Celtic Gardens

Free Tibet - Free Us All
By CC Treadway
I have watched with amazement as so many people have stood in solidarity with the Tibetan people, creating hassle after hassle with the passing of the torch. It brings to mind the issue of propaganda, and its intricately woven place within "the system." When Jin Jing, a little-known, disabled Chinese fencer was harassed by a Frenchman, the fervor took on a new level. As a result of Chinese media control, Jin Jing wasn't even aware that Tibet wanted independence, or that there were protests. Propaganda. But what is the larger issue here? These days, everyone has their chance to be heard in some way, and it seems that worlds are colliding right now. The ancient world is finding its voice in the media, stepping into the modern world on its own terms. Then what?

An Appeal to the Chinese People
Today, I extend heartfelt greetings to my Chinese brothers and sisters around the world, particularly to those in the People’s Republic of China. In the light of the recent developments in Tibet, I would like to share with you my thoughts concerning relations between the Tibetan and Chinese peoples, and make a personal appeal to all of you.

I am deeply saddened by the loss of life in the recent tragic events in Tibet. I am aware that some Chinese have also died. I feel for the victims and their families and pray for them. The recent unrest has clearly demonstrated the gravity of the situation in Tibet and the urgent need to seek a peaceful and mutually beneficial solution through dialogue. Even at this juncture I have expressed my willingness to the Chinese authorities to work together to bring about peace and stability.
Dalai Lama

Desmond Tutu Statement on Tibet and China
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu was awarded the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the cause of racial justice in South Africa.

I wish to express my solidarity with the people of Tibet during this critical time in their history. To my dear friend His Holiness the Dalai Lama, let me say: I stand with you. You define non-violence and compassion and goodness. I was in an Easter retreat when the recent tragic events unfolded in Tibet. I learned that China has stated you caused violence. Clearly China does not know you, but they should. I call on China's government to know His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as so many have come to know, during these long decades years in exile. Listen to His Holiness' pleas for restraint and calm and no further violence against this civilian population of monastics and lay people.

I urge China to enter into a substantive and meaningful dialogue with this man of peace, the Dalai Lama. China is uniquely positioned to impact and affect our world. Certainly the leaders of China know this or they would not have bid for the Olympics. Killing, imprisonment and torture are not a sport: the innocents must be released and given free and fair trials.

I urge my esteemed friend Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Tibet and be given access to assess, and report to the international community, the events which led to this international outcry for justice. The High Commissioner should be allowed to travel with journalists, and other observers, who may speak truth to power and level the playing field so that, indeed, this episode -- these decades of struggle -- may attain a peaceful resolution. This will help not only Tibet. It will help China.

And China, poised to receive the world during the forthcoming Olympic Games needs to make sure the eyes of the world will see that China has changed, that China is willing to be a responsible partner in international global affairs. Finally, China must stop naming, blaming and verbally abusing one whose life has been devoted to non violence, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a Nobel peace laureate.

Why is remote Tibet of strategic significance?

Disturbing articles on Tibet here under heading -'China'.

The three senior Chinese bureaucrats who devise policy on Tibet.

Tibet: Her Pain, My Shame. More Chinese speaking out for Tibet.
Why can’t we sit down with the Dalai Lama who has abandoned calls for “independence” and now advocates a “middle way,” and negotiate with him with sincerity, to achieve “stability” and “unity” through him?

Because the power difference of the two sides is too big. We are too many people, too powerful: Other than guns and money, and cultural destruction and spiritual rape, we do not know other ways to achieve “harmony.”

Chinese Digital Times CDT is a collaborative news website covering China’s social and political transition and its emerging role in the world. We aim to aggregate the most up-to-the-minute news and analysis about China from around the Web, while providing independent reporting, translations from Chinese cyberspace, and perspectives from across the geographical, political and social spectrum.

A LETTER FROM DHARAMSALA
by Harriet Jobson

My Dear Friends

It is the 10th March 2008 and the Tibetans of Dharamsala and the other settlements of India, hold their annual protest to commemorate the first Tibetan uprising against the Chinese occupation in 1959. This first uprising coincided with the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet when he and his people believed his life was in danger. An estimated 87,000 people were killed in that first uprising.

Since the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1949 an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a result of the occupation by the Chinese. As I write this today that number has just increased significantly, due to the recent spontaneous burst of protesting that has taken place in Lhasa, in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics, beginning on this ‘national day of mourning’.

I am living in the main Tibetan exile community of India that surrounds the 14th Dalai Lama. I am immersed completely in this recent drama. It is a long running struggle of humanity, culture, freedom and rights. When you directly experience an event in time such as this, you cannot remain unaffected. The Tibetan homeland has been occupied by the Chinese for almost 60 years and Tibetans have suffered unimaginable atrocities as a result.

Since the Tibetans announced ‘The people of Tibet are rising up!’ our world has been suspended. ‘People of the world – support us!’ they cry. The passion is flowing, it’s deeply political, complicated and so, so complex; the feeling here is really hard to summarise or encapsulate in a few words.

Faces were for days here stuck in shock, grim and dark. We were silently waiting for the news of the inevitably brutal Chinese response to the protests. 60 years has taught Tibetans what to expect. And it came, yes it came, it came flooding in from people all over Tibet through their friends and relatives in Dharamsala. Sitting in a restaurant, or visiting a friend’s house, each arriving news item would wash me in sorrow.

“The Chinese are shooting indiscriminately at the protestors.”
“They have been killing before the proposed deadline for surrender.”
“I think my sister has been shot, but I’m not sure yet.”
“They have closed all private hospitals and are denying health care to the wounded Tibetans.”
“My thirteen year old cousin was beaten to near death and left on the side of the road by the soldiers.”
“The soldiers are dressing as monks and nomads to confuse people, so then they can more easily catch the Tibetans and beat them and jail them.”
“Hundreds are missing, thousands have been jailed, as yet unknown numbers of deaths.” “The wounded are dying when they could be saved”
“They are shooting anyone; monks, nuns, children, women, it doesn’t seem to matter.”
“They are rounding up the young men and killing them en mass inside buildings, where people can’t see. Sometimes the mothers and wives find the bodies, sometimes the family doesn’t know if they are dead.”
“They are invading the Tibetan homes and beating and threatening people, to get them to betray their neighbours, friends and relatives.”
“There are Chinese troops stationed outside every Tibetan home in Lhasa, on a 24 hour watch to prevent any more uprisings.”
“The nomads have fled to the high mountains to escape arrest. The areas they go to are not reachable by vehicle. The Chinese troops wait below. for the order to march up and shoot, or for the nomads to try and come down. If they send in planes with bombs the nomads have no chance of survival.”

It goes on and on. We feel helpless.

Photos of the Lhasa protests are up all over town within days, grim pictures of gun shot wounds and beatings. All the people pictured are dead. The military are lining the streets, brave footage of tanks arriving. So many tanks!

One German journalist says he counted 400 military trucks full of armed soldiers passing him in one afternoon “heading into Tibetan areas”. The world media begins to arrive in Dharamsala, we have their attention.

In the following days the whole of the traditional territory of Tibet erupts into protest, spontaneous buy determined protest. It is not possible in Communist Tibet to arrange anything, plan anything. They all live under constant surveillance. This outburst has a life of its own.

Dharamsala is consumed, everyday life halts and our lives are full of the horror.

Today is 25th March and the locals have protested daily since the 10th March. Tibetan businesses remained closed, although some just today have begun to open. The slogans are short and clear; “Stop Killing – In Tibet!” “Stop genocide – In Tibet!” “Wake up, wake up – UNO!” “UNO – we want Justice!” “Release Release – Political prisoners!” “What do we want? – We want freedom!”

A hunger strike commences, the group changes every 24 hours. It is a constant vigil. They sit quietly behind a wired fence and stare sombrely at the crowd. The monks and nuns begin to arrive from their monasteries; they walk in lines through town, chanting and praying. The students arrive from their schools nearby, they are loud and passionate. All faces change from shock to sheer determination.

Everyone is shouting now, the atmosphere intensifies. The frustration builds to fever pitch and we witness an afternoon of flag burning. This is the pinnacle. Our world pauses.

Each day there are new banners and new slogans. Their voices grow hoarse but they continue relentlessly. “It’s now or never.”
The Dalai Lama says in his press conference he will not ask them to stop. If he did, this could be the first time in history that his beloved people would disobey him. He cannot put this strain on them.

No matter how old, their fists punch the air with every shout, We walk and walk and walk. I join them for three days. I wear their flag on my chest and hold the pictures of the dead high. Trauma is our shadow; my heart is breaking under the full realisation of what is happening, and what will follow.

From Tibet we hear continuous reports of riots. They are throwing rocks, burning cars and destroying property. The Chinese say the protestors have killed thirteen innocent civilians and police. Tibetans in Tibet tell us they are unarmed. I wonder to myself who would throw rocks when they know a gun will respond? Who burns a car or shop when a tank will arrive as a result? How can this be considered violence? Is it not just desperation? However, many people say they are being violent and must stop. People won’t listen if they’re violent…

Do they mean the Tibetans? The irony of this strikes me hard. Have we in the West listened for the past sixty years? Have we stopped listening to the Chinese Government knowing the kind of violence they perpetrate?

But Tibetans are used to double standards, they continue to march on.

People ask ‘Why now? Is it the Olympics?’

How to answer?

Yes, they see the occasion as a chance to get the world’s attention.

No, it really had to happen. The hypocrisy of the Chinese needs full exposure.

I hear comments, “It’s all happened before, 60 years is not so long”. I nearly cry. I think ‘It’s happening now, why rationalise like this? What purpose does this serve?’

Tourists try to support them; we wear the flag, write emails, blogs, post pictures, contact media. It doesn’t seem like much. The Tibetans say our presence inspires them.

I have to stop walking with them. The American consulate warns that India will cancel the visas of tourists filmed supporting the protestors.

100 Tibetans set out to walk in protest to Tibet. The Indian police jail them only hours after leaving Dharamsala. The same India tells us it’s our democratic right to protest, whether citizen or visitor. The protestors are released and begin marching again.

In the beginning the Chinese gave a deadline for surrender, to the protestors. Surrender to what? Surrender and be tortured, maybe even death. Or…Don’t surrender and become a martyr for the cause that runs deep in your blood, encases your heart and governs your soul. I hear the emotion in my words as I write, but how else to describe this situation? My identity, and theirs, are entwined.

At the end of each day of protests, the crowd quietens and we hold candlelight vigils as we walk around and around the main temple. The Tibetans chant incessantly, an ancient, peaceful sound. We gather afterwards inside to receive the latest news of deaths, massacre and brutality. We pray together and stay together. Then we go home and try to sleep.

The protestors move through the small town in a wave, parting politely for the traffic. Four Indian policemen are brought in to direct, and control the crowd. Nothing really stops for the marchers, life just keeps going. So do they.

The nuns and young men affect me the most. The nuns with high voices, giving it everything. The young men, so impassioned they bellow above us all, they frighten people with their strength, but it is just a release. All faces contort with the depth of their emotion; the whole community is voicing their pain, and frustration.

The exile community feel guilt at not being in Tibet to sacrifice their lives, with their people. I remind them that the press is banned from Tibet; they ARE the voice of their countrymen right now, the disseminators of vital information to the world. Their role is essential or there would be no pictures to show, and no pictures means no news.

We are all humanity, we deserve freedom. We all want happiness, but create such suffering!

I need to return to the Buddhist meditation centre where I work. They need me. It is up the mountain in the small village of Dharamkhot. The shouting from town drifts up the valley. The staff, including Tibetans, glance intermittently down, all through the day. The work is grounding me.

On my lunch break I walk the stupa and recite mantras for the dead.

Each day now I walk down to town, swallowed into an ocean of cries for freedom, cars, people, flags and banners. Exhaustion sets in and the pace levels out, but nothing stops. The contrast between the tranquillity of the meditation centre and the world below is stark. It reminds me that at all times, peace, suffering and violence, co-exist in the world. The teachings are resonating.

The banners begin to carry words of thanks to supporters. A new theme to inspire and energise us arrives everyday.

The annual Indian festival of Holy, which welcomes the summer and involves throwing paint at everyone and everything, arrives. It coincides with Good Friday and the arrival of respected Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the house from the US Congress, the third highest seat in America. The protestors stop for the morning to greet her arrival in the temple. She speaks well. “Maybe something will come of this. Everyone listens to US.”

The Indians celebrate their festival, and overnight many of them join the protestors. It is great to see this solidarity. Some hope is rising. My spirit soars at the idea that THIS TIME something may indeed change. Surely it can’t remain the same after all this. Or can it? Tibetan hopes have been dashed so many times!

Coming home one day, my flowing skirt gets caught on a rock and I fall head first down a high flight of stone steps. I hit my head on a rock and land, facing down the slope, with my legs in the air. I am ok, bruises down my shins, a sore wrist and a gash on my knee. I realise I am tired. My tears are a welcome release. My friend is behind me, powerless to help, like me carrying armfuls of food for dinner. Later, after wounds have been cleaned and dressed, we all laugh at my ‘graceful’ descent. I am glad to have brought some joy!

Soon I start to smile again. We must remember to be thankful each day for this precious human life, Buddhism tells us. We must wake up everyday, and be thankful for this opportunity to live life, to be as happy as we can and do all we can to make others happy too. Have compassion, forgiveness, love. These strong convictions carry everyone through.

Tourists arrive from Nepal. They have news from other travellers who arrived in Nepal after fleeing Tibet. They heard the gunshots and saw the bullet holes in the walls, but they were too scared to leave their Lhasa hotels over the weekend of the uprising. Their accounts are the evidence that the Chinese were shooting before the proposed deadline. They tell us that the Chinese police are also in Nepal, controlling the Tibetan protestors, with beatings and tear gas. Foreigners only protest inside the temples, they are scared too.

The Dalai Lama says all the time “Never Give Up” and they won’t. These people love their leader with a passion; the uniqueness of this plays constantly in my mind. There is an intimacy between the whole community and this one man, whose life has spanned the whole length of the occupation. They love him, are proud of him, revere him. His commitment to a free Tibet for his people is his life, the aspiration rooted in his earliest childhood memories. He is the sum total of their culture, beliefs and highest aspirations.

Their philosophy is compassion for all living beings; ALL living beings. He said once to the Chinese “You can reduce us to ashes with your bombs and your guns, but we will rise from those ashes like the phoenix”. He praises their strength of spirit, a new generation born with no memory of freedom but one that has maintained the strength of will to keep pushing, keep reminding the world of their never-ending plight. You can see in the midst of all this, he is so very proud of them all, too.

We hear of more uprisings in Amdo. They continue to burn across the traditional provinces of U-tsang, Kham and Amdo, in fact all of Tibet. The full moon rises and we quietly admire its beauty. All we can do now is wait.

We wonder, what will tomorrow bring? Will the world be courageous enough to open its heart to all this? Will Kevin Rudd succeed on this timely visit to China? Would countries and athletes dare to boycott the Olympics, see with miraculous clarity a cause greater than nationalistic gold?

Or will nothing happen, will the world turn its back, and the process of annihilation begin again?

My dear Aussie friends, I am over here, and you are there, but we share these strong bonds and history. We see and hear such different things each day, but I know our love and humanity is shared. I hope from my heart that you all, back there, can feel something of where I am right now, and the enormity of it.

Please, each and every one of you, I ask that you do all you can to assist at this crucial time. The time for action truly is NOW.

Love
Harriet

The Dalai Lama Makes Appeal to Chinese Citizens

The Dalai Lama has issued an appeal to Chinese citizens to explain his position and how it differs from the official Chinese government version:

China, with the largest population in the world, is one of the countries that suffer the most from the negative effects of materialism. Tibetans, a small group of mere 5 million people are the guardians for one of the most precious spiritual traditions of humanity. Their conflict, when stripped away of the racial and political layers, is the ultimate conflict between materialism and spirituality. The Tibetan's suffering symbolizes the suffering of the soul of the entire human race. In order to resolve the conflict between China and Tibet, we have to resolve the conflict between materialism and spirituality inside the human consciousness. I firmly believe that infinite love and compassion are the only solutions to this conflict. This article attempts to explain to Western people why it is difficult for mainland China to embrace Tibetan culture and what we can do to help.

My Own Experiences

I was born and raised in China. I left the country at in my early twenties and have lived in US for more than a decade. I have gone through a miraculous journey from being brain-washed by the Chinese government to becoming supporters of Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. While I was a little girl growing up in China in the 70s, I was told that Dalai Lama is a militant who wants to separate China. The Chinese government has deliberately painted His Holiness as a devil through state-controlled media. The government is also very masterful at blocking all other sources of information so the people have no choice but being brainwashed. Back then I knew nothing about the love and compassion His Holiness stands for and the atrocity done to the Tibetan people during the China's invasion in the 50s. I had lived under this lie for 20 some years and never doubted the validity of it. As a result, when I first came to U.S., I felt offended by the supporters of Dalai Lama because I thought these Westerners were helping the Tibetans to separate my country! I know that the majority of my Chinese friends from mainland China still think this way, even those who have lived in US for a long time. After all, it is no easy matter to reverse a notion that one believes to be true for most part of one's life. For these Chinese, I have an absolute compassion because their ignorance and indifference are causing a great deal of negative karma onto themselves!

As a member who grew up with that group consciousness and who still have many families members and friends in mainland China, I have first-handed experience on what it means to the 1.3 billion people who live under this huge spiritual void. Materialism rushed into China at the end of the Cultural Revolution. During the Culture Revolution, millions of Chinese intellectuals were persecuted, tortured or even murdered. Anything religious and spiritual was stripped away from the Chinese culture. In my opinion, this was a reaction towards the one hundred years of colonization, war and devastation China had suffered since the mid-ninetieth century when Western powers invaded China. The pride the Chinese had for their long, spiritually-oriented culture has been ruthless crushed by the guns and canons brought in by the West. Thousands of years of history with numerous spiritual achievements had only made the Chinese defenseless in the face of the invading power. The whole nation was in deep humiliation and people took great shame on the spiritual components of their culture. Their rationale is that had their forefathers put more energies in advancing science and technologies, they would not have suffered this much. As Communists started the Cultural Revolution, they conveniently rode on this group mentality and thoroughly purged spiritualism from the Chinese consciousness as spirituality posed as great threat to their authorities.

Materialism came in China right after the trauma of the Cultural Revolution and infected the group consciousness in no time. The way materialism was developed in the West has relatively been well balanced by the spiritual undercurrents that were never completely wiped out. Take gardening as an example: with a healthy flower bed in place, it is harder for weeds to spread. But imagine how fast the weeds can spread in a deserted yardŠ The negative sides of materialism have really culminated in China and moral corruption has taken over the mainstream group consciousness.

As a result, a lot of those Chinese who have power, money and status have been completely severed from the base of their souls. They simply do not have the capacity to believe anything that is good and pure. To them, love and compassion are a total joke. When I traveled back to China, I could literally hear the cries of all the souls that were lost in the selfish and ruthless pursuits of money, fame and ego. Under such circumstances, ordinary Chinese have grown extremely guarded and cynical, especially towards anything done in the name of "love and compassion", since they have been cheated so many times. If one were to tell them the truth about His Holiness's teaching, they would ask, "Oh yes, we've heard about this before. Now, tell me, what does he really wants? What is the hidden agenda?" For those rare individuals who show genuine love and compassion, more than often they are treated with mockery and scorn; and they can count on being taken advantage of by the "smarter" people.

Take a very personal example: my parents are very ordinary Chinese. They are kind and gentle and would never hurt anyone. When they were young, they were passionate about Communism because they believed that communists strive for the common goods of the humanity (another expression of love and compassion!) When half their life was over, they came to the sad realization that they have been fooled all along and the best part of their life was ruined by a corrupted government who only cares about the benefit of a special class. How are they supposed to believe in love and compassion again? When I tried to explain to them the Dalai Lama's teaching, they simply did not have the capacity to accept it; it is too good to be true! In fact, they grow extremely worried for me because since I am still a Chinese citizen, if the government finds out that I support the Tibetans, I could be arrested next time I go back to China.

Tibetans are not the only group of people being oppressed in mainland China. Roughly about 20% of the Chinese population are labor workers who struggle at the very bottom of the society. It is very common for them to work for 70 hours a week, with minimal wage which barely sustains their families, without any insurance and benefits. Many of them can only take 1 day of vacation per month and work under extremely hazardous conditions without any insurance. They have no voice and no representatives in the society. You rarely hear about these stories in the Western media coverage either. For these labor workers, love and compassion are something only happening in fairy tales, which they are too busy to read anyway.

Mainland Chinese have suffered from the political oppression for so long that they succumbed to fear to a point that they almost become numb. I'd like to point out that not only the Chinese government perpetrates violence on Tibetan people, but also commits the same kind of violence on their own people, even today. To any person who dares to challenge the government's authority, he or she, sometime even his/her entire family, is treated with suffocating oppression and prosecution. Even when Chinese live oversea, they still are subjected to this terror (which happens to a much lesser extent to Chinese from Hongkong and that certainly does not apply to Taiwanese). I myself am willing to take this risk because of my strong faith and love for what His Holiness stands for. But for most of my fellow Chinese who do not see the truth or have such strong faith, I have no right to ask them to take such a great risk.

I'd like to point out that materialism is not just China's problem. We people in the West are also part of this problem because we are consciously or unconsciously feeding the materialism every day. Even if communists' suppression on Tibetans miraculously disappeared tomorrow, Tibetan culture is still greatly endangered in the face of global materialism. In fact, the direct conflict between China and Tibet, in some way, has helped to direct the global focus on this issue. Otherwise, Tibetan culture could have been silently butchered and packaged into consumer goods and sold to hordes of tourists just like Buddhism has been in Thailand.

What I just described was what happened to the mainstream mentality in China, which is just an extreme version of the universal conflicts between materialism and spirituality occurring globally. However, I do see glimpses of hopes in China whenever I traveled back. Inside China, slowly a small fraction of people has realized that materialism is leading them nowhere and started looking for spiritual directions, which includes Tibetan Buddhism. I personally know quite a number of Chinese people who do feel compassion towards the Tibetans living in poverty and who go out of their way to help them. In a very small town in Southwest China that is hidden deep in the Eastern Himalaya, a small school has been built with the collaboration of Chinese volunteers and Tibetan villagers to preserve the local cultures and provide education and a better livelihood to children in poverty. In the backdrop of the stark realities, stories like these can be found all over China. It is a very small number of incidents. But imagine what it is like when you are the only one who decides to do something good and tens and thousands of people you then tell you that you are a foolŠ What extraordinary courage and strength it takes for those individuals to rise up and act out of their heart! It is through my interaction with these rare individuals that I see tremendous hope!

As the conflict between China and Tibet is escalating right now, it is a difficult time for all of us who feel compassionate towards the suffering of both Tibetan and Chinese. Some of us feel powerless and despair. But I don't. I have infinite faith that the Truth will prevail and what His Holiness and the Tibetan people stand for will succeed. The recent conflict only shows to me how much the Chinese government fears the power His Holiness carries. It is only after the darkest moment of the night that lights will come!

First, we have to start from where we are, right here and right now, in our communities in the West. China is still struggling from the wound of humiliation in the last 100 years. It is desperately hungry for acceptance by the rest of the world. As a result, Chinese always look upon the West for directions in cultural, economical and social movement. If the Western nations establish examples of love and true compassion, China will naturally follow. If we allow our politicians in the West to wage wars and invade other countries, how can we expect the Chinese government to listen to our advice and stop violence?

Secondly, we need to build bridges between China and the West and reach out to the people and the poor. In my opinion, it is good to engage the government in dialogue, but I wouldn't count on that to lead to a solution. The Chinese government officials are a group of people who are greatly separated from the fundamental aspects of humanity. Their minds are taken over by the hunger of power and the fear of truth. There is little point trying to reason with them. You can try overpowering and intimidating them; but where does that leads us to?

We have to build channels and bridges to empower the Chinese people so that the government can be changed from inside out and bottom up. A central rule in the non-violence approach to conflict is to look for common grounds between the two parties in conflict. We do not agree with Chinese government's policy, but we all want to improve the lives for the people who are struggling in poverty, even the Chinese government officials (for the sake of their political future)! We need to build more channels for that to happen. After all, love and compassion are what His Holiness stands for. If we spread love and compassion to the Chinese, we are essentially spreading the lights of His Holiness, right? When spirituality comes back to mainland China, when the faith in goodness and love is restored in people's heart, Chinese will naturally accept and embrace the beauty of Tibetan culture and people.

Thirdly, I suggest that we think beyond this three-dimensional reality and start adopting new working paradigms that directly involves energies at higher dimensions. The Newtonian mechanical view of world and reality is too inadequate in serving us in today's age. There is a wealth of scientific research out there to prove this in the fields of physics, psychology, sociology and medicine. We need to enter the quantum ages and embrace the ultimate merging between science and spirituality and celebrate the marriage between materialism and spirituality!

If we want to bring peace to this Earth which is engulfed in the war between materialism and spirituality, we have to learn to use the tools provided by spirituality. We know very well how to use modern technologies to serve our goals. What about actively developing and using "spiritual technologies" in order to transform the people and the societies at a much deeper level and in more powerful ways? Let us start meditating and praying, undertake a disciplined spiritual practice, transform ourselves into energy centers that emit lots and lots of lights, so that we may transform our families, so they in turn go on and transform other people at the city, state, and country levels, and eventually the 1.3 billion Chinese. Find the healer inside of you and send healing energies to your surroundings, to those who are suffering, to the Chinese, the government officials whose souls are burning with selfish desires and who desperately need healing, and to Mother Earth. Don't be afraid to develop your intuitive skills and use them. May your heart direct your brain; not the other way around. In this regard, the Tibetans are experts and the Tibetan traditions host a wealth of information. Again, I can attest from my own experience. Professionally, I am a scientist with a very strong analytical background. In recent years, I've learned a great deal about my own intuition and healing powers, and I'm constantly amazed at the powers and potential locked inside our very own consciousness. As a result, my life has been totally transformed. It is also because of this that I remain infinitely optimistic about humanity's future on Earth.

One may say, even if these suggestions work, it will take several lifetimes of efforts and we will never live long enough to see the results. Yes, that is right. We have to see beyond just our generation and we are here to plant the seeds. We may not be able to witness the seeds break out the soil in this lifetime, but we have to let go of our attachments to specific outcomes manifested in our lifetime, and learn to thoroughly enjoy the work itself and every moment of our lives. The work cannot be done in this lifetime? No problem, I know I want to be born again to continue this work; this is what reincarnation is meant for!

Chinese professor writes in support of Tibet
Tibetans are not the only group of people being oppressed in mainland China. Roughly about 20% of the Chinese population are labor workers who struggle at the very bottom of the society. It is very common for them to work for 70 hours a week, with minimal wage which barely sustains their families, without any insurance and benefits. Many of them can only take 1 day of vacation per month and work under extremely hazardous conditions without any insurance. They have no voice and no representatives in the society. You rarely hear about these stories in the Western media coverage either. For these labor workers, love and compassion are something only happening in fairy tales, which they are too busy to read anyway.

Bejing Wide Open Blog
There is a feeling of dread in the air everywhere as news comes out that Lhasa is being locked down. There are thousands of troops in the streets. People are not allowed to leave their homes and there are house-to-house raids with the police dragging away any men who don’t have proper identity papers to be in the city. All the political prisoners are apparently locked up.

The Dalai Lama has called for an end to the violence in Tibet and rejected accusations by China that he was responsible for the recent unrest. The exiled spiritual leader said Tibetans needed to live side-by-side with Chinese people.

DHARMSALA, India - Tibetan exiles saw a chance to put China on the spot ahead of the Beijing Olympics, but never expected their protests to spread to Tibet and turn violent. Now the Dalai Lama is threatening to quit if his people don’t return to peaceful resistance.

It’s a warning he has used before — telling Tibetans to return to peaceful protests during 1989 unrest — but this time it comes amid deep divisions within the Tibetan community between those who back his pacifist approach and an angry young generation that demands action.