TIBETANJul 02, 2014 · burn incense to mark his birthday, as is traditional for Tibetan Buddhists; nor can they carry or display a photograph of their Dalai Lama without fear of

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july-august 2010Volume 14, Issue 4

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On this auspicious occasion of theseventy-fifth birthdaycelebration of His Holiness the

Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporalleader of the Tibetan people, the Kashag,on behalf of the Tibetans inside andoutside Tibet, as well as all of his disciplesand well-wishers across the globe, makesobeisance to him and prays that he maylive for hundreds of years.

Since his childhood until now, HisHoliness the Dalai Lama, while developinga great sense of empathy and compassionfor all sentient beings, has providedenormous service to humanity bycatering to the needs of people withdifferent mental dispositions while, at thesame time, contributingto the maintenance andpromotion of the entireteachings of theBuddha Sakyamuni,known in the Buddhistworld as the “FourthGuide”. Particularly inthis post-modern era,His Holiness hasprovided inspirationalguidance to thebelievers (in allreligions of the world)and non-believersalike. Transcendingthe bounds of religion,His Holiness has alsogiven unprecedentedand timely advice ofwhat he calls “secular ethics”,emphasising on the need to developuniversal responsibility through thepromotion of basic human values andinter-religious harmony and co-existencefor the common good of the world we livein. Moreover, for resolving the issue ofTibet, His Holiness has come out withthe mutually-beneficial Middle-Waypolicy and non-violent means to realiseit. His Holiness has further transformedthe nature of the exile Tibetan polity into

a genuine democracy. There is no waywe can repay our debts of gratitude toHis Holiness the Dalai Lama. However,with a strong sense of the realisation ofall that he has done for us, we would liketo re-pledge ourselves today that we shallput into real practice the many valuableadvice that he has given to us.

That nothing untoward has happened tothe person of His Holiness the Dalai Lamathus far is mainly due to his altruisticfeelings and karmic merits, the protectiongiven by the guardian deities of Tibet,the collective merit of the Tibetan people,and particularly due to the assistance andco-operation extended by the central andstate governments of India and its great

people. While expressing our heart-feltthanks to all of them, and especially tothose overseeing the security of HisHoliness, we would like to urge them tofurther intensify their assistance and co-operation in this respect.

With great compassion, His Holinesslabours day in and day out for the benefitof all humanity. Inspired by this verse ofShantideva, the great Bodhisattva: “Likethe earth and the other great elements [of

nature] as well as the sky [above]//May[I] also remain eternally to serve as onewho solves the infinite sentient beings’myriad problems,” His Holiness immerseshimself in their service. We have nothingbut admiration for all his endeavours, butthese are certainly taking a great toll onHis Holiness’ health. The physicalwellbeing of His Holiness is veryimportant for humanity in general, and forthe short and long-term benefits of theTibetan people in particular. Therefore, wewould like to implore him to kindly see to itthat his daily programmes do not come inthe way of his good health.

A few leaders of the People’s Republic ofChina, who are blind to choosing between

right and wrong andwho lack foresightdue to theirpreoccupation withshort-term personaland political powergains, are liberallyspending bothhuman and financialresources to issuebaseless accusationsagainst and toslander His Holiness.This is because of thejealousy arising outof their inability tomatch His Holiness’meritorious deeds allover the world. Theiractions, which

resemble spitting in the air that will fall backon themselves, has become a source forthe people of the world to view theautocratic Chinese leaders as the ones whoare unable to accept the truth and whorely only on lies and violence rather thanseeking truth from facts. This has alsobecome a condition for the Tibetans toremain more united. However, as stated inthe Indian and Tibetan treatises on worldlyaffairs that the power of the oppositionshould not be underestimated or

His Holiness the Dalai Lama addressing the gathering on July 6, 2010 at Dharamshala.Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL

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neglected, the Kashag would like to makesome important appeals to the Tibetansin and outside Tibet at this critical period.

As a result of the clear display of theunited Tibetan spirit in 2008, the sympathyand support to the Tibetan cause by thepeople of the world, and due especiallyto His Holiness’ achievements and greatdeeds, the other side is using all itspolitical, financial and human powers tocreate discord among Tibetans andbetween Tibetans and the localcommunities where Tibetans live in exile.It is particularly using many deceitfulmeans to erect obstacles on the way ofHoliness’ activities and deeds globally.The Kashag would like to make anemphatic appeal to the Tibetans in andoutside Tibet that they should remain alertto these Chinese manipulations andalways be careful in maintaining unityamong ourselves and keeping goodrelations with the local communities.

Since the upcoming elections for thefifteenth Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile andthe third directly-elected Kalon Tripa arecrucially important, the people at large arecurrently engaged in serious discussionsand debates as to whom they should vote.At such a time, the people should becareful about the other side’s evil designs

and infiltrations. Moreover, each Tibetanmust sincerely and courageously takepart in the election processes by notshirking their democratic responsibilitiesand rights. It is very important to useone’s own intelligence, rather thanfollowing what others say, in making theright choice of candidates in the ensuingelections. The Kashag would like toappeal to all the Tibetan people to give aserious thought over these.

For over fifty years, the Tibetans in andoutside Tibet have been able to withstandthe unbearable circumstances andemergencies with great courage andstrength, and for over four generations theTibetans have been able to maintain theirreligion, culture and tradition. This is solelydue to the grace of His Holiness the DalaiLama. Furthermore, the fact that Tibetanshave, in un-diminishing spirit, been ableto continue our non-violent movement isa matter of great pride for us. Looking atthe changes that are taking in the worldand within the country, the issue of Tibetis heading towards finding a solution.

Nevertheless, His Holiness often statesthat one must hope for the best andprepare for the worst. Hence if the issueof Tibet takes time to resolve, then it isimportant for the Tibetans in and outside

Tibet to preserve their unique characterof good moral conduct without losingtheir spirit. Good moral conduct is not onlya symbol of the Tibetans but also a sourcefor the Chinese and the people aroundthe world to have affection for and tosupport our cause. Likewise, the youngTibetans must make efforts towards theirgeneral studies, and particularly towardsbecoming professionals well-versed inboth traditional and modern education.

The mutually beneficial Middle-Waypolicy, which has been adopted by theoverwhelming majority of the Tibetansunder the guidance of His Holiness theDalai Lama, is the sole way to resolvethe issue of Tibet. The Kashag iscurrently pursuing this policy, based onthe fact that it enjoys the overwhelmingmajority support of the Tibetans and theTibetan Parliament-in-Exile has endorsedit unanimously. We believe that all of theTibetan people will, after having reliedon their respective intelligence toascertain the merit of this policy, supportit whole-heartedly.

Finally, the Kashag prays that HisHoliness may live long and all his wishesbe spontaneously fulfilled. May the truthof the issue of Tibet prevail soon!

The Kashag

Today marks the 75th birthday ofHis Holiness the Dalai Lama.Tibetans inside and outside Tibet,

along with Tibetan supporters all aroundthe world, will be celebrating thisoccasion and honouring a man of peaceand wisdom.

His Holiness often describes himself asa ‘simple monk, no more, no less.’ ButHis Holiness represents much more tomany people around the world. Forthousands, he is a source of spiritualrefuge and a connection to inner peaceand harmony. He has travelled the world,building bridges between the different Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi with His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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Today I join Free Tibet incelebrating the 75th birthday ofmy great friend Tenzin Gyatso,

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet,the spiritual and political leader ofTibetans both inside Tibet and in exile.

My great sadness today is that in Tibetpeople face very grave consequencesif they join me in celebrating thebirthday of this extraordinary man whothey hold so dear. Tibetans in Tibetcannot openly pray for his long life orburn incense to mark his birthday, asis traditional for Tibetan Buddhists;

nor can they carry or display aphotograph of their Dalai Lama withoutfear of punishment, including detentionand even torture. Great efforts are takenin Tibet to minimise his influence:monks and nuns are forced to denouncethe Dalai Lama or face a variety ofmeasures from fines to expulsion fromtheir monastery or nunnery.

All these restrictions are terribleviolations of the universal right tofreedom of religion and religious beliefas outlined in the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights.

My friend’s lifelong commitment tocompassion, tolerance and non-violence have earned him respectthroughout the world, and in 1989 hewas awarded the Nobel Peace Prize forhis non-vio lent st ruggle for theliberation of Tibet. He has inspired notonly me, but also people of all faithsfrom all corners of the globe, to livewith compassion and grace even whenfaced with the most d ifficultcircumstances.

While people across the world freelyand publ icly celebrate this mostauspicious day, the 75th birthday of HisHoliness the Dalai Lama, I join FreeTibet in asking the Chinesegovernment to please, please stoppreventing the veneration in Tibet ofa man who is such an example to us allof compassion, tolerance andforgiveness. To the internationalcommunity, I ask you today to pleasehold in your hearts and thoughts themany people in Tibet who are forcedto celebrate His Holiness the DalaiLama in secret. The people of Tibetmay not be able to read my wordstoday, but my wish is that they knowthat we stand in solidarity with them,petitioning on their behalf that theymay be able openly and freely tocelebrate this 75th birthday of theirrevered and beloved Dalai Lama.

faiths. He has used his position topromote wisdom, compassion, and non-violence as a solution - not only in Tibet- but to other world conflicts.

The Dalai Lama has made the humanrights situation in Tibet an issue ofinternational concern, and it is long pasttime to resolve it. A negotiatedagreement would ensure internalstability in Tibet and bolster China’sreputation in the world.

His Holiness has expressed a willingnessto visit China and engage directly withhigh level officials. It is my sincere hopethat Beijing will send a confident messageby inviting His Holiness to China forsubstantive discussions.

His Holiness has asked for internationalsupport for his non-violent efforts toengage the Chinese government. I amproud to say the U.S. Congress has beena bedrock of support for the Tibetancause. In 2007, I stood with President

Bush to award the CongressionalGold Medal to His Holiness the DalaiLama for his ‘many enduring andoutstanding contributions to peace,non-violence, human rights, andreligious understanding.’

On the 75th birthday of His Holinessthe Dalai Lama, I offer my continuedapprecia t ion of hi s l i fe’s workpromoting compassion, peace, andhuman rights for all of the people ofthe world.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu with His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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NDTV: He is easily one of the world’smost respected and more importantly,the most loved political and spiritualleaders. He was only 2 years old whenhe was recognized as the future DalaiLama, in fact, the 14th Dalai Lama andonly 6-years-old when he began hismonastery education. And today, as heturns 75, we are extremely privileged tobe with him in Dharamshala at hismonastery, a home away from home notjust for His Holiness but also for theTibetan people in exile fordecades now. We lookback and ahead at his lifeand times, we also havewith us today in ourspecial audience not justhis followers but alsopeople who visitDharamshala, which hasgot an international namebecause of His Holiness,and of course tourists andforeigners and followerscome from all across theglobe and like I said it’sclearly a privilege to bewith you your Holiness.

You know, most of us mere mortals, whenwe approach our birthday, sometimes weare happy, sometimes there is a sense offear that life is slipping by, that we aregetting old, but you seem to beperennially young. How do you manageto stay so young hearted?The Dalai Lama: I think sufficient sleepand...

NDTV: I never get enough of that, I thinkthat’s the problem.The Dalai Lama: As a Buddhist monkthere is no dinner but a very heavybreakfast and lunch so sufficient food. Ithink physically these things areimportant. Then another factor,nowadays according to latest scientific

findings a healthy mind is very importantfor a healthy body. So I think in my owncase, comparatively I think my mentalstate is quite peaceful. Whenever I amhurt or face some problem, I look at itfrom a wider way, a holistic way and thatalso helps to reduce anxiety.

NDTV: Many people describe you as atwinkly-eyed, you know there is a twinklein your eyes, you are always laughing,you make us laugh, you make everybody

who meets you happier, calmer, do youalways internally feel as positive as youappear or do you feel the need to appearmore positive than you feel for the sakeof the millions who follow youeverywhere?The Dalai Lama: No, mostly, as I alreadymentioned, my mental state is quite calmand then also I consider every soul ashuman being. Basically we are all thesame, nothing different, physically weare the same. Of course there is a littledifference in colour, or size of the nose,otherwise you see we are completelysame. If you ask scientists what are thedifferences in the brain or in the neuron...nothing. We are therefore emotionallysame, mentally also same. So I always

look at human beings from the Presidentor King or Prime Minister upto beggar ...in my eyes all are the same. So wheneverI meet people I look at them as just otherhuman beings ... basically our brothersand sisters. So that also creates morepeace in my mind. But that level of minddoes not remain always. Occasionally,sometimes I burst.

NDTV: You get angry?The Dalai Lama: Oh yes yes.

NDTV: You get angry?The Dalai Lama: Oh yes, ifyou ask some silly questionrepeatedly, then I may losemy temper.

NDTV: Now I am scared.The Dalai Lama: Actuallyonce it happened inAmerica. One New YorkTimes columnist, one lady,she asked me, first someother questions, then sheasked me, what I want myname or legacy to be infuture. And I told her, I ama Buddhist practitioner and

I do not think of my name like that. Thenwe had some other discussion, thenagain she asked me the same question,and I answered in the same way, thenagain after some time she asked me thesame question... then I lost my temper.

NDTV: This is a lesson for me to askonly once.The Dalai Lama: Good, good.

NDTV: But when you get angry, do youexpress it? You know in modern urbanlife, a lot of us get angry very quickly,we lead highly stressful lives, we haveshort tempers. When you get angry howdo you control it? Because you are aBuddhist, a spiritual leader?

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The Dalai Lama: You see when I getangry or irritated due to very smallmistakes of some people, then I justexpress and then finish, nothing. Butsometime when it is a more serious formof anger, I try to separate myself fromanger, then watch my anger, thatemotion... then immediately the strengthof anger diminishes, according to myown experience. And then, I also sharewith my friends, just as these, in orderto bring more calmness to my mind. Youcannot have some sort of specialpractice for each case, but you mustbuild your basic mental attitude in ahealthy way, like in the case of a healthybody if the immune system is strong thensome virus or germs can’t disturb youmuch, so similarly, your mental attitudehas to be calm, then if some disturbancecome, even if some negative emotionscome, they remain for very short period,all the emotions remain on the surface,and do not disturb much in depth.

NDTV: Now tell me something, youspoke about the brain, the human brain,but you are the kind of person whomarried a scientific temperament ofinquisitiveness with spirituality, whichis very rare. And I read somewhere thaton your table, you have the model ofthe human brain that you keepassembling and trying to understand...it’s very rare for a spiritual leader tobelieve so much in science, where didthat come to you from?The Dalai Lama: I believe, firstly, that ifyou are a genuine religious practitioner,especially a Buddhist, you have to berealistic. So in order to develop a realisticapproach, a realistic awareness, youmust know the reality. So in that respect,the scientific way of thinking, theirmethod of investigating the reality isvery important, very useful. I thinkbasically some of my friends may alreadyknow, that Buddhism in general,particularly the Nalanda tradition, theirway of thinking is very scientific. SoBuddha himself has made it very clear inone of his quotations that all hisfollowers should not accept histeachings out of faith but out ofthorough investigation and experiment.Sometimes I refer to these great spiritualleaders of Nalanda as as great masters.

