1 SLIDE SHOW: A Story of Tibet Slide 1: Title Slide: A Story of Tibet Slide 2: Tibetan National Flag Part I - The Tibetan Flag & His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet Sadly, this flag does not wave over our country at the present time. Although over the centuries, Tibet has had many political disputes with its neighbors, it has always maintained its independence. But that independence was brutally ended in the 1950 s with the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet. Since that time, there has been a deliberate program to destroy and suppress the religion and culture of Tibet. More than 1.2 million Tibetans have died at the hands of their communist oppressors, more than 6000 of Tibet s monasteries have been demolished, and thousands of innocent people continue to be imprisoned, tortured persecuted and killed because of their loyalty to the Dalai Lama and their steadfast commitment to a Free Tibet. The huge influx of millions of Han Chinese settlers has caused an upheaval of traditional agricultural practices, and the Chinese population is now threatening to outnumber the Tibetan people. Religious freedom is suppressed, and often denied altogether. Refugees including many monks and young children flee from Tibet each year in search of cultural and religious freedom. This slide show will attempt to inform you about Tibet, its people, its monasteries, its occupation, the flight from Tibet, and a prayer for peace Slide 3: When Tibet is mentioned, most people first think of His Holiness the 14 th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Slide 4: At the age of 4, he was discovered to be the reincarnation of the 13 th Dalai Lama. Slide 5: The Potala in Lhasa,; The Potala is the Palace of the Dalai Lamas and has more than 1,000 rooms Slide 6: Tenzin Gyatso was born in northeastern Tibet and is shown here with his parents. His original name was Lhamo. Slide 7: The young Dalai Lama when he first went to Lhasa when he was 5 years old. Slide 8: He grew up in difficult times, and had no choice but to take control of Tibet at the early age of 16, due to the threat of Chinese invasion. He was forced to flee Tibet however, in 1959, and now resides in exile in Dharamsala, a mountain town in northwest India, where the government in exile has been established. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Slide 9 Title Slide: PART 2 - TIBET S GEOGRAPHY Slide 10: Tibet is a landlocked country in Asia: north of India and to the west of China. Slide 11: Tibet is divided into three provinces, the central region of U- Tsang, and the eastern provinces of Kham and Amdo. Slide 12: mountains and rivers of Tibet Slide 13: Base of Mt. Everest Slide 14: A small desert town Slide 15: grassland
2 Slide 16: wildflowers Slide 17: Prayer Wheels, Katags, and Mani Stone Slid 18: Prayer flags in a mountain pass Slide 19: Title Slide: PART 3 - THE PEOPLE Slide 20: Nomad family Slide 21: Nomad child in his home Slide 22: Tent in the Winter Slide 23: Villagers Slide 24: Traditional House Slide 25: Farmyard Slide 26: Nomad tents outside of a village Slide 27: Amdo mother with her children Slide 28: Amdo Woman Slide 29: Mother and her children from U- tsang Slide 30: Children from U- tsang Slide 31: Young Girl from Amdo Slide 32: Dancers wearing traditional Amdo garments Slide 33: Child with drying cheese Slide 34: Making felt for a tent Slide 35: The Yak is the traditional animal of Tibet and is of great benefit to the Tibetan people. It provides milk, cheese for the people as well as skin for tents and clothing. It is a strong and enduring beast of burden that carries great loads of products when Tibetan go on trading trips. Slide 36: Yak in the countryside Slide 37: Yak Boy Slide 38: A skillful horseman from Kham. People from this area invited the game of polo. (Ball in the Tibetan language is bo- lo. ) Slide 39: Villagers listening to a Dharma teacher from a lama Slide 40: A pilgrim making a trip to a holy shrine. He will make a full prostration each step of the way. Such pilgrims have been known to cross Tibet to go to the holy places in Lhasa or around Mt. Kailash. Such a trip may consist of more thana 1,000 miles.
3 Slide 41: Title Slide: Slide 4: Monasteries of Tibet Slide 42: Labrang Tashi Kyil Monastery: the parent monastery of Tashi Kyil. It was the largest monastery in eastern Tibet and long served as a crossroads for Tibet, Mongolia, and China. It is a monastery of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. There are 4 sects or schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Refugee monks from Labrang Tashi Kyil to India in the 1960s and slowly rebuilt a small version of their monastery in northern India. Slide 43: A scene from Labrang Monastery. Such a large monastery is like a little town, consisting of temples, chortens, houses and other buildings. Slide 44: Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, the monastery of the Panchen Lamas. The Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama are the great lamas of Tibet. The Dalai Lama is referred to as the sun, and the Panchen Lama is referred to as the moon. The 10 th Panchen Lama passed away in 1987. In 1995, according to Tibetan custom, the Dalai Lama recognized his rebirth. Immediately, the Chinese Communists kidnapped the young child. He has never been seen since. The Chinese then chose their own 11 th Panchen Lama. He is not revered by the Tibetan people who are loyal to the Dalai Lama. Slide 46: Kumbum Monastery: another large monastery in eastern Tibet. This monastery was the first location that the Chinese Communists took over in 1949. They held its abbot, Tagtser Rinpoche, house prisoner for 1 year before they forced him to travel by caravan across Tibet to Lhasa to assassinate his younger brother, the 14 th Dalai Lama. Instead of doing this horrible deed, Tagtser Rinpoche warned his brother of the severity of the Chinese invasion and then had to flee to India. Eventually he came to the USA and then to Bloomington, Indiana where he established the Tibetan Cultural Center. In the USA, he was known as Professor Thubten Norbu. Slide 47: A Temple at Kumbum and picture of Arjia Rinpoche, present Director of the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington, Indiana. After Tagtser Rinpoche became ill, the Dalai Lama appointed Arjia Rinpoche to direct the Tibetan Cultural Center which was renamed the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center. Arjia Rinpoche was also a former Abbot of Kumbum and escaped from Tibet to the USA in 1998. Slide 48: Tsurpu Monastery: a monastery of the Kargyu Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Is the seat of the Karmapa, the head of the Kargyu Sect. The 17 th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje is the head of the 900 year old Karma Kagyu Lineage and guide to millions of Buddhists around the world. The 17 th Karmapa escaped from Tibet on New Year s Eve 2000. Presently he resides in Dharamsala, India. Slide 49: Katok Dorje Dun Monastery: a monastery of the Nyingma Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school is the oldest of all the Tibetan sects. It is was founded by Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava - - the Indian Yogi who brought Buddhism to Tibet in the 700s. Slide 50: Losar Dance at Katok Monastery. Losar is the Tibetan New Year and is celebrated by all Tibetans throughout the world as their greatest holiday. Slide 51: Sakya Monastery: a monastery of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. Drogön Chögyel Pakpa (1235 1280), was the fifth leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. Historical tradition remembers him as the first vice- ruler of Tibet under the Mongol great khan. He was also the guru and spiritual advisor to Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire and the Yuan dynasty. Slide 52: Giant prayer wheels at Sakya Monastery. Prayer wheels contain the Mantra of Compassion, Om, Mani, Pedme, Hung. Slide 53: Title Slide: Part 5 The Monastic Community Slide 54: A group of Tibetan Nuns Slide 55: A group of Tibetan Monks
4 Slide 56: Monks attending a Spiritual Teaching Slide 57: Monks chanting prayers in a temple Slide 58: Summer picnic Slide 59: Throwing prayers to the wind Slide 60: Young monks learning sacred texts Slide 61: Monks waiting to debate at Labrang. Debating is an important spiritual and philosophical practice of the monks. They memorize their texts and go to teachings given by expert lamas. Then they debate the topics that they have learned with each other so they can practice their skills of logic and do their own thinking based on their own understanding. Slide 62: Monks debating at Labrang Slide 63: Damcha: Annual debate examination and competition between monasteries Slide 64: Monks performing Cham sacred dances Slide 65: Title Slide: the Invasion & Occupation of Tibet Slide 66: Gaden Monastery before it was destroyed. Gaden is the monastery of Lama Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism. Slide 67: Gaden Destroyed: In 1949, the Chinese Communists invaded Tibet. During the Religious Reform Movement of the 1950s, they shut down many monasteries and monks were forced to disrobe and work in the fields. During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1966, thousands and thousands of temples and monasteries were desecrated and destroyed. Slide 68: Destruction of Drepung Monastery Slide 69 Serta Monastery was destroyed I Kham Slide 70: Dump Outside of Lhasa. Since the occupation of Tibet, widespread destruction of the environment has occurred in Tibet. Chinese have been exploiting Tibetan natural resources. Strip mining, damming rivers for electricity and cutting down forests for lumber causes erosion of the topsoil and destroys the habitat of Tibet s wildlife. Sections of Tibet have been used as nuclear dumping grounds. Slide 71: Graffiti on a wall in Lhasa Slide 72: Tibetan lumber cut for China Slide 73: Traditional Tibetan homes are knocked down, and Stalin type concrete block buildings put up instead. Slide 74: Even more disturbing are the Communist attempts to destroy the Tibetan social and religious culture. The government encourages Chinese settlers to move to Tibet, and Tibetan children have no choice but to attend Chinese- run schools. Long term, this will wipe out Tibetan language and culture. Slide 75: Those who dare to protest are imprisoned, tortured or killed. Ani Pachen was originally a nun in Kham. In 1959, she became a resistance fighter and played a prominent role in the Tibetan uprising. She led an armed group of 100 people, and carried out numerous raids against the Chinese. She was captured in 1969, and spent 21 years in Drapchi and Chumdo prisons. She was released in 1991. After her release, she continued her practice as a nun, although she did not wear robes, because she had killed people. She died in 2003.
Slide 76: Palden Gyatso was arrested by the Chinese during the uprising at the time of the escape from Tibet of the Dalai Lama. He was captured because he would not abandon his wounded teacher, carrying him on his back to a neighboring village. Palden Gyatso spent 33 years in prison. When he was released, he bribed guards to allow him to take with him some of the instruments used to torture him. Upon his release, Amnesty International arranged his flight to India. Palden Gyatso says that his greatest fear during his years in captivity was that he might lose his compassion for his torturers and enemies. Slide 77: Tibetan Buddhist nuns Chuye Kunsang and Passang Lhamo. They were imprisoned for 8 years for demonstrating for a free Tibet. Released in 2002, they testified to the US Congress concerning their mistreatment in prison. Besides beatings and other tortures, they were required to give blood each month to pay for their room and board while in prison. Slide 78: Ngawang Chumpay is a Tibetan who is an American citizen. He was on a Fullbright Scholarship at Middlebury College when he went into Tibet in 1995 to work on his documentary film project on Tibetan music. He was arrested after two months of travel, and sentenced to 18 years on spy charges. A worldwide campaign helped Ngawang get out of prison after serving 6 years. Slide 79: Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was arrested in April 2002 along with Lobsang Dhondup, and both were charged with involvement in a series of explosions in Sichuan province. They were held incommunicado until their December 2002 trial when they were convicted of conspiring to create explosions, and incitement to separatism. They were sentenced to death. He was scheduled to be executed in January 2005, but because of international protest, his sentence has been changed to life imprisonment. He is reported to be in poor health because of prison conditions and repeated torture. Slide 80: 142 self- Immolations in Tibet since 2011. In order to protest the Chinese occupation and hard repression of its culture, Tibetans have sadly immolated themselves in order to draw the plight of Tibet to the attention of the world. China s repression of Tibet s culture and religion continues to harden. Slide 81: A monk immolating himself. Slide 82: Title Slide: PART 6 Seeking Refuge Slide 83: Hundreds of Tibetans continue to flee Tibet each year, facing immense hardship and danger. Many of them climb over the Himalayan Mountains seeking refuge in India. Slide 84: Making the difficult trip: Many don t survive the trip, dying from exposure or shot by Chinese soldiers. Those who do, struggle across the mountain passes, half starved, cold and afraid of being caught. They suffer from frostbite, and many lose fingers and toes. Slide 84: Making the difficult trip Slide 85: Struggling over mountain passes Slide 86: A Two to three month trip. Slide 86: A group of refugees who successfully reached India. In recent years, Nepal at the demand of China, has been turning back refugees that they catch going through Nepal Slide 88: Title Slide: Rebuilding a Monastery Slide 89: Buxa Fort a refugee camp for Tibetan monks in the northeast of India, near the border of Bhutan. The monks had escaped from Tibet in 1959. The Indian government housed them of the grounds of this former prison camp. Slide 90: The rebuilt Tashi Kyil Monastery 5
6 Slide 91: We close this slide show with prayers for His Holiness the Dalai Lama the sustainer of the Tibetan people throughout all of their hardships. Slide 92: Butter Lamps: And with prayers for peace and world harmony