American Buddhist Net

The Tibet-China talks are a sham, Sarkozy has said he won't go to the opening ceremonies if there is no progress, but after all that good food and wine, who knows? Now China tells him--with no apparent sense of irony--that he must not meet with the Dalai Lama in FRANCE because that would “would be contrary to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs.” ABN
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By STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: July 9, 2008

PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who is expected to announce on Wednesday that he will after all attend the opening ceremonies of Beijing’s Olympic Games, was warned by China on Tuesday not to meet with the Dalai Lama in France next month.

China’s ambassador to France, Kong Quan, told reporters there would be “serious consequences” for Chinese-French relations if Mr. Sarkozy meets the Dalai Lama, asserting that it “would be contrary to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs.”

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"We do not recognise this 'Tibetan exiled government'," Xinhua quoted an unnamed spokesman of the party's United Front Work Department as saying in an exclusive interview.
"The central government will never hold consultations with such an illegal organisation."
Tibet's "illegal" government-in-exile also has no role in the dialogue, the Xinhua news agency quoted the senior Communist Party official.
The official also insisted the dialogue only concerned the "personal future" of the Dalai Lama, in an apparent reference to negotiations on whether the Tibetan spiritual leader could one day return to China and eventually Tibet.
This has been China's central position since the talks started in 2002, although the Tibetan side has pushed for the dialogue to cover a broader range of issues, such as more meaningful autonomy for the Himalayan region.
AFP | China warns Dalai Lama ahead of Olympics

Mon, 07 Jul 2008

London, July 7: Fears over the possible occurrence of fresh unrests in Tibet on the occasion of the birthday of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, have prompted the Chinese authorities into virtually emptying out Tibet's main monasteries and banning visits to a sacred site on the edge of Tibetan capital Lhasa.

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Sunday 6th July, 2008

The 73rd birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama is being marked by the University of Madras and Alliance Francaise here Sunday with a three-day festival of Tibetan culture.

The festival began with a presentation on an extraordinary French woman, who was one of the only two French explorers to be able to reach the forbidden land of Lhasa in the hundred years between 1846 and 1950.

Many foreign explorers, 'missionaries, army officers, diplomats, spies' wanted to have a look at Tibet at the time, explained Claude Arpi, French journalist and historian, speaking on the life Alexandra David-Neel whose numerous writings contributed to make Tibet and Buddhism known the world over.

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By ASHWINI BHATIA

DHARMSALA, India (AP) — The Tibetan government-in-exile won't hold any celebrations to mark the Dalai Lama's birthday Sunday because of the ongoing suffering of the people of Tibet, an official said.

The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader turns 73.

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July 6, 2008

They seemed an unlikely pair — the Tibetan Buddhist monk who had spent 33 years in Chinese prisons and labor camps and the aspiring Japanese filmmaker.

The filmmaker, Makoto Sasa, said she first heard of the monk, Palden Gyatso, when she was in college in Japan. After she arrived in New York to study film, alone and speaking no English, she read his memoir, “The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk” (Grove Press, 1997). “His story made me think my problem is nothing,” she said.

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Jul 05, 2008

DHARAMSHALA, India - Representatives of the Dalai Lama and China made no headway on the status of Tibet in formal talks this week, an envoy of the spiritual leader said today, describing himself as "disappointed."

"There is a growing perception among the Tibetans and my friends that the whole tactic of the Chinese government is to engage us to stall for time," said Lodi Gyari, who led the two-man team which met Chinese officials in Beijing.

"My colleague and I told our Chinese counterpart candidly that we ourselves are beginning to inch towards this school of thought."

