The facts behind His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the viral video!

                             

Screenshot of the video / Dharamsala, India 24/02/2023

The video footage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama kissing a boy, which went viral in April, was greatly sensationalized by certain sections of the media. Unfortunately, many commented hastily, which further created a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. 

 President (Sikyong) Penpa Tsering and the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile of the Central Tibetan Administration, and many authorized representatives from monastic, bureaucrat, and civil society have issued statements and clarifications on the incident. Some thirty-five imminent academic scholars of Tibetan studies have also issued a statement denouncing the aspersions cast on His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Starting from Ladakhis, Arunachalis, and Tibetans, people around the world protested the way some sections of the media misinterpreted and questioned His Holiness the Dalai Lama's integrity. As a Tibetan bureaucrat working closely with the Administration, let me further share this explanation along with links to the videos and the clarifications that came thereafter. 

 The short video, which went viral initially, was manipulated and concocted by a party with a vested interest to malign and defame His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The actual event happened in February, but the purported video came only in the first week of April. It spread widely in Tibet and China, so we know who is behind this despicable and nefarious act. Tibetans in Tibet and Chinese devotees in China, who were not allowed to keep Dalai Lama's photo and denied any opportunity to see and hear His Holiness all these years, were delighted and were happy to see him fine and healthy. Far from what the CCP agents hoped, it had the opposite effect. 

 Mr. Jigme Ugen, a Tibetan living in the U.S., explains how the incident happened with the full footage of the video and the hidden hand of China sensationalizing the Dalai Lama's innocent interaction with the child. It came out later as another Chinese conspiracy to vilify His Holiness the Dalai Lama and undermine the Tibetan struggle for freedom and justice in their homeland. 

We could never doubt the sanctity and compassion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is the icon of peace and non-violence. For Tibetans and Himalayan Buddhists around the world, he is the manifestation of Avaloketishvara, the Buddha of compassion and patron deity of Tibet. Hasty and salacious disrespectful comments, especially by media and film stars, are unfortunate and blasphemous.

 For those who had seen only the cut-piece manipulated video and the vicious comments, they should watch the full footage of the video to see in what context His Holiness had kissed the boy. It is also good to hear what the boy and his mother had said just after the incident. We all must remember that it all happened before many people, before live video cameras, and before the parents of the boy. We must also understand His Holiness and His innocent jovial nature before making any unilateral judgment.

 It is equally important to understand Tibetan culture before making any comments. Here is the explanation of what “eating tongue” means in Tibetan family culture. It is widely shared on social media. 

 "Eat my tongue, the Tibetan phrase “Che Le Sa”- a key point missing: 

In Tibetan culture, it is common to see the old grandparents not only give a pop kiss to the small children but also give a small candy or piece of food to children from their mouths – directly mouth to mouth. This may not be the norm in (your) other culture, but this is commonly done. After the elder gives a pop kiss and a candy, since there is nothing left in their mouth, nothing left to give, they will say the phrase “OK, now `eat my tongue` (not `suck, ` as His Holiness misspoke due to his less proficient English). The Tibetan phrase is `Che le sa`. They say “I`ve given you all my love and the candy so that`s it – all that`s left to do is eat my tongue.” And it is a playful thing that the children know. This is not really done in the Lhasa region (capital of Tibet) so much, but it is more common in the Amdo region (where HH is from). However, it is definitely a Tibetan custom."

 With the brutal invasion of Tibet in 1950, China did everything since then to legitimize its occupation of Tibet and Sinicize Tibet. But the Tibetans never gave up, Tibetans` spirit of freedom and their identity remained strong and unvanquished. The sole reason for this Tibetan unity and strength is the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Now with this fake and purported cut-piece video, the CCP regime is attacking the core of Tibetan faith and identity by trying to malign His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and jeopardize the Tibet movement. 

