Tibet, Example of China's other Poisons, by fjielgeit

Ever thought about going to Tibet to climb or trek? Tibet was like a lotus flower in a koi pond of alpine beauty before Chinese Communists (Chicoms) destroyed much of the territory beginning in 1950. Alpinist Heinrich Harrer's epic book, Seven Years in Tibet (see the movie), is right out of the Rudyard Kipling poem, "Something hidden go and find it / Go and look beyond the ranges / Lost and wait for you." For those of you who do not know this name, he was one of four to first climb the the North Face of the Eiger (1938), and early ascent of Nanga Parbat, Nepal. How many of us rock climbers / mountaineers know anything of Tibetan history (the Lhasa Apso breed of dog is originally Tibetan), culture (the Sherpas of Nepal are Tibetan), and current events (the official tutor of the next Dalai Lama is illegally held captive in a secret location by the Chinese)? With the Beijing Olympics coming up, or your alpine adventure there, it is high time to learn about the Roof of the World.

TIBET, Example of China's Other Poison:

“It may happen, that here in the center of Tibet religion and
government will be attacked. . . The lands and property of
government officials will be seized. They themselves will
be forced to serve their enemy.” (13th Dalai Lama 1932)

When the iron eagle flies and horses run on wheels, Tibetan
people will be scattered over the Earth (ancient prophecy)

Since President Nixon's 1972 visit to Beijing, the creation of an open market with Chinese Communists (Chicoms), their industry and government has experienced a free enterprise Mother Lode. Now we're seeing (again) the rattlesnakes in their gold mine.

The news media has reported on the Chinese product venom that has affected us (tainted dog food and sea fish, cosmetics and toys with lead paint -- what's to come?). The Chicoms, like all dictatorships, bank on us forgetting these deadly lapses in quality assurance as they dicker with us as trading partners. The problem is their terrible treatment of human beings, this is a pattern of long-term history ("Cultural Revolution" in the 1960's and 70's that killed 32-62 million according to the U.S.A. Warren Report). Tianamen Square in 1989 comes to mind. Do you remember the cause? There are many millions of good Chinese citizens who do not like communist rule! I bet many of you will not remember Tianamen because it happened nearly twenty years ago, and does not affect Americans today. We have too many troubles and distractions in our own backyard to worry about our neighbors on the other side of the planet.

Take Tibet, this highland kingdom in the rain shadow of the great mountains, Himalaya, once feudal empire and pastoral land has endured a 47 year illegal Chinese invasion that has been a brutal land grab. Now Tibet has done it's share of dastardly deeds, read Michael Parenti's internet article, The Tibet Myth (www.michaelparenti.org). But to steal a country, nearly half the size of India, is an offense so sinister the Chicom perpetrators are in league with Hitler. This Tibetan atrocity is still happening, there has been no legal due process. This isn't much different than Tianamen except for size (Tibet landmass is comparable to western Europe), location, history, maybe a sticker on your car, and hope.

How does Tibet relate to Chinese toxins? A brief look back: 1945-1949 Chairman Mao Tse Tung's armies fought for communist country dominance against Cheng Kai Shek's National Party which was forced to flee to Taiwan Island as their base of operations. Taiwan is still considered a rebel state. Shortly after this conquest, Mao set his gun sights on Tibet.

For the novice reader, this alpine region, primarily above 13, 000 feet in elevation, is a mostly pacifistic kingdom north of India and Nepal (the Nepalese Sherpa tribe near Mt. Everest are Tibetan). Rudyard Kipling, in his novel, Kim (1901), wrote about a Tibetan holy man or lama, "These are the (mountains) of my delight. Out of the hills I came -- the high hills and strong winds." Old Tibet is a rugged, hostile landscape and visitors have to be conditioned mountaineers to endure in the rarefied air of this magic kingdom (above 14,000 feet there is half the available Oxygen to breath comparable to sea level).

According to the International Commission of Jurists (founded in 1952), a human rights monitoring agency composed of sixty lawyers and judges, The Kingdom of Tibet, since the early 1900's, demonstrated all the necessary attributes of a legitimate -- sovereign -- nation. These conditions include a unique people group, government -- in Tibet's case ruled by the Dalai Lama King, conducting international business (Tibetan currency exchanged or goods traded internationally), seal of government and official flag, courts and bureaucratic infrastructure, postage system and stamps, treaties with other countries, a passport and border.

