on the “survivors” discussion board, however in May this figure jumped up to 144 messages. The vast majority of them were posted over the days when the protests were taking place in Oslo.
    At the same time the “survivors” were asking what they could do to counter the protests the exile leadership were asking the exact same question, and before long the two groups were working hand in hand. The “NKT Survivors” became the “NKT Survivor Activists”, and at the request of people associated with the exile leadership they began a new phase in their campaign to try and discredit the protesters.
    One of their first actions involved the creation of a declaration against the protests by ex-members of the NKT. Originally this was presented as coming from Carol McQuire and Tenzin as a spontaneous idea of their own.
    On 5th November however Carol admitted that it wasn’t their idea saying, “we were asked to do the declaration, it didn’t come from us, but we thought it was a great idea and agreed to do this as it would help the situation.”, adding, “Once we were asked to join in, we haven’t looked back – it’s been so inspiring working with a load of amazing people”
    There was a slight problem with the first version of the declaration though, it included the following text, “We acknowledge there may be some problems within the Tibetan community that need to be addressed”. This had to be removed from subsequent versions of the declaration before the exile leadership would allow it to be put on the CTA’s official website.
    In explaining this on his own website Tenzin let slip, “One of the initiators of the declaration wished for a change”, then he presented both the old version and the changed version.
    The declaration was then added to the Tibetan government’s official website (Tibet.net) at the very top of the page dedicated to the Dorje Shugden controversy. The significance of its placement should not be underestimated. It appears before any statements from the CTA and the Dalai Lama, which is somewhat unusual for a declaration signed by only 24 ex-NKT members who are supposedly unconnected to the exile leadership.
    A New Website
    Despite all the best efforts of Tenzin and the CTA the media was undeterred. They continued to take an interest in the protests and the Dalai Lama found himself facing questions about them during every press conference. The coverage in Hamburg seemed pivotal in that it was both widespread and also became the top news story on Google about the Dalai Lama.
    Following Hamburg a new website was created specifically for the media to counteract the protests. It was a website that was designed to be both anonymous, yet have the support of Tibet House in the US. No name was associated with it, no contact details, and it was registered through a domain proxy service, designed to keep the registrant’s details hidden.
    At the bottom of the website the disclaimer stated:
    “Official Tibet Houses are cultural centers of HH the Dalai Lama, non-profit organizations devoted to the preservation of Tibetan culture. This site appears with their approval since, while not responsible for producing the site or its content, the misrepresentations of Tibetan culture generated by this controversy distort and negatively affect the public perception of Tibetan culture.”
    It was all very mysterious and Tenzin Peljor made no mention of the website until someone posted a comment on his website drawing his attention to it. He pretended to know nothing about the website until this comment on October 19th, however he had set one of his own websites to redirect to this new website two days previously, on October 17th.
    The mystery deepened when I was discussing some of the controversy with Professor Robert Thurman on the fateful night of the LamaGate incident. It seemed that Professor Thurman was confused about who I am and was convinced that I had suggested to him that he should create the website.
    On 30th October Prof. Thurman stated to me that, “we prepared shugdeninfo.com for you @IndyHack”, adding, “We produced this site on your suggestion @IndyHack”
    I was a little baffled to say the least. Prof. Thurman was saying quite clearly that he was involved with the creation of the new website (shugdeninfo.com) and yet Tenzin Peljor had redirected his own domain name (shugden.info) to Thurman’s new site. It was too much of a coincidence for me to drop and I was encouraged that there was now a direct link between Thurman and Peljor, albeit a slightly difficult one to prove categorically.
    Fortunately Tenzin helped out with that a few weeks later.
    When is a Coincidence not a Coincidence?
    When you’re dealing with investigations it’s tricky to pin down exact evidence to prove your case – people sometimes lie and when you catch them out they usually refuse to admit it. Often times you also have to deal with associations of probabilities, you look for groupings of supposedly unconnected events that push the boundaries of coincidence.
    The fact Prof. Thurman had admitted direct involvement with the shugdeninfo.com website was a welcome and unexpected gift. It went beyond the mere approval of the site by Tibet House US and indicated that he had been directly involved in its creation with one or more other people. The fact that Tenzin was redirecting his domain to the site before anyone had told him about it on his blog was also helpful, as was his pretense not to know about it until that point, but it still wasn’t enough.
    Then there was another unexpected gift, Tenzin updated the registration of his domain (shugden.info) through the same anonymous service as shugdeninfo.com and hosted it on the same servers as shugdeninfo.com. Now both domain names had exactly the same settings.
    Conclusions
    When delving beyond the facade of a ‘simple monk’ or ‘independent expert’ we find that Tenzin Peljor’s background is far from simple or independent.
    Here we have someone who in their youth was a Radio Operator in the National People’s Army, and who is familiar with the Soviet style of government propaganda. By his own admission he is, “interested into the dynamics of Nazi, Stasi, dictatorship, totalitarian systems” and has a complex East German biography (including his own Stasi file).
    He’s an ex-NKT member, so that would account for his interest in speaking out against them, but there’s a huge gap of 6 years between him leaving the NKT and beginning his online campaign against them, which doesn’t tally. The timing of his campaign seems more closely related to his ordination by the Dalai Lama than his experiences within the NKT.
    Moreover his approach to attacking the NKT seems to be in response to their involvement with the protests, rather than being a “survivor”. He began to develop his own websites only in response to the protests in 2008.
    Tenzin claims the purpose of his websites are, “to counter the misinformation campaign of the NKT”, yet his own approach appears to be promoting the disinformation campaign of the Tibetan exile leadership. He also created a declaration and canvassed for signatures on it because he was instructed to by people who objected to even the slightest criticism of the Tibetan community.
    His new website in response to the media coverage of the protests in 2014 appears to have been created in collaboration with Professor Thurman, who is alleged to have tried to solicit anonymous to hack protesters Twitter accounts (more here). His domain which redirects to the new website is also now hidden behind the same anonymous registration service that Thurman used.
    Overall Tenzin Peljor’s campaign against the NKT seems more related to the protests than any negative experiences he had whilst being a member of the group. The level and depth of his involvement over such an extensive time period goes beyond the expected response of a disgruntled “survivor”.
    Mr Peljor appears to be an activist who is promoting a clearly defined and well structured campaign. The fact that his campaign started whilst he was living within the Tibetan exile community in India seems to indicate the main influencing factor behind it.
    He is well funded and has significant resources and time to invest in this issue that don’t fit with his role as a resident monk at Bodhicharya Centre. For instance at one point he offered to fly to Ireland to discuss his Stasi background when issues about it arose.
    The logical conclusion is that Tenzin Peljor is acting in accordance with the wishes of the CTA as one of their de facto agents. The persona he projects as being an ex-NKT “survivor” simply trying to right the wrongs he experienced is nothing other than a smokescreen.
    The problem he has with this facade is that it is poorly crafted and badly executed. When exposed to a sustained investigation it crumbles to reveal his close involvement with, and oversight from, the Tibetan exile leadership.
    Update – 30th Dec 2014
    Today Carol McQuire has publicly accused me of lying and taking advantage of Tenzin’s current ‘absent’ status. In a recent post on social media she said that Tenzin is currently on retreat at Drepung Monastery until April, so she has sprung valiantly to his defense.
    Amongst the various inaccuracies in Carol’s post she has likened the timing of this article to, “someone in a boxing ring deliberately hitting a last strike after the whistle has been blown”, claiming it is published at a time when Tenzin is unable to respond to it. This is untrue.
    Carol posted her comments a few hours after Tenzin had posted a new article on his blog. Tenzin had also posted a comment on social media about his new article 2 hours prior to Carol’s post. So her claim that Tenzin is somehow absent from this situation is incorrect.
    If he is on retreat at Drepung Monastery as claimed then it is a retreat which allows him to continue to work on his blog and social media. As usual with Tenzin and his friends their accounts often crumble when a small degree of scrutiny is applied to them.
    She is also incorrect in stating that the initial version of the ex-NKT declaration was posted on the CTA website – Tibet.net. It is only the version which contains no reference to any criticism of the Tibetan community that was ever posted on Tibet.net.
    Carol said, “the first version of the declaration was already published on the CTA’s website before the second had even been thought of. How sad that such an enormous theory of political intrigue that IndyHack has developed has quite differing origins.”
    Unfortunately for Carol her desperate attempt to try and refute the claims made in my article only destroys her own credibility.
    http://www.arebuddhistsracist.com/tenzin_peljor.html

    Tenzin Peljor - Disgruntled Monk or CTA Puppet

  8. Professor Robert Thurman’s involvement in #LamaGate is very unbecoming. He even solicited members of Anonymous to hack into legitimate Twitter accounts that he referred to as “Shugden group(s) targeting the Dalai Lama.”

    It is amazing that Thurman would risk disgracing the Dalai Lama by committing cybercrime. Hacking is after all a federal crime. His disrespect for the First Amendment of the United States Constitution is dumbfounding. This Amendment is what protects the rights of citizens, including freedom of speech. On top of this, the act of soliciting hackers showcases his malicious intent to cause harm towards the operators of those Twitter accounts.

    Why would a professor at Columbia University in New York, the co-founder and president of Tibetan House US, go to the extent of wanting to hire hackers, unless he himself has something to hide?

    What is #LamaGate?
    #LamaGate refers to the hacking scandal that surrounds the Dalai Lama’s trip to the US in fall 2014. It centres around the Dalai Lama’s most trusted US friend and confidant, Professor Robert Thurman, who allegedly tried to solicit members of Anonymous to engage in computer hacking on his behalf.
    On 29th October 2014 Professor Thurman published a tweet (shown below) asking how to get the help of the Anonymous group to “get info out” about certain individuals he wished to target.
    In and of itself this may seem like nothing more than a foolish and careless over-reaction on the part of Professor Thurman to the widespread media coverage the Shugden protests had been receiving. Yet when it was pointed out to him that such an action could be considered illegal in the US this didn’t dissuade him from continuing down his chosen path of action.
    In the following hours Thurman published a series of tweets identifying specific Twitter accounts to target. He identified each of them as, “key Anti HHDL Shugden Twitter Spam Accounts”, and followed the account name with the tags #anon and #OpShugden.
    #OpShugden was devised by another Twitter user (@OpTsampa) who appeared to be working alongside Thurman in his campaign. @OpTsampa also tweeted an offer of 50 BitCoins ($16,967) to anyone who could link the most accounts together that had been identified by Thurman.
    Exactly what information Thurman wanted Anonymous members to “get out” of each of the identified accounts is uncertain, although it appears that he was trying to reveal the identities of the owners of the accounts. The only way to get this information would be to gain access to the users accounts without their consent, as such it appears that Thurman was soliciting computer hacking against each of the individually named Twitter accounts.
    Why would Professor Thurman solicit hacking?
    Throughout his fall tour of the US the Dalai Lama has faced an unprecedented level of media attention about allegations of human rights violations and religious discrimination, as anyone familiar with this site will know. Professor Thurman plays a key role in the dissemination of information against the protesters because of his academic standing and his close friendship with the Dalai Lama. They are so close in fact that the NY Times magazine referred to Thurman as, “the Dalai Lama’s man in America”.
    Prior to 29th October, all of the Dalai Lama’s attempts to avoid addressing the issues raised by the protesters had been unsuccessful with the US media. Everywhere the Dalai Lama spoke, protesters gathered and news agencies covered not just the protests, but the issues behind them (see here).
    As the time drew closer for the Dalai Lama to appear in New York City, where Thurman is based, the pressure had been increasing on Thurman to do something to counteract the effect of the protests. Under such increasing pressure it appears that he may have taken the highly unusual step of soliciting computer hacking in an attempt to reduce some of the exposure they were getting on Twitter.
    It seems that Thurman believed several Twitter accounts were run by one or two individuals, and that by hacking those accounts he would be able to silence them.
    What happens now?
    Presently the #Lamagate scandal is continuing to increase on a daily basis. On 30th October this website published a guide on how to indict Robert Thurman and on 31st October it ran an Indict-Storm on Twitter, calling for any users who felt violated by Professor Thurman’s actions to report them to the authorities.
    During 30th/31st October multiple reports were filed with the NYPD and the FBI asking for them to investigate the allegations against Thurman. Specifically they stated:
    “It is alleged that Professor Robert A. Thurman (@BobThurman) did knowingly solicit others to commit computer hacking and provided information to direct said computer hacking against several users of Twitter in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1030 (a) (2).
    On October 29th 2014 it is alleged Professor Robert A. Thurman directed computer hackers associated with the ‘Anonymous’ group to hack Twitter’s computer servers and extract information about the following users: @tompotter1945, @TalkingTibet, @wisdomdakini2, and @Vajralight.
    I am making a formal complaint about alleged criminal activity by Professor Robert A. Thurman and asking you to investigate whether any criminal activity has taken place.”

    Despite this Professor Thurman continues to maintain a public list of Twitter users which he refers to as, “Known Spammers”. Members of this list continue to report suspicious activity on their Twitter accounts.
    Who is involved?
    Given Professor Thurman’s close relationship with the Dalai Lama it is highly likely that he may have known about this course of action. As the management of the Dalai Lama’s visit is also conducted with the US Office of Tibet, now based in Washington DC, it is also highly likely that they were aware of Thurman’s decision to try and recruit Anonymous.
    Despite the high profile of this scandal both the US Office of Tibet and the Dalai Lama have so far remained silent, refusing to comment or even acknowledge its existence.
    Likewise Columbia University, Professor Thurman’s employers, have refused to acknowledge or comment on the scandal.
    Fortunately the Anonymous group are less afraid of speaking publicly on this issue. On 2nd November they issued the following public statement about the scandal addressed principally to Professor Thurman:
    “.@BobThurman we have no position on this currently but can tell you one of Anon’s only central principles is NYPA: Not Your Personal Army”
    http://www.arebuddhistsracist.com/lamagate.html

    What is LamaGate

  9. It is due to the kindness of the Indian Government that the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans have been living safely in exile. They do not even have to pay a single cent in tax. Some may say it is only fair because the Dalai Lama is not only a refugee but a spiritual leader who speaks about peace and compassion.

    If you have followed the Dalai Lama closely, you would have heard of the Dalai Lama’s Charitable Trust. All funds collected during the Dalai Lama’s events and tours go to this single trust. However, recently, questions and doubts were raised by a trustee and it was revealed that the funds were being used like the Dalai Lama’s ‘personal bank account’ even though it was declared a public trust. Severe concerns were raised as to how much of the funds were used to sustain the Dalai Lama’s lifestyle, something that does not conform to the trust’s charitable aims.

    This article highlights a very dodgy system that lacks transparency. It is not even clear where the millions of dollars donated to the trust actually go. With the Dalai Lama’s ‘personal emissary’ suspended over allegations of corruption, and a US$1.5 million loan that went ‘missing’ under Sikyong Lobsang Sangay’s administration, will an investigation into the Dalai Lama’s Charitable Trust reveal more dirt on the Tibetan leadership?

    Questions Raised on Dalai Lama Charitable Trust
    April 14, 2018 Artvoice
    By Indy Mack
    Throughout his time in exile the Indian Government has allowed the Dalai Lama to live tax-free and turned a blind eye to his audacious international tax avoidance scheme. Many of the profits from his overseas tours are funneled back to India into a fund called, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama Charitable Trust”, and people are told that profits from his events are used for charitable purposes that the Dalai Lama deems appropriate. However many believe that this is not a charitable trust, but opine that is instead the Dalai Lama’s own private trust fund, that according to at least one trustee he treats as “his personal bank account”.
    Although its name implies that it is a charitable trust, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama Charitable Trust”, was registered under the Indian Trusts Act in Calcutta in 1964, which could allow a private trust to manage the Dalai Lama’s personal investments, not as a charitable trust. In its opinion Allied Legal, beloveds that “Despite popular belief a Charitable Trust will be registered under the Indian Registration Act not under the Indian Trusts Act.”
    Being a charitable trust allows for Millions of dollars of tax avoidance preventing any levy for his public appearances being paid the host the nationt. Furthermore the trust fund is also believed to pay for the Dalai Lama’s own activities and entertainment. Whilst it does make many charitable donations the Dahli Lama seems to also use this fund to indulge his lavish lifestyle such as his 15 Rolex watches, his pastry chef, and his entourage of servants.
    Since this mechanism was first discovered the Dalai Lama published a website claiming the trust, “was established…as an irrevocable public trust”, which is untrue. According to R&A Associates, a specialist Indian law firm, “The provisions of the Indian Trusts Act do not apply to Public Trusts”. As the fund was established under the Indian Trusts Act it was created as a private trust, not a public one.
    The Dalai Lama also started to publish limited financial records of its activities. However these records don’t reveal the amounts that are used for the Dalai Lama’s own personal activities, they only cover 4 years of expenditures, and are highly condensed.
    From the limited records released it’s impossible for the public to tell exactly what the money is being spent on, or to what degree the Dalai Lama personally benefits from the fund. In addition, all of the funds trustees are close subordinates to the Dalai Lama and they follow his exact instructions on how the money is used.
    One current trustee of “His Holiness the Dalai Lama Charitable Trust” admitted privately that the Dalai Lama uses the fund as “his personal bank account”. They explained that in Tibet there was a government treasury that belonged to the Dalai Lama and that he sees this as “the same thing”.
    They admitted it was common knowledge among all the trustees that after each event overseas the Dalai Lama would be “paid his share of the profits” through the trust. They also stated the Dalai Lama would often demand “a minimum donation” before he would agree to a visit.
    The key difference between whether a fund is private or charitable lies in where the money goes. A charitable trust can only use its funds to fulfill its defined charitable aims. Although it can reimburse people who work for it, it cannot use its assets to fund someone’s personal lifestyle. Since “His Holiness the Dalai Lama Charitable Trust” uses some of its funds to pay for the Dalai Lama’s personal living expenses it functions as a private fund. The fact that all of its trustees are under the direct control of the Dalai Lama also raises doubts over its authenticity.
    https://artvoice.com/2018/04/14/questions-raised-dalai-lama-charitable-trust/#.WtPG4y5uaM-

    Questions Raised on Dalai Lama Charitable Trust

  10. The supposedly well-known Buddhist scholar and author Robert Thurman of Columbia University and President of Tibet House US actively engages in hate campaigns online. These are meant to ostracize and discriminate against Dorje Shugden practitioners. He is also known to publically solicit hackers to hack into Twitter accounts that belong to people who do not agree with his views. This is something that is a criminal offense according to US law.

    Why would someone like Thurman go to the extent of breaking the law over this? What is he hiding? Could his actions be evidence of a deeper plot to keep Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists divided, perpetrated by the Tibetan leadership that he works for?