 Another reason for the CCP to come up with this despicable ploy is that on March 8 His Holiness recognized a boy as the reincarnation of the 10th Jetsun Dhampa Huthukthuk, one of the highest Mongolian Buddhist lamas, at a religious function in Dharamsala, India. Around 600 Mongolians and many Tibetans attended the sacred function. Mongols and Tibetans have a deep historical, religious, and cultural relationship. In fact, the 9th Jetsun Dhampa Huthukthuk escaped China and sought refuge in India along with the Tibetans.

 Despite Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution proclaiming religious and cultural rights to the minority nationals, the CCP regime had denied the Tibetans, Uyghur, Southern Mongolians, Falungong practitioners, and Christians the right to practice their faiths and religions. More than 6000 monasteries were destroyed in Tibet since the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Even now, the destruction of monasteries and religious monuments is going on in places like Larungar, Yachengar, and Drago in Tibet. Larungar and Yachengar were known as Buddhist teaching centers where both Tibetans and Chinese practiced together peacefully under Tibetan masters. The CCP leadership found this close association of Tibetans and Chinese as a threat to the regime and closed the centers and forcefully dispersed the practitioners to their respective places. We could well see who is the separatist. 

 The CCP leadership, who does not believe in religion, promulgated the Religious order no. 5 in 2007 to assert absolute authority to select and appoint reincarnation of Tibetan and Mongolian lamas. When His Holiness the Dalai Lama recognized a boy as the reincarnation of the 9th Jetsun Dhampa Huthukutu Rinpoche of Mongolia, China felt insulted and eclipsed. Its rage and fury burst out to attack and undermine the integrity of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The despotic communist regime could not bear to see the growing influence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They also could not tolerate the close and ancient religious and cultural ties between Mongols and Tibetans being revived and coming alive. The communist leadership sees these developments as a serious threat to the existence of the CCP regime. Here also we must note who is the separatist.

 We all must take into account the above facts to see who is behind this viral video and what is their ultimate object. Tibetans, Mongols, Chinese, people along the Himalayan borders, and the international community revere and hold His Holiness in the highest esteem and this keeps them united and strong. The CCP's ultimate objective is to attack and destroy this common icon of faith and respect and create division among the followers. This is what the fake viral video is all about. Proper understanding of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings and his contribution toward world peace and his message of non-violence is very important. Hasty and impulsive comments will only land us playing into the enemy's hand and only benefit the one who wants to divide us. Let us all, therefore, not fall into the trap of the CCP`s false and fake news.

The original article appeared on Tibet Policy Institute`s HP: https://tibetpolicy.net/the-facts-behind-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-and-the-viral-video/

『アバター』の衛星パンドラはチベットだ Avatar's Panadora is Tibet

 『アバター』の衛星パンドラはチベットだ

 

 映画『アバター』を（2010年）見たとき、はじめはよく分からなかった。しかしストーリーが進むにつれ、これはチベットで起き、現在も続いている出来事にそっくりだと考えずにはいられなくなった。衛星パンドラはチベットであり、ナヴィ族はチベット人であり、クオリッチ大佐とその軍隊は共産主義中国の人民解放軍（PLA）だ。

 

チベットは中国の西、インドの北に位置する平和的な土地であった。聖なる王ダライ・ラマは、仏教の非暴力と慈悲の原則に従って土地を治めていた。自然や鉱物、水資源の豊富な地域であった。これらの資源は、先住民によってほとんど未踏のまま残されていた。彼らは必要な分だけで暮らし、強欲ではなかったからである。繁栄と精神的喜びが、この土地に満ちていた。世界が産業革命や世界大戦、外的物質の発展に追われている間、チベットの導師たちは生きとし生けるものの内的精神の本質を研究し、人間の価値や、平和と非暴力の空気を高めることに追われていた。

 

しかし1950年、チベットの高地とその豊かな天然資源への欲にかられ、共産主義中国はチベットを侵略した。彼らは約120万の人々を虐殺し、チベット寺院や僧院を破壊し、チベットは燃えさかる地獄の世界へと突き落とされた。人民解放軍は、クオリッチ大佐率いる軍隊がナヴィ族にしたのと同じことをしたのである。