From the Buddhist eye they are masters,but from general eye they are Nalandaprofessors, very brilliant. They have inwriting advising not to believe in theBuddhist word rather believe in their owninvestigation and logic. So I think that’sthe basic way of thinking, it’s theNalanda tradition.

NDTV: That is practical and scientific.The Dalai Lama: Yes. So I am trainingthrough that way, and then personally,since my childhood I always had thiscuriosity...wanting to know what’s thisand what’s that. And particularly when Iwas very young, the British Mission inLhasa... when a new person came, healways brought me some toys. So whenI received information of some newofficials in the British Mission in Lhasa,I always got very excited, ‘Oh! what kindof new toy would come?’

NDTV: What was your favourite toy?The Dalai Lama: Trains, you knowrailway, like that (gestures) and cars.Anyway when I received such things,for few moments I would play and then Iwould try to know the system thatcaused the movement and then I wouldalways open it up. Actually, many toyswere damaged in the process. And thenafter coming to India finally, I got theopportunity of meeting people fromdifferent religious traditions that wasimmensely helpful, then meeting peoplefrom different professions and theneventually scientists. As I wasinterested, I became more acquaintedwith them, had more discussions withthem and found them very, very useful,very helpful.

NDTV: But you know, one of the mostcompelling facts about you yourHoliness is that you still retain a child-like, if I may use that phrase, a child-likeinnocence, a child like humour, yet youwere only two years old when you wererecognised as the next Dalai Lama. Doyou sometimes, speaking as a humanbeing and not a holy man today, do youlook back and feel that your childhoodwas lost?The Dalai Lama: No. I think in a wayyes, to some extent. For two or threeyears after they recognised me as the

Dalai Lama of the nation, I was still withmy parents, my younger brother, elderbrother, sister etc and then I think whenI was about 5 years, I reached Lhasa andwas then separated from my mother.

NDTV: For a child that must have beenvery difficult?The Dalai Lama: During my sort ofstation or living in Potala, at somedistance was a building where theycould stay but my mother preferred tostay somewhere else. I think in summertime, every other day they used to come,occasionally I also went to their home.After a few years, my tutor put somerestrictions that I should not go to meetmy mother. I felt a little anger but I obeyedhis instructions. But sometimes as achild when my lessons were not verysuccessful then my mood would be bad.Then as soon as the lessons finished Iwould run to my mother’s place andspend some time there, and in thebeginning I would be determined that Iwould never return for the lesson butthen when the time for the afternoonlesson would come, I slowly returned.

NDTV: So that actually sounds like anyother child who was traumatised byexams, but you use this interesting.....The Dalai Lama: So therefore, in oneway I was isolated from my mother, frommy parents, but also they used to alwayscome. Then what happened was thatthere were sweepers and also otherofficials. Of course in ceremonies orofficial functions they would show greatrespect but usually when I played withthem they did not treat me as a DalaiLama. They would often defeat me,sometimes I would cry, I did not want tobe defeated. So they treated me in anormal way, including those sweeperswho later become my best friends. Theyare uneducated but very honest, verytrustworthy people.

NDTV: You use this word ‘realist’ talkingabout scientific temperament, thisphrase talking about realistic approachhas defined your politics, you have twoavatars, you are a spiritual leader andyou are also the political leader of Tibet,your realistic approach where you havespoken about autonomy for Tibet rather

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than independence is the Middle Way,is the moderate approach, yet it seemslike it hasn’t moved Beijing, it hasn’tmoved China, do you regret at 75 yourmoderate political approach?The Dalai Lama: No, no. Of courseamong Tibetans and among oursupporters, our friends, there are somesigns of increasing criticism about ourapproach but if you look at the wholepicture, although there was somepositive result from the Chinesegovernment, the whole thing insideTibet completely failed. From theChinese government side there is nopositive result, but the Chinese people,not the entire 1.3 billion people, but someintellectuals, some professors andwriters, and some artists, I think beforethe Tiananmen massacre happened, veryfew... after that more and more Chineseare showing their concern and showingsolidarity with us. Now a number ofChinese intellectuals are showing ustheir support, and I can give an examplefor that ... see in the last two years therehave been over 1000 articles written inChinese language by Chinese writers,more than 100 of them living in China.All these articles fully support our wayof approach, and are very critical of theirgovernment policy.

NDTV: I agree but do you...The Dalai Lama: Within the Chinesegovernment there are many officials whopersonally express their support for ourapproach. This is what I feel is the positiveresult, but there is a problem which has tobe solved with the Chinese, and we cannotstop it by ourselves. Sometimes I jokinglytell that these people are new guestswithout proper invitation. Such guestshave come with a gun. Once they build atrench, they will control everything - theTibetan way of life, tell us how to be agood Buddhist. Sometimes the Chinesemedia describing me, ‘Dalai Lama notteaching proper Buddhism’. So it seemsthey know better. So the Tibetan problemcreated from outside and so we have tofind a solution with them. So Chinesepeople support is very essential. Also theoutside world, including the United States,Indian government, European Parliament...all these influential bodies they also veryeasily support ...

NDTV: You still have faith in the US? Iremember when I met you last time, youhad come back from your first trip fromWashington and President Obama hadnot met you. Subsequently he did butmany people think he acted underChinese pressure. So do you still havefaith in Washington?The Dalai Lama: Of course. ThePresident himself when I met, but beforeof course our in-person meeting, I knewhim through correspondence andthrough telephone. He is a very goodperson. Then afterall America is ademocratic country, finally both theHouses are very important and also isthe public thinking. Usually in ademocratic country, it’s the publicthinking that reflects in the Parliament,in the Houses, that in turn reflects onthe administration. In America, at thepublic level, both the houses are verysympathetic, very supportive. Then inthis country also, the Indian governmentcan easily support our stand.

NDTV: But the Indian government didnot let you make a political speech whenyou went to Tawang in ArunachalPradesh. They said that you were to visitas a spiritual leader. Do you sometimesthink that India is also giving in topressure from the Chinese because Indiais trying to form a parallel strategicrelationship with China. Doesn’t thatdisturb you?The Dalai Lama: Previously, I used torespond when people asked what is thegovernment of India’s attitude to theissue, and I have always said that thosefields in which the Indian governmentcould help, it has provided maximum help- in educational field, in rehabilitationetc. In the political field, government ofIndia’s attitude or policy towards Chinain general and particularly Tibet Idescribed as over cautious. It’sunderstandable. But in recent years, thegovernment of India’s stand on this issueis now more firm.

NDTV: We are in conversation with HisHoliness The Dalai Lama on the occasionof his 75th birthday in Dharamshala athis monastery so it’s a very specialoccasion for us as well and for all thepeople who have known and followed

and worshipped and befriended the DalaiLama, one of the few Holy man withwhom you can crack a few jokes. We aregoing to hear from all of them today andwe are carrying from Delhi the specialmessage for you your holiness from oneof India’s best known photographers,Raghu Rai, who has spent a long timephotographing you and following youaround and he loves you a lot and this isthe message Raghu Rai has sent for you...

Raghu Rai’s message: Your Holiness,many happy returns of the day on your75th birthday and you may look ashandsome and as strong like theHimalayas, like you have always looked.Your Holiness, you know that we all loveyou and I personally love you verydeeply because each time you havegiven me a high. My mind, body andsoul gets enriched and rejuvenated withthe energy that you exuberate. You are ahighly spiritual and evolved person andso my question to you is, please connectwith the supreme energy for our sakeand find out when are we going to goback to Tibet so that I can travel backwith you in your home land andphotograph you all over again. My bestwishes again and lots of love.The Dalai Lama: Thank you.

NDTV: And I guess Raghu asked thequestion that so many wants to know.Do you believe in your heart of heartsand I ask you this because you are arealist, “do you believe that you willever go back to Tibet in this lifetime?”The Dalai Lama: Oh yes.

NDTV: You still believe that?The Dalai Lama: Yes. Firstly theTibetan spirit is inside Tibet and despiteso much of change or new developmentand also brainwashing or torture onvarious matters, Tibet’s spirit neverchanges, it is forever very strong. Thenon top of that many Chinese, accordingto some information there are over 200millions of Buddhists in China includingmany party members and high officialswho are outwardly communist atheistbut inside they are Buddhists. Sooneror later they have to realise that theirpolicy is unrealistic and will always becounter-productive.

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NDTV: Do you ever feel because whileyou are a holy leader, spiritual leader butyou are also human at heart. Do yousometimes feel that in this issue of goingback to Tibet for you or for your people,time is not on your side anymore?The Dalai Lama: Oh yes, 51 years havepassed but as I mentioned earlier, yousee, last 60 years or more than 60 years,things are changing quite rapidly inChina so the present situation cannotremain forever. We have to believe thatthings will change but then if you ask,how soon, that is the question andnobody knows the answer.

NDTV: In your lifetime?The Dalai Lama: Oh, in the next 5 years,10 years or I think 15 years, things willchange definitely.

NDTV: You joked once that to retire wasalso your human right?The Dalai Lama: Yes. Since 2001, wealready achieved elected politicalleadership of our establishment here.My position is same as a retiredposition, so now I am looking forwardto complete retirement.

NDTV: Do you think the Tibetmovement will remain the same if you doretire because there are many people andyoung Tibetans who feel your messageof non-violence has actually not workedbecause it has not managed to move acold un-feeling government in Beijing.So do you see those young peopletoday, some of them who talk abouthaving a more aggressive approach. Doyou worry about what will happen tothis movement after you?The Dalai Lama: No. Up to now insideTibet and as well as outside Tibet I canimagine almost 95% or even I may say99% of people are totally dedicated tonon violent paths. Among Tibetans thereis the youth organisation and someother organisations that want completefreedom, complete independence so herethere is the difference is. Somekind ofdebate is going on in our community.

Actually from our side, from time to time,we ask people since we are totallydedicated to the democratic principleand also the Tibet issue is the issue of

Tibetan people. So finally it’s up to theTibetan people. So time to time we askpeople.

NDTV: So you are saying is that if Tibetanpeople wanted complete independence ormore aggressive approach you would havenot discouraged them?The Dalai Lama: As I just mentioned,almost 99% are totally dedicated to non-violent methods. The number of peoplesupporting independence is growingand we also sometimes find it difficult toexplain because there is failure insideTibet. Still from time to time we ask justthat...I think 2008 in November we hadthis big meeting here and we asked thepeople and there were strong voicesabout independence and criticism of ourapproach but finally majority of themsupport our existing stand.

NDTV: So if the majority opinion withinthe community changes, you will bewilling to change your position?The Dalai Lama: Have to. I am not adictator. Logically we are criticisingthese dictator policies and a person whocriticises them, how can he practicebeing a dictator?

NDTV: Why do you want to retirethen? What would this movement bewithout you?The Dalai Lama: Age... and it is ademocracy, a national struggle - peopleshould carry on the responsibility notjust one individual. So now I am 75 andnow I am looking forward to and think ittime for retirement

NDTV: Are you serious or are youjoking?The Dalai Lama: I am serious, you knowI have three commitments: Number onecommitment is the promotion of secularvalues, irrespective of a believer or nonbeliever. So that’s why I have alwaysreceived invitation from different partsof the world. Not that they invited me asDalai Lama but Dalai Lama’s thinking issomething they feel is quite realistic orsuitable so that is my number onecommitment.

Two - promotion of religious harmony.Both of these two things I usually

describe as ancient Indian thought. So Imyself describe me as the messenger ofancient Indian thought. So wherever Igo I promote these two things. Thesetwo things till my death I am committed.

Third is the Tibetan issue, so when I retirecompletely, I will have more time energyand will spent on these two things

NDTV: Have you set a time framementally for this retirement?The Dalai Lama: No. The difficulty isthat people have too much emotion andtoo much expectation.

NDTV: People won’t let you retire?The Dalai Lama: Well that is little bitdifficult, but then also finally I am also ahuman being and I also have the right.

NDTV: Well retirement is your humanright of life but I don’t think itshappening. There are so many peopleand let’s start taking some questions.We have Catherine Levine...

Catherine: I am from Canada and I havestudied philosophy of the mind so I amvery interested to hear you speak andvery honoured to be here today andHappy Birthday. You indicated that youdo have hope for Tibet’s future? Whatare the main sources of hope for you?The Dalai Lama: Truth. Honesty.Transparency. Our voice here is verysmall and very weak but people trust.Other side, very few trust. So the truth,honesty and transparency is the sourceof our hope and source of our strength.So the power of truth brings trust andwith that self-confidence. Thentransparency, which brings trust andtrust brings friendship.

NDTV: You have never in all these yearslost hope? Not one moment of self-doubt, not one moment of thinking thatits been decades and decades and I amnot able to change anything, not onemoment of losing hope?The Dalai Lama: No. Of course somedisappointments occasionally come butbasically as I mentioned earlier, webelieve in truth. So when we, my officialsand some set of Chinese officials meet,since we are totally honest, truthful and

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transparent, we always feel very easy totalk with them. On their side there isalways uneasiness.

NDTV: That’s a very interesting way ofputting it but I think many of us marvelat where do you keep getting thisoptimism from? We have anotherquestion from Jeremy Russell...

Jeremy: I heard you say that you expectto outlive the Chinese Communist Party,I wonder if you still feel that way andwhether you feel the change in theChinese Communist Party would begradual or sudden?The Dalai Lama: The communist partyinspite of lots of destruction but alsosome positive things they have done.Particularly in the early period when realrevolutionary movement was takingplace they were totally dedicated people.When I was in China in 1954-55, of courseI met several times with Chairman Mao,all those top leaders and also I met anumber of top leaders in differentprovinces. All of these people weretotally dedicated to the well-being of thepeople. I really admired that. So myimpression is good about this Marxistparty. So I offered, “I want to joinCommunist Party” but then they said ‘nohurry’. So I think even they know thateventually their Communist Party will bespoilt so better to not join the party. Atthat time it was really a wonderful party,really a working class people’s party. Sologically now the time has come for themto retire with grace. However, I havesome sort of reservation to say that inChina democracy must start immediately.China, who has 1.3 billion people, hasnever experienced democracy and largenumbers of people are uneducated. Sosome kind of centralised authorityshould be there. So therefore underCommunist leadership, there should bea gradual change.

I think one thing we immediately need istransparency and free information.1.3billion people have every right toknow the reality. It’s immoral. 1.3 billionChinese people also have the capacityto know what is right what is wrong.Maybe during war or during civil warsome censorship, that’s it. In a free

country, during war and someemergency period, they practice that butin a peaceful period this is totallyunacceptable.

Then the independent judiciary is veryvery crucial. ‘Look at India’ , I often tellmy Chinese friend that they should lookat India - north Indian, south Indian, westIndian and east Indian - differentlanguages, even different script, culturaldifferences but no separation. They havetheir own language and their own script,separate identity but everybody remainsin this union. Kashmir has someproblems and that’s with mainlyPakistan. So Chinese should learn thesethings. So India has advantage of freeinformation and transparency andindependent judiciary. I think Chinashould be transparent and have freeinformation and eventually create anindependent judiciary. This is verynecessary.

NDTV: Do you still think of yourself asa Marxist?The Dalai Lama: Yes. As far as socialeconomic theory is concerned I am aMarxist.

