Tibet, the real, new Shangri-La!

If one wanted to know what life in a Utopian society feels and ‘tastes’ like, one would have to live there for some time and be a member of that society, and live through all their experiences, as if being one of them. Live all their hopes and fears, their anxieties and joys, and their frustrations and pains.


Tibet is a very fortunate country, indeed.
Tibetans have the Han Chinese who take care of pretty much everything for them.

The Han Chinese build roads, and railways, so that their military can be deployed at much faster rates, and be on the spot almost instantly wherever the Tibetan people need them for their protection.
These same roads also facilitate the movement of Han Chinese settlers who will charitably occupy the land which the Tibetans have so willingly and generously donated to the Han Chinese Communist Government.
In return the Tibetans enjoy the privilege of having the option of buying into nicely grey tinged, walled in housing complexes in remote areas, which are too far for any work to commute to. In these housing complexes they enjoy the protection of the PAP, People’s Armed Police, day and night, just in case some untoward event should befall the Tibetan community while herded into this walled in reservation, lacking any such awful modern distractions, as running water, electricity or a reticulated sewerage system.
Of course, if the Tibetans don’t opt into this scheme, then they will enjoy the gracious custody of the Han Chinese in a more smallish confinement.

Tibetans don’t have to bother with their ancient, awkward language, for it will not get them anywhere, anywhere at all. Mandarin is the language of this paradise and Tibetans can enjoy everything they need to know on tv, radio, or print, all in Mandarin, right there pre-digested and in simple form, so all can understand the profound truths they convey. They’re also reminded not to be so foolish to ever use their deprecated language for any purpose whatsoever in Tibet, for this might not be the most prudent thing to do.

Tibetans are also spared the bother of wasting their time queuing up for any social services, government schemes, or health care services, for more often that not they’ll always find Han Chinese in front of them, regardless how long hey wait. These services were never meant for Tibetans anyway, and they wouldn’t be able to afford any such scheme in any case. Great time saver indeed, and in reality an inverse discrimination!

The Han Chinese also take care of all the natural resources on behalf of the Tibetans, they will extract these for them, and use those very roads to ship them away from Tibet into the safe hands of Han Chinese, out east. These same Han Chinese also have already clear felled just about all the ancient forests and left the hillsides denuded and open to erosion, so that the Tibetans don’t ever again need to worry about some ‘evil spirits’ living in the woods.

The Han Chinese also have, free of charge, rendered huge tracts of land, and groundwater supplies so contaminated with nuclear and chemical waste that Tibetans don’t have to worry about cultivating this land ever again, or using the groundwater for irrigation, drinking or any purpose whatsoever, for eternity. Really a great boon to the Tibetans this, when they have so much land and so few people to take care of it.

The Tibetans also enjoy free patriotic education during their working time, when they would otherwise have to work to earn a living, that is, if they are unfortunate enough to be in employment.
This free education will really get their employment prospects up, being able to say “the Dalai Lama is a separatist and splittist”, and “the CCP is our real Buddha”, and “the Motherland will never be split by the evil DL clique”, very useful – and free of course. They can pass a test after this education programme to prove their academic prowess in being able to repeat the Han Chinese’s highly intellectual musings.
Every Han Chinese employer can check this diploma and decide how useful it is for the job applied, or already held. Though it is not the norm that Han Chinese would employ Tibetans, for the Han Chinese will rather employ other Han Chinese, so that the Tibetans don’t have to work and can enjoy a long, healthy fast.
Of course if they happen to fail that test then, being a monk for instance, they wouldn’t need to go back to arduous monastic life, or as an employee, go back to their boring jobs.

And the Tibetans don’t need to run their own government, the Han Chinese do it all happily for them.
The Han Chinese will tell them how to run every aspect of their lives, what is allowed and what is tolerated, and what will get them into First Class Han Chinese accommodation, where they will enjoy some very special massages and electric titillation, how kind and convenient of the Han Chinese.
Tibetans rarely come back to tell of this wonderful experience they’ve enjoyed while in the care of the Han Chinese. Their relatives are also spared the expense of a burial, and the sight of their love one, for this could really upset them. The Han Chinese will take care of the body for them, free of charge of course.
Most often the Han Chinese won’t upset the relatives by informing them about the untimely departure of their love ones, for this would only cause them grieve.

The Tibetans don’t even have to write their own history for the Han Chinese have already kindly written it for them, a great service for the Tibetans, for they had a very contrary, and obviously erroneous account of their own history.
They foolishly thought, along with all the eminent historians and international law experts, that they were an independent and sovereign country.

Tibetan women don’t have to bear more than one child, for even though they are exempt from the one child policy, they get sterilisation on the spot from roaming Han Chinese teams catching them like some stray dogs on the road.
They don’t even have to go to a clinic, for this treatment, it is carried out on the spot by wonderfully unqualified teams of Han Chinese, who out of the goodness of their hearts, will give this service freely so that Tibetans don’t multiply beyond their own ‘good’ for their creed. It would be a shame if there would be too many recipients of such Han Chinese generosity in this paradise created by them.

Now just recently the Tibetans are the lucky beneficiaries of a Closed Circuit TV, CCTV, surveillance system, the SkyNet.
This system allows the Han Chinese to oversee the whole of Tibet, every prefecture, every town, every village, all over, everywhere where Tibetans live there are CCTV systems installed, just to ensure their safety, day and night.

In fact, Tibetans are really well taken care of, right now there are thousands in the pampering care of the Han Chinese, and almost all have enjoyed their special massages and electric titillation, some even have been treated to a special kind of water treatment.
Many, many more have already been through this treatment and have already been released again.
Many of the released Tibetans now no longer need to work, for their wonderful experience has given them a special yearning, and now they are just looking forward to their early departure from this incarnation, just as many already have departed, thanks to the special treatment by the Han Chinese.

Sadly, soon there won’t be any Tibetans left to enjoy all these benefits bestowed by the Han Chinese, for the plans the Han Chinese have for them and their land they so erroneously think of as their homeland, will see them rendered invisible, a minute forgotten minority, a creed delivered into oblivion, razed from their land and erased from the world’s conscience.


Now if this is a Utopian society, and Orwell has not, in his wildest imagination, envisaged anything like this ever being visited upon this planet, let alone in the enlightened 21st century, then how can anyone know what it would feel like to live there?


Of course this a is a very abridged account of life in this Utopian society, there are many more benefits these people, called Tibetans, are able to enjoy.

Like free Fear, real Fear, Fear down through to the bone, Fear day and night, Fear of what is going to happen next, will they be arrested for no reason at all and end up enjoying this special Han Chinese treatment they give so freely while in their tender care, and from which they most likely will never emerge again ………

Well, as enunciated before, just a Utopian Society!

Such unspeakable barbarity could never be perpetrated by one creed against another, be it out of wanton callousness, greed, and or ignorance.
Ignorance of the circularity of one’s deeds, the karmic dividends ensuing from every thought, utterance and deed!

Humans would never be capable of descending to such depraved depths, a hell below, and beyond animalistic behaviour, not in the 21^st century, not ever, surely?



FOOTNOTE:
And in case you’re wondering, of course, this is all just made up; a CIA / USA / Western Powers / Media Propaganda beat up, lies, lies and more lies to besmirch the benevolent Han Chinese Communists who are not really barbaric and racist like this at all. This is just all part of a vile Western conspiracy to vilify the wonderful Han Chinese and put them back into their place!

And yes, all the Tibetan eyewitnesses, the people with first hand experiences, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, all the Independent Researchers, all the people who fled from this Shangri-La and related their first hand accounts about life there, of course they are all in on it, they too are all unconscionable Liars ; for there is no truth like the CCP’s own sweet, palatable truth!

Just a Utopian Society, obscured and hidden from the conscience of the world by mist and clouds, behind the world's highest mountains!


Continue reading here:
Can the Olympic Spirit survive?
Fervent Chinese Nationalism?
In the spirit of the Olympics, indeed!
Letter to Hu Jintao
Of Patriotism and Motherlands.
Cultural Genocide?

The rape of Tibet

The CCP’s Propaganda machine is in overdrive telling the world what China is ‘investing’ and spending on ‘developing’ Tibet, and how much it is helping Tibetans to achieve better living standards!
Here are some sobering facts behind this propaganda drive:


By Partha Gangopadhyay

China is incurring huge expenditure in transferring and consolidating the Chinese population in Tibet. Massive investment has been made to build a network of modern highways all over Tibet. China can also boast of having laid the highest railway track in the world that connects Lhasa with Beijing. In fact, China often complains that its "civilizing" mission in Tibet is costing the government and people of China large amounts in terms of subsidies to an under-developed region. According to official Chinese statistics, the level of annual subsidies to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in the late 1980s was around 1 billion yuan or $270 million. However, all the infrastructure that China has built in Tibet has not made the lives of the native Tibetans any better; it has only taken the exploitative apparatuses of the Chinese government deeper.





China's Ministry of Land and Resources has announced monumental new resource discoveries all across Tibet. The findings are the culmination of a secret seven-year, $44 million survey project, which began in 1999. More than 1,000 researchers were divided into 24 separate groups and fanned out across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to geologically map the entire Tibetan region. Their findings have lead to a discovery of 16 major new deposits of copper, iron, lead, zinc and other minerals worth an estimated $128 billion. These discoveries add to Tibet's proven deposits of 126 minerals, with a significant share of the world's reserves in lithium, chromite, copper, borax, and iron. "Lack of resources has been a bottleneck for the economy," Meng Xianlai, director of the China Geological Survey, had once complained in his statements. The discoveries in Tibet "will alleviate the mounting resources pressure China is facing."





Tibet is now said to hold as much as 40 million tons of copper - one third of China's total, 40 million tons of lead and zinc, and more than a billion tons of high-grade iron. Among the Tibet discoveries is China's first substantial rich-iron supply. A seam called Nyixung, is alone expected to contain as much as 500 million tons. That's enough to reduce Chinese iron import by 20 per cent. The new copper reserves are no less substantial. A 250-mile seam of the metal has been found along Tibet's environmentally sensitive Yarlung Tsangpo Gorge. One mine there, called Yulong, already described as the second-largest reserve in China, is now estimated to hold as much as 18 million tons, according to the government news site Xinhua and could soon become the largest copper mine in the country, helping to feed China's increasing demand of the metal used for electrical wiring and power generation. China, which until now has imported much of its copper from Chile, is estimated to hold 5.6 per cent of the world's copper and is its seventh largest producer.





The riches that China expects to extract from Tibet in the near future, perhaps better explains the money that China annually spends on Tibet than the empty claims of modernizing Tibet.





In fact, an official web site of China has itself disclosed that "Once-quiet, northern Tibet has become a scene of bustle and excitement since a number of inland enterprise marched into the region in response to the government call for speeding up the development of western China. Northern Tibet has more than 200 mining areas with 28 kinds of mineral ores, and is rich in oil and hot springs."



The China National Star Petroleum Corporation and the China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation have recently dug up the first oil well in the Lunpola Basin, which has a proven oil reserve of three million tons. This reserve is in addition to the over one million tons of crude oil that Amdo's oil fields produce per year. Further, the Chinese have opened two alluvial gold mines in Nagqu and built a gem processing plant in Lhasa. Soinam Dorje, an official of the Nagqu Prefecture, has welcomed inland and foreign investors to exploit the gold, oil and antimony resources on the plateau of northern Tibet. This also goes far to explain the need to invest in infrastructure all over Tibet. Apart from its rich mineral wealth, Tibet has many other resources that may provide China the edge in its race to emerge as the world's richest economy.



The volume of timber that China has taken away from Tibet itself far exceeds the amount that it has spent to build the infrastructural facilities in Tibet. In 1949, Tibet's ancient forests covered 221,800 sq km. By 1985 they stood at 134,000 sq km - almost half. Most forests grow on steep, isolated slopes in the river valleys of Tibet's low-lying south-eastern region. The principal types are tropical montane and subtropical montane coniferous forest, with spruce, fir, pine, larch, cypress, birch, and oak among the main species. The tree line varies from 3,800 mt in the region's moist south to 4,300 mt in the semi-dry north. Tibet's forests were primarily old growth, with trees over 200 years old predominating. The average stock density is 272 cubic mt/ha, but U-Tsang's old growth areas reach 2,300 cubic mt/ha - the world's highest stock density for conifers. Once pristine forests are reached, the most common method of cutting is clear felling, which has led to the denudation of vast hill sides. Timber extraction until 1985 totaled 2,442 million cubic mt, or 40 per cent of the 1949 forest stock, worth $54 billion.



Deforestation is a major source of employment in Tibet: in the Kongpo area of the TAR alone, over 20,000 Chinese soldiers and Tibetan prisoners are involved in tree felling and transportation of timber. In 1949, Ngapa, in Amdo, had 2.20 million hectares of land under forest cover. Its timber reserve then stood at 340 million cubic mt. In the 1980s, it was reduced to 1.17 million hectares, with a timber reserve of only 180 million cubic mt. Similarly, during 30 years, till 1985 China exploited 6.44 million cubic mt of timber from Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. As new roads increasingly penetrate remote areas of Tibet, China is finding new excuses to increase the rate of deforestation in the region.



China's primary objective of constructing roads in Tibet is to deploy occupying forces like the People's Liberation Army, along with defence materials, and immigration of Chinese, as well as to exploit the natural resources of Tibet, which are transported primarily to China. Roads may run through most Tibetan villages, but a public transport system is almost non-existent in the majority of rural Tibet. The Chinese modern means of transport do not benefit the majority of Tibetans. Tibetans in most places continue to use horses, mules, yaks, donkeys and sheep as modes of transportation. Thus, the Chinese claim of investing heavily in "civilizing" the Tibetans is one of the most shameless lies that one can perpetuate.



The Tibetan plateau gives birth to some of the longest rivers of the world; The Machu (Huang Ho, or Yellow River), the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), the Drichu (Yangtze), and the Senge Khabab (Indus). Tibet also has over 2,000 natural lakes spread over a combined area of more than 35,000 sq km, some of which are sacred and play a special role in local culture. Steep slopes and the abundant water of these rivers and lakes make them extremely valuable as sources of hydroelectric power. Tibet has an exploitable hydropower potential of 250,000 megawatts, the highest of any country in the world and the TAR alone has a potential of 200,000 megawatts. China has built some large hydroelectricity projects all over Tibet. These projects are designed to tap Tibet's hydro potential to provide power and other benefits to the Chinese population and industries both in Tibet and China.



While the Tibetans are displaced from their homes and lands, tens of thousands of Chinese workers are brought up from China to construct and maintain these dams. Take the case of the Yamdrok Yutso hydropower project. The Chinese claim that this project will greatly benefit the Tibetans. The Tibetan people in general, particularly the late Panchen Lama and Ngapo Ngawang Jigme, opposed and effectively delayed its construction for several years. The Chinese, nevertheless, went ahead with the construction and with the help of more than 1,500-strong PLA troops are guarding the construction area and no civilians are allowed near it. But the environmental, human and cultural toll of these hydroelectricity projects will have to be borne by the Tibetans. Tibet also possesses high solar energy potential per unit only after the Sahara, an estimated annual average of 200 kilocalorie/cm, as well as significant geothermal resources. Despite such abundant potential from small, environmentally-benign sources, the Chinese have built huge dams, such as Longyang Xia, and are continuing to do so, such as the hydropower station at Yamdrok Yutso. Tibet is made to play a pivotal role in fulfilling the huge demand for power in China at the cost of its own helpless, poor natives.



Furthermore, Tibet has been made a hub of nuclear facilities. This reduces the radioactive risks that China could suffer if an accident takes place in such installations. Again, since such facilities are located in a colonized region, the Chinese authorities do not take the necessary precautions that are mandatory for such facilities. Official Chinese pronouncements have confirmed the existence in Tibet of the biggest uranium reserves in the world. Apart from Amdo, since 1976 uranium has been mined and processed in the Thewo and Zorge regions of Kham also. According to reports, the uranium mining and processing in Tibet is done with unforgivable callousness. The Ninth Academy, China's Northwest Nuclear Weapons Research and Design Academy in Tibet's north-eastern area of Amdo, is reported to have dumped an unknown quantity of radioactive waste on the Tibetan plateau, according to a report released by International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington, D.C.-based organization:





"Waste disposal methods were reported to be casual in the extreme. Initially, waste was put in shallow, unlined landfills... The nature and quantity of radioactive waste generated by the Ninth Academy is still unknown... During the 1960s and 1970s, nuclear waste from the facility was disposed of in a roughshod and haphazard manner. Nuclear waste from the academy would have taken a variety of forms - liquid slurry, as well as solid and gaseous waste. Liquid or solid waste would have been in adjacent land or water sites."



Given the fact that underground water supplies in Amdo have been diminishing at a rapid rate and usable underground water is very limited, the radioactive contamination of groundwater is of great concern in the region. Many local Tibetans have died after drinking contaminated water near a uranium mine in Ngapa, Amdo. They have also reported deformed birth of humans and animals.





The existence of Chinese nuclear bases and nuclear weapon manufacturing centres in Tibet has been reported from time to time. China is reported to have stationed approximately 90 nuclear warheads in Tibet. (The Northwest Nuclear Weapons Research and Design Academy or the Ninth Academy, the most secret organization in China's entire nuclear programme and an important and high security military weapons plant, is based at Dhashu (Chinese: Haiyan), which is in the Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It was responsible for designing all of China's nuclear bombs through the mid-70s. It served as a research centre for detonation development, radiochemistry and many other nuclear weapons related activities. It also assembled components of nuclear weapons. Several missile bases are located to the south of Lake Kokonor in Amdo, and Nagchukha. Another nuclear missile site in Tibet is located at Delingha, about 200 km south-east of Larger Tsaidam. It also houses DF-4s, and is the missile regimental headquarters for Amdo, containing four associated launch sites. It has been reported a number of times that China has carried out chemical defence manoeuvres in the high altitude zones of Tibet. There are also reports that China has been conducting nuclear tests in several areas of Tibet in order to determine radiation levels on the human population.



Not only is its economy, China's military might too is growing because of its colonization of Tibet.



China is exploiting far more from Tibet than what it is giving back. While China is proudly hosting the Olympics with its spectacular stadia and dazzling shows, the future of Tibet is turning gloomier.




http://woodsmoke.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/how-china-is-plundering-the-natural-resources-of-tibet/


- Partha Gangopadhyay

Buddhism an anti religion Religion?

Religion is a belief system based on faith in a supernatural being, power or entity, or the plurals thereof, which is usually regarded as omniscient, omnipotent and the creator or originator of all that we perceive.

These attributes imply that everything, our every thoughts and deeds, are under the scrutiny of this supernatural agency.
This leads to a prescribed set of conduct for the faithful to follow, and to the ceremonial worship of this deity, to please and appease it through rituals and practices.

Through the supernatural properties attributed to them, these deities acquire the exalted status of being considered divine, infallible, sacred and sacrosanct.

All this formalizes and institutionalizes the belief system into a religion, where followers have a prescribed framework of spiritual practices, beliefs, set of answers, and a code of conduct to lead their lives by.

Followers of religions usually find that their practise provides a measure of solace, succour, belonging, direction and meaning to their lives. And this is probably the core essence most followers would derive and behold of religion, though this may not necessarily concur with the intended function by the originator(s) of the religion.

Inherent in any belief system is the implicitly assumed quality of intrinsic wisdom, truth or knowledge it contains and provides.
Though some religions go beyond the simple prescription of dogma and explicitly claim exclusive rights to such ‘truths’, and also concurrently create demarcations for their followers from ‘non believers’, brandishing the latter as “infidels, heretics, judases, godless, agnostics, or any such label designed to denigrate non followers and to elevate their own flock.

One of the definitions of a meme/cult is the explicit insistence of exclusive tenure to the truth; in whatever guise this truth may manifest itself with the religion in question.
This is manifested in circulatory self attestation; a train of reasoning reliant on acceptance, at blind faith, of any one of the arguments in the circle.
One other defining notion for a cult is the portrayal of their dogma as being the true, primary essence of the core religion it derives its canon from; i.e. fundamentalism.
A third element employed by cults is fear; if a member does not wholly acquiesce and dedicate his life to, and faithfully follows the dogma, wrathful vengeance will be incurred.

Most religions contain elements of circulatory reasoning, fundamentalism and fear, so there is a fine borderline between a religion and a cult.

Belief systems and religions per se, and cults in particular, have a tendency for their followers to acquire traits of self righteousness, exclusivity, condescension and derision.
Their religion/belief becomes an all consuming aspect, point of reference, and the meaning of life itself.

Nothing has any meaning until we, us sentient beings, attach any such meaning to it.

And this really is the essence.
To make sense of, or understand anything with our ordinary mind, meaning thereof can only be derived through reference to past experiences, acquired knowledge, or accepted truths at faith.

As per the last point, belief in any religion or dogma literally is a leap of faith; for to believe is to subordinate logic, reason and analytical thinking to faith in the veracity of prescribed answers and meaning. Answers which are readily provided and enshrined in organized religions.


Now what if there were a framework which dispensed with prescribed dogma, would negate the existence of intrinsic truth, and would not even tender prescribed tenets unless they could be verified as bona fide by the practitioner itself?

A framework where the practitioner is the discoverer, judge and verifier of truths him, or herself all in one, and progress on the ‘spiritual path’ is not advanced unless such verification has been accomplished at each step along the way.

Where referential thinking quintessentially is anathema, and deemed an encumbrance, and contrary to arriving at the truth.

Where in fact the conquest, and escape from the tyranny of the genes and memes is the prime, and quintessential focus of the practice.

Now, such a framework would in fact have to liberate the mind, allow unconditioned, analytical investigation and examination of any issue concerning mankind.
It would facilitate unprecedented personal growth, for humanity to achieve a new level of comprehension, interaction and approach to dealing with hitherto intractable problems besetting humanity.
If practised universally, this framework could even lead to mankind achieving a harmonious existence; humanity living in peace with itself, and in harmony with nature!


Buddhism is fundamentally at variance with the accepted definitions of religions.
It is indeed all of the above, and more.

Buddhism is:

• Non theistic; there is no supernatural, almighty being commonly referred to as God, Allah etc.

• Unquestioning faith is anathema to Buddhism. (see above)

• One’s fate is the result of one’s own actions: karma. There is no fate in the sense of punishment or reward dished out by a benevolent or vengeful deity.

• There is no surrender to any god, dogma or practice. It is in fact unconditioned, single pointed, mindful practice which is required.

• There is no dogma, word of god, or holy scripture transmitted through any agency, such as a prophet. The Dharma exists independent of any framework, it may be discovered by any sentient being.

• It is not enough to just do good with reward in mind. Compassionate deeds require true altruistic motivation for merit to arise. Attachment to good deeds defiles the actions and their karmic dividends.

• Buddhist compassion and considerations extend to all sentient beings; animals are part of our ambit of compassionate responsibility.

• Buddhism has neither heaven nor hell. The various realms described in Buddhism are the result of karmic effects. Just as this incarnation is a mind attached to a biological body, the mind can undergo experiences in different realms, hellish or heavenly, according to one’s karma. (dreams are but an indication of these realms the mind can undergo)

• Buddhism is not prescribed as a doctrine or dogma one needs to follow for ‘salvation’, and if a practitioner strays from the path there is no revenge or retribution.

• No almighty god is enacting upon, or interfering in our lives, or the universe. Dependent Origination, or Conditioned Arising explains all physical and psychological phenomena in scientific terms.

• No concept of blasphemy, desecration, sin, or infidel, for there is no sacrosanct dogma, relic or sacred deity.

Taking all the main points of difference into account, Buddhism in essence is diametrically opposed to religion.

Buddhist practices explicitly involve:

• The abandonment of all referential thinking. No truth to be accepted unless it is personally experienced and verified.

• The training of the mind to conquer the tyranny of the memes and genes; to be one’s own master; be in control of one’s destiny.

• Take responsibility for one’s own actions, for karmic effects will ensue from every thought, pronouncement and deed. There is no escape from karma. No vengeful god, fate or bad luck.

• The training of the mind to abandon all attachments and aversions, and pursue compassion with indiscriminate detachment. The four Immeasurables: Love, Compassion, Equanimity, Joy are a practice to clear the mind of preconditioned and ingrained desires and disdains arising from conditioned and referential thinking.



Buddhism in essence is the anti religion ‘Religion’ (or ‘Framework’, for want of a better expression), the Science of the Mind, and the tool for the liberation of one’s mind.

Alas, it seems that humanity is not ready to have that comfort soother religion pulled out just yet.
And the practice of Buddhism is, by any measure, but iron discipline & self control, and extremely diligent, arduous practice!


Footnotes:
Buddhism is self deprecating in the sense that it lays no specific claim to any truth or knowledge. In fact it describes itself as merely being the finger pointing at the moon, and once the moon is spotted the finger becomes redundant.

The appearance of Buddhism as a religion with ritualized worship, ceremonies and offerings by the masses is merely superficially valid.
Buddhas are the liberated minds of Buddhist practitioners having attained enlightenment; the objective of Buddhism. They chose to remain in this realm to assist and guide other sentient beings through their endless cycle of incarnations.
The reverence paid to the Buddhas is an expression of gratitude, as in the case of Buddha Sakyamuni for the discovery and dissemination of the Dharma, and Buddhas generally are revered for their guidance and compassion. Of course there are many variances in the many different traditions, but on the whole all the above points are applicable to Buddhist traditions in general.


It is apparent that Reincarnation, and the realm of Becoming, the state in between incarnations, has amply been validated through scientific research. Jim Tucker is but one such exponent, and has made his research available in his book ‘Life before Life’.

Can the Olympic Spirit survive? Atrocities in Tibet belie the glitz and glamour!

When on the 8th of the 8th of 08, yes superstition lives on, the head of state of China opens the Olympic Games, and the world’s “Dignitaries” are at his feet, over one billion Chinese citizens are glued to their TV screens in adulation of their country’s glory, and the world at large has tuned in to watch this spectacle, he will bask in the grandeur of many who have gone before him in opening the ‘Nobel Games’.

This is the pride and glory, the country of the Han Chinese, will claim as recognition of their rightful place in the sun.
How rightful is this place?
Are the ‘dignitaries’ disgracing themselves by even attending these Olympics?
Should the Olympics have been awarded to China in the first place, and is China a worthy host for such a prestigious event?
The Chinese chose “One World one Dream” as the motto of these Olympics, so let’s see what sort of dream they’re referring to.

Here is a small selection of news reports which give but a tiny glimpse of a side of China many may not be aware of, or by all accounts, apparently do not really care about:


“On 15 July, Kunsang Tsering, a 22-year-old monk from Dhargye Langna monastery in Karze county, undertook a peaceful protest in front of the county Public Security Bureau (PSB) office. He was shot during his arrest by the PAP.

Tenzin Lhamo, a girl from Ugyen Mey village in Gaden Choekhor township, Lhundrup county, was given arbitrary sentence to 10 years of imprisonment for merely participating in a peaceful protest in Lhundrup county on 16 March. Samdup, a man from the same locality, was also sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Similarly, three others, including Kalden from Dhey village in Jangkha township, Lhundrup county, were sentenced to 20, 17 and 12 years in prison. Their details are not available.

Lobsang, a monk from Dzongkar monastery in Rebgong county, Tibet, was arrested in March from Lhasa. He was studying at the Drepung monastery in Lhasa during his arrest. Currently, he is being held in a prison in Gormo (Ch: Golmud) where he was also severely beaten.
Similarly, his friend Jigme Phuntsok was also arrested from Drepung monastery as reported earlier and then transferred to a prison in Gormo. It is reported that he died on 22 June from torture in prison.
Ngodup Dorjee, a 25-year youth from Phuk-Yi-Nang-Tsek-Lek village in Lhopa township, Karze county, staged a peaceful protest in the market of the county at 10:30 a.m. on 23 June.
During the protest, he shouted slogans such as “His Holiness the Dalai Lama should be invited to Tibet. We want religious freedom. Tibet belongs to Tibetan.” He was horribly beaten with metal batons by the People’s Armed Police (PAP) and then taken away.

From ABC Radio Australia reporting on a visit to Tibet by Dr. Powers:
Speaker: Dr Powers, a scholar in Tibetan religion and culture at the Australian National University

POWERS: Well, the most striking one was from a monk that I met at a Buddhist pilgrimage spot in China, who had escaped from a monastery in Eastern Tibet and he said that when he was there at his monastery, this was in late March, after the demonstration, some Chinese troops came into his monastery and started shooting the monks, randomly so it wasn’t that they were looking for people in the protest. It was pure retaliation for the fact that they protested. He said that three of his closest friends had been shot dead right in front of him. He started running, and he heard more shots and more monks falling and then he managed to escape travelling by night over the next couple of weeks and he has no idea of what actually happened, because he hasn’t been able to get any information in or out to his monastery.”

In June, Wanglo, a monk from the lower division of Tachok-tsang village in Serthar county, Tibet, was horribly beaten and arrested by the Chinese authorities concerned for taking photo of the ongoing “patriotic re-education” class in his village. When requested by his relatives for his release, the authorities demanded 20,000 Yuans as a punishment. Detailed information is not available.

Jigme Phuntsok, a 22-year monk from Drepung monastery, died from torture in a prison located in Amdo on June 22.

Media reports about transfer of a huge number of monks, who were arrested from Lhasa, Tibet, in March, to Gormo, Lanzhou, and other places are being confirmed.


On June 15, Tenzin was sentenced to 15 years for being one of the leaders of March protests, and Tenzin Gyatso for 13 years for replacing the Chinese flag with the Tibetan flag in a school in Dho-khor township.

Tibetan escapee recounts the horror of Chinese inhumanity

“There were gun shots and mass chaos while the streets were filled with smoke. I saw people around me fall down and my friend Nyima, was shot in the chest. A nun died in front of my eyes as did six others during the course of the demonstrations. The Army tanks were quick to come and clear up those who were either wounded or dead to dispose of any physical evidence.”

The Chinese raided our houses and confiscated our belongings. I had some 30-40,000 Chinese Yuan from my small business which the officials took away. My family in my native village later told me they had confiscated our ancestral property after they learned I had escaped into India,” he further added.

“Chinese officials torture Tibetan prisoners and extract false confessions out of them. They would only release Tibetans when there is no hope of the victims surviving from the wounds inflicted on them. Needless to say, they die in a day or two after being released from Chinese prisons.”

"In the beginning, many injured Tibetan protesters were taken to Chinese hospitals, where they were treated. Later, when injured Tibetans were taken to hospitals, they were detained instead of receiving medical attention. In fact, on the second day of the protests, even Tibetans who had bruises were treated as suspects and detained. So Tibetans who were injured had no choice but to wait for death … "

"Now, the situation for Tibetans in Lhasa is very tense. If a Tibetan argues over prices with a Chinese grocery-shop owner, the shop owner calls the police and the Tibetan is detained as a suspect. Any Tibetan without a residence permit is also detained. Even elderly Tibetans who cannot walk straight and Tibetan schoolchildren are searched. The Han Chinese don't need residence permits. Their spoken Mandarin language is itself their permit."

A report from multiple local sources the following day (also in Times of London) told the actual story. Police descended on the area, where hundreds of Tibetans were taking refuge in the mountains (after hundreds of others had been taken away by the security forces). Police had come to arrest a 22 year-old monk, Choetop, and shot him dead right then and there.
All this because Choetop had pulled down a Chinese flag a month earlier. The mouthpieces had called him an "insurgent leader."

"When I went to fetch some water for him, I saw another Khampa who had been hit and was bleeding. Later, I heard that the young boy died. He was only around 16. He had not even been in the protests. Even Lhakpa Tsering, who was killed, had gone to the hospital to see his mother and was shot on his way back. There was also a young girl of about 16 who had been shot. Her whole body was covered in blood—we could see only her white hand. Her mother was crying, since the girl was her only child. When other Tibetans tried to console her by putting some money in a box, she threw the box away. She said that her daughter had died in a good cause and that she had no regrets."
One night, I saw a Tibetan whose hands had been tied and pulled up behind his back. As he was being dragged away, he stumbled over a drain and fell. They beat him, and I heard them saying in Chinese, 'Shoot him!' 'Kill him!' On March 14 and 15, gunshots could be heard going off just like fireworks during festivities. We weren't allowed to go out. I also saw many young Chinese and Tibetan girls and women dressed in Tibetan clothes. I was told that they were all Chinese informers and that several of them had been 'planted' in the community."

"...My brother, who suffers from tuberculosis, my sister and two uncles, who have never been involved in any type of demonstration or protest, were detained without cause... My brother and sister were first taken... beaten with rifles, kicked and thrown into a truck. They were taken out of the city to an unknown location, and were put into a small concrete room with 400 other Tibetans. There were no washrooms, and they received no food, nor water for two days and nights. Hardly anyone could stand up by themselves because of the beatings.
When they released my brother and sister, they kept my brother's watch and his rosary, which had some semi-precious stones, and all the money they had (they don't use banks and keep most of their money on them)..."
“There may not be any more uprisings: There are troops in every town that has paved roads.
The army marches through town streets three times a day, paralyzing the Tibetans with fear. Surveillance cameras were installed in places that don't even have running water.”

Most of the Tibetan families whose loved ones were killed could not be traced. It was difficult to know whether they were alive or dead or under detention. Most of the dead bodies were taken away and disposed of by the Chinese."

Four Tibetans were killed by sniper fire while they were marching near Kirti monastery… Then a little later, another three were killed. They were shot from a distance.

"Five Tibetans succumbed to injuries at the nunnery hospital in Lhasa—it's the Tsangkhug nunnery in Lhasa. Two Tibetans who were at the hospital were injured and they complained their legs were broken. The body of a young boy is still lying here unclaimed. Several other dead bodies were brought, and many of them were claimed by relatives."—

Today when the Tibetans were demonstrating, many Tibetans were killed. We Tibetans had no weapons to fight back. When the Tibetans were gathered in front of the Jokhang [temple], the Chinese fired at us. I have personally seen more 100 Tibetans killed when the Chinese fired at the Tibetan crowd. It was the Chinese army who fired and that happened in Lhasa and I personally witnessed the tragedy. Many of those killed were young Tibetans, both boys and girls. ...It started around 10 a.m.

Tibetan businessmen across China have also been targeted with harsh restrictions. Reports from Beijing indicate that as many as 300 Tibetans in Beijing’s Sunday Market have been told to sell their homes and leave Beijing in the lead up to Olympics, implying that they’re being kicked out for good.”


The fate of thousands of monks and ordinary Tibetans remains unknown.
These people disappeared after being arrested, and their whereabouts or wellbeing is unknown.
Chinese authorities don’t inform relatives of arrested people, this way there is no trace back to summary executions and people who succumb to their torture while in custody of the Chinese.
The bodies of all so deceased torture victims and secretly executed detainees, are being withheld by the Chinese authorities and immediately cremated to avoid proof and photographic evidence being gathered.

The scale of the atrocities in Tibet is immense indeed, the entire Tibetan population of 7 million is being subjected to the most horrendous harassment, intimidation, wanton arrest, dispossession, disenfranchisement, summary execution, and much more.
The arrested are routinely, and almost without exception, tortured in the most horrific ways and countless have been rendered life long cripples, or have died as a result of the injuries sustained.
As a particularly insidious policy and ‘technique’, the occupying Chinese aim to inflict as much internal injuries, so as to render the victim certain to die from internal bleeding.

Is this the sort of county the IOC should have honoured with awarding the Olympics?

The world has been cowered into the most craven servitude to a regime which knows no scruples, shame nor civilities.
The Han Chinese CCP’s rule over a “China’, which is an imperial empire occupying huge swathes of lands which are ethnically distinct and sovereign countries in their own right, is far more brutal and racist than the old South Africa ever was.
The Uighurs, Mongols, Tibetans are not part of this self-assured China, and are unlikely to celebrate this feat of having the entire world cravenly at your feet; all for the sake of lucrative trade with the most populous nation.

Has the IOC ever contemplated the implications of being the facilitators of an Olympics, held under the darkest of clouds of the most overt racism, oppression and secretive mass murder?

These, indeed are the Han Chinese Games of Shame, though this nomer now seems ever more a gross understatement!

The Han Chinese populace is obliviously complicit, and has unwittingly been manipulated into this racist malevolence, and their culpability extends as far as their fervent, zealous denial, and their explicit support thereof.

It is time for an honest re-appraisal, and profound soul-searching on part of the perpetrators of such acts of barbaric atrocities in the 21st century.

We all need to constantly assess our own place, and the soundness of our actions, for if we let ourselves to be (mis)led, we will stray into dangerous territory bereft of conscious accountability, though accountability never ceases.

One world, one Nighmare.


Credits and news sources:
http://bhodrangzen.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-witnesses-are-saying.html
http://www.tibetoffice.com.au/update-tibet-25-june/
http://agamsgecko.blogspot.com/2008/07/they-shoot-monks-dont-they-new.html

Continue reading here:
Fervent Chinese Nationalism?
In the spirit of the Olympics, indeed!
Letter to Hu Jintao
Of Patriotism and Motherlands.
Cultural Genocide?

Fervent Chinese nationalism or just reflex?

Why are the Chinese, at least the Han Chinese that is, so fervently patriotic and hypersensitive when it comes to any criticism of Chinese, or rather their regime’s, the CCP’s, actions and (mis) deeds?


The power of constant inculcation on their subjects’ minds is such a powerful tool, totalitarian regimes like to exploit to the full.
In the case of China, the indoctrination has been polished and raised to new and unprecedented levels, and turned into an art form. It starts at an early age, and never ceases for Chinese citizen’s entire lives.

The CCP’s influence is all pervasive and ubiquitous indeed. Their tentacles extend into every aspect of Chinese citizen’s lives, and the party is almost omniscient in its awareness what the rank and file, every citizen is thinking and doing.

The Chinese Communist Party is organized in three tiers according to age.

The first encounter young, receptive minds have with Communist doctrine is in the ‘Young Pioneers’.
These are captured from the age 6 through to 14, and boasts a membership of about 125m.
It is structured along the lines of grassroots cells, and so has all the appearance of an organisation with democratic principles.

Except in the case of the CCP in whatever guise; Young Pioneers, Youth League or CCP, the command flow is strictly from the top down, and there is no probability that any ‘ideas’ will ever percolate their way up the chain for eventual consideration and inclusion into policy.

The Young Pioneers are organized into Small, Medium and Large Detachments, complete with Leaders, Deputies, and Committees in a hierarchical structure. These groups in turn are controlled by appointed adults drawn from the Communist Youth League.
Which budding future leader and up and coming highflier wouldn’t want to be part of such an important organisation, and assume an esteemed leadership role at the tender age of 6?

Being part of the YP is not just an exciting experience for the young child; to wear the red scarf, or being one of the crowd, or just the allure of holding an ‘important’ superior position; it is essential for survival and acceptance in a society where there is no tolerance of individuality or deviation from the ‘norm’.

During the Cultural Revolution this organisation was reorganized as the Little Red Guards and was an active protagonist in the mayhem and atrocities committed.
These little darlings were busy denouncing their own parents, family members and teachers, or anyone fitting the profile of the counterrevolutionary, and so reaped reward for their bravery and unflinching struggle for the cause of the party; bestowed by the party.

The motto of the YP is:
“Be ready to struggle for the Communist cause.”

With the refrain:
“Always be ready.”

At the age of fourteen members automatically graduate into the Communist Youth League of China, CYLC which boasts a membership of over seventy million.

The system rewards ‘loyalty’ and conformism and is geared to be completely exclusive, either you’re for the party or you’re a traitor and a bourgeoisie reactionary.

You’re not likely to get into any high ranking position in commerce, unless you’ve proven yourself to be a completely loyal and committed party member throughout your life. And of course political appointments are a direct result of having an impeccable record of membership from the Young Pioneers through to CYLC to the CCP, and unquestioning loyalty and compliance along party lines.

Independent thought is snuffed out before it has a chance to emerge. It would be foolhardy to voice any dissent in such a stifling atmosphere of absolute, uncompromising allegiance.

Conformism is all that counts, and the repetition of the Party’s doctrine and pronouncements is the only viable option available; and what ultimately is tolerated.
Anyone wanting to be accepted, and rewarded with privileges and promotion has no other choice; be a party hack or be ostracised and face a life strewn with hidden obstacles and glass ceilings.

The CCP of course maintains complete control over what the Chinese citizen is allowed to know, and what their version of the truth is.
The riots in Tibet provide a graphic example of this:

“BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The head of Tibet's regional government has denied that security personnel carried or used lethal weapons in dealing with the violent riots in Lhasa last Friday. “
"The security personnel showed restraint in the entire process of handling the incident," said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Autonomous Regional Government in Tibet, at a news briefing in Beijing on Monday.”

This in spite the world media being awash with reports from first hand eyewitness accounts in Tibet relating the hearing of gunshots, seeing monks and civilians gunned down and accounts of possibly hundreds killed by gunfire, and the (unexpected) emergence of pictures depicting dead Tibetans with gunshot wounds.

In the aftermath of the ‘riots’ every Tibetan house throughout Tibet was ransacked and searched, ostensibly to look for pictures of the Dalai Lama, the true target were pictures of the riots, as the CCP was desperate to avoid the emergence of photographic evidence which would provide graphic prove of the massacre perpetrated by the Han Chinese security forces.
Verbal accounts are much easier to dispel than photographic evidence.

But of course, these inversions of the facts by the CCP’s own media are mainly aimed at domestic consumption, so what the rest of the world thinks does not concern the Chinese media controllers.
And as there is no alternative news source allowed, the Chinese citizenry has no means of verifying the accuracy of Xinhua press releases.
Or more to the point, why would one even dare to doubt the veracity of the ‘motherly’ party’s version of events?

To this day there has only ever been
this version of events, which has been thoroughly discredited by the world’s independent press. But admissions or retractions are not part of CCP vocabulary.

The CCP’s sole raison d'être is selfpreservation, the grip onto exclusive, unfettered power.

The party rules by fear, the fear of being on the wrong side of the ‘law’, or more aptly, the fear of incurring the wrath of the party for whatever reason.
Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the constitution, so why is there no free press?

By the same token, constitutionally the party’s rule is completely sacrosanct and unchallengeable, and with it socialist thought, or more precisely whatever the party decrees and adopts as their dogma.

This ‘no go territory’ is so nebulous, far reaching and all encompassing that chances are that if you utter anything not already official party line, you might be inside this formless description of what is not allowed.

This enforces some very onerous self censorship; for being accused of being an enemy of the state could prove hazardous to one’s life indeed.

The Chinese ‘independent’ press just runs Xinhua press releases, this way they’re always sure of being inline with party doctrine and aren’t transgressing the foggy line into territory of offending the party.

This way the party has sole access to its citizen’s minds, and the constant fear factor imposes an all pervasive, self limiting censorship.

This lifelong, exclusive exposure to CCP propaganda cements in all the beliefs, doctrines, and the version of events the regime wants its population to behold.

All these instilled dogmas, doctrines and ‘facts’ become the only points of reference, and hence whatever is being assessed or reasoned over is judged against this all pervasive, exclusive ‘knowledge’ base.
It leaves no room for any lateral, independent or analytical thought.

Perhaps next time, on encountering a victim of such ‘programming’, it might be wise contemplating the futility of expending any energy attempting to have a reasoned debate which draws on logic, facts or proof.

To answer the title’s question; of course it is both, unfettered nationalistic patriotism, and a programmed reflex reaction arising from being denied the right of ever having to make choices, deliberating over the veracity and merits of pronouncements and never having the luxury of being allowed a healthy dose of scepticism.

We take it for granted to question, to probe, to seek alternative views and to debate, even just internally, issues at hand and so draw a reasoned conclusion on the merits and reliability of a story.
Sometimes we might be wrong, but at least we are open to accept alternative view points and opinions.
And for next time we will have learnt an incremental lesson and incorporated this into our understanding of the world, and so progressed a little along a path of eternal growth and learning.

No such cultivation of original, lateral and analytical thought for Chinese citizens.

Wouldn’t the hysterical nationalistic fervour, the frenzied demonstrations, the irrational calls for boycotts, witch hunts, vendettas and vitriolic persecution of perceived ‘Chinese traitors’, which has been sweeping (Han Chinese) China, graphically illustrate this?

Have your bowels been irritable lately? A tale of IBS gone, or even a cure for IBS?

A cure for IBS / Irritable Bowel Syndrome?


Don’t be put off by the title, there are no graphic descriptions about recalcitrant bowels, or emergency runs to the lavatory!

This is a personal story my friend would like to share with her fellow sufferers of IBS in the hope that it will be useful to someone, and alleviate, or even cure the suffering she has experienced for many years and knows so well.

Now if you’re like my friend, afflicted with IBS, you might have travelled from doctor to doctor, to herbalist, to quack, to find a remedy for your affliction, and in the process spent the equivalent of a ticket for a suite on QE II, upper deck no less, for a round the world cruise.
Or at least, the funds, which would get you into a small Castello on the Cinque Terre coast.

Her remedy will not cost you a penny, in fact it could safe you enough dosh to buy you a ticket on Branson’s inaugural spaceflight, if and when it takes off. And then at least you won’t have to worry about butterflies……..

Now, if your condition has the same underlying cause, and or your constitution is of a similar makeup, then this might just be the answer for you, or at least some help, or then again even just worth a trial.

To establish a loose connection at least, between my friend’s and anyone else’s condition, we have to digress somewhat into a healing system which recognizes and deals with the whole body/mind/spirit continuum; Traditional Chinese Medicine.

TCM describes various ‘patterns of disharmony’ which are the underlying causes for ailments and afflictions.
In the case of this friend, lets call her Annie, her pattern appears to be a case of internal heat. And this heat is mostly in the lower Triple Energizer, the area of the digestive visceral organs, and here apparently the intestinal tract is mostly affected.

This manifests in a tongue which is slightly red, and has a yellow coating.
Other diagnostic means TCM doctors employ is the palpation of the pulse. There are a myriad of pulse types describing various patterns of disharmony and invading evils causing illness.
But this diagnostic method is obviously beyond our ability to employ, so suffice to say that if your tongue has a yellow coating this may, note the rider, may, indicate that your pattern has similarities to Annie’s.
Other influences which may play a part are the Six Pernicious Influences, also called the Six Evils: Cold, Fire/Heat, Wind, Dryness, Dampness and Summer Heat.
These can be literal or more metaphysical concepts.

As we are not giving medical advice here, this is just a little background information to give some understanding to the workings, or cause of this disability and why Annie’s remedy worked for her.

Now Annie is an avid tea drinker and her favourite drink has long been Kukicha, a tea which almost entirely is constituted of just twigs from the Camellia sinensis tea bush. Hers is the roasted variety and I must say, it is the most delicious of beverages, has an irresistible aroma and a most palatable taste to match.

This is a great drink, is healthy, contains no caffeine to speak of, aids digestion and alkalises the blood in the process.
Her only downfall to all these benefits is that she loves to imbibe her Kukicha hot, piping hot, several cups of it.
Now I can empathize with anyone having a penchant for this drink, as it is deliciously irresistible, at least to us.

Now, this got us thinking, and the course of action devised was that my friend would try and give up her piping hot cuppas and see if it makes a difference to her IBS.

Now several years later of being completely restraint and disciplined, and having gone on the wagon of (exceedingly hot) Kukicha and food, her IBS has all but packed up and scuttled off to oblivion.

Now of course the same would also apply to any piping hot beverage or food; tea, milk, coffee, porridge, even just water, if it is too hot it will introduce heat into a body susceptible to such a pernicious extraneous influence!

Of course Kukicha in itself has a mildly warming energy, and hence this should be borne in mind and taken with care by people who are afflicted with IBS and or are subject to internal heat.

The gist of her cure is that she now refrains from imbibing anything hot; drinks, food; whatever passes her lips is either cold, or at least cool enough, that for any restaurant serving such tepid tucker it would earn them an ‘Avoid at all costs’ from even the most benevolent and mild mannered of food critics.

This might sound a tad eccentric, alas, it is a very small price to pay for the freedom from such an insidious affliction, which apparently can not only prove highly embarrassing, but be exceedingly painful and debilitating!

And now her drink is mostly cold water, not cold juice, or soft drinks, just plain cold water, cheap and mostly free from your local municipal water supply.

Of course she has a water filter removing the unwanted additives of mostly fluoride and chlorine. The take on these is that they are (very) detrimental to your health, but that will be another subject to explore some other time.

Other things to strictly avoid are foods that have ‘hot energies’. Into this category fall the following foods and herbs:

Dried Ginger, fresh Ginger, Cinnamon, Lemongrass, Chilly, Nutmeg, Capsicum

It might also be helpful to avoid:

Garlic, Vinegar, Pepper, Acidic Foods and Fruits, Soybean Oil, Pepper

This might be a starting point for experimentation and hopefully a lasting cure, at least for some unfortunate sufferers of this apparently mostly intractable affliction.

We now enjoy our Kukicha cold from the fridge; as it is the “heat”, literal and of the ‘energy’ type, which is causing the bowels to display these patterns of distress and discomfort.

Any feedback and experience with this simple method, pro and con, is very welcome.

Note:
This is not medical advice and is just an account of one person’s successful method, which has cured her affliction of IBS.