- The peaceful Buddhist country of Tibet was invaded by Communist China in 1950. Since that time, over 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed, 6,000 monasteries have been destroyed, and thousands of Tibetans have been imprisoned.
- Forced abortion, sterilization of Tibetan women and the transfer of low income Chinese citizens into Tibet threaten the very survival of Tibetan culture. In some Tibetan provinces, Chinese settlers outnumber Tibetans--making them a minority in their own country.
- The Dalai Lama, Tibet's political and spiritual leader, fled Tibet in 1959. He escaped to India, where he lives now along with the rest of the Tibetan government in exile and over 100,000 Tibetan refugees. The Tibetans continue to resist Chinese rule peacefully and nonviolently. As Buddhists, they are devoted to the principles of nonviolence and compassion for all beings.
- In Tibet today, there is no freedom of speech, religion, or press and arbitrary arrests continue. There are currently over 700 political prisoners in Tibet. Statistics show that one out of ten Tibetans have been held in prisons or forced labor camps for periods of ten to twenty years. Current political prisoners include a young Fulbright scholar named Ngawang Chophel. The six-year old Panchen Lama (the second most important religious figure in Tibet), disappeared six months ago without a trace. It is presumed that he is either dead or being held by Chinese authorities.
- Most of the Tibetan plateau lies above 14,000 feet. Tibet is the source of five of Asia's greatest rivers, the life blood of 2 billion people. Since 1959, the Chinese have wreaked havoc on Tibet's fragile environment through extensive deforestation and open dumping of nuclear waste. Tibet's most sacred lake, the Yamdrok Tso, is currently being drained for a Chinese hydroelectric power plant.
- While the Chinese government claims that Tibet has always been a part of China, there is no historical evidence to support this. The two cultures are completely distinct. Their languages do not even come from the same root, and their food, dress, lifestyle, and religion have almost no relation whatsoever.
- Within China itself, massive human rights abuses continue. The Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 is only one example of an atrocious human rights record. Some estimate there are as many as twenty million Chinese working in prison camps. Forced prison labor, arbitrary imprisonment, and the imposition of the death penalty for minor offenses continue.
- Despite all this, the world community has done little to pressure China to improve its human rights record. Major corporations from around the world continue to do business with China. Last year, despite continuing pressure, the United States renewed China's Most Favored Nation trading status. China represents such a potentially gigantic market that politicians are reluctant to impose any trade sanctions.
- Despite the assertion by the US government that the presence of US business in China will improve conditions there, things have only gotten worse. A 1995 State Department study showed that cases of human rights abuses were growing in China and Tibet.
- . Time is running out for the people of Tibet. The time is now to take economic and political action against the human rights abuses being committed by the government of China.
Why Tibet? Nonviolence?
You don't have to look far to find examples of violence. Unfortunately, evidence of violence is all around us. City streets, schools, in the media, corporate boardrooms, government halls, and our almost exhausted environment. So why should we concern ourselves with Tibet? Adam Yauch, one of Milarepa's founders, explained it this way in the first issue of Grand Royal Magazine:
"...Maybe it's because the Tibetan people are so peaceful and won't fight back, even as the Chinese rape and torture them, prevent them from practicing their religion and destroy their monasteries...Maybe seeing films of Tibetan monks and nuns, who have taken vows not to harm another living creature, being beaten was what got me.
"Or maybe it's that I've met some of these people and see how happy they are, despite what's going on. Laughing all the time without the same agenda of worries that so many of us carry in our modern society. Or maybe it's that see their society as an example of how people can live in peace, working towards enlightenment. An example or blueprint of a way that a culture can operate in harmony with itself and the land."
For thousands of years human beings have used the teachings of nonviolence not only as a guideline for spiritual and ethical behavior, but as a message for social change. The courageous principles demonstrated by figures like Thoreau, King, Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama stand as an example for all of us. Throughout history, people like these have refused to take up arms in their struggles and have insisted that all their actions be motivated by compassion and love. Nonviolent action continues throughout the world today in places like Burma, Nigeria, Tibet and here in America.
