Category Archives: Tibet

Tibet monks jailed with no apparent evidence of wrongdoing, says HRW

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Four men were jailed for up to 20 years after violent raid on monastery in 2019, says Human Rights Watch

Four Tibetan monks were sentenced to up to 20 years jail in secret trials with no apparent evidence of criminal wrongdoing after a violent raid on a monastery in 2019, according to a report from Human Rights Watch, which calls for their release.

The raid, details of which the rights organisation says have come to light for the first time, was sparked by police obtaining a phone, accidentally left at a cafe, containing WeChat messages to people in Nepal and evidence of a donation to an earthquake relief effort.

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Yak politics: Tibetans’ vegetarian dilemma amid China meat boom

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While China pushes for more industrialised farms, Buddhist monks urge now-sedentary nomads to embrace vegetarianism

Former free-roaming nomads now mostly resettled in rows of sun-baked block houses in Tibet are facing a struggle for their identity, their spiritual and cultural practices – and even their stomachs.

These yak-tending herders have always eaten meat. In addition to the milk, butter and cheese they derived from yaks, meat was a necessity in their harsh lives.

But a movement spurred by Tibetan Buddhist monks in the region over the past two decades has increasingly urged now sedentary nomads to practise vegetarianism, to pay a “life ransom” for the release of animals destined for the slaughterhouse, and to abandon the slaughter of their own animals because they have settled down.

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Head of Tibet government-in-exile visits White House for first time in six decades

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The visit by Lobsang Sangay, president of the Central Tibetan administration, could further infuriate Beijing

The head of the Tibetan government in exile has visited the White House for the first time in six decades, a move that could further infuriate China, which has accused the US of trying to destabilise the region.

Lobsang Sangay, the President of the Central Tibetan administration (CTA), was invited to Washington to meet officials on Friday, the CTA said. “This unprecedented meeting perhaps will set an optimistic tone for CTA participation with US officials and be more formalised in the coming years,” said the CTA, which is based in India’s Dharamshala.

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‘Buddha would be green’: Dalai Lama calls for urgent climate action

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Exclusive: The Dalai Lama warns of terrible consequences of climate inaction

The Dalai Lama has appealed to world leaders to take urgent action against climate change, warning of ecological destruction affecting the lives of billions and ruining the planet, including his birth country, Tibet.

As a call to action he has brought out a new book declaring that if Buddha returned to this world, “Buddha would be green”.

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Report charts China’s expansion of mass labour programme in Tibet

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Researcher says 500,000 rural workers trained for factories this year in programme likened to Xinjiang operations

Chinese authorities are dramatically expanding a mass labour programme in Tibet, which analysts have compared to alleged forced labour operations in Xinjiang, according to evidence compiled by a German anthropologist and corroborated by Reuters.

China has set quotas to move hundreds of thousands of Tibetan rural labourers off their land and into “military-style” facilities to train them as factory workers, according to documents analysed by researcher Adrian Zenz for the Jamestown Foundation, a US research institute.

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‘Chairman Xi’ seeks only to purge and subjugate. That is his weakness | Simon Tisdall

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From Tibet to Taiwan, China’s leader is intent on wielding absolute power. Instead he is fanning the flames of dissent

It’s often said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely – but does it also induce leaders to act in foolhardy, headstrong and ultimately self-destructive ways? History, especially Chinese history, is full of examples of omnipotent rulers whose unchecked behaviour led to disaster. Xi Jinping, China’s comrade-emperor, is a modern-day case in point. Xi seems to think he can do no wrong. As a result, not much is going right.

Xi’s authoritarian, expansionist policies, pursued with increasing vehemence since he became communist party chief and president in 2012-13, have enveloped China in a ring of fire. Its borderlands are ablaze with conflict and confrontation from Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet and the Himalayas in the north and west to Hong Kong, the South China Sea and Taiwan to the east. More than at any time since Mao’s 1949 revolution, China is also at odds with the wider world.

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Dalai Lama to release album of mantras and teachings set to music

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‘Music has the potential to reach many more people,’ says the Tibetan spiritual leader

The Dalai Lama, whose message of humanity, harmony and peace delivered with a smile has won millions of global followers, is releasing an album of mantras set to music to mark his 85th birthday next month.