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China insists the Dalai Lama prove he doesn't support Tibetan independence or disruption of the Beijing Olympics, telling two envoys for the spiritual leader that such "positive actions" are needed before further talks, a state news agency said Thursday.
The demand made by a top Chinese official in two days of meetings indicated no change in Beijing's position toward the Dalai Lama.
AP | China: Dalai Lama must disavow Tibet independence

This week’s talks are typical of the pattern in place since formal dialogue began in 2002. We’re starting to see the limits of Beijing’s approach of demanding more concessions while granting none itself. The tack is only emboldening Tibetan extremists.
This might be normal patter for Party leaders, but it’s no way to telegraph seriousness about the talks. Contrast it with the Dalai Lama’s approach. Over the past 30 years, he has modulated his position to the point where he now advocates autonomy, not independence, for Tibet. More recently he has expressed his support for the Beijing Olympics, and held a prayer ceremony for victims of the Sichuan earthquake last month. But he can’t express goodwill to a stone wall indefinitely.
Beijing needs to show it’s negotiating in good faith. It could start by ending verbal attacks on the Dalai Lama and beginning a public investigation into the policy failures that resulted in the riots in March. Otherwise it risks fanning the flames of the very independence movement of which it is so afraid.
Wall Street Journal | Talking to Tibet

July 04, 2008 06:15]
By Maura Moynihan

...But the most compelling purpose for heading towards the Chinese Consulate with a Tibetan flag is to speak for people who are in jails, torture cells and graves, who would join you if they could. Just ask Palden Gyatso.

Palden has come to New York City with a new documentary about his life, "Fire Under the Snow". It tells of his childhood in old Tibet, his monastic education, and how he was arrested by PLA soldiers in 1959, soon after Dalai Lama took flight to India. His crimes were only that he refused to denounce his Buddhist teacher or state that Tibet belonged to China. He was savagely beaten, he saw his friends die in torment, for decades he was given no more than two cold buns each day for his food. He had to pray in secret; if anyone was caught intoning prayers, they were severely punished. For two years his hands and legs were shackled with iron bars, in the years that followed he had electric cattle prods shoved into his mouth and stomach.

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July 4, 2008

Tibet's foreign minister in exile yesterday said the latest round of talks between the Dalai Lama's envoys and China so far did not look encouraging.

"Judging from some of the statements made by the Chinese leadership, particularly the office for the autonomous region of Tibet, what they have to say about the Tibetan situation is not very encouraging," Kesang Yangkyi Takla told a news conference in Tokyo.

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Beijing scolds Dalai Lama as envoys talk

July 2, 2008
By JIM YARDLEY

BEIJING — Chinese officials and senior envoys of the Dalai Lama opened their latest round of negotiations over Tibet on Tuesday, as international pressure for a breakthrough intensifies ahead of the Olympic Games.

The discussions, held at an undisclosed location in Beijing, are the second round of formal talks since March, when anti-Chinese protests erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and spread to Tibetan regions of western China. The precise agenda is unknown, but the two sides have sharp differences over the political status of Tibet and the possible return of the exiled Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader.

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7/2/2008

A group of 42 Tibetan protesters were detained close to Nepal's border with the Chinese-controlled Himalayan region yesterday as they tried to march back to their homeland, police said.

The group, most of them Buddhist monks and nuns, left Kathmandu seven days ago, participants said, and avoided detection on the main roads by using remote hill trails.

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2008-07-01

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - A group of Tibetan monks and nuns trekked for days through the treacherous Himalayan mountains from Nepal's capital and were set to protest at the Chinese border Tuesday against a crackdown in their homeland. Tashi Dorje, an activist coordinating the march, said the group of 42 people reached the border point at Tatopani, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Katmandu, late Monday.

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Thursday, June 26, 2008
By Ben Preston

...At 40 years old, Namkha Rinpoche is a relatively young Tibetan Lama, who bases his spiritual and Tibetan freedom efforts out of Switzerland. After organizing a series of prayer festivals for the Dalai Lama in 1998, Rinpoche narrowly escaped being jailed by Chinese police. A relative who worked for the police informed him that he was going to be arrested, and he fled to Nepal. In recent years, Rinpoche said that thousands of Tibetan students have been jailed by the Chinese government for their participation in protests against Chinese repression of Tibetan language and culture. One of Rinpoche’s cousins was imprisoned for his role in the demonstrations. “When he was in jail, the Chinese police cut off his arms and legs in front of his friends and family to scare people and make sure they don’t do the same,” he said.