    Robert Thurman & Anonymous
    (updated)
    On October 28th 2014 respected scholar and author Robert Thurman decided to mention me on Twitter and make false and unsupported claims about me. He also tried to add me to a list which he promotes to followers of the Dalai Lama so they can send threatening and offensive tweets to its members. I responded by publishing an open letter to him on 29th October, but what I wasn’t expecting was his vehement and extreme reaction.
    Throughout the day there was no response from Professor Thurman, yet things suddenly changed as the evening arrived and he issued a tweet publicly asking for the help of Anonymous.
    I was one of the people that Professor Thurman was wanting to target and unearth information about, including my identity. Whilst I have the greatest respect for the ethos of Anonymous, I have never been their focus, nor have I ever considered my work to warrant their focus.
    I raised the issue of the legality of publishing such a tweet and the hasty reply from an account that Professor Thurman was working with in his new Anonymous campaign replied that it was just about re-tweets and whois searches.
    Of course re-tweets and whois searches are standard practices and certainly not in any way illegal. However the Anonymous group is not renowned for its use of whois, or its social media re-tweeting campaigns.
    As @OpTsampa says, “Anyone can backtrace an IP”. So why would they be asking for the help of Anonymous if they only wanted to back-trace IPs and conduct whois searches?
    Anonymous is well known as a collective of hackers who engage in electronic civil disobedience (ECD). You don’t ask for the help of Anonymous for re-tweets, you ask for their help for one thing – hacking, which is a federal crime in the US.
    Asking for the help of Anonymous is fairly easy on Twitter, you just publish a tweet and insert the call sign “#anon”. Both @OpTsampa and Professor Thurman then engaged in a campaign of publishing tweets identifying Twitter users and encouraging Anonymous members to target them.
    If you thought this was maybe a bit of harmless fun from Professor Thurman and his accomplice the next tweet may surprise you.
    For those unfamiliar with the Bit Coin currency it’s a virtual currency which enables transactions to be carried out completely anonymously. It is often used when paying for services which are illegal, such as hacking. The value of 50 Bit Coins at the time this tweet was published was $16,967.00.
    Offering hackers just under $17,000 to target people on Twitter is not harmless fun. It is a very serious financial offer, and a US federal crime. As this statement from the US Attorneys Office in April 2014 makes clear in the case of Fidel Salinas.
    Whilst Salinas was accused of engaging in hacking, it is a criminal offence to solicit federal criminal acts and you can be an accessory to the crimes if you are found to have encouraged or instigated them.
    On October 29th 2014 it would appear quite clearly that @OpTsampa and Professor Robert Thurman were not only accomplices in cyber crime, but that they actively engaged in soliciting cyber crime, as defined by the FBI.
    The question is why would a Professor at Columbia University in New York, the co-founder and president of Tibet House US, and father of Hollywood star Uma Thurman, be so desperate as to break federal law?
    Maybe it was never intended as an attempt to solicit hacking? If so then why did Anonymous themselves issue a formal response through their official Twitter account? 
    If there is nothing to hide, if the allegations of religious discrimination and human rights violations by the Dalai Lama are unfounded, then why would an eminent professor ask for Anonymous to help?
    Why not simply debate the issue and show evidence that refutes or counters the claims?
    At the present moment I am taking legal advice regarding filing a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) of the FBI so that they can further investigate Professor Thurman’s role in soliciting cyber crime.
    I will keep you posted with updates as this case develops.
    *****UPDATE*****
    14:30 – 30th October 2014
    After having taken legal advice I am in the process of drafting a formal complaint for investigation by the FBI. I am awaiting the FBI’s decision whether it is best to submit the formal complaint through their New York field office, or through IC3.
    As the alleged offenses occurred over the Twitter platform it is likely to be an inter-state matter placing it within federal jurisdiction.
    I am advised that Professor Thurman is currently aware that he is one of the subjects named in my formal complaint.
    More to follow.
    ***Further Update***
    As this is now an ongoing criminal investigation I am unable to add further comments.
    http://www.arebuddhistsracist.com/robert_thurman_anonymous.html

    DS.com Robert Thurman & Anonymous

  11. While the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA; the Tibetan leadership based in Dharamsala) are not capable at all of making a positive difference in the lives of Tibetans in-exile, they are more than capable of blaming others for their failures. They like to call critics and those who challenge their authority “Chinese spies”.

    The inept CTA hurls this derogatory blame against virtually everyone to distract from the truth that they have turned the Tibetan cause into a hopeless one; scapegoated Dorje Shugden practitioners; persecuted Lukar Jam and his supporters, as well as Mila Rangzen and others. However, even the Tibetans have grown tired of the CTA’s lame excuses. An increasing number of dissatisfied Tibetans have left the exile communities for greener pastures, some have even returned to China. This is a clear indication of how much the CTA has failed their people and how badly managed it is, despite an overwhelming amount of resources, aid, and goodwill from foreign supporters at their disposal.

    The CTA has no intention to fight for the welfare and future of the Tibetan people. All the CTA does is lie, manipulate, abuse its power, discriminate, ostracize, embezzle funds and squander Chatrel money (contributions from Tibetans) to persecute those who do not follow or agree with them. Welcome to the CTA’s version of ‘democracy’.

    How the Tibetan government in exile embraced “post-truth” and fake news
    Communists, fake news and Chinese spies: the authoritarian’s propaganda playbook of the Dalai Lama runs out of steam…
    Tenzin Jigme
    Tibetan writer and voice of the absent Tibetan democracy
    Apr 14 | 10 min read
    The Tibetan government in exile appears to have embraced a simple yet effective tactic when dealing with critics who question its ineffectiveness, alleged suppression of even minor opposition or seeming tolerance of corruption within its ranks: simply accusing them of being spies in the pay of China has to date proved an effective way of forcing those critics to shut up and slink off quietly.
    The Central Tibetan Authority (CTA), the government in exile, is responsible for looking after Buddhist communities across India who initially fled their homeland when fleeing from Chinese repression following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Ever since their flight, the common CTA mantra has been to “blame China”, whenever things went wrong.
    Those in command at the CTA have levelled the “Chinese spies” charge against virtually everyone who has opposed the body, which has faced numerous accusations of vested interests, corruption and ineptitude in its perceived role of taking care of the 95,000 Tibetan exiles under its authority.
    They have even taken issue with the Dorje Shugden devotion, a centuries-old tradition of worship, claiming its practitioners are in league with China to undermine the authority of the Dalai Lama, widely recognised as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan exiles, who has spoken forcefully against the practice. His position on the matter has widely been seen as a de facto ban.
    By branding all Dorje Shugden practitioners as “Chinese spies”, the CTA sidesteps some important questions, most strikingly how ostracising those who follow the 350-year-old tradition sits with the Tibetan constitution, and with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which embodies the concept of religious freedom. It has also left Shugden groups open to the blandishments of the Chinese, who have not been averse to exploiting the rift.
    By accusing any and all opponents of being Chinese spies, the CTA has sought to keep alive concerns that were initially justifiable in the aftermath of the community’s flight from Tibet, when the Chinese threat to its very existence was all too real. By doing so, it has sought to mask its own lack of progress in improving the lot of the exiles in its care. Many of these exiles continue to live in precarious conditions and remain virtually stateless, almost 60 years after their displacement and despite international support from several governments and a large number of non-governmental organisations.
    China probably does keep a close watch on CTA activities and on sentiment both within Tibet and in the communities in exile, given that Tibet accounts for just over a quarter of China’s total land mass and it is in the country’s interest to ensure stability in the region. But if all the CTA’s accusations were indeed correct, “Chinese spies” would likely outnumber the rest of the population in the Tibetan exile communities.
    Cato’s lesson
    Already in the 2nd century BC, the Roman senator Cato the Elder had understood that if one repeats an idea often enough, it can eventually gain a foothold in the public conscious. He was to use this understanding to great effect.
    Cato had been worried. He saw Carthage, Rome’s powerful Phoenician rival, as a continuing threat to the Roman Empire. Even after the Roman army had defeated Carthage, located in modern-day Tunisia, in the first and second Punic Wars, the city continued to flourish, something Cato found intolerable. Whether relevant to his speeches before the senate or not, Cato would, for a period, end each one with a phrase very roughly translated as “and by the way, I’d just like to add that Carthage must be destroyed”.
    In the end, either convinced by Cato’s repetitiveness or just to get him to shut up, the Roman Senate agreed to send its forces under Scipio Aemilianus to wipe Carthage from the face of the earth. The focus on the “Carthage problem” certainly helped divert attention from problems at home — there was plenty of dissatisfaction to go round among Ancient Rome’s slaves and lower classes, who formed the bulk of the empire’s population. This dissatisfaction flared up less than fifteen years later in a slave revolt which shook Rome to her foundations, and which would be followed by two more rebellions, the last led by the fabled slave Spartacus.
    Numerous historians point to the sack of Carthage, when Rome destroyed her last great competitor, as the beginning of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
    Even so, Cato’s lesson was not lost on future generations. Unscrupulous would-be autocrats soon learned that if they could focus the attention of the ruled on a common enemy, real or imagined, they might be prepared to forgive their rulers a multitude of sins rather than risk being tarred with the “enemy” brush themselves.
    “Post-truth” on the march
    Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale and the author of How Propaganda Works, published in 2015, says that authoritarian propaganda is a form of communication in which a leader creates a narrative explaining why the problems afflicting certain groups of people have a simple origin and an even simpler solution. Much of the time, the “problems” are of the would-be autocrat’s own invention, he said, a simple expedient to drag the disaffected into his or her camp.
    Oxford Dictionaries flagged “post-truth” as 2016’s international word of the year, a concept it defines as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” It was a nod to the Trump presidential campaign and to Brexit, the UK vote to exit the European Union. Both campaigns owed much of their success to their ability in stoking the fears of certain voters, seeking to identify the “danger” posed by immigrants, people of colour or the “dishonest press”, and to completely ignoring any real-world details that might not fit in with their world view.
    One example is U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s identification of “inner city carnage” as one of the major problems facing Americans today, a demonstrably false claim but one that served to rally his base. Despite the fact that the U.S. murder rate had been in overall decline for some two decades or more, Trump focused on a handful of cities where there had been a spike in violent crime, attributing it to immigrant gangs, convincing his base that the phenomenon was out of control and that only he could solve the problem.
    He also alleged the 2016 election would be rigged by millions of illegal votes marshalled by the perfidious Democrats, despite minimal empirical evidence of voter fraud, which had identified fewer than 10 cases of voter impersonation in the previous election. Among other ludicrous claims, Trump’s boast that his election would ensure people would be allowed to say “Happy Christmas” again belied the fact that the conveying of Christmas wishes had never actually been banned.
    Prior to his election, Trump had adopted the tactic of accusing any and all of his critics of being purveyors of “fake new” — at least he would have done had he known the word “purveyors”. Since then, he has ably used the occasional factual error in unfavourable press articles as “proof” that every media critic is out to get him, while giving a pass to friendly press such as Fox News, even on the numerous occasions that their purported news stories have been thoroughly debunked.
    Since his election, Trump has attacked friend or foe when the mood takes him. He has a well-known tendency of threatening to visit “fire and fury” on anyone who attempts to hold him to account, and of levelling accusations of “fake news” at any news article that dares to imply he isn’t actually the greatest human being in history. Steve Coll wrote in the New Yorker, “fake news” is credible reporting that he (Trump) doesn’t like.”
    Incredibly, the mainstream press has generally failed to hold Trump to account for his numerous lies, like those concerning his tax returns which, during the elections, he promised to release as soon as his audit was over; or regarding the press conference he said he would hold to explain how his wife Melania was awarded a green card, usually reserved for people with “special talents” like nuclear physicists or sporting prodigies. He has rarely been asked to explain, on the record, why he failed to deliver on his promises in either case, or numerous others.
    For over a year he has continued to say he was willing, nay anxious, to testify to the Mueller investigation into whether he or the Republican party under whose banner he swept to power in the 2016 U.S. elections colluded with the Russians in order to achieve the electoral victory. In the meantime, on the back of legal advice, he has strenuously resisted providing any such testimony, and referred to the growing body of evidence linking numerous close associates and other Republicans to high level Russian operators as… fake news.
    Elsewhere, Philippines autocrat Rodrigo Duterte, famous for his machismo and misogyny, deflects by accusing his critics of being gay, paedophiles or drug addicts. In March, he asked the head of the country’s Commission on Human Rights (CHR) if the latter was a paedophile because he had protested the killing of teenagers in the government’s bloody war on drugs, which has already left thousands dead. In the meantime, his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses all his critics, be they politicians, members of the military or journalists, of plotting a coup to take control of Turkey, and throws them all in jail.
    Not the internet
    Many analysts have blamed the internet, Facebook and Twitter for facilitating the spread of spurious news stories — such as Infowars’ story that Trump’s presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton, was involved in a paedophile ring headquartered in a Washington pizza parlour, the so-called “Pizzagate” affair, or the so-called Uranium One scandal. The latter was thoroughly debunked by Sam Shephard on Fox News, leading several viewers to call for his resignation because they preferred their pro-Trump, anti-everyone-else stories to pass without question, whether true or not.
    But Trump, Duterte and others probably learned much about deception, deflection and self-serving propaganda from a past-master at these arts, four times Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi. For twenty years, the Mediaset and Fininvest kingpin, who had made much of his fortune by “convincing” politicians to grease the wheels of his many projects, dodged accusations of corruption, conflicts of interests, tax evasion, and mafia associations by simply denying all the evidence and berating his accusers. His supporters lapped it all up, even when his lies were, on occasion, laid bare.
    The great British author George Orwell saw it all coming, of course. In his splendid 1984, written almost seventy years ago, “the Party” (for, like Highlander, there can be only one) maintains its control over the “proles” by reducing all opposition to a simple concept — so-called “thoughtcrime”, or ideas which run contrary to the desired orthodoxy. Anyone guilty of gainsaying this orthodoxy is an enemy, and must be destroyed.
    In much the same way Berlusconi’s opponents were “communists” and Trump’s promote “fake news”. The CTA has berated its enemies as “Chinese spies” in much the same way, and with much the same aim — to shut down debate.
    For example “Chinese spy” accusation were levelled against the following people the CTA regarded as opponents or threats: all Dorje Shugden monks and lay people for opposing the Dalai Lama’s anti-Constitutional religious ban; against Milla Rangzen, the owner and editor of Tibetan magazine, who is critical of Lobsang Sangay; against Lukar Jam, who was a candidate for the post of CTA’s president in most recent past CTA elections; against Sharchock Cookta who was critical of the CTA and was targeted by the headline: “shocking news: MP Sharchock Cookta Chinese spy suspicion in Tibetan Parliament”; against the head of the Karma Kagyu when they wanted to bring the Buddhist leader under CTA’s excessive control; against Dudjom Rinpoche who was head of the Nyingma sect when he was extremely popular in the 1960’s and was regarded as a threat to the political line of the CTA; against Serkong Tritul Rinpoche who is a successful lama — when he visited Taiwan, the CTA accused him to be a Chinese spy, forgetting the Dalai Lama also visited Taiwan; against all Tibetans who are advocating full independence from China (rangzen) in opposition to the Dalai Lama’s ‘Middle Way’ approach, as was expressed by Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche who was the CTA President before Lobsang Sangay…
    But the CTA is fast losing the faith of many Tibetans in exile. In recent years, several have left the exile communities in search of a better life elsewhere — an increasing number of them even choosing to return to China-controlled Tibet when possible — and the numbers are accelerating. Commitment to the Tibetan struggle is weakening as exiles begin to focus on their more mundane needs which the CTA has singularly failed to address despite the time, resources and goodwill at its disposal.
    Simplistic accusations tend to lose their power over time. Like the boy who cried wolf, authoritarian propagandists may convince a less critical section of society for a period, but eventually even their most staunch enthusiasts begin to waver when they understand they are being toyed with, and that the autocrat whose pretexts they have so devoutly supported never had any intention of working to satisfy their needs. This is as true for the CTA as for other autocrats and their cohorts.
    Even so, for the moment, “post-truth” remains in the ascendant. There is a shorter word for the concept, of course: lies.
    https://medium.com/@TenzinJigme59/how-the-tibetan-government-in-exile-embraced-post-truth-and-fake-news-236885b7bcc8

    DS.com How the Tibetan government in exile embraced “post-truth” and fake news

  12. In most parliaments, ministers discuss policies, budgets and legislation that can make a positive impact for their nation. However, in the Tibetan Parliament in-Exile, they talk about a bunch of postcards critical of their poor leadership. Astounding! That is how they plan to ‘save the world’ and lead the Tibetan people back to Tibet? Their intelligence is simply out of this world. It looks like the postcards were right after all, they are extremely ineffective.

    http://video.dorjeshugden.com/comment-videos/comment-1523892203.mp4


  13. After almost 60 years of living in political limbo, the Dalai Lama is now paving the way for his future and that of his fellow Tibetans in-exile. During a recent Thank You India event in Dharamsala, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) President Lobsang Sangay presented the Dalai Lama’s wish to return to Tibet as his “last unfulfilled dream.” Some of the important Indian officials in attendance welcomed this dream and noted their support for the wish to be realized.

    However, India has a precarious role to play in pushing for the Dalai Lama’s return to China. India can use the Tibetans to negotiate favourable terms to protect her interests, including the settlement of the Sino-Indian border issues. China’s acknowledgement of Arunachal Pradesh as part of India can be one of those conditions India imposes on the Dalai Lama’s return to the Tibetan Autonomous Region. But the move could back fire, if the Dalai Lama accepts China’s stance that Tibet was never an independent state, but an integral part of China, India may need to concede sections of her northern territory to China. The current border was drawn up between British India and the Tibetan leadership before 1959. If the Dalai Lama was to state that Tibet was never independent, the demarcated border would be moot. The Tibetan leadership would never have had the authority to sign any agreement, nullifying the one that created the border in the first place. Either way, the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in-exile continue to be a thorn in the relationship between India and China.

    The fact that the Tibetan cause was downgraded from one that sought complete independence to one that seeks autonomy is a clear sign that the prospect for a free Tibet is bleak. The CTA has failed. Once the Dalai Lama steps foot on Chinese soil, he would no longer be a ‘refugee’ and Tibet’s fate as a part of China would be completely sealed.

