Empty original: https://www.todoliteratura.es/noticia/55935/firma-invitada/el-pais-de-las-nieves.-cincuenta-anos.html
By Roberto Carlos Miras Miras
If a group of Tibetan monks will call our door to communicate that our son is the reincarnation of the Dorje Lama, Grand Master, and that it must leave for the Dzong unemployment monastery in Bhután, ¿How we would behave? That's what happens to a normal Seattle couple. Many people have known Tibetan Buddhism thanks to films like Bernardo Bertolucci «The little Buddha» o «Seven years in Tibet» of the missing, explorer, Heinrich Harrer, Master of the current Dalai Lama, book of which four million copies have been sold worldwide and which would later be brought to the screen by actor Brad Pitt. But, ¿What is it about Buddhism that attracts us so much?? ¿What is your story?
Fifty years have passed since a very young Dalai Lama was expelled from the Land of Snow. Maybe the answer was given a few years ago., the writer, Panjak Mishra born in North India in his book: «To not suffer anymore. The Buddha in the world» In a polyhedral way, Mishra, talks to us about philosophy, of science and the four noble truths of Buddhism, as well as other interests that have unknowingly joined this long exile. But, We make Harrer's words our own when describing a young fourteenth Dalai Lama: «The boy who ruled them had no playmates. He rested on a bed of hard cushions stuffed with wool.. I ate and dined alone. His human contact was limited to men a couple of generations older than him.: his two teachers and the three abbots who took care of his food and clothing. Everything he touched was considered sacred, their names were multiple: The saint, word amazement, absolute judge, Defender of the faith, The Ocean, living Buddha, God King».
And it was the 17 March 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a popular uprising against Chinese troops failed. Approximately 80.000 Tibetans followed them, and they settled in the city of Dharamsala (India) where he established the (Khashag) the Government of Tibet in exile. For a time everything the Dalai Lama knew about science came from the news that reached Dharamsala through the BBC, Newsweek magazine or an occasional astronomy text. After the Chinese invasion, Tibet was closed to foreigners, as happened at the beginning of the century. Then the sporadic revolts and the many bureaucratic obstacles that the new Chinese administrators have imposed after the invasion- among which his long economic pretensions stood out- continued to represent an insurmountable wall. In the West, Tibet evokes mystery and the lamas suddenly appear surrounded by Westerners as something exotic, something unknown. Where it appears as if by magic: the sky. Sangri-la, It was what the Dalai Lama left in those years. sangri- This is the Western version of the ancient legend of Shambala., a wonderful kingdom surrounded by mountains and inhabited by people surrounded by clairvoyance and telepathy who, thanks to the Kalachakra (yoga meditation practice) They manage to reach enlightenment in a single life. Tibetans in their many manifestations know that they are far from that Shambala that reminds us of the wise Milarepa and his teacher Marpa, but they have that yes, an image of a world that should be surrounded by peace and joy. In today's Tibet, foreign journalists cannot openly ask questions about the Dalai Lama.. ¿The Dalai Lama has made a mistake in his negotiations? It is possible. Before 1959, They considered him as their spiritual leader, but since then, ¿How can politics and religion go together?? We wonder: ¿What freedom is there in a country where its citizens cannot claim their rights and talk about independence?? It is possible that politics and religion have to be separated because, as the journalist wisely said,, Alberto Oliveras: «If they get together, politics and religion would mount the revolution» Now, ¿How is it possible that a Tibetan citizen is not allowed to carry a photo of the Dalai Lama?, ¿it has so much weight being outside its borders, after fifty years of occupation? ¡It's true! Many have suffered that exile, now the Dalai Lama is a recognized figure outside. But, ¿and freedom?, ¿where is?