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Thursday 26th June, 2008

Defying the possibility of imprisonment or even death, over three dozen Tibetan monks and nuns have begun a secret 'freedom march' to Tibet from Nepal to draw the world's attention to their demand for freedom and respect for human rights on the eve of the Olympic Games in China.

A resolute group of 23 monks, 17 nuns and two novices began the dangerous journey under secrecy Wednesday from the outskirts of Kathmandu in a bid to evade arrest by Nepal police, who have been put on high alert to stop anti-China protests in Nepal.

In the first daring deed of its kind, the 'suicide squad' will attempt to cross frozen mountain passes and untrodden routes in northern Nepal to reach the former Buddhist kingdom of Tibet that China invaded and annexed in the 50s.

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June 24, 2008
Lisa Katayama for Giant Robot Magazine

...GR: At a young age, you, too, were recognized as a reincarnate of an important man, right?

TC: Oh, that’s bullshit. I don’t believe it. From a Buddhist perspective, we are all reborn. But choosing a particular person as someone special and saying he’s a reincarnation of so-and-so is bullshit. I don’t consider myself special. I’m just like you. I want happiness, and I don’t want suffering. I think it’s just a sheer accident that I was chosen.

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2008-06-23 15:26:08 -

ROME (AP) - Fiat said Monday it will keep running an ad featuring actor Richard Gere and a reference to Tibet that has angered some in China and prompted the Italian automaker to issue an apology.

Gere, a Buddhist who has been active in the movement to free Tibet, appears in the TV ad for Fiat's new Lancia Delta, using the car to whiz from Hollywood to the snows of the Himalayas, where he plays with a group of young Buddhist monks.

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Severe restrictions, including checkpoints and surveillance, imposed since wave of anti-government protests in March, exiles say

GEOFFREY YORK
June 23, 2008 at 4:19 AM EDT

LHASA — The pilgrims returned to the Potala Palace yesterday, spinning their prayer wheels and prostrating themselves in front of the Dalai Lama's ancient palace on a mountaintop in Lhasa.

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Q: What are the politics behind the ban by the Dalai Lama and what may have prompted him to issue such a ban?
In 1961 the Dalai Lama tried to become the supreme head of Tibetan Buddhism by merging all the schools of Buddhism into one (a position never held by any previous Dalai Lama). This move was opposed by many. From the Western Shugden Society booklet: “The Tibetan Situation Today, Surprising Hidden News”:

As soon as you arrived to India as a refugee you made a plan to transform the four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism—Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelug—into one single tradition called Rigme (Non Lineage) tradition. This was your method to destroy the pure lineages of the Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelug and make you alone the head of all of them by establishing a new tradition. In this way you now have complete power and control of everything at a spiritual, political and material level.

At that time, the Tso Kha Chusum (“Thirteen Groups of Tibetans”) were against your plan and because of this for many years the Tibetan community lost their harmony and peace. Finally, the leader of the Tso Kha Chusum, Gungthang Tsultrim, was murdered by a shotgun. Tibetan people believe that Gungthang Tsultrim was killed by people working for you. Later, some other important members of the Tso Kha Chusum suddenly died, and people believed your organizations created the conditions for their death.

At that time he had so much opposition that he had to abandon his ambition, but it seems he did not give it up. For example, he later meddled with the internal spiritual affairs of the Kagyus, going against their tradition and choosing his own Karmapa, which has led to a well-documented schism, conflict and opposition to him amongst those who follow the Sharmapa and want to preserve the autonomy of the Kagyu lineage. The most likely reason for his issuing a ban on the Protector of Tsongkhapa’s tradition is to weaken the Gelugpas, thus bringing them under his power as well.

