Buddhist monk Thubten Wangchen, director of the House of Tibet in Barcelona, warns against Chinese propaganda campaign surrounding Dalai Lama's kiss on Indian boy, an image that went around the world.
It's been a little more than 40 years since Thubten Wangchen He became the first Tibetan lama of Spain. It was more of a coincidence than anything else., sponsored by a group of hippies Maybe they believed more in marijuana than in Buddhism.. Or at least in equal parts.
It is the blade of 68 years has lived in Barcelona since 1982, directs the House of Tibet Foundation, es member of the Tibetan Parliament in exile and a good acquaintance of the Dalai Lama, from whom he learned and with whom he worked hand in hand for years in his refuge in Dharamsala (India). Now, your task is to spread the Buddhist message, demand respect for the human rights of the Tibetan people subjected to the Chinese regime and dismantle the propaganda campaigns promoted from Beijing to destroy the good international image of the Dalai Lama. The monk, with eternal smile and burgundy-saffron habit, It is kindness personified and its presence, maybe his aura, does not go unnoticed in Madrid. They ask for photos, blessings, advice… and he leaves no one dissatisfied.
-How does a Tibetan monk end up in Spain without having a clue about Spanish??
-After Franco died, many hippies Spaniards went to India and Nepal to look for marijuana or hashish. And they found marijuana, of course, and free. But on the other hand they discovered yoga, meditation and the spiritual. They found Buddhism, hinduism. Then they came back, and in the 78 they formed a community hippy in Ibiza, which was called Can Tirurit, to continue your yogas and meditations, and they invited a yogi master for the first time. In it 82, I was about to go to America to open a Buddhist center, but I was missing the papers. A group of Spaniards arrived in Kathmandu and asked someone to go to Spain. The US thing was delayed, I spoke to the Dalai Lama and he told me to travel for three years to improve my English and learn from the West. The Spanish insisted and I thought that coming would be beneficial, because there was not a single Tibetan who spoke Spanish.
Thus the first three years passed and Wangchen met the Dalai Lama again in Switzerland: «What do I have to do now?», he asked. «He was meditating and asked me if I would have visa problems. I told him no, I could renew it for sure, and then he responded: ‘You will be the first Tibetan in Spain. And don't make too many Buddhists, a lot of proselytizing, because Catholics can get angry. You are Tibetan and you know Tibetan culture. You have to work culturally. You can talk about meditation, Tibetan medicine, human rights…‘».
The beginning was not easy. The lama asked the Barcelona City Council for financial help, to the Government of Catalonia… but he couldn't open the center. One day he met a wealthy German friend who lived in Monaco and wanted him to come there to teach him meditation.: «I was going to buy a flat. I told him that I had a job in Barcelona and a commitment to the Dalai. I also explained to him that I had no money..
«He asked me to look for an apartment in Barcelona, that would help me. I saw apartments 80, 90 metros. He replied that they were small, that I was looking for bigger ones. Then I searched for 120, 150 metros, and he pointed out that that was fine for a family, but not for a cultural center. I told him that Barcelona was very expensive, but he insisted that it be big. I found one of 310 metros near Diagonal and bought it». This is how it was born the House of Tibet.
The day Wangchen stayed with EL MUNDO, the birthday of the second authority of Buddhism was celebrated., he Panchen Lama, disappeared when he was only six years old. After his kidnapping, with his family, by Chinese military he has not been seen again, and The monk takes the opportunity to ask China for proof that he is still alive. He carries with him posters with the image of a child with his eyes wide open. It is the only surviving snapshot of him., of the boy designated by the Dalai as the reincarnation of a great Buddhist lama.
Precisely, the image of his mentor, the Dalai Lama, He is not going through his best moments since the incident with a child in a video that went viral: «What about the child? Really, the criticisms have no reason. It hasn't been explained well.. This was the day 28 February. There were almost 120 recently graduated students at an Indian university and asked the Dalai to receive them and give them advice. At an outdoor event, received all the students, teachers, and gave an hour and a half of talk. There were questions and then an Indian boy came in, He approached and asked: 'Can I hug you?’. So the Dalai, with your love, love and compassion, He hugged the child and then, proceeded according to our culture, where sometimes we touch our foreheads, the nose and we kiss each other affectionately. The Dalai Lama told him a classic Tibetan phrase: 'Eat my tongue. When you have given everything, you say ‘I have given you food, I gave you a candy… I have nothing left, now eat my tongue‘ and the samples. But his English is not very precise and instead of saying eat my tongue, used suck my tongue (suck my tongue).