In the year 2008, The Tibetan population barely reached six million inhabitants distributed over a territory of more than 2.200.000 square kilometers: It is one of the lowest population densities on the planet and with enormous distances of 2.500 kilometers between regions like Amdo and Nyari. Over the centuries they have formed a unique system and have now transformed each of these sacred mountains and lakes into mining operations.. State and private companies and all kinds of people land en masse to exploit the land mercilessly and in exchange obtain enormous sums of money.. According to official media: «Experts estimate that the value of Tibet's subsoil can reach 600.000 million yuan, some 60.000 million euros.»¿How many mountains and sacred lakes will contain said subsoil of Tibet? In the not too distant future, ¿The other seven mountains that remain in Lhasa will run the same fatal destination? –The dissident wonders, Tsering Woser who was born in Lhasa (1966) And from his books and blogs again and again closed by the Chinese government denounces the situation of his people. We keep wondering: ¿that religious freedom is worth, If it is not a total freedom?
¿How many knew their names?
They are many as described by the writer Javier Moro in his book: «The Buddha mountains» (Seix-Barral) Those who have left the Tibet behind and have gone to live in Dharamsala or his vicinity. «Together with a group of people we have formed a group a few years ago for the defense and freedom of the Tibetan people. We have met with the Dalai Lama and he told us that the situation is very bad. You have to report: things are happening that are not told. We have created a page on the internet to try to inform about what is really happening: www.tibetcat.com we report on a free and independent Tibet. In this book that is on the street, I look into the lives of two young women who meet a group of refugees, to cross the nights of the highest peaks in the world» O, as a complaint, through the image, the screenwriter and film director Gerardo Oliveras in his, «Tibet, freedom in exile»
Thubten Wangchen is one of them. Born in 1954 in Tibet and his father carried him on his shoulders and held his older sister's hand. His father only thought about saving his life.. They had to leave everything behind. If the Chinese saw a Tibetan moving, they shot him. He is currently director of the Casa del Tíbet in Barcelona and has stood out for his fight for human rights.. «Spain with the complaint against Pinochet will go down in history for having introduced the idea of universal jurisdiction against genocidal dictators. I am a Spanish citizen and therefore have the right to report, I decided to promote the same path against Jiang Zemin, former chinese president, and others responsible for these murders in my country. It's my responsibility» Palden Gyatso was also arrested along with thousands of monks and interned in a Chinese labor camp for having participated in a demonstration in favor of the freedom of Tibet.. His hard captivity 33 years. in 1992 He managed to escape through the Himalayas and since then he has become a defender of his people and on the advice of the Dalai Lama he has written: «Fire under the snow» «My story is that of a simple Buddhist monk who managed to survive the destructive forces of a totalitarian ideology.» The Tenzin Choedrak who in, «The Rainbow Palace» (Circe) He collects his experiences as a monk and doctor when he experienced firsthand the invasion of his country by Mao Zedong's Red Guards.. He spent more than twenty years in Chinese prisons and now talks about the genocide of his people and an ancient culture, as well as the destruction of nature and in the end a few words escape: «Although our enemy is cruel, although it spreads terror, violence and injustice, the Buddha tells us to love him» With these words we ask ourselves a question: ¿so much suffering?
According to the Doctor of Law, José Elías Esteve Moltó and author of an exhaustive work: «The tibet: the frustration of a state» that ten years ago he traveled to Tibet and from that moment something changed in his life that he committed to defending the Tibetan people, making use of all legal resources at your disposal. «The competence of the Spanish National Court in judging these crimes lies in the fact that the genocide of the Tibetan people is a crime against humanity.. In China it is impossible to file this complaint; since China does not recognize the International Court of The Hague. Furthermore, Spain has the experience of prosecuting Pinochet and other Argentine soldiers.” But Buddhist suffering continues… Bombs and a telegraph had been hidden in Lama Khongtang Tsang Rinpoche's room so they could accuse him of leading the rebellion., accused of being a counterrevolutionary 1959; He was one of the most recognized Lamas and maintained a good relationship with the tenth Pachen Lama. He died in the year 2000. In Spain, we have been able to read: «The happiest day of our lives» They were so emphatic: Takna Jigme Tsangpo and Palden Gyatso himself, who through the mediation of José Elías Esteve Moltó and the Tibet Support Committee, gave testimony of the torture suffered in the different Chinese prisons before Judge Ismael Moreno of the National Court. But the Chinese Government does not have enough to take care of itself that it has to lie about the truth. In the sixties of the last century, the ideological need arose to recreate Tibet in a distorted way.. in the movie «Servants» They describe the Tibetans as an unfortunate people because of their backwardness and savagery. Only Chinese communism is capable of saving them. Now it is still curious that the actor who plays its protagonist: He is Chinese and in real life ended up hugging Buddhism.