There is no doubt that he is trying to destroy the autonomy of the four different schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The only school he has not directly meddled with is the Sakyas, probably as there are too few of them to oppose him.

He is getting away with this by appealing to a liberal West, calling his approach “ecumenical” or “inclusive” whereas those who want to keep to their own tradition are “sectarian” or “exclusive”. The reality is that he is dispensing with centuries of authentic time-honored tradition and starting his own tradition so that he can be the head of it, stomping over people’s freedom of worship to do so.

In other words, it is likely that he is banning Dorje Shugden out of a political motivation to increase his power and influence. This could be the only justification for saying that his own Teachers (who were universally beloved in Tibetan society just 30 years ago) were wrong and banning the practice. How sad!

The reasons he gives to convince people to support him are that relying upon Dorje Shugden amounts to spirit worship. This then leads to many paradoxes (explained in detail on this website and elsewhere); not least of which is that, if it were true, his own Teachers would be non-Buddhists for taking refuge in a spirit! It would invalidate the whole Gelugpa lineage and what could be said, then, for his own Buddhist education? However, the greatness of the deeds and teachings of these Lamas attests to their state of realization, which would not be possible if they were non-Buddhists relying on a spirit. The only conclusion we can come to is that the Dalai Lama is definitely wrong!

Trijang Rinpoche also gives many valid reasons why Dorje Shugden is a Buddha which can be read here. In summary, Dorje Shugden is a Buddha because he is the incarnation of Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen who himself is from a long line of enlightened Masters including Manjushri. Since all these incarnations practised pure moral discipline for centuries, how would it be possible for Dragpa Gyaltsen to be reborn as a spirit? This would contradict the law of karma and imply that ethical conduct can lead to lower rebirth. Either that, or it would mean that an enlightened being could degenerate from the state of enlightenment and become a hungry ghost! All of these are the absurd consequences of holding Dorje Shugden to be a spirit.

The Dalai Lama has also repeatedly claimed that Dorje Shugden harms his health and the cause of Tibetan independence. He seems to be playing this down more recently because, again, it is ludicrous. If Dorje Shugden is harming his health, how is he a healthy-looking 72-year old? Also, one of the benefits of Buddhist refuge is that one is not harmed by demons or other evil influences. If the Dalai Lama is being harmed, he must be a non-Buddhist. Furthermore he abandoned the cause of Tibetan independence a long time ago, so how can Dorje Shugden harm it more than the Dalai Lama has by completely letting it go?

Check www.WisdomBuddhaDorjeShugden.com for more of the Dalai Lama's reasons and to make up your own mind if they are valid.

Q: What exactly is the Dorje Shugden practise and what does it involve?
A. Dorje Shugden is an emanation of the wisdom of all Buddhas appearing as a Dharma Protector to protect and increase the Dharma realizations within our minds.

The practice of relying on Dharma Protectors was taught by Buddha Shakyamuni and practised by Indian and Tibetan Buddhists. There are many Dharma protectors such as Mahakala, Kalarupa, Palden Lhamo and Dorje Shugden. In order to protect the Dharma realizations in one's mind, Dharma Protectors must necessarily be emanations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and are therefore part of the Three Jewels of Buddhist refuge, specifically the Sangha Jewel.

Although Dorje Shugden helps everyone because he is a Buddha, his main job is to protect the Gelug tradition of Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), and especially the Ganden oral lineage instructions. The practice of Dorje Shugden involves making offerings and requests with faith to Dorje Shugden -- who is seen as one with Je Tsongkhapa and the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri -- to protect the teachings of Je Tsongkhapa's tradition, to pacify all obstacles to its growth throughout the world and to bestow favourable conditions for the Buddhadharma to flourish both in our minds and in the world in general.

You can read more about this subject here. If you would like to read the prayers to Dorje Shugden that are recited every day by faithful practitioners, you can read them here.