    WILL DALAI LAMA RETURN TO CHINA?
    APRIL 16, 2018 2:49 AM
    Dr. Sangay’s statement has only further confirmed fears among many observers that an influential section among the Tibetan exile leadership is desperate about cobbling up a deal with China on whatever terms. The very first negotiation point in this deal, as already declared by Dr. Sangay, is bound to be the return of Dalai Lama. Leaving Dalai Lama to the mercy of such lobbies will be a national hara-kiri.
    Vijay Kranti is a senior journalist, Tibetologist and Chairman, Centre for Himalayan Asia Studies & Engagement (CHASE)
    A question which is currently confronting most of Tibet-China watchers and Tibet supporters is, “is Dalai Lama seriously planning to visit or return to Tibet or China?” Three years ago the same question had created ripples when the idea of him visiting China’s famous holy Buddhist shrine of Wutai Shan was discussed loudly both in Beijing as well as in Dharamsala. On Sunday (1st April) again, Dr. Lobsang Sangay, the elected ‘Sikyong’ (the ‘President’ of Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala) stunned Tibet and China observers by announcing that time had arrived to fulfill Dalai Lama’s dream of returning to Tibet to ‘reunite with Tibetans’ and to live in Potala, the traditional palace residence of Dalai Lamas in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
    Dr. Sangay was speaking in Dharamshala at the opening function of ‘Thank You India’, the year-long celebrations organized by CTA to commemorate the 60th year of Dalai Lama’s arrival in India and to express Tibetans’ gratitude toward the people and government of India. It was on 3rd April, 1959 when Dalai Lama, the exiled ruler and supreme Buddhist leader of Tibet, arrived in India at the end of a 17-day long daring and grueling escape on foot through snow and mountains to save himself from arrest or killing by the occupying Chinese army in Tibet.
    Interestingly these celebrations had already become focus of world attention following New Delhi government’s instructions to its senior bureaucrats and leaders to keep off public events involving Dalai Lama’s personal presence. This sudden toughening of New Delhi’s stand forced the CTA to cancel the main mega event of Dalai Lama in capital’s spacious Thyagraja Stadium. But it is not first time that New Delhi rulers have taken a stand of this kind which appears to be aimed at pleasing Beijing in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to China. In October 2007 too, the erstwhile UPA government had issued an identical diktat to its senior leaders and bureaucrats when Dalai Lama was given a civic reception at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre for being honoured by the US Parliament with America’s highest civic honour — the Congressional Gold Medal (equivalent to Bharat Ratna of India).
    According to Dr. Sangay the first dream of Dalai Lama was about seeing blood which, according to Dr. Sangay, turned true when Tibetans faced widespread killings of Tibetan protesters during uprising against the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 and also in later years. The International Commission of Jurists, an affiliate body of erstwhile UNO, claimed that Chinese army killed more than 80 thousand Tibetans to crush the uprising in 1959. As per Dharamsala claims this number of unnatural deaths of Tibetans in Chinese occupied Tibet has crossed 12 lakhs (1.2 million) over past seven decades.
    The second dream refers to Dalai Lama meeting ‘people in white’ which, Sangay says, again turned out to be true when Dalai Lama fled Tibet and met Indian leaders like Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and President Dr. Rajendra Prasad who were known for wearing dazzling white Khadi.
    EXPLOITING RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS?
    Citing these two ‘dreams’ of Dalai Lama turning out to be true, Dr. Sangay enthusiastically claimed about a third dream of Dalai Lama which gives an extraordinary political dimension to this statement, especially for coming out of the mouth of the Tibetan leader whom the Dalai Lama has transferred all his political powers through a constitutional amendment. Quoting Dr. Sangay Jyoti Malhotra of the Indian Express reported , “The Dalai Lama’s third dream, Lobsang Sangay said, was of him returning to the Potala palace filled with light and ‘reunited with Tibetan people’… This third dream will also come true by karmic design. We must all make efforts for His Holiness’ dream to return to the Potala palace come true, Sangay added.”
    Referring to dreams of an individual may not hold much meaning for outsider observers and analysts. But in a deeply religious society like Tibet where no rule is above the words of Dalai Lama, Dr. Lobsang Sangay’s attempt to present Dalai Lama’s return to Chinese ruled Tibet as the religious leader’s “last unfulfilled dream” and his call to Tibetan people for making this ‘dream’ of Dalai Lama a reality, deserves a closer scrutiny by the Tibetan society, supporters of the Tibetan cause and, above all, the Indian government who have stakes in future of Tibet and its relations with China. This statement becomes extremely meaningful in the light of the fact that it is first time in past six decades that a senior(most) official of Tibetan government in exile has publicly endorsed Beijing’s agenda which is seriously focused at bringing back Dalai Lama to Chinese ruled Tibet before he is dead and the search for his next (15th) reincarnation starts.
    PUSHING CHINESE AGENDA
    It is noteworthy that in two major contacts between Dharamsala and Beijing, first held during late 1970s and early 1980s and second between 2002-2010 period, Tibetan side branded these meetings as ‘Tibet-China talks’ and ‘dialogue’ but Chinese side made it known public more than once that the visits of Tibetan delegations were ‘private’ in nature and the only subject of discussion was how to pave way for return of Dalai Lama to the ‘great motherland’. If followed in letter or spirit, Dr. Sangay’s plans about Dalai Lama’s return to ‘China’s Tibet’ is simple implementation of Chinese agenda which would mean a permanent closure of the dispute between Tibet and its colonial masters in Beijing.
    Knowledgeable sources in MEA as well as India’s intelligence agencies who are keenly watching Dharamsala-Beijing contacts, believe that this announcement of Dr. Sangay has further strained the relations between New Delhi and Dharamshala. These relations have been already undergoing stress caused by a series of developments related to Dharamshala’s secret hobnobbing with Chinese government in recent past. A couple of years ago MEA had a serious brush with CTA, including the private office of the Dalai Lama when it was discovered that a meeting between Dalai Lama and a Chinese leader, holding rank of a minister, was secretly organized in Dharamsala without taking into confidence the MEA or security agencies that are responsible for Dalai Lama’s personal security. Similarly, recent China visit of Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, the former ‘Prime Minister’ of CTA also did not go down well with MEA.
    BOTH SIDES RESPONSIBLE
    But it will be too naïve and unkind to Dharamsala if all the blame for such developments is heaped exclusively on CTA or Dalai Lama. It is no secret that over past six decades of Dalai Lama’s presence in India, the MEA has been perpetually as a loss and confused in evolving or adopting a well defined policy on Tibet — not even about the status of Dalai Lama, his activities and the scope of cooperation between him and the Indian government.
    India abstained from and refused to support the first two resolutions in 1959 and 1961 in the UNO which condemned China for serious abrogation of human rights in Tibet. Rather, India stopped the rest of world from raising the issue of Tibet in the UNO. But following India-China war of 1962 India voted in favour of the same resolution when it was pressed third time in 1965. Indian representative Rafiq Zakaria’s strong statement against Chinese conduct inside occupied Tibet came as a pleasant surprise to the anti-China lobbies across the world. In later years also there have been many occasions when New Delhi allowed, rather facilitated, Dalai Lama’s visits to Arunachal Pradesh despite strong threats and reactions from China.
    INDIRA GANDHI’S INITIATIVE
    In the aftermath of 1962 war the Indian government went to the extent of raising an exclusive ‘Special Frontier Force’ (SFF) in the Indian Army which worked directly under the Cabinet Secretariat and has been popularly known as ‘Establishment-22’. In the Bangladesh liberation war during 1970-71 period a sizeable contingent of Tibetan ‘22’ guerrilla soldiers was secretly assigned the job of liberating the Tripura-Chittagong sector. Interestingly, the field operations of this secret contingent were personally supervised by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself.
    On the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath in Rashrapati Bhawan in the presence of all heads of state from South Asia except China, the presence of Tibetan Sikyong Dr. Sangay in the VVIP enclosure gave indication that a brand new and different Tibet policy was in the offing. But later developments, especially the latest instructions of the NDA government to ignore ‘Thank You India’ have only confused the observers, and Dalai Lama too.
    This sudden announcement by Dr. Sangay calling for Dalai Lama’s return to Chinese controlled Tibet has surprised many observers and institutions who have been keenly watching the Tibet-China-India triangle over past few decades. The uncommon attention that these remarks of the Sekyong has received, has prompted some other seniors in Dharamsala to suggest that it is nothing more than an off the cuff retort to New Delhi’s latest humiliating decision. Responding to my pointed question about Dalai Lama’s personal position on this issue, two prominent Tibetans who sit on two extreme ends of the ongoing political debate among the community disagreed with Dr. Sangay’s agenda.
    FAITH IN DALAI LAMA’S WISDOM
    Tenzin Tsundue (43) is the most visible and vocal signature of Tibetan ‘Rangzen’ movement, which stands for complete independence for Tibet as opposed to Dalai Lama’s ‘Middle Path’ for ‘genuine autonomy’. He says, “HH (Dalai Lama) is still the boss, not Sikyong. Lobsang Sangay’s showing the face in the media, on stage, being the head of CTA is still nominal and has little meaning. HH calls the shots.” Emphasizing his faith Dalai Lama’s wisdom he says, “please don’t underestimate HH’s political wisdom.”
    Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche (81) a senior monk statesman out rightly rejected the idea of any plans to send back Dalai Lama to China or Tibet. Both of them remind that during his countless world tours the Dalai Lama has been always presenting India in a very positive light in his public speeches and one to one discussions with heads of state. Both of them regret that India could have used the international goodwill of Dalai Lama in enhancing its own interests in the world politics. The Dalai Lama has recently nominated Prof. Rinpoche and Dr. Sangay as his personal envoys to take ahead Dharamsala-Beijing ‘dialogue’.
    DELHI OR DHARAMSALA — NEITHER CAN AFFORD IT
    Whatever be the reality behind the prevailing confusion but one thing is clear. Neither Dalai Lama nor India can afford his slipping into Chinese lap at this delicate moment of Tibetan history. A dramatic decision like this will leave Dalai Lama, Tibet and Tibetan people completely at the mercy of Chinese whose previous record on their promises to Tibet is only too well known. By returning either permanently or even as a ‘pilgrim guest’ of a country (China) whose atrocities made him flee to exile, Dalai Lama will lose his legal and moral qualification as a ‘refugee’.
    DALAI LAMA’S LOSS
    Tibetan people may be happy to see their ‘Yeshi Norbu’ (meaning Precious-Gem and a common name for Dalai Lama) with their own eyes in their current life time. But this privilege will come at the cost of losing the momentum and courage of standing up against the tyranny for their colonial masters once they see their leader patching up with China. More than 150 Tibetans have committed self immolation inside Tibet against Chinese rule in recent years. The international Tibet support movement which has taken roots across the world over past six decades will die instantly and it cannot be revived in future if China ever goes back on its promises to Dalai Lama. His visit or return will permanently seal the fate of Tibet as an integral part of China and Beijing will get the license of nominating the future Dalai Lamas too.
    By segregating the political and religious titles of the institution of Dalai Lama and handing over all his political powers to the elected representatives of Tibetans, the Dalai Lama had already given an endless shelf life to the Tibetan struggle and the institution of Dalai Lama itself. Sadly, his return to China will kill this achievement in its infancy.
    INDIA STANDS TO LOSE
    For India also, too big things are at stake to sit idle and allow the influential lobbies of Dharamsala to hand over a living Dalai Lama on a platter to China. With the return of Dalai Lama to Tibet or China all chances, whatever remote, of rehabilitating Tibet as a buffer between India and a quarrelsome China would be lost forever. But worst fall out of this Dharamsala-Beijing marriage will be the sudden transformation of the Himalayan states of India from India’s ‘first defence post’ to the Chinese front post of aggression because the local Buddhist populations have deeper religious bonds and relations with the Tibetan Buddhist system and monasteries inside Tibet than with the Indian plains.
    INDIAN HARAKIRI ?
    Dr. Sangay’s statement has only further confirmed fears among many observers that an influential section among the Tibetan exile leadership is desperate about cobbling up a deal with China on whatever terms. The very first negotiation point in this deal, as already declared by Dr. Sangay, is bound to be the return of Dalai Lama. Leaving Dalai Lama to the mercy of such lobbies will be a national hara-kiri on the part of Indian government. Rather, it would be much wiser for New Delhi to become pro-active on this front. By taking reasonable interest in the Dharamsala-Beijing dialogue New Delhi will not only strengthen Dalai Lama’s hands, but it will also give India enough elbow room to ensure its own interests in any prospective deal remain safe.
    For New Delhi to start with, one not-so difficult move can be to publicly acknowledge Dalai Lama’s personal and institutional contributions to the Indian cultural and philosophic though process and to bestow upon him the ‘Bharat Ratna.’ After all, if India can honour friendly foreigners like Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teressa with this Bharat-Ratna, then Dalai Lama’s name sound equally, if not more befitting. On the diplomatic front too, such a step will not only enhance the shelf life of Tibetan issue and value of Dalai Lama for India, it will be a very Gandhian and befitting response to China’s aggressive postures against India.
    Mr Vijay Kranti can be contacted at [email protected]
    Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Tibetan Review.
    http://www.tibetanreview.net/will-dalai-lama-return-to-china/

    WILL DALAI LAMA RETURN TO CHINA?

  14. More evidence has surfaced regarding His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Charitable Trust’s dubious activities in India.

    The Buddhist Community Centre UK (BCCUK) paid “donations” of £50,000 to the trust for the Dalai Lama’s talk in Aldershot in the UK 3 years ago. This is yet another example against the claim that the Dalai Lama does not charge or receive money for his highly priced and ticketed talks around the world. The other highly infamous case was the US$1 million received for the Dalai Lama’s appearance in Albany in 2009. This actually let to the Dalai Lama’s Trust endorsing the sex-cult leader, Raniere. In addition, a trustee also revealed that the trust is used to transfer profits made from events like this in order to evade tax.

    It seems that charities set up in the Dalai Lama’s name show poor levels of accountability, lack transparency in the use of the money raised, and are involved in criminal activity. Millions of dollars are poured into these charities through various Tibetan advocacy groups and foreign NGO’s in an effort to support the ‘Tibetan cause’. It is extremely unethical for these charities to take advantage of the sentiments for Tibetan victims of self-immolations against China, to get money. On top of that they squander the hard-earned cash of donors and treat it like one’s ‘personal bank account’.

    Dalai Lama Being Investigated for Possible Tax Fraud
    April 16, 2018
    by Indy Hack
    Much is made of the Dalai Lama’s noble claim to travel the world teaching Buddhism for free. Each overseas event states explicitly that the Dalai Lama never charges a fee or receives any money, yet the ticket prices don’t match that noble sentiment.
    One such event took place in a small town in the UK in 2015. The Dalai Lama visited a Buddhist Community Centre in Aldershot and gave a talk at the local soccer ground with tickets ranging in price from £20-£50, which is quite cheap compared to his US prices. The event was organised by a UK charity, Buddhist Community Centre UK (BCCUK) who claimed they would be, “charging a minimum entrance fee in order to cover the costs of venue and necessary administrations. Any surplus funds raised from the event will be donated to charities.”
    Following the event BCCUK made two payments to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Charitable Trust in India totaling approximately £50,000.As explained in a previous article, according to trustees of this fund the Dalai Lama uses it as a mechanism to make sure that he is “paid his share of the profits” from overseas events whilst avoiding any tax on them.According to BCCUK’s filings they made donations of £11,149 and £46,365. The filings don’t explain where these donations went and these are the only sums the charity has ever paid out as donations in its entire filing history.
    Trustees of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Charitable Trust confirmed that around the same time they received donations from BCCUK. Although they didn’t receive those exact amounts they did receive approximately £50,000 in total from them.
    One trustee who spoke on condition of anonymity explained that the Dalai Lama treats this Trust as “his personal bank account”. It is used to transfer profits from events such as the Dalai Lama’s talk in Aldershot back to India where he can spend them tax-free.
    Had BCCUK been aware of this they would have been required to deduct at least £10,000 from this amount and pay it to the UK tax authorities on behalf of the Dalai Lama.
    This matter along with all relevant documentation has now been referred to Her Majaesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the UK tax authority, to assist with their investigation into the Dalai Lama’s possible tax fraud.
    HMRC whilst being unable to comment on the specifics of any particular case have confirmed that they are currently looking into a report of tax evasion by the Dalai Lama.
    https://artvoice.com/2018/04/16/dalai-lama-investigated-possible-tax-fraud/#.WteL-IhuZPZ

    Dalai Lama Being Investigated for Possible Tax Fraud

  15. China is serious about matters of security. A new website in both Mandarin and English allows members of the public to report incidents which could endanger China’s national security. Nagchu County in the Tibetan Autonomous Region even offers promises of cash rewards for leads on “criminal” activity, including the reporting of organizations or persons advocating “separatism”, and the “abuse of religion, power, and family connections to illegally encroach on property”.

    Not only is China stepping up its curbing of national security threats, the legal system is also being improved, providing stronger guarantees for the lawful rights and interests of the public. Earlier this month, China issued a white paper noting that the country adheres to policies on religious freedom, and that China forbids discriminatory behaviour against religion and even ethnicity.

    On one hand the Central Tibetan Administration baselessly persecutes Dorje Shugden practitioners as “criminals in history” simple due to their religious beliefs and even blames Shugden practice for the failure of the Tibetan cause. On the other hand, China seems to be sensible when dealing with issues threatening national interests, and does not blame religious practitioners for their woes. Perhaps the Dalai Lama has realised that the Tibetan leadership is useless and that’s the reason why he wants to return to Tibet. China is much better at leadership than the Central Tibetan Administration.

    China launches website for citizens to report spies, corrupt bureaucrats
    [Tuesday, April 17, 2018 20:59]
    By Tenzin Dharpo
    DHARAMSHALA, April 16: The Chinese government has launched a website which encourages its citizens to report information on potential threat from foreign agents and their designs to its “sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security” on Sunday.
    The newly launched website in Mandarin and English lists 21 reportable activities, including activities “to subvert the state power”, a charge commonly pinned on Tibetans in occupied Tibet. Number of Tibetans have also been charged with colluding with so called separatists in exile, which under the heading of “to dismember the state,” also makes the list of activities deemed reportable.
    In what is being referred to as China’s campaign against espionage, users of the website are also encouraged to tip-off foreigners meeting any people within China “who have conducted activities endangering state security or being strongly suspected of doing so.”
    Corrupt officials who are known or suspected to be taking bribes have also been encouraged to be reported. President Xi Jinping has launched an aggressive drive against graft since taking office although critics have said that it was also a tool to eliminate political rivals such as Bo Xilai.
    Anyone suspected or known to be selling or buying state secrets can be reported in both Chinese and English and may qualify for cash rewards depending upon the level of information reported. While there is no mention of the amount of rewards, the Beijing City National Security Bureau was offering $1,500 to $73,000 for information on spies, the official Beijing Daily reported last April.
    The Beijing government has also sought to include its people in the drive against spies and people who are colluding with foreign states. On Sunday, which marked the National Security Education Day, a cartoon with the illustrations, “a friend with a mask”, for questionable behaviour among people, was released.
    http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=40359&t=1

    China launches website for citizens to report spies, corrupt bureaucrats

  16. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been openly saying he wants to return to Tibet. He has dreams he is in his potala palace with many butterlamps lit and meeting Tibetan people meeting him. Lobsang Sangye says Tibetans should make the Dalai Lama’s dream come true. Members of the Indian govt also says they hope he can go back.The interesting thing is if Dalai Lama goes back to Tibet, he will not be able to speak against Dorje Shugden anymore. Speaking against Dorje Shugden forces people to take sides and segregate. So much disharmony and pain created. The Tibetan leadership have divided their exiled Tibetan communities into two factions due to their illegal ban against Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden people are not allowed into Tibetan hospitals, clinics and events since the ban started in 1996. Their children are asked to leave Tibetan schools which was damaging. Dorje Shugden people have suffered tremendous discrimination due to the ban from the Tibetan leadership.

