KATHMANDU: Despite a furious attempt to break an opposing alliance of four Terai parties and regain power, Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda still met his Waterloo on Tuesday, losing the prime ministerial election for a record seventh time, and dragging his mentor, China, into dispute.

While the 55-year-old’s defeat was almost certain, as it had been in the earlier six rounds, in a stunning development, the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu came under fire with nearly 200 protesters demonstrating outside. Instead of “Free Tibet” protesters, Tuesday’s march was led by a little known students’ group — the Free Youth Organisation – that claimed to have over 20,000 members in Hong Kong and Malaysia as well.

While a grim-faced parliament chairman Subas Nembang was telling the weary house that Prachanda had received only 252 votes and his rival, Nepali Congress parliamentary party chief Ram Chandra Poudel, 119 and so, none had reached the winning mark of 300, about 200 people shouted slogans outside the Chinese embassy in another part of the capital. “We oppose all foreign intervention in Nepal’s internal affairs,” said some of the banners while students called for Maoist MP Krishna Bahadur Mahara – alleged to have been caught in a bribery scam involving Chinese money — to leave Nepal.

“We strongly deplore the act of China trying to use money to influence our internal politics,” a protest letter handed over by the marchers to the embassy said. “We also deplore the action of some of our politicians, who are well respected as revolutionaries, in demanding and accepting the bribes offered by China.”

The unprecedented seven rounds of election, that still failed to choose a new prime minister more than two months after Madhav Kumar Nepal was forced to quit by the Maoists, now threaten to develop into a diplomatic offensive with both Nepal’s neighbours China and India coming under attack. The Maoists have been blaming India’s “interference” for their failure to win and have been fanning an anti-India campaign that continues to target Indian investment companies in Nepal, especially Dabur Nepal.

Now China, regarded as an “all weather friend” by both the royalists and Maoists alike, has been dragged into the controversy with the surfacing of an audio tape which, apparently, catches Maoist former minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara seeking to meet a Chinese “friend” in Hong Kong ready to pay NRS 500 million, that would have bought the extra votes Prachanda needs to win the election. Though both the Chinese embassy and the Maoists called the tape baseless and fabricated, the furore refuses to die down. On Tuesday, Poudel’s party submitted a memorandum to the PM, urging an inquiry into the allegations of horse-trading in parliament. The cabinet had already on Monday decided to initiate an inquiry after consultations with Nembang.

The seventh round of failed election saw another change. The Maoists have been partly successful in breaking the Terai alliance. Former foreign minister Upendra Yadav and his Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal are now supporting the Maoists. But as Yadav has only 25 MPs, the support is not enough for Prachanda to win. The new alliance will cause the breakaway Terai party to face the slur of having been bought with Chinese money.

Four years after the end to the Maoist insurgency, Nepal now sits on a ticking time bomb. Yet another election can’t be held before Sept 26, till the Nepali Congress has held its general convention. Even then, unless the party equations change or the election procedure, the battle will prove to be inconclusive

Meanwhile, the lawmakers have not progressed with the crucial task of writing the new constitution that could not be implemented in May due to the cold war between the parties. They have an additional problem to face as well as the UN may decide to withdraw its political agency, the UN Mission in Nepal ( UNMIN) due to lack of progress in the dismantling of the Maoist cantonments with their nearly 20,000 combatants. The UN Security Council will be briefed on Nepal by Ban Ki-moon in New York Tuesday and the UN chief may advocate ending UNMIN’s role in the Himalayan republic.

TONGREN, CHINA – In China, the Dalai Lama is officially a dangerous separatist and a “criminal,” and his supporters are prohibited from discussing him or even displaying his picture. But here in the ethnic Tibetan areas of Qinghai province, nominally autonomous while under strict Chinese control, the exiled spiritual leader remains a ubiquitous presence, despite his long physical absence.

The Dalai Lama’s beaming visage gazes down from the temple altars of Buddhist monasteries. His likeness adorns a popular artist’s workshop and a small convenience store selling bottled soft drinks, beer and snacks.

And everywhere, it seems, the fervent wish is that the Dalai Lama might return soon, to help save the Tibetan language and culture that many believe could soon be overwhelmed by the presence of China’s ethnic Han majority. Even the Tibetans’ centuries-old tradition of herding yak, cattle and sheep across the Tibetan plateau’s grasslands appears threatened as Chinese officials move increasing numbers of semi-nomadic herdsmen into “resettlement towns,” where jobs are scarce.

“We long for the Dalai Lama to come back, to solve the issue of religious freedom and to help Tibetan culture come back,” said Gen Ga, a 24-year-old monk at a monastery in nearby Wutong village. “If we look ahead 10 or 20 years, if the Dalai Lama fails to come back, I do think Tibetan culture will die.”

A three-day trip through the ethnic Tibetan areas of Qinghai province, where the Dalai Lama was born, showed that the Beijing government’s efforts to vilify the revered leader have had no discernible effect. When government inspectors come, many Tibetans said, they usually get advance notice, and they simply hide or cover the Dalai Lama’s photo.

The vilification efforts escalated after the Tibetan areas, including this province, exploded in rioting in March 2008, the most serious resistance to Chinese rule in decades. Thousands of monks and others were arrested, and outside groups, including Human Rights Watch, accused the government of systematically abusing detainees while looking for evidence that the Dalai Lama was responsible for the unrest.

Chinese officials have strongly denied those allegations and said authorities operated lawfully to maintain order. “The judicial rights of the defendants were fully guaranteed, as well as their ethnic customs and personal dignity,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in July in response to Human Rights Watch’s allegations.

Here in Tongren, a monk in his 30s who said he participated in three protests in March 2008 said he was detained for six months after the riots, describing how he was suspended from the ceiling, beaten repeatedly and tortured with electric rods.

The monk, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the beatings ended only when he agreed to make a videotaped denunciation of the Dalai Lama.

“They made me agree to a confession saying all the things I did was because I got instructions from the Dalai Lama,” the monk said. He said he believes he was singled out because of his support for a group of 13 monks who drafted a 2007 proposal calling for the preservation of Tibetan language and culture.

The monk’s account accords with those by scores of others who were interviewed for the Human Rights Watch report. “When the monks were tortured in detention, it was often because they refused to denounce the Dalai Lama,” said Nicholas Bequelin, the China researcher for Hong Kong-based Human Rights Watch.

“There is no doubt that many Chinese state policies are aimed at diluting or reshaping Tibetan traditional culture in a way that is innocuous to the state,” Bequelin said.

The main repositories of Tibetan Buddhist culture are the monasteries – which were also the source of the 2008 uprising – and the government has since attempted to increase its control over them, setting up “management committees” to ensure that the senior monks toe the correct political line.

Chinese official media reported last month that Du Qinglin, chief of the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, which oversees Tibet policy, said monasteries must take the lead in “anti-separatist struggles.”

For many Tibetans, the front line in the cultural struggle is linguistic. Some complained that even in the supposedly autonomous prefectures of Qinghai, signs in Chinese outnumber those in Tibetan. In government offices, Tibetans say, they are forced to speak Chinese. And they worry that Tibetan is not being taught in schools on an equal footing with Chinese.

One of the most hotly debated government policies, among Tibetans and outside experts, is the effort to induce herdsmen to give up their nomadic lifestyle on the grasslands and resettle in rows of brick houses in newly built towns.

Officials and some outside experts say the effort is needed to tackle poverty and to stop over-grazing of the grasslands. But most of the herdsmen are illiterate, and there are few jobs in the resettlement towns.

Some who have been resettled have returned to the nomadic life, but often while keeping older relatives and children in the towns to be closer to medical care and schools.

“It was pretty hard to find a job there,” said Gartsang Cerang, 36, who lived in the resettlement town of Dowa before returning to the grasslands three months ago. “Life in the town was pretty hard.” He has to start over now – he has only half a dozen yak and two sheep and lives in a tent with his daughter Nam Turji, 17. He left two children, ages 13 and 14, in town.

Marjo Herji, 30, said many of the herdsmen on the mountainside overlooking Qinghai Lake have left to work in the tourist shops. But she said she and her husband plan to stay. “It’s hard for us to do any other job. We don’t have any special skills,” she said, churning yak milk into butter with a hand-cranked machine.

But she left her daughter in the village so the girl can attend first grade and she hopes her daughter does not follow in the herder’s life. “It’s better for her to become a literate person,” she said.

China is developing Qinghai Lake as a major attraction for Chinese tourists, and some Tibetans have found jobs shuttling visitors in electric golf carts, renting local costumes or letting tourists pose for photographs with rare white yaks. But they say the pay is scant and the tourist season short. Life on the grasslands is hard, too, they say, but they could sustain themselves with their herds.

It is difficult to see how even a political settlement that allowed the Dalai Lama to return could reverse some of the trends underway on the Tibetan Plateau, but according to Barry Sautman, a Tibet expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, “if he were there, he could have quite a bit of influence with the central government.”

Tibetans are hopeful – and waiting.

Staff researcher Wang Juan contributed to this report.

- J Dorjee Chakrishar
I am always hesitant about commenting on the social transformation of our community in diaspora because we have an elected democratic system in place whose job is to watch, nurture and take the movement forward. But this time I have witnessed some activities during my short stay in New York that represents a seismic change in the attitude of young Tibetans living in the West. I am going to stick my neck out and talk about some incidents that I witnessed through my limited interaction with young friends in New York.

Having lived as a Tibetan in diaspora for the last 55 years and through the gradual transformation of our society, I sometimes feel that the educated or uneducated Tibetan youths are becoming more self-centered. Often we talk about the frustration of youths when it comes to challenging the might of China or about the cultural and religious disorientation.

The 2008 uprising in Tibet and worldwide, and the recent response by Tibetans in the West to the Yushu earth quake, have shown that they are patriotic too and have not forgotten Tibet. This is immensely encouraging. However, I have always believed that Tibetans are emotional by nature and have a short memory and therefore the positive responses wither away slowly as time passes.

The other day my daughter and her friend accompanied me to the Queens Mall to buy a few gifts for my relatives and friends back home in India, as I was planning to return to India the next week. My daughter’s friend is a victim of the American recession, as she was laid off from her job two months ago. She is still looking for a job with the support of her family settled in New York.

At the mall, she was also buying some clothes for a child who is 10 years old. Knowing that she has no family members in India, I wondered for whom she was buying the clothes. I was deeply moved to hear that for the last ten years she has been sponsoring an orphan at TCV, whom she has never met. She pays her school fees and regularly sends her gifts and clothing. I was overwhelmed by knowing the number of such young Tibetans in the west who quietly support poorer and less privileged fellow Tibetans in India and Tibet — and the most interesting part is that the trend is growing. For a generation to whom the word ’sponsor’ or ‘jindak’ naturally brought to mind the image of a Westerner or ‘inji,’ this transformation to sponsorship by Tibetans is both moving and inspiring.

Another such moment came when SFT honored Tibetan heroes including Gen Wangyal la, who for a longtime voluntarily taught music and Tibetan language to Sunday school children in New York as his dharma. He never expected any recognition – and suddenly there is a Tibetan officially appreciating the efforts of another Tibetan – the positive side of American values.

8 yrs old Nyima Wangmo in hospital in Nepal

Then there is the heartbreaking plea from an 8-year-old girl fighting for her life in Kanti Children’s Hospital in Kathmandu. Nyima Wangmo is now admitted in the oncology ward of Kanti Children’s Hospital with bone marrow reports of acute blood cancer. Her single mother, resident of Pokhra Tibetan settlement and carpet weaver by profession, is totally shattered. But Drokpo team and Bodrigpunda Thuntsok in Nepal immediately volunteered and came to her rescue and raised some initial funds, besides requesting Young Tibet Online (www.youngtibet.com) in New York for a public appeal.

This appeal was promptly answered by Youngtibet.com and they’ve raised more than $1500 in less than 2 weeks for the girl’s treatment. More have sent money directly to Nepal. The little soul is still in the hospital and hopefully the efforts of all the young Tibetans around the world will save her life, and hopefully she will live and grow to be another compassionate youth.
Many of our younger generation, especially those who are born and brought up in the West may not be fluent in expression of their traditional Buddhist philosophy, but it is certain that the teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist masters have positively affected their lives and the compassionate Tibetan culture is growing stronger and stronger through their actions.

For a long time His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been advising that our monasteries too must also be socially responsible to the current problems of the society. They may not go to the extent of becoming patriotic monks and nuns as China often suggests in their patriotic re-education programs, but they simply cannot ignore the sufferings of our communities while working for an exalted next life. They need to take a middle path first and engage in fundamental social change that will surpass traditional political activism. Some transformation has already begun in exile but a seismic change in their attitude is needed. The younger generation of lay Tibetans have already shown the path.

The writer is an editorial consultant to RFA and record holder of the world’s longest calligraphy scroll.

“China’s engagement with the Dalai Lama or his representatives to resolve problems facing Tibetans is in the interests of both the Chinese government and the Tibetan people,” the Obama Administration said in its annual report to the US Congress. The report said that “failure to address these problems will lead to greater tensions inside China and will be an impediment to China’s social and economic development.”

Noting that the US continues to encourage both sides to engage in a substantive discussion that will work to achieve concrete results, the report submitted to the Congress this month said the US government believes that the Dalai Lama can be a constructive partner for China as it deals with the difficult challenge of continuing tensions in Tibetan areas.

“His views are widely reflected within Tibetan society, and he commands the respect of the vast majority of Tibetans. His consistent advocacy of non-violence is an important principle for making progress toward a lasting solution,” the report said.

“Encouraging substantive dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama is an important foreign policy objective of the United States. We continue to encourage representatives of the PRC and the Dalai Lama to hold direct and substantive discussions aimed at the resolution of differences, without preconditions,” it said.

The Administration believes that such a dialogue may lead to a solution to or provide the best hope for alleviating tensions in Tibetan areas and contribute to the overall stability of China, the report said.

While welcoming the resumption of the dialogue in 2010, the report expressed disappointment that eight years of talks have not borne concrete results. “We are concerned that in 2009 the PRC continued its negative rhetoric about the Dalai Lama, as well as repression and religious restrictions in Tibetan areas,” it said and urged both sides to engage in substantive dialogue.

The US, together with many in the international community, recognizes the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Tibetan autonomous prefectures and counties in other provinces as part of China, it said.

The Dalai Lama has repeatedly disclaimed any intention to seek sovereignty or independence for Tibet and has stated that he wants China to preserve Tibetan culture, religion, and its fragile environment through genuine autonomy, it said.

The report informed the Congress that since the US government does not recognise Tibet as an independent state, the US does not conduct official diplomatic relations with the Tibetan “government-in-exile” in Dharamsala in India.

Dharamshala, Aug 31 : Children of a Buddhist community in Russia are learning the fun way about the remarkable life story of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama through comics.

The novel idea had been introduced in the Buddhist community of Kalmykia Republic in Russia where the children get to read a biographic novel about the 14th Dalai Lama written by renowned Japanese cartoonist Tetsu Saiwai.

Saiwai’s comics of the octogenerian spiritual leader were translated into Russian and 9 other languages. A total of 1,500 books were made available to children in Kalmykia under the joint initiative of Moscow-based Save Tibet Foundation and Kalmyk Japan Friendship Association.

In his biographic novel ‘The 14th Dalai Lama’, Saiwai used the art of classic manga (Japanese graphic novel or comic book) to illustrate the biography of Dalai Lama.

After conducting intensive research in Lhasa, Tibet, Saiwai was able to capture unique and stunning images of Tibet and its people as they struggle to survive and face the threat of extinction of their language. These images are all connected through the true life events of Dalai Lama, their spiritual and political champion.

The novel was released to mark the 73rd birthday of Dalai Lama in July 2008.

Saiwai has published numerous comic books to promote environmental protection and human rights.

The writer has future plans to work on the life histories of many iconic personalities such as Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and MotherTeresa.

–UNI

The escalating influence of sinicization and ‘globalization’ is challenging the Tibetan linguistic identity, both inside and outside Tibet today

By Chime Tenzing

Recently one of my friends returned to Dharamsala during his annual University vacation and he had invited me for a lunch together at a hotel. He went to study M.A English literature in one of the American Universities on scholarship. As we started talking between bites and sips, we unraveled a great deal of similar taste for Western and English literature, but when I hesitantly admitted that I do not have a similar taste for Tibetan literature, he said with a raised eyebrow, that as a Tibetan it is important to know Tibetan! He went on to say that as a Tibetan, however well versed you are in any other languages, if you do not know Tibetan you are like a one-eyed man! This he recounts from his own experience studying in America and the interactions he had with his American friends and teachers. Therefore he said, he chose to come back to Dharamsala during his vacation (instead of running after dollars) and spend time honing his Tibetan language skills at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.

The meeting left with me a lasting impression and admittedly brought a paradigm shift to my attitude toward the Tibetan language. I gradually started putting effort in reviving my interest in learning Tibetan by trying to read in Tibetan as much as I could. It all began to dawn on me how important it is to know Tibetan to be Tibetan, not only as an individual, but also as a community as a whole unit , to preserve our rich cultural heritage and identity through the use of our own mother tongue. My newfound concern for the language gave way to the discovery of the fact that today the Tibetan language is dying a forceful as well as natural death!
For the linguist Edward Sapir, language is not only a vehicle for the expression of thoughts, perceptions, sentiments, and values characteristic of a community; it also represents a fundamental expression of social identity. Sapir said: “the mere fact of a common speech serves as a peculiar potent symbol of the social solidarity of those who speak the language.” In short, language retention helps maintain feelings of cultural kinship. So, it is indeed a worrying state for the Tibetan language as it is threatened with the risk of ‘assimilation’ due to widespread Chinese language all over Tibet , even in the so called Tibetan Autonomous Region. If this dangerous trend continues for long, the very identity of Tibetans would eventually be lost and the victory of evil over good would be complete!

While Tibetans in Tibet are forced to speak the tongue of the ‘devil’, Tibetans in free world are compelled to speak in other tongues in order to ‘move with the changing times’ or to meet the growing demands of the globalization. In the process, the importance of our mother tongue is severely affected with the tides of globalization one the one side and the threat of sinicization on the other. Therefore, the time has come for the Tibetans to give a serious thought on the state of Tibetan language today, both inside and outside Tibet and work towards safeguarding it before our rich linguistic tradition is lost forever.

The latest bare-all critique by Woeser “If Tibetans took to the streets for the Tibetan language” leaves us worrying about the state of Tibetan language under the tenacious grip of the communist regime. The writer freshly confirms our lingering fear of the prevailing threat to the Tibetan language under the communist China with appalling details and real life accounts. It is evidently obvious that China is making every attempt to replace Chinese with the Tibetan in the name of ‘unifying the country under one language’! The article rightly points out why China is pressing so hard on wiping out Tibetan language – because they believe “the higher the level of the Tibetan language, the stronger the religious consciousness and as a result the stronger reactionary behavior.”

Ironically, China ’s White Paper of 25th September 2008 claims that Tibetan language forms a part of the Chinese language! However, contradictory to what the Chinese claim, in the annals of the Tibetan literary history it is indisputably recorded that the Tibetan language is spoken in numerous regional dialects which, although sometimes mutually intelligible, generally cannot be understood by the speakers of the different oral forms of Tibetan. It is employed throughout the Tibetan plateau and Bhutan and is also spoken in parts of Nepal and northern India , such as Sikkim. In general, the dialects of central Tibet (including Lhasa ), Kham, Amdo and some smaller nearby areas are considered Tibetan dialects. Other forms, particularly Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Sherpa, and Ladakhi, are considered by their speakers, largely for political reasons, to be separate languages. However, if the latter group of Tibetan-type languages is included in the calculation then ‘greater Tibetan’ is spoken by approximately 6 million people across the Tibetan Plateau. Tibetan is also spoken by approximately 150,000 exile speakers who have fled from Tibet to India and other countries.

Although spoken Tibetan varies according to the region, the written language, based on Classical Tibetan, is consistent throughout. This is probably due to the long-standing influence of the Tibetan empire, whose rule embraced (and extended at times far beyond) the present Tibetan linguistic area, which runs from northern Pakistan in the west to Yunnan and Sichuan in the east, and from north of Qinghai Lake south as far as Bhutan. The Tibetan language has its own script which it shares with Ladakhi and Dzongkha, and which is derived from the ancient Indian Brāhmī script.

Commenting on why the Tibetan language has suffered greatly after the Chinese invasion of Tibet , a Tibetan scholar from the Translation Bureau of the Tsolho [Ch. Huangnan] ” Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture “, Kalsang Lodoe, writes – “In the Tibetan autonomous areas, Tibetans are supposed to be the nationality that exercises autonomy and Tibetan language the commonly-used language. Since the ‘liberation’ of Tibet, however, the principal leaders and heads, as well as those performing secretarial jobs, in all the offices of the administration and specialised/professional departments, as well as the business or commercial enterprises, have all been sent from China. And if there are knowledgeable Tibetans who desire to serve politically, they are not utilized by calling them reactionaries…”

As a teacher of Chatsang Primary School in Sabgang Township of Kangkar (Ch. Kangma) County, Samdrup Chungdhing, writes – “although Tibetan is purportedly taught in the so-called “Tibetan Classes”, these exist in form only, and the standard of these schools is pathetically poor. Some students do not know how to write their own names in Tibetan without making spelling mistakes, while others do not understand [the basic Tibetan grammar of] where to put Mgo-rtags and Dogs-rtags. With such a low level of Tibetan linguistic knowledge, they are bound to face problems even in their own works, let alone in maintaining or upholding the culture of Tibet .”

With this stark reality challenging our century old linguistic tradition and our identity as Tibetans today, there is an urgent need to realize the importance of preserving our language for the common good of the Tibetan race before it is wiped out from the surface of earth. While there is little choice for the Tibetans inside Tibet , but Tibetans living in free society could make a difference by promoting the language within its family, friends, neighborhood, schools, community and society at large. Unless we realize this and take the responsibility of safeguarding our language with a sense of urgency, there is no other ways to challenge the advocates of devil in our dialects.

by Victoria Dolma Anyone fortunate enough to witness the Ven. Thubten Ngodrup, the medium (kuden) of the Nechung oracle, in trance is convinced that a power far greater than he temporarily inhabits his form, which becomes enlarged, distorted, strained to the maximum. The Nechung deity is the wrathful protector who, through periodic possession of a human medium, advises the Dalai Lama and his cabinet of future threats to the Tibetan nation. Here, kuden-la recounts his personal experiences with his role. This article includes material taken from public talks at Tibetan Meditation Center as well as from personal interviews. Question: How is the Nechung State Oracle selected? Thubten Ngodrup: For over a thousand years there has been a tradition in Tibet of mediums who channel Dharma protectors. These protectors have a hierarchy, and range in abilities and accomplishments from the first to the tenth level. They can be either worldly or beyond worldly. If the Nechung Protector were at the highest level, there would be no communication through a human medium. But to help sentient beings, Nechung is at a level where he can communicate through a physical medium in this world. There are a number of ways one can become a medium. Sometimes the role is transferred through the family line, as is the case with the Gadong Oracle. Women can also serve, as does the Denma medium, from generation to generation. Or, if an individual has qualifications that a Lama recognizes, the latter can help the medium stabilize his trance states. But Nechung is different. He is chosen by the Protector himself. He has a vision which begins at the first spontaneous possession. There are outer, inner and secret methods of determining if a person is a valid medium of the State Oracle. And he must be recognized by the Dalai Lama. I happen to come from the Nechung Monastery (I’ve been there since 1971), as did my predecessor, but this is not always the case. Previous mediums have come from all parts of Tibet, from all classes and different sects. If, prior to the first possession, one lived as a lay person, one must relinquish that state and take ordination, because as Nechung medium one automatically becomes the Monastery’s Abbot. One also becomes a Deputy Minister of Parliament to honor the importance of one’s function. I am the 17th medium. My predecessor passed away in 1984. For three years the post was vacant, though the government did prayers for the oracle’s return. I am normally a social person; I like to attend teachings with other monks. But just before the 1987 Losar [Tibetan New Year] celebrations, I felt something different and wanted to be alone. In the middle of one of His Holiness’s teachings at the Central Cathedral, I felt a strong urge to get up from my place in the back of the hall and present myself before His Holiness. Of course, had I done that, the bodyguards would probably have thrown me out! During the mid-afternoon break this feeling subsided, but when everyone came back to the hall, the feeling grew much stronger. I couldn’t even look at His Holiness because I knew that if I did, even briefly, I would get up and go toward him. So I shut my eyes, and one monk, thinking I was sleeping, said, “Did you come here to take a nap?” I made some excuse about having a headache. But I hid under my zen [monk's upper robe], and when I finally stuck my head out, I found that everyone had gone home! I went up to the statues of 1000-armed Chenrezig and Padmasambhava, and prayed that whatever obstacles were taking place would be eliminated. The next day, there were traditional Losar ceremonies at my monastery, Nechung. Normally, during the lifetime of the previous kuden, I would offer him tea and tsok during his trance, because I was a Master of Ritual. But with no medium present in 1987, I was told to make offerings to the statue in the Protector shrine, which only holds six or seven people. So while the majority of the monks chanted in the main hall, I was in the Protector shrine with just the abbots of Drepung Loseling and Drepung Gomang. When the chanted invocation to the Protector sounded from the main hall, my hands started to shake, my heart beat fast, and I saw a red light coming toward me. It felt as if my legs and arms were receiving an electric shock. After that, I don’t remember anything. The Drepung abbots with me reported this incident to the Dalai Lama’s Office of Religious Affairs, and soon the news spread. A few days later, I was called before His Holiness, who said, “You could be the next kuden. But before anything else happens, you need to go into retreat.” This is because it is extremely important to make certain that the medium appointed is the correct one. His Holiness also asked me how I felt about being the kuden, and I replied that I was prepared to serve him in whatever way was best. These events happened at the end of March, 1987. However, at that time two other people showed signs of being able to channel a deity: one was a Drepung Gomang monk, and the other a man newly arrived from Tibet. The signs of the former subsided, while the latter, after doing a retreat, did channel a deity, but not the Protector, and eventually returned to Tibet. So on July 11, 1987 the government recognized me, and on September 4 of that year His Holiness officially gave me the title. b The Nechung Oracle during a fire puja at Nechung Monastery in Dharamsala, India (Photo by Alison Wright from The Spirit of Tibet )

Q: Many mediums suffer severe physical or mental distress, especially before being recognized, owing to the opening of their subtle, psychic channels. Did you experience this?

TN: There have been no mental difficulties, but my blood pressure is higher and my heart rate has increased. However, once trances are stabilized there is generally no disorder.

Q: What special training do your attendants receive for handling your trance states? Does His Holiness understand the Protector’s poetic messages, or do they have to be interpreted for him?

TN: The kuden has four main attendants—one in front, and one, each, to his left, right and back, in that order. The one in front is the most important because he is responsible for tying on the kuden’s heavy headdress [it currently weights thirty pounds, though in Tibet it weighed seventy] just as he goes into trance, and removing it just as the possession ends. The newest attendant takes the rear position, and is moved up to the right, left, and front as he gains experience. If the attendant in front is ill, the attendant on the left takes his position. As to the Protector’s messages, they are spoken in an ancient dialect. Another attendant, a trained scribe, writes the messages down. They are also tape-recorded nowadays. But His Holiness understands them perfectly without translation—even when the scribe sometimes doesn’t!

Q: Please tell me the history of the Oracle’s complex and heavy costume. Was it designed according to an enlightened master’s vision?

TN: It was designed according to a vision of Desi Sangye Gyatso, the regent of the Fifth Dalai Lama. It was he who completed the building of the Nechung Monastery. At that time, he offered the ritual outfit to the medium, who smiled broadly and said: “This costume is so amazing that it would be an object of pride even in the God realms!”

Q: You clearly have a close karmic relationship with the Protector. Have you perhaps served as his kuden in previous lives?

TN: I am very possibly reincarnated as kuden from previous lives. But this does not work in the same way as with most tulkus, who are recognized very young. For one thing, you have to be at least teenaged for the Protector to take possession. So reincarnation is not linear, as with tulkus. One might be reincarnated from a much earlier kuden.

Q: Kuden-la, in this time of danger what advice do you have for Buddhist practitioners and non-practitioners?

TN: Practice is beyond religion. His Holiness [the Dalai Lama] always advises each person to engage in his own tradition, putting his heart into the practice while respecting other traditions. Also, remember that the leaders of each faith have appeared at different times. Christ appeared at a different time from the Buddha, and even within Tibetan Buddhism the founders of the four lineages appeared at different times. It’s for the sake of our different needs and dispositions that different teachers have come in a particular order. If you have no religion, it is still important to have right conduct. That makes one’s life better, and those around one happier.

Q: Can you tell us about the Protector’s origins, and how he and Chenrezig, as embodied by the Dalai Lama, work together? Is his function, like that of His Holiness, expanding beyond Tibet to global concern?

TN: There are four types of enlightened activity: Peace, Increase, Power, and Wrath. His Holiness, as the embodiment of Chenrezig, manifests the first two types, while all Dharmapalas [protectors], including Nechung Dorje Drakden who possesses the Nechung kuden, manifest the latter two. But though the Protector’s appearance is wrathful, he is inwardly love—like a mother being strict with her children, though she has love and care for them. There is only a projection of wrath. As to the Protector’s relationship with Chenrezig, this goes back aeons, to an Indian king who was a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, and his protector, Dharmazala. Within recorded history, Nechung dwelt in Bhata Hor in Mongolia. When Padmasambhava brought Buddhism to Tibet 1300 years ago, he faced many obstacles. He therefore deemed it necessary to bring forth a guardian—one with a strong connection to Chenrezig—who would protect the teachings in their entirety. So Muni Tsenpo, who was King Trisong Deutsen’s son, sent an intermediary to Mongolia to bring back the Protector. To effect this, there was an outer appearance of a war, including the capture of vessels belonging to the Protector. These included a raksha skin mask, a turquoise statue of Tara, and a mother-of-pearl statue of Chenrezig. These were the physical base of the Protector, who was bound to oath by Padmasambhava to become the guardian of Tibet and its Buddhist doctrine. As to the origin of the Protector’s appearance through a physical medium, it began with the third Dalai Lama. When the second Dalai died, he went to a Pure Land, where he told Padmasambhava that he did not wish to return to this world. Padmasambhava advised him to take rebirth because of the importance of his role as Avalokiteshvara, but that to help him he, Guru Rinpoche, would send him two protectors—one red, one black. The red referred to Nechung, and the black to Palden Lhamo. But it was in the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama, when the Nechung Monastery was completed, that the institution of the Nechung Protector became official. Today, the Protector is possibly expanding his concerns. He protects all those who pay attention to karma. Whoever directs their actions positively is protected.

Q: Who have been your principal teachers?

TN: My first teaching was from HH the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. Ling Rinpoche, his senior tutor, was also very kind to me, and gave me my novice vows. In addition, I received teaching from Kalu Rinpoche, Trulshig Rinpoche, and Sakya Trizin, who gave me the Thirteen Golden Dharmas. The previous Nechung Rinpoche gave me teachings, as well.

Q: During the time before the present Nechung Rinpoche took rebirth, you had administrative as well as ritual responsibilities in running the monastery. Now that he has been discovered and installed, are your burdens any lighter?

TN: The Nechung Rinpoche and the Kuden are considered equals. They have the same size throne. So if the Kuden is absent, the Nechung Rinpoche leads the rituals, but otherwise I, as kuden, still have to lead the pujas.

Q: I have heard something about your making sacred sculptures. Could you elaborate on this?

TN: In Nechung’s tradition there are two routes a monk can take. Of course, all of us have to learn the basic scriptures, but after that we can either focus on making mandalas, tormas, and so forth, or we focus on chants and recitations. Since I had an inclination toward the artistic, I concentrated on making tormas, and I became the principal Ritual Master to the Oracle’s previous kuden. But I never created metal sculpture. Since I was appointed kuden, I only do a little painting—things like opening the eyes of sculpted deities.

Q: Is your visit to the West inspired by the Protector or mandated by HH the Dalai Lama?

TN:Neither, though any time I take a trip I have to inform His Holiness of where I am going and for how long. In 2001 I took on, as a personal commitment, the rebuilding of the Drepung Deyang Monastery in Mundgod, complete with a medical clinic for both lay and ordained. The Drepung and Nechung monasteries are very closely related. A chief disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa, Jamyang Choje, was urged to establish a monastery for the study of the Gelukpa teachings, and this became Drepung. In turn, his disciple, Lama Jangchub Palden, founded Deyang, one of the colleges of Drepung. Later, in a vision, he saw that articles belonging to the Nechung Protector would come down the river and land on the bank below Drepung. When these items, in their leather box, indeed came down the river, one of his attendants picked the box up. But as it became very heavy, he opened it out of curiosity. A dove flew out and vanished into a drowa tree. When Lama Jangchub Palden learned of this, he decided it would be auspicious to establish a monastery there which, in accordance with a prophecy of Padmasambhava, he called Nechung—literally, “small site,” in contrast to Samye Monastery, which was also called Nechen, or “large site,” and was the original seat of the Protector. “The place is small, but the Protector is great,” said Jangchub Palden. Thus, he became the builder of both Deyang and Nechung monasteries.

New Delhi, Aug 28 : Reacting to the Chinese refusal to receive Lt. Gen. B.S.Jaswal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the response of the Indian Government should have been more stringent and adequate.

“An abrasive attitude towards Indian sensitivities and helping India’s enemies has become a hall mark of China’s India policy while carrying on trade and commerce activities which are heavily in its favour,” said BJP national spokesperson Tarun Vijay.

“At a time when Kashmir is on a boil, supported and guided by Pakistan, China has shown its Pro-Pakistan attitude by refusing to welcome Lt. Gen Jaswal thus boosting the morale of anti-Indian separatists. The defence exchanges do serve a purpose under an appropriate atmosphere and such exchanges occur between the two institutions, in the present incident, between members of Indian Armed Forces and Peoples’ Liberation Army.

“…China has done exactly the opposite of what was expected of such visits. The response of Indian govt. to Chinese arrogance is sheepishly low key and inadequate to say the least,” Vijay said.

He further said the Congress-led UPA government must ask Beijing what will be its response if the issues of Tibet’s freedom and Xinxiang’s disputed merger with mainland land China, against which a strong movement is building up amongst the Uyghur people is opened by India.

“It’s not Lt. Gen. Jaswal who has been snubbed but the sovereignty of the Tricolour has been hurt. Of late under UPA dispensation the honour of Tricolour has been shrinking. Those who wear tricolor, the Indian citizens, are not only refused visa, if they are residents of Kashmir and Arunachal, but the protectors of the Tricolour, army commanders, too are embarrassed bringing down India’s prestige in global quarters,” he said.

“India must answer befittingly to the Chinese arrogance and make it feel the economic punch. Merely cancelling two low level delegations to China carry no conviction of the Indian govt to protect the honour of its citizens and the protectors of India’s sovereignty- the Forces,” Vijay added.

China had reportedly denied visa to Lt General B S Jaswal, General Officer Commanding in Chief, because he is posted in Jammu and Kashmir, which China calls a disputed territory.

His visa was denied when as part of a high-level exchange visit to China in August, Jaswal was nominated by the Indian defence ministry.

–IBNS