 

しかし、チベットは現実の話である。チベット人は今も、中国の圧制のもとで苦しんでいる。亡命中の指導者ダライ・ラマが、チベットに平和の栄光をとりもどすため、非暴力かつ平和的アプローチによって勝ち取ったのは、ノーベル平和賞であってチベットではなかった。彼は休むことなく世界を飛び回り、国際社会にチベットの平和と自由への支援を呼びかけている。

 

今では、チベットへ続く西蔵鉄道線が完成し、中国はとがめられることもなく、躍起になってチベットの山を伐採し、川をせきとめている。

 

『アバター』の撮影中、ジェームズ・キャメロン監督がチベットのことを考えていたかどうかは分からないが、パンドラやナヴィ族はチベットの状況を表している。『アバター』の世界は、何世紀か後のパンドラという小さな星での出来事だ。遠い世界を見るまでもなく、アジアの中心には、チベットという実際のパンドラがある。

 

『アバター』を見て、実際にパンドラを見たいと思ったなら、チベットへ行ってから土地を守ってもらいたい。

Original English blog: https://denpaikyareng.blogspot.com/search?q=Avatar

2010年一月（和訳：熊谷惠雲）

 Original Avatar Review：http://www.rottentomatoes.com/user/802848/reviews/

Canada Tibet Committee：http://www.tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/8394

Nalanda Buddhism Certificate Course 1

Tibet House New Delhi Nalanda Certificate Course NCC1

9th Session Notes /03/07/2022) Sun

 Deceptive (wrong) consciousness (Tib:log shes), is the last from the seventh division of mind we studied earlier.

 Let us say, you love flower and you are given a flower. You look at it and feel joy and happiness. There is an interaction between subject mind and object flower. If the interaction is not there, no feeling comes. It is the interaction between subject and object that give rise to all emotions and reactions. Two activities are there: Appearance and apprehension.

 There is an act of appearance of the object to the subject as to how the flower appears to my mind. We don't say mind appears to the subject. The act of appearance is related to the subject. There is an act of apprehension of the object by the subject, mind apprehends the flower. There is an act of appearance and act of apprehension by object and subject.

 When we see an object, misconception may occur at two levels:

¾   At appearance level: When mistake happens at appearance level, it is called mistaken mind or consciousness (Tib:'khurl shes).

¾   At apprehension level: When mistake happens at apprehension level, it is called deceptive mind or consciousness (Tib:log shes).

 They look same, but it is not. This mistake is ignorance. Ignorance is the root cause of our misery. It occurs due to our misconception of what is reality. We don't see reality. What we see and what reality is, there is contradiction. This is misconception. It occurs at two levels: When the mind is mistaken at the act of appearance and when the mind is mistaken at the act of apprehension.

 Snow is white. If you see through a blue goggle, it appears blue. But your mind knows it is white. Your mind is mistaken at appearance level but not at the apprehension level. So it is mistaken mind and not deceptive mind. This distinction is very important.

 Whatever is deceptive mind should necessarily be mistaken mind. Whatever is mistaken mind may not be a deceptive mind. Whatever is a girl is human being; whatever is human being may not be a girl.   

 Mistaken mind is a mind which is mistaken with respect to the object of appearance. Deceptive mind is a mind which is mistaken with the object of apprehension.

 Exercise: Think of H.H. the Dalai Lama. What appears, picture, image, memory etc. Image becomes the object of appearance and Dalai Lama is your object of apprehension. What you apprehend is not the image but Dalai Lama. But what appears is an image.

 When conceptual mind works, image has to come. This image is known as image of meaning generality (Tib:don spyi), a mental image.