Contradiction
Beijing's interference in the customs and in the way of life of Tibetans led to the revolt of monks and Buddhist priests 10 March 1959, But it was crushed mercilessly by Mao's army. At that time, The great helmsman pointed out: «They have lost the great battle» More than 10.000 personas. Beijing ended up imposing the authority of Panchen Lama, Second Great Dignant in the Tibetan Hierarchy. The Panchem Lama, Like the Dalai Lamas, They are high reincarnations. The first occurred in the fourteenth century of the Christian era. Since then the Panchem Lama had been the greatest among the Lamas and ranked second only to the Dalai Lama.- regarding religious authority, but they never exercised temporal power. The Panchen Lama was in prison for seven years for refusing to denounce the Dalai Lama.. Being released in 1973 reappeared in published in 1978 as deputy of Tibet in the National People's Congress. The past 23 of January, five days before dying, the Panchen Lama had consecrated the great «stupa» (funerary monument) de Tashilumpo, built to replace those the Red Guards had built during the «Cultural Revolution» in between 1966 and 1977. Six thousand temples were destroyed. Currently, Gyaltsen Norbu, He was appointed Panchen Lama by the Chinese authorities and agrees with the last statement and made it public once the streets burned.. For the majority of Tibetans, the country's religious figure is an impostor chosen by the Chinese Communist Party. in 1955, The Government kidnapped a child that the lamas had chosen following a tradition with six centuries of history. Gedhum Choekyi Mima, At six years old he became the youngest political prisoner on the planet. He is the authentic Panchen Lama who Gyatsen Norbu has replaced. ¿Where is the freedom?
THE CIA AND THE DALAI-LAMA
No person like the Dalai Lama, At seventy-four years old, which he will turn next July, he has been so recognized outside his borders.. But everyone knows the «love relationship with the United States of America» The story took place in March 1959, nine years after the Chinese invasion, when Tibetan groups supported by the CIA waged a guerrilla war against their occupiers. The Chinese planned to kidnap Tenzin Gyatso who had been enthroned Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama sought advice from the Oracle of Nechung. The monk who gave voice to the oracle, Lobsang Jigme, He went into a trance and screamed.: «OWN, OWN» and scribble on a sheet of paper the instructions for the getaway. What was revealed later without knowing the Dalai Lama was that the American espionage had transmitted the escape plan to the oracle. Around ten o'clock 17 March, After having directed the ritual prayers, The Dalai Lama took off his sazafranada tunic and dressed up, Black Pants and its Shoulder Rifle. He went out. All under the most absolute secret, Well, the Chinese had spies everywhere. In the early morning of 18 March, The agent sent a radio message to Okinawa (Japan) saying that the operation was underway. They informed President Einsenhower. He 31 March, the Dalai Lama, Sick of dysentery and Indian land floor. The Dalai Lama had been saved, But Tibet was lost.
CHRONOLOGY
- 1937 With two years, Tenzin Gyatso was identified as the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. “If we do not listen to the words of, Gyalwa Rinpoche (The precious winner) Title that Tibetans refer to the Dalai Lama, Who are we going to listen to?”
- 1949 After the victory of the communists, Beijing took control of Tibet. China explains that it sent the People's Liberation Army to free the serfs after the failure of negotiations for the peaceful liberation of the region.