At the northern border with Red China, at this 3,000 mile long delineation lies the touchstone of the Sino / Tibet territorial dispute begun in the late 1940's. There are many ways to look at Tibet and it's boundaries. Here are four as explained in Lee Feignon's book, Demystifying Tibet (1996): Historical. For a thousand years Tibet has been acknowledged in various ways by China, Mongolia, Nepal, and India in particular as Tibet. The International Law Commission (subgroup of United Nations) has expressed "Recognition of statehood by other nations is unconditional and irrevocable." William O. Douglas, past U.S. Supreme Court Justice, world traveler and historian, "Tibet has never been a part of China." (Beyond the High Himalaya, 1953) Ancient Chinese maps list Tibet as a separate place. Marco Polo is credited with introducing the word, Tibet, into western civilization in the late 13th century. Galen Rowell put in his book, My Tibet, a translation of a peace treaty with China, on a temple wall in Lhasa, the capital, "Tibetans will live happily in the great land of Tibet, and China will live happily in the great land of China." Date for this document, 822 AD. Cultural. The language and societal aspects are distinctly Tibet, carrying over to Nepal and the Sherpas, Sikkim and Bhutan. This phenomenon comes about through an evolutionary process much like a plant or animal on Galapagos Island, i.e. Charles Darwin's observations. Isolate a tribe of related people high in the rain shadow steppes north of the Himalaya Mountains, given enough time this protected population will develop their own ethnicity, their own ancestral lineage. From Feignon: "The difference between the two groups (China and Tibet) are so immense that it is hard to believe anyone could seriously argue that they are the same people. The spoken language of Tibet (Burma roots) and China are mutually unintelligible. The Chinese write in ideograms while the Tibetans use a phonetic system adopted from India." Geographic. Tibet brings the Himalaya into the scene as a classic border separating Nepal, India, and The Land of Eternal Snow. Even traditional low elevation Chinese have much trouble climbing up from their habitations to the xeric and anaerobic Tibetan Plateau of 13,000 feet (dehydration, chronic altitude sickness, headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, no energy, high pulse and blood pressure). Tibetans are acclimated to this altitude due to physiologic adaptations over thousands of years. Administrative. From 1900 up to the late 1940's, surrounding countries knew Tibet as their neighbor, ruled by the Rinpoche, the Precious One (remember, in the early 1900's there was no League of Nations or United Nations to politicize the state issue!)

The previous Dalai Lama died in 1933 after 30 years of service. The current Lama King was inaugurated in 1939, at age four to begin his royal training by the Panchen Lama (tutor) and others. In 1950, The 14th Dalai Lama (a Mongolian title, Ocean of Wisdom), Tenzin Gyatso, became the current incarnate, as it's age 15 Ruler. The same year China began marshaling a million troops at the outer gates to the country. The Dalai Lama sent a plea to the U.N. for help that was to be put on the official agenda for discussion. Mysteriously nothing ever came of this request. Soon after, China sent 40 thousand troops into the Tibet frontier buffer zone at many locations beginning the unprovoked military invasion and initial political poison infusions (there would be several phases to the occupation). The logistics and strategy for such a monumental seizure (nearly a million square miles), was unprecedented and would take years to accomplish. In 1950 the main roads were all dirt and needed to be paved so the heavy military and construction equipment could be brought up. The Dalai Lama and his entourage took serious note and began the necessary steps to try and halt the aggression. This incursion was a grave situation. How do you stop a Chinese tyrant and his military thugs from trespassing, knocking down the door to your castle, and storming in when your police force is weak and the U.N. is not even monitoring the crisis?

A highest level Tibetan delegation (minus the Dalai Lama) went to Beijing for the deliberations. China drew up a transfer of ownership (later called the 17 Point Plan) which had in the contract stipulations stated Tibet could maintain their social, political, and economic structures. The Tibetan congregation was told not to sign by the Lama King, but bring back to him and his cabinet the conditions. China demanded immediate surrender. Political scientists think the Tibetans were strong armed to sign (Will Bishop Internet article, Death of a Nation, www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us). With the contract went the title deed. Possession is 9/10 the law the saying goes. Xigang (Chinese name for Tibet) was now Chicom's to do with at it wanted.

In the decade to come His Holiness fought a mostly diplomatic loosing war, especially as it relates to the Chinese agreement to leave Tibet's social, political, and economic structures alone. Soon there would be no more prayer flags waving in the breeze. Why no United Nations, et cetera, intervention? the U.N. falsely thought Tibet was a pseudo part of China even though in the first U.N. yearbook, an index of world countries, Tibet was named; the U.S.A. was involved in the Korean War; and the British were still engaged in India and Pakistan.

