Tibet, Dharamsala and The Dalai Lama

 

I climbed to Dharamsala too
I did
I met the highest lama
His accent sounded fine
To me, to me

-Vampire Weekend

Three places I am looking forward to visiting are Tibet (because of it’s rich Buddhist history and it’s excellent energy regardless of the Chinese occupation), Dharamsala, India (because it is the adopted homeland of the Tibetan people and also has a beautiful energy about it) and Nepal (the birthplace of the Buddha).

While I have very strong feelings about Tibet, this blog entry is not a political commentary and my brief description barely scratches the surface of this sad ordeal. That said, let’s move along.

Tibet is situated between China and Nepal and is often referred to as the “Roof of the World”. When one talks about Tibetan history, they are really referring to the history of Buddhism in Tibet due to the strong role that the religion has played in developing the culture and due to the fact that all major historians of the country were Buddhist monks.

Dharamsala is a mountain retreat in the Dhauladhar range in India but it’s best known as the place of refuge for the Tibetan community and the new home of the Dalai Lama. It is frequented by many tourists each year.

The population is little more than 19,000 and the languages spoken there are Himachali, Hindi and English.

In 1855, Dharamsala was founded. The British used it as a summer retreat to escape the intensely hot summers.

In 1950, a year after the communists had assumed power in China, they invaded Tibet, their smaller and weaker neighbor. In 1959, Tibet was annexed, the capital of Lhasa was overtaken by the Chinese and this forced the 14th Dalai Lama and his government to abandon their land. Since then, Tibet has ceased to exist as an independent nation.

During these troubled days, no country would risk the wrath of the growing Republic of China to offer shelter to the Tibetans. India, however, came to the rescue of the Tibetan community and since 1960, they have lived in Dharamsala. It appears that Dharamsala has recaptured the deeply religious feelings, lush locale and peacefulness that Tibet once provided.

The Chinese occupation led to "an estimated one million Tibetans dead from imprisonment and starvation. Tibet's 6,254 monasteries are gutted and in ruins." The Dalai Lama best sums up the situation, "The Chinese claimed that they came to Tibet to 'liberate' us from the past and modernize the country. In fact they have brought the greatest suffering to our nation in its 2100 years of history."

Many people feel visiting Tibet is a slap in the face to the exiled Tibetans (as all the money spent goes to the Chinese people and Chinese government). The Dalai Lama expresses a different belief; he feels that individual travelers to Tibet support the Tibetan cause.

Earlier this morning, I read an article that touched my heart. Inspired by the regret expressed by his terminally ill father that he would never again walk on Tibetan soil, the artist Tenzing Rigdol arranged for Tibetan soil to be brought to Dharamsala. This artist hatched a plan to get the soil from “deep inside Tibet” and bring it to Dharamsala via Nepal.

This was a very bold move. Rigdol commented that "My dad and other relatives would say that, before they died, they wanted to step [once more] on Tibetan soil," and "After my father passed, I remembered what he had said."
 
A young man who was there reported, "I was there the first morning. People were crying and getting very emotional. I was born in India. This was the chance to walk on Tibetan soil."

A tub of the Tibetan soil  was sent to the Dalai Lama. The next morning, it was returned with the word "Tibet" drawn by a finger in the Tibetan script.