- in 1951 At only sixteen years old, the Dalai Lama signs with the Beijing authorities, the seventeen point agreement: surrenders the sovereignty of Tibet to China on the condition that religious freedom and a certain autonomy expressed in its own traditional government are guaranteed. That agreement was impossible on China's part.
- in 1954 The Dalai Lama left Lhasa and a religious ceremony took place on the bank of the river. And in Beijing the Panchem Lama and the Dalai Lama were received by Mao Tse Tung.
- 1959 After seven years in which autonomy is disappearing and Beijing advocates the local government, The Dalai Lama backs down and leads the largest uprising against power in Beijing. And 10 March, A crowd occupied the residence of their leader in the Potala Palace to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Chinese Government.. The Dalai Lama and some of his followers fled on horseback and crossed the snow-capped peaks that form the border with India.. Prime Minister Nehru receives them and grants them asylum. In the last half century, some 250. 000 Tibetans have followed in the footsteps of the Dalai Lama. There are numerous exile communities today: in Norway, France, Britain, Japan and the United States.
- in 1989, He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight for human rights., including those of the Tibetans.
- in 2002 Negotiations began between China and the Tibetan exile to seek a peaceful solution: “We have tried to find a peaceful solution.”. We have sent our representatives and they have met with the authorities of the People's Republic of China on six different occasions to resolve doubts and present our points of view and detailed demands. However, in these meetings we have not obtained any essential results, but on the contrary, during these years the harsh repression has intensified.”
- in 2005 the Dalai Lama received an invitation to address attendees, to the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and found more controversy than he expected. About five hundred members signed a petition protesting their attendance and wondering: ¿what does science have to do with religion? According to various sources, many of those protesting were Chinese scientists.. It was more political than scientific..
BUDDHISM: BEFORE AND NOW
When Bill Clinton was president of the United States, he received the Dalai Lama at the White House, despite protests from Beijing. Celebrities like Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, Sharon Stone, or Shirley MacLaine were there to greet him. As well as, composer Leonard Cohen, the film director, Oliver Stone and the black singer Tina Turner, o, the spanish: Nacho Cano who began to be interested in Buddhist practices when he was fifteen years old, and actress Penélope Cruz, recent Oscar winner, the sculptor, Antoni Tapies who learned about Buddhism through science. But before other explorers succumb to their charms and sometimes paid with their life. Missionaries like Antoni de Montserrat, the first Jesuit to draw a map of Himalayas and Tibet in 1581, or, The Portuguese Antonio de Andrade who in 1624 He crossed the Himalayas. Another Jesuit, Ippolito desideri that arrived in Lhasa in 1715 and study at the Monastic University of Sera, wrote a Tibetan-Italian dictionary with 33.000 words, o, Steven Hedin that crossed the Tibetan Altiplanes between 1896 and 1909 and the famous explorer Alexandra David Néel who, having studied tantric Buddhism in Sikkim and Kumbun. In the year 1924 accompanied by his adoptive son, The Lama Aphur Yougden, and disguised as Mendiga, Road for weeks until you reach the forbidden city. His books lit the flame for Tibet in several generations of travelers and that has been: «A trip diary. Letters from India, China and Tibet»
To know but…
- Tibet Tour, From the origin to the present: History of Tibetanos Josep Lluis Alay (Editorial Milenio-2002)
- Time breaks your silence: Causes and reality of a rebellion. Tsering Woeser (Millennium Editorial 2009)
- The heart of the world. Ian Baker (Editorial La Liebre de Marzo- 2006)
- Burdel Asia of the World. Criminal Aldama (Editorial Elea –2004)
- Magi and mystics of Tibet –Alexandra David Néel ( Indigo- 2006)
- Trip to Lhasa – Alexandra David Néel (Peninsula / Altair –2002)
- tibetcat.com
- middle-way.net
