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polytheistic. I stress: it's not Buddhism... I'm sure, anthropologically, [these] ancient esoteric rituals are fascinating but they are definitely non-Buddhist... "Thank you for your article. It has completely confirmed the danger of the Tibetan tradition clearly. It also has made me realise on a deeper level the truth and beauty of my Buddhist practice and a greater commitment to raise awareness and refute erroneous teachings." neighbourhood of the border should not spread [to the British]...What right had they to erect barriers around a country which was not even lawfully theirs?" (Jnitiations..., op. cit.) When she was expelled, the Chinese welcomed her into their Buddhist monasteries, from where she would plan her next travels into the British "forbidden land". This is very different from the official story that it was the Chinese or Tibetan governments which forbade foreigners to travel in Tibet. Alexandra David-Néel's Observations Is Tibetan Independence the Issue? During her travels in Tibet, Alexandra David-Néel observed Roerich, David-Néel and many other writers have exposed the things which she had difficulty relating to Buddhism. She wrote atrocities committed by the Tibetan Buddhist society before the of these in her books My Journey to Lhasa (1927) and Initiation re-establishment of Chinese rule. and Initiates in Tibet (1959). Concurring with Roerich's account "Re-establishment of Chinese rule?" I hear you ask. Wasn't of the expulsion of the Penchen Tibet invaded by the despotic Lama by the Dalai Lama and Chinese in 1950, and aren't all contradicting the official Western aware people trying to "free Tibet"? account of his having been This is the official, one-sided, abducted by the Chinese, she wrote propaganda story that is propagated in Initiations... (chapter 11, "The by the "'Big Brother' press of the Dalai Lama", p. 149): West", as pointed out by Dr "The Tashi [the Western Norman Williams (see below). The colloquial term for Tsang Penchen truth is very different. I encourage Rimpoche or the Penchen Lama] you to check the facts quoted in his Lama is a learned, enlightened and article. The sooner that more liberal-minded man. People who people wake up to the fact that we are not in the least acquainted with ave only been getting one side of him...say that he is the enemy of the story about what is and has foreigners...he is a Buddhist and appened in Tibet, the sooner they pacifist and does not encourage will realise that there are other those who increase each year the idden agendas at work behind this taxes paid by the poorest villagers scenario. Otherwise, they will just in order to support the ridiculous e reacting unquestioningly to army they have been led to whatever they're told. The organise [by the British] to serve propensity for knee-jerk reactions the interest of those who seized makes people easy to manipulate. their land... If he had been the ruler Always question everything and of Tibet, instead of being ollow up the questions with some compelled to fly from Tashi research. It is necessary to Lhumpo [the lamasery of the familiarise yourself with the history Penchen Lama] to save his life, he of Tibet so that you can step away would have gladly opened the from manipulation by either side of country to explorers, savants and this debate. My article last year in ° ot -meani Born in Saint-Mandé, Paris, on 24 October 1868, explorer . « Poti an et and well-meaning levandra David-Néel died in Digne on 8 September 1969, NEXUS covered some of this (Source: Wason Collection on East Asia, Cornell University Library) history in brief. Chapters 5-8 in ",..The role of the Tashi Lama is my book Unveiling Tibetan identical to that of the Dalai Lama... temporal rulers of Tibet... Buddhist Propaganda and Atrocities cover the history of Tibet in The practical results of the difference [i.e., one being the secular some detail from the viewpoint of sources within and outside of leader and one being the philosophical leader] are considerable. Tibet. Alternatively, as was recently pointed out by Dr Norman This was ascertained when the present Tashi Lama was Williams in his article "The Truth About Tibet" in New Dawn compelled to flee Tibet to escape from his powerful colleague." magazine, a brief overview of Tibet's history "can be sourced in So with the spiritual head removed and the political head, the the Encyclopaedia Britannica". Dalai Lama, left to take the nation's reigns, it is no wonder that Check for yourself all the sources I quote in the article. Do not Tibet has been such a willing participant in "The Great Game". take my or anyone else's word about political conditions in any With the establishment of the People's Republic of China, country at face value. Tibet became an important bulwark, the "forbidden land" for the The issue of "Tibet's independence" did not arise until the British Empire against further encroachment in Asia by a Opium War of 1840, which began the foreign invasion of China communist nation. by the West, after which the British tried to separate Tibet from A French national, Alexandra David-Néel was expelled from China. This marked the rise in the great spy networks which Tibet by the British several times. She said of this: began with Queen Elizabeth I of England in the 1600s (see "Although we were yet in that part of Tibet still under Chinese Laurence Gardner's Realm of the Ring Lords, chapter 14, pp. rule, wherein foreigners can travel freely, though at their own 187-188). Thus began "The Great Game" involving the Indo- risk, it was important that rumours of my wanderings in the Himalayan region. 50 = NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2006