The Tibetan spiritual leader’s first foray into the world of recorded music comes five years after he appeared at the Glastonbury music festival, where he warned of the dangers of climate change, and the American star Patti Smith sang Happy Birthday to him on stage.

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The world has a third pole – and it’s melting quickly

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An IPCC report says two-thirds of glaciers on the largest ice sheet after the Arctic and Antarctic are set to disappear in 80 years

Many moons ago in Tibet, the Second Buddha transformed a fierce nyen (a malevolent mountain demon) into a neri (the holiest protective warrior god) called Khawa Karpo, who took up residence in the sacred mountain bearing his name. Khawa Karpo is the tallest of the Meili mountain range, piercing the sky at 6,740 metres (22,112ft) above sea level. Local Tibetan communities believe that conquering Khawa Karpo is an act of sacrilege and would cause the deity to abandon his mountain home. Nevertheless, there have been several failed attempts by outsiders – the best known by an international team of 17, all of whom died in an avalanche during their ascent on 3 January 1991. After much local petitioning, in 2001 Beijing passed a law banning mountaineering there.

However, Khawa Karpo continues to be affronted more insidiously. Over the past two decades, the Mingyong glacier at the foot of the mountain has dramatically receded. Villagers blame disrespectful human behaviour, including an inadequacy of prayer, greater material greed and an increase in pollution from tourism. People have started to avoid eating garlic and onions, burning meat, breaking vows or fighting for fear of unleashing the wrath of the deity. Mingyong is one of the world’s fastest shrinking glaciers, but locals cannot believe it will die because their own existence is intertwined with it. Yet its disappearance is almost inevitable.

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Nepal sets new rules for Everest climbers after deadly season

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Permit will depend on climbers having ascended at least one 6,500-metre Nepalese peak

All climbers seeking a permit for Everest must have prior high altitude mountaineering experience and demonstrable training, a high-level commission for the Nepalese government has ruled.

The recommendation was issued by the body charged with looking at the issue of high-altitude safety after one of the deadliest seasons in recent years on Everest, which was blamed on inexperience and crowding near the summit.

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Death, carnage and chaos: a climber on his recent ascent of Everest – podcast

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On 23 May, an image taken by the climber Nirmal Pujra went viral. It showed a long queue of climbers waiting to reach the summit of Everest. Elia Saikaly, a film-maker, was on that climb. He describes the ascent, while the Guardian’s Michael Safi discusses why the number of people seeking to scale Everest has exploded. Plus: Helsinki’s radical solution to homelessness

May and June are the only months where weather conditions make it possible for climbers to reach the summit of Everest. This year, a record number of permits were issued by the Nepalese government, which, along with a rule that every climber has to be accompanied by a sherpa, led to there being more than 820 people trying to reach the summit. Eleven people died on the mountain, leading to questions about whether better regulation is needed.

The film-maker Elia Saikaly tells India Rakusen about his ascent on 23 May, a climb he has described as “Death. Carnage. Chaos. Lineups. Dead bodies on the route and in tents at Camp 4. People who I tried to turn back who ended up dying. People being dragged down. Walking over bodies. Everything you read in the sensational headlines all played out on our summit night.” The Guardian’s South Asia correspondent, Michael Safi, looks at the history of climbing Everest and whether this year’s events might prompt better regulation.

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Dalai Lama, 83, taken to hospital with chest infection

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Tibetan spiritual leader to spend a few days in hospital in Delhi after feeling ‘some discomfort’

The Dalai Lama has been admitted to hospital in Delhi with a chest infection, an aide said, adding that the 83-year-old Buddhist monk was stable.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, lives in exile in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala.

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The Monlam great prayer festival in Tibet – a photo essay

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Monlam, or the great prayer festival, is the most important prayer event for many Tibetans. It was banned during the Cultural Revolution in China but is now celebrated in many areas.

Considered the most important event for Tibetan Buddhists, the Monlam great prayer festival starts three days after the lunar new year in western China’s ethnic Tibetan region and is held for almost two weeks. During Monlam, millions of pilgrims travel to monasteries to pray for good fortune in the new year and make offerings to their late relatives.

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