Lhakar Diaries

When I was younger, I never really fully understood when I saw my Amala or other older Tibetans cry when His Holiness the Dalai Lama was on television. I just watched the very interesting Piers Morgan interview with Kundun on CNN, and couldn’t stop tearing up (between the laughter from Kundun’s amazing sense of humour of course). Maybe it’s because of everything that’s been going on inside Tibet lately? Maybe it’s because Kundun seems to be getting older and it feels like time is running out? All I know is  that I’m sure I’m not the only young Tibetan who felt this way, so the spirit of Tibetan-ness continues.

In 2011, I spent three months in northern India, interviewing people for a book project on the modern Tibetan identity in exile. While speaking with one of the subjects of this project, I was asked if I was Tibetan. I replied, “I am half Tibetan and half Canadian.” Shocked with my response, this man replied that I was not half Tibetan, nor was I half Canadian, but instead fully Tibetan and fully Canadian. In his view, I was not half of each, but rather, both. This thought stuck with me. For my entire life, when asked my ethnicity, I had always replied that I was “half Tibetan”. This meditation that I had with my identity as someone of mixed race made me reevaluate the way I self-identify. I wanted to find out how other Tibetans of mixed race interacted with their own identity.

This series, shot on a 4×5 camera, explores the duality and singularity one may experience as a person of mixed race. The traditional Tibetan chupa, contrasted with the apparent North American background, is intended to create tension, and highlight the biplicity of the mixed race.

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The following was sent in by Sonam Palmo from Switzerland who attended the 2nd European Tibetan Youth Parliament workshops from April 6th-8th.

On their website they have concluded:

After two productive and intense days, the Second European Tibetan Youth Parliament has come to an end this evening.

In this morning’s phase two of the Parliament, the different groups of the three workshops had the time to elaborate their initial ideas from yesterday into concrete action plans.

The result of each workshop was then presented in front of all the parliamentarians in the afternoon, which was followed by discussions and the final voting for the proposed action plans. The Official Proclamation of the Action Plan can be viewed in the next few days on this Website in English and Tibetan.

The organising committee is very pleased with the results of the Second European Tibetan Youth Parliament and filled with pride and hope to have gathered such a dedicated young generation of Tibetans in exile.

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Lhakar Calligraphy by Puntsok Tsering

This Lhakar, we would like to share another beautiful calligraphy piece by our friend, Tibetan contemporary artist Puntsok Tsering in Germany. It is a great addition to the artwork we posted earlier this year in a series dedicated to Lhakar.

Below is also writing by Puntsok Tsering, accompanying the calligraphy.

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ལྷག་དཀར།
དང་། བླ་གཟའ།

Lhakar,

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One of our readers found this video for us. It goes perfect with Lhakar. The following is a film by URGYEN DOLMA

Reel Lives – EXILED LIFE from Reel Lives on Vimeo.

My Story:
Almost all Tibetans are Buddhist. I am Tibetan and I practice Buddhism. My name is Urgyen Dolma. I was born on 1996. I grew up in Nepal surrounded by monasteries and stupas. I have many relatives who are monks, nuns and rinpoches. I was raised very religiously. When I was young my parents moved to New York because they thought it was the land of opportunity. On May 19th, 2009 I arrived New York leaving my childhood home for a new beginning. But as time passed by, I came across many Tibetans who were not like me because they had been in America for a very long period of time. Then I started wondering, will I lose my traditional values as I get older?

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On Saturday April 14th, Mount Holyoke College Students for a Free Tibet hosted its 2nd annual Himalayan Night in collaboration with the Nepali Students Organization. The event was hosted to foster cultural and political interest on campus.

For the event, the 5 college SFT performed “Dhomey Tserig” and sang “Phayul dhi ngatso tsang may rey” which was well received by the audience.

Along with the performances, Mt Holyoke college did a brief presentation on the current political situation in Tibet and the 5 college SFT’s current activities to promote awareness on the current violations of human rights in Tibet.

Earlier on March 10th, 5 college SFT, the local Tibetan community, and supporters marched from the town of Amherst to the city of Northampton to call attention to the self-immolations and the recent turmoil in Tibet. The 5 college SFT and the community from Amherst and Northampton successfully advocated to the local representatives to declare March 10 as “Tibet Day” in Northampton and Amherst

Last Thursday, April 5th, I gave a talk on the self-immolations at my school, followed by a Q&A. I was a bit nervous. How does one begin to try to make sense out of such a powerful yet painful act, without sensationalizing, to people who don’t know much about Tibet in the span of one hour?

To create better understanding for these acts, I began with quick information on what the political climate in Tibet looked like before the self-immolation of Tapey in 2009, the first one in Tibet. I briefed the audience with the 2008 uprising that started in Lhasa and spread across Amdo and Kham, the mass arrest of Tibetans that followed, the increased surveillance, the massive clampdown on Tibetan communities, and its effects on individual bodies and minds.

I quickly went over the number of self-immolations. The number of monks, nuns, lay people, deaths, survivors. I showed the audience pictures of these individuals but asked them to take a moment to realize that these 33 people were living, breathing individuals – normal individuals trying to live their lives.

Since most of these acts were carried out by monks and nuns, I wanted the audience to get an idea of what they could have meant for the Tibetan communities in general. I tried to explain the importance of monastics, the institution and individual monks and nuns, to the Tibetan communities. That they served as, among many things, keepers and protectors of the Tibetan culture. Monastics are where the Tibetan spirituality and culture is lived, practiced, shared, and encouraged with the communities. They are places of empowerment, where Tibetans can be Tibetan. For these reasons, the Chinese state views the monastics as threats. They are also threatened by the lack of control and authority it has over the monastics, despite the harsh policies and clampdowns.

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I would like to share how Tibetans and Supporters shamed Hu Jintao on his recent visit to India on BRICS conference. Hu Jintao faces huge protest by Tibetans where ever he went and the protest leads to detention of more than 350 tibetans in Tihar and small police stations for three days.

On 26th March Pawo Jamphel Yeshi self immolated during Tibetan Youth Congress mass protest at Jantar Mantar, Delhi to protest Hu Jintao visit and high light on going crisis in Tibet.

During TYC protest at Jantar Mantar, Delhi 26th March 2012

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Tibetan-rage-at-Jintao-visit/articleshow/12423078.cms

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I am currently taking a class on Tibetan women visionaries at Columbia. In all my years taking Tibetan studies classes, I have never run into one focused solely on women, so I was pumped from day one! Through these last few months, we’ve read  biographies and a few extremely rare autobiographies of extraordinary Tibetan women who  – whether as saints, hermits, consorts, or even activists — were all rebels in their time living on the fringes of society.

What I didn’t realize before was that Buddhism has been a place for women to break out of their traditional roles ever since it began along the eastern banks of the Ganges some 2500 years ago. Women, at that time of  rapid urbanization, in the Age of Wanderers, were looking for a life of the mind and meditation. The Buddha and his gang (they were seen as a cult initially) eventually provided this space for women, and in Tibet, some women continually turned to the religion as a means of escaping a life of marriage, children and servitude to the patriarchy – a life of dependence on father then husband then son etc. Read the rest of this entry »

Tenzin Wangchuk, MC name Exiled Prophet, shares his journey of growing up in New York and discovering Tibet through hip hop.

He is the co-founder of Mind of a Monk, a Tibetan music group based in USA. He is also an undergraduate student at Baruch College.