Category / Monks

by Nate DeMontigny

China Warns Obama Not To See The Dalai Lama

From AFP – China on Tuesday warned U.S. President Barack Obama against meeting the Dalai Lama, saying it would “seriously undermine” Sino-US ties — the latest salvo in an escalating row between the two powers.

Beijing also said no progress had been made in the latest round of talks between Chinese officials and envoys of the Buddhist monk, saying the two sides remain “sharply divided” on the future of the Himalayan region.

The comments came after the first negotiations between the two sides in more than a year, which wrapped up at the weekend. The envoys of the Dalai Lama returned to their exile base in India on Monday.

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by Nate DeMontigny

Monk opens plane’s emergency exit for fresh air

OOOPS!

From New Straits Times

A Buddhist monk who opened the emergency exit of an airplane just before take off because he wanted some fresh air forced the plane to delay its flight for almost seven hours at Kolkata airport yesterday morning.

As result of his action, the airport authorities evacuated all the passengers onboard and grounded the plane for nearly seven hours until all the safety drills were completed.

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by Nate DeMontigny

China detains dozens after riot

From CNN

Authorities detained 95 people — all but two of them monks — after a crowd of more than 100 people attacked a police station in western China, state media said Sunday.

The crowd attacked police officers and government staff in the Qinghai province Saturday after a man who was in custody for advocating Tibetan independence went missing, the Xinhua news agency said.

Chinese authorities said the man, Zhaxi Sangwu, escaped after asking to use the bathroom. They said they did not know what happened to him afterward.

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by Nate DeMontigny

Monks sets himself on fire, than shot by Chinese Police

From CNN

A monk carrying a Tibetan national flag and shouting slogans set himself on fire in south-central China on Friday and then was shot at by police, a human rights group reported.

Police fired three shots at the monk, but it was not known if any hit him or whether he survived, said Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the London-based Free Tibet organization. Whitticase said he based his report on eyewitness accounts.

About 40 minutes before the shooting, around 1,000 monks trying to observe the Monlam Festival had gathered at Kirti Monastery in Aba County, Sichuan Province, said Whitticase.

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by Nate DeMontigny

China to send special panel to help handle death of monks

From Taiwan Headlines

The Nanjing city government will send a special task force to Taiwan to help deal with an incident in which two visiting monks from the city’s centuries-old Linggu Temple died at a Taiwan hotel, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday.

According to the report, the Nanjing city authorities have asked the other members of a delegation from the Buddhist temple to cooperate with Taiwan police in the investigation of the case.

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by Nate DeMontigny

Gambira, Five Others Sent to Remote Prisons

From The Irrawaddy

At least six political activists including the prominent Buddhist monk Ashin Gambira, one of the leaders in the September demonstrations last year, were sent to prisons in remote areas around Burma on Monday, said reliable sources in Rangoon.

Ashin Gambira, who received the longest prison term of 68 years, was transferred from Insein Prison to Hkamti Prison in Sagaing Division while his older brother, Aung Kyaw Kyaw, was sent from Insein Prison to Taunggyi Prison in Shan State in eastern Burma, according to a source who requested anonymity.

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by Nate DeMontigny

China maintains hold on Tibet and tests Dalai Lama

From The Associated Press

Chinese paramilitary police with riot shields and batons abruptly took up posts Monday on the main street of this Tibetan town, disrupting the bustle of Buddhist pilgrims in a reminder of China’s determined control of the region.

With some Tibetans pushing harder against Chinese rule, the communist government is determined to pacify the area.

The show of force Monday was meant to deter unrest while a local court sentenced a group of Tibetans for taking part in large anti-government protests in March in Xiahe, a small town abutting a sprawling complex of golden-roofed temples.

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by Nate DeMontigny

Crunch time for Tibetan cause

From The BBC

As many as 500 exiled Tibetan leaders are meeting in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala this week to discuss the future of their fight for their homeland.

It is a critical time, as they face up to the fact that their decades-long call for “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet has pretty much fallen on deaf ears in China.

Last month, Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said he was losing hope that his deliberately moderate “middle path” policy with Beijing – seeking autonomy but not full independence – would yield results.

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