    China does not want social disharmony especially in Tibet for whatever reasons. So China does not ban Dorje Shugden but ironically gives religious freedom. Therefore the ban against Dorje Shugden by the Tibetan leadership in exile will not be allowed if Dalai Lama returns to Tibet. In fact, if Dalai Lama and his people want to get on the good side of China to even be considered to visit or return to Tibet, they better stop speaking about Dorje Shugden negatively. The tables have turned. The oppression against Dorje Shugden people have to end now.

    Video of His Holiness Dalai Lama expelling monks from monasteries solely because they practice Dorje Shugden. Remember, Dorje Shugden has been practiced in major monasteries for the last 400 years. Dalai Lama in the video says he is happy they are kicked out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTgYWidYw3U

  17. USA doesn’t accept Tibetan refugees any more
    Since Trump took office, the Tibetan yellow book has not been accepted by the American embassy in Delhi. No matter how strong a Tibetan’s accompanying documents are, the second they present their yellow book to the visa officer, their application is rejected. A friend of mine went to the American embassy himself to confirm this.
    He said it’s because the US government knows what the Tibetans have been doing i.e. go to the US and throw away their passports, and apply for asylum / young Tibetan girls overstay and get married to American men / young Tibetan guys overstay and work in restaurants, etc.
    As a result, more Tibetans are aiming for Europe which is easier to get into compared to America, but it is not as easy as before. Nowadays, to get to Europe, it costs Rs24 lakh (approximately USD36,255.51). On top of that, they can’t fly directly into Europe anymore and have to go a long, roundabout way.
    First, Tibetans get a fake Indian passport and travel to Bangkok. They remain there for 15 days, where they throw away their Indian passport and another agent gets them a Thai passport. They use this to travel to Turkey where they remain for another few days, before traveling to Greece. After spending a few days in Greece, they travel to Spain. Once they’re in Western Europe, it’s easy for them to go anywhere else. Many of them end up in France.
    The entire journey takes about one month (whereas in the past they could have flown from India directly to France). Some Tibetans who don’t have enough money to complete the journey, find themselves stuck in Turkey or Greece until they can raise the funds.
    Many Tibetans, especially the older ones, are selling their homes in the settlements to fund this journey. If they have enough money, the whole family goes. If they don’t have enough money, they send just their kids. Basically, they have lost hope and confidence in the CTA, and are worried about what will happen when His Holiness the Dalai Lama passes. They feel that Indian government might kick them out, force them to become Indian citizens, etc.
    If they can’t get to Europe, then they try Canada, Australia, etc. They will keep trying anywhere until they find a place that will accept them. In the worst case scenario, they go to Nepal because Nepal has more freedom. This is not because the Nepali government gives them more freedom; the Tibetans feel that Nepal has more freedom because it is out of the control of the CTA. Worse comes to worst, if all else fails, then they will apply for Indian citizenship.

    USA Flag

  18. It sure looks like both China and India are determined to achieve successful reconciliation, something that will mark a new milestone in the history of India-China relations. This will continue to impede the Tibetan leadership’s attempts to spew anti-China rhetoric and propaganda. India already began its clampdown on the Tibetans in March, when they banned key Tibetan events, including cancelling celebrations marking the Tibetans’ 60 years in exile, which were going to be held in Delhi.

    India changed her strategy after recognising that a hard-line approach with China did not work. Rather, there is much more to gain if Asia’s two giants come together for the common goal of mutual benefit. If all goes well, India may even be the one cutting a deal with China to allow the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet. After all, the Tibetan leadership in-exile have failed miserably in making progress in this regard. Nonetheless, we know for sure that India will no longer tolerate nonsense from Tibetans in-exile that would jeopardize their relations with China any further.

    India’s Modi to visit China this week as rapprochement gathers pace
    Ben Blanchard
    BEIJING (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China this week for an informal meeting with President Xi Jinping, as efforts at rapprochement gather pace following a testing year in ties between the two giant neighbors.
    The Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, said the two would meet on Friday and Saturday in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
    “Our common interests far outweigh our differences. The two countries have no choice other than pursuing everlasting friendship, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development,” Wang told reporters after meeting Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj in Beijing.
    “The summit will go a long way towards deepening the mutual trust between the two great neighbors,” he added. “We will make sure that the informal summit will be a complete success and a new milestone in the history of China-India relations.”
    Modi has sought to re-set ties after disputes over issues including their disputed border with Tibet and other issues.
    The discussion with Wang was to prepare for the informal summit, Swaraj said.
    “It will be an important occasion for them (Modi and Xi) to exchange views on bilateral and international matters, from an overarching and long-term perspective with the objective of enhancing mutual communication,” Swaraj said.
    The Asian giants were locked in a 73-day military stand-off in a remote, high-altitude stretch of that boundary last year. At one point, soldiers from the two sides threw stones and punches.
    The confrontation between the nuclear-armed powers in the Himalayas underscored Indian alarm at China’s expanding security and economic links in South Asia.
    China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative of transport and energy links bypasses India, apart from a corner of the disputed Kashmir region, also claimed by Pakistan, but involves India’s neighbors Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives.Modi’s previously unannounced Wuhan trip is even more unusual in that he will visit China again in June for a summit in Qingdao of the China and Russia-led security grouping, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which India joined last year.
    It is almost unheard of for foreign leaders to visit China twice in such close succession. Xi is also extending Modi the rare honor of a meeting outside of Beijing, which almost never happens unless there is a multilateral summit taking place.
    Modi’s nationalist government has reversed course on its relationship with Beijing apparently after realizing its hard line on China was not working.
    Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who lives in India and who China considers a dangerous separatist, is also facing the cold shoulder.
    In March, India issued an unprecedented ban on Tibetans holding a rally with the Dalai Lama in New Delhi to mark the 60th anniversary of the start of the failed uprising against Chinese rule.
    Other areas of disagreement remain however between Beijing and New Delhi.
    China has blocked India’s membership of a nuclear cartel and it has also been blocking U.N. sanctions against a Pakistan-based militant leader blamed for attacks on India.
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-india-xi/indias-modi-to-visit-china-this-week-as-rapprochement-gathers-pace-idUSKBN1HT0G2

    India's Modi to visit China this week as rapprochement gathers pace

  19. Did His Holiness the Dalai Lama recognize the wrong Karmapa?

    The Karmapas and Sharmapas are spiritually inseparable. Both are fellow holders of the 900-year-old Karma Kagyu lineage, a spiritual tradition that predates the lineage of the Dalai Lamas by over 200 years. They are also responsible for the recognition of each other’s reincarnations. However, in 1992, Tai Situ recognized a Karmapa candidate different from the candidate chosen by the Sharmapa. He effectively overrode centuries of tradition amongst the four Karma Kagyu regents. Tai Situ went ahead and enthroned his own candidate without the Sharmapa’s approval, and received the Dalai Lama’s approval. Therefore, the Dalai Lama may have endorsed the wrong Karmapa.

    Due to the Dalai Lama’s endorsement, the Tibetan leadership in Dharamsala acknowledged Tai Situ’s candidate, Ogyen Trinley, as the 17th Karmapa, hosting him at the Gelug lineage’s Gyuto Tantric monastery. They even side-lined the Sharmapa’s candidate, Thaye Dorje. The world’s media were also misled to believe that “the Dalai Lama’s Karmapa” is the sole and legitimate candidate for the position. Until today, thanks to the Tibetan leadership, there is no end in sight to the rift that the Karmapa issue caused within the Karma Kagyu tradition. This long-standing feud occurred because of the Tibetan leadership’s political interference in spiritual matters.

    http://video.dorjeshugden.com/comment-videos/comment-1524833812.mp4


  20. The beginning of the end for Tibetan leadership in India.

    The Dalai Lama and Tibetan govt in-exile better be on the alert now. For years they have met politicians, organizations and private individuals while talking negatively about China and painted an ugly picture of China wherever they went to get sympathetic votes and more free aid in dollars. It didn’t work, as the whole world wants to be China’s friend now, even the Indians. Tibet was no Shangrila and the reason they even lost their country back in 1959 was due to their own ineffective and corrupt leadership. It’s their own fault. For the last 60 years living Tax free in India they have still not secured their country back. It shows their lack of abilities and ineptness. Now Prime Minister Modi has landed in China to meet the powerful President Xi. One of the agendas to be discussed is the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in India. Definitely China will work something out with Modi against the freeloading Tibetan refugees. High time too. Many Indians on social media have called for the Dalai Lama and Tibetans to return home as they have overstayed their welcome in India. Why should India stick their necks out any further for the useless Tibetans? That is how the Indians have rightly complained.

    Now with Modi getting closer to China and President Xi, this spells doomsday for the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans. For years the Tibetans have been meddling in Indian politics and insulting China and now the day of reckoning is near. The Tibetan govt in-exile are corrupt, useless, self-serving, schismatic and hateful. For years they have spoken against Dorje Shugden practitioners, segregating them and inciting violence against them in India. Now their karma has returned. The Tibetan govt in-exile likes to call Dorje Shugden pracitioners ‘Chinese spies’ and the funny thing is now the Dalai Lama is nearly begging China to return to Tibet/China. Who is the Chinese spy now?

    Now the Dalai Lama and his exiled govt better keep quiet about China and be humble. They better remain silent on the unjust treatment of Dorje Shugden people and ‘allow’ religious freedom. They are losing power and losing support fast. Now the time has come they will have to swallow their own bitter pills they so happily doled out to others previously. Tibetan govt leaders better keep quiet and be humble now. The Tibetan govt in-exile should not have segregated Dorje Shugden people. Now Dorje Shugden people should go and become friends with China and return to Tibet to live also. The Dalai Lama wants to return to Tibet so bad but China does not want him. Too bad. India does not want him either. Too bad. Should have been friends with Dorje Shugden people in order to have more support in the hundreds of thousands. They should not have made trouble. Too bad the Tibetan leadership is so corrupt. So narrow minded, they trampled on their own people’s religious rights. Now we will see who wins. The Tibetan leadership or Dorje Shugden. I have a feeling Dorje Shugden will win.

    PM Narendra Modi arrives in China, his goal clear: Bridge the trust deficit
    The Chinese President has not hosted any leader in an “informal summit”, which is how the Xi-Modi meeting has been described. In fact, Xi is travelling out of Beijing to central China to spend over two days with the Indian PM, the first time he is extending such a gesture to a visiting foreign leader.
    Written by Shubhajit Roy | Wuhan (china) | Updated: April 27, 2018 8:07:29 am
    Past midnight Thursday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in this picturesque city of lakes, parks and gardens along the Yangtze river, the big question that followed him was this: Can he bridge the trust deficit with China, and its powerful President Xi Jinping?
    The answer, The Indian Express has learnt, could possibly lie in a new “modus vivendi”, an arrangement for two conflicting sides to co-exist in peace, that the two leaders will work on over the next two days.
    “The modus vivendi, which was reaffirmed and arrived at during (then PM) Rajiv Gandhi’s 1988 visit, has frayed considerably. It has been felt on both sides that it needs to be reframed,” sources told The Indian Express.
    Officials feel the 1988 framework to develop bilateral relations in all spheres, while carrying out border negotiations without any use of force, has outlived its utility.
    “China has now emerged as a hegemonic power and has been stepping on our toes repeatedly. We are competing with each other everywhere, from South Asia to Africa, from Southeast Asia to Indo-Pacific. There is a realisation that both sides have reached a tipping point,” sources said.
    The Chinese President has not hosted any leader in an “informal summit”, which is how the Xi-Modi meeting has been described. In fact, Xi is travelling out of Beijing to central China to spend over two days with the Indian PM, the first time he is extending such a gesture to a visiting foreign leader.
    The two leaders have met at least 10 times over the last four years, but this will be their first meeting since Xi has been re-elected, with the Constitutional limit for a presidential term done away with.
    “There has been a lack of strategic trust between the two countries, and this summit will be looking at repairing that damage and how to move forward,” sources said.
    “Wuhan was recently named China’s happiest city…we hope to give some happy news about the summit,” a Chinese official told The Indian Express.
    Modi will meet Xi at about 3 pm Friday at the Hubei provincial museum. The two leaders will head for a one-on-one meeting at the premises and also tour the museum together.
    Later, a structured meeting between Modi and Xi, with six officials on each side, will be held at the museum premises. The two sides will then move to the State Guest House, a palatial complex in the heart of the city along the East lake, where the leaders will meet once again accompanied by the officials. Modi and Xi will again meet for dinner at the guest house Friday evening.
    This structured delegation-level talks is the first indication that the “informal summit” is being crafted in a calibrated and choreographed manner.
    Some of Friday’s meetings will be attended by senior officials, including National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale. But Saturday will see the two leaders meeting mostly in a one-on-one format, including a “lakeside walk” and a “boat-ride”. The leaders will also travel on a ferry, where they will “discuss issues over a cup of tea”.
    Ahead of his departure for Wuhan, Modi said, “President Xi and I will exchange views on a range of issues of bilateral and global importance. We will discuss our respective visions and priorities for national development, particularly in the context of the current and future international situation. We will also review developments in India-China relations from a strategic and long-term perspective.”
    Sources said the talks will not be on “specific issues” but “the future direction of the relationship”, including concerns and sensitivities such as the China-Pakistan-Economic Corridor, Belt and Road Initiative, listing of Masood Azhar and India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. From the Chinese perspective, the Tibetan issue and how India handles the refugees are key questions.
    Preparatory work on the new arrangement has been taking place since last September, when the two leaders met in Xiamen on the sidelines of the BRICS summit and wanted to talk “in detail”, but could not due to paucity of time.
    In Wuhan, Modi was received by Chinese Vice Foreign minister Kong Xuanyou at the airport.
    Indicating the mood within the Chinese leadership, a commentary published in China Daily, a media outlet run by the ruling Communist Party of China, carried the headline: “Summit may herald Century of Asia”.
    In the piece, Fu Xiaoqiang, research fellow at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, wrote: “Of course, Xi and Modi will also address each other’s concerns, but they are not likely to indulge in strategic distrust and geopolitical competition by ignoring the necessity of strengthening win-win cooperation.”
    Incidentally, a part of the Wuhan State Guest House complex houses Mao Zedong’s summer villa by the lake side, which is now open to visitors. Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, has also hosted Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore during his tour of China 94 years ago to engage with writers, poets and intellectuals.
    http://indianexpress.com/article/india/narendra-modi-xi-jinping-meeting-pm-china-visit-india-relations-5153506/

    PM Narendra Modi arrives in China

  21. His Holiness on Why a Woman Should Be Very Attractive to Be a Candidate for the 15th Dalai Lama

    How come a spiritual leader is commenting on the value of women based on their looks? This is not funny, not intelligent and not politically correct. It is wrong. It is debasing and makes people lose respect for a monk such as Dalai Lama for talking about human beings in this manner.

    http://video.dorjeshugden.com/comment-videos/comment-1524861358.mp4


  22. Breaking news!

    Well, all the people who was saying China-backed Panchen Lama is fake sure look ridiculous now. They attacked all the Tibetans and supporters who respected the China-backed Panchen Lama calling them all types of dirty and foul names in person and on social media. Calling them China stooges and China paid vulgar names for believing in the China-backed Panchen Lama. Now who looks so ridiculous? Now the Dalai Lama says the China-backed Panchen Lama is good and has a good teacher. If he has a good teacher it means he is turning into a good teacher himself. So he is qualified to teach. The end.

    Dalai Lama says the China-backed Panchen Lama is an emanation of the previous Panchen Lama because high lamas can incarnate back as several lamas at the same time. So the Panchen Lama recognized by the Dalai Lama and the China-backed Panchen Lama are both good and both are incarnations of the previous Panchen Lama. How the tables have turned. Now all the people who criticized China-backed Panchen Lama can keep quiet and remember how ridiculous they look now. Listen to what the Dalai Lama says now as of April 2018 about the China-backed Panchen Rinpoche http://video.dorjeshugden.com/videos/11PanchenLamaIsAlive.mp4

    The Panchen Lama recognized by Dalai Lama is alive and well also according to Dalai Lama himself.


  23. Is it time to save the sinking ship that is the Tibetan cause? But wait a minute, the ship has already been sunk for the likes of Mr Ugyen Gyalpo.

    Gone are the days when Tibet’s independence was possible, yet Tibetans like Mr Gyalpo are still living in a fantasy, asking the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) to go against the Dalai Lama’s goal of meaningful autonomy for Tibet, and advocate full independence instead. On top of that, he wants India to help Tibet gain its independence, disregarding how these actions would jeopardize India’s relationship with China.

    This is the same kind of illogical, self-centred, wishful thinking that caused the Tibetans to lose their country to China by signing the 17-Point Agreement in 1951. Why ask someone to fight for a lost cause? Perhaps Mr Gyalpo was on holiday and did not catch the latest media flurry about the Dalai Lama stating that he is happy for Tibet to be in China. The CTA President Lobsang Sangay even urged Tibetans to make the Dalai Lama’s dream of returning to Tibet come true.