The most widely recognized example of nonviolent action succeeding on a global scale is the revolution in India launched by Mahatma Gandhi. Adhering strictly to the principles of nonviolence, Gandhi mobilized millions of people to directly and peacefully overthrow the British government's rule of India. Gandhi's revolution succeeded because he knew that a one that is based on violence can only bring about a society whose existence is maintained through violence. What Gandhi stressed most is that nonviolent action must come from a deep inner belief in the principles of love and compassion and must be accompanied by an indomitable will. Nonviolent action, pursued with steadfastness against those who maintain a violent stance, Gandhi said, eventually triumphs.
Since 1959, The Tibetan people have maintained a nonviolent struggle against the Chinese government's brutal occupation. They have lobbied, demonstrated, and gone on hunger strike to further their cause for freedom. Most refuse to kill. Despite this, the Dalai Lama emphasizes love and compassion. In keeping with traditional Buddhist thought, his exiled Tibetan government acts and governs with the benefit of all beings in mind, including the Chinese.
Throughout the course of the Chinese occupation, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have been imprisoned or killed by Chinese police. Yet the Dalai Lama continues to regard the Chinese as his greatest teachers. As he says: "For a person who cherishes compassion and love, the practice of tolerance is essential; and for that, an enemy is indispensable."
The integrity of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people stand as models for us all. The people of Tibet and their nonviolent struggle are crucial for all peoples. The Tibetans will not resort to guns or bombs. It is nonviolence in its purest, and most essential, form. They are teaching us a lesson; setting a precedent which we must strive to follow. There is nothing more honorable, effective and healthy than compassionate nonviolence in response to human error and brutality. For their strength, we owe them our admiration and support.
T H E P A N C H E N L A M A : T I B E T ' S S T O L E N C H I L D
In May 1995, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the six year-old boy identified by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, disappeared. Suspicions that he had been kidnapped were confirmed in 1996, when the Chinese government admitted to holding the boy and his family in "protective custody." After repeated attempts to locate and visit the boy, not one international agency or human rights organization has been allowed to meet with the Panchen Lama or his family, and their condition remains uncertain. Furthermore, in an attempt to establish their pre-eminence in all "internal affairs" of China political or otherwise, the atheistic Chinese government nominated and selected their own 11th Panchen Lama in November 1995. Their selection, a six year-old boy named Gyaltsen Norbu, is another young victim in Chinašs plan to undermine and control the Tibetan people, their religion, and their nation.
Brief Introduction
In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, it is believed that several years after the death of select religious leaders their reincarnations can be identified as young children. These young children, or tulkus, are immersed in a rigorous 20-year education that facilitates their spiritual growth and transfers the rich knowledge of their lineage from generation to generation.
Thus, the story of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima begins long before he was born. His story stretches across the generations to when the lineage of the Panchen Lama was founded.
Background
In the 15th Century, the 1st Dalai Lama established a vibrant monastery called Tashi Lhunpo in the Tibetan city of Shigatse, just west of the capital city of Lhasa. Two hundred years later, when the 5th Dalai Lama was a young boy, the abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery guided his spiritual upbringing as a Buddhist monk and scholar. History says that when the abbot died, the Dalai Lama dedicated the Monastery to his late teacher declaring that he would reincarnate again and again, and that each successor would be known as the holder of the Panchen Lama lineage.
{Traditionally, the Dalai Lama is both the secular head of the country as well as the spiritual leader. He is believed to be the emanation of Avalokisteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion. The Panchen Lama or "Great Scholar" plays primarily a religious role. He is believed to be an emanation of Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light.}
Through the ages, the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama maintained their unique relationship. It is said, "the Panchen Lama is like the moon to the Dalai Lamašs sun." Tibetans explain that when one dies the other helps find and identify the reincarnation. Sometimes the Panchen Lama is the spiritual father to a young Dalai Lama. At other times He is the spiritual son. They guide each other from lifetimeto lifetime.