Mao let the Dalai Lama rule, but China influenced society by the scare tactics of closing their armed forces in on Lhasa, the Capital. The writing was on the mani stones (mani stones are small rocks, cobbles, slate, talus, or glacier eratics that are painted or inscribed with prophesies, scriptures or prayers). In 1959, the Young Sage, age 24, saw little hope and his possible arrest, so he, plus advisers and monks, and many of his paisanos fled across the Himalaya Mountains to India as special guests and refugees seeking asylum (subsequently 80,000 according to Masha Nordbye in the World and I publication, Magic and Mystery in Tibet article, Sept. 2004; other estimates put the number as high as 130,000 by 2007, 3/4 residing in India; about 2,000 Tibetans a year flee to India or Nepal). The Communists saw the Lama's actions as abandonment and took total control of Tibet.

Journalists global wide reporting the retreat described it as miraculous, calling China absolute evil.

The mid 1960’s into the 70’s, modern Communist Cathay and their Red Guard pillaged Tibetan homes and villages, raped the women, tortured, enslaved and locked up it’s people. Who is more civilized, the jailer who beats and imprisons his captives, or the jailed ones who wish no harm to the captors? The Chicoms took away free speech. Prayer wheels were outlawed. Mao's picture and little red book replaced the image of the Dalai Lama, sacred writings destroyed or burned. The Nanci Griffith song comes to mind, "It's a hard life, it's a very hard life wherever you go / If we poison our children with hatred then the hard life is all they will know." Much of the nomadic lifestyle was stopped. Think about what happened when the American government and army in the late 1800's banned the Apache Indians from roaming the Southwest and put them on a reservation. Certain Tibetans revolted and carried out guerrilla retaliation, trained by CIA.

The natural environment was decimated. This topic is a book in itself. It was open season by the army on Tibet's rare wild animals, reminiscent of the American plains buffalo massacres in the 1860's. Entire timber stands were clear cut. According to Gautama Buddha, "The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness . . . (it) makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generosity . . . It affords protection to all beings, offering shade to the axeman who destroys it." One of the outstanding world herbal medicinal collections including rhubarb, lives beneath these trees and is threatened with destruction. To a Tibetan, the smell of juniper wood in a fire is incense, a sensual aroma. To most Chinese such perfume just makes them sneeze. No aphrodisiac for them! The Chicoms began dumping their nuclear waste on the Tibetan plateau (now the largest site in China / occupied territory). To a Tibetan the Earth is sacred. The first ascent of Mt. Everest (29,029')), Chomolungma to the Tibetans -- Mother Goddess of the World -- was accomplished by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa / Tibetan Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Said of his climb, Tenzing asked forgiveness for every step for putting his boots and crampons in his mother's side. To the communists the Earth is to be exploited. Religion? Stomp it out.

Of nearly 4,000 Buddhist shrines less than 15 are left standing (Galen Rowell). Invaluable Icons and architecture or art, culture and society, which took thousands of years to develop or carefuly pass on were crushed in a decade. By the early 1970’s, a million Tibetans had died (500,000 more since then). At one point in Lhasa, there were 120,000 Chinese, many of them soldiers with weapons, compared to 40,000 natives with nary a pocket knife! To many Chinese, Tibetans are dirty, stinking, vulgar, lazy, and superstitious. From the Tibetan photo book, Vanishing Kingdoms ((2003), compiled by Mabel H. Cabo, a first look at the stills of anthropologist Janet Wulson in the 1920's, "Soon we came upon Tibetans working (jplainting crops) in the field -- pretty girls with magnificent headdresses, often with their gowns dropped down to leave bare breasts . . . They are most stunninbg, beautiful . . . We loved them, we wanted to live with them." Regarding superstitions, an interesting Tibetan creation myth says they ascended from monkeys and apes. In Nepal and Tibet these primates are gods In Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, the macaque monkey is holy. The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is revered. To the Chinese, the term monkey can be an insult. The Chicoms think the Tibetans are primitive, scratching their armpits and picking off lice. What condemnations to live down!

The Chinese overhaul plan in the 1980's called for the elimination of the Four Olds, old thoughts (Tibetan history and nationalism), old culture (tradition and religion -- get control of the church as this ecclesiastical organization IS the government), old customs (social structure), old practices (language and anything not mentioned in the first three). A modern example of this eradication attempt, the Panchen Lama is the tutor for the young Dalai Lama, part of the incarnation process. Tenzin Gyatso's sensei (like the Japanese senpai / kohi apprenticeship relationship) died mysteriously in 1989 after giving a speech in China criticizing Chicom treatment of Tibetans. Shortly thereafter the Dalai Lama and his search committee found the next candidate to be trained up. He has been held captive by the Chinese since 1995 (age six then, world's youngest political prisoner). His whereabouts or health are unknown. In the meantime, China announced it's own version of the Panchen Lama to instruct -- indoctrinate -- the next young Dalai Lama, also of their choosing. The commies were (are) dead set on making the next Dalai Lama a loyal citizen of the motherland. The problem they could not, cannot change, is Tibetan Buddhism, the ancestral worship that goes back a millenia, and Siddhartha's first great truth which ultimately leads to serenity: life is suffering. Tibetan sorrow came on like forty years of monsoon rains. Atheistic communism and Buddhism don't mix. Ask modern Chinese Falun Gung practitioners (15 million) who are criminalized. No different in Tibet.

