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The Chinese occupation of Tibet
The Chinese occupation of Tibet
Dalai lama and relationship with the modern world
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The Future of Tibet:
The Dalai Lama's role as an international celebrity, and Nobel peace prize winner, has strengthened the Tibetan cause in recent years. Portrayal of the Dalai Lama in the media, and in movies such as Seven Years in Tibet has successfully publicized the movement. It has furthermore put international pressure on China. Viewed by the outside world as an oppressor of a peaceful people, China is constantly criticized by foreign advocates and governments. This has affected China's relations with other nations. In 1993 the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of conditioning China's "most-favored-nation" status, allowing lower tariff rates. The action stated that unless China complied with the release of Tibetan prisoners, incarcerated for nonviolent expression of religion, their status would be revoked. This, along with numerous other sanctions from outside governments, have severely limited Chinese foreign policy. They can no longer get away with human rights violations without fear of economic repercussions.
The Dalai Lama's actions have also resulted in internal pressure in China. Numerous protests by Tibetan nationalists have taken form around the actions of the Dalai Lama. As recently as 2008 conflict in China has resulted on pressure to the government by Tibetans. On March 10, 2008, around five hundred monks of the Drepung monastery, attempted to march into the center of Lhasa in honor of the 49th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan revolt. They were stopped by the Chinese police, with some arrested and beaten. Meanwhile, another monks from another monastery, the Sera, were arrested in Lhasa for carrying the Tibetan Flag. Six hundred monks from Sera arrived the next day to demand the release of the ot...
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...t has been relatively ignored by the Chinese. Instead, they have taken to hard-line tactics to combat Tibetan nationalism. They hope to limit the influence of Tibetan culture as they wait for the already elderly Tenzin Gyatso to die. If the Dalai Lama seeks to solve the crisis before he dies, he needs to get China's attention, and focus on not losing the support of young Tibetan nationalists.
The future of the role of the Dalai Lama itself is uncertain. Tenzin Gyatso has stated that it us up to him on whether or not he will reincarnate after his death. Seeing the title as a remnant of the past, he is not sure if a Dalai Lama is even needed in the modern era. He sees democracy as capable of taking his place. However, the Dalai Lama has become a figure for more than just Tibet. He represents a peaceful humanistic approach in a world so dominated by violence and power.
As much as I would like to take a neutral approach to the Tibetan-Chinese issue, I am concerned it is simply impossible. I remember when I first read Patric French's “Tibet, Tibet. A personal history of a lost land”. I was in my dorm room up all night, shivers constantly running down my spine, from time to time tears running down the cheeks too, I have to confess. Back then I did not know what exactly was going on in this remote and mysterious country, apart from that it is under Chinese occupation and the people are looking for liberation.* But when I read the book I instantly empathized with the story of Tibet. This is probably due to the fact that Estonia, my home country, once was in a similar desperate situation, being succumbed to the power of the Eastern neighbor. Luckily for Estonia, she managed to gain independence from Russia in 1918 though it officially had belonged to the Russian Empire as the Governorate of Estonia since the end of the Great Northern War, 1721 by the treaty of Nystad. Thus, it is even more intriguing, why Tibet, which has never by any kind of treaty or agreement belonged to China1, is still under the foreign rule and has to struggle for independence?
What the Chinese are really doing is committing against the Tibetan people, a cultural and religious genocide. The culture of Tibet is based on Bon's ancient beliefs, and also on Buddhism from India. The Tibetans take the best of the two religions, and their entire culture is based on that.
He was selected Dalai Lama, which means "Ocean of Wisdom", when he was a young child because he was assumed to be the reincarnation of the thirteenth Dalai Lama...In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Dalai Lama is considered a reincarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, sometimes known as Avalokiteshvara. A Bodhisattva is a Buddha, an enlightened one. (Jacobus 729)
Before any of these questions can be answered though, one must first know the origin of the conflicts between the two regions as well as the history of the Free Tibetan Movement. As said above, Tibet used to be a place that not many people knew about. This made it much easier for the Chinese government to come in and take control of the people and the land without much protest from the outside world. In fact even if other countries, like bordering India, had known, not much would have been done. This is because no nation had ever recognized Tibet as an independent country. Rather, it was the events that followed which caused the uproar. According to defected citizens of Tibet that traveled to India and then dispersed throughout the world, the Chinese started a form of spiritual cleansing. Monks and spiritual leaders that would not follow their ground rules were detained, captured or killed. The lama's of the Tibetan people were either taken as political prisoners or exiled. However, there are also those that said that some of this never happened.