The 10th Panchen Lama
When the 10th Panchen Lama, Lobsang Trinley Choekyi Gyaltsen, was born in 1938, Tibet was an independent country and the 14th Dalai Lama was just a young boy. The two tulkus were forced to mature quickly as the political situation in Tibet steadily worsened upon the Chinese invasion of eastern Tibet in 1949, the ensuing occupation, and the eventual annexation in 1959. This was the year that the His Holiness the Dalai Lama, his life in danger, was forced to flee into exile with 80,000 of his people. The Panchen Lama, a young man of 21, stayed in Tibet and was appointed by the Communist Party as the acting chairman of the Preparatory Committee. He spent the next thirty years of his life traveling between Tibet and Beijing, gathering first hand information of the reality of the situation for Tibetans under Chinese rule. The Panchen Lamašs observations during this tour formed the basis of his famous 70,000-character petition which eventually triggered his condemnation and imprisonment by the Chinese government.
As the second most revered religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism and the most venerated remaining in Tibet after the Chinese invasion in 1949, the 10th Panchen Lamašs death at 50 years of age was a blow to the Tibetan nation. And though there is mystery shrouding his death, no one could fully investigate what occurred in this Chinese occupied land.
The Search for the 11th Panchen Lama
But the story of the 10th Panchen Lama does not end with his death as reincarnation continues this story to the 11th Panchen Lama. Traditionally, H.H. the Dalai Lama identifies the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama and guides his training through adulthood. But exiled in India, H.H. the Dalai Lama was not permitted by the Chinese government to contact the search party. This delayed the search, usually performed only two years after the death of a lama.
Finally a search party was formed with Chatral Rinpoche, the acting abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, as the head of the Chinese official search party. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Panchen Lama identification team is made up of high-level lamas from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. Their guidance comes in the form of visions that prophetically direct their search to the true reincarnation. Following these mystical signs, the lamasš test the most likely candidates by asking them to identify personal objects owned by the previous Panchen Lama. Oracles are then consulted and divinations performed to reconfirm the final candidate. H.H. the Dalai Lama himself normally carries out these final steps.
The search party compiled a list of numerous young boys whom could be the possible successor of the 10th Panchen Lama. Through hidden contact, H.H. the Dalai Lama received information and photographs of these boys. From his divinations, he identified and proclaimed Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama on May 14, 1995.
By May 17, 1995, the six year-old boy and his parents disappeared from their home, reportedly taken into Chinese police custody for their protection. Denouncing H.H. the Dalai Lamašs proclamation as illegitimate, the Chinese authorities drew lots from a golden urn to select their own Panchen Lama on November 29, 1995. Six year-old Gyaltsen Norbu was selected and subsequently enthroned on December 8, 1995 sparking off massive protests all over Tibet.
To validate their authority in choosing the Panchen Lama, the Communist government cites a recommendation made in 1792 by the Manchu rulers to the Tibetan Government. The Manchus (the monarchy government of China from 1644 - 1912 made up of non-ethnic Chinese rulers) suggested that in selecting high lamas the Tibetans should institute a lottery, which was referred to as the Golden Urn system. One name would be chosen and then forwarded to the Chinese Central Government for final approval.
The Tibetans have asserted all along that a lottery system should be used when there are two very good candidates - making it difficult to choose between them - and, that they have their own lottery system which predates the Manchu recommendation. But, more importantly, the Tibetans also assert that H.H. the Dalai Lama should have a role in identifying the Panchen Lama.
Now that the 11th Panchen Lama is held in detention at an unknown location, Tibetans and supporters of religious freedom around the world are concerned about his physical welfare and spiritual upbringing . Tibetan traditions require that the Panchen Lama receive the care and instruction at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery for his well-being and proper religious education. Despite worldwide appeals, though, Gedhun Cheokyi Nyima and his parents remain in detention. China has refused to provide information of their location or condition and will not allow any independent observer to see them.
Controversy
If the Chinese government asserts that they have the power to choose the Panchen Lama, then will they assert that they have the power to choose the next H.H. the Dalai Lama?