However fierce the Marxist invasion and hypodermic sting of the reptiles, the democratic world saw a different picture. The truth. John Avedon's book, Exiles from the Land of Snow (1997), chronicles the best early multinational opposition to China's punishment of humanity: 1959 the U.N. 14 General Assembly made the statement, pointed at China, " . . . respect the fundamental human rights of Tibetan peoples and their distinctive cultural and religious life." 1960 the International Commission of Jurists said China was guilty of the greatest abuses any nation can be accused of, the intent to destroy a nation, ethne, racial, or religious group. The ICJ went so far as to suggest these accusations including the Chinese failures to live up to the original 17 point plan made null and void that contract. 1965 the U.N. to Chicoms, (Cease the) practices which deprive the Tibetan people of their rights and freedoms most importantly their right to self determination. See also the London Statement composed in 1995 by legal scholars well versed on the China / Tibet issue (www.tibetjustice.org). The barristers made legal chop suey out of the Chinese claims to Tibet!

Ame Adhe was part of the Chinese gulag from 1958 to 1987. Her violations, protesting the invasion and subversion. A passage from the end of her book, The Voice (1998),

In every prison in which I had been detained (except one), the
prisoners were made to sing a propaganda song before every
meal . . . (1987, after her release from a concentration camp)
As we stepped down from the bus in Karze, we heard the blaring
of Chinese music over the loud speakers. Every morning at 7:30,
the noise began with a constant barrage of Chinese news,
programs, and music; and it continued through the day. No
programs of Tibetan language or music were ever heard . . .
As I walked around town, I found that the slates and rock on which
Tibetans had carved mani inscriptions had been used in the
pavements . . . It was sacrilegious to walk on them . . . For more
than a thousand years, (Tibetans) have considered themselves to
be a separate race and culture from the Chinese . . . When the
elders pass away, their prayers are directed to His Holiness,
for a brighter future for Tibet.

In 1987 the Dalai Lama presented to the United States Congress, Human Rights Caucus, his landmark Five Point Peace Plan for Tibet (a middle road map to China's dominance strategy). To condense the speech down to the essence, the issues were, 1) Tibet would become an abode of peace; 2) Reduce the Chinese overpopulation (roughly a 4:1 ratio); 3) Redress the original Chinese 17 Point Plan especially regarding China's promise to respect Tibet's political, social, and economic -- democratic -- human rights; 4) Restoration and protection of Tibetan natural environments and abandonment of China's nuclear weapons and waste storage; 5) To begin earnest negotiations on the future of Tibet as it relates to points one through four. There was scant official Chinese government reply.

The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. ". . . It is my heart felt prayer that Tibet's plight may be resolved . . . and once again my country, the Roof of the World, may serve as a sanctuary of peace and a resource of spiritual inspiration . . . " (excerpt from the Great Kundun's comments). The Chinese countered with economic sanction rhetoric with Norway. Nobel Committee Chairman Egil Aarvik, in characteristic Norsk fashion, told the Chicoms in a blizzard -- a shit storm -- of epithets where to stick their threats.

In a 1998 speech delivered at the Dalai Lama's national -- in exile -- headquarters in Dharamsala (Little Tibet which still maintains most of the conditions necessary for statehood plus a new constitution), Northern India, The Living Budha, age 65, said,

Beijing is carrying out what amounts to a deliberate policy of cultural genocide in Tibet. The infamous "strike hard" campaign against Tibetan religion and nationalism has intensified with each passing year.

Genocide. When predatory empires such as China resort to thinking it is their destiny to conquer a passive Buddhist country and use mass murder to eliminate or intimidate indigenous folks, the dark side of human nature is at work. Pol Pot in Cambodia and his two million executions, Stalinist Russia butchery, or Six million Jews exterminated by the Nazis and nearly ten European countries invaded during WW II are apt comparisons. Consider the beautiful lotus flower, a depiction of Tibetans in nirvana, sung in the mantra, "Om mani padme um." (first Tibetan words spoken, last to be uttered) The Enemy of the Faith are working hard to make this species, tribe, extinct. Or like bamboo shoots, the Chinese can stomp on them, cut them down, but the life is in the roots underground, always spreading. Bamboo is always bamboo, Tibet is always Tibet, strong, flexible, and free, afraid of no Chicom guard boot or the sidewinders slithering in the grass.

