VIDEO-Free Tibet

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Getting the opportunity to hear the Dalai Lama speak yesterday with such a small audience was a profoundly moving experience. He is such a spritual and physical symbol of hope for all the Tibetans here and is extraordinarily intelligient. He often "dumbs down" his speeches for mass accesibility in America but while talking to Tibetans, his talks are often very deep and hard for westerners to follow. His knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism is unsurpassed and he leads the initiation into the Kalachakra, the highest level of Buddhism, though it is accesible to anyone. Over 12 days he leads the initiates through an intricate three dimensional mandala which houses 722 deities. He is an inspiring individual to say the least and laughs come readily.
I have spent the past few days strolling around the town, talking with the monks and Tibetan refugees who have all, every single one of them, made the dangerous and arduous escape over the Himalayas from their Chinese occupied homeland to safety in India. Talking with all these beautiful people who have struggled so hard so they can preserve their culture and identity has really made this issue personal to me. I made friends with a Tibetan massage therapist named Gampo who made the journey 7 years ago. He was the only one in his family to have done so and therefore is away from his Mom and Dad and his 6 brothers. He could not stand the repression involved with living there and decided he had to leave. He has not seen his family since, but his Mom and Dad will make the journey here in February to visit him for 3 months before they return to Tibet, it will most likely be the last time he sees them…
There are thousands of stories like Gompos all over Mcleod Ganj/Dharmasala, India, the community where the Tibetan Government in exile, the Dalai Lama, and the thousands of Tibetan exiles have chosen to call home since 1959 when China invaded Tibet, and began its destruction and assimilation of the Tibetan culture. Yet these people, in large part due to their faith in Buddhism and the peaceful and compassionate leadership of the Dalai Lama have remained hopeful, forgiving, and happy despite the fact that over 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed by the Chinese. It seems ironically appropriate that we kill off the people who have been studying the human mind and consciousness for thousands of year and have the potential to unlock so many secrets about ourselves and ways of knowing if we would only let them.
I had the opportunity to speak with some Nuns who were burned by fire by the Chinese and they had no ill will or anger towards their aggressors, in fact they had compassion. They realize at the core level that we are all one, that they are not their bodies, that they are their spirits which are present in everything. This way of living struck me very deeply and has given me examples to live by.

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