TIBETSPACE

WELCOME TO TIBETSPACE

Welcome to TIBETSPACE, a blog in the process of changing. Begun as a site for all things Tibetan, all things Tibetan has dramatically expanded as His Holiness the Dalai Lama has created conversations that continually transcend traditional cultural, religious, and ethical boundaries.  And now that he has accepted an invitation to visit the University of Arkansas on May 11, 2011, TIBETSPACE will turn its attention toward that visit. Stop by here often for the latest updates on his visit, as well as for information on Tibet and all other matters related to His Holiness's work in the world.  You can also sign up for an RSS feed that will notify you automatically of updates to the site, and you can become a Facebook friend of TIBETSPACE as well.

PERHAPS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ACT OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN AMERICAN HISTORY--AND A POWERFUL INCENTIVE FOR NON-VIOLENCE

It’s out: an enormous trove of documents about the war in Afghanistan yesterday appeared on Wikileaks (whose servers currently seem to be overwhelmed by the traffic) together with comprehensive reports by The New York Times, Der Spiegel, and the Guardian. The leak represents no less than a historic act of civil disobedience; consisting of 92,201 US military internal records, this is the largest leak of classified material in history. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, may be a criminal in the eyes of the US government, which has roundly condemned his work even while begging for his help to plug up his sources (this administration has been harsher with informants than its predecessor). A 22-year-old American intelligence analyst in Iraq named Bradley Manning has already been arrested for, under the online handle Bradass87, funneling the documents to where Wikileaks could arrange to publicize them. He wrote in an online chat of the trove, “its beautiful and horrifying … It’s public data, it belongs in the public domain.”

via wagingnonviolence.org

As we debate the uses and abuses of the Internet, the spirit of disobedience has gotten a leg up on the powers that be, the powers that insist on maintaining their power, regardless of the cost in human life. While the Internet has provided oppressive sensibilities with the means, forcefully and persuasively, to impose their various oppressions on unsuspecting consumers, the Internet has also provided perhaps the dissident's most effective way to harness the blowback that all of us feel. Here, with Wikileaks, a dramatic case in point.

CHINA'S LARGEST MINING PROJECT COMMENCES

A new photo from Tibet shows Tibetan anti-mining protesters in standoff with Chinese security forces in Shigatse, Tibet. Up to 30 Tibetans have been reportedly detained following a large-scale anti-mining protest in Namling County of Shigatse towards the last week of May 2010. (Photo: Dolkar/RFA) Click Here for more photos from the incident

via www.phayul.com

WHY THE DALAI LAMA MATTERS

By Bhuchung K. Tsering

via www.phayul.com

More on the Dalai Lama's importance by a Tibetan born in exile.

TIBETANS IN EXILE TODAY: THE TEXT PROJECT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

The TEXT Project at the University of Arkansas is devoted to recording the stories of the Tibetans currently living in exile in India.  After editing the interviews, we make them available to the general public on our online archive which you can view here.  We have recently added an 8:00 excerpt of an interview with Phuntsok Wangchuk, General Secretary of the Tibetan organization dedicated to promoting awareness of Tibetan political prisoners:  the Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet.  Stop by our site and listen to the story of this remarkable man and learn more about The TEXT Project, and what our students at the University of Arkansas are doing to preserve the personal histories of the Tibetan people.

THE DALAI LAMA AND THE MILITARY

 Andrew Brown, writing for The Guardian, calls our attention today to the fact that His Holiness recently sent a message of support for the troops in Great Britain. Specifically, the Dalai Lama wrote to express his admiration for the soldiers next Saturday on Armed Forces Day.  

Surprised?

Before you start to visualize the Dalai Lama as Commander-in-Chief of a vast Tibetan army, pay close attention to what he actually says in his message of commendation.  

His first sentence is the most important one:  "I have always admired those who are prepared to act in defense of others for the their courage and determination."  In defense of . . . that's the crucial phrase.  His Holiness has in mind here acts of self-defense, whether individually or nationally initiated.  And I know what some will respond here, but I have never seen His Holiness or any Buddhist text, for that matter, equate pre-emptive and defensive.  There's a big difference between repelling trouble and going out and looking for it.

In fact, while it is certainly true, as Brown's piece indicates, that Buddhism in the West has been watered down at times to a series of feel-good, New-Agey aphorisms, it is also true that undertaking violence in the Buddhist tradition is always treated like brain surgery: when it's time to undertake either one, it's best to leave it to the highly trained experts. 