This series of protesting is called the Tibetan Independent Movement. They would do this in ways such as flying Tibetan flags in place of Chinese flags. This had very minimal effect but led to the Chinese Government cutting off essential supplies to the Tibetans to the point of riot and revolt. The Chinese Government accused the exiled Dalai Lama of organizing these riots as a part of a separatist plot.
It was told that the Dalai Lama himself is the 14th reincarnation and the last reincarnation. The Dalai Lama describes how he himself did not step on the path to Nirvana in order to help others gain enlightenment. As such it can be seen that the Dalai Lama is a pivotal role for Buddhism. The Dalai Lama is important to both individuals and communities as he is someone who is seen as a teacher and written many books in order for people to better understand buddhism. The quote “[Nirvana] can only be reached, not produced, by the Path . . . it transcends the intrinsic nature of matter . . . being attainable through special insight affected by strong effort” can be understood through how the Dalai Lama lives out his life. This is seen as the quote talks about how just learning about the path to enlightenment through the eightfold path is not enough to be on the path to Nirvana. People must also live the teachings of Buddhism in order to attain enlightenment. The Dalai Lama heavily impacts individuals and communities as the Dalai Lama himself is seen as a role model of the faith. This is seen as the Dalai Lama himself is seen as the living example of the Buddhist teachings. As such he
The novel “The Outsiders,” by S.E. Hinton can be defined as an emotional, heart breaking, and lesson teaching story. Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade were the youngest in their gang of Greasers. They were all wild boys, who liked looking “tuff” and being known as criminals. Ponyboy and Johnny were not as intimidating as the other greasers, Two-Bit Mathews, Dallas Winston, Darrel Curtis, Sodapop Curtis, and Steve Randle. One night, Ponyboy and Johnny were both out on the street. Out of nowhere some drunken Socs began to chase and beat up the boys. One of the Socs was drowning Ponyboy in a fountain. Johnny saw the danger Ponyboy was in and pulled out his switchblade. He stabbed Bob Sheldon and killed him. The boys did not know what to do, so they ran away to Windrixville, and lived in an abandoned church. They cut their hair and Ponyboy bleached his. Eventually the boys came to their senses and planned to turn themselves in. Dallas came to pick the boys up, but first they went to Dairy Queen to eat. When they drove back to the church they noticed that the church was on fire. Ponyboy and Johnny forced themselves into the church to save the children stuck inside. Ponyboy ended up with a minor concoction and some small burns on his back. While Johnny was not as lucky, an extremely large, heavy, and blazing hot piece of wood fell on him. Both boys were sent to the hospital. Johnny remained in the hospital much longer than Ponyboy. Johnny felt weaker and weaker every day and was getting worse by the minute. After a long and depressing journey, Johnny passed away. Therefore, their group of Greasers would now be presented with how loss and grief could drive people into making illogical decisions.
Many countries have met with the Dalai Lama, who is widely respected for his teaching of compassion, peace and humanity, and have agreed to speak of Tibet to the Chinese government. However, no action has been taken ever since President Obama met with the Dalai Lama. Our government’s actions have not spoken louder than our words. China is very similar to the big bad wolf, they huff and puff with threats, yet they are empty and futile because China doesn’t really want to punish our leaders because they need our business. Countries must act together, instead of individually, in accordance with our shared values and democratic principles.
