Tibetan Scholars Meet His Holiness to Review Buddhist Science Textbook

September 26, 2013 6:09 pm

[dalailama.com]

DHARAMSHALA: His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s interest in science is well-known. Conversations he began with modern scientists almost thirty years ago have spawned such thriving collaborations as the Mind & Life Institute a non-profit organization dedicated to building a scientific understanding of the mind to reduce suffering and promote well-being.
In recent years, scientific interest has grown in what ancient Indian thought, and Buddhist literature in particular, has to say about such phenomena as the mind and emotions for example. At the same time, His Holiness has begun to speak of a new way of thinking of the great body of literature translated largely from Indian sources into Tibetan, the more than 300 volumes of the Kangyur (translations of the Buddha’s words) and Tengyur (translations of commentaries by subsequent Buddhist masters). He has recommended classifying some content as Buddhist science, some as Buddhist philosophy and the remainder as concerned with spiritual practice. His view is that while interest in material dealing with spiritual practice might be limited to Buddhists, material related to Buddhist science and philosophy could have a much wider academic and intellectual appeal.

Read More

In pictures: His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching for Southeast Asians

September 6, 2013 10:00 am

[dalailama.com]
Images from the final day of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s three day teaching on Shantideva’s “A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life” at the request of a group of Southeast Asians at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, India on September 5, 2013.

Some of the over 6,000 people from 61 countries attending the final day of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s three day teaching requested by a group from Southeast Asia at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, HP, India on September 5, 2013. Photo/Lobsang Tsering/OHHDL

Monks reciting the Heart Sutra at the start of the final day of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s three day teaching requested by a group from Southeast Asia at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, HP, India on September 5, 2013. Photo/Lobsang Tsering/OHHDL

Read More

26th Meeting of Task Force on Sino-Tibetan Negotiations Begins

September 5, 2013 3:18 pm

A three-day meeting of the Task Force on Sino-Tibetan Negotiations being held at the Kashag Secretariat in Dharamsala, India, from 5-7 September 2013/DIIR Photo

DHARAMSHALA: Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay is presiding over a three-day meeting of Task Force on Sino-Tibetan Negotiations from 5 – 7 September in Dharamsala, with deliberation on and review of overall prevailing situation in Tibet and prospects of dialogue process among the core agenda.
The Task Force on Negotiations has been expanded with inclusion of six new members. The new members are former Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, Kasur Lobsang Nyandak, Mr Tashi Phuntsok, Secretary of Department of Information & International Relations, Mr Sonam Tsering Frasi, former member of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Mr Phagpa Tsering, Deputy Director of Tibet Policy Insitute and Mr Kunga Tashi, Chinese Liaison Officer, Office of Tibet, New York.
Other members present at the ongoing meeting include former Special Envoy Kasur Lodi Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen.
This is the 26th Task Force meeting since its inception and 4th meeting since Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay took leadership of the Central Tibetan Administration. Earlier three meetings were held in October 2011, June 2012 and January 2013.
The Task Force was constituted to help recommend policy matters and strategies to find a peaceful and mutually acceptable negotatiated solution to the issue of Tibet.The first Task Force meeting was held in 1999.
During the course of nine rounds of Sino-Tibetan talks since 2002, the Tibetan side has presented to the Chinese leadership a Memorandum and Note seeking genuine autonomy for Tibet as enshrined in the Chinese constitution and Law on Regional National Autonomy. The ninth round of talks was held in 2010.
Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, who took over the political leadership from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2011, has unequivocally and consistently stated that Dharamsala is ready to engage in meaningful dialogue with Beijing anywhere and at anytime, adding that he considers the substance primary and the process secondary.

A group photo of members of the Task Force on Sino-Tibetan Negotiations on the opening day of their three-day meeting at the Kashag Secretariat in Dharamsala, India, on 5 September 2013/DIIR Photo

Read More

Hackers Attack CTA’s Chinese-Language Website

August 13, 2013 5:50 pm

DHARAMSHALA: A researcher at a leading computer security firm said the Central Tibetan Administration’s Chinese-language website has been hacked and infected with viruses.
Kurt Baumgartner, a researcher at Kaspersky Lab, said in a blog, that the security breaches involved a technique known as “water holing,” where hackers first infect a site that is frequently visited by people whose computers they want to control.
He said: “At this point in time, it seems that the few systems attacked with this code are located in China and the US, although there could be more. Technical evidence suggests the group behind the campaign was also responsible for previous breaches on the website as well as attacks on groups that focus on human rights in Asia.”
Hackers use malicious software that automatically drops viruses on computers running Microsoft Corp’s Windows and Apple Inc’s Mac operating systems and infect machines by exploiting security bugs in Oracle Corp’s Java software.
The Tibetan Computer Resource Centre of the Central Tibetan Administration today cleared the website of the virus.
In addition to Chinese, the CTA maintains websites in English and Tibetan languages to educate the international community about the political, human rights and environmental situation in Chinese occupied Tibet.

Read More

Book Review: A Walk Through the History of the Roof of the World

Book Review: A Walk Through the History of the Roof of the World
By Thubten Samphel
Glimpses of Tibetan History
By Claude Arpi
Tibet Museum, DIIR, Dharamsala, 2013, pp. 56

I was there at the very beginning, the beginning of creation, so to speak. For the winter of 2009, I took my family to Auroville, a community which is guided by the way of life inspired by Sri Aurobindo, an Indian nationalist leader and mystic who based himself in the French enclave of Pondicherry in south India to escape harassment of the British Raj. Our time spent in this truly international city coincided with His Holiness the Dalai Lama inaugurating the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture. As its name implies, the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture is a centre devoted to the study of Tibetan culture, the pet project of Claude Arpi, a lover of Tibetan culture and an expert on everything Tibet and the politics that engulf the country.

According to Claude Arpi, after speaking to young Tibetans about Tibet’s past, His Holiness the Dalai Lama requested him to capture the entire history of Tibet in a comprehensive slide presentation. He wanted the French Tibet scholar to do 25 panels with succinct explanations about their background. His Holiness the Dalai Lama hoped that this would inspire young Tibetans and others to delve more deeply into Tibetan history for them to better understand and take pride in the past of the Tibetan people.  Claude Arpi said that perhaps to give him strength and to bless him on this arduous journey into Tibetan history, His Holiness the Dalai Lama presented him with two thangkas of Shantarakshita and Guru Padmasambhava, two Indian Buddhist masters most responsible for planting firm roots of Buddhism in Tibet and the three religious kings who made sure that this happened in their realm.

Read More