How does a government that espouses atheism suppose that they can respect the religion of a country under their control?
Why does the Chinese government still have Gedhun Cheokyi Nyima and his parents in isolation, more than 4 years after their initial detention?
Timeline
September 3rd, 1949-Shortly before their final victory over the Nationalist army, Chinese Communists state their intention to "liberate" Tibet.
October 1st, 1949-Communists gain control of China.
March 12th, 1950-Nine hundred Chinese troops occupy the Tibetan frontier town of Kakhajar.
October 7th, 1950-84,000 PLA troops attack Tibetan border areas.
October 30th, 1950-PLA troops advance on the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on four fronts. Lhasa is occupied one week later.
November 17th, 1950-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, assumes full leadership of Tibet at the age of fifteen.
1950-59-The Chinese government continues to send troops into Tibet, and to completely dismantle the Tibetan government. The young Dalai Lama repeatedly tries to negotiate with the newly installed government, and the Tibetans begin a series of appeals to the United Nations which continue to this day.
March 10th, 1959-Tibetan National Uprising Day. 30,000 Tibetans surround the Norbu Linka, the Dalai Lama's summer residence, in defiance of the Chinese occupation. Over the next week, the Tibetan people formally declare independence from China. The PLA attacks the Norbu Linka with heavy artillery, and finally, on March 17th, the young Dalai Lama escapes to India, escorted by Tibetan loyalists. The Chinese go on to declare martial law, as thousands of Tibetan refugees begin pouring into India.
1959-The United Nations General Assembly passes Resolution 1353, calling for respect for the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people.
1958-1976-Under the direction of Chairman Mao Zedong, China begins the cultural revolution and the "great leap forward." Thousands of Tibetan monasteries are destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of monks, nuns and civilians are imprisoned for voicing their religious beliefs. During this time, the UN General Assembly passes Resolutions 1723 and 2079, calling for the "cessation of practices which deprive the Tibetan people of their fundamental human rights and freedoms." Despite these resolutions, China wages an all out genocide on the Tibetan people throughout the 1960's. As more and more refugees make their way to India, stories of Chinese atrocities grow.
October 25th, 1971-The United Nations votes to seat China in the General Assembly in place of Taiwan, thus officially recognizing the PRC.
February 17th, 1972-President Richard Nixon opens U.S. relations with China, saying that they will become one of the greatest potential economic superpowers on the planet.
September 9th, 1976-Chairman Mao Zedong dies. Deng Xiaoping becomes Chairman of the Communist Party.
September 21st, 1987-The Dalai Lama travels to the United States and presents a five point peace plan to the US Congress.
September 27th, 1987-Twenty-one Buddhist monks march in Lhasa, shouting independence slogans and protesting the death sentence of two Tibetan nationals.
October 1st, 1987-A crowd of two thousand Tibetans gather to free sixty protesters detained by Chinese police. The Chinese open fire on the unarmed crowd. At least seven Tibetans are killed. Over the next week, hundreds of Tibetans are detained and six more are killed as China imposes curfew and blames the Dalai Lama for inciting the Tibetan people to riot.
October 6th, 1989-His Holiness the Dalai Lama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
March 10th, 1991-1991 is declared the "Year of Tibet." The Chinese begin bulldozing historic Tibetan buildings and homes in the Barkhor, Lhasa's central square.
March 10th 1993-The Dalai Lama states that he is willing to negotiate with China for the future of Tibet, despite China's human rights record.
May 14th, 1995-Six year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is recognized by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second most important religious figure. Shortly thereafter, the young boy disappears along with his family and forty-seven monks and is presumed to be held by Chinese authorities. His whereabouts remain unknown.
1995-A State Department report shows that human rights abuses in Tibet are steadily increasing.
June 15th-16th, 1996- In order to raise public awareness about the ongoing crisis in Tibet, the Milarepa Fund will hold the Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco.
June 1996-An international boycott of all Chinese goods is called, in order to educate consumers about how and under what conditions the products they buy are made, and to pressure American businesses to insist that China improve its human rights record.