    It is time for My Gyalpo and other pro-independence activists to seriously wake up from their self-imposed slumber and plan what they can actually do if and when the Dalai Lama gets the green light to go back to Tibet. Do they want to support the Dalai Lama, their spiritual leader? Or will they betray and abandon him?
    Time to save the sinking ship of the Tibetan cause
    By Ugyen Gyalpo
    NEW YORK, US, 28 April 2018
    Gone are the days when Tibetan solidarity was demonstrated through inter-organisational unity, and transparency and teamwork were not conundrums. The architects of endemic ideologies, the clash of mighty egos, and our flawed democracy, a system without multiple parties to represent different voices, has our community deeply divided and entrenched on regional grounds.
    A short-circuit motherboard, like that which existed on an imaginary level before His Holiness’ devolution of his political role, that managed different flows of energy and controlled frequencies of differential arrays with a single switch, is surely missing in these rather difficult days of our newly-minted, hard-to-understand, infant democracy.
    Every organisation or group has different agendas to put forth, even though the supposedly ultimate goal of solving Tibet’s issue for that matter is unequivocally shared by our same moral obligations. Every organisation in itself has become a marshy pond, where viruses of egocentrism are birthed and thrive. Every organisation and everyone leading them has somehow made islands of isolationist groups of like-minded people.
    There is a silent battle of ‘creditworthiness’ brewing within our bureaucracy, and a hunger to ‘monetize’ by the many Tibet Support Groups of the cult-like brand Tibet, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s name has become detrimental to our cause and to the unity that we critically need.
    Furthermore, the millions in American aid has intoxicated our movement and has us habituated to seeking monetary help, while losing sight of our goal. And the supposed leader of the free world in the United States, having lost completely the needle of its moral compass, shoves our greater issues silently under the political rug, while we rejoice in their perennial candy aid. Whilst our elected leader impatiently awaits for applause on the issues of such aid, has only added mileage to the charade that exists. It is ever too clear how wolfishly the world led by the US have sidelined the Tibet issue with the changing dynamic and symbiosis and the dominant political clout of China in its newly-found realm.
    Just like Africa remains poor because of the surplus Western food that is dumped as ‘humanitarian aid’ into the market, which in turn debilitates and destroys the local farming there and makes them lazy and cyclically dependent, the Tibetan diaspora’s dependence on Western aid is no different. it has trapped them into the eternal hypocrisy of the West and made them complacent and numbingly patient.
    The dynamics of what the West could have done some twenty years ago when China was easy to contain, and the empty promises and hypocrisy that exist now through reaffirmation of their help by way of lobbying and institutionalisation of the Tibetan cause, has got us nowhere but to a cycle of regimental renewal of oaths and vacant promises, and deepening of the pockets of those who exploit our cause.
    The long-wished-for occasion of China one day crumbling under the weight of their capitalistic boom, which would hopefully propel uts people to yearn for greater rights and freedom guaranteed on democratic grounds that comes along with flowering seeds of prosperity, seems to be dead on arrival ever since President Xi, who seems to be Mao’s incarnate, rewrote the constitution in his own terms and vowed to rule the country indefinitely as a dictator. The likelihood of the collapse of communist China like the former USSR is far from reality now. And so are the chances of any possibility of coming to an agreement on the call for autonomy that Tibetans have been pushing for decades now.
    I am not a political analyst nor an expert pundit on geopolitical changes, but my gut instinct tells me that our struggle for freedom should be waged from India of all other places. As of now realizing through this sad awakening, the Tibetan issue has become a case of the leper that no one wants to touch but only sympathise with. We have had enough of world sympathy, and of countries that once supported Tibet kowtowing to China. We should take matters into our own hands now. What we need more than anything is only our own self-help.
    Having said that, the era of dependency on Western help and lobbying is a farce. We need to gather support from our natural and genuine automatic half-brother in India. Through the era of leadership of Modi’s courage, we will be able to stand up against the Chinese might in unison. Tibetans are scattered like broken rosary beads all over the world, but since the thread that brings us together is based in India, it’s but natural to wage our campaigns from there.
    These last two decades have transformed not just China but India too. Having grown far from their third-world stigma, and now a leader in an emerging economy, India has become a dominant player in world politics as well. Any or all help from our half-brothers, who have given us refuge along with our religion and our script, is what we should look forward to now. India ranks among the world’s top five armed forces. No matter what, China can’t bully India lest they risk an all-out war that neither would want in the real world.
    Tibet has evidently been a thorny issue in China-India bilateral relations ever since His Holiness was given refuge. As of late, the diplomatic fall-out from the slippery tongue of CTA’s President that flashed out covert secretive mission by an emissary to China, inadvertently keeping India out of the loop has caused some mistrust within the Indian politburo. India has much to lose if Tibet is ever given genuine autonomy and if China reclaims all of Tibet based on the McMahon line. As of late, India’s snubbing of Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s related programmes and events is evidence of their intentional withdrawal. The only way we Tibetans can earn back India’s hitherto undeniable moral support and trust is if we vehemently change our political course and steer this sinking ship on chartered waves of reclaiming total independence that will reshape the paradigm of where we stand as refugees in the eyes of the Indian government, and where our ultimate goal lies.
    It is time that the CTA should reverse its ideology and go back to its original and genuine aim of reclaiming everything we have lost, to follow the shadow of truth of Tibet being once an independent country and nothing more. The only strong answer to China is the reaffirmation of our calls for complete independence. We must send them a strong message that we are not one of their ethnic minorities, but proud Tibetans who once ruled over their subservience.
    https://www.tibetsun.com/opinions/2018/04/28/time-to-save-the-sinking-ship-of-the-tibetan-cause

    Time to save the sinking ship of the Tibetan cause

  24. In March 2018, Tibetan protestors gathered near the Tibetan parliament, seeking to impeach Lobsang Sangay because his actions are unjust and akin to those of a dictator. Protestors also questioned his sudden termination of Penpa Tsering, the former Representative of the Office of Tibet in Washington, DC, who was his arch-rival during the 2016 Tibetan election.

    But this is not all, Lobsang Sangay’s CV includes a long list of deceitful actions, such as hiding the loan trail of $1.5-million taken by his office from Tibet Fund to purchase a building to house the Office of Tibet in DC. He even ordered the Auditor General to remove any mention of the loan in various financial reports. Lobsang Sangay is also alleged to have sexually assaulted an intern of the International Campaign for Tibet advocacy group. Even before he became the Sikyong (the president of the Central Tibetan Administration), scandals surrounding his actions were rampant. Four years after buying a house near Boston, his US$227,000 mortgage disappeared overnight, one week before he became the president of the CTA. It is no wonder that Tibetans like Pelgyamo express their dissatisfaction by posting sarcastic comments on Lobsang Sangay’s Instagram page.

    LobsangSangay

  25. The Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) in Dharamsala refusing to accept Tibetan RCs (Registration Certificates) is yet another example of interference by the Central Tibetan Administration. Tibetans need this document to apply for an Indian passport. The CTA does not want to lose its grip on Tibetan refugees, as fewer refugees under their control means less foreign aid. That translates to less money that they can line their own pockets with.

    This is not the first time that the CTA has created problems for Tibetans who wish to apply for Indian citizenship. Last July, the CTA ordered all its departments to stop issuing NOC (No Objection Certificates) to Tibetans applying for Indian passports, effectively sabotaging India’s goodwill of offering citizenship to eligible Tibetans. Perhaps that is a reason why many Tibetans are leaving their settlements in India, some of them even returning to Tibet! The CTA’s days as a ‘government’ are numbered, as more and more Tibetans apply for Indian citizenship or leave the CTA’s influence in India altogether.
    No obstruction surrendering RC in Dehra Dun: Police
    Tibet Sun Newsroom
    McLEOD GANJ, India, 27 April 2018
    Tibetans living in Dehra Dun can surrender their Registration Certificates (RC) to apply for their passport, according to a communication from the Office of the Superintendent of Police Dehra Dun.
    Tibet Sun had learned about Tibetan complaints that the authorities were refusing to accept requests by Tibetans to surrender their RCs, required in order to apply for a passport. Seeking information about the matter, Tibet Sun filed a Right to Information (RTI) application, to which Dehra Dun Superintendent of Police Sarita Dobhal replied refuting the complaints.
    The SP said in her reply that they have not refused RC surrender by those Tibetans seeking Indian passport, and they have accepted RCs from seven Tibetans so far.
    Tibetans who spoke to Tibet Sun said that the authorities who actually handle the RC surrender at the Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) within the SP Office had told them to bring court orders to be able to surrender their RC.
    Following a High Court of Delhi judgment asking the Government of India to issue passport to Tibetans, the Ministry of External Affairs in March 2017 has ordered all passport-issuing authorities to issue passport to those Tibetans who fulfil the requirements as in the Citizenship Act of India.
    The RC surrender process has been suspended at the FRO Dharamshala. An official confirmed the same, saying the halt has been in place since two weeks, but didn’t give details as to why they have stopped the process.
    He said that it is a temporary matter and that the surrender process will resume soon.
    https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2018/04/27/no-obstruction-of-tibetan-rc-surrender-for-passport-dehra-dun-sp

    No obstruction surrendering RC in Dehra Dun

  26. The Dalai Lama Fears that He Might be Expelled from India!

    The situation in India is not getting better for the Tibetan government in-exile or the Dalai Lama. Since India is getting closer to China, this trend will not slow down. Whether it is the current Prime Minister Modi, or the next Prime Minister of India making efforts to get close to China, it does not matter because the momentum has started. It benefits both India and China tremendously to be friendly and on good terms with each other. The parasite-like Tibetans leeching off India brings no benefit whatsoever to India and India realizes this sad fact finally. The Dalai Lama and his team in the Tibetan government in-exile have created so many problems externally for India and internally within the Tibetan communities, enough is enough. Tibetans like to use India to irk China. They have done that for decades and now it’s over. The Tibetans have been put in their place. The Indian government has been snubbing the Dalai Lama this year. The Dalai Lama and his cohorts have created tremendous problems, segregation, hatred, and violence towards thousands of Dorje Shugden practitioners, now that karma is coming back. Too bad. The Tibetan leadership is losing support from India, in fact, Modi purposely humiliated the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama and cohorts have less power to create so much schism and trouble now. If you read this article carefully, the Dalai Lama himself has expressed concerns he might be kicked out of India. It has reached this level that the Dalai Lama is unsure of his footing in India now. Too bad.

    Aditya Sinha: Paying For Our Bull In A China Shop
    May 14, 2018, 07:40 IST | Aditya Sinha
    The Dalai Lama’s humiliation, our encircling neighbours and, most crucially, the lack of Modi’s signature bear hug, signify altered relations
    In the two days of staged photographs, there is not one photo of Modi hugging Xi, his trademark personalised diplomacy of forcibly embracing other leaders.
    One of the better things during the Karnataka Assembly election, no matter who emerges the single largest party tomorrow, was Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s press conference in Bangalore. You may not have seen it on TV. It is on YouTube, however. Rahul again comes across in a light different to the whispers about him during the past two decades, proving how it was all the doing of a well-oiled BJP machine. My favourite part was Rahul’s take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Wuhan in central China for an “informal” summit with President Xi Jinping.
    Here’s what he said:
    “I expected the PM to go to China as the leader of our country [and] speak to them about Doklam… He didn’t say a word. [He] had a conversation with the Chinese President with no agenda. Are you telling me there’s no agenda? There is an agenda, it’s called Doklam; there is an agenda, it’s called the Maldives; there is an agenda, it’s called Nepal… The agenda is that we’re surrounded on all sides; it’s pretty clear. But you guys don’t like to raise that, I don’t know why.
    “Our foreign policy has been completely decimated. And it’s because the PM views foreign policy as an individual exercise. He’s of the impression that he can go have a conversation with the president of China, or he can go have a conversation with the president of Nepal, and everything will magically happen.
    “The PM needs to carry his own people with him. Are there any conversations going on with the finance minister, with the defence minister about this type of strategy? No. It’s a one-man show.”
    Briefly: China tried to seize the Doklam plateau in Bhutan last year but after a 73-day standoff against our troops, it backed down. It has reportedly since built an infrastructure leading to Doklam. In the Maldives, China is displacing India: President Abdulla Gameen last year welcomed three Chinese warships, and last month hosted the Pakistan army chief. In Nepal, despite Modi’s visit this weekend to promote Janakpur, Sita’s birthplace, as a religious tourism spot, the Nepalese have drifted from us after India’s five-month blockade in 2015 – we were pushing for greater political inclusion of the Madhesis. Modi is a villain for the Nepalese, as evident on social media.
    China has seized advantage of India’s pathetic neighbourhood behaviour, and, as Rahul said, has India surrounded. No wonder many think Modi went to beg Xi to keep relations calm in the run-up to the 2019 parliamentary election. That Modi’s governance is election-oriented is no secret. Will the Chinese will play ball? When the two-day “informal” summit ended, the Indian side issued a statement and reportedly urged the Chinese to issue their own. Compare the two and you see a difference: while India mentioned a strategic direction to our respective armies to avoid tension on the Line of Actual Control, China only said the armies would follow past protocols. Joint statements are never easy, but individual statements are a piece of cake.
    Modi had to supplicate himself because he cannot afford to go into the 2019 election after a showdown with China. Even a short skirmish will humiliate India. Unlike tension on the Line of Control with Pakistan, which benefits Modi since it can be dovetailed into communal rhetoric, tension with China gives Modi no benefit. Modi cannot help but humour China.
    The Chinese were amenable to being humoured since they have now what they wanted in Doklam. China nowadays also wants to be seen as a responsible global power: hence it has nudged North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un into meeting his South Korean counterpart and, next month, with Donald Trump. China has also reached out to Japan, with whom relations are more complicated than with India.
    Mainly, it was because Modi agreed to humiliate the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader who has lived in India since 1959. India prohibited its ministers from attending a Dalai Lama function (ironically, to thank India) and asked him to shift it from Delhi to his base in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh. It was an insult; worse, he privately expressed the fear that he might be expelled.
    The Chinese gave us time but they did not give Modi a hug. In the two days of staged photographs, there is not one photo of Modi hugging Xi, his trademark personalised diplomacy of forcibly embracing other leaders. Rahul Gandhi is right: Modi has decimated India’s foreign policy. It’s too bad that this and other aspects of his press conference were ignored by the TV media. But then, after Gujarat, Karnataka has been good practice for him. Modi’s obsession with the 2019 election means that governance will suffer, so Rahul will get more occasions to show the public his mettle.
    https://www.mid-day.com/articles/aditya-sinha-paying-for-our-bull-in-a-china-shop/19420166

    Aditya Sinha Paying For Our Bull In A China Shop

  27. More and more Tibetans are expressing their dissatisfaction with the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). This even extends to accusing them of ruling without legal precedence. This is a serious matter as their management of funds, administrative procedures, and even their governing constitution are all flawed. From the simple of choice of words used for the translation of a title, the CTA have exposed the way in which they run their “nationless government” in an egotistical and self-serving manner. The CTA simply do things based on their personal agendas and needs, using the title of democracy as a cover.

    Clearly, there is no system of governance for what the CTA do and how they spend the money they gain from people sympathetic to the Tibetan plight, aid from their host and donors from around the world. Since law is at the core of any administration, their underhanded tactic of finding loopholes and bending the rules to suit their individual needs has failed the Tibetan people. As an ex-Senior Fellow of Harvard Law School and a self-proclaimed expert in international human rights law, Sangay deters people’s faith in the integrity of a leader and the legal system, instead of upholding the cause of justice. After the public apology during his swearing in ceremony in 2016 and his firm pledge not to repeat his misconduct, it looks like Sangay is at it again.

    The title “President” for Sikyong is not legal
    By Sharchok Khukta
    McLEOD GANJ, India, 14 May 2018
    Since there have been many who have put forth questions regarding the usage of the title “President” in English for “Sikyong”, I will answer in one presentation for all.
    It would become a long talk to give answer as regards this. Nonetheless, because, to keep the public in the dark is objected to in a democratic system, I will try to present insight that is complete and not mistaken.
    Initially, the exile Tibetan Parliament had established through general consensus that the title “Sikyong” is to be used instead of “Kalon Tripa”. In connection with that a resolution was passed by the members of the 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-exile during the fourth sitting of the second session on 21 September 2012, that “Sikyong” solely is to be used in writing, as phonetically, without the need for using the translation “Political Leader”.
    The first stage of this process took place with the publication in 2015 of a compilation of rules and regulations of the exile Tibetan administration by the office of the Parliamentary Secretary of the Tibetan people’s deputies, where it appears on page 181 in Appendix 8 [Zur-hzar nya], of sub-section 3 of article 66 of the electoral rules of the exile Tibetans.
    Then, on 26 April 2016, the exile Tibetan administration made the announcement on its official website tibet.net that “when the term ‘sikyong’ is to be translated into English it should be written as “president”, and that has been used up to the present day.
    It is the honourable Kashag which says that “it was established [formally decided] that ‘president’ is to be the term to be used,” and the honourable Kashag claim that they had decided thus on the advice of His Holiness Dalai Lama. The Kashag had cited many other reasons, but I will not refer to them at this time. Everyone knows that at that time there was much expression of displeasure regarding this from the public.
    In the second stage, as regards the usage “President” there was guidance by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the reception ceremony accorded to the high-level Representatives’ Committee of the United States, at Tsuklagkhang Temple on 10 May 2017.
    The third stage is that the Kashag have, both orally and in writing, said insistently that such guidance by His Holiness the Dalai Lama was as per the provision of Article 1 of the Charter of the Tibetans in exile. I am not able to know whether His Holiness the Dalai Lama has advised thus as the intent of Article 1 of the Charter. I do not consider that to be case, because if there had been the guidance advising “President” to be appropriate for the title of Sikyong, as per Article 1, then even after 25 famous amendments to the Charter such a guidance would have a procedure of discussion in the Parliament, as in the past, a procedure that has been clearly laid out.
    It has been laid out in the sub-section 1 and 2 of Article 17 of clause 6 of the rules for procedure of meeting and carrying out of works by the the deputies of the Tibetan Parliament. For example, to cite the sub-section 1: “As per the sub-section 2 of Article 1 of the charter, the Speaker, in discussion with Sikyong, is to set aside time for discussion on the suggestion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.” But, without going through any recommendation from the Parliament or legal process, the Kashag said that the title in English as “President” has been decided on and designated as such, and they continue to use this title. As such that title has not became legal title. That is stage three.
    Then, the fourth stage is that it may be assumed that the Sikyong and the Kashag continue to do so as it is known clearly only by most government service personnel, former and present, and People’s Deputies, former and present. Yet since the public do not know the details, when we put forth questions on the this issue in the Parliament it may be conjectured that it is an electoral grudge. Besides, when the honourable Sikyong also talks of it to the public by attaching it to electoral grudge, we are not able to have at the matter a valid rule by law. Instead everything is stirred here and there into dirty politics, so that eventually when there is too much dwelling on personal name and prestige, the common administration incurs losses.
    If things go on like this there is the danger of the collapse of rule by law. From that point of view, for this issue to be clearly sorted out, the Secretaries of Gadhen Phodang must make it clear whether or not that guidance — as per Article 1 of the Charter — was given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. If it was, since it would be related with the rules, the messages, advice, notice and so on be bestowed to the Parliament, and then whatever is to be established (passed as resolution) by the Parliament when implemented by all the central and regional branches of the administration, it would become concordant with the law.
    So that is the issue if explained clearly.
    In the end, nowadays at Gangchen Kyishong the administration relies upon one person and makes changes to the Rules; while there are able staff members in all sorts of appointments, through equal qualifications and pledges, and so on; such instances are taking place many times, not just once. In such a situation it appears that there is not sufficient supervision and watching, by the public and writers, of whether or not this Administration — set up with such effort by His Holiness the Dalai Lama — is being administered by rule of law.
    I request all to put more effort and power as regarding this issue.
    https://www.tibetsun.com/opinions/2018/05/14/the-title-president-for-sikyong-is-not-legal

    The title President for Sikyong is not legal

  28. India tightening its grip on the Dalai Lama and Tibetans

    The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed Himachal police to tighten its grip on Tibetans meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Those Tibetans without paperwork showing individual identity and establishing legal credentials of their arrival in India will be turned away from seeing the religious leader. Undocumented Tibetans have been arriving in India, usually from Nepal, where they are aided by the Tibetan communities there. India seems to clamping down of Tibetan activity, from cancelling Thank You India events in Delhi and now restricting Tibetans from seeing the Dalai Lama. What else with the Indian government do next?

