Tibet - the ‘biggest prison in the world’

By Kevin Thomas - Chicago Tribune
October 24, 2008

There have been many impressive documentaries on Tibet and the plight of its people, but none like Francois Prevost and Hugo Latulippe’s “What Remains of Us.” Kalsang Dolma—a Tibetan born in exile in India who immigrated to Canada—visited her ancestral land for the first time in 1996, accompanied by Prevost and Latulippe. She carried with her a portable video player carrying a five-minute message from the Dalai Lama, who has been unable to speak directly to his people for more than half a century. There’s a cruel irony here: His voice, strong and distinctive, whether he is speaking in English or his native language, is familiar the world over—except in his own land.

At great risk, Dolma and the filmmakers visited the homes of numerous Tibetans, some deep in the region’s interior. The Dalai Lama offers a message of hope in the face of hardships and the specter of genocide under long-oppressive Chinese rule, which has cost the lives of an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans, with 200,000 more forced into exile. Within Tibet, thousands of ancient monasteries and sacred places have been destroyed, and the land has been exploited and polluted. “This is the biggest prison in the world,” Dolma observes.

The Dalai Lama explains that Tibetan spirituality and compassion, deeply rooted in Buddhism, have become an inspiration for the world, that these values must be cherished and passed along, and that any resistance must be nonviolent. Behind the closed doors of their homes, the Dalai Lama’s audiences are moved to tears and speak openly of their virtually total lack of freedom. Yet as one nun, no longer allowed to wear her habit, says, “We live on faith and hope. That’s all we have.”

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Brief History of Buddhism in Tibet

Records of human civilization on the Tibetan plateau stretch back thousands of years, however Tibetan culture is only starting to be widely recognized. Even so, analysts focus on only their recent history and some of their Buddhist past. I hope that this section will give a brief, but comprehensive, explanation of the basic history of Tibetan Buddhism and its pre-Buddhist roots, prior to the Chinese invasions of 1912 and 1949.

Early Tibetan History

Bon: The First Religion of Tibet

Prior to the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, the majority of the Tibetan people practiced an animistic religion called Bon. Bon originated in Olmo Lungring, a region west of modern day Tibet, it then spread east to Zhang Zhung and finally to Tibet where it took root and is still practiced by a minority of Tibetans today as well as by a significant percentage of Lepchas, the indigenous inhabitants of Sikkim.

Tibet

Unfortunately, although Tibetan history stretches back thousands of years, writing was only brought to Tibet with Buddhism. In addition to this hindrance, due to persecution of Bon religion, Bon adopted many Buddhist practices (and vice versa.) So while we have a good oral history of Bon, no one knows how accurate it is and what the original Bon religion was like.

Bon lore states that the religion was founded by Tonpa Shenrab 16,000 years ago. Tonpa Shenrab has studied Bon philosophy in past ages in heaven but was born on earth to teach them. Similar to the Buddha, he was born a prince, married, had children but then later chose to renounce the palatial life he was born in to in order to spread the Bon teachings and bring the doctrine to Tibet. However, Tonpa Shenrab found Tibet to be inhospitable to the Bon teachings and he was forced to give up. He hid the Bon teachings throughout Tibet and died at the age of 8,200. Later teachers were able to teach Bon in Tibet and it took root and flourished.

Bonpos believe that Tonpa Shenrab and other Bon teachers were enlightened beings (similar to Buddhas) who existed prior to the birth of Buddha Shakyamuni. Bon is another path to enlightenment that was not taught by Buddha Shakyamuni but instead was taught by these sages. As an animistic religion Bon also has a great respect for nature and a desire to be in harmony with it. It also includes many spirits who must be satisfied. Overtime, Bon beliefs melded with the Buddhist beliefs brought from India and both Bon and Buddhism changed as a result.

Nyingma, the oldest of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, is in fact very similar to Bon and the two religions practice some of the same forms of meditation and share certain teachers and deities.