Q: What benefits do practitioners derive from practising it?
A: In the introduction to the practice of relying upon the Dharma protector in the Heart Jewel sadhana published by Tharpa Publications it says:

“This sadhana includes two practices revealed by the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. The first is a special Guru yoga in which we visualize our Spiritual Guide as Je Tsongkhapa, who himself is a manifestation of Manjushri. By relying upon this practice, we can purify negativity, accumulate merit, and receive blessings. In this way, we will naturally accomplish all the realizations of the stages of the path of Sutra and Tantra, and in particular we will attain a very special Dharma wisdom.

The second practice is a method for relying upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden. Through this, we can overcome obstacles to our practice and create favourable conditions so that we can nurture and increase our Dharma realizations. If we rely upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden sincerely, our faith in Je Tsongkhapa will naturally increase and we will easily gain experience of the pure Buddhadharma transmitted directly to Je Tsongkhapa by the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri.

If we practise these regularly and sincerely, we will reap a rich harvest of pure Dharma realizations, and eventually come to experience the supreme joy of full enlightenment.”

You can read more about the benefits of relying upon Dorje Shugden here. Here are a couple of extracts:

"Dorje Shugden always helps, guides, and protects pure and faithful practitioners by granting blessings, increasing their wisdom, fulfilling their wishes, and bestowing success on all their virtuous activities."

"If we rely sincerely upon Dorje Shugden, he will arrange the conditions that are most conducive for our Dharma practice but these will not necessarily be the ones that we ourself would have chosen! Dorje Shugden will bless our minds to help us transform difficult situations into the spiritual path, and he will open the wisdom eyes of his faithful followers, enabling them always to make the right decisions."

Q: Where did it originate, and what is its significance today for practitioners?
Dorje Shugden is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri who arose as a Dharma Protector to fulfil a promise he had made in a previous life when as Duldzin Dragpa Gyaltsän, one of the principal disciples of Je Tsongkhapa, he promised to become a protector of Je Tsongkhapa's tradition. This is explained by the Dalai Lama's teacher and Gelugpa lineage holder, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, in his text called “Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors” which can be downloaded here.

Ngatrul Dragpa Gyaltsen (1619-54), a revered teacher who lived at the same time as the fifth Dalai Lama, predicted that he would arise as Dorje Shugden. He was the last incarnation in a long line of enlightened Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Masters which includes Manjushri, Mahasiddha Biwawa, Sakya Pandita, Butön Rinchen Drub, Duldzin Dragpa Gyaltsän, Panchen Sönam Dragpa, and many others. See biographies of these previous incarnations of Dorje Shugden.

For its significance for today's practitioners, see the answer to the next question.

Q. How does it fit in with Buddhist teachings and practises and implementing those into daily life?
A: The practice of Dorje Shugden supports and enhances our practice of Sutra and Tantra in daily life. By making requests to Dorje Shugden and relying upon him sincerely -- just as the great enlightened Masters of the Gelugpa tradition have done for centuries -- we will be cared for so that we can accomplish our final goal of full enlightenment as swiftly as possible.

Buddhas can and will appear as anything that will benefit living beings, including as Spiritual Guides and in a protecting aspect as a Dharma Protector. In this spiritually degenerate time it is very difficult for spiritual practitioners to make progress on the paths to liberation and enlightenment on their own; there are many obstacles and we have little merit or good karma. We need help to remove obstacles and to manifest good conditions for our practice and this is the unique function of a Dharma Protector. The Dharma Protector is seen as an aspect of our Spiritual Guide to help us to accomplish pacifying, increasing, controlling and wrathful actions that are necessary for making spiritual progress.

There are many different Dharma Protectors that we can rely upon, but it is said that at this time Dorje Shugden is the protector who is most able to help us. We have a special karmic connection with this Deity, which means that we can receive swift and powerful help by relying upon him as opposed to other protectors. Check here for more information about Dorje Shugden.

