Dalai Lama Offers Prayers for China Quake Victims

VOA Tibetan
13-05-2008

The Dalai Lama offered his condolences and prayers Tuesday for the victims of the massive earthquake that hit central China, killing some 12,000 people.

”I am deeply saddened by the loss of many lives and many more who have been injured in the catastrophic earthquake that struck Sichuan province of China.
I would like to extend my deep sympathy and heartfelt condolences to those families who have been directly affected by the strong earthquake,” the Tibetan spiritual leader said in a statement. ”I offer my prayers for those who have lost their lives and those injured.”

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, left, Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile, back right, leads a prayer session in Dharmsala, India, Monday, April 28, 2008 (File)

Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche said: “My colleagues in the Kashag, Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, join me to express our sense of great sorrow for the loss of lives and properties. We pray that may Three Jewels give courage and strength to the people of the affected areas to face this daunting natural calamity with ease.”

The Tibetan parliament-in-exile held a special Buddhist prayer session at their headquarters in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala.

The hardest hit county, Wenchuan, has more than 110,000 people and a large ethnic-Tibetan population.  Wenchuan County is also home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, China’s leading research and breeding base for endangered giant pandas.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Tibet.net

Tibetans in Nepal pray for China quake victims

By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent

Tibetans in Nepal offered prayers, candles, flowers and khatas (silk scarves) as a mark of respect for those who died in the recent devastating earthquake in China. (Photo: Tenzin Choephel/Phayul.com)

Kathmandu, May 15 – Over 200 Tibetans in Nepal offered prayers, candles, flowers and khatas (silk scarves) as a mark of respect for those who died in the recent devastating earthquake in China at Maitighar Mandala in the evening and sent their message of condolences to the families of the deceased. The service was also meant for all the victims of the deadly cyclone in Myanmar.

The Nepali Police briefly interrupted the service forcing many Tibetans to remove t-shirts, head bands and masks with slogans reading ‘Save Tibet’, ‘Stop Accusing the Dalai Lama’, ‘Human Rights in Tibet’ and ‘Stop Killing in Tibet’. Tibetans complied with the police order and the service convened without any further interruption.

Mr. Sudeep Pathak, Senior Nepali Human Rights activist spoke briefly at the service and offered his condolences to the victims but also condemned the recent grave comments of the Chinese Ambassador Zheng Xialing about peaceful Tibetan protestors and Government of Nepal.

(Photo by Tenzin Choephel/Phayul.com)

He said, “We are not anti-China and the Chinese Ambassador should know that the Constitution of Nepal guarantees right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly that not only applies to Nepalese but also to Tibetan refugees living in Nepal”.

Tibetans in Nepal who have been protesting Beijing’s crackdown in Tibet since March 10 are temporarily holding their rallies respecting the people of China and particularly family members who have lost their loved ones. This was announced by the Nepal Tibetan Solidarity Forum in a pres release today. The Forum has extended its ‘deep sympathy and prayers to the families of the victims’. They also said that they would be organizing ’special prayer sessions at Boudanath and Swayambunath Stupas for all victims to observe the first ‘Dhuntsik’ or completion of seven days after death according to Tibetan custom’. The Forum has also requested Tibetans and other volunteer protestors to ‘refrain from doing so for the time being’.

One of the leading volunteers Nima told Phayul, “We are holding our protest for one week to pay respect to all Chinese who lost their lives, as human beings we grieve their losses but we will resume our demonstration after a week and also have different plans”. The last Tibetan protest in Nepal was on Wednesday where 280 were arrested, detained and released the same day.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/16/china.quake/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Shire

Here is an e-mail I just got this morning:

Dear Jigme Duntak

Thank you so much for your lovely Blog.

My name is Dennis Holmgreen, and I’m the leadsinger, and thus representing, the Danish band: Shire.

We’ve been following the Free Tibet Campaign closely and came to the point where we felt that we had to contribute the best way we can. We write songs – so that was what we did. We are convinced that music can be a powerful tool to spread a message, and the Internet to spread that message worldwide. So we made a video to the song we wrote: “The Identity Beneath Every Tyranny”, and uploaded it to YouTube. The song and video are given away for free to everyone, so you may use it as you please.