 I asked you to think of Dalai Lama, not the picture or image of Dalai Lama. We see that only through a picture or image we can think of Dalai Lama. That image becomes the object of appearance and Dalai Lama is the object of apprehension. When conceptual mind works, image has to come. This image is known as Meaning Generality.

 A conceptual mind is a mind apprehends its primary object through meaning generality. Direct mind is a mind which directly perceives the object without using meaning generality.

 Meaning generality is a mental image which comes to our mind through which the conceptual mind apprehends the primary object.

 Sense direct perceiver doesn't use meaning generality. Mental direct perceiver, close your eyes and think of anything. All clairvoyance things happen at mental consciousness level not at sensory level. Conceptual mind is seen as a direct perceiver.

 All afflictions (deceptive mind) are conceptual mind, anger, attachment, etc.

 Three fold division of mind:

1.      Conceptual consciousness (Tib:rtag pa): Conceptual consciousness that mix a meaning generality as their apprehended object on the appearance level

2.      Non-conceptual non-mistaken consciousness that take a specifically characterized phenomenon as their apprehended object

3.      Non-conceptual mistaken mind consciousness that take a clearly appearing non-existent as their apprehended object.

 Two fold divisions of mind:

¾   Prime cognizers and non-prime consciousness

¾   Conceptual and non-conceptual consciousness

¾   Mistaken and non-mistaken consciousness

¾   Mental and sense consciousness

¾   Awareness which are eliminative engagers and collective engagers

¾   Mind and mental factors

 Mental consciousness and sense consciousness (Tib: yid shes dang dbang shes) are both mind. Sense consciousness is what you get depending on your senses and mental consciousness are those which are not directly dependent on the five senses.

 Is feeling of gratitude a mental consciousness or sense consciousness?

 All afflictions are necessarily mental consciousness (except for Sauvatantrika and Vaibashika). Sense consciousness shuts down at the time of death, but mental consciousness does not. It ejects from the body and go to the next body.

 Meditation should be through mental consciousness and not through sense consciousness. Meditation is to purify our mind to achieve Buddhahood, this process relates to mental consciousness. Feeling is with all primary mind. Meditation is to purify our mental defilement and this defilement is to be removed from our mental consciousness. Our mental consciousness should become Buddha. Let us not forget that sense consciousness in only a mind.

 Eliminative engager awareness and collective engager awareness (Tib:sel 'jug dang sgrub 'jug): Selective mind is eliminative engager, it selects or picks up from many. A notebook with many pictures, what each student see is very selective. When you become Buddha or omniscient you see all the details and nothing is left out. You are aware of everything. We usually behave in an eliminative way in dealing with other people and objects.

 What I could get from this person concept is the failure of modern education. All conceptual mind use generic image or meaning generality wherein an image is created by our mind. All conceptual minds are selective engager or eliminative engager awareness. Our mind create an image and try to select and eliminate the rest.

 All non-conceptual minds are collective engager. It does not eliminate anything, it picks or selects everything. Eye consciousness is not conceptual mind, it is not eliminative engager. All conceptual minds are mental consciousness. Two mental consciousnesses cannot co-exist but a mental consciousness and sense consciousness can co-exist. Mental consciousness exist all the times, sense consciousness comes and goes.

 Next division: mind and mental factors, we need to see which of the seven fold division of mind are Conceptual or non-conceptual (C & NC), Mistaken or non-mistaken (M & NM), and Sense consciousness and mental consciousness (SC & MC):

 1.      Direct valid perceiver /NC / NM / SC /  

2.      Inferential cognizer / C / M / MC /

3.      Subsequent cognizer / Can have both C & NC / Can have both / have SC&MC /

4.      Correctly assuming consciousness /C / M / MC /

5.      Non-discerning direct perceiver / NC / Can have M&NM /

6.      Doubting consciousness / C / M / ? /

7.      Deceptive (wrong) consciousness / Can have both C & NC / M / ? ?/

 Mind has two functions: to see other things and to see itself like a bulb light. All agrees to this but not the Parasangika school. Seeing itself is a self cognizing mind and seeing other is other cognizing mind. We need to which of the seven minds are mistaken or non-mistaken minds?

