The real Dalai Lama revealed (video)

We want a free Tibet. Let the Dalai Lama return. China has no business being on the plateau. China has no business engaging in human rights abuses or cultural genocide (due to Han-Chinese opposition to Tibetans, Uighurs, Taiwanese, or any other indigenous group). The CIA has no business destabilizing governments or installing operatives as US-backed dictators.

Research it. The story is out. It's unbelievable: The narrative we have been fed -- which has made us so angry at tyrannical China and portrayed pre-invasion Tibet as a Shangri-la, a mythical dreamland of spirituality, enlightenment, equality, and peace -- is wrong.

If the CIA is allowed to succeed, Tibet is doomed. It's an expendable pawn in a cold war with China, going from bad (pre-invasion) to worse (invasion) and even worse (post-invasion). It didn't take a Tibetan oracle to see what was to happen. But it has taken an honest historian to reveal the hard truth of what brought us to this point in history.

The Story behind the Dalai Lama's rule

CNHabs

Michael Parenti is an American historian, political scientist, and author. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University. His works have been translated into at least 18 languages. His book The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome was selected as a Book of the Year for 2004 by Online Review of Books and Current Affairs.

• "He [the Dalai Lama] headed a social system that was exploitative, terribly terribly unequal, and terribly brutal."
• "You had a privileged priest class, living in utter luxury and opulence, and you had a mass of serfs living in utter misery."
• "His holiness would tell you that he must return to power for the good of his people. In this case 'good' may translate to his people living in squalor and his government condoning slavery."
• "As this State Department internal memo reveals, the Dalai Lama at one time took $180,000 a year from the CIA for his living expenses and $1.5 million a year from the spy agency to finance Tibetan guerrilla operations against the Chinese, which included, running a covert guerrilla training center in Colorado."

Richard Gere praising Bush with CNN's Wolf Blitzer

COMMENTARY

It's an abuse of Mahayana teachings (with messianic reincarnating political leaders) not seen since the exploitation of Christianity by imperial Roman rulers.

Like the "Holy Roman Catholic Church" ruled from the Vatican, the Lama system claims a "divine right" to rule Tibet as regent-kings given to them by extraterrestrial sky "gods."

It's a big deal dragging Buddhism into the mire of geopolitics.

But who will confront His Holiness, interestingly the name used for the pope, with the tough questions when Americans -- particularly influential Jewish-Buddhist-Americans often in the media -- line up to praise him while we demonize China and ignore the CIA's involvement?

Why Tibetan monks create sand mandalas

Michael Louis Vinson (Post-Crescent)

This mandala was created in 2007 out of colored sand and destroyed just after it was completed. The process not the final destination is the point.

GRAND CHUTE, Wisconsin — The strange hum of pencil-thin rods rhythmically sawing grooved metal drew Thomas Kraft nearer.

"I just got done with class and I heard the noise," said the 22-year-old, who's studying culinary arts and hospitality management at Fox Valley Technical College. As he approached, the source of the sound became visible, but the scene remained a mystery.

Four Tibetan monks draped in traditional crimson and gold robes were crouched over a square black table where they painstakingly rubbed grains of crushed white marble out of metal funnels into an elaborate design known as a mandala.

"I never knew anything about this," Kraft said in wonder, unable to divert his eyes for even a moment. "It definitely looks very tedious."

For more than 2,500 years, practitioners of Tantric Buddhism have used this sand painting ritual to generate peaceful energy.

"The purpose of creating mandala is to bring peace, harmony, and healing to this area and the people living around here," said Nawang Khenrab, a spokesman for the monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery based in India. More>>

• Buddhism in Wisconsin: madcitysangha.com

Tibetans plan protests to "welcome" China

Tibetan groups plan protests to "welcome" Chinese premier

Hindustan Times (Dec. 15, 2010)
NEW DELHI, India - It's not just the Indian government that's gearing up to welcome Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Tibetan organizations in the city are drawing up their plans as well, albeit for a different reason. Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), Tibetan Women's Association, and Friends of Tibet India plan to stage protests across the city in the next three days, when the Chinese Premier will be in the Capital.

TYC members will hold a protest march starting from Rajghat at 11:00 am. It will wind up in central Delhi. "Around 500 of us will march under the banner: 'Free Tibet W(h)en, Free Tibet now,' " said Tenzin Norsang, TYC joint secretary.

Protests have also been planned for Dec. 16 and 17, but Norsang refused to give out further details. Tibetan poet and freedom activist Tenzing Tsundue will also join. In 2002, Tsundue climbed the scaffolding of a Mumbai [Bombay] building where then Chinese premier Zhu Rongji was staying. He carried a banner that read "Free Tibet"... More>>

Obama-Dalai Lama meeting is only option

A Tibet Freedom Movement activist makes a portrait of U.S. President Barack Obama with his blood in Shimla, India as he thanks him for agreeing to meet the Dalai Lama. China again urged Obama not to hold a planned meeting with Dalai Lama (AP/Anil Dayal).

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- Just a week after enraging China with an arms sale package for Taiwan, President Barack Obama risks more damage to this crucial relationship by agreeing to meet with the Dalai Lama in two weeks. The truth is, he has little choice.

Obama already postponed the visit once, angering U.S. lawmakers and human rights groups. As he struggles to regain his footing after political setbacks, the last thing he needs is to open himself up to fresh criticism that he is kowtowing to China.