October 1996 -- The Chinese government admits to having detained Ngawang Choephel in a Shigatse prison for 13 months without formally charging him of any crime.
December 27th, 1996 -- Ngawang Choephel is sentenced to 18 years in prison for "violating state security laws and attempting to split the motherland." This unusually harsh sentence, completely manufactured by the Chinese goverenment as a warning to Tibetans that a "strike hard" policy is being instituted in Tibet against pro-independence advocates, is viewed internationally as a mockery of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.
June '97 - The Second Tibetan Freedom Concert rocks NYC. President Clinton receives over 35,000 signatures on a petition encouraging him to set up negotiations between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Jiang Zemin.
July 1st '97- As Hong Kong is handed over to China, the rest of the world becomes a human rights watchdog.
Summer '97 - Students for a Free Tibet grows to an estimated 35,000 students, quickly becoming the largest Tibet support network in the world.
August '97 - The position of "Special Coordinator for Tibet" was created at the State Department to deal with the issue of Tibet. The chosen person for the job, Mr. Greg Craig, is a longtime supporter of Tibet.
August '97- U.S. Senator Wolf travels to Tibet on an independent trip and finds gross human rights violations occurring. Meanwhile, an official Canadian delegation also travels to Tibet, but with Chinese government escorts, and reports that "everything is fine" in Tibet.
September '97 - Holiday Inn's partnership with the Chinese government in their hotel in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, was ended after a boycott that lasted four months. This sends a clear message to other companies who are enticed by the Chinese market, that corporations going into Tibet must benefit the local population, not further the Chinese government's occupation.
October '97 - Two major Hollywood movies about Tibet are released. Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt, and Kundun, directed by Martin Scorsese, have educated thousands of movie-goers throughout the world about the atrocities in Tibet.
November 4th '97- Milarepa Fund and Grand Royal/Capitol Records release Tibetan Freedom Concert, a live 3-disc compilation of exceptionally good music available at your local record store.
November '97- China's President Jiang Zemin visits the United States and says that Tibetans were barbaric slaves before they were "peacefully liberated" by Chinese Communist forces. For the first time ever, A Chinese official admits that the Tienanmen Square massacre in 1989 was a mistake. When Jiang Zemin visits Harvard, the largest student protest since the Vietnam War is held on there campus to demand human rights in Tibet.
December '97- China releases pro-democracy activist Wei Jingsheng after 18 years of prison and forced labor. Wei's crime was that he proposed in an open letter to the Chinese government that Democracy was the missing "fifth modernization" in their plan of the "four modernizations." Wei is also a long-time supporter of Tibetan self-determination.
January '98 - The PRC invites three religious leaders to Tibet to look into allegations that there is religious persecution in Tibet. In addition, the Chinese government releases a statement that they would invite a human rights official from the UN to China and that they are considering signing the International Covenant on Civil and Human Rights.
In May 1995, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the six year-old boy identified by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, disappeared. Suspicions that he had been kidnapped were confirmed in 1996, when the Chinese government admitted to holding the boy and his family in "protective custody." After repeated attempts to locate and visit the boy, not one international agency or human rights organization has been allowed to meet with the Panchen Lama or his family, and their condition remains uncertain. Furthermore, in an attempt to establish their pre-eminence in all "internal affairs" of China political or otherwise, the atheistic Chinese government nominated and selected their own 11th Panchen Lama in November 1995. Their selection, a six year-old boy named Gyaltsen Norbu, is another young victim in Chinašs plan to undermine and control the Tibetan people, their religion, and their nation.
Brief Introduction
In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, it is believed that several years after the death of select religious leaders their reincarnations can be identified as young children. These young children, or tulkus, are immersed in a rigorous 20-year education that facilitates their spiritual growth and transfers the rich knowledge of their lineage from generation to generation.
Thus, the story of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima begins long before he was born. His story stretches across the generations to when the lineage of the Panchen Lama was founded.