 All minds should necessarily have object of appearance and all mind should necessarily engage but it may not discern. Object of appearance and apprehension are there but not discerning.

 Self cognizing mind is a non-conceptual mind, but in a deep sleep, it is a non discerning mind. All mind has two functions. It apprehend other things and it self too. Label given to other is other cognizing mind, and to self is self cognizing mind. Other cognizing mind can be conceptual or non conceptual, but self cognizing mind is always non-conceptual because it never uses meaning generality and it is always mental consciousness. Self cognizing mind is always direct perceiver but may not be direct valid perceiver.

 Note: This is a student's note. Error and omissions are bound to be there. A serious student should study the actual teachings of the teacher, Geshe Dorjee Damdul la, from www.tibethouse.in website. I write these notes to help my understanding and recollections. (Tib:Rang gi yid la nges phyir ngas dhi brtsams).

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Nalanda Buddhism Certificate Course 1

Tibet House New Delhi Nalanda Certificate Course NCC1

8th Session Notes /04/07/2022) Wed

 Proper study and understanding of the seven fold division of mind is very important to  understand Buddhist psychology. They are:

1.      Direct valid perceiver (Tib: dngon sum)

2.      Inferential cognizer (Tib:rjes pa)

3.      Subsequent cognizer (Tib:bcad shes)

4.      Correctly assuming consciousness (Tib:yid dpyad)

5.      Non-discerning direct perceiver (Tib:snang la ma gnas pa)

6.      Doubting consciousness (Tib:the tshom)

7.      Deceptive (wrong) consciousness (Tib:log shes)

 1. Direct valid perceiver: A non-mistaken knower that is free from conceptuality. It has four categories:

a)     Sense direct perceiver: A direct perception through our senses

b)    Mental direct perceiver: A mental perception like presence of a lung, things about past and present.

c)     Self cognition direct perceiver (Tib:rang rig mngon gsum): The mind is said to be self cognizing mind. It has an ability to see itself and other. When a light in introduced in a dark room, we could see things. We could also see the light. It could illuminate other and self too. Mind has an aspect or ability to know or perceive itself. (Some schools don’t accept this.)

d)    Yogic direct perceiver: Its direct perception of subtle phenomena by the Arhats, seeing impermanence and emptiness through refined practice of the five paths.

 2. Inferential cognizer: Inference through knowledge and confidence like dated of birth, dependent on testimony, knowing presence of fire on seeing smoke etc. Emptiness is to be realized through power of fact not by inference.

 3. Subsequent cognizer: Things seen after the direct valid cognition. It is said to really on the teachings, not on the person; really not on provisional teachings but on the ultimate teachings. Within the teachings of ultimate reality, we must really on direct valid perceiver rather than on conceptual realization.

 4. Correctly assuming consciousness: We may not know how e=mc2 is derived, but we assume it is correct. We may not have realized emptiness but we can talk and faith in it.

 5. Non discerning direct perceiver: Your mind is focused on something and you don’t see things before you.

 6. Doubting consciousness (Tib:the tshom): It has three kinds, a mind titled toward fact, non-fact, and neutral.

 7. Deceptive (wrong) consciousness (Tib:log shes): When we see an object, misperception may occur at two levels: appearance and apprehension levels. When mistake happens at appearance level, it is called mistaken mind (Tib:'khul shes). When mistake happens at apprehension level, it is called deceptive mind. We shall explain more in the next session.

 These seven fold division of mind should be on our fingertips, it's important to understand our mind.

 Note: This is a student's note. Error and omissions are bound to be there. A serious student should study the actual teachings of the teacher, Geshe Dorjee Damdul la, from www.tibethouse.in website. I write these notes to help my understanding and recollections. (Tib:Rang gi yid la nges phyir ngas dhi brtsams).

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