    Norms tightened to meet Dalai Lama

    DHARAMSHALA: Following directions from the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in recent past, the Himachal Police government has tightened the norms to meet the Dalai Lama, even for Tibetans coming from Tibet. The move was aimed to ensure the security of the spiritual leader at McLeodganj near here.

    Well-placed sources said that there were many Tibetans, including monks, who enter India through the porous border of Nepal to meet the Dalai Lama. The MHA has directed Himachal Police that no one could meet him without having his individual identity established from his documents.

    When contacted about this development, Kangra SP Santosh Patial confirmed that a letter had been received in this regard. But he refused to divulge the details of the same. “Police has received a letter and this is for the security of the Tibetan spiritual leader only, which says that we can only allow a person to meet after his individual identity and legal credentials of his arrival to India are established,” he said.

    Inquires revealed that the Tibetans generally arrive in Nepal from Tibet. They were received by the refugee centres there and further assistance was provided to them by Indian and Tibetan authorities for their visit to India.”

    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/shimla/norms-tightened-to-meet-dalai-lama/articleshow/64485961.cms

    Norms tightened to meet Dalai Lama

  29. Things are going to be very different for Tibetans in India from now on as Sino-Indian relations get warmer by the day. India has vowed to firmly adhere to the one-China policy and ensure Tibet-related issues are handled ‘properly’. This means India will tighten her grip on all Tibetan-related activities. So, the trouble-making Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) better watch themselves and not create further problems that may antagonise China. This is something India will no longer tolerate.

    China, India Vow To Strengthen Ties
    China and India have extensive common interests and they have far more consensus than differences, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
    All India | Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: June 06, 2018 17:05 IST
    PRETORIA: China and India working together will accelerate their common development and contribute to the progress of human civilization, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
    Mr Wang made the remarks on Monday in South Africa’s capital Pretoria during a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of the formal meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.
    China and India have extensive common interests and they have far more consensus than differences, Mr Wang said.
    The two sides should take bilateral relations and people’s fundamental interests as a starting point at all times, properly handle problems and differences and prevent the interests of one party from affecting the overall interest, Mr Wang said.
    The two sides should earnestly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border areas in accordance with the consensus reached by their leaders and avoid taking actions that might complicate and aggravate the situation, Mr Wang said.
    China and India should strengthen coordination and play a constructive role in promoting the development of BRICS cooperation, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and other multilateral mechanisms, he said.
    Sushma Swaraj said the informal Wuhan meeting between the leaders of India and China enhanced mutual trust between the two countries, strengthened cooperation, made the parties more comfortable with each other and achieved unprecedented success.
    She said India will firmly adhere to the one-China policy and properly handle issues involving the core interests of China such asTaiwan and Tibet-related issues.
    India and China, as the two largest emerging markets and developing countries, share a common position in safeguarding the international political and economic order and promoting the improvement of global governance, the Indian Minister said.
    https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/china-india-vow-to-strengthen-ties-1863429

    ChinaIndiaVowToStrengthenTies

  30. Ex-Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche caught sleeping in a meeting

    The representative of the Dalai Lama and former prime minister of the Tibetan government in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche during an important meeting having a nice sleep. The Tibetan government in-exile are run by people like this who have no control over their body and manners. They only stay awake in the meeting if there is FREE aid money coming their way to line their pockets. Shameful how Samdong Rinpoche is sleeping in the middle of a meeting and he represents the Tibetan government in-exile. This is why after 60 years Tibetan leaders have failed to get Tibet back but blame others for their failures. Shame!

    http://video.dorjeshugden.com/comment-videos/comment-1528941530.mp4


  31. UNRULY TIBETANS FIGHTING AT DALAI LAMA BIRTHDAY PARTY AGAIN

    July 2018-NYC- Tibetans fighting at some birthday celebratory event for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They set up a throne in the back, place Dalai Lama’s picture, and they fight, push, shout, scream at each other right in front of the throne of Dalai Lama and it’s filmed. That is the level of the Tibetans overall. Tibetans are not gentle, Buddhist, peace-loving, tolerant people as they portray to the world. They are rough, rude, hateful, vengeful, violent, regionalistic, narrow minded and will create trouble wherever they go. Very feudal. They always resort to vulgar words and violence. There are some moderate Tibetans, but on the whole they are very violent people who do not practice Buddhism. The average Tibetan know nothing of Buddhism and do not practice. Buddhism is just a meal ticket for them to get to another country. Their support of Dalai Lama is blind and only to be politically correct and they never practice what he teaches. Disgraceful to see a group of violent Tibetans fighting at a Dalai Lama birthday event. Shameful.☹

    Tibetans are not welcomed wherever they go. Bhutanese kicked them out. Nepal hates Tibetans. India has no more use for the ‘refugee’ Tibetans and their temples made of gold. After 60 years they cannot get their own country back. What a bunch of losers and useless government people they have.

    http://video.dorjeshugden.com/comment-videos/comment-1531033672.mp4


    • The letter:

      It is about the incident that happened at His Holiness’s birthday celebration in NYC recently July 6, 2018. Some members of Tibetan woman association approached to Parliamentarian Tenpa Yarphel during the ceremony and complained that his comments regarding Nechung was disrespect to the protector and His Holiness. They also said him that he made many Tibetan people sad with his comments. And told him not to do that again in the future. Then Dhondup Tseten stood up and shamelessly touched those women. That incident almost made the ceremony stopped. To keep maintaining the relationship between Tibetan Woman Association and Tibetan Parliament Representative, TWA are asking for an apology letter from Dhondup Tseten for touching their members.

      (It is so sad that in the fake democracy of the Tibetan leadership in Dharamsala you cannot say anything against a leader or criticize. Too bad)

      Letter01

  32. Dalai Lama for debate, discussion to reconcile opposing viewpoints

    The Dalai Lama always says we should have honest face to face discussion so misunderstandings are resolved especially on religious issues. Why does the Dalai Lama refuse to meet the Dorje Shugden followers who number in the hundreds of thousands to resolve the Dorje Shugden issue. Many letters have been submitted to request audience since 1996 and he and his office does not reply. Dalai Lama’s spirit of open debate and resolutions is not across the board. Too bad. Carolle McAquire
    http://www.uniindia.com/dalai-lama-for-debate-discussion-to-reconcile-opposing-viewpoints/states/news/1285325.html

    DL for debate

  33. WHY DOES RICHARD GERE AND DALAI LAMA SUPPORT SOGYAL THE DISGUSTING ABUSER?

    As long as you are friends with the Dalai Lama, your actions are excusable, no matter how horrendous they may be. Even something as heinous as sexual abuse of over 60 women can be overlooked when the perpetrator is friends with the Dalai Lama namely Sogyal Rinpoche. Why rush to join the chorus of Hollywood voices condemning Harvey Weinstein’s criminality, but remain silent against Sogyal’s exploitation and abuse of women? Richard Gere was vocal in condemning against all the abuses and attacks against women by Harvey Weinstein. But silent on Sogyal Rinpoche. BBC has a full length documentary on Sogyal’s abuses as you can view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWhIivvmMnk. Yet Richard Gere can take photos with the disgusting and abusive Sogyal. Is it because one group of women are worth protecting and the other are not? If it is not for that reason, then it can only be because Sogyal is the Dalai Lama’s friend. The Dalai Lama’s condemnation against Sogyal is very light and it’s disappointing. I guess since Dalai Lama supported Sogyal so much, he can’t be seen as wrong in doing so. Politics is sad.

    Richard Gere and Sogyal

  34. TENMA VERY ANGRY WITH SIKYONG LOBSANG SANGYE AND PENPA TSERING

    Tenma deity takes trance of her oracle in Nechung Monastery in Dharamsala, North India. The deity is highly displeased and angry at Sikyong Lobsang Sangye and Penpa Tsering. She is scolding them by waving her arms at them and throwing rice at them. You can see Penpa Tsering shielding himself. These two has always been corrupt and extremely self-serving. Naturally the oracles of the Dalai Lama take trance and are very angry.

    http://video.dorjeshugden.com/comment-videos/comment-1531344206.mp4


  35. SUMAA has been consistent in their efforts to evict Tibetans from Arunachal Pradesh as the Tibetans are known to exploit benefits given to locals. The Central Tibetan Administration, especially their so-called ‘president’ Lobsang Sangay, made the situation worse by rubbing salt in the wound, making a statement that Chief Minister Pema Khandu is an ardent follower of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and a lifelong friend of the Tibetan people. This was right after Khandu announced the adoption of the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy in Arunachal Pradesh.

    Tibetan refugees create a lot of problems for the locals no matter where they are, especially in Arunachal Pradesh. They take the locals’ land and resources without giving anything in return, making the locals furious to the extent that they are now demanding a written undertaking from the Tibetan refugees not to claim Indian citizenship and STC/PRC in Arunachal Pradesh. It is time to impeach Sangay for a better leader to guide and take care of the Tibetans in India before the wrath of locals evict Tibetans from the state or even the country for good.

    Self-styled student group in Indian border state calls for Tibetan refugees to be moved to ‘demarcated camps’
    [Wednesday, July 11, 2018 18:45]
    By Tenzin Dharpo
    DHARAMSHALA, July 11: Self-styled group “The Students’ United Movement of All Arunachal” (SUMAA) has reportedly submitted a memorandum to the West Kameng deputy commissioner on Monday, demanding an immediate rollback of the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy, 2014 within three days against threat of retaliatory action. 
    The students group has also called for Tibetan refugees to be moved to demarcated camps and revoke trading licences obtained by Tibetan refugees. A written undertaking from the Central Tibetan Administration not to claim Indian citizenship and STC/PRC in Arunachal Pradesh for Tibetans, has also been demanded.
    Last year, the same group initiated the “Anti Tibetan Refugee Movement” calling for ousting of Tibetan refugees from the state. Spokesperson of the group has alleged that with the implementation of the TRP 2014, benefits such as MGNREGA, PDS, Indira Awas Yojana, and National Rural Health Mission provided by the Centre for “our people will be snatched away” by the Tibetan refugees.
    The group in October 2017 also released a list of all the shops owned by Tibetans with their names in the Capital Complex area threatening that the Tibetans will be targeted individually and “forcefully evicted”.
    The Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy assures welfare to Tibetan refugees in India on matters concerning land lease, extending central and state government benefits, relevant papers/trade license/permit for economic activity and legal permit to pursue any professional career such as nursing, teaching, Chartered Accountancy, medicine, engineering etc, depending upon the qualification.
    Till date, Karnataka government has been the only state to begin implementation of the policy. In Dec 2016, the Tibetan refugee settlement of Mundgod became the first settlement to be handed over the land lease agreement by Karnataka State. 
    Arunachal Pradesh has the fourth largest number of Tibetans in India, with four settlements in Tezu, Miao, Tuting, and Tenzingang. However, the number of Tibetan refugees has dwindled to just 7500 with Canada accepting 1000 Tibetan refugees in 2016 and many youths venturing to bigger Indian cities for livelihood. In India, the total number of Tibetan refugees is close to 90,000, according to a 2009 CTA census.
    http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=40615

    Phayul Self-styled student group in Indian border state calls for Tibetan refugees to be moved to demarcated camps

  36. Hollywood is one of the most influential groups of people who have promoted the mysticism of Buddhist Tantra to the world. Together with the media, they have packaged Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan lamas into a fantasy Utopia, filled with God-like beings who are able to lead people along the quick path to enlightenment.

    This propaganda has been widely exploited by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) to garner support, especially financial aid, for the so-called Tibetan Cause and the Tibetan struggle against Chinese rule. Little does the West, including Richard Gere and the so-called Buddhist Professor Robert Thurman, know that efforts from China to improve the infrastructure and standard of living for the Tibetans in China have created opportunities for Tibetans to grow and be successful. This is something that is rarely seen in exile under the governance of the CTA.

    This false image that has been promoted for the past 60 years or so is now slowly fading away as more and more victims come forward, exposing the sexual abuse they have suffered under the hands of Tibetan lamas like Sogyal Rinpoche. The root of the problem is clear, people are greedy and lazy while wanting quick success and attention. Since they get these from the Tibetan lamas like Sogyal, they are willing to accept the exploitation. This is further driven by fear that they would no longer be seen as the privileged ones in the inner circle if they do not clutch at their lamas and be seen showing tremendous devotion to their gurus. With only a superficial knowledge of Buddhism, this cult-like group of Hollywood stars and American politicians like Richard Gere continue to generate respect and love for their skewed version of the “Dharma”, while real Buddhist masters are relegated to the side lines.

    This Sexual Abuser Hollywood Doesn’t Want You To See
    Feb 28, 2018 | Posted by Christine A. Chandler
    Why is the mainstream media ignoring this Elephant in the Room?
    Is it because, once they peel the curtain back on this little sexually abusive, predator Lama,  Lama Sogyal Rinpoche, best friend of the Dalai Lama and his major benefactor, helping to spread Mindfulness throughout the West, the whole edifice of deception, corruption, cover-ups of  institutional sexual abuse, and Shangri-la pretenses will be exposed?
    Never mind that these Tibetan lamas have fooled a large part of the Western psychology profession, most  all of journalism, and certain parts of academia as well as CEO’s of major corporations.  Those who also want to jump on the billion-dollar Mindfulness bandwagon; the first cult technique these Tibetan lamas used to get us to think as a herd.
    Perhaps it is also because the  news media coverage, for the last twenty-five years, of  Saint Dalai Lama, keeper of slaves and life-time serfs less than sixty years ago, is one of the icons of the Hollywood jet-set, certain politicians like Nancy Pelosi,  Congressman Tim Ryan,  academics, like Uma’s dad- Robert Thurman,  and such Hollywood stars, as Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, Scarlett Johansson, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Sharon Stone, the list goes on and on,  who will now be seen, not just as  enablers of Weinstein, but also of the Tantric cult of Tibetan Lamaism and its Tantra that has infused Hollywood with its amorality and  sexual abuse for the last four decades, given it permission for their long history of accepting this behavior as ‘normal.’
    It was not so long ago, that Trungpa fooled our sixties generation, with the help of rock and roll stars, and Allen Ginsberg, modern poet extraordinaire of the Howl, and member of NAMBLA. Ginsberg also controlled the narrative of how these Tibetan Lamas were to be seen by the public, for the next forty-plus years.
    Marxists have been in collusion with the lamas, as well,  for a very long time.  As have certain institutions on the right, of the C-Street variety. The Dalai Lama boldly sends messages of being a friend to democracy to every President since his “escape” from China. But declares himself a Marxist in India.
    Australian CEOs in the article link above are now questioning the wisdom of having Lama  Sogyal of Rigpa, the Dalai Lama’s best friend all these years, who has been their icon for mindfulness meditation  at the workplace. They are not willing to cover-up for his sexual abuse and demeaning and degrading of women, his keeping a harem, just as Chogyam Trungpa did but it was ignored, and his Tantra was allowed to spread. Thanks to Hollywood giving him a featured role in Little Buddha with Keanu Reeves.
    Isn’t it time we peeled the whole onion back to see part of what’s at the core of this sexual abuse and confusion about right and wrong?
    Nancy Pelosi goes to the Dalai Lama for advice, and gets crazier every year; Tim Ryan, groomed to take her place, writes a book about Tantric Mindfulness for a Mindless nation  and called: Mindfulness Nation .
    Ryan hangs out with Lama Sogyal’s friend, Lama Tsoknyi who is Sogyal’s strongest supporter and pal.
    Tim Ryan and Lama Tsoknyi, speak together about Global Warming. Tsoknyi surely helped Ryan write his book and Tim Ryan helps Lama Tsoknyi pretend he is a ‘scientific lama’ who also can bless books to make them understandable and can infuse statues with living mojo inside his cult groups of western followers around the world, and now in Asia, fooling the Han and Chan Buddhists that he is teaching what the Buddha taught when it is Tantra and its institutionalized sexual abuse and Lamaist corruptions.
    The occult, crazy-making Tantra of Tibetan Lamas  has been infusing Hollywood, Journalism, Academia, Psychology, Third-wave Feminism, and the Entertainment Industry and Left-Wing Politics, for the last forty years.  Recently, we have been seeing its results implode as the sexual abuses of celebrities and journalists, politicians makes explosive media news.
    Chogyam Trungpa, the Tantric Lama darling of the sixties Drugs, Rock and Roll crowd was the first Tibetan Lama to illegally keep a harem of sexual consorts on American soil. His Regent gave his students AIDS, with unprotected sex, but was never criminally charged. Instead he was allowed to brainwash his students into believing this was ‘openness’ and freedom, on the way to the realization of a non-duality mind.  They  have reinvented his ‘lineage’ along the coast of Maine, to turn that State back into Massachusetts.
     “Democracy was a failed experiment” said Trungpa’s mouthpiece, Ginsberg, who believed a totalitarian dictatorship of Tribal warlords would be so much better.  
    Time to unpeel the whole onion and get to the core of what has been making the West crazy, immoral and stupid: the civilization jihad that comes with a smiling face and a Lamaist peaceful facade. 
    https://extibetanbuddhist.com/this-sexual-abuser-hollywood-doesnt-want-you-to-see/

    This Sexual Abuser Hollywood Doesn't Want You To See

  37. Tai Situpa’s Karmapa candidate’s escape to USA and continued stay in USA is a huge embarrassment to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan government in exile. The Karmapa said he is very sad with his situation in his recent video (youtu.be/AdI4DMRFkm4?hid).