Background
In the 15th Century, the 1st Dalai Lama established a vibrant monastery called Tashi Lhunpo in the Tibetan city of Shigatse, just west of the capital city of Lhasa. Two hundred years later, when the 5th Dalai Lama was a young boy, the abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery guided his spiritual upbringing as a Buddhist monk and scholar. History says that when the abbot died, the Dalai Lama dedicated the Monastery to his late teacher declaring that he would reincarnate again and again, and that each successor would be known as the holder of the Panchen Lama lineage.
{Traditionally, the Dalai Lama is both the secular head of the country as well as the spiritual leader. He is believed to be the emanation of Avalokisteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion. The Panchen Lama or "Great Scholar" plays primarily a religious role. He is believed to be an emanation of Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light.}
Through the ages, the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama maintained their unique relationship. It is said, "the Panchen Lama is like the moon to the Dalai Lamašs sun." Tibetans explain that when one dies the other helps find and identify the reincarnation. Sometimes the Panchen Lama is the spiritual father to a young Dalai Lama. At other times He is the spiritual son. They guide each other from lifetimeto lifetime.
The 10th Panchen Lama
When the 10th Panchen Lama, Lobsang Trinley Choekyi Gyaltsen, was born in 1938, Tibet was an independent country and the 14th Dalai Lama was just a young boy. The two tulkus were forced to mature quickly as the political situation in Tibet steadily worsened upon the Chinese invasion of eastern Tibet in 1949, the ensuing occupation, and the eventual annexation in 1959. This was the year that the His Holiness the Dalai Lama, his life in danger, was forced to flee into exile with 80,000 of his people. The Panchen Lama, a young man of 21, stayed in Tibet and was appointed by the Communist Party as the acting chairman of the Preparatory Committee. He spent the next thirty years of his life traveling between Tibet and Beijing, gathering first hand information of the reality of the situation for Tibetans under Chinese rule. The Panchen Lamašs observations during this tour formed the basis of his famous 70,000-character petition which eventually triggered his condemnation and imprisonment by the Chinese government.
As the second most revered religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism and the most venerated remaining in Tibet after the Chinese invasion in 1949, the 10th Panchen Lamašs death at 50 years of age was a blow to the Tibetan nation. And though there is mystery shrouding his death, no one could fully investigate what occurred in this Chinese occupied land.
The Search for the 11th Panchen Lama
But the story of the 10th Panchen Lama does not end with his death as reincarnation continues this story to the 11th Panchen Lama. Traditionally, H.H. the Dalai Lama identifies the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama and guides his training through adulthood. But exiled in India, H.H. the Dalai Lama was not permitted by the Chinese government to contact the search party. This delayed the search, usually performed only two years after the death of a lama.
Finally a search party was formed with Chatral Rinpoche, the acting abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, as the head of the Chinese official search party. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Panchen Lama identification team is made up of high-level lamas from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. Their guidance comes in the form of visions that prophetically direct their search to the true reincarnation. Following these mystical signs, the lamasš test the most likely candidates by asking them to identify personal objects owned by the previous Panchen Lama. Oracles are then consulted and divinations performed to reconfirm the final candidate. H.H. the Dalai Lama himself normally carries out these final steps.
The search party compiled a list of numerous young boys whom could be the possible successor of the 10th Panchen Lama. Through hidden contact, H.H. the Dalai Lama received information and photographs of these boys. From his divinations, he identified and proclaimed Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama on May 14, 1995.
By May 17, 1995, the six year-old boy and his parents disappeared from their home, reportedly taken into Chinese police custody for their protection. Denouncing H.H. the Dalai Lamašs proclamation as illegitimate, the Chinese authorities drew lots from a golden urn to select their own Panchen Lama on November 29, 1995. Six year-old Gyaltsen Norbu was selected and subsequently enthroned on December 8, 1995 sparking off massive protests all over Tibet.