In the West, of course, we're quite happy to leave the surgery to those who have been trained in it, but as for violence, well, we'll entrust that to just about anybody.  So at times, His Holiness will appear to accept certain acts of violence as being justifiable, but in those cases, he is always assuming that the perpetrator is one who is fully aware, during the entire process of conceiving and executing the violent action, of its complete karmic spectrum.  That precludes a violent action being undertaken out of anger, jealousy, greed, selfishness, or attachment.  

And to understand fully when those motivations are present in any action requires a kind of spiritual brain surgeon.  Which most of us are not.

And those wrathful deities that Brown mentions, the ones you see scowling at you from Tibetan temples and thangkas?  They are not advocating war or violence; they are simply manifesting in a visual form the energies needed to protect sacred knowledge from the compromising force of falsehood and misrepresentation.

TIBET DOCUMENTARY DRAWS HEAVY FIRE FROM THE CHINESE

After making films about Tibet for two decades, filmmaking couple Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam are used to upsetting the Chinese government. But even they were surprised this year. The Chinese consul drove from Los Angeles to Palm Springs to protest the inclusion of their latest documentary at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. When the festival refused to pull the film, the two mainland Chinese entries to the festival were withdrawn.

via www.sfgate.com

"The Sun Behind the Clouds," the Tibetan documentary under review here, chronicles the conversations currently rifling through the Tibetan community living in exile. Central to this conversation are those who agree with His Holiness's policies and those who don't. I haven't seen this film, but we will try to show it in the film series that we are planning for the upcoming year.

THE KARMA OF KEDS

 Keds--yep, the American Keds you wore as kids, maybe--has come out with a line of shoes they're calling simply, "Tibetan Buddhist Shoes."  I'd love to meet the marketing genius who came up with this idea.  But I won't belabor the point.  Reactions are already coming in.  See Phayul, for example, and Tricycle.  On the one hand, it's nothing.  Hold something sacred, then fetishize it, and the next thing you know people start dying because we've become so wrapped up in the imputed value of a physical object.  But on the other hand, the insensitivity shown by the Keds company startles even me, and I've whittled down my expectations of corporate responsibility to minuscule levels.  What are these people thinking?

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BEAUTIFUL

Tenzin Norzom, 23, was crowned Miss Tibet 2010 in Dharamsala, India, on June 6. Conservative Tibetans disapprove of the pageant, as does the Chinese regime which views it as a symbol of Tibetan independence and defiance against Chinese rule. (MissTibet.com)

via www.theepochtimes.com

Since Tibetans began having their own beauty pageant in 2002, the American influence on the little community of Dharamsala has taken yet another turn for the worse. It's difficult to read this piece and not understand why some among the Tibetan community loathe our presence there. The complexity, of course, is that both the traditional Tibetan community and the Chinese disapprove of the pageant, albeit for dramatically different reasons.

CHINA, HYDRO-POLITICS & TIBET

 If you aren't aware of the ongoing hydro-politics regarding China's bid to control the rivers that originate in Tibet--the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, and Brahmaputra, to name four--this piece in The Washington Post is a good place to begin.  Much is at stake, not the least of which are the 2 billion people who depend on this water for life and livelihood.

The piece is written by Uttam Kunar Sinha, an Indian journalist whose country is obviously and deeply involved with China's growing presence in South Asia.  So he speaks from an engaged position.  

The more things change, the more things stay the same--China realizes that all of the technology in the world doesn't circumvent the human need for food and water.  And rivers, the big, life-giving rivers, supply both.  Control the major rivers of the world and, in a certain sense, you control the world.  

So, it's difficult, in the face of this kind of evidence, to over-estimate China's tenacity when it comes to holding on to Tibet.  From the Chinese perspective, Tibetan sovereignty of any kind is tantamount to political suicide.  The skills needed to dislodge the Chinese from this position are substantial indeed.

SHAMBHALA SUN'S SUPPORTING TIBET PAGE

Here is a list of organizations supporting Tibetans both inside Tibet and in exile, as compiled by the Shambhala Sun's Andrea Miller, as a complement to her article "Compassion in Action" (found in our May 2010 issue).April 2010 update: this symbol — » — marks those organizations that are equipped to handle your donations towards post-earthquake relief efforts. Please note that many of the other organizations here, rely on non-earthquake-related donations as well, and that all are worthy.AS FEATURED IN "COMPASSION IN ACTION," IN OUR MAY 2010 ISSUE:

via www.shambhalasun.com

A handy resource page gathering together a host of organizations devoted to Tibet and its culture, history, and preservation.