When Buddhism started to gain popularity in Tibet, Bon was repressed by the Buddhist leaders in their attempts to establish Buddhism as a state religion. In order to preserve the teachings, Bonpo teachers hid terma, or treasure teachings, throughout Tibet. In 1017, Shenchen Luga uncovered many of these termas and brought about a Bon revival. Although Bon never overtook Buddhism in popularity in Tibet, Bon was openly studied for many years after this revival.

In 1727, Tibet was invaded by the Dzungars. A great repression of the Bonpos and Nyingmapas followed and many were killed. The Dzungars would make people stick out their tongues believing that speaking mantras would turn one’s tongue black. The Nyingmapas and Bonpos were known for their constant recitation of mantras and this test was part of the witch hunt to find them .

The fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso, declared Bon to be a fifth school of Buddhism in Tibet, a stance which has been reiterated by the present, 14th Dalai Lama. However, Tibetans differentiate between Bonpos and Buddhists, referring to practitioners of Bon as “Bonpo” while calling members of the other four schools of Buddhism “Nangpa,” literally “Insider.”

Buddhism

Buddhism was brought to Tibet in the eighth century by the Indian saint, Padmasambhava (Tibetan: Pema Jugne, Guru Rinpoche) at the invitation of King Trisong Duetson. While Buddhism had been introduced by King Songsten Gampo a few decades earlier, it had not gained much popularity. Padmasambhava subdued the local demons (presumed by many to be Bon spirits, or a metaphor for the Bon priests themselves) and created Samye, the first Buddhist monastery. Trisong Deutson, Songsten Gampo and Ralpachen, all Buddhist are considered the three great kings of Tibet. Under their rule, Buddhism flourished and became the state religion of Tibet and Zhang Zhung and Olmo Lungring were annexed by Tibet. Buddhist scholars were brought in from neighboring countries to visit Tibet and teach Buddhist philosophy and many temples and monasteries were built. Tibet became so famed for its Buddhist teachers that the Mongol Khans and the Chinese Emperors both sent for Buddhist Teachers from Tibet to advise the courts.

However the forty second and final king of the Tibetan dynasties, Langdharma, brought an end to this religious honeymoon. Langdharma was a practitioner of Bon and was very bitter against Buddhism’s popularity. He forced monks and nuns to leave their monasteries and attempted to destroy Tibetan Buddhism through systematic persecution. Langdharma was assassinated during a ceremonial dance performance by an ex-monk, posing as a performer.

The Four Schools of Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is split into four schools (five, if one counts Bon.) While these schools follow the same basic philosophy, they have different teachers and often put the emphasis on different aspects of the Buddhist teachings.

Nyingma

This is the oldest of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In fact, its name literally means “Old.” Unlike the other three schools, Nyingma does not always have one set leader who is the most important lama in the school. Like Bon, the dzogchen form of meditation is very important, likewise they share many teachings and deities. Padmasambhava is very important in the Nyingma school and the school emphasizes practice, versus study of the sutras.

Sakya

Sakya, meaning “Gray Earth” is the next school of Buddhism. Leadership is passed down through the family line versus reincarnation of leaders and its monasteries are distinguished by very high walls. The Sakya school is historically important as it was the school of choice among many of the Mongol Khans.

Kagyu

The Kagyu school was the first school to use reincarnation as a form of continuing teachings with the same masters. The first lama recognized as a reincarnation was the Karmapa, who is the head of the Karma Kagyu sect. The Kagyu sect includes many subsections, such as Karma Kagyu and Drikung Kagyu. The Kagyu school held power in Tibet for many years before the Gelug school took power with the fifth Dalai Lama. It is also the main school in Bhutan and Sikkim and predominant in south eastern Tibet. It is also the main school of Tibetan Buddhism practiced in the west.

Bhutan

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Buddhist Temple Built From Empty Bottles

SISAKET, Thailand (Reuters) - A Thai Buddhist temple has found an environmentally friendly way to reach nirvana, using discarded bottles to build everything on the premises from a crematorium to toilets.

The Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew temple, about 600 km (370 miles) northeast of Bangkok, is better known as “Wat Lan Kuad” or “Temple of Million Bottles” because of the glittering from countless glass containers on the walls.

The temple first started using discarded bottles in 1984 to decorate the monks’ shelters. This attracted more people to donate more bottles to build other buildings such as a pagoda, ceremony hall and toilets. Bottle tops were also used to decorate murals.

Many bottles and tops are from alcohol containers even though alcohol consumption is a sin in Buddhism.

“The more bottles we get, the more buildings we make,” Abbot San Kataboonyo told Reuters.

Buddhist Temple From Empty Bottles

See more pictures here

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Green Tax To Save Himalayan Ecology

Alarmed by the recent havoc wrecked by climate changes in sensitive Himalayan eco-zones, chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Prem Kumar Dhumal has turned environment protection into a priority area, setting up a fund for it - a one of its kind initiative in the country.

Cabinet colleagues, shortly after giving a nod to setting up of an environment fund, on Saturday became the first to commit a voluntarily contribution of Rs 100 per month towards it, in lieu of the cars they own.

A day earlier mooting the proposal at a workshop, the chief minister lamented the nations attitude towards environmental issues saying, “we are unpaid custodians for rendering environmental services and our efforts to conserve the green cover is not being duly compensated by the central government.”

“For a start I turn to the state residents,” said Dhumal, “in concern for the damage fossil fuels cause to the environment, vehicle owners could voluntarily pitch in a green cess. The corpus collected would be used solely for environment protection and promotion,” he said.

Professor NH Rabindranath, chairman sustainable technologies centre at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore at the same workshop set alarm bells ringing when he disclosed that scientific models forecast a rise of as high as 6 degree Celsius in mean temperature in the Himalayan zone by as early as 2050.

Effects of such a scenario are becoming visible as an unusually long rainy season through the year has left the states road, electricity, drinking water and irrigation infrastructure fractured. The losses still being counted have already surpassed Rs 2000 crores.

“Cropping of apples, wheat, rice and other fruits will be hit as it beings to rain more, says the scientist, “and temperature sensitive forestry including the majestic deodar trees may wither away.”

However, the leadership here is one of the few states where concern for environment is high and an environment fund is a mature way of sensitizing people about it, said Rabindranath.

The governments move for a green cess is justified but just picking on private vehicle owners is not, differs Ajay Vaidya, a lawyer. Under a High Court ruling a green cess on cars is already being imposed in Manali and is a norm in many countries.

To validate a green tax in the state, cement units which are the biggest pollutants in the state and other industries that have been identified as environmentally unfriendly should be brought into the ambit, said Vaidya.

Source: himachal.us

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Buddhism In Japan May Be Dying Out

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

The Japanese have long taken an easygoing, buffetlike approach to religion, ringing out the old year at Buddhist temples and welcoming the new year, several hours later, at Shinto shrines. Weddings hew to Shinto rituals or, just as easily, to Christian ones.

When it comes to funerals, though, the Japanese have traditionally been inflexibly Buddhist — so much so that Buddhism in Japan is often called “funeral Buddhism,” a reference to the religion’s former near-monopoly on the elaborate, and lucrative, ceremonies surrounding deaths and memorial services.

But that expression also describes a religion that, by appearing to cater more to the needs of the dead than to those of the living, is losing its standing in Japanese society.

“That’s the image of funeral Buddhism: that it doesn’t meet people’s spiritual needs,” said Ryoko Mori, the chief priest at the 700-year-old Zuikoji Temple here in northern Japan. “In Islam or Christianity, they hold sermons on spiritual matters. But in Japan nowadays, very few Buddhist priests do that.”

Mr. Mori, 48, the 21st head priest of the temple, was unsure whether it would survive into the tenure of a 22nd.

“If Japanese Buddhism doesn’t act now, it will die out,” he said. “We can’t afford to wait. We have to do something.”

Picture: Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

Across Japan, Buddhism faces a confluence of problems, some familiar to religions in other wealthy nations, others unique to the faith here. Read more »

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