NDTV: Maybe that will give you somemembership to the Communist Party ofChina.The Dalai Lama: Now unfortunatelyChinese Communist Party is no longer aCommunist party, it is a capitalist party.One my Nobel laureate friend, a veryrespected friend whom I admire, hesupported the People’s Republic ofChina - a socialist country many yearsago. About two years ago I met him andasked him, “are people from China reallysocialist?” He said, “no, no longersocialist but capitalists andauthoritarians.”

NDTV: Which is a potent combinationto deal with. And now to hear from HisHoliness’s one of oldest friends,Professor Sharma, who has also been theformer Principal of Dharamshala College.Sir, since you know His Holiness so welltell us something that none of us know?

Sharma: That’s a very difficult questionto answer.

NDTV: Because we all don’t know himas well as you do?Sharma: I had moments of greatimportance with His Holiness. My mostmemorable moment was when a friendrang me up to say that there was a verybad news and the bad news was that hisHoliness was leaving Dharamshala.Something had happened and I will notgo into the details. That was at 9:30 inthe evening and so in the morning I gotgoing and in the afternoon I arrived hereat his Holiness’s office but His Holinesswas very busy as hundreds of foreignjournalists were there and I was told thatno audience could be granted. I sent amessage back saying that I will not leavethis place, sit on dharna until midnightunless His Holiness allows me to meethim. He was kind enough that his thensecretary sent the word to me that HisHoliness will meet me at quarter to six inthe evening after he was free from thejournalists. I went to meet His Holinessand as usual he was standing at thethreshold. I will not reveal to the publicwhat he said to me when both of uswaited for a second at the thresholdbefore entering the room. Only at thatmoment I wished like Sita for the groundunder me to open so I could go inside itand disappear. I was so shocked andthen I said no your Holiness let us sit.Then we talked and talked but I don’tknow what I talked and a stage camewhen I started crying like a baby andHis Holiness got up and I got up andHis Holiness embraced me like anythingand promised, ‘I will never leaveDharamshala’. That is one of the mostmemorable events of my life.

I have the privilege of having his graceand blessing for the last 40 years.

NDTV: I hope you are never leavingDharamshala and if you ever do it willonly be to go to Tibet.The Dalai Lama: The local people at thattime and when the trouble happened Iwas in America and someone asked meso I expressed that if the local peopledon’t want us to be here then we haveto leave. Then when I reach here someof my old friends, especially this personvery emotionally asked me that till theday I leave for Tibet, please remain here.

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I was very much moved. Of course as ahuman community some problemsoccasionally occur but basically all localpeople have genuine friendship not afriendship due to money matters butfriendship built on trust.

NDTV: So you are not leavingDharamshala.The Dalai Lama: No.

NDTV: We will not allow you to leave.Another veteran from Dharamshala, AjaySingh.

Ajay: In today’s world you are one ofthe most radiant personalities for thepeople in Tibet and in the world and forall the millions of people who followBuddhism and for all of them you arethe epitome of hope and belief and whereever you go, you spread so much joyand peace, so would you now appoint asuccessor?The Dalai Lama: Now as far as thesuccessor and regarding the Dalai Lamainstitution is concerned, as early as1969, I made an official statement.Publicly I stated that this centuries oldinstitution whether it should continueor not is up to Tibetan people. ButTibetan spirituality and Tibetannational struggle of course will becarried on by Tibetan people. Now forthat reason we already have an electedpolitical leadership. Every five yearselections take place. In the spiritualfield, among Tibetan’s differentBuddhist traditions - now youngergeneration say between twenty to thirtyyears old now - very healthy youngspiritual leaders are coming. So after me,they will carry on the responsibilityregarding spirituality. But meantime,you see, some suggestions amongTibetans, maybe worthwhile to takeinto serious consideration - to chooseone sort of successor. So last few yearswe have discussed about my successoror how to keep this institution. So thetopic is already but no concretedecision yet.

NDTV: You said once, that you believethat even the institution of the DalaiLama could fade away, do you reallybelieve that?

The Dalai Lama: Yes! The Buddhahimself...there’s no Buddha institution,no Nagarjuna institution but theteachings still remain, not theorganisation. Of course I cannotcompare myself to these great leaders,but some of my thoughts, my books willremain after me, for a few 100 years, butthat’s nothing to do with the institution.

NDTV: So it doesn’t matter if there’s noDalai Lama after you?The Dalai Lama: Some people got theimpression that the institution is veryimportant for Tibetan Buddhism, it’s not.Of course as far as the freedom struggleis concerned, the institution is useful,that also, afterwards, it won’t matter.

NDTV: When I met you last time, yousaid, I’m not a Godman.The Dalai Lama: Yes. I am a humanbeing. No question. On my first visit toIsrael, some correspondent or mediapersons from Israel came here and I usedthe wrong word. Instead of saying I’m anormal human being, I mentioned I’m aperfect human being or something likethat, but I meant that I’m normal, just ahuman being. So I used the wrong word.When I reached Tel Aviv, somenewspaper mentioned it with a littlenegative attitude, ‘Dalai Lama considershimself as a perfect human being’. Andalso another point ... when they askedabout Hitler, the holocaust, being aBuddhist, I said even Hitler, basically,particularly when young, must be anormal human being, morecompassionate.

NDTV: You’re saying you can showcompassion for Hitler?The Dalai Lama: Of course! If I keephatred, no use. Hitler has already gone.

NDTV: But there are modern day Hitlers,there are modern day terrorists...thereare modern day people who perpetratehate, can you really always turn theother cheek? That’s what MahatamaGandhi used to say, that’s what Jesusused to say, turn the other cheek...butsome would say that’s weak, to turn theother cheek.The Dalai Lama: I think when Indianindependence was happening,

Mahatama Gandhi and some otherleaders, were totally dedicated to non-violence - ahimsa. Some western powersconsidered it a weak sign, India’sweakness, but nowadays, that kind ofconcept has changed. Actually, usingviolence, using weapons is a sign ofweakness and fear. Non violence is asign of strength, self-confidence andtruth. Violence happens if you have notruth, no reason to argue... that’s whenthey pick up weapons. Even in ahusband-wife relationship when somekind of differences happen, if either sidehave selfish reasons, then the only thingis to shut up or do some physicalviolence, these are signs of weakness.

NDTV: How does the world deal with anOsama Bin Laden, Taliban...how do wedeal with people who kill? Can we reallyturn the other cheek?The Dalai Lama: Oh yes of course.Then, as one Buddhist master stated,basically we have to think of themaximum benefit. In some cases in orderto seek maximum benefit to larger people,it is permissible to use some harsherwords, some harsh sort of physicalaction. That’s the Buddhist way ofthinking. Method is not that important.Important is your goal and yourmotivation. When you speak some harshwords, harsh physical action, yourmotivation should not be hatred, butmust do it with compassion. Likehappens with good teachers and goodparents. To stop wrongdoing by theirchildren or students, out of a sense ofconcern, out of sense of compassion,sometimes they may say some harshwords, but this is essentially nonviolence. On the other hand, desire tocheat, or exploit and harm them, andusing nice words and with some gift, isessentially violence.

I think in ancient times, people maybemore balanced because their lives weredifficult, so trust is in a community wasimportant. In last two centuries,technology developed, then humanbeings totally paid attention to thesefields. Usually I tell people to pray, tomeditate, your goal may be achieved innext life eventually. But prayers cannotsolve your present problem immediately.

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Technology can immediately. Moneyalso has immediate benefits. Butthrough prayer there are no immediategains. So people totally pay attentionto money and technology...a lot of moralcrisis happening.

Fortunately now, in the latter part of the20th century, even among rich families,or some leader of big corporations, nowthere are more and more people nowshowing the values of spirituality. On afew occasions they invited me to talk,among scientists also. In previouscenturies, in past, modern science andspirituality were something totallydifferent... now these things have comecloser. And now in the US, some topscientists have really begun a seriousinterest in our emotions, how to tackleemotion through meditation and so theyactually are creating some projects,special research work in these fields. Sothese are big changes. And also, I thinkeverybody is now talking that we lackmoral ethics. For some people, moralethics must be based on religious faiths,then it becomes very limited. Withreligion it is very good but even withoutreligion, the basis of ethics, includingour own physical health, truthfulness,honesty, transparency, builds more selfconfidence. Self confidence reducesfear, brings inner strength and so stressgets reduced, fear is reduced, anxiety isreduced. Now some medical scientistshave begun to realise these things. Sothis is a hopeful sign.

NDTV: Next question is from Franciscowho is here from Argentina.

Francisco: My family is from Argentinaand I’ve been studying here for 6months. In Argentina we have a longhistory of military dictatorships, andyou’ve talked about violence. Myquestion is, given the militaryoccupation of Tibet by the Chinese,given this history of violence throughoutSouth America, given today’s terrorismthroughout the world, can there be apositive benefit to having a military?The Dalai Lama: Maybe under certaincircumstance for some period and somekind of emergency, if it is relevant. Butthe problem again with all those military

people is the lack of moral principles.For certain time periods they hold thepower and responsibility but then theyforget about democracy and onlyremember the power. Like the Burmesemilitary general and I think few years inPakistan. Look at India sinceindependence - democratic principleremains permanently. Drawbacks hereand there. But I was also telling somespiritual leaders here that I feel proudas the messenger for India wherever Igo but within our home, we haveproblems like caste system or dowryand we must address them.

NDTV: So military is needed forpurpose but they have to let go ofpower. They can’t.The Dalai Lama: Short period ofemergency but never forever... againrelated to moral principle

NDTV: Okay we have Bhuvnesh Dubeywho runs a school.

Bhuvnesh: Your Holiness your firstcommitment of promotion of humanvalues, Ahimsa is a part of humanvalues. How much relevant the doctrineof ahimsa in today’s time of violenceand Naxalism? What is the reason forthe spread of Naxalism in democraticcountries like India and how do we dealwith it?The Dalai Lama: I think violence onglobal level including September 11event, we have to look at these eventsin a more holistic way. At that time somemedia people asked and I mentionedthat this unbelievable tragedy has itsown causes and conditions. Thesecauses have its own causes, and owncauses and own causes. So thesecauses maybe related with last one ortwo centuries, that means - colonialrule. And also from some of thecountries, their oil has been exploitedby the industrialised nations while theirown people remained poor. So thesealso are ultimately moral ethics. At thattime I expressed a wish that in order tocounter these things we have to thinkat two levels - one is immediate whichis to be taken care of by the politiciansand the leaders and the second is wehave to think long-term that is proper

education and for the promotion of non-violence “ahimsa”. Now in today’sworld the reality is tha t the world isjust one entity. Six billion human beingsin the continents are just part of oneworld. Asian future depends on Westand vice-versa and Africa. Your enemyis also a part of you and your futuredepends on them. So destruction ofyour neighbour and your enemy isdestruction of yourself. So thereforeAhimsa does not mean the mereabsence of problem or conflict.Sometimes I jokingly tell people that aslong as human’s smart brain remain thensome problems always remain there. Ifwe really want to build a peaceful worldthen human beings must go. So thedifferences are there and we have tofind a method of solving these problemswithout touching the gun and by beingnon-violent. Through dialogue. So lookSouth African independence movementunder the leadership of NelsonMandela. They actually practicedMahatma Gandhi’s principles. So yousee in Africa white people and blackpeople generally remain quite peaceful,so that’s a realistic approach.

Recently I was in Patna and also Orissaand I met with a person from theParliament and we discussed about thisNaxal problem and I mentioned abouttribes. He mentioned in the constitutionthe policy is good and some goodpoints are mentioned to counter theseproblems but the problem is that theperson who implemented these policesdoes not carry it out seriously and thatis the problem. So I heard in some ofthe Naxalite area or villages noelectricity and no water and theirattitude towards police was negativeand that’s when I stressed that the realtransformation of India must start fromthese villages. Not just few good citieslike Hyderabad or Bangalore andCalcutta is good. So it should be moreequal. I met some leaders in Delhi and Imentioned that please go andinvestigate and should not rely on justofficial report. So therefore these placesare neglected which causes frustrationwhich transforms into anger and angerinto violence.

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Jessica: Do you feel the Obamaadministration is too lenient in policestowards China?The Dalai Lama: I don’t think. Initiallya lit t le bit cautious but afterCopenhagen the new administrationgaining more experience. So this is justthe beginning. You will have to waitand see. I think basically there was fullsympathy and full support, which isvery good. My meeting with him sincehe became President was a very frankdiscussion and very good.

NDTV: No disappointments withObama?The Dalai Lama: No, no.

NDTV: You don’t think he is cozyingup to China?The Dalai Lama: I don’t think so.When I met Obama I reminded him ofIndian Prime Minister’s expression.India in economic field is a little behindChina but India also has somefundamental values like democracy,rule of law, free press and transparency.These are not only India’s values butalso universal values. So I mentionedto Obama that the concept of G-8, G-20 is only for money matters.Unfortunately people and even mediapay attention to these values and notthe fundamental values. So Imentioned to Obama the Indian PrimeMinister, usually I describe him ourprime minister because for the last 51years now I have lived here. I expressmyself as son of India and thatexpression makes some Chineseofficials furious. But that is true, nowmajor portion of my life spent here. Ifyou open my brain then I think I am100% Indian because my teachers, allthese India Nalanda masters are ourgurus and we are chelas. And also yousee, we are quite reliable chelasbecause you know once in the 8th

century the Nalanda brilliant thoughtsand concept reached Tibet we keptthem. During those centuries in theirown homeland lots of destructions …now Nalanda just ruins, nothing. So,during these period when our gurulittle bit suffered we kept all yourtreasures intact. So we are quitereliable chelas.

So I reminded Obama that Indian PrimeMinister’s expression is very importantthat the West is investing in China but ifyou always talk money money moneythen the other side will get a sense ofpride which is based on ignorance.Genuine pride must have a sound basis.Some of these drug dealers make lots ofmoney through wrong means and thenfeel proud...that is wrong. Money isimportant but must be based on moralprinciples then should feel proud. Sounfortunately in China millions of moneycome from outside - Taiwan, WesternEurope and America. I don’t think muchmoney from India. So with this moneythey are exploiting cheap labour in China.Actually exploitation is wrong and thereis no independent labour union. Sobasically the world has become alwaysabout money, economy and science andnever about inner values.

I was returning from Japan and I wastold by the younger generation that thereis too much stress, anxiety andloneliness and due to which suicide rateis increasing. The standard of lifecompared to India is much higher inJapan but mentally lots of problems. Sowithin India I have a friend from Sikkimand they mentioned to me last decade orso that lots of development is takingplace but in the mean time they also toldme that the drug problem and mentalstress is going up as well. So these areclear signs that material things andmoney only provides physical comfortnot mental comfort.

NDTV: Your Holiness there is somebodyhere who has a question on money sincewe are talking about it.

Woolfgang: It’s an honour to speak toyou. My question is related to thatbecause I am from Austria who left hisjob and came to India and left westerncomforts like so many people do thesedays . So we feel that that something ismissing despite us living comfortably,maybe its called spiritual awakening. Sowe come to other countries and dovolunteering and reads books of you,for example. My question is when weknow that life is more than materialisticcomforts, shall we try to combine our

lifestyle - our materialistic lifestyle withthe spiritual life or shall we even reduceor remove the material lifestyle and goin the spiritual levels more?

