Tuesday 25 March 2008

A note on Tibetan Buddhism

'Protestors disrupt Olympic torch ceremony: Tibetan woman covered in fake blood, 3 French nationals interrupt event.'


I think more protests can be expected from now to the end of the Olympics. Hopefully the world will take notice AND remember Tibet, before the Tibetan cause drops off the radar after the Olympics.

This is not a mere issue of politics, nor is it too complicated for the layman. The Tibetan issue is a consistent violation of the Tibetans' human rights over five decades. Tibetans are being oppressed, deprived of resources and treated as second-class citizens in their own homeland.

Buddhism has become the religion, culture and way of life for many Tibetans, and is very important to them. Yet, China has no intention of respecting that, or the people's right to choose and organize their own religion. The Tibetans believe in reincarnation, particularly, the reincarnation of Bodhisattva Chenrizi (hence the Dalai Lamas), and the reincarnation of Amitabha (the Panchen Lamas). Panchen Lama means "Great Scholar" and is "a reincarnate lineage of Gelugpa Buddhist teachers, Tulku".

After the current Dalai Lama recognized a six-year-old boy as the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, the boy and his family were detained by the Chinese at an undisclosed location, making him the youngest political prisoner in the world. He has been missing since. After abducting him, the atheist Chinese government then chose a young Tibetan and declared him the true reincarnation of the tenth Panchen Lama. The Chinese also has intentions of picking the next Dalai Lama after the current one passes on. For an anti-religious government, they sure have a lot of opinions on who is the real Bodhisattva reincarnate.

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