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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.

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."

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.

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)

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.

Tibetans work on a construction site as laborers making no more than $235 a month.(Goh Chai Hin, AFP)

Envoys of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, have requested a third trip to Beijing and are awaiting a reply from the Chinese government, special envoy Lodi Gyari has told Radio Free Asia.

On his 15th trip to the United States, the Dalai Lama has been met by sold-out crowds from coast to coast, and tickets to his events were bid up on eBay. He filled Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and on Sept. 11 packed Washington National Cathedral

Jaime FlorCruz

It's been nine years since a CNN crew was last allowed into Tibet. This time we had to join a group of reporters for an officially organized tour. Our group was accompanied by Chinese government guides, but CNN had some limited freedom to work independently.