Between 1987 and 1992, over one hundred and fifty demonstrations were created (Tibet 3). However, during the invasion of Tibet, over six thousand monasteries were destroyed (China 1). In the eyes of China, bombing the center of Tibet’s religious practice would break down the Tibetans faster or kill the religion itself. The monasteries were where they could be spiritually connected to Dalai Lama. Without them, they could no longer fully connect themselves to Dalai. As China forced Tibetans to denounce Dalai Lama, he fled while taking thousands of Tibetans with him. Today, over one hundred and fifty thousand Tibetans are still in exile. Not only did China take away their spiritual leader and hope, they also raided their environment into further destruction. China removed vast forests and animals for their own food sources. This declined the ecosystem of Tibet. In fact, around eighty percent of all Tibetans are below poverty due to the lack of resources. Adding to that devastation, China used Tibet as a dumping ground for nuclear waste. On top of that, eight million Chinese people were moved into Tibet. This made Tibetans a minority within their own country. After year of torture and devastation, Dalai Lama sought out for his country an agreement, the 17-Point Plan. However, the agreement still gave China control over Tibet. Although that was a small victory, the effects of the genocide
The Dalai Lama is the head of the school of Tibetan Buddhism. Dating back to Gendun Drub, who founded the Tashilhunpo Monastery, he and his successors are said to be the reincarnations of the bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshvara. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, became the head of Tibetan Buddhism in 1950. However, after unsuccessful protest of Communist China...
In 1954, he travelled to Beijing to being peace talks with Mao Tse-tung and other Chinese leaders (Lama, Dalai, pg.1). Unfortunately, the peace talk efforts for a resolution to the Sino Tibetan conflict were not successful due to the China’s policy in eastern Tibet. Those policies lead to an uprising and resistance movement, and spread to different parts of the country. On March 10, 1959, the capital of Tibet, Lhasa becomes invaded by the largest demonstration in Tibetan history; which is called on the withdrawal of China from Tibet, and Tibet’s independence (Lama, Dalai, pg.1). The uprising was defeated by the Chinese army that resulted in the Dalai Lama having to flee to India where he was given political asylum. There were 80,000 Tibetans that followed the Dalai Lama to exile. There are currently 120,000 Tibetans still in exile. Since 1960, The Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamsala, India, and is known as the “Little Lhasa,” The base of the Tibetan Government in exile (Lama, Dalai pg.2). While he was in exile, the Dalai Lama continued to fight for freedom of Tibet by appealing to the United Nations. This had the affect in the adoption of three resolutions by the general assembly in 1959, 1961, and in 1965 that stated that China had to respect human rights of Tibetans and their right for autonomy. The Dalai Lama saw the importance and need to preserve the Tibetans culture while in exile (Lama, Dalai pg. 2). While the Tibetans were in exile they were able to start there agriculture and settlements over again. Their economic development helped them build new education system that was focused on powering Tibetan in refugee with their culture, history and religion. These high learning schools were established in India for Tibetans. There was also various monasteries established that helped to preserve the Tibetan Buddha teachings, and spirit
The past decades have had countless examples of countries that have splintered in the face of constant turmoil. One of those many countries that have dealt with such problems while being constantly overlooked when in comparison to other European, Asian and Middle Eastern countries is Tibet. Until 1949, Tibet had enjoyed peace and autonomy before the Chinese Communists invaded the country. In this scenario, the Dalai Lama has undertaken a role with responsibilities that no other previous leader of Tibet has on a global scale. Under the instruction of the Dalai Lama Tibet, decided to take a peaceful approach in defending their country. The Dalai Lama’s peaceful stance as well as his frequent engagement in teaching activities, has lead to widespread international support, this
It is completely difficult to reach an agreement in the near future that ends Tibetans-Chinese dispute. It’s even impossible to judge the case based on some historical events that even Historians can’t fully agree on. The only two facts are that Tibetans economical life is so much better after the invasion and the Tibetans religious life is completely chained by the Chinese government. The one and only possible solution for this dispute is an absolute religious freedom to the Tibetans under the Chinese supervision; else, both sides will keep fight to what it seems forever.
Over the past few decades, there have been many political problems in Tibet. This can be attributed to the ongoing problem between Tibet and China. Tibet had previously, for many years, been faced with occupation by the forces of the People's Republic of China in their land. This was very alarming to many people, including the highly respected Dalai Lama of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has been a very influential person in Tibet's history and many of the decisions he has made have directly affected the outcome of certain situations pertaining to the relationship between Tibet and China.
Interests: China’s leaders desire to improve their nation’s economy while preserving political stability. They want to censor political discussions to prevent “westernization” of China,