Thank you for everything you do in the struggle for a Free Tibet.

Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oyCkCOMjeJk

Music: http://shire.dk/album_RB.html

Best Regards

Dennis Holmgreen

The Tibetan National Flag

Here’s some information I’ve pieced together from various sources about symbolism and history of the Tibetan National flag:

Symbolism:

“1. The white snow mountain in the center depicts the land of the great nation of Tibet.

2. The six red rays emanating from the sun symbolize the six original peoples of Tibet: the Se, My, Dong, Tong, Dru, and Ra.

3. The blue rays symbolize the commitment to spiritual and secular rule.

4. The pair of snow-lions symbolize the complete victory of the spiritual and secular ruling government

5. The three-sided yellow border represents the spread and flourishing of the Buddha’s purified gold-like teachings in all directions and times. The side without a border represents Tibet’s openness to non-Buddhist thought.

6. The raised jewel symbolizes Tibet’s reverence for the three Precious Gems; the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.” (Int’l Campaign for Tibet)

7.”The two coloured swirling jewel held between the two lions represents the peoples’ guarding and cherishing the self discipline of correct ethical behaviour, principally represented by the practices of the ten exalted virtues and the 16 humane modes of conduct. The swirling jewel coincidentally shares some appearance resemblance with the yin and yang symbol from Taoism.” (Tibet.com)

History:

The flag of Tibet was reintroduced in 1912 by the 13th Dalai Lama, who united the army flags of various provinces to design the present one. Since then, it served as the all-Tibet military flag until 1950.” (Wikipedia: A Tibetan revolutionary : the political life and times of Bapa Phuntso Wangye)

“During the era between 9th and 18th century, Tibet did not have an official army. In late 18th century, after the Qing government defended Tibet from the Nepalese invasion, they created a twenty-nine points resolution called “Twenty-Nine Regulations for Better Government in Tibet”.^[3] The fourth clause of this decree stated “The lack of official military in the region of Tibet has led to emergency drafts in time of crisis, which has proven to be harmful to the Tibetan people. (This reform package included the selection of top incarnations (hutuktus) like the Dalai and Panchen Lamas through a lottery conducted in a golden urn, the aim being to prevent the selection of incarnations being manipulated to fall in politically powerful lay families.) The emperor has approved for Tibet to form a official troop of three thousand men. One thousand each will be stationed in front and back Tibet, five hundred in Shigatse and five hundred in Dingri.” These three thousand troops became what is commonly known as the Tibetan Infantry. Considering that a military flag is a necessity for the daily training of this army, the central Qing government approved the “snow lion flag” as official military flag of Tibet.

This tradition is continued down to present day, where the Tibetan government in exile still uses the “snow lion flag” as their official representation.” (Wikipedia: Goldstein, Melvyn C. “The Snow Lion and the Dragon”. University of California Press, 1997. Pg. 19)

“The Tibetan national flag is intimately connected with the authentic history and royal lineages of Tibet which are thousands of years old. Furthermore, in the Tibetan Royal year 820 or in the seventh century of the Christian era, at the time of the Tibetan religious King Song-Tsen Gamp the Great extensive land of Tibet was divided into large and small districts known as “gö-kyi tong-de” and “yung-g’i mi-de”. From these large and small districts, an army of 2,860,000 men was chosen and stationed along the borders of Tibet, and the subjects thus lived in safety. The bravery and heroism of the Tibetan people at that time in conquering and ruling even the adjacent empire of China is well-known in world history.

“At that time, it is recorded that the regiment of Yö-ru tö had a military flag with a pair of snow-lions facing each other; that Yä-ru mä had a snow-lion with a bright upper border; that of Tsang Rulag, had a snow-lion standing upright, springing towards the sky; and the flag of ü-ru tö had a white flame against a red background, and so forth. In this way. the regiments of each area had its own individual military standard. Continuing with that tradition up to the beginning of the twentieth century, various regiments within the Tibetan army have had military flags with either a pair of snow-lions facing each other, or a snow-lion springing upwards and so forth.

