The Dalai Lama’s My Spiritual Journey presents this
Buddhist’s life with extraordinary love, compassion and foresight. It’s amazing to understand how at age two as
a child he was discovered through established traditional norms to be the
spiritual leader of Tibet. Raised in a
monastery under a regent the 14th Dalai Lama assumed his
responsibility at the age of sixteen when the Chinese first invaded his
ancestral home.
After failed negotiations with the People’s Republic
of China the Dalai Lama escaped via the Himalayas Mountains to India. While in Indian Territory with some eighty thousand refugees they re-established Tibet as a refugee nation under the auspices
of the Indian government. From their
external home in Dharamsala the Dalai Lama persevered in an ongoing campaign
with the Chinese officials for Tibet to be returned to Tibetans as an independent
country.
All these negotiations failed although the Dalai
Lama spelled out a Five-Point Peace Plan and had even agreed to drop its
demands of an independence homeland to that of having a truly authentic and autonomous
state. But the People’s Republic of
China viewed the Tibet-in-exile government with suspicion, and thought that
their sole intention was to gain independence for Tibet.
Since the 1950’s to the early 2000’s Chinese brutality has continued with thousands of Tibetans losing their lives, wounded,
and imprisoned. Many Tibetans have continued
to flee Tibet to neighboring countries, and died as they attempted to make
their way via the Himalayas Mountains.
And China has relocated many more Han Chinese to the Tibetan region
where they have now outnumbered Tibetans whose culture, language, and ecological
means of living have been decimated.
But Tenzin Gyasto, Tibet’s spiritual leader has continued
his campaign for their homeland. As head
of their government-in-exile he has received multiple awards and honorary
degrees, including the Congressional Gold Medal and Nobel Peace Prize in
recognition of his message of peace, nonviolence, interreligious understanding
and compassion.
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