    The flight of a monk
    P Stobdan
    Intelligence concerns over Karmapa’s refuge in the US and the fear he may never return
    AS the Dalai Lama turned 83 this year, the main plot-line of Tibet is noticeably shifting to the 17th Karmapa — Ogyen Trinley Dorje — who suddenly disappeared from the radar screens of Indian intelligence in May 2017. Amidst rumours, the Karmapa was finally traced in Europe and later in the US where he has been staying on the pretext of poor health. He is staying in New Jersey’s Wharton State Forest area, on a 150-acre farm estate gifted to him by a Chinese/Taiwanese couple.
    Recent media reports suggest that he may not return to India where he spent his last 18 years. Earlier, he promised to return by June 2018, but the dateline is already over. Sources say there are signs of tension among intelligence circles after his disappearance.
    The Karmapa also made a daring escape from Tibet in 1999, which had caused huge embarrassment to the Chinese government. The jostling for control over the 17th Karmapa has heightened among the Chinese government, Dalai Lama’s administration and the Indian establishment after his flight.
    His sudden arrival in 2000 had raised many eyebrows in India. Many believed his escape was facilitated by the Chinese. Indian media was quick to label him as a Chinese spy. Others believed it was ostensibly masterminded by none other than Dharamsala itself. In 2001, the Karmapa feared the Chinese may use him for political purpose to separate Tibetans from the Dalai Lama and promised not to return to Tibet until the Dalai Lama returned. In India, he was confined to the Gyuto Tantric monastery near Dharamsala under the surveillance of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and Indian intelligence agencies. The government had imposed travel restrictions on him, banning him from visiting the Rumtek monastery built by his predecessor.
    In 2011, he was implicated in a controversy over the illegal recovery of a large stash of cash, including Chinese currency, fuelling suspicion whether he was a monk or a Chinese plant. And yet, considering his importance, the Tibetans in exile propped up the Karmapa’s stature to make him the next powerhouse to play a pivotal role in the post-Dalai Lama scenario.
    Clearly, the Karmapa’s escape has caused embarrassment to the CTA, especially the Dalai Lama, for he has been vehemently defending the Karmapa’s authenticity and credentials. It is an embarrassment for the government as well, because the decision to revoke travel restrictions on him by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in 2000 was taken only recently — possibly in spite of intelligence agencies cautioning against it.
    Not surprisingly, both New Delhi and Dharamsala tried their best to get him back. They sent a number of special emissaries to convince him to return.
    As regards what may have triggered the escape, the Karmapa made some stunning revelation in a message through video telecast from the US in March, wherein he said his childhood was manipulated by others; he was denied proper education both in Tibet and India; he virtually lived a prisoner’s life in the Gyuto monastery. He claimed that his own Karmapa sect was torn into rival factions and internal strife. In addition, pressures were brought to bear on him to play a political role against his wish. He confessed to his inability to meet the obligation of the Karmapa title as he never had any high “qualities and realisations” of being the 17th Karmapa, and hence, he desired to “give up” and live an “ordinary life”.
    The fact that he had to webcast on his “troubled life” from the US set the alarm bells ringing. Initially, the Karmapa cited his concurrent medical problem as reason for his prolonged stay and denied any “insidious plans”.
    The Karmapa’s escape and confession comes at a critical juncture, on the heels of Xi Jinping becoming the lifetime President; the declining interest on the Tibetan issue in the Western world, as well as in India; and the ageing of the Dalai Lama.
    The Karmapa shared his feelings with humility and honesty. Yet, he wasn’t clear about what he intended to do in the future except for subtle hints. First, he fears he may not get a fair deal if he returns to India in terms of movement. Second, he will have to confront stiff competition from a rival Karmapa. Third, sources say he was disappointed over multiple hindrances to get suitable land for his Tsurphu headquarters in India. In fact, this, besides the ban on Rumtek, may have been the key sticking point. In a belated attempt to woo him back, the top security panel — CCS — in March this year allowed him to visit Sikkim, except the Rumtek monastery. Sources say he was finally offered a plot in Dwarka, New Delhi, at the cost of Rs 22 crore an acre.
    Against all these odds, the Karmapa might be weighing the option of seeking asylum in the US, so he could travel freely to China and elsewhere.
    Anyhow, he would rather play the waiting game from outside where he has a larger audience with a huge network of followers. Possibly, he may be trying to buy land in the US to set up the Karmapa seat in exile.
    To be sure, his escape provides propaganda fodder to China — look, what India does to Tibetan lamas!
    If the rumours are to be believed, the Karmapa may also opt for returning to Tsurphu monastery. Last year he talked about his desire to visit Tibet to meet his parents.
    All in all, there is little possibility of Karmapa returning to India. The assumption that high Tibetan lamas offer a degree of strategic depth to India in the Tibetan plateau vis-à-vis China is misplaced. On the contrary, the Chinese may already be acquiring a reverse strategic depth in India.
    The argument that various sects of Tibetan Buddhism and their lamas of Kagyu, Geyluk, Sakya, Nyingma, etc., control the Indian Himalayan borderland is only a myth. Sectarian affiliations across India’s borderland with Tibet have nothing to do their historical and political loyalties towards India. As such, any undue keenness for India to seek high-stake bidding for the Tibetan lamas will remain an exercise in futility.
    A former envoy and expert on Trans-Himalayan affairs
    https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/the-flight-of-a-monk/625891.html

    The-flight-of-a-monk

  38. While the government of Nepal has framed a policy to tighten the noose around non-governmental organisations, they have welcomed 30 Chinese NGOs to enter the country. These NGOs will penetrate the country’s social sector at the grassroots level. This is the first time such a large number of Chinese NGOs have entered Nepal at one time. Nepal is increasingly open to Chinese influence, a sign that ties between both countries are strengthening, while India’s influence is being reduced. The time has passed for India’s monopoly to remain uninterrupted in Nepal as opportunities to engage with China are being welcomed.

    30 Chinese NGOs all set to work in Nepal
    REWATI SAPKOTA
    Kathmandu, July 30
    At a time when the government has framed a policy to tighten the noose around non-governmental organisations, 30 Chinese NGOs have entered Nepal to penetrate the country’s social sector and the grassroots.
    The Social Welfare Council Nepal and China NGO Network for International Exchanges, an umbrella body of Chinese NGOs, have signed a memorandum of understanding to enable Chinese NGOs to work in Nepal. The agreement was signed yesterday between SWCN Member Secretary Dilli Prasad Bhatt and CNIE General Secretary Zhu Rui in the presence of Minister of Women, Children and Senior Citizen Tham Maya Thapa and Chinese Deputy Minister of External Affairs Wang Yajun.
    The agreement has paved the way for the first batch of 30 Chinese NGOs to work in Nepal for a period of three years. Their contract will be extended based on the consent of SWCN and CNIE. Representatives of these 30 Chinese NGOs were also present during yesterday’s signing ceremony. They have agreed to work in partnership with local NGOs to implement their programmes and projects.
    The Chinese NGOs are eyeing areas such as livelihood, healthcare, education, skill-based training, community development and disaster management. This is the first time such a large number of Chinese NGOs has entered Nepal at one time. The Chinese assistance so far in Nepal has largely been limited to development of infrastructure projects. But the entry of these NGOs indicates China is keen on making its presence felt in Nepal’s social sector and the grassroots, which, till date, have remained domains of the West and countries such as Japan and India.
    The MoU signed between SWCN and CNIE states that Chinese NGOs will be mobilised for ‘the benefit of needy Nepalis and to enhance ties between China and Nepal through people-to-people support programmes’.
    “The Chinese NGOs will abide by the law of Nepal in its entirety while carrying out development cooperation in Nepal,” says the MoU, adding, “Chinese NGOs will submit programmes to the SWCN to carry out development activities in partnership with Nepali NGOs and SWCN in line with plans and policies of the government of Nepal.”
    The MoU was signed at a time when the government has drafted the National Integrity Policy to limit activities of NGOs and INGOs, as some of them were found ‘trying to break communal harmony and proselytising Nepalis’. There were also concerns that high administrative cost of many NGOs and INGOs was preventing money from reaching the real beneficiaries. The policy clearly states that NGOs and INGOs cannot spend more than specified amount under administrative and consultant headings. They will also be barred from working against Nepal’s interests, culture and communal harmony and conducting activities to promote their religious, social or other agenda, adds the policy.
    Around 48,000 NGOs are currently registered in Nepal, of which only 1,600 have been receiving funds from INGOs, as per SWCN. The SWCN has directed INGOs and NGOs to spend 60 per cent of the budget to generate tangible results, while the remaining can be used to cover administrative costs and organise training, meetings and seminars.
    https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/30-chinese-ngos-all-set-to-work-in-nepal/

    DS.com China NGOs enter Nepal

  39. The Nikkei Asian Review is a highly reputable news platform. They are not tabloid in any sense of the word. What they publish is reputable and thoroughly reliable. They mention clearly in an article published August 7, 2018 that the Dalai Lama has a terminal illness. The Prime Minister of India knowing this is now conciliatory towards China. He understands that the Dalai Lama cannot be used as a pawn in irritating China any further. Negotiations are progressing that after the passing of Dalai Lama, his government in-exile will close. The end.

    India uses rumor of Dalai Lama’s ill health to mend China ties
    If Tibetan exile flow is stemmed, Beijing might compromise on territorial claim
    YUJI KURONUMA, Nikkei staff writer
    August 07, 2018 17:02 JST
    DHARAMSALA — Rumors are flying around in this northern Indian city, home to the Tibetan government-in-exile, that the 14th Dalai Lama is suffering from terminal cancer.
    With Tibetan exiles deeply worried about the 83-year-old religious leader, the Indian government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been using the situation to take a more conciliatory approach to China. Modi also seems to be lowering the standing of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
    Word that the Dalai Lama may be in serious condition has quietly spread. “I have heard that His Holiness is not well,” said Migmar Chodon, a 49-year-old housewife in Dharamsala. “Though I don’t know well about it, I am worried.”
    A 27-year-old restaurant employee in the city said, “I have read somewhere that His Holiness is unwell.”
    In 1959, Tibetan people rose in revolt in Lhasa, Tibet, which had been occupied by China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, and the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India. At least 130,000 Tibetans later left their homeland. At present, 85,000 Tibetans live in India, about 8,000 of them in Dharamsala, which hosts the Tibetan government-in-exile and a temple where the 14th Dalai Lama lives.
    Rumors about the Dalai Lama suffering from poor health come frequently. The latest one arose in June, when an Indian media company reported that the Dalai Lama was in the “last stage of prostate cancer.” The Dalai Lama’s doctor and the government-in-exile immediately denied the news, and people have tried to remain calm. “I want to believe the words of the doctor,” the restaurant worker said.
    The Indian government thinks the terminal cancer report is credible. A government source said “the prostate cancer has spread to his lymph nodes” and that “his life would not be so long” now.
    In the past two years, the Dalai Lama has received treatment at a hospital in the U.S. People close to the Dalai Lama worry that word of this was leaked by U.S. authorities. Now the Dalai Lama “will be going to Switzerland for radiotherapy in the month of August,” the source said.
    India is using rumors that the Dalai Lama is in poor health to build a more conciliatory relationship with China. In April, during an informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan, China, Modi tried to portray the India-China relationship as improved.
    During the meeting, “Modi apprised President Xi of the Dalai Lama’s health and the Indian position on Tibet after his death,” a government source said. “This information from Modi took Xi by surprise, and the two discussed the issue for a long time at the Wuhan summit.”
    When the leaders met in 2015 and 2016, they informally discussed a proposal for India to stop accepting new Tibetan exiles after the death of the Dalai Lama in return for China withdrawing its territorial claim on some parts of northern India.
    For humanitarian, strategic and other reasons, India has been accepting Tibetan exiles for nearly 60 years. Tibet has been something of a buffer zone between the world’s two most populous countries since shortly after India’s independence in 1947. However, China has strengthened its grip on the Tibet Autonomous Region, and in 2017 new exiles numbered 57, a sharp drop from over 2,000 a decade earlier.
    With Tibet’s strategic value waning, India has moderated its stance.
    At the behest of the Indian government, the Tibetan government-in-exile last year changed the English name for its sikyong from “prime minister” to “president.” Geshe Lhakdor, director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and for years an interpreter for the 14th Dalai Lama, said the new term denotes the leader of an organization, rather than the leader of a country.
    The Indian government is also encouraging Tibetan exiles to acquire Indian citizenship.
    A successor to the 14th Dalai Lama will be installed when a person believed to be his reincarnation is found, or will be appointed under a new system, like nomination.
    The 15th Dalai Lama will then lead the Tibetan Buddhist world. However, it will be difficult for the successor to take the place of the 14th Dalai Lama, who has international influence as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and is the protector of Tibetan exiles.
    The buildings that house the government-in-exile and the temple which is home to the 14th Dalai Lama sit atop a mountain. At the foot of this mountain is the Tibetan Reception Center that Tibetan exiles first visit for registration. It is quiet these days, and very much unoccupied.
    https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-Relations/India-uses-rumor-of-Dalai-Lama-s-ill-health-to-mend-China-ties

    India-uses-rumor-of-Dalai-Lama's-ill-health

  40. What will the all the people around the world and in Tibet do now? Dalai Lama says he is happy that Tibet is a part of China and should remain a part of China. So many Tibetans self-immolated for Tibet to be independent and now Dalai Lama did a 360 degree turn and says he wants to go back to Tibet and China and Tibet should be a part of China. So unbelievable. So many are angry and disappointed.

    Tibetans ready to be part of China: Dalai Lama
    Organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the event was a part of “Thank You India – 2018″ held by the Tibetan community across India to mark 60 years of its exile in the country.
    Indo-Asian News Service
    Bengaluru
    Tibetans are ready to be a part of China if guaranteed full rights to preserve their culture, the Dalai Lama said on Friday.
    “Tibetans are not asking for independence. We are okay with remaining with the People’s Republic of China, provided we have full rights to preserve our culture,” the 83-year-old spiritual leader said at “Thank You Karnataka” event here in the city.
    Organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the event was a part of “Thank You India – 2018″ held by the Tibetan community across India to mark 60 years of its exile in the country.
    “Several of Chinese citizens practicing Buddhism are keen on Tibetan Buddhism as it is considered scientific,” the Nobel laureate said.
    Born in Taktser hamlet in northeastern Tibet, the Dalai Lama was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. He fled to India from Tibet after a failed uprising against the Chinese rule in 1959.
    China annexed Tibet in 1950, forcing thousands of Tibetans, including monks, to flee the mountain country and settle in India as refugees.
    Since then, India has

    d

  41. Dear Dalai Lama,

    Since you started the cruel ban against the 350 year Dorje Shugden practice, how has it benefit your Tibetan society and Buddhism in the world? Things have become worse and most educated Tibetans can see this. They don’t speak out not because they don’t see your ban as wrong, but you instill fear in them and not respect. It is like fear of a dictator. I am sorry to say so. Everyone is divided. There is no harmony. Before your ban there was more harmony and unity.

    By enacting the ban, you split the monasteries, split so many families, split regions in Tibet apart, split your disciples from you, split your own gurus from you, split Tibetan Buddhism apart. You have created so much disharmony.

    It is not democratic what you have done to ban a religion within your community. You always talk of tolerance and acceptance and democracy and yet you do not accept and tolerate something different from your beliefs. When people practice Dorje Shugden you ostracize them, ban them from seeing you, ban them from using Tibetan facilities. You know you have done that. There are videos that capture your speech and prove this point. You even had people expelled from monasteries just because they practice Dorje Shugden. Some of the monks you expelled have been in the monastery for over 40 years. Many older monks shed tears because of this.

    Many young educated Tibetans lost confidence in you as they saw the damage the Dorje Shugden ban created and they lose hope. Many have become free thinkers. They reject what you have done. So many people in the west left Buddhism because of the confusion you created with this ban against Dorje Shugden which is immoral.

    You could of had millions of people who practice Dorje Shugden to support, love and follow you, but you scared them away. They are hurt and very disappointed. They loved you and respected you deeply before the ban. It has been 60 years and you have failed to get Tibet back. Your biggest failure is not getting Tibet back after 57 years in exile. Now you are begging China to allow you to return to Tibet to the disappointment of thousands of people who fought for a free Tibet believing in you. So many self-immolated for a free Tibet and now you want Tibet to be a part of China with no referendum from Tibetans. Just like a dictator, you decide on your own. It was your government and you that lost Tibet in the first place. Your policies and style of doing things do not benefit Tibet and Buddhism. You have been the sole ruler of Tibet your whole life and you still have not gotten our country of Tibet back for us. Our families and us are separated. Yet you create more pain by creating a ban to further divide people. Please have compassion.

    No other Buddhist leader has banned or condemned any religion except for you. It looks very bad. You are a Nobel laureate and this is not fitting of a laureate. You should unite people and not separate them by religious differences.

    You said Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi did not do right to the Rohingya people in Myanmar due to religious differences, but you are doing the same thing to the Shugden Buddhists within your own society. There is a parallel in this. You separate the Shugden Buddhists from the others in Tibetan society.

    You have lost so many people who would have loved and supported you. You have lost so much support around the world. The Shugden Buddhists who love you number in the millions. When you are fast losing support from governments and private people, it will not do you well to lose more.

    After you are passed away in the future, the rift you created between the Dorje Shugden and non-Dorje Shugden people will remain for a while and that will be your legacy. Disharmony. You will be remembered for this. Not as a hero but a disharmony creator.

    Dorje Shugden will spread and further grow, but you will be no more as you are a human. No one wishes you bad and in fact we hope you have a long and healthy life, but we have lost so much hope and have so much despair because of you. All the hundreds of Dorje Shugden lamas, tulkus and geshes are maturing and there are hundreds of Dorje Shugden monasteries in Tibet who will not give up Dorje Shugden. You have made a mistake. These hundreds of teachers and teachers to be will spread Dorje Shugden further in the future.

    The gurus that gave us Dorje Shugden as a spiritual practice and you have called these holy gurus wrong and they are mistaken in giving us Dorje Shugden. How can you insult our gurus whom we respect so much? If they can be wrong, then you can be wrong. Then all gurus can be wrong. So no one needs to listen to any guru? You have created this trend. It is not healthy. Your own gurus practiced Dorje Shugden their whole lives. Your own gurus were exemplary and highly learned.

    Dalai Lama you have created so much pain with this ban against so many people due to religion. You are ageing fast. Are you going to do anything about it or stay stubborn, hard and un-moving. You show a smile and preach peace and harmony wherever you go. But will you do the same to your own people? Please rectify the wrong you have done. Please before it is too late. You can create harmony again or you can pass away in the future with this legacy of peace. May you live long and think carefully and admit what was a mistake in having this unethical ban against Dorje Shugden religion.

  42. Why doesn’t the United States and its allies end Refugee Status for the useless Tibetans? They have been refugees for 60 years now and don’t tell me they still cannot get their lives back in order?

