By Ngawang Choechen
Raleigh, April 30 – A series of Tibet awareness events has been taking place in North Carolina recently where only a few Tibetans reside. Yesterday, an inter-faith candle light service was organized in Broughton High school where Tenzin Dekyi, a Tibetan Senior student in Tibetan Chupa was one of the first to recite a Manjushree prayer in front of a packed school auditorium with students and parents. She then explained the meaning of the prayer. Broughton High school is one of the oldest and best high schools in Raleigh, North Carolina with over 2200 students. Today, she was inducted for National Honor Society at her school amidst a grand ceremony for her academic growth, strong character, dedication to service and effective leadership in the school and community.
Last week, the International Club of the school organized a talk program on Tibetan Culture. They invited me as the guest speaker. Interestingly, the President of the International Club is a Chinese Senior student. While introducing, she said, “Tibet is a hot topic these days and we have a guest speaker here today”. I used a power point presentation with the help of Tenzin on numerous aspects of Tibet trying to project that Tibet and the Tibetans are different from China and the Chinese people. To begin with, a map of three provinces of Tibet and snow-mountains was shown followed by The Potala palace, portrait of HH the Dalai Lama, Thangka paintings, etc. We then touched briefly on the Tibetan religion, values, language, literature, calendar, festivals, occupation, cuisine, clothing, sculpture, music, dance, opera, sports, marriage, funeral, etc. Finally we talked about 10th March Tibetan Uprising, the government in exile under HH the Dalai Lama and his commitment to non-violent approach in resolving the Tibetan issue. The audience was informed that there are resources on Tibet such as Freedom in Exile (Auto-biography of HH the Dalai Lama), Phayul.com for news and views on Tibet, movies like Kundun and Seven Years in Tibet. There was a brief question-answer session and the teacher in-charge concluded a note of sincere appreciation at the end. The Chinese student President said that she has learnt a lot on that day about Tibet.
Earlier this year, a SFT chapter was founded by Tenzin Dekyi in the school and a first ever Free Tibet rally was organized at the State Capitol on March 10. Over a hundred high school students, teachers and supporters participated. Dekyi introduced the event saying, “There is no basic human right in Tibet. Even the possession of a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama will lead a Tibetan in jail for several years or even death”Your browser may not support display of this image.
The protesters marched twice through downtown Raleigh, State Legislative Assembly, City Market, Museum of Science and History, chanting Free Tibet slogans and distributing pamphlets. Most of the marchers were wearing Free Tibet T-Shirts sent from the SFT Headquarters (New York) and headbands donated by Geshe Gelek Chodak, the resident teacher of local Buddhist center. The students had prepared numerous banners and posters on a variety of Tibetan issues.
A ninth grader, Forrest Finch who is an elected SFT office bearer said that he would make sure that the SFT chapter will grow tremendously during his four year tenure in the school. Ms.Beth Gulewich, the German teacher of the students has motivated, encouraged and helped the students to make the SFT chapter a great success. Ms Julie Jones, Spiritual Program Coordinator of Zoepa Rinpoche’s Tibetan Buddhist Center thanked the gathering. She hoped that this event will create more awareness about Tibet and more people will participate in the coming days. The SFT rally news with picture appeared on the front page of the school News Paper, “The Hi-Time” in its latest edition.
Following this, prayer vigils were held at the Tibetan Buddhist Center and also at the State Capital under the leadership of Geshe Gelek Chodak. Mr. Sherab Lhawang spoke on the occasion and several people listened with full of tears in their eyes. Geshe Sangpo led the prayer, slogans and the Tibetan national anthem.
A couple of weeks ago, the SFT chapter at Broughton invited me to talk about the current situation in Tibet to its members. Brief information about the Communist Chinese invasion of Tibet in October 1949, followed by cultural genocide and present situation in Tibet were dealt with.
Earlier this month, Human Rights coalition of Duke University led by Adam Weiss, a Political Science major organized a mock torch relay called, “Genocide Olympics” on their campus. Duke University is one of the top ten universities in the United States. A counter protest was organized by some Chinese students. Adam said, “You can love Chinese culture but you don’t have to love the Chinese government policy on Tibet. I know, the Dalai Lama advocates peace, whereas China invades, China attacks, China kills, China oppresses, China bans” A Chinese student named Grace Wang tried to moderate between the two opposing pro-Tibet and pro China groups as a referee at the rally. Unfortunately, she was branded Pro-Tibet and has been harassed and receiving threats ever since. It is learnt that her parents are also receiving threats in China. It is written in The Epoch Times that Duke Student government has decided to push for an investigation of the Duke Chinese Student and Scholars Association (DCSSA) website which put personal information of Grace Wang. Daniel Cordero, Vice President of the Duke College Republicans revealed, “I have on tape (from the meeting)the President of DCSSA saying they money from the Beijing consulate”.
One week after the protest rally, Duke University Asian/Pacific Studies Institute organized a talk program on Tibet inviting Mr. Gang Yue (a Chinese) Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Asian Studies, University of North Carolina, Tashi Rabgey, Director of Contemporary Tibetans Studies Initiative, University of Virginia, Losang Rabgey, National Geographic and Scott Savitt, former correspondent in Beijing for the Los Angeles Times and United Press International. The event was moderated by Ralph Litzinger, Director of the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute. Many Chinese students and teachers were there and they put numerous questions to the panel. The Chinese professor said that he was a driver in Tibet for six years and he knows the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama. They are nice people. He said, “The Dalai Lama is sincere” in his words and deeds. After the talk, some of the Tibetans were also able to provide answers to the questions raised by some of the Chinese audience regarding pre-1949 situation in Tibet, recent protests in Tibet, Panchen Lama, etc. I had a pretty long conversation with a Chinese professor at NC State University where there are over 30,000 students.