So on Thursday, his administration confirmed what had long been expected: Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama when the Tibetan monk visits Washington on Feb. 17-18. More>>

Nepal - China - Tibet

Buddha statue looking out at the Himalayan range from behind (Tindal)

Nepal PM to visit Tibet as China seeks closer ties
BEIJING/KATHMANDU (Reuters, Dec. 24, 2009) - Nepal's prime minister will visit the Tibetan capital of Lhasa during his upcoming trip to China, as China tries to forge closer ties with its southern neighbor in order to control a restive minority at home.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's six-day trip, beginning Saturday, highlights his administration's strategic balancing act between giant rivals China and India, and his efforts to show domestic opponents he too commands China's support.

Beijing in turn seeks more support from the Nepali government in controlling 20,000 Tibetan exiles based in the Himalayan nation. Exile groups in Nepal stepped up protests against Chinese policies in their homeland after widespread Tibetan demonstrations against Chinese rule in March, 2008. More>>

Glaciers, Bome County, in southeastern Tibet's Nyingchi Prefecture, 9/20/07. China's Tibet Autonomous Region has been hit hard by global warming, and it's set to get even harder (Xinhua). PHOTOS

Climate Change Threatens Tibetan Plateau
BEIJING (Xinhua, Dec. 6, 2009) -- The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is the Earth's third largest store of ice after the South and North poles. But that store is rapidly melting amid the onset of climate change. It will affect the water supply for up to a billion people and the atmospheric circulation for more than half the planet. Xie Zheng, meets the people living on the plateau and enduring its changes. More>>

• China tackles global warming impacts on Tibetan Plateau
• View paintings on Tibet exhibited in Italy
• Exhibition on 50th Anniversary of "Democratic Reform" in Tibet

Tibet Activists Detained for Unfurling Banner

A protester descends a pole to an awaiting policeman after hanging a banner which reads "Tibet will be free" near the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, before the Beijing Olympic Games in this photo released by Students for a Free Tibet, August 6, 2008. Four foreign protesters were held by police after displaying the banners on Wednesday, state media reported, as the Olympic Games torch made its way through the city (REUTERS/Students for a Free Tibet/Handout, China).

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By Audra Ang with Stephen Wade (AP)

BEIJING - Police led away four activists from the U.S. and U.K. on Wednesday after they unfurled pro-Tibet banners outside Beijing's National Stadium, the site of the Olympic Games' opening ceremony later this week.

Two men from Students for a Free Tibet each climbed an electrical pole in front of the so-called Bird's Nest and put up the banners at dawn, said Lhadon Tethong, the New York-based group's executive director. The other two — a man and a woman — provided support from the base of the poles, she said. One of the black-and-white banners said "Tibet will be free" and "Tibet Freedom" in Chinese. The other said "One World, One Dream" — the slogan for the Beijing Olympics — followed by "Free Tibet." One of the men also flew the flag of the Dalai Lama's former Tibetan government. It was the first such demonstration at a venue for the games, which open Friday.

"We've done this action today to highlight the Chinese government's use of the Beijing Olympics as a propaganda tool to whitewash their human rights record on Tibet," protester Iain Thom said from his perch about 50 feet off the ground, according to a recorded cell phone conversation posted on the group's Web site. The activist group identified the protesters as Thom, 24, of Scotland; Phill Bartell, 34, of Bridgewater, N.J.; Tirian Mink, 32, of Portland, Ore.; and Lucy Marion, 23, of England.

Beijing organizers, who have taken great pains to put in place strict security measures to show that Beijing is capable of hosting the event, condemned the protest. "We express our strong opposition," said Sun Weide, spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. "In terms of assembly and demonstrations, China has related laws and regulations. We hope that foreigners will respect the related Chinese laws and regulations." Sun said the demonstrators were "persuaded to leave" by police, who received tips from local residents about the protest. The four were not arrested or taken to a police station, he said.

Tethong said the demonstrators were peacefully led away by police and members of the internal security force after about an hour. No contact had been made with them because their phones were off, she said. "It's absolutely critical that ... a message is sent to the Chinese government to meaningfully address and end violence and repression in Tibet or they will never be truly accepted by the international community," Tethong said.

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said organizers should expect people to "use the platform of the Olympic Games to draw attention to their causes." "The IOC are confident Beijing city authorities will assess the situation reasonably and act with tact and understanding," she said.

Tibet has been an extremely sensitive topic since protests against almost 50 years of Chinese rule turned violent in the region's capital of Lhasa in March. Many Tibetans insist they were an independent nation before communist troops invaded in 1950, while Beijing says the Himalayan region has been part of its territory for centuries.

Similar demonstrations were sparked in Tibetan communities throughout Western China and a massive crackdown by Chinese security forces ensued. Pro-Tibet groups say scores of monks and nuns have been arrested, imprisoned, and beaten since March. It could not be immediately confirmed if members of the group had breached the stadium's security perimeter. Canadian Television said the protest was outside a fence separating the public from the Olympics area.

While Beijing has announced that it would allow applications for public protests in three designated areas, it isn't immediately clear if any had been accepted. China's human rights record and its policies in Tibet and Sudan have been a flash point in the run-up to the Aug. 8 Olympics as activists use the games to highlight their causes.

Former Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek had his visa revoked by Chinese authorities Wednesday, hours before he was set to travel to Beijing to urge the Chinese government to help make peace in the war-torn Darfur section of Sudan. Cheek, the president and co-founder of a collection of Olympic athletes known as Team Darfur, had been planning to spend about two weeks in China.

One of his key initiatives was urging the international community to persuade Sudan to observe the ancient tradition of the Olympic truce during the Beijing Games. More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in fighting in the western Sudanese region since ethnic African tribesmen took up arms in 2003.

• Students for a Free Tibet Olympics site: http://freetibet2008.org/

PHOTO 2: Cheerleaders rehearse as they wait for the Olympic flame to arrive in Tiananmen Square during the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay in Beijing Wednesday Aug. 6, 2008 (AP Photo/Greg Baker).