China, home of the Shih Tzu or Pekingese -- Lion Dogs at the entrance of the palace (copies at your local Chinese Restaraunt), only play mock sentry to the world's largest viperous regime that has historically preyed upon humans whose natural right to liberty would win over might, given the chance. We cannot forget this fact. This truth is what we must take to our moral and ethical, spiritual, bank. You want dividends? There is no better investment than the struggle to liberate people and their country.

We can help rescue Tibet from the poisonous fangs of the Chinese Serpent. Do more than wear a T shirt or watch the Tibetan Freedom concerts. The Free Tibet web page is a fine source of current information (www.freetibet.org). The International Campaign for Tibet is also of help (www.peacenet.org). Claudia Johnston wrote a legal brief, TIBET, THE INTERNATIONAL MISTAKE OF THE (past) CENTURY (www.friends-of-tibet.org). Wikipedia on Tibet is good beta. Ever thought about visiting Nepal (the Khumbu Valley below Mt. Everest is where the Sherpas live) or Tibet? A Tibetan pen pal or local support group could provide first hand information on Tibet. Galen Rowell's book on the Dalai Lama, My Tibet (1990), also Heinrich Harrers two books, Seven Years in Tibet (1959), and Return to Tibet (1998) are excellent. John Avedon's book, Exiles from the Land of Snow, (1997) is good history. Peter Sis' account of his father in Tibet in the 1950's, Through the Red Box (1998), is a metaphysical treasure trove. Sogyal Rimpoche's version of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (1992), is fine. Lee Feignon’s Demystifying Tibet (1996), is thorough. If you can find the diary / book by Alexandra David-Neel from her 1920-1955 exploits in Tibet you will be most rewarded. Ama Adhe's account of being imprisoned, The Voice (1998), will perhaps ignite the fire in your belly if you are a chosen one to be involved to send the rattlesnakes back to China and free Tibet.

There is no better antivenin then the Kyabgon (Tibetan, Savior), from the same 1998 speech (in 2007 the Dalai Lama is 75 years young!),

Like the mythical Phoenix being cremated in the funeral pyre, Old Tibet can resurrect, come out of the ashes, the Chinese venom stopped. Though the mystique of Shangri-La will never be as it once was. The world needs little phoenixes with the spirit of Mahatma Ghandi, burning with desire, with dharma ("duty" to perform kindness, etc.), the key to a just and compassionate society. The Karma Wheel continues to spin and China’s consequences will sooner or later come back as a reckoning. Tibet's mandala or cosmic circular map is still in play. And there is another viewpoint on the Chinese occupation to be considered: Many Chinese who live in Tibet see Tibetans as peaceful, kind, in touch with Gaia -- plugged into the power source of the universe. These are spiritual traits the Chinese are missing as they are grounded in the material world. Many Chinese tune into Tibetans as a healing source.

In ancient Chinese mythology, the snake in the form of a dragon is their all powerful symbol of might. In the last analysis, if the Soviet Union and it's Iron Curtain can fall, so can the Chinese dragon in Bod -- Tibet has every chance to rise again. When this happens, I'll make the chang (Tibetan rice or barley beer).

Namaste' and Bo Rangtsen (freedom for Tibet)

fielgeit

P.S. Tibet today and it’s future: China has hit the mother lode again. Tibet has become a huge tourist market, Come and see the quaint country . . . (that they have made to look in many ways and places like a cheap amusement or theme park). There is a lost generation of youth in Lhasa, for instance, who are all too easily inoculated with Chinese philosophical sputum, go to Chicom schools, listen to Chinese rock and roll music, talk on cell phones and are forbidden by the ruling government to be Tibetan. There are many Ame Adhe's walking and talking the truth incognito. When these kids become adults and have their child (birth control to keep their numbers down as more Chinese move in), their understanding of Tibet and Buddhism could easily be diluted. By the third generation the vile lies will have done their dirty work. At least this is how it is supposed to work according to Chinese social engineering.

Internal propaganda is the enemy’s fire that tries to melt away the values of it’s victim; external propaganda is the political spin and PR trying to hide their human rights abuses from the world press, especially the year prior to the Beijing Olympics. Chinese heavy hand is somewhat being lifted, however the Chicoms are still illegally in Tibet, since 1950.

Many readers will have first hand experience and more knowledge than I on Tibet or Nepal / Sherpas. Feel free to comment to help others understand Tibet's plight.