Jayadeva Ranade’s insightful observation on Dalai Lama’s declining situation

[dsnowlion]

A fantastic opinion piece presented by Shashi Kei on an Indian journalist's excellent summation of the exile-Tibetans' dilemