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In order to understand Tibet one must understand its religion—for the two are virtually inseparable. This passage from an eighth- or ninth-century Tibetan text describes how heaven and earth are one in the land and hearts of the people of Tibet: | In order to understand Tibet one must understand its religion—for the two are virtually inseparable. This passage from an eighth- or ninth-century Tibetan text describes how heaven and earth are one in the land and hearts of the people of Tibet: | ||
<div style="margin-left=20%"> | |||
This center of heaven,<br /> | |||
This core of the earth,<br /> | |||
This heart of the world,<br /> | |||
Fenced round by snow,<br /> | |||
The headland of all rivers,<br /> | |||
Where the mountains are high and<br /> | |||
The land is pure. | |||
</div> | |||
This is the meeting place of the etheric and physical octaves in the East. The [[Inner Retreat]] and the [[Western Shamballa]] is the Place Prepared and chosen in the West for that very phenomenon of the merging of the etheric and physical octaves. The physical and the etheric are connected at the heart of the chela. At the point of the heart and the expansion of the [[threefold flame]] of the [[Three Jewels]] of the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, there we find that the etheric octave may descend and be in the physical earth for the beginning of the days when the [[golden age]] will come and earth shall be raised again to the etheric octave. | This is the meeting place of the etheric and physical octaves in the East. The [[Inner Retreat]] and the [[Western Shamballa]] is the Place Prepared and chosen in the West for that very phenomenon of the merging of the etheric and physical octaves. The physical and the etheric are connected at the heart of the chela. At the point of the heart and the expansion of the [[threefold flame]] of the [[Three Jewels]] of the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, there we find that the etheric octave may descend and be in the physical earth for the beginning of the days when the [[golden age]] will come and earth shall be raised again to the etheric octave. | ||
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One Tibetan manuscript contains the following prophecy of Padma Sambhava, which is said to have been voiced through a lama in the seventeenth or eighteenth century: | One Tibetan manuscript contains the following prophecy of Padma Sambhava, which is said to have been voiced through a lama in the seventeenth or eighteenth century: | ||
<blockquote>In the time of sinful, soiled, and corrupt custom—in the future—the demons and spirits of the Planets will infest the world. At that time, the Demon King Pehar will be very powerful and dominant [his teachings will spread afar]. Because of the powerful influence of the Demon King Pehar, the cases of insanity and nervous disturbance will be many, the cases of violent death will also be great in number.... | <blockquote> | ||
In the time of sinful, soiled, and corrupt custom—in the future—the demons and spirits of the Planets will infest the world. At that time, the Demon King Pehar will be very powerful and dominant [his teachings will spread afar]. Because of the powerful influence of the Demon King Pehar, the cases of insanity and nervous disturbance will be many, the cases of violent death will also be great in number.... | |||
At that time half of the populations [of all nations] will become insane; most of the people will cut short their own lives by themselves (suicide); and at that time China will become a dark land. Powerful men and wealth will follow the steps of the evil spirits and their three cousins; all Tibet will be broken into small pieces. At that time, here in the Snow Country, the life and breath of the lamas, the officials, the teachers, the kings, the high officers, and those who follow the Buddhist teachings will be taken away (and persecuted). All the good teachers and virtuous persons will be cut in the middle by the evil demons. People will suffer excessively.<ref>C. A Muses, eds., ''Esoteric Teachings of the Tibetan Tantra'', chapter 2, found online at [http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/ettt/ettt03.htm http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/ettt/ettt03.htm]. For an account of the disasters that were prophesied to befall Tibet during the middle of the [[Kali Yuga]] (the last and worst of the four world ages), including an invasion by China, the destruction of monasteries, and desecration of sacred scriptures, see also the teachings of Padma Sambhava in ''The Legend of the Great Stupa'' (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1973), pp. 15–16, 49–59.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
== The growth of Buddhism == | == The growth of Buddhism == | ||
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Tibetan Buddhists believe that each Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama is a reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. Pal writes: | Tibetan Buddhists believe that each Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama is a reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. Pal writes: | ||
<blockquote>The concept of guru, which originated in India and was transplanted into Tibet, became influenced by the sense of hierarchy that is fundamental to Tibetan social morphology, and, in the institution of the lama, achieved an unprecedented preeminence. The emphasis on lineage, as well as on emanation in the form of the ''tulku'', is likewise characteristically Tibetan, though these concepts are not unknown in India. | <blockquote> | ||
The concept of guru, which originated in India and was transplanted into Tibet, became influenced by the sense of hierarchy that is fundamental to Tibetan social morphology, and, in the institution of the lama, achieved an unprecedented preeminence. The emphasis on lineage, as well as on emanation in the form of the ''tulku'', is likewise characteristically Tibetan, though these concepts are not unknown in India. | |||
A ''tulku'' is generally regarded as a “reincarnated lama” or “a living Buddha.” It is believed that when an enlightened teacher or religious personage passes away, he is reborn in another body. The Dalai Lama is perhaps the best-known example of a ''tulku''. When a Dalai Lama dies, a special search is conducted to find his successor; invariably, he is a young boy but is said to be the dead Dalai Lama’s reincarnation. Inasmuch as Buddhism does not believe in the existence of the soul, there is an inherent contradiction in the use of the words reincarnation or rebirth; that is why the expression “emanation” is perhaps more suitable.<ref>Pal, ''Art of Tibet'', pp. 37–38.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
In other words, it is the emanation of the individual that reincarnates. In this we find the concept of the essence or the breath that we would term “soul,” even though this term is not used by Buddhists. | In other words, it is the emanation of the individual that reincarnates. In this we find the concept of the essence or the breath that we would term “soul,” even though this term is not used by Buddhists. | ||
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However, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama saw the handwriting on the wall. He tried to warn his people of the coming darkness from without and he warned them to prepare from within. In 1932 he released his final testament to the people of Tibet in what has come to be known as “The Prophecies of the Great Thirteenth.” His message read in part: | However, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama saw the handwriting on the wall. He tried to warn his people of the coming darkness from without and he warned them to prepare from within. In 1932 he released his final testament to the people of Tibet in what has come to be known as “The Prophecies of the Great Thirteenth.” His message read in part: | ||
<blockquote>Our two most powerful neighbours are India and China, both of whom have very powerful armies. Therefore we must try to establish amicable relations with both of them. There are also a number of smaller countries near our borders [who] maintain a strong military. Because of this it is important that we too maintain an efficient army of young and well-trained soldiers, and are able to establish the security of the country.... | <blockquote | ||
>Our two most powerful neighbours are India and China, both of whom have very powerful armies. Therefore we must try to establish amicable relations with both of them. There are also a number of smaller countries near our borders [who] maintain a strong military. Because of this it is important that we too maintain an efficient army of young and well-trained soldiers, and are able to establish the security of the country.... | |||
If we do not make preparations to defend ourselves from the overflow of violence, we will have very little chance of survival. In particular, we must guard ourselves against the barbaric Red Communists, who carry terror and destruction with them wherever they go. They are the worst of the worst. Already they have consumed much of Mongolia, where they have outlawed the search for the reincarnation of Jetsun Dampa, the incarnate head of the country. | |||
They have robbed and destroyed the monasteries, forcing the monks to join their armies or else killing them outright. They have destroyed religion wherever they’ve encountered it, and not even the name of Buddhadharma is allowed to remain in their wake.... | |||
It will not be long before we find the Red onslaught at our own front door. It is only a matter of time before we come into a direct confrontation with it, either from within our own ranks or else as a threat from an external (Communist) nation. And when that happens we must be ready to defend ourselves. Otherwise our spiritual and cultural traditions will be completely eradicated. Even the names of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas will be erased, as will be those of other lamas, lineage holders and holy beings. | |||
The monasteries will be looted and destroyed, and the monks and nuns killed or chased away. The great works of the noble Dharma kings of old will be undone, and all of our cultural and spiritual institutions persecuted, destroyed and forgotten. The birthrights and property of the people will be stolen. We will be become like slaves to our conquerors, and will be made to wander helplessly like beggars. Everyone will be forced to live in misery, and the days and nights will pass slowly, and with great suffering and terror. | |||
Therefore, now, when the strength of peace and happiness is with us, while the power to do something about the situation is still in our hands, we should make every effort to safeguard against this impending disaster. Use peaceful methods where they are appropriate; but where they are not appropriate, do not hesitate to resort to more forceful means. Work diligently now, while there is still time. Then there will be no regrets.... | |||
One person alone cannot ward off the threat that faces us; but together we can win out in the end. Avoid rivalry and petty self-interests, and look instead to what is essential. We must strive together with positive motivation for the general welfare of all, while living in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha. | |||
If we do this, then there is no doubt that we will abide within the blessings of the national protective divinity Nechung, who was appointed by the Acharya (Padma Sambhava) to assist the line of Dalai Lamas in the task of caring for Tibet.... Think carefully about what I have said, for the future is in your hands. It is extremely important to overcome what needs to be overcome, and to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. Do not confuse the two.<ref>Glenn H. Mullin, “The Great Thirteenth’s Last New Year Sermon,” ''Tibetan Review'' 22 (October 1987): 17.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
[[File:N Roerich.jpg|thumb|Nicholas Roerich]] | [[File:N Roerich.jpg|thumb|Nicholas Roerich]] | ||
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As author John Avedon writes in his study of the Chinese occupation called ''In Exile from the Land of Snows'', fifteen years after the arrival of the Chinese mission, | As author John Avedon writes in his study of the Chinese occupation called ''In Exile from the Land of Snows'', fifteen years after the arrival of the Chinese mission, | ||
<blockquote>Their attempts at subterfuge had grown to include Tibetans in all segments of society. It was not until July 1949 that the Tibetan government realized the extent of the infiltration and, fearful that the newly victorious Communists would take advantage of it, closed the “liaison’ office, deporting its staff, along with some twenty-five known agents and their Tibetan accomplices.... | <blockquote> | ||
Their attempts at subterfuge had grown to include Tibetans in all segments of society. It was not until July 1949 that the Tibetan government realized the extent of the infiltration and, fearful that the newly victorious Communists would take advantage of it, closed the “liaison’ office, deporting its staff, along with some twenty-five known agents and their Tibetan accomplices.... | |||
On New Year’s Day 1950, just three months after the formation of the People’s Republic of China, Radio Peking announced to its people and the world that “the tasks for the People’s Liberation Army for 1950 are to liberate [[Taiwan]], Hainan and Tibet.”<ref>John F. Avedon, ''In Exile from the Land of Snows'' (New York: Vintage Books, 1986), pp. 26–27.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
However, the Tibetans were unable to face the prophecies of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and the threat of Chinese Communist invasion. An eyewitness who experienced firsthand the events in Lhasa prior to the takeover explained that as the threat of invasion grew, | However, the Tibetans were unable to face the prophecies of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and the threat of Chinese Communist invasion. An eyewitness who experienced firsthand the events in Lhasa prior to the takeover explained that as the threat of invasion grew, | ||
<blockquote>It seemed as if the entire population of Tibet had packed the narrow streets of Lhasa in pious enthusiasm for the religious festivals which in 1950 surpassed in pomp and splendor anything I had ever seen. Despite the threat from the Chinese, the ceremonies vital to the running of the state had to continue. Four weeks after the great New Year festival, the twenty thousand monks of the monasteries around Lhasa descended once again into the city for the second prayer festival. The people believed with rocklike faith that the power of religion would suffice to protect their independence. | <blockquote> | ||
It seemed as if the entire population of Tibet had packed the narrow streets of Lhasa in pious enthusiasm for the religious festivals which in 1950 surpassed in pomp and splendor anything I had ever seen. Despite the threat from the Chinese, the ceremonies vital to the running of the state had to continue. Four weeks after the great New Year festival, the twenty thousand monks of the monasteries around Lhasa descended once again into the city for the second prayer festival. The people believed with rocklike faith that the power of religion would suffice to protect their independence. | |||
The main event of the second prayer festival was the chastisement of evil spirits. The full force of the tantric order was mobilized. In front of the central cathedral the abbots of the great monasteries were challenged to throw dice to decide the fate of Tibet. Two scapegoats symbolizing evil were the challengers. Representatives of the Tibetan government supervised the contest. They took no chances. The dice were loaded—the faces of the abbot’s dice all marked with sixes, those of the demons with ones. The moment ritual victory was won for Tibet, the scapegoats were driven from the town. The prayers ended with a great procession to the foot of the Potala Palace.<ref>BBC documentary ''Tibet: The Bamboo Curtain Falls''.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
== Chinese takeover == | == Chinese takeover == | ||
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As author Steven Batchelor summarizes the events of these years: | As author Steven Batchelor summarizes the events of these years: | ||
<blockquote>The Tibetans were ill-prepared to cope with this invasion, and with a minimum of resistance the Chinese army made its way into Lhasa in September 1951. | <blockquote> | ||
The Tibetans were ill-prepared to cope with this invasion, and with a minimum of resistance the Chinese army made its way into Lhasa in September 1951. | |||
The Chinese arrived on a wave of optimistic promises and good-will with which they tried to win the Tibetans over to the idea of a just and equal socialist society. | |||
The Dalai Lama’s government tentatively agreed to cooperate with a number of measures aimed at improving the Tibetans’ lot by introducing certain features of modern life, such as roads and electricity. This uneasy alliance did not last long. Suspicious of the communists’ motives, the Khampas in Eastern Tibet staged a revolt in 1956 that soon became a full-scale insurrection.<ref>Stephen Batchelor, ''The Tibet Guide'' (London: Wisdom Publications, 1987), p. 32.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
Avedon writes of this period: | Avedon writes of this period: | ||
<blockquote>Though by some accounts the Chinese lost forty thousand soldiers between 1956 and 1958, their campaign in Kham—as attested to in two reports (issued in 1959 and 1960) by the International Commission of Jurists, a Geneva-based human rights monitoring group comprised of lawyers and judges from fifty nations—let loose a series of atrocities unparalleled in Tibet’s history. | <blockquote> | ||
Though by some accounts the Chinese lost forty thousand soldiers between 1956 and 1958, their campaign in Kham—as attested to in two reports (issued in 1959 and 1960) by the International Commission of Jurists, a Geneva-based human rights monitoring group comprised of lawyers and judges from fifty nations—let loose a series of atrocities unparalleled in Tibet’s history. | |||
The obliteration of entire villages was compounded by hundreds of public executions, carried out to intimidate the surviving population. The methods employed included crucifixion, dismemberment, vivisection, beheading, burying alive, burning and scalding alive, dragging the victims to death behind galloping horses and pushing them from airplanes; children were forced to shoot their parents, disciples their religious teachers. | |||
Everywhere monasteries were prime targets. Monks were compelled to publicly copulate with nuns and desecrate sacred images before being sent to a growing string of labor camps in Amdo and Gansu. In the face of such acts, the guerrillas found their ranks swollen by thousands of dependents, bringing with them triple or more their number in livestock. So enlarged, they became easy targets for Chinese air strikes. Simultaneously, the P.L.A. threw wide loops around Tibetan-held districts, attempting to bottle them up and annihilate one pocket at a time. The tide of battle turning against them, a mass exodus comprised of hundreds of scattered bands fled westward, seeking respite within the precincts of the Dalai Lama.<ref>Avedon, ''In Exile'', pp. 47–48.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
Following the revolt in Kham, Batchelor relates: | Following the revolt in Kham, Batchelor relates: | ||
<blockquote>Tensions mounted in Lhasa and an armed resistance movement was soon active in Central Tibet. In March 1959 the general of the Chinese forces in Lhasa made an unusual request for the Dalai Lama to attend a theatrical show inside the Chinese military base. This was immediately interpreted by the Tibetans as a ploy to kidnap their leader, and they reacted with a series of popular demonstrations in Lhasa and outside the Norbulingka, the grounds of the Dalai Lama’s summer palace. | <blockquote> | ||
Tensions mounted in Lhasa and an armed resistance movement was soon active in Central Tibet. In March 1959 the general of the Chinese forces in Lhasa made an unusual request for the Dalai Lama to attend a theatrical show inside the Chinese military base. This was immediately interpreted by the Tibetans as a ploy to kidnap their leader, and they reacted with a series of popular demonstrations in Lhasa and outside the Norbulingka, the grounds of the Dalai Lama’s summer palace. | |||
This explosive confrontation finally erupted on March 17th. The Chinese started shelling the city and that evening the Dalai Lama and his entourage fled south in the direction of India. The demonstrations turned into an outright rebellion against the unwanted Chinese presence in Tibet that was met with full fury of the Chinese military. Fierce fighting broke out in Lhasa but the superior Chinese forces quickly overwhelmed the Tibetans, inflicting heavy casualties and damaging many buildings. From now on the Chinese dropped any pretense of “peaceful liberation” and set out to incorporate Tibet into the People’s Republic of China.<ref>Batchelor, ''Tibet Guide'', p. 32.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
[[File:Samye Monastery.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Samye Monastery, Tibet. The monastery, which dates to the 8th century, has been rebuilt following its destruction during the Cultural Revolution and is once again an active monastery.]] | [[File:Samye Monastery.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Samye Monastery, Tibet. The monastery, which dates to the 8th century, has been rebuilt following its destruction during the Cultural Revolution and is once again an active monastery.]] | ||
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The Elohim [[Heros and Amora]] commented in 1989 on the destruction of the people of Tibet and their culture: | The Elohim [[Heros and Amora]] commented in 1989 on the destruction of the people of Tibet and their culture: | ||
<blockquote>Let there be, then, the understanding that protection to earth can come only through spiritual and physical defense. That is evident, beloved, where the people of Tibet did not desire to know the dire prophecy at hand but preferred the loaded dice. So I say, recognize that spiritual protection is not enough. And yet by the science of the spoken Word the spiritual protection you invoke does coalesce as physical protection when you do the work to manifest that physical protection yourselves! | <blockquote> | ||
Let there be, then, the understanding that protection to earth can come only through spiritual and physical defense. That is evident, beloved, where the people of Tibet did not desire to know the dire prophecy at hand but preferred the loaded dice. So I say, recognize that spiritual protection is not enough. And yet by the science of the spoken Word the spiritual protection you invoke does coalesce as physical protection when you do the work to manifest that physical protection yourselves! | |||
And I must say, you are far more practical in this regard than your counterparts in Lhasa. They have learned [their lesson] all too late, far too late, beloved. And thus, they have no guaranteed right to bear arms and no clear religious directive to do so, whereas the Constitution does guarantee to the American people the right to [keep and] bear arms.<ref>The Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America states that “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”</ref> | |||
And as one disciple commented, the most notable lesson of Tiananmen Square, as you would observe, is that all of the arms were in the hands of the army and the government.<ref>After seven weeks of peaceful protests in and mass occupation of Tiananmen Square by Chinese students and their supporters demanding greater freedoms, on June 4, 1989, the Chinese government sent thousands of troops from the 27th Army into the square behind armored personnel carriers and tanks. The soldiers turned on their fellow countrymen with tear gas and automatic rifles and charged the demonstrators with bayonets. The unarmed civilians could only respond with stones or Molotov cocktails. It is estimated that when the massacre was over as many as 3,000 to 7,000 were killed.</ref> And the citizens were bereft of any means of self-defense against a government that would turn against its citizens and turn its armies against its citizens. Consider the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, that you might be guaranteed defense against a government gone mad and an army of automatons following [their madness]. Recognize, beloved, that those students had not advanced in their astuteness to realize that it is the ''entire'' Bill of Rights and the ''entire'' Constitution that does guarantee and safeguard the independence of every individual citizen. | |||
Therefore know, beloved ones, that that right was not exercised in Tibet as admonished by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. Instead [of entering a path of heightened self-discipline], the people became corrupt in his absence, turned in upon themselves in their self-indulgences, and did not take those years from 1933 forward to prepare themselves for their Armageddon. | |||
Blessed are they who have suffered in the name of Buddha, for they who have suffered in the name of the Buddha shall receive the Buddha’s reward. Yet the refiner’s fire<ref>Mal. 3:1–3.</ref> has come to them. They had not the call to [[Astrea]] nor the [[violet flame]]. Therefore they too must meet [the karma of] even that level of disobedience to their leader which brought them to that point of vulnerability. | |||
Blessed ones, I do not imply that there is a heavy karma on the part of Tibetans, for this is a karma [that was] initiated [by] Communist hordes for which they themselves shall be judged. And yet, beloved, by 1950 the teachings of the [[ascended master]]s and of the [[Great White Brotherhood]] had been well installed in the west for almost a century. | |||
Therefore understand, the Dalai Lama is a highly educated man who does know the way of the West. Realize that any ignorance, beloved, any ignoring of the impulsations of the light from on high, by whatever neglect or density, does create its own karma. As they say, ignorance of the Law is not an excuse. | |||
It is tragic, beloved. It is tragic that many who are the male leaders in spiritual fields, although in the East they anticipate the coming of the World Mother, have not received her teaching through the ascended masters and the messengers, have not seen her, though her coming in the West is prophesied, though [[Tara]] is seen as descending all in white! Indeed, the prophecies have been written, they have been given. But as we say, karma blinds. But so does tradition outworn! So does a doctrine not of God but of man. | |||
But, beloved hearts, let us not lay [the entire burden of guilt] at the feet of those who are in one sense victims and [most certainly] sincere [in their motives]. Let us lay it where it belongs, at the feet of the [[fallen angel]]s who have traduced [those who would be the true followers of God<ref>Eph. 5:1.</ref>] again and again by the distortion of the teachings of [[Sanat Kumara]]. | |||
Blessed ones, how can this happen? I tell you, they become lost in their scriptures and textbooks. And they have not the key of light, and they have not put together the essential Truth that is the portion of the Mother to give you, the synthesis of the teaching of the great laws and dispensations [of the [[Lord of the World]] and the [[Cosmic Christ]]] and [how] to apply them to the present moment.<ref>Heros and Amora, “The Chalice of Your Heart,” {{POWref|32|43|, October 22, 1989}}</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
== Pray for the Tibetans == | == Pray for the Tibetans == | ||