«He taught the language, but he didn't suck it or anything. He only showed it as a joke. It's more, The boy was interviewed and said he couldn't express the positive energy he had received, the blessing of the Dalai Lama, Wow! I was very happy, also his family. Now we have discovered that the Chinese Government is behind. They watched the video and cut eight seconds with just the Dalai Lama kissing, sticking out his tongue and saying suck my tongue. And people started talking bad about him., to think badly. It's out of context, They manipulated him to defame him».
As director of the House of Tibet, In February Wangchen was in the Senate, which, in a pioneering way in Spain, has formed a support group for Tibet promoted by the ERC senator of Indian origin, Robert Still, and composed of the majority of political groups (except PP and PSOE, who perhaps avoid a diplomatic conflict with China). During the presentation, the lama remembered that, when I was five years old, the chinese killed his mother. He, like many other Tibetans, was from a poor family, had to emigrate to India, through the Himalayas, and spend a long time begging.
«In my childhood, with four or five years, I suffered a lot when China invaded Tibet, You know? 1,2 millions of Tibetans died, they killed them, in 1959. That's a lot of people. Now, in Ukraine, There are deaths and Putin generates a lot of suffering with the war, but thanks to the media and networks we talk about the conflict. At that time, Very little was said about the Tibet problem.. Now there are six million Tibetans who live there and have not been able to go into exile, they have only done it 150.000 people with the Dalai Lama to India and Nepal», reflect.
«After the invasion, Nehru [indian prime minister 1947-64 and father of Indira Gandhi], supported the Dalai and preserved Tibetan culture and identity. There is no Indian border for Tibetans. So, These six million Tibetans wait, they dream, May the world help the Dalai recover Tibet. But these six million are still dreaming, waiting».
Going through calamities through the streets of Dharamsala, the Indian city assigned to the Tibetans, Wangchen began to forge an idea of his future as a Buddhist monk. «The Dalai Lama asked President Nehru that the children who lived on the streets, and they were the future of Tibet, they could go to school. The Indian Government established several schools and began to collect children. They took us to a school with Indian teachers, some tibetans. we were very poor, we were very hungry. They gave us two very fine Indian breads (chapati) daily. We ate one and saved the other for later.. The teachers hit us a lot, but we studied well and did our homework».
"My dad, that it was all goodness, I always asked myself: ‘Wangchen, don't you want to be a monk?’. I responded: 'Yes dad, Yeah'. Because? We didn't have money to buy anything and in the lamas' room there was always food on the table.: apples, mangos, pan… And we kids said: 'Let's go to the lama, I'm sure it gives us something'. Then I thought: 'I want to be a monk because they are nice, they welcome you with a smile, with a lot of peace and a lot of food, so yes, "When I grow up I will be a monk.".
Once decided, Wangchen prepared to enter the faculty of Namgyal Tantric College (the Dalai Lama Temple in Dharamsala): «They tested us, They looked at what family we were from., whether our family was criminal or not; if we were smart, if we could memorize a lot of pages… In the end, the truth is that The best gift in my life was being able to go in and meet the Dalai Lama. I lived 11 years with him and he knows me very well; and I know him perfectly too.".
One of Wangchen's main wishes is to expand the presence of the House of Tibet in Spain. ago 28 years since it was inaugurated, and his position is supposed to be "for life", although he is not seen with a cane or wheelchair directing the foundation. Would like to get more grants, and luckily it has been more than 10 years with an agreement with the Barcelona City Council which provides him with a few funds to continue giving lectures, talking about spirituality, teaching… Among other topics, the House of Tibet teaches to meditate: «Meditating one minute a day, "Everyone would be much happier.", dice, convinced of something that seems so easy and at the same time so difficult.
But for the fans, The lama has some basic advice: «Meditating is the mind. The mind has to put itself in its place. Don't think about worries, don't think about the problems, don't think about tomorrow. There are many people who say that meditating is emptying the mind.. It's not that. What is the purpose of emptying the mind?? It will be empty when we are dead. If you are very stressed or very worried and cannot meditate well, then focus on breathing: out, inside, out, inside… the mind will think in the air and will not leave room for other things. when it's ready, visualize something positive: enjoy good health, life after Covid, the end of the ukrainian war… That's meditation. And if you believe in Buddha, think about him, in your image. Buddha always calm, You know?».
News source extracted from: https://www.elmundo.es