I would just like to give some relevant quotes to help at this point:

There is no difference in the compassion, wisdom, or power of the various Dharma Protectors, but because of the karma of sentient beings, one particular Dharma Protector will have a greater opportunity to help Dharma practitioners at any one particular time.

Among all the Dharma Protectors, four-faced Mahakala, Kalarupa, and Dorje Shugden in particular have the same nature because they are all emanations of Manjushri.

However, the beings of this present time have a stronger karmic link with Dorje Shugden than with the other Dharma Protectors. It was for this reason that Morchen Dorjechang Kunga Lhundrup, a very highly realized Master of the Sakya tradition, told his disciples, "Now is the time to rely upon Dorje Shugden." He said this on many occasions to encourage his disciples to develop faith in the practice of Dorje Shugden.

By International Campaign for Tibet
Sat, 21 Jun 2008

Dramatic images show armed troops arriving at Tsendrok monastery in Mayma township, Machu (Chinese: Maqu) county in Gansu Province on the morning of April 18. A Tibetan source told ICT that the large military convoy from Lanzhou (North West Military Division), of approximately 27 vehicles, arrived at the monastery without any warning. The source, who said that there were hundreds of armed personnel in the vehicles, added: "The soldiers barged into the monastery, conducted random searches, and broke down doors, windows, and other objects." They cooked food for themselves from the monastery's supplies, and when they left that evening, took with them a number of valuable and precious religious artefacts, according to the same source, a Tibetan in exile with connections in the area.

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Saturday, June 21 2008 @ 07:29 pm BST

Tibet: The Lost Frontier
By Claude Arpi
Lancer Publishers, New Delhi, 2008
Pages 338, Price Not Specified

French born writer, Claude Arpi, is a zealous student of the history of Tibet, China, India, and their status in international politics. He has been living in Auroville, India, where he is married to an Indian. Today, he is well known for writing authoritative books and articles about geopolitics, environment and Indo-French relations. Tibet: The Lost Frontier unfolds the history of the Roof of the World and her political contacts with two giant neighbors, India and China. Arpi notes that history of these three nations demonstrate that Tibet and China constantly had a relation on the basis of force and power while Tibet and India had more of a cultural and religious relationship based on shared spiritual values. From the emergence of Buddhism during the reign of king Lha Thothori Nyatsen in the fifth century (AD) to border issues over Arunachal Pradesh between India and China in the 21st century, this book elaborates the importance of the Tibetan plateau, which not only holds the key to the well-being of Asia, but it also has a huge impact on the relationship between India and China.

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GEOFFREY YORK
Globe and Mail Update
June 21, 2008 at 8:06 AM EDT

LHASA — With barbed-wire barriers on the streets to keep away the uninvited, China sent the Olympic flame on a hasty two-hour dash through Lhasa Saturday, using a massive police presence to prevent any protests.

Invited guests were allowed into the opening and closing ceremonies, but most ordinary Tibetans were kept far away from the Olympic flame as it was carried on a shortened run through the capital.

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Introduction
Tibet appeared into international political scenario in 19th century as a Buffer state between the mounting of the British India, the Russian Empire, and the Chinese Empire. China however turns out well to uphold Tibet as its suzerainty in international diplomacy while there was no physical control over Tibet during the period. Tibet was then remained de-facto independent state having its full control over its territorial subject except some border areas in Kham and Amdo. In 1930s, Tibet come into western view as Utopia-Shangri-la and to some it was Lamaist state of theocratic rule and to other it was feudal state of aristocratic rule. In 1951 it was turn out to be an autonomous region of Peoples’ Republic of China and the traditional legitimate Tibetan government known as dGa'-lden Pho-brang under the XIV Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso was budge into exile in India in 1959. Since then historical justification of rule over Tibet has been written widely on their best reason and it remain unsolved so far.

Shimla, June 20 (ANI): Three Tibetans-in-exile, trying to cross the Indo-Tibetan border breaching the police security were stopped by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) near Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh.

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