The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today commended the Dalai Lama for his important statement condemning terrorism and the need to take "countermeasures" including force, to check this "worst kind of violence."
Tibetan Buddhism, with its pantheon of gods and demons, its elaborate rituals, colorful costumes, and esoteric meditation techniques, seems, to Westerners at least, to be the most exotic manifestation of the religion founded by Siddhartha Gautama 2,500 years ago.
Tibetan monks work on a sand sculpture. Ten Buddhist monks will be in the area during the weekend to participate in various religious events. (Photo courtesy of Dave Raymer)
As part of a nationwide tour, ten Tibetan monks will visit Purdue and the surrounding areas this weekend. The monks will participate in various community events and discussions beginning today and lasting through Monday.
I first met the Dalai Lama almost 20 years ago when I was a teenager studying at a college run by Roman Catholic monks. He had come to see a Christian monastery in action. Although the Dalai Lama was not a globally famous figure at that time
His picture is as common in Tibet as Mao Zedong's is in other parts of China. His broad, square face, often wearing a slight, mysterious smile, looks down from the walls of teahouses and temples, shops and restaurants, even nightclubs.
Hanzhudi, 60, keeps a portrait of the 10th Panchen Lama above the counter in his shop in Gyantse, Tibet. The monk, who died in 1989, fought to preserve Tibet's cultural identity. (Philip P. Pan -- The Washington Post)
The Chinese builders of a railroad bridge here wanted to make a gesture toward anyone still sensitive about outside domination a half-century after Beijing's soldiers staged the "peaceful liberation" of this mountain kingdom.
Tom Peosay's documentary "Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion" is an impeccably made, often moving account of the captive nation of Tibet, forcibly annexed by China more than 50 years ago.