To validate their authority in choosing the Panchen Lama, the Communist government cites a recommendation made in 1792 by the Manchu rulers to the Tibetan Government. The Manchus (the monarchy government of China from 1644 - 1912 made up of non-ethnic Chinese rulers) suggested that in selecting high lamas the Tibetans should institute a lottery, which was referred to as the Golden Urn system. One name would be chosen and then forwarded to the Chinese Central Government for final approval.
The Tibetans have asserted all along that a lottery system should be used when there are two very good candidates - making it difficult to choose between them - and, that they have their own lottery system which predates the Manchu recommendation. But, more importantly, the Tibetans also assert that H.H. the Dalai Lama should have a role in identifying the Panchen Lama.
Now that the 11th Panchen Lama is held in detention at an unknown location, Tibetans and supporters of religious freedom around the world are concerned about his physical welfare and spiritual upbringing . Tibetan traditions require that the Panchen Lama receive the care and instruction at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery for his well-being and proper religious education. Despite worldwide appeals, though, Gedhun Cheokyi Nyima and his parents remain in detention. China has refused to provide information of their location or condition and will not allow any independent observer to see them.
Controversy
If the Chinese government asserts that they have the power to choose the Panchen Lama, then will they assert that they have the power to choose the next H.H. the Dalai Lama?
How does a government that espouses atheism suppose that they can respect the religion of a country under their control?
Why does the Chinese government still have Gedhun Cheokyi Nyima and his parents in isolation, more than 4 years after their initial detention?
Timeline
September 3rd, 1949-Shortly before their final victory over the Nationalist army, Chinese Communists state their intention to "liberate" Tibet.
October 1st, 1949-Communists gain control of China.
March 12th, 1950-Nine hundred Chinese troops occupy the Tibetan frontier town of Kakhajar.
October 7th, 1950-84,000 PLA troops attack Tibetan border areas.
October 30th, 1950-PLA troops advance on the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on four fronts. Lhasa is occupied one week later.
November 17th, 1950-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, assumes full leadership of Tibet at the age of fifteen.
1950-59-The Chinese government continues to send troops into Tibet, and to completely dismantle the Tibetan government. The young Dalai Lama repeatedly tries to negotiate with the newly installed government, and the Tibetans begin a series of appeals to the United Nations which continue to this day.
March 10th, 1959-Tibetan National Uprising Day. 30,000 Tibetans surround the Norbu Linka, the Dalai Lama's summer residence, in defiance of the Chinese occupation. Over the next week, the Tibetan people formally declare independence from China. The PLA attacks the Norbu Linka with heavy artillery, and finally, on March 17th, the young Dalai Lama escapes to India, escorted by Tibetan loyalists. The Chinese go on to declare martial law, as thousands of Tibetan refugees begin pouring into India.
1959-The United Nations General Assembly passes Resolution 1353, calling for respect for the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people.
1958-1976-Under the direction of Chairman Mao Zedong, China begins the cultural revolution and the "great leap forward." Thousands of Tibetan monasteries are destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of monks, nuns and civilians are imprisoned for voicing their religious beliefs. During this time, the UN General Assembly passes Resolutions 1723 and 2079, calling for the "cessation of practices which deprive the Tibetan people of their fundamental human rights and freedoms." Despite these resolutions, China wages an all out genocide on the Tibetan people throughout the 1960's. As more and more refugees make their way to India, stories of Chinese atrocities grow.
October 25th, 1971-The United Nations votes to seat China in the General Assembly in place of Taiwan, thus officially recognizing the PRC.
February 17th, 1972-President Richard Nixon opens U.S. relations with China, saying that they will become one of the greatest potential economic superpowers on the planet.
September 9th, 1976-Chairman Mao Zedong dies. Deng Xiaoping becomes Chairman of the Communist Party.
September 21st, 1987-The Dalai Lama travels to the United States and presents a five point peace plan to the US Congress.
September 27th, 1987-Twenty-one Buddhist monks march in Lhasa, shouting independence slogans and protesting the death sentence of two Tibetan nationals.
