Tibetan Buddhism's Permanent Home

(Saransh Sehgal, April 13, 2009, AsiaSentinel.com)

With hope of return to Tibet diminishing, India's Dharamsala takes on the trappings of permanency.

After 50 years of exile and an uncertain future at best, the Indian hill city of Dharamsala (shown at right) in the North Indian state of Himal Pradesh is increasingly looking like the last stop for the thousands of Tibetans who settled here after their 1959 flight to escape Chinese domination.

Many in Dharamsala hoped that 2009 would be a watershed year in which some form of relaxation would take place with the Han Chinese. But if anything the Chinese have become more intractable than ever over any hint of negotiations. The Dalai Lama himself, who can often be seen on the streets, said recently that: "I have spent most of my life in this hill station. Now I feel like a citizen of Himachal Pradesh." More>>

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