    Tibetans really know how to put on a good show and use people, take their money and do nothing in return.

    Trump and Allies Seek End to Refugee Status for Millions of Palestinians
    In internal emails, Jared Kushner advocated a “sincere effort to disrupt” the U.N.’s relief agency for Palestinians.
    BY COLUM LYNCH, ROBBIE GRAMER | AUGUST 3, 2018, 2:12 PM
    Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, has quietly been trying to do away with the U.N. relief agency that has provided food and essential services to millions of Palestinian refugees for decades, according to internal emails obtained by Foreign Policy.
    His initiative is part of a broader push by the Trump administration and its allies in Congress to strip these Palestinians of their refugee status in the region and take their issue off the table in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to both American and Palestinian officials. At least two bills now making their way through Congress address the issue.
    Kushner, whom Trump has charged with solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has been reluctant to speak publicly about any aspect of his Middle East diplomacy. A peace plan he’s been working on with other U.S. officials for some 18 months has been one of Washington’s most closely held documents.
    But his position on the refugee issue and his animus toward the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is evident in internal emails written by Kushner and others earlier this year.
    “It is important to have an honest and sincere effort to disrupt UNRWA,” Kushner wrote about the agency in one of those emails, dated Jan. 11 and addressed to several other senior officials, including Trump’s Middle East peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt.
    “This [agency] perpetuates a status quo, is corrupt, inefficient and doesn’t help peace,” he wrote.
    The United States has helped fund UNRWA since it was formed in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians displaced from their homes following the establishment of the State of Israel and ensuing international war. Previous administrations have viewed the agency as a critical contributor to stability in the region.
    But many Israel supporters in the United States today see UNRWA as part of an international infrastructure that has artificially kept the refugee issue alive and kindled hopes among the exiled Palestinians that they might someday return home—a possibility Israel flatly rules out.
    Critics of the agency point in particular to its policy of granting refugee status not just to those who fled Mandatory Palestine 70 years ago but to their descendants as well—accounting that puts the refugee population at around 5 million, nearly one-third of whom live in camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza.
    By trying to unwind UNRWA, the Trump administration appears ready to reset the terms of the Palestinian refugee issue in Israel’s favor—as it did on another key issue in December, when Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
    In the same January email, Kushner wrote: “Our goal can’t be to keep things stable and as they are. … Sometimes you have to strategically risk breaking things in order to get there.”
    Kushner raised the refugee issue with officials in Jordan during a visit to the region in June, along with Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt. According to Palestinian officials, he pressed the Jordan to strip its more than 2 million registered Palestinians of their refugee status so that UNRWA would no longer need to operate there.
    “[Kushner said] the resettlement has to take place in the host countries and these governments can do the job that UNRWA was doing,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
    She said the Trump administration wanted rich Arab Gulf states to cover the costs Jordan might incur in the process.
    “They want to take a really irresponsible, dangerous decision and the whole region will suffer,” Ashrawi said.
    Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator, told reporters in June that Kushner’s delegation had said it was ready to stop funding UNRWA altogether and instead direct the money—$300 million annually—to Jordan and other countries that host Palestinian refugees.
    “All this is actually aimed at liquidating the issue of the Palestinian refugees,” hesaid.
    The White House declined to comment on the record for this story. A senior executive branch official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. policy regarding the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee program “has been under frequent evaluation and internal discussion. The administration will announce its policy in due course.”
    Jordanian officials in New York and Washington did not respond to queries about the initiative.
    Kushner and Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, both proposed ending funding for UNRWA back in January. But the State Department, the Pentagon, and the U.S. intelligence community all opposed the idea, fearing in part that it could fuel violence in the region.
    The following week, the State Department announced that that United States would cut the first $125 million installment of its annual payment to UNRWA by more than half, to $60 million.
    “UNRWA has been threatening us for six months that if they don’t get a check they will close schools. Nothing has happened,” Kushner wrote in the same email.
    State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said at the time that the U.S. had no intention of eliminating funding for Palestinian refugees, and that it was taking time to explore ways to reform UNRWA and to convince other countries to help Washington shoulder the financial burden of aiding the Palestinians.
    But the following day, Victoria Coates, a senior advisor to Greenblatt, sent an email to the White House’s national security staff indicating that the White House was mulling a way to eliminate the U.N.’s agency for Palestinian refugees.
    “UNRWA should come up with a plan to unwind itself and become part of the UNHCR by the time its charter comes up again in 2019,” Coates wrote.
    She noted that the proposal was one of a number of “spitball ideas that I’ve had that are also informed by some thoughts I’ve picked up from Jared, Jason and Nikki.”
    Other ideas included a suggestion that the U.N. relief agency be asked to operate on a month-to-month budget and devise “a plan to remove all anti-Semitism from educational materials.”
    The ideas seemed to track closely with proposals Israel has been making for some time.
    “We believe that UNRWA needs to pass from the world as it is an organization that advocates politically against Israel and perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem,” said Elad Strohmayer, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
    Strohmayer said that Palestinians are the only population that is able to transfer its refugee status down through generations.
    The claim, though long advanced by Israel, is not entirely true.
    In an internal report from 2015, the State Department noted that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees “recognizes descendants of refugees as refugees for purposes of their operations.” The report, which was recently declassified, said the descendants of Afghan, Bhutanese, Burmese, Somali, and Tibetan refugees are all recognized by the U.N. as refugees themselves.
    Of the roughly 700,000 original Palestinian refugees, only a few tens of thousands are still alive, according to estimates.
    The push to deny the status to most Palestinians refugees is also gaining traction in Congress.
    Last week, Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, introduced a bill that would limit the United States to assisting only the original refugees. Most savings in U.N. contributions would be directed to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United States’ principal international development agency. But USAID is currently constrained by the Taylor Force Act, which restricts the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian Authority until it ends a policy of providing aid to families of fallen terrorists.
    “Instead of resettling Palestinian refugees displaced as a result of the Arab-Israeli Conflict of 1948, UNRWA provides aid to those they define as Palestinian refugees until there is a solution they deem acceptable to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Lamborn’s bill states.
    “This policy does not help resettle the refugees from 1948 but instead maintains a refugee population in perpetuity.”
    A congressional aide familiar with the legislation said its intent isn’t to gut UNRWA funding, but redirect assistance to descendants through USAID.
    “The people that are suffering should still get assistance, but through appropriately defined humanitarian channels and aid programs,” the aide said.
    Similarly, Sen. James Lankford, (R-Okla.), has drafted legislation that would redirect U.S. funding away from UNRWA and to other local and international agencies.
    The bill, which has not yet officially been introduced, would require the U.S. secretary of state certify by 2020 that the United Nations has ended its recognition of Palestinian descendants as refugees.
    “The United Nations should provide assistance to the Palestinians in a way that makes clear that the United Nations does not recognize the vast majority of Palestinians currently registered by UNRWA as refugees deserving refugee status,” reads a draft obtained by Foreign Policy.
    Previous U.S. administrations have maintained that the vast majority of Palestinian refugees will ultimately have to be absorbed in a new Palestinian state or naturalized in the countries that have hosted them for generations.
    But the fate of the refugee issue was expected to be agreed to as part of a comprehensive peace pact that resulted in the establishment of a Palestinian state.
    “It’s very clear that the overarching goal here is to eliminate the Palestinian refugees as an issue by defining them out of existence,” said Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.
    “This isn’t going to make peace any easier. It’s going to make it harder.”
    https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/03/trump-palestinians-israel-refugees-unrwaand-allies-seek-end-to-refugee-status-for-millions-of-palestinians-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-unrwa-israel-palestine-peace-plan-jared-kushner-greenb/

    DS.com Trump and Allies Seek End to Refugee Status for Millions of Palestinians (1)

  43. Supreme Court of India JUSTICE Mr. MARKANDEY KATJU (RETD) writes that Tibet is much better under the Chinese than it was under the lamas who only wanted to make the populace slaves. It was feudal and it will never return to the backwardness again.

    Time has come to acknowledge that Tibet has vastly improved under Chinese rule
    JUSTICE MARKANDEY KATJU (RETD) | 12 August, 2018
    From a terribly poor state hinged on a feudal system, Tibet has modernised and grows faster than the rest of China
    This article has been prompted by Jyoti Malhotra’s article in ThePrint ‘Tibetan government quietly changed its PM’s designation. India won’t be unhappy about it‘.
    China’s annexation of Tibet in 1959, ousting the Dalai Lama, had attracted it worldwide criticism. The Dalai Lama fled and was granted asylum in India, where he set up a government-in-exile with its headquarters in Dharamshala.
    The Chinese claim Tibet on the grounds that it has been part of the country since the Yuan dynasty of the 13th century, which is disputed by the government-in-exile. But let us leave this that matter aside.
    The more important question is whether Chinese rule has benefited Tibet.
    The answer is that it undoubtedly has. As the Reuters’ Ben Blanchard writes: “Today Tibet is richer and more developed than it has ever been, its people healthier, more literate, better dressed and fed”.
    Although Ben goes on to argue that this development masks “a deep sense of unhappiness among many Tibetans”, I will disagree. How can anyone be unhappy if s/he is healthier, better fed and better clothed?
    Under the rule of the Dalai Lamas (Buddhist priests), the people of Tibet were terribly poor, almost entirely illiterate, and lived like feudal serfs.
    Today, Tibet presents a totally different picture. The illiteracy rate in Tibet has gone down from 95 per cent in the 1950s to 42 per cent in 2000. It has modern schools, universities, engineering and medical colleges, modern hospitals, freeways, supermarkets, fast food restaurants, mobile stores and apartment buildings. The capital Lhasa is like any other modern city.
    While the economic growth in the rest of China has slowed down to about 7 per cent, Tibet has had a 10 per cent growth rate in the last two decades.
    Tibet has huge mineral wealth, which was only awaiting Chinese technology to be tapped. Nowadays, it has numerous hydro and solar power plants and industries running with Chinese help.
    Tibetan literature is flourishing, contrary to claims that the Chinese want to crush Tibetan culture.
    Of course, now the lamas cannot treat their people as slaves.
    The so-called ‘government-in-exile’, of which Lobsang Sangay claims to be the President, is a fake organisation, funded by foreign countries. They only want to restore the feudal Tibet, ruled by the reactionary lamas, something which will never happen.
    The writer is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India
    https://theprint.in/opinion/time-has-come-to-acknowledge-that-tibet-has-vastly-improved-under-chinese-rule/97172/

  44. The cracks in Tibetan society are starting to show, and it is now coming to the attention of local Indians who have all but identified the Tibetan leadership as the source of the divisions. According to this author, disunity amongst the Tibetans is now creating problems for Indian law enforcement agencies, and this disunity may culminate in young Tibetans holding silent grudges against their host country. It is incredible that after six decades of generosity from India, Indians are now facing the very real possibility Tibetans can be ungrateful towards India. The Tibetan leadership totally failed to impart positive values upon their exiled community, like gratitude for those kindest to them and the need to repay these kindnesses with real, tangible results. It’s also very unlikely that the Tibetan leadership will now start to do this, after six decades of failing to do so. Indians need to realise this, and see that there is no benefit for their nation to align themselves with the Tibetan leadership, and there never will be.
    Tibetan disunity not in India’s interest
    John S. Shilshi
    Updated: August 7, 2018, 11:00 AM
    India is home to the Dalai Lama and an estimated 120,000 Tibetan refugees. Though this humanitarian gesture on India’s part comes at the cost of risking New Delhi’s relations with China, India has never wavered in ensuring that Tibetans live with dignity and respect. Notified settlements across the country were made available so that they can live as independently as possible and practice Tibetan religion and culture. They are also allowed to establish centres of higher learning in Tibetan Buddhism. As a result, several reputed Buddhist institutes came up in Karnataka, and in the Indian Himalayan belt. In what may be termed as a gesture well reciprocated, and because of the respect and influence His Holiness the Dalai Lama commands, the Tibetan diaspora also lived as a peaceful community, rarely creating problems for India’s law enforcement agencies.
    The situation, however, changed from 2000 onwards when unity amongst Tibetans suffered some setback due to developments like the Karmapa succession controversy and the controversy over worshiping of Dorje Shugden. In a unique case of politics getting the better of religion, two senior monks of the Karma kargyue sect of Tibetan Buddhism, Tai Situ Rinpoche and late Shamar Rinpoche, developed serious differences after the demise of Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa, in 1981. This animosity ultimately led to emergence of two 17th Karmapa candidates in the early nineties. While Tai Situ Rinpoche identified and recognised UghyanThinley Dorje, late Shamar Rinpoche anointed Thinley Thaye Dorje as his Karmapa candidate. Enthronement of their respective protégés at the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, the supreme seat of the Karma Kargue linage, being their primary objective, both started indulging in activities monks normally are expected to, and bitterness spewed against each other.
    The bitter rivalry assumed a new dimension when UghyenThinley Dorje suddenly appeared in India in January 2000. The competition became fiercer and hectic political lobbying, never known in the history of Tibetan Buddhism on Indian soil, became common place. Apart from pulling strings at their disposal in Sikkim as well as in the power corridors of New Delhi, these senior monks spat against each other with allegations and counter allegations, widening the gaps between their supporters. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, choosing to favour one of the candidates—a decision many Tibet watchers felt was ill-timed—had also limited possible scope of rapprochement. Hence, the Karma Kargyue followers are now vertically divided, while the camps are dragged into a long drawn legal battle.
    Another development that unfortunately split the Tibetans is the controversy over Shugden worshipping, which again is an internal matter of the Gelugpa sect, to which the Dalai Lama belongs. It erupted as a result of the Dalai Lama urging Tibetans to refrain from worshiping Dorje Shugden, a deity believed to be a protector, according to Tibetan legend. Shugden practitioners, who felt offended by the call, describe it as an attack on freedom of religion, a right, which Dalai Lama himself tirelessly fought for. On the other hand, die hard Dalai Lama followers perceived the questioning of the decision as one challenging the wisdom of the Dalai Lama and mounted massive pressure on Dorje Shugden practitioners to relent, with some even demolishing the statues of the deity. The rivalry ultimately led to split in two Gelug monasteries in Karnataka, and Serpom and Shar Garden monasteries in Bylakupe and Mundgod respectively came under the control of Shugden followers. The bitterness associated with the split is exemplified by the fact that till today, members of these monasteries are treated as some sort of outcasts by the others. Thus, for the first time, the Tibetan diaspora in India gave birth to sections opposed to the Dalai Lama, with spillover effects in Tibet and elsewhere.
    For India, with a fragile internal security profile, a divided Tibetan population on its soil is not good news. It has several long-term implications. It is common knowledge that China considers Dalai Lama as a secessionist, one plotting to divide their country. The latter’s claim of “all that Tibetans were asking for, was a status of genuine autonomy within the Constitution of the Peoples’ Republic of China”, had fallen into deaf ears. China also considers him as someone who plays to the Indian tune to tickle China. Therefore, at a time when China has successfully shrunk the Dalai Lama’s space internationally, India continuing to extend the usual space for him is viewed as complicity. Sharp reaction from China when he was allowed to visit Arunachal Pradesh in April 2017, is a recent example. Such being the delicate nature of India-China relations on matters and issues concerning Tibetans, India can hardly afford to ignore the division within the diaspora. Past experience of dubious elements from Tibet having succeeded in infiltrating the Central Tibetan Administration, including the security wing, should be a warning.
    It is also time India understands the reason behind Tibetans seeking Indian passports, despite an existing arrangement for issue of Identity Certificates, which is passport equivalent. Some had even successfully taken recourse to legal remedy on the issue, and left the government of India red-faced. These changing moods should not be viewed as desires by Tibetans to become Indian citizens. They are triggered by the pathetic state of affairs associated with issuing of Identity Certificates, where delays in most cases are anything between six months to one year. Early streamlining of the process will drastically reduce their desire to hold Indian passport. It will also remove the wrongly perceived notion among some educated Tibetan youth, that the cumbersome process was a ploy by India to confine them in this country. While India should not shy from requesting the Dalai Lama to use his good offices to end all differences within the community in the interest of India’s internal security, it will also be necessary to ensure that young Tibetans do not nurse a silent grudge against the very country they called their second home.
    https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/opinion/tibetan-disunity-not-indias-interest

  45. Although the Dalai Lama has offered an apology, the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) still expressed their disappointment over his controversial comment on Nehru, the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC). Dalai Lama called Nehru self-centred.

    The Congress said Dalai Lama being a foreigner should shun and refrain from interfering in the internal as well as external affairs of India.

    Dalai Lama should abstain from imparting controversial information to students: Arunachal Congress
    Dalai Lama should know that a spiritual leader like him is shouldering great expectation: APCC
    | DAMIEN LEPCHA | ITANAGAR | August 12, 2018 9:58 pm
    disappointment over the recent statement made by Tibetan Spiritual Leader the 14th Dalai Lama in which he called Jawaharlal Nehru, the former Prime Minister of India as “self-centered” and the one responsible for parting India and Pakistan.
    “Although Dalai Lama expressed regret over his controversial comment, the APCC is extremely thwarted by it. A Tibetan spiritual leader calling names to an Indian leader who sweated most to keep him and his followers safe from Chinese aggression is simply not acceptable. Today, India is home to lakhs of Tibetan refugees who are living in 37 settlements and 70 scattered communities across different states of India,” APCC vice-president Minkir Lollen said in a statement on Sunday.
    “Dalai Lama may have forgotten that India provided a beam of light and hope to Tibetans remaining in Chinese-dominated Tibet and in the neighbouring Chinese provinces politically cut off from the Tibetan heart land. All these happened only because India has great leaders like Gandhi and Nehru who took the responsibility of social burden to shelter thousands of persecuted Tibetans then in 1959,” Lollen added.
    Minkir said Dalai Lama should know that a spiritual leader like him is shouldering great expectation, hope and trust of millions on record and the same are watching his contribution towards the mankind.
    “In such circumstances, Dalai Lama should abstain from imparting partial and controversial information to the students who are the torch bearer of the nation,” the Congress said.
    Further stating that the statement of the spiritual leader could be a politically motivated one and made with an effort to approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi for survival of his continuation in the country, the Congress said Dalai Lama being a foreigner should shun and refrain from interfering in the internal as well as external affairs of India.
    https://nenow.in/north-east-news/dalai-lama-should-abstain-from-imparting-controversial-information.html

  46. The Dalai Lama wants the Middle Way approach, he wants Tibet to be part of China because China can give Tibetans a better and brighter future. In fact, the Chinese government has proven themselves to be a good leader when they successfully brought down the poverty level in Tibet. Why is the CTA still talking about Rangzen or independent state? Why is the CTA going against the Dalai Lama? If the CTA truly respect and follow what the Dalai Lama says, please follow his instruction all the way.

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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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