October 1st, 1987-A crowd of two thousand Tibetans gather to free sixty protesters detained by Chinese police. The Chinese open fire on the unarmed crowd. At least seven Tibetans are killed. Over the next week, hundreds of Tibetans are detained and six more are killed as China imposes curfew and blames the Dalai Lama for inciting the Tibetan people to riot.
October 6th, 1989-His Holiness the Dalai Lama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
March 10th, 1991-1991 is declared the "Year of Tibet." The Chinese begin bulldozing historic Tibetan buildings and homes in the Barkhor, Lhasa's central square.
March 10th 1993-The Dalai Lama states that he is willing to negotiate with China for the future of Tibet, despite China's human rights record.
May 14th, 1995-Six year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is recognized by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second most important religious figure. Shortly thereafter, the young boy disappears along with his family and forty-seven monks and is presumed to be held by Chinese authorities. His whereabouts remain unknown.
1995-A State Department report shows that human rights abuses in Tibet are steadily increasing.
June 15th-16th, 1996- In order to raise public awareness about the ongoing crisis in Tibet, the Milarepa Fund will hold the Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco.
June 1996-An international boycott of all Chinese goods is called, in order to educate consumers about how and under what conditions the products they buy are made, and to pressure American businesses to insist that China improve its human rights record.
October 1996 -- The Chinese government admits to having detained Ngawang Choephel in a Shigatse prison for 13 months without formally charging him of any crime.
December 27th, 1996 -- Ngawang Choephel is sentenced to 18 years in prison for "violating state security laws and attempting to split the motherland." This unusually harsh sentence, completely manufactured by the Chinese goverenment as a warning to Tibetans that a "strike hard" policy is being instituted in Tibet against pro-independence advocates, is viewed internationally as a mockery of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.
June '97 - The Second Tibetan Freedom Concert rocks NYC. President Clinton receives over 35,000 signatures on a petition encouraging him to set up negotiations between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Jiang Zemin.
July 1st '97- As Hong Kong is handed over to China, the rest of the world becomes a human rights watchdog.
Summer '97 - Students for a Free Tibet grows to an estimated 35,000 students, quickly becoming the largest Tibet support network in the world.
August '97 - The position of "Special Coordinator for Tibet" was created at the State Department to deal with the issue of Tibet. The chosen person for the job, Mr. Greg Craig, is a longtime supporter of Tibet.
August '97- U.S. Senator Wolf travels to Tibet on an independent trip and finds gross human rights violations occurring. Meanwhile, an official Canadian delegation also travels to Tibet, but with Chinese government escorts, and reports that "everything is fine" in Tibet.
September '97 - Holiday Inn's partnership with the Chinese government in their hotel in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, was ended after a boycott that lasted four months. This sends a clear message to other companies who are enticed by the Chinese market, that corporations going into Tibet must benefit the local population, not further the Chinese government's occupation.
October '97 - Two major Hollywood movies about Tibet are released. Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt, and Kundun, directed by Martin Scorsese, have educated thousands of movie-goers throughout the world about the atrocities in Tibet.
November 4th '97- Milarepa Fund and Grand Royal/Capitol Records release Tibetan Freedom Concert, a live 3-disc compilation of exceptionally good music available at your local record store.
November '97- China's President Jiang Zemin visits the United States and says that Tibetans were barbaric slaves before they were "peacefully liberated" by Chinese Communist forces. For the first time ever, A Chinese official admits that the Tienanmen Square massacre in 1989 was a mistake. When Jiang Zemin visits Harvard, the largest student protest since the Vietnam War is held on there campus to demand human rights in Tibet.
December '97- China releases pro-democracy activist Wei Jingsheng after 18 years of prison and forced labor. Wei's crime was that he proposed in an open letter to the Chinese government that Democracy was the missing "fifth modernization" in their plan of the "four modernizations." Wei is also a long-time supporter of Tibetan self-determination.
January '98 - The PRC invites three religious leaders to Tibet to look into allegations that there is religious persecution in Tibet. In addition, the Chinese government releases a statement that they would invite a human rights official from the UN to China and that they are considering signing the International Covenant on Civil and Human Rights.