“In the latter part of this period, during the rule of His Holiness the Great Thirteenth Dalai Lama, this eminent spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet enacted many modifications in administrative policies in accordance with international customs. Based on the formats of previous Tibetan military flags, His Holiness improved upon them and designed the present, modern national flag. With an official proclamation, He declared that this would be the uniform, standard flag to be adopted by all Tibetan military defence establishments. Since the time of that proclamation, all Tibetan regiments have likewise adopted this flag as their standard.

“The colour scheme of the Tibetan national flag gives a clear indication of all aspects of Tibet in its symbolism such as the geographic features of the religious. snowy land of Tibet, the customs and traditions of Tibetan society, the political administration of the Tibetan government and so forth.

“History attests to the fact that Tibet is one of the most ancient nations of the world. Therefore, in all the three regions of Tibet, irrespective of caste and creed, this national flag inherited from our ancestors is universally accepted as a common, peerless treasure and even today still continues to be highly respected and esteemed as in the past.” (TGIE, www.tibet.com)

Chinese Nationalism: Flame on

Rather than shout themselves hoarse, maybe foreign and Chinese protesters could try talking

WHATEVER hopes there were that this August’s Beijing Olympics would be a festival of fun and friendship with a bit of sport thrown in are fading fast. The event was intended to mark China’s reintegration into the world, and re-emergence as a great power. Instead, preparations for the games have degenerated into some of the ugliest verbal confrontations for years between China and its critics. Passions and tempers are running high on both sides. On China’s, even those suggesting something as innocuous as a dialogue are being pilloried as “traitors”. Foreign journalists have received death threats. Far from being a celebration of China’s new openness, the Olympics risk vindicating those abroad who argued it was not a fit host and those at home who think a fearful, envious world will never give a resurgent China its due.

As in 1999, after NATO’s bombing of China’s embassy in Belgrade, or in 2005, when anti-Japanese protests in China threatened to get out of hand, China’s government finds itself in an awkward fix. It wants to rein in the popular anger before it descends into violence, or turns on the government itself. Yet its own policies and its control of information have stoked the anger in the first place.

That is not to deny that the angry Chinese nationalists who have deluged the internet with their splenetic outpourings and staged protests in China (see article) have a point. Coverage in the Western press of unrest in Tibet has been rather one-sided. It has stressed the harsh Chinese crackdown on peaceful protests and tended to overlook the violence by Tibetans. For most Chinese observers, what happened was an outburst of vicious racist thuggery directed at ethnic Han Chinese in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. And the authorities, incomprehensibly, tolerated it until 19 people had been killed.

Similarly, views of the protests attracted by the round-the-world tour on which China is taking the Olympic flame differ sharply. In the West most attention has been paid to the exploits of pro-Tibetan protesters, such as hanging banners high above the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, and the menacing behaviour of the Chinese torch guards. In China, the defining moment was when a protester in France tried to grab the flame from a female torchbearer in a wheelchair. How dare the outside world, runs the refrain of a legion of Chinese bloggers, lecture China about uncivilised behaviour?

Of course, the antics of unruly demonstrators in Paris cannot be used to condone or justify Chinese repression in Tibet. Although it remains unclear exactly what happened in Lhasa, it is certain that Chinese police shot protesters in neighbouring Sichuan; that thousands of Tibetans have been detained; and that others are forced to undergo hated “patriotic re-education”, which many see as aimed at obliterating their own culture. Tibetans have real grievances, after decades of cultural discrimination and economic marginalisation.

All over bar the shouting

China’s government cannot admit that. Nor, having blamed the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, for the unrest, is it easy to open talks with him. So it has closed the obvious path to reconciliation with its Tibetan minority. Having lied to its people about Tibet for so long, how could it explain to them a new, less hostile policy? It seems also to have convinced many of its people of the truth of two other egregious lies: that criticism of China’s government is an attack on the Chinese people, and that dialogue is a sign of weakness. In fact, both foreign and Chinese protesters might learn something from each other. But it is hard to learn with one hand holding a megaphone and the other clenched into a fist.