The Dalai Lama: Combination,combination. Follow spirituality andliving like a beggar ... that is also notgood. Of course some people or saintswho live in the Himalayas completelynaked. People cannot do that. Majorityof people cannot do that. Otherwise thewhole world will die of starvation. Somaterial development is very necessary.The Southerners, Africans, many Asianswithin India still need a lot of furtherdevelopment in the economic field. Nowhere the Marxist principle also is veryimportant. The moral principal of equaldistribution is very important.

Few people become billionaires but manypeople still remain poorer. Look atAmerica - huge gap... now that famoussocialist country also having that gapwhere few people are billionaires withpower and the rest poor particularly inthe interiors... gap... huge gap. We stillneed a lot of material development butat the same time we blindly believe thatif you receive the maximum materialdevelopment all human problems aregone. That’s totally wrong, unrealisticand short-sighted. Only thinking aboutthe physical comfort. All of us haveexperienced that mentally happyphysical discomfort is okay, but mentallyunhappy and physical comfort cannotgive you happiness. Mental happinesscan subdue physical pains. So there isno point in neglecting taking care of ourmind . Spirituality does not necessarilymean God, Buddha, but just about mentalcalmness. So that practice ofcompassion is very very helpful for acalm mind.

NDTV: I am going to play for you nowanother message we are carrying fromDelhi...it is from the dancer Sonal ManSingh.

Sonal: I offer my prayers and salutationsto His Holiness Dalai Lama. I think I wasa school girl and he was a 16 year oldand he was visiting India and I showedhim his picture and he laughed in his

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shaky way and hugged me. You knowjust to be hugged by him and beenveloped - it’s like going into the deepwaters of Ganga. So your Holiness youare anekshatru, you are yugpurush andyou are what you are. I want to wishyou many many healthy fruitful laughterfilled years where you spread joy andbeauty to all and my one question ishow do you do it with all the problemsyou have faced in your life ... fantastic.My humblest namaskar.The Dalai Lama: Thank you.

NDTV: How do you do it?The Dalai Lama: There is no otherchoice. If you rely drugs or alcohol,it’s going to be self-destruction. So wehave a wonderful human mind whichhas the ability to think with reason orfact. So use that maximum way andthen become realistic. Once in the 8thcentury a Buddhist master expressed:when we are facing problems think ofthe problem and if you can overcomethat problem then no need to worry. Ifthere is no way to overcome thatproblem then don’t worry too much.Very realistic advice.

NDTV: It’s actually extraordinary, youroptimism.

I want to ask you something, I don’tthink I have ever met a spiritual leader,I am not saying holy man or godman,just a spiritual or political leader whois so loved by so many people, howdoes it not go to your head becausemany people become arrogant after allthis attention?The Dalai Lama: Self discipline. Andalso there are verses, I recite every day.The verses mention that if you are beingrespected by everybody and praised byeverybody, then you must think thatyou are the lowest person. I alwayspractice that. And one of the 8thcentury Nalanda masters said that somepeople are praising you but somepeople are also criticising you, thinkthat also.

NDTV: It balances it out.The Dalai Lama: Yes very good, it isrealistic.

NDTV:We now want to play a messagefrom somebody who used to be youLiaison Officer, who knew you longback, Inder Malik.

Inder Malik: Your Holiness, I amextremely grateful to you. During mylong stay I got so much knowledge andwisdom not only from you but also fromyour senior and junior tutors that Icould write a book on you. My bookDalai Lamas of Tibet, for which youwrote the foreword and inaugurated in1984 became a hit and I became a writer.Divinity was writ large on his face, thatwas my first impression in 1962 andnow I have been seeing him for thelast 50 years after that and the glowhas been expanding and expanding.Now, I have the pleasant duty inwishing you a long long and a veryhealthy life because you are requiredby the whole world.The Dalai Lama: Thank you.

NDTV: Tracy Chrisman from England,if you can identify yourself, there is aquestion from Tracy... yes go ahead...

Tracy: My question was regarding theselection process of future DalaiLamas. Do you think that thetraditional process will still continuegiven that what is happening in Chinaabout the Panchen Lama?

NDTV: Given that you appointed thePanchen Lama and the Chineseappointed someone else, what willhappen to your succession and whatif China appoints somebody as the nextDalai Lama?The Dalai Lama: Unfortunately thoseChinese Communist hardliners, theyare quite expert in creatingunnecessary problems. Look now thereare two Panchen Lamas, one officialPanchen Lama, and the other PanchenLama of Tibetan heart. So all thesethings create more complications, moreresentment with Chinese government.They still seem to have not learnt thesethings. Say if I die within this year, theChinese would most probably appointone boy as a Lama whose parents aremore loyal to Chinese Communists. Sothat’s one official Dalai Lama. And

then if Tibetans and other concernedpeople from the Himalayan region andalso Mongolians, if they really wantto have another Dalai Lamareincarnation then they will choose.

NDTV: What is in your mind yourHoliness about choosing a successor,I know I am taking the same risk as theNew York Times reporter but pleasedon’t get angry, what is your mind?Would you l ike to see someoneappointed in your life time?The Dalai Lama: I am not muchconcerned about these things. And itseems that the Chinese Communistsare more concerned about the DalaiLama institution than me ... politicalreason of course, silly thinking. Andat a practical level, no hurry. I am quitehealthy. If I don’t commit suicide thenotherwise my body is very healthy,another 10 -20 years I can.. . noproblem, maybe 30 years.

NDTV: One of our last questions now,Katherine Schwitz, Catherine are youthere? Yes?

Katherine: Just to let you know, yourHoliness, first of all Happy Birthday.Not just 10-20 years... please stay foranother 75 years.

NDTV: Not just 10-20 years, stay withus for another 75 years.The Dalai Lama: Oh that’s too long Ithink, unrealistic. Maybe a 100 years.

NDTV: A century mark.

The Dalai Lama: Recently I met theformer President of India, a greatscientist...

NDTV: Abdul Kalaam.The Dalai Lama: He mentioned thathis father, when he passed away was103. Also I found in Tibetansettlements, two years back I think, Imet these Tibetans who said their ageswere 103, 104, like that, so it is possiblenow, so up to 105, 110 may be possible,some people say.

Some prediction by some Tibetanmasters about 200 years ago, in a

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prediction related to me it mentionedthat the person’s longevity was 113.And in the early 60s I had a dreamwhich indicated that my life span was113. So two years ago I received that200 year old prediction and it goessame. So then I thought, maybe. Andaccording to my beautiful sort of storywhich I usually tell big audiences thatin the audience some people believe thatDalai Lama has some healing power . Soas far as that is concerned 2008 I think inOctober, I went through surgery. So thatscientifically proves that Dalai Lama hasno healing power, I think it’s quite clear.

NDTV: I think you are the only spiritualleader who is honest enough to say thatotherwise many godmen parade thatthey have healing powers.The Dalai Lama: So you see, after theychecked my body post the surgery, onespecialist described as me as a youngpatient, so I told him that I am not ayoung patient, I was 73. Then he saidthat he knew my age but my bodycondition was in the 60s, that’s why hecalled me a young patient.

NDTV: Well may it always stay that way.You had to ask a question, go ahead.

Katherine: Your Holiness, there hasbeen some discussion about fullordination of nuns in the TibetanBuddhist tradition and there are someobstacles to this which you yourHoliness had described in a conferencein Hamburg in 2007 as old fashionedthinking in the society that theywouldn’t accept this for nuns. Last yearyour Holiness said that you might bereincarnated as a woman and the nextDalai Lama might be a woman. So howdoes your Holiness think that theTibetan society would accept a femaleDalai Lama when they are having troubleaccepting fully ordained nuns?The Dalai Lama: This question is notthat way in meaning. You see theBhikshunis, the highest ordination ofBuddhist nuns, there is somehesitation, not due to public reluctance.No. The Buddha himself gave the sameright, to bhikshus and bhikshunis. Soeverybody has the right to achieve that.The question is now technical. The

vinaya vow should be taken accordingto the vinaya rules, so there are someproblems at the technical level. So thenext reincarnation, if the circumstancesare such that the female reincarnationmore effective and recognised throughspiritual traditional way, I have noproblems.NDTV: So your successor could be awoman? Okay Swati, next question, ifwe can get you the mike please...Swati: Happy Birthday your Holiness,I am a psychologist by profession fromDharamshala. My question is how doyou deal with the confl icts andconfusions of the young Tibetanminds, who are growing up in Indiawith worldly ambitions and desires?

NDTV: Because some of them havenever even been to Tibet, born in India,rooted there..The Dalai Lama: I think, generally,Tibetan cultural heritage, TibetanBuddhist teachings, everybodyconsiders it like their dearest mother,so that kind of feeling makestremendous difference. Some Tibetansincluding my late physician, and manyother companions d ied throughtorture, starvation, but most peopleincluding him had a mental state thatwas very calm. At one of our suchmeetings where we were discussingmental calmness I mentioned thesethings, so some scientists actuallyexamined these people, and they weresurprised. They told me that thesepeople have gone through great risksincluding risks of life but their mindare very calm. One particular monk,now his age is 93, he had theopportunity to come over here and jointhis monastery in the 80s. Wehappened to be talking one day andhe mentioned that during those 18-19years in the Chinese gulags, he faceddanger and to which I asked what kindof danger, he said, danger of losingcompassion towards the Chinese. Sopeople have that kind of attitude. It’svery important to keep compassiontowards a perpetrator. So deliberatelyby keeping it that way, their mentalstate is calm. Tibetan youngergeneration who is born in this countrywith Tibetan atmosphere are still much

more thinking like Tibetan. Thoseyoung Tibetans who come from Tibetthey grew up in tense situation somuch short temper and more violentnature. So generally Tibetan who arebrought-up in Tibetan communitieshere are comparative better but still weneed a lot of work.

These are signs of degenerating Tibetanculture heritage inside Tibet, so nowhere Tibetans who bring up a Tibetancommunity are comparatively still better,but we still need a lot of work. In theearly 60s, with immense help from theIndian government, Pandit Nehru himselftook the responsibility of providingproper education to the young Tibetans,with all expenses met by Indiangovernment. The Indian governmentcreated a special committee for Tibetanschools to be built separately, all thisaiming to preserver Tibetan culture,Tibetan spirituality with of course theeducation system based on the normalIndian education system.

Some people have questions whether theexisting education system, Indianeducation system is really suitable ornot. Some question marks there. India’sown traditional education system wasmay be more like monastic but thepresent education system wasintroduced by British colonists. Moreand more people are now questioningthe modern education system. It’s notadequate regarding warm heartedness ormoral principles because 1000 years agowhen this education systems started,then these moral ethics were taken careof by the Church. Now as time passes,the church influence has reduced, thefamily values also reduced so theeducation system alone has to take botheducation for brain and for warmheartedness. So now you see even inIndia it is questionable. In fact duringIndira Gandhi ji, I had some lengthydiscussions and I mentioned that theHimalayan range, this area, theeducation system should have more ofresearch work. So then Indira Gandhi jiappointed three professors from someuniversity in Delhi but then soon aftershe was assassinated. So we need someresearch work, hope to introduce in

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Tibetan and Indian school also,education about moral ethics, withouttouching religion. Then moreover Indiais a multi-religious country. So onereligion is difficult. So a common sort ofpractice, love, compassion, forgiveness- these are common to every religion.And for non believers also. Now throughscientific findings and also commonsense, warm heartedness is the keyfactor for a happy family, happycommunity. After all we are social animal.So there must be some force emotionallyto bring us together. By hating eachother, how can we develop generalcooperation. So social animal mustcooperate. So general principle is basedon trust, friendship. Friendship is basedon trust. So trust is very much related towarm-heartedness. If you have extremeself-centered attitude there is possibilityof developing the thinking of how toexploit, how to bully, how to cheat. Ifyou have warm heartedness, all membersof society respect their rights, developa sense of concern for their well being,so there is no room for cheating, forexploitation like that. So these are thesecular ethics without attaching religion.That way I think this country can easilydevelop. So we are working on it anddiscussing with a number of scientistsand educationists.

The younger people in India have moredesire for money. So there is corruptionalso. Although this country iscomparatively better. But still corruptionexists. So these are the signs of lack ofmoral principles. So few religious leadersare talking about moral principles that itmay not have reached the masses. Nowwe must introduce in educationbeginning from kindergarten about moralprinciple without touching religion.That’s a secular sort of moral ethics.

NDTV: I want to end with one of yourfriends Professor Chaman Lal Gupta, willlike to share a personal story with uslike Mr Sharma, we want to know thingsthat we don’t know already.

Chaman Lal Gupta: I came in contactwith his Holiness in 1999 for the first time.It was his birthday, and we came to himfrom Bharat-Tibbat Sahyog Manch and

after having talks with him, I asked himhow is it that you are a Buddhist anda firm believer in ahimsa or nonviolence, yet you consume meat likeothers, how do you compromise thissituation? And secondly I asked himwhat are your shortcomings? Hementioned two - my love for watchesand second meat eating. When wewere going out he caught hold of myarm and asked the photographer tophotograph us, and I have thatphotograph with me in my study andit is the most precious treasure that Iever will have in my life.

NDTV: Your Holiness, do you stillthink that meat eating and watches areyour only two flaws? And as flaws gothey are pretty innocent.The Dalai Lama: My fondness ofwatches, that i s one of myweaknesses. My first watch, a presentthat I got was from PresidentRoosevelt, 1942, I was then 7 years old.Here is a strange story - with that watchand a silver made old ship, and a letterwas sent. As a 7 year old boy, nointerest in that letter, only interestedin that watch. I put the silver made shipon a small pond, it sank. And it wasshameful because as soon as Ireceived informat ion about adelegation, when the British missionreached Lhasa, I got the informationthrough foreign ministry officials thatthey had reached, then I was told aboutthe watch. Then before a formalmeeting I already asked ‘bring thewatch’. How bad, isn’t it? That boytoo much greed. The letter I never sawtill my meeting with Obama this time.He kindly copied that original letter forme. Since 1942, till 2010 - 70 years later,I saw the letter.

NDTV: Did Obama give you a watch?The Dalai Lama: No, this watch camerecently in a parcel from America. Thenabout taking meat, there are somecontradictions but in vinaya noprohibition in eating meat. So monksin Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, theytake both veg and non veg food. Onetime I discussed this subject with amonk from Sri Lanka many years ago.He mentioned Buddhist monks are

neither vegetarian or non vegetarian,he should accept whatever he gets, sothat’s the principle. But vinaya clearlymentions that meat which waspurposely killed for you is not to beeaten. But in general i t i s notprohibited.

I think practically in northern part ofTibet, no vegetables. Very difficult. Sothat’s practical reason. However, sinceI was about 13, 14 years old, all Tibetanofficial festivals previously offered alot of meat - I changed all to vegetarianfood. Then, in 1959 come to India andaround 1965, I became a vegetarian.

NDTV: Why?The Dalai Lama: Better. Philosophicalreason. 20 months I remained strictvegetarian. At that time I took advicefrom some of my Indian friends aboutthe substitutes of meat. Lot of milk,cream and ... then in 1967 or 66 Ideveloped gall bladder, hepatitis. Somy whole body became yellow. So atthat time I become like living Buddha.Whole body yellow. Eyes also yellow.Nails also yellow. It remained I thinkfor about three weeks. So Tibetanphysician, as well as al lopathicphysician advised me to take meat. Soback to original diet. Meantime, all ourmonastic institutions in south India,also Namgyal monastery and my owncommon kitchen, serve only vegetarianfood. Also in foreign countries when Ivisit Buddhist centers I always askthem. Now it is up to the individual.But as a society, as a institution, whenthey give some sort of a festival, it mustbe vegetarian. That business startedthe gall bladder trouble. Finally,surgery. So that’s the background. Somy own case, meat once or twice aweek, otherwise vegetarian.

NDTV: At 75 do you have any regrets?The Dalai Lama: Small small thingsalmost everyday. Like right here, toohot. So this garment, maybe a thinnerone maybe nice. Then one occasion inDelhi some business meeting, againsame question. I mentioned it. Cometo Delhi in a charter plane. I thoughtDelhi is hot. So thin cloth. But when Ireached the hotel, the air conditioning

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18 TIBETAN BULLETIN JULY-AUGUST 2010

was so powerful and it was very cold.So I mention this one regret. Majorregret - I think during my study period,around 10 years, I was rather lazy. So Iused to often tell people the way Istudied at young age under threat ofwhip by my senior tutor, very sternwhen I was young. He never smiled.And he kept a whip. At that time myelder brother and I used to studytogether, so two whips there. Onenormal whip, one yellow whip - holywhip. So for holy student, holy whipis relevant. But then I have quitesufficient sort of brain to realise thatholy whip may not bring holy pain, justordinary pain. Therefore, I fear thatwhip. So that I feel little bit of regret.So till now 75 years old, whenever I

Mr Phurbu Tsering, after taking ill forthe last few months, breathed his last atDelek Hospital on Thursday, July 29,2010 at Dharamshala. He was 57.

As a mark of deep condolence andrespect for Tibetan ParliamentarySecretary Mr Phurbu Tsering, whodedicated 37 years of his life in theTibetan civil service, the Central TibetanAdministration held a prayer session inthe afternoon of July 30 following whichthe offices remained closed.

Mr Phurbu Tseringjoined the CentralTibetan Administration’scivil service as anaccountant cum juniorclerk at the Tibetansettlement in Nepal’sSolo Khumbu region onAugust 16, 1973.

He then served atnumerous Tibetansettlements includingLugsung SamduplingCo-operative Society atBylakuppe, Office ofTibet Affairs at Delhi,acting head of Centre of

Tibetan Religious Artifacts atDharamshala and accountant at SecurityDepartment.

From April 15, 1987 – January 2, 1991,Mr Phurbu Tsering served as managerof the Tibetan Handicraft Centres atMundgod and Dekyi Larsoe Tibetansettlement in Bylakuppe.

Mr Phurbu Tsering was reposted at theSecurity Department following hispromotion to the under-secretary level

have time, I read, I study Tibetanscripts, those text written byNagarjuna. These days I am readinganother text by a disciple of Nagarjuna.So otherwise, in the political field, andsome other field, since I tookresponsibility at 16 years of age, sincethen till now, on any major decision, Ihave no regrets.

NDTV: That in itself is extraordinary.You have lived an extraordinary life.The Dalai Lama: I think one reason isthat I am the type of person whoalways discusses, who always asks foropinions, including from sweepers.Now for example, in the 50’s thingswere difficult , then some majordecisions had to be taken. Besides

consulting higher officials, I alwaysasked my sweeper, my close friend,what they would feel? That I alwaysdo. So any major decision - firstly,utilise my own brain in the maximumway, look at the problem in a holisticway, and secondly, ask opinion fromdifferent people including sta teoracles, advisers. If I do not reach afinal decision and still some dilemmaexists, I also, as a Buddhist meditational,use some sort of spiritual method toinvestigate like the 5th Dalai Lama. So Ido that. So until now, all the majordecisions, no mistake. So I feel, happy

NDTV: May you go from strength tostrength. It was an absolute pleasuremeeting you.

on 1 August 1992 and continued hisservices at the department following hispromotion as deputy secretary.

After being promoted as joint-secretary,Mr Phurbu Tsering served from March19, 1999 – November 3, 2001 as the jointsecretary at the Health Department andthe Central Election Commission.

Mr Phurbu Tsering was promoted tothe post of additional secretary onJune 7, 2007.

At the pinnacle of hiscivil service career,Mr Phurbu Tseringserved as the actingsecretary for theTibetan ParliamentarySecretariat from May 19,2008 – August 16, 2008and was later promotedas the secretariat’ssecretary general onJune 1, 2010.

Mr Phurbu Tsering willbe remembered for hislife-long service ofdedication andinspirational hard work.

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Question One: Looking at thecurrent situation, it seemsdifficult that a reconciliation with

the Chinese government will come aboutin your lifetime. After your passing away,you will have no control over theTibetan youth organisation which holdson firmly to their ideology [of seekingTibetan independence]. Is it not possiblethat they will engage in large-scaleterrorist activities then? Are there waysby which they can be prevented fromtaking such a course?Answer: On the whole, I believe thateven after my death the Tibetan exile set-up will continue to make progress,particularly in the field of education.More importantly there are a growingnumber of young Lamas between theages of 20 and 30 who are currentlypursuing studies in the various religiousschools of our community who arecapable of taking up greater leadershiproles in the spiritual field. In the politicalfield, for the last more than 10 years Ihave been in a state of semi-retirement.All the important political decisions arebeing taken by the elected politicalleadership and this will continue to doso in the future as well. There are forceswithin our community such as theTibetan Youth Congress who criticiseour Middle-Way policy and demandcomplete independence [for Tibet]. Itseems their voices are growing stronger[these days]. We cannot blame them forthis, since our successive efforts to bringabout a mutually-beneficial solution [tothe issue of Tibet] have failed to produceany positive results and under such asituation, their viewpoint is gainingmomentum [in our society]. However, it

is very evident that 99% of the Tibetanpeople have complete faith in the non-violent path [that we have chosen] andso you should not worry [about theirever resorting to violence].

Question Two: Your Holiness, how do youplan to resolve the problem of those areaswhich form a part of your notion of‘Greater Tibet’ but are incorporated intothe Chinese provinces as far as thecurrent administrative divisions of theseprovinces are concerned? Will theautonomous government of your ‘GreaterTibet’ exercise control over the otherethnic groups living within those areas?If so, how would you safeguard theaspirations of these ethnic groups?Answer: We have not used the term‘Greater Tibet’. It is [actually] a termemployed by the United Front WorkDepartment of the Chinese government[to refer to our demand]. What we say isthat all those Tibetans who speak andwrite the same language of Tibet shouldhave equal right to preserve and promotetheir religion and culture as well as towork for their collective economicdevelopment. Now this is, in principle,agreed upon by the Chinesegovernment. In the Fifth Work Forum onTibet, the Chinese central governmenthas recommended a uniform policy foroverseeing all Tibetans living in the TibetAutonomous Region and in other Tibetanautonomous areas under the fourChinese provinces. Premier Wen Jiabaohas, particularly, mentioned this in hiswork report to the National People’sCongress. This, I believe, is really inkeeping with the actual prevailingsituation. Otherwise, when the word

“Xizang” is mentioned, it is taken to beas referring only to the Tibet AutonomousRegion. This is not right. There are only alittle over two million Tibetans living inthe Tibet Autonomous Region and theremaining approximately four millionTibetans live in the neighbouring fourChinese provinces. As such, we are sayingthat all of these Tibetan people should begiven the same rights. For example, I donot belong to the Tibet AutonomousRegion; I hail from Tso-ngon [Ch: Qinghai]province. Likewise should you care to lookat Tibetan history, you will see that manyof the highly-realised Lamas/Tulkus havecome from these four provinces. Eventoday, most of the [respected] teachersteaching in the monastic institutions of allthe religious traditions of our communityhave come from these provinces; very fewof them belong to the Tibet AutonomousRegion. Therefore, we are saying that auniform policy should be adopted for allof these areas since they share the samereligion and culture.

It is altogether a different matter if weare seeking separation or independencebut we are not. We are simply sayingthat we be granted the freedom topreserve our own religion, culture andlanguage within the larger framework ofthe People’s Republic of China. If, in duecourse of time, we get an opportunity todiscuss about it in detail, then theTibetans inside Tibet should take themain responsibility. Once they are ableto engage in extensive discussions [withthe Chinese government] without anyfear in their minds, I do not think we willface any problems [in resolving the issueof Tibet].

Over 1,550 Chinese submitted 317 questions to His Holiness the Dalai Lama through the renowned Chinesewriter, Wang Lixiong. 11,705 Chinese netizens then voted for the following 10 questions, to which His Holinessthe Dalai Lama responded from his residence in Dharamshala on July 16, 2010.

The responses were released on the Chinese-language website of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama onJuly 19, 2010. Following is the english translation of the Tibetan original. In case of any discrepancy pleasetreat the Tibetan version as authoritative and final.

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In the case of the Tibet AutonomousRegion, a few Chinese lived there prior tothe 1950s. [The number grew later.] Aconsiderable number of Chinese, however,have been living in Kham and Amdoregions, particularly in the area of my birth[Xining], since early times. Tibetans arenot saying, and will never say, that Tibetshould be occupied by exclusivelyTibetans to the exclusion of all othernationalities, which includes [even] theHan Chinese. What is important is thatsince it carries the name ‘TibetanAutonomous Region’ or ‘TibetanAutonomous Areas’, the natives of thesevery places should constitute the majority-and the rest of the nationalities theminority of the total population. It is forthis very purpose that the name has beengiven. If, otherwise, the number of Chineseor other minority nationalities living inthese places is more than the Tibetans,then there is no way such names asmentioned above could be given. We arehoping that we are able to establish a bigfamily of friendship between the Chineseand Tibetan peoples based on overthousand years of relations with each other.We also hope -and even pray that thePeople’s Republic of China flourishes withall its nationalities enjoying equality in aspirit of one big family.

Question Three: Last year, a televisionchannel in France broadcast adocumentary titled The Dalai Lama’sDemons, in which Shugden-worshippingTibetan monks were shown to be thrownout of the Tibetan settlements in India.The situation has come to such a passfor these monks that they could not evenvisit shops and hospitals as well as entertheir monasteries at the time. In thedocumentary, you were also shown to beissuing a strict order that these Shugden-propitiating monks must be expelled fromtheir monasteries. Moreover, one of themonks interviewed said: ‘On the onehand the Dalai Lama talks about thefreedom of religious belief andcompassion, but on the other hand herestricts our religious freedom andshows us out of our monasteries.’ Whatdo you have to say about it?Answer: Gyalpo Shugden came intoexistence during the time of the Great FifthDalai Lama. The Fifth Dalai Lama saw

Dorjee Shugden as ‘a vow-breakingdemon/evil spirit born into such a state asa result of his wrong aspiration/negativeprayer”. This is mentioned in the CollectedWorks of the Great Fifth, Volume K,- anearlier edition block-printed in Tibet. So‘wrong aspiration/negative prayer’ is whatcaused Dorjee Shugden whose nature isbut a ‘vow-breaking demon/evil spirit’ andwhose actions are to ‘harm the Dharmaand humanity’. This is admitted by theDolgyal himself in his autobiography.

Earlier I too propitiated Shugden. Later onas I studied the words of the Great Fifth, Icame across the document cited above. Ihave, from my side also, conducted a seriesof investigations about it and found thatit is not good to worship the spirit.Consequently I gave up the propitiationcompletely but did not, at that point oftime, place any restrictions on the sectionof the Tibetan community who werepractising it. Then the problem surfacedat the Jangtse College of the GadenMonastery. Through my examinations, itbecame very clear to me that the problemat the Jangtse College was caused by itsnew initiative of propitiating GyalpoShugden. I communicated this to theconcerned. When the issue became morepublic later on, some people began tospread the rumour that I was trying to curryfavour with the Nyingma Tradition [ofTibetan Buddhism] and that I had notactually imposed any restrictions butsimply pretended to do so. Under thesecircumstances, I had to come out in theopen to express my strong objections to,and make things clear about, theworshipping of this evil spirit.

No children of the Dolgyal followers havebeen expelled from the schools. If in themonasteries the worshippers and non-worshippers of Dolgyal assemble together,it does not go very well with the sanctityof the spiritual bond [that is so veryessential in matters of spirituality]. Thosewho do not worship Dolgyal have allreceived spiritual teachings from me andthose who worship it are the ones whohave some problem or disagreement withthe Lama from whom they receiveteachings. Therefore we are saying thatwe feel very uncomfortable to beassociated with the Dolgyal followers.

Apart from that, we have done nothing tothrow them out of the Tibetan settlements.I urge all of you to come to India and visitthe Tibetan settlements in South India tosee for yourselves what the reality is. TheDolgyal followers have established theirown separate monastery there and leadtheir lives like any other Tibetan. Nobodyis creating problems for them.

In short, what I am saying is that it is one’sfreedom, in general, to practise or not topractise any religion. How one chooses topractise one’s religion is also one’sfreedom. Therefore, whichever deity ordemon one may worship, one may decideas one pleases. To say that the practice ofthe spirit in question is disadvantageousand it has no advantages whatsoever ismy duty. Therefore, I have highlighted thenegatives. Now it is up to the people tothink over or decide for themselveswhether they want to listen or not. AChinese friend has raised this question. Ifyou are interested in the subject, it is[really] your freedom [to worship or not toworship the spirit]. But you must carry outa proper investigation [before plunginginto it]. Usually, our religious practitionerssay that ‘one must develop a pureperception of one’s teacher and investigate[thoroughly] the religion one practises’.So religion must be subjected toinvestigation. For instance, Nagarjuna andother scholars [of the ancient NalandaUniversity] have shown through theirexample that even if they were the wordsof the Lord Buddha, they must besubjected to investigation for ascertainingtheir truthfulness. [The Buddhist conceptof ‘Four Reliances’ says, among otherthings, that] one must ‘rely on the doctrinethan on individuals’. So it is very importantfor all of you to investigate.

Question Four: During the 2008 Tibetincident, why did many monks and layTibetans raise their hands against theordinary Chinese citizens? We mustunderstand that it is the Chinesegovernment which you are against [andnot the ordinary Chinese citizens].Answer: As far as I know, the first protestof 2008 in Tibet occurred in the afternoonof 10 March. This was then followed bymore protest demonstrations on 11, 12 and13 March of that year. The Chinese

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security people, from the very beginning,learned about these demonstrations as aresult of which they blocked the road ofthe monk protestors arriving from DrepungMonastery. On the morning of 14 March,the incident of setting shops on fire,hurling stones and destroying propertiesoccurred. One foreign journalist, who hadbeen an eye-witness to this incident, cameto meet me [at Dharamshala] and told me:‘Apart from video-taping the entirehappening, the Chinese security personnelat the scene did nothing to stop them.’The Chinese government’s propagandaabout the 3-14 incident disregards the factthat the first protest broke out on 10 March.Moreover, according to reports theydeliberately hired some mischievouspeople on the morning of 14 March toindulge in rioting, which they video-shotfor later use in shifting the blame of theentire incident on the Tibetans. Tibetansarriving from Tibet after the March incidentinformed us that ‘Tibetans’ whom they hadnever seen earlier had been brought toLhasa at that time. They further said that‘these people were the main culprits whocreated the disturbances’. [I believe] this[unfortunate] incident should actually beinvestigated independently. This is onething I want to say.

[Another thing I want to say is that] in themonasteries of the Kham and Amdoregions, there is an ancient custom ofkeeping old swords, spears and rifles inthe shrines of the guardian deities. I wasinformed that these weapons wereforcefully taken out in order to blame themonasteries for using weapons to stirviolence [in the country]. It is, in a way,very probable that a few people -in theirfits of anger may have unwittingly causedsome inconveniences to the Chinesepeople [during that time]. If such a thingreally happened, then I stand ready toapologise [on their behalf]. It is very likelyindeed that some enraged Tibetans mayhave caused such a situation because atthat time, the Chinese government tried[its level best] to create the false impressionof the Tibetans as being anti-Chinese.Majority of the Tibetans would never dosuch a thing.

Tibetans cannot be blamed for airing theirgrievances against the Chinese

government policies. The Chinesegovernment strikes hard upon the Tibetanpeople for the [only] reason that they areloyal to their religion and culture as well astheir spiritual leader. This creates a feelingof hurt in the minds of the Tibetan people.This is also the reason why Tibetans arestrongly critical of the Chinese governmentpolicies. You should not, however, takethis as a form of Tibetan people’s animosityto the Chinese people. If what I have heardis indeed true, then Tibetans visiting theChinese cities and towns seem to be facinga lot of problems after the 2008 Marchincident. This is because the Chinesehoteliers, shopkeepers and restaurateursin these places show a cold attitude to theTibetan customers. Moreover, we haveheard that a lone Tibetan member of aChinese government delegation wasstopped at the airport for interrogation. Allthese developments are a cause ofdisappointment for the Tibetan people.

Question Five: Was the ‘liberation of Tibet’a deception from the beginning or did itchange later?Answer: It is difficult to say. When thePeople’s Liberation Army arrived inChamdo, they fought with the Tibetanarmy and killed about seven to eightthousand Tibetan soldiers. KhenchungThupten Dhonyoe, who was a staff ofthe Governor General of Eastern Tibet atthat time, told me that Wang Qiming, thePLA general (who ‘liberated’ Chamdo)said to him with tears in his eyes: ‘We,fraternal nationalities, have killed eachother.’ I feel that some of them may havebeen genuine. Likewise, when the roadfrom Kham to Central Tibet and Amdo toCentral Tibet were being built, somepeople used their bodies to block waterwhen floods took place. They workedhard. Those things, I feel, were genuine.For others I cannot say what theirintentions were from the beginning. Thebest thing would be for historians tothoroughly study classified governmentdocuments, which will make things clear.That is the most important thing.

In terms of overall policies, in 1954, I wentto China and spent about five to sixmonths in Beijing. At that time I met mostof the Chinese leaders, including MaoZedong, who I had met many times. I

especially went to visit many Chineseprovinces, during which I met manyChinese leaders, who were members of theCommunist Party and had realrevolutionary outlook and were genuinelyworking to serve the working class andthe country. I saw many who had no desirefor personal gain and were working for thecommon good. They impressed me. Mao,for instance, made many promises to me.However, from 1956-57 onwards, I felt thatthings were moving towards ultra-leftism.

Question Six: If in the future China has agenuine democratic system, what wouldTibet’s relations be with that government?What is your opinion?Answer: Right now many of the unwantedproblems, whether it is PRC’s externalrelations or issues within the country, Ithink, are created by suspicion and lack ofmutual trust. For the last 51 years, I havelived outside Tibet. From my many friendsin the US, Europe, Japan and in India, Iknow that China has the desire to buildgood relations. But its failure to buildgenuine relationships is due to the lack ofmutual trust. This, in turn, is the result oflack of transparency in China which,though, it outwardly pretends to have so.Hence many problems arise. Whether it isthe issue of Tibet or Xinjiang, there isclearly a huge difference between theexternal impression that China gives andthe real feelings that the people in theseregions harbour. Therefore, once a timecomes when China will have transparent,honest and just policies, many of theproblems will naturally be solved.

Regarding the Tibetan issue, if there istransparency and sincerity on the part ofthe Chinese government, we on our partare not seeking separation. We have a longhistory, but I am not thinking about it. Ifwe think about the future, materially Tibetis behind others and therefore if we staywithin the PRC, it will be beneficial forTibet’s development. Because of this weare not seeking separation. The mostimportant thing is that Tibet has a uniqueculture, language and religion. Amongstthe Buddhist traditions, many of theworld’s scholars today say that TibetanBuddhism is the most extensive andprofound. Tibetan language has becomethe best medium to articulate/express this

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profound and extensive philosophy. Thetranslations – both in terms of literaltranslation (dra gyur) and contextualtranslation (don gyur) – of the texts fromthe Sanskrit language are of the higheststandard. Therefore, if we are able tomaintain this religion and culture, it willalso benefit the overall culture of thePRC. Generally speaking, China is alsoa Buddhist country. As the number ofChinese Buddhists is increasing thesedays, we will surely be able tocontribute in this field. I think this is ofmutual benefit.

Question Seven: If Tibet achievesgenuine autonomy or winsindependence, do you have plans totransform the system of governance inTibet into a democratic one? How willreligion and politics be separated?Answer: I do not think this questionneeds a special answer. If you areinterested, you can come to India. Youwill then actually see how we have carriedout democratisation during our stay inexile, how we have set up a political systemduring the last 51 years and our futureprogrammes. For me personally, since1969, I have been saying that the peopleshould decide whether the institution ofthe Dalai Lama should continue or not. Ihave no worry. The most important thingis that we need to preserve and maintainthe unique Tibetan religion and culture.In terms of Tibet’s development, it is veryimportant not to harm the naturalenvironment. Tibet’s environment isfragile and susceptible to damage.Because of the high altitude and drywind, it is said that once damage occurs,it will take a long period to restore theecological balance. This is a special issuethat you must pay attention to. Theglaciers in the high Tibetan Plateau arethe main source of many of the greatrivers in Asia. That is why we shouldtake special care of them.

Question Eight: What do you think willhappen to Tibetan unity once you areno longer in the scene? Will thecharisma of your successors be able tocontrol the Tibetan nationalists toretain the non-violent and peacefulnature of your struggle?Answer: It will make no difference. Forover 30 years I have been saying that

Tibetan religious and political leadersmust take responsibility as if I am nolonger with them. They have been doingit and that is how they acquire experience.There is a new leadership after every fiveyears. There will be a new political leadernext year directly elected by the people.In the religious field, there are heads ofeach Buddhist school to takeresponsibility. There is no differencewhether I am with them or not.

Question Nine: You say that there shouldbe a democratic system for Tibet.However, when you and yourpredecessors ruled Tibet did you ruledemocratically? If not, what confidencedo you have to rule Tibet moredemocratically than Communist China?Answer: The First to the Fourth DalaiLamas did not take part in politics. TheFifth Dalai Lama became the temporal andreligious leader of Tibet. At that time therewere no such thing as democratic systemin Tibet’s neighbours like China, India andRussia. They were all largely feudalsocieties. However Tibet had a strongBuddhist tradition and the principle ofdeveloping compassion for all sentientbeings. That is why, in 1959, when the‘landlords’ were put under strugglesessions following the ‘DemocraticReforms’, there were many ‘serfs’ whocame forward to save the lives of their‘landlords’. Many of the ‘landlords’ werealso able to escape into exile in India withthe help of their ‘serfs’. Therefore, ‘serfs’may be a common phenomenon in allthese feudal countries, but the treatmentof Tibetan ‘serfs’ was different.

At the end of 1955, ‘Democratic Reforms’were carried out in Tibet starting fromSichuan. As elsewhere in China,‘Democratic Reforms’ were carried out inTibet, which did not suit the Tibetansituation. Such things happened. It isimportant to investigate these things. Youdo not have to believe these thingsbecause I said them. If you have thefreedom later to investigate it is importantto do so thoroughly.

In the later stages of his life, theThirteenth Dalai Lama thought aboutintroducing a democratic system in Tibet,but he was unable to carry it out. In 1952,when I was in Lhasa we formed the Reform

Committee to make a number of changesto our taxation and loan systems. But wewere only able to carry out some of them.Since I already had thoughts aboutcarrying out reforms from the time I wasin Tibet, we established a democraticsystem immediately after we came intoexile in India. I have no intention ofholding any post when Tibetans in andoutside are reunited. I made this clearin 1992 that when there will beautonomy or a considerable degree offreedom for Tibet, we will return.However, I said, from that time onwardsI will not take any responsibility andwill hand over all my historicalresponsibility to the local government.Even now that is my thinking and I willnever take any political roles.

Question Ten: What is your view on theChinese who are settled in Tibet and thesecond-generation of Chinese living there?It is possible that your ‘High Level ofAutonomy’ may end up marginalisingthem, which is the concern of thoseChinese inside Tibet who are opposingyou and the Tibetan administration in exile.Answer: Tibet is an autonomous region.In that region Tibetans cannot become aminority. Otherwise, we will applaudhowever many Chinese brothers andsisters decide to stay there. Particularly,we will appreciate those Chinese brothersand sisters who are interested in Tibetanreligion and culture. I normally say thatChinese brothers and sisters can cook usdelicious food and we Tibetans canprovide spiritual food to them throughBuddhism. That is why there is absolutelyno reason to worry. Then there are thoseChinese who look down upon Tibetansby considering Tibetan Buddhism as badand the Tibetans as dirty. For them, thereis no reason to live in such a filthy place;it is better for them to return to cleanerplaces. Tibet predominantly practisesBuddhism and in Buddhism there is totallyno reference to racial discrimination.Earlier in Tibet, many of the abbots inmonasteries were Mongolians and therewere Chinese studying Buddhistscriptures as well. We were of differentraces but there was no discriminationwhatsoever. Likewise, if there are religiousscholars amongst Chinese, they too canbecome abbots and Lamas in Tibet. Thereis no difference at all.

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LHASA | Tue Jun 29, 2010 (Reuters)- China can maintain its grip onTibet “forever,” a senior official

said on Tuesday, but conceded that aheavy security presence was stillneeded to ensure order in Lhasa twoyears after deadly riots.

Hao Peng, deputy Communist Party bossand deputy governor in mountainous

Tibet, fingered unidentified “anti-Chinese” forces and exiled spiritual leaderthe Dalai Lama as the main threat to aregion which has been hit by sporadicunrest since 2008.

“We have the ability and confidenceto maintain stability in Tibet forever,and we will ultimately achieve long-term order and stability,” Hao told

visiting journalists, in a city still tensetwo years after it was ravaged bydeadly ethnic rioting.

“What you see in the streets, includingthe police and other legal forces, arenecessary measures to maintainstability,” he said, speaking in an ornateroom in the Tibet government offices.

At least 19 people died in the March 2008riots in Lhasa, which sparked waves ofprotests across Tibetan areas. Pro-Tibetgroups say more than 200 people werekilled in a subsequent crackdown.

Protests against Chinese rule, led byBuddhist monks, gave way to torridviolence, with rioters torching shops andturning on residents including HanChinese and Hui Muslims.

Many Tibetans see Hans as intrudersthreatening their culture and religion,and say they have been treated harshlyby the government since the riots.

Beijing has denied being heavy-handed,and says it has poured billions of dollars

Andy Wong/Associated PressIn Tibet, the government keeps the people and the press under guard.

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Lhasa | Thursday, July 8, 2010(Reuters) Tibet is richer and moredeveloped than it has ever been,

its people healthier, more literate, andbetter dressed and fed.

But the bulging supermarkets, snappynew airports and gleaming restoredtemples of this remote and mountainousregion cannot hide broad contradictionsand a deep sense of unhappiness amongmany Tibetans that China is sweepingaway their culture.

Beijing has spent freely to bringdevelopment to restless Tibet, part of agrand strategy to win over the proudlyBuddhist people by improving theirstandard of living.

In Gaba village, a half-hour drive downa bumpy road from downtown Lhasa,Tibet’s bustling capital, residents have

seen incomes boom after renting outtheir farmland to Han Chinesebusinessmen who grow vegetables therefor sale in city markets.

Farmer and Communist Party memberSuolang Jiancan shrugs when asked ifhe is worried about Hans taking awayland from native Tibetans, whotraditionally have grown barley.

“It is hard for the local people to learnhow to grow the vegetables wanted inthe market. The Han can teach us theseskills, and we can earn more,” he said inhis native Tibetan.

The influx of Hans, however, is one of thegreat sources of tension in Tibet. ManyTibetans resent their presence, sayingthey do not bother to learn the languageand dominate the region’s economy atthe expense of the native population.

That is a familiar story to one unemployedgraduate of a traditional medicine school.While fashionably dressed and able tospeak the fluent Mandarin he learned atschool, China’s largesse in Tibet has notbeen enough to win him a job.

“Development is no good if I cannot geta job,” the man told Reuters in Lhasa’sheavily Tibetan old quarter, where patrolsof armed paramilitary forces are a constantreminder of China’s determination to keepa tight grip on Tibet.

“The Chinese are suspicious ofTibetans, especially since March 14,” hesaid, referring to unrest in 2008 ahead ofthe Beijing Olympics.

Frustration at Chinese controls, along withthe rise of Han Chinese migrants, boiledover in violent protests in 2008 in Lhasa,in which at least 19 people were killed.

into boosting Tibet’s development,money it says benefits mainly Tibetans.Hao said peace had returned and blamedoverseas agitators for the continuedpresence of armed police in Lhasa,especially in the old Tibetan quarter.

“The situation in Tibet is more stable thanbefore the March 14 incident,” he said.

“The Dalai clique and some anti-Chineseforces internationally have colluded tomake trouble in Tibet. Because of this,we have to take a lot of measures, toensure the stability of the legal systemand the stability of Tibet.”

Exiled Tibetans and rights groups saythose in Tibet are living under difficultrestraints and many are still waiting tohear from relatives and friends whodisappeared after the violence.

“Two years down the line there is stillno normality across the Tibetan plateau.It’s still extremely tense,” said NicholasBequelin, a researcher on China withHuman Rights Watch, a New York-basedadvocacy group.

“It’s still very difficult to get thingsdone, there are still a lot of restrictions,a lot of surveillance, a lot of troops.Certainly tourism and travel is not backto normal.”

The area is usually off-limits to foreignreporters, apart from those on rare andtightly-controlled government trips likethe one Hao met with, which makes ithard to assess competing accounts.

No Dalai Lama portraitsHao, repeating the government’sstandard line about on-off talks withrepresentatives of the Dalai Lama, saidChina was willing to talk ifindependence was off the table.

“The core of this policy is for the DalaiLama to abandon Tibet independence,stop separatist activities, andacknowledge that Tibet is aninalienable part of China,” he said.

“If he does this then the door to talks isalways open.”

The Dalai Lama denies China’s chargesagainst him, and says he only seeksmore meaningful autonomy for Tibet andthat he has never advocated violence.China says it does not believe him.

But his image is not allowed to be shownpublicly in what is officially called theTibet Autonomous Region despite thereverence many Tibetan Buddhists havefor him. Every year some make thedangerous trek to India and back to seehim in person.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning DalaiLama fled into exile following an abortiveuprising in 1959.

Hao said the prohibition on his imagewas natural. “The Dalai Lama is notmerely a religious figure, he is also amastermind of separatist activities. Nosovereign country in the world wouldallow the hanging of a portrait of aperson like that,” he said.

(Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison,editing by Miral Fahmy)

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The unrest sparked waves of protestacross Tibetan areas, which more thantwo years on has failed to subsidedespite a heavy military and policepresence and harsh punishment forthose who question Beijing’s authority.The security belies China’s claims tohave won over Tibetans.

“To this day, two years later, they still needto use military and police forces to controlthe situation. Does it sound like they’vewon the hearts of the people?” askedprominent Tibetan blogger Woeser.

China lauds progressThe physical scars the riot left on Lhasain the form of burnt out markets andbuildings have long ago been expunged.Lhasa is starting to look like any othermiddle-tier Chinese city, with the samefast food outlets and mobile phone stores,and the same unimaginative architecture.

For China, there is no question that whatthey are doing in Tibet is right.

Over the past 10 years, the centralgovernment has poured a massive 310billion yuan (30.3 billion pound) into Tibet,or nearly $15,000 (9,870 pound) per person,building infrastructure and developingmining, agriculture and tourism.

In January, President Hu Jintao said thegovernment would seek “leap-frog”development in Tibet, raising ruralincomes to national levels by 2020. Theeconomy is already growing faster thanthe rest of China.

Large sums have also gone into restoringmonasteries and temples, the centre oflife for devoutly Buddhist Tibetans,bolstering government claims that Chinarespects religious rights.

“If we did not have the support andembrace of the local people, we couldnot have dealt with March 14 so well,nor could we have made theachievements we have over the past 60years,” said Hao Peng, one of Tibet’sCommunist Party deputy bosses.

“We have already won the hearts andminds of the people,” Hao told foreignreporters on a rare, tightly-controlled visit.

What China has failed to do is addressthe alienation many Tibetans feel in theface of breakneck economic progress.

“Tibet is a special country and its peopleare special,” said one middle-agedteacher, speaking quietly in a back roombehind a shop in Lhasa’s old quarter,centre of the 2008 riots. “We don’t thinkabout money like Chinese people. Webelieve in Buddhism, but the Chinesepeople believe in nothing,” he added,requesting anonymity out of fear forrepercussions.

Chinese officials frequently lash out at“distorted” reports in foreign mediaabout Tibet.

Yet there is also a mismatch between thepolicies China has put in place in tryingto modernise a poor and backwardregion, and Tibet’s unique culture.

“It’s absolutely true that Chinese policyhas always been to win over the peopleby being generous,” said RobbieBarnett, a Tibet scholar at ColumbiaUniversity in New York.

“They just don’t seem to be able tonotice that each time, they mess this upby cracking down on the culture, thehistory or the religion. They make peoplepay such a huge price.”

A Chinese crackdown on dissentfollowing the riots has spread to Tibetanintellectuals and critics see little sign ofBeijing changing tack in the currentclimate of tension.

“They just had a big national conferenceon Tibet in Beijing and pretty muchnothing came out of it. It’s striking thatthere hasn’t been a coherent response,”said Nicholas Bequelin, of New York-basedadvocacy group Human Rights Watch.

Religion not encouragedMuch of the Chinese government’s claimto legitimacy in Tibet rests on its self-proclaimed protection of Buddhism.

And while Tibetans appear generally freeto pray at temples and make pilgrimages,religion is not encouraged for the youngor Communist Party members.

“This is a socialist college, so what needdo the students have of temples?” retortedGesang Qunpei, chancellor of TibetUniversity, when asked if his studentswere free to practice their religion. “We’reabout science and technology here.”

Religious figures who step out of line canbe ruthlessly punished. Rights groups saymany monks were arrested after the 2008protests, and some were tortured in jail.Many others had to attend “re-education”classes and denounce the Dalai Lama.

Beijing also keeps a tight grip on keyreligious positions, saying it has ahistorical right to appoint top lamas.

China’s selection in 1995 of its ownPanchen Lama, the second-highestfigure in Tibetan Buddhism, shortly afterthe Dalai Lama announced his ownchoice, has upset many.

The six-year-old boy appointed by theDalai Lama was taken away by Chineseauthorities and has disappeared frompublic view.

The Beijing-anointed Panchen Lama isspurned by many Tibetans as a fake,especially in Shigatse, a flyblown townseveral hours drive west of Lhasa thatis his traditional seat.

Ask monks in Shigatse’s Tashilhunpomonastery whether they believe China’sPanchen Lama is the real deal and theresponse is neutral, despite the millionsspent on temple renovations.

“I really don’t know,” said one monk,with a broad grim on his face andshrugging his shoulders.

Shigatse’s people are less willing tomince their words.

“We don’t think he is a bad person, buthe’s a fake,” said a wiry Tibetan manselling smuggled cigarettes by the sideof a street. “Nobody believes in him. Wedon’t want him.”

(Additional reporting by MaximDuncan; Editing by Benjamin Kang Limand Ron Popeski)

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Shigatse | Wednesday, July 14, 2010(Reuters) Teenager DawanDunjhu (Dawa Dhondup) is

Tibetan and lives in Tibet, but saysthat if his friends and classmates can’tmaster Mandarin Chinese, they havelittle hope of a professional future.

“I want to be a lawyer, and for me Chineseplays a very important role both in my lifeand my study,” Dawan Dunjhu, 16, toldReuters during a government-organisedvisit for foreign media to Tibet.

“If someone can’t speak Chinese thenthey might as well be mute,” added thestudent at the Shigatse ShanghaiExperimental School, built with aid fromthe Shanghai government in a run-downmonastery town several hours drive fromTibetan capital Lhasa.

Tibetan is an official language in Tibetand parts of China where Tibetans havetraditionally been the main ethnic group,in what the government calls“autonomous” regions and areas.

Yet Beijing has for decades promoted‘Putonghua,’ or standard MandarinChinese, as a way of unifying adiverse country.

This makes language choices fraughtfor groups that are not ethnicallyChinese, many of whom chafe underCommunist rule.

For Tibetans, the route to jobs and abetter income often requires masteringChinese, leaving many worried they willlose their own ancient tongue and itsunique writing system.

While Dawan Dunjhu’s school istechnically bilingual, the only classesentirely taught in Tibetan are Tibetanlanguage classes.

Teachers say there are no text books inTibetan for subjects like history,

mathematics or science, and exams haveto be written in Chinese - apart fromTibetan language tests.

“It would be hard for the students totranslate into Tibetan concepts theyhave learned about in Chinese,” saiddeputy headmaster Cang Qiong,patiently answering a stream ofquestions from foreign reporters aboutwhy Tibetan is so little used.

Younger grades fall back on Tibetanwhen new ideas are introduced, but therest of the teaching is in Mandarin —which parents and education experts saycan dent interest in learning among someyoung children who struggle to keep up.

Standard languageThe government views the promotion ofMandarin as vital to unite a nation withthousands of Chinese dialects andnumerous other ethnic languages, fromTibetan and Uighur to the muchthreatened She, Evenki and Manchu.

Beijing says it supports minoritylanguages, pointing to broadcasting inareas where they are still in widespreaddaily use, and official signs in Tibet - fromshop boards to place names - where theSanskrit-based Tibetan script is required.

Many Tibetans still speak no Mandarin,especially in the vast open spaces of theTibetan heartland. Rights groups andexile communities complain it is beinggradually marginalized in cities andamong the elite.

“Whether you can speak Tibetan hasalready become a secondary issue, butwhether you can speak Chinese hasbecome crucial to your livelihood,” saidprominent Tibetan blogger Woeser.

“So the Tibetan written language has inreality reached a very serious point.”

Only recently has there been any pushfor bureaucrats from the majority HanChinese to learn the languages ofminority areas where they work, and thenew drive has yet to show much fruit.

There are similar issues with thewritten language: the rule requiringbilingual signs is easily flouted;billboards over stores are sometimesonly written in Chinese, or have just acursory line of Tibetan.

Chinese is already seeping into everydayTibetan.

Educated young Tibetans play with“Chibetan,” mixing in Mandarin wordswith Tibetan, much in the same way coolChinese youth mash up English intotheir speech.

“It’s very fashionable,” shrugged onegovernment worker.

For words that have no commonly-usedTibetan equivalent, Mandarin is usedinstead. In the midst of a Tibetanconversation, certain bureaucraticwords crop up in Mandarin.

These include “bu tie” (subsidy), “hetong” (contract) and “dang yuan”(Communist Party member).

In Lhasa, some educated Tibetans saythey will fight the rising tide of Mandarin— by refusing to speak it.

“It is the language of the Chinese,” saidone young Tibetan man, speaking inexcellent English and out of sight of thepolice patrols in Lhasa’s old quarter.“Please don’t speak to me in it.”

(Additional reporting by MaximDuncan, Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and Sugita Katyal)

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BBC[Thursday, July 15, 2010] Lhasa

The Potala Palace, once the seat ofthe Dalai Lama before he fled intoexile, glows in the evening light.

Its huge red and white walls, risingabove Lhasa, are spot-lit against thedeep blue hues of the Tibetan sky.

Across the road, Chinese tourists thronga huge open square. Patriotic Han Chinesemusic, about developing the westernreaches of China, blares from loudspeakers.

Giant fountains, lit up by neon lights,dance in time to the music.

Facing the Potala Palace is a hugeoutdoor television screen also blaringout sound. A few Tibetans wander thestreets selling trinkets to the tourists.

Through the crowd passes a Tibetan pilgrim.

He has wooden paddles attached to hishands. He uses them to prostrate himselfon the ground in front of the PotalaPalace, then stands up, takes threepaces (the length of his lying body) andlies down again.

It is a traditional Tibetan form ofpilgrimage, to travel the length of yourjourney lying down.

A complaint often voiced by Tibetans isthat they believe that their traditionalculture is being eroded by Chinese rule.Right in front of the Potala Palace thecultures seem to clash.

Controlled tourFor two years now Tibet has beenlargely closed to foreign media.

We were allowed in with a small group ofjournalists, escorted by Chinese minders.

China’s aim was to convince us thatthings are back to normal after the seriousunrest that erupted across the Tibetan

plateau just before the Olympics in 2008,and that the money China is investing todevelop Tibet is transforming the place.

But ours was a highly controlled tour.

We had a set programme, minderswatching us everywhere, and fewopportunities to talk to Tibetans freely.

Everywhere we had a police escort, andwe passed huge military convoysrumbling along the mountain roads. Itgave the impression China is nervousabout its hold on Tibet.

We were taken to the Tibet University, agroup of modern buildings with theChinese flag fluttering high above them.

But when we tried to stop some Tibetanstudents to talk to them security guardscame running across, shoved between us,and shooed the students away.

At the Jokhang, Tibet’s most importantBuddhist temple, I was followed roundby at least four plain-clothes security men.

It was near here that the riots broke out in2008. Just after those riots another groupof journalists were brought to the temple.

They were surrounded by monks whobegan shouting that there was nofreedom in Tibet. It was a highly unusualprotest against Chinese policies.

We asked what had happened to themonks, so one, a 29-year-old man calledNorgye, was brought forward. This wasnot part of our carefully scripted tour.

His eyes downcast, Norgye lookedshame-faced and deeply uncomfortableat our questions. He told us he had beenthrough patriotic re-education and nowsaw the error of his ways.

When asked what they had meant whenthey shouted there was no freedom,Norgye whispered in Tibetan to an oldermonk named Laba, the director of thetemple’s administrative office: “Whatshould I say?”

The unconvincing answer, given for him,was that he had simply meant he had nothad the freedom to go outside the templeduring the unrest.

And patriotic re-education clearly hadits limits. When we asked Norgye if heworshipped the Dalai Lama the youngmonk mumbled yes, but the official

Adrian Bradshaw/European Pressphoto Agency

“When we asked Norgye if he worshipped the Dalai Lama the young monk mumbled yes,but the official translator immediately told us he had said no.”

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translator immediately told us he hadsaid no.

‘Love’ for ChinaOutside the Jokhang, hundreds ofTibetans circled the temple, whirlingtheir prayer wheels and prostratingthemselves on the ground.

Chinese policemen, some armed withautomatic weapons, marched throughthe crowds and manned checkpoints.

On the rooftops I could clearly make outmarksmen watching the pilgrims andsecurity cameras filming everything.Wewere hurried on by our minders to meetHao Peng, the vice chairman of the TibetAutonomous Region.

He is Chinese and is one of the menentrusted by China’s Communist Partywith running Tibet. Tibetans, heinsisted, were happy with their lot.

“All ethnic groups including Tibetanshave benefited a lot from the progressand development that has happened inthe 60 years since the peacefulliberation of Tibet,” he said.

“People here know that they are nowenjoying the best conditions they’veever had in Tibet. So local people loveChina, they love the Communist Party.”He claimed the heavy security in Lhasawas only necessary because forcesoutside Tibet, led by the Dalai Lama,were trying to stir up trouble.”

The Dalai Lama clique and some anti-China forces in the internationalcommunity colluded to foment unrestin Tibet,” he told us.

“That’s why we have to take lots ofmeasures to ensure there is stabilityhere. So what you see in the streets,the police, the armed forces on duty,they are just what is necessary tomaintain stability in Tibet.”

We slipped out of our hotel at night intothe darkness of Lhasa’s alleyways, thoughplain-clothes security tried to follow us.

In the night Tibetans whispered thatthey were harassed by the securityforces, that too many Han Chinese wereflooding into Tibet, taking jobs fromTibetans, that they did not like theChinese presence, and that they wanted

to worship the Dalai Lama but had todo so in secret.

Above all it seemed there was fear, mostTibetans were too afraid to voice anycriticism of China openly.

“In the past other people like you havecome from outside Tibet and askedabout things like politics and religion,”one man told us nervously.

“Some Tibetans talked to them aboutthose things. The police arrested theTibetans and locked them up. So it’sreally not a good idea for me to talk toyou on these subjects,” he said.

Other Tibetans told us there were spieseverywhere listening to everything.

China is pumping money into theregion, hoping that raising Tibetanliving standards, what it calls leap-frog development, will win overTibetan support.

But it seems that fear and repressionare at least as important in ensuringChina keeps control in Tibet.

BBC[Friday, July 16, 2010] Lhasa

High in Tibet’s mountains thereare fears that an ancient way oflife is slowly dying.

China is bringing development to Tibet,changing it, trying to make it modern,but some Tibetans are worried that theirregion’s unique identity is being eroded.

Our was a rare, Chinese government-controlled trip to Tibet.

Our schedule and our movements werealmost entirely controlled by officialminders who rarely let us out of their sight.

Almost all the people we spoke to werehand-picked to show us China’s viewof Tibet.

Handsome wagesOne way things are changing in Tibet isevident at the 5,100 Mineral water factoryfour hours drive outside Lhasa.

Bottles of mineral water fly alongproduction lines imported from Germany.The name comes from the altitude of theglacier that feeds water to the factory,5,100 m (16,700ft) above sea level.

The water is sold in China’s far-off cities.The factory brings jobs and money to apoor region.

Around 150 Tibetans work here, amongthem Pubu Zhaxi. He says the work isnot hard and he earns 5,000 renminbi($735, £491) a month, a handsomewage in Tibet.

But it is not all quite so simple.

The factory, it turns out, is owned bya company registered in Hong Kong,so the profits, and the water, really flowoutside Tibet.

And although the factory’s boss sayscollecting the run-off from the glacierhas no environmental impact, the waterwould have flowed into a wetland inthe valley where yak herds graze themountain grasses.

Ancient structureIn Lhasa too there are signs of changeall around. The Potala Palace, risinghigh above the city, was once home tothe Dalai Lama before he fled into exile.

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It is a symbol of the way, for centuries,Tibet resisted outside influence.

But now the palace courtyard is full ofChinese visitors. They pose in Tibetancowboy hats. Tourism is another plank inChina’s plan for development.

Qiangba Gesang, the director of the PotalaPalace says that four years ago 370,000tourists were allowed to visit the palaceeach year. Now the number has gone upto 600,000. It is a sign of the way China’seconomy is developing and of the wayTibetans are becoming richer too, he says.

But he is not so clear when asked if thesurge in numbers is having any impact onthe ancient structure.

Comfort?The influx of Han Chinese as touristsand migrants is altering Tibet.

So too is China’s policy of moving everyTibetan herder and farmer into a newhome. We are taken to see one modelproject just outside Lhasa.

Neat rows of grey stone houses standin lines with Tibetan prayer flagsfluttering from them.

China says it has constructed 230,000 ofwhat it calls these “comfort houses” for1.3 million Tibetans in the past four years.

It gives grants to help pay the cost. Butthe Tibetans have to use their ownsavings too and take out loans, so theyend up with debt.

And, we are told, many of the Tibetansin this village have leased their farmlandto Chinese migrants to raise money.

The Chinese grow vegetables whilethe Tibetans now work onconstruction sites in Lhasa. So Tibet’sdemographics are shifting.

BackwardnessInside one house we find Do Bu Jie.

In his seventies, he wears a brown Fedorahat at a jaunty angle.

On his wall, as in every house we see here,there is a poster of China’s Communistleaders, from Mao Zedong to Hu Jintao.Below it is a huge television set.

Do Bu Jie is a Communist Party memberand supporter of the housing project.

“Our old house was made out of mud, itwasn’t this good,” he said. “I was just afarmer. But the Communist Party looksafter us.”

China’s government genuinely believes itspolicies are helping transform Tibet fromwhat officials say was a state of“backwardness”.

But while some Tibetans are benefiting,many are not convinced.

They believe the economic gains arelargely flowing to Chinese immigrants.

And they say their way of life and theircultural identity are all under threat.

Railway boomThe number of Chinese moving to Tibet isa sensitive topic.

When I asked for figures from officialsin Beijing before our trip I was given astern lecture about the bias foreignjournalists have in reporting on Tibet.

Then I was told the statistics are not kept.

But in Lhasa we were taken to the newrailway station, a giant, modern building,echoing and empty. Its style vaguelyechoes the Potala Palace.

The railway is Beijing’s biggest investmentin Tibet, costing billions of dollars, and isdesigned to connect the region with therest of China.

A train pulls in and passengers fill theplatform.

There are Chinese migrant workers,dragging sacks of possessions, Tibetanswith bundles of goods, Chinese tourgroups all wearing red caps, the tour-leader waving her flag, and a few foreigntourists too.

We are told 3,000 passengers come hereeveryday, so roughly one million a year,a third of them visitors.

In snatched conversations we managedwith Tibetans during our five-day tourit was clear the sheer number of HanChinese flowing in to Tibet was a causeof resentment.

Chinese vs TibetanAnother sensitive topic is the survivalof Tibetan as a language.

At the Tibet Shanghai ExperimentalSchool, so-called because it is built withfunds from the Shanghai government, aclass full of Tibetan children in red andwhite track-suits are all having a Chineselesson. Nine hundred of the studentshere come from the families of farmersand herdsman, we are told. Many gethelp from the central government withfunding to enjoy this education.

It is another showcase project.

But although the school says teachingTibetan is a priority, on closer scrutiny,that does not seem to be the case. Halfthe teachers are Chinese, and onlyTibetan language is taught in Tibetan.No other subject is.

All the exams, except for Tibetan language,have to be written in Chinese. Even thesigns around the school and the names ofthe classrooms are all in Chinese.

And the curriculum is all Chinese too. Sothe children, we are told, are taught thatthe Dalai Lama is a threat to China.

It is clear China’s drive for development istransforming Tibet, improving incomesand changing lives.

But it seems that is not always beingwelcomed.

For all the benefits China says it isbringing them, the impression left by ourvisit was that Beijing is struggling to winthe consent of ordinary Tibetans.

And in a generation’s time their homelandmay have changed irrevocably.

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LHASA, Tibet [July 24, 2010] —They come by new high-altitudetrains, four a day, cruising 1,200

miles past snow-capped mountains. Andthey come by military truck convoy,lumbering across the roof of the world.

China’s government invested $3 billionin Tibet last year.

Han Chinese workers, investors,merchants, teachers and soldiers arepouring into remote Tibet. After theviolence that ravaged this region in 2008,China’s aim is to make Tibet wealthier— and more Chinese.

Chinese leaders see development, alongwith an enhanced security presence, asthe key to pacifying the Buddhist region.

The central government invested $3bil l ion in the Tibet AutonomousRegion last year, a 31 percent increaseover 2008. Tibet’s gross domesticproduct is growing at a 12 percentannual rate, faster than the robustChinese national average.

Simple restaurants located in whiteprefabricated houses and run by ethnicHan businesspeople who take the trainhave sprung up even at a remote lakenorth of Lhasa. About 1.2 million ruralTibetans, nearly 40 percent of the region’spopulation, have been moved into newresidences under a “comfortablehousing” program. And officials promiseto increase tourism fourfold by 2020, to20 million visitors a year.

But if the influx of money and peoplehas brought new prosperity, it has alsodeepened the resentment among manyTibetans. Migrant Han entrepreneurselbow out Tibetan rivals, then returnhome for the winter after reaping profits.Large Han-owned companies dominatethe main industries, from mining toconstruction to tourism.

“Why did I come here? To make money,of course!” said Xiong Zhahua, amigrant from Sichuan Province whospends five months a year running arestaurant on the shores of chilly NamTso, the lake north of Lhasa.

A rare five-day official tour of Tibet,though carefully managed by the ChineseForeign Ministry, provided a glimpse oflife in the region during a period of tightpolitical and military control.

Tibet is more stable after security forcesquelled the worst uprising against Chineserule in five decades. But the increasedethnic Han presence — and the unevenbenefits of Han-led investment — havekept the region on edge.

Some Chinese officials acknowledgethe disenfranchisement of Tibetans,though they defend the right of Hanto migrate here.

“The flow of human resources followsthe rule of market economics and is alsoindispensable for the development ofTibet,” Hao Peng, vice chairman anddeputy party secretary of the region, saidat a news conference with a small groupof foreign journalists. But the currentsystem “may have caused an imbalanceddistribution,” he said. “We are takingmeasures to solve this problem.”

The government bars foreign reportersfrom traveling independently in Tibet.Journalists on the tour were broughtto several development projects byministry officials, but wereoccasionally able to interview localson their own. Tibetans interviewedindependently expressed fear of thesecurity forces and spoke on thecondition of anonymity.

One high school student complainedthat Tibetans could not compete for jobswith Han migrants who arrived with highschool diplomas. “Tibetans just get low-end jobs,” he said.

Chinese officials say Tibetans make upmore than 95 percent of the region’s 2.9million people, but refuse to give estimateson Han migrants, who are not registeredresidents. In the cities of Lhasa andShigatse, it is clear that Hanneighborhoods are dwarfing Tibetan areas.

Resentment of the Han exploded duringthe March 2008 rioting — Tibetans inLhasa burned and looted hundreds ofHan and ethnic Hui shops; at least 19people died, most of them Han civilians,the Chinese government said. Hansecurity forces then cracked down onTibetans across the plateau.

Robert Barnett, a scholar of Tibet atColumbia University, said the goal ofmaintaining double-digit growth in theregion had worsened ethnic tensions.

“Of course, they achieved that, but it wasdisastrous,” he said. “They had nopriority on local human resources, so ofcourse they relied on outside labor, andsucked in large migration into the towns.”

Now, a heavy security presence isneeded to keep control of Lhasa. Aroundthe Barkhor, the city’s central market,paramilitary officers in riot gear, all ethnicHan, march counterclockwise around thesacred Jokhang Temple, against the flowof Tibetan pilgrims. Armed men standon rooftops near the temple.

Limits on religious freedom have been amajor cause of discontent. In theJokhang itself, and in the Potala Palace,the imposing white-walled winterfortress of the Dalai Lamas, images ofthe exiled 14th Dalai Lama have beenbanned. Pilgrims carry the Dalai Lama’sphotograph in hidden lockets or amulets.

As the pilgrims circle the Potala, aloudspeaker in a small park blaresCommunist Party propaganda: “We arepart of a Chinese nation contributing toa great future — we are Chinese people.”

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Development programs are sometimes wellreceived, and sometimes they createresentment. Since 2006, the Tibetangovernment has mandated that Tibetanfarmers, herders and nomads usegovernment subsidies to build new homescloser to roads. New concrete homes withtraditional Tibetan decorations dot thestark brown countryside.

But the base government subsidy forbuilding the new homes is usually $1,500per household, far short of the total needed.Families have generally had to take outmultiple times that amount in interest-freethree-year loans from state banks as wellas private loans from relatives or friends.

“Though the government assures thatvillagers have not borrowed beyond theirmeans, many villagers around Lhasa haveexpressed pessimism about their abilityto repay these loans, suggesting that thedegree of debt for the new houses isbeyond what they are comfortable with,”said Emily Yeh, a scholar at the Universityof Colorado at Boulder who hasresearched the program. “This shouldbecome clearer over the next few years asloans start to become due.”

In the model village of Gaba, right outsideLhasa, residents leased out their farmlandfor eight years to Han migrants to payback the loans, which mostly ranged from$3,000 to $4,500. The migrants grow a widevariety of vegetables to be sold acrossChina. Many of the Tibetan villagers nowwork in construction; they cannotcompete with Han farmers because theygenerally know how to grow only barley.

“Renting out the farmland was suggestedby the bank,” said Suolang Jiancan, thevillage head. “It would be a guaranteedincome to pay back the loans.”

Among the Han, it is not just farmerswho are profiting from the land. Largecompanies from other parts of China arefinding ways to tap Tibet’s resources.

On July 19, China National Gold Group, thenation’s largest gold producer, began workat a polymetallic mine whose daily outputis expected to reach 15,000 tons. Tibet hasmore than 3,000 proven mineral reserves,including China’s biggest chromium andcopper deposits. China Daily, an officialEnglish-language newspaper, quoted aTibetan official in March saying that miningcould make up at least 30 percent of Tibet’sgross domestic product by 2020, up from 3percent now.

A prominent mineral water companycalled 5100 that is registered in HongKong but managed from Beijing has setup a factory in Damxung, on a grassyplateau three hours north of Lhasa, tocollect glacial runoff and bottle it ashigh-end mineral water. Last year, thecompany, named after the altitude of theglacier, produced almost two milliongallons of water. The water is shippedout on the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

The water that is collected wouldotherwise flow through wetlands whereyak graze. It is unclear how the factory’swork has affected the ecosystem. JiangXiaohong, the factory manager, whomoved to Tibet three years ago, said the

company did an environmentalassessment before starting operationsin 2006. “There’s no impact on thewetlands,” she said.

Because the company employs Tibetans,it receives government subsidies, Ms.Jiang said. About 95 percent of the 150 orso workers are Tibetan, and the averagesalary, including housing subsidies, isabout $740 a month, a small fortune on theTibetan plateau, she said. But ethnic Hanare the company’s managers and owners,and the ones who ultimately profit from it.

Mr. Hao, the regional vice chairman, saidthe key to making Tibetans morecompetitive in business “is to enhanceTibetan people’s skills througheducation and training.”

The government has encouragedwealthier Chinese cities to financeschool construction in Tibet. In the cityof Shigatse, four hours from Lhasa, theTibet-Shanghai Experimental School wascompleted in 2005 with an investment of$8.6 million from the Shanghaigovernment. The principal, HuangYongdong, arrived in January fromShanghai for a three-year posting.Nearly 1,500 students, all Tibetan, attendjunior and senior high schools here.

A portrait of Mao hangs in the lobby. Allclasses are taught in Mandarin Chinese,except for Tibetan language classes.Critics of the government’s ethnic policiessay the education system in Tibet isdestroying Tibetans’ fluency in their ownlanguage, but officials insist that studentsneed to master Chinese to be competitive.Some students accept that.

“My favorite class is Tibetan becausewe speak Tibetan at home,” said GesangDanda, 13. “But our country’s mothertongue is Chinese, so we study inChinese.”

On a blackboard in one classroom,someone had drawn in chalk a red flagwith a hammer and sickle. Written nextto it was a slogan in Chinese andTibetan: “Without the Communist Party,there would be no new China, andcertainly no new Tibet.” Chinese soldiers march infront of the Potala Palace. Getty Images

Edited by Sherab Woeser printed and published by the Secretary, Department of Information & International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration,Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamshala-176 215, HP, INDIA Printed at Narthang Press, Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamshala 176 215, HP, INDIA

Recognising the incarnations of Lamas/Trulkus is a unique Tibetan practice related with Buddhism. It hasnothing to do with politics. Using religious figures for political purpose, therefore, goes against religion.On 18 July 2007, the State Administration of Religious Affairs of the People’s Republic of China issuedthe Regulation on Management Measures for the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhismby transgressing the bounds of both religion and politics. The heads of the four religious schools ofTibetan Buddhism and the traditional Bon religion as well as the Department of Religion and Culture ofthe Central Tibetan Administration issued a seven-point joint declaration on 2 September 2007, repudiatingthis regulation. Likewise the Special Meeting of the heads of the four religious schools of Tibetan Buddhismand the traditional Bon religion held on 3 May 2008 passed a resolution, which not only rejected it butalso declared that in future no reincarnated Lamas/Trulkus of the Tibetan Buddhist and Bon religionsshall be considered as true unless they have the final approval of the heads of the respective religioustraditions.

Under the supervision of the Chinese Communist government, the so-called reincarnation of the GyalrongDedrug Rinpoche, belonging to Loseling of the Drepung Monastery in Tibet has apparently been recognisedon 4 July 2010 through the ‘golden urn procedure’. As well as going against religion, this action of theChinese government is a politically-motivated one. Therefore, as mentioned in the above declaration andthe resolution, no Tibetan will ever accept this.

The previous Dedrug Rinpoche was a prominent religious figure who had contributed much to themaintenance and promotion of Tibetan religion and culture. Therefore, his reincarnation should berecognised according to tradition with the consent of the Gaden Throne Holder, the head of the GelugSchool of Tibetan Buddhism.

Department of Religion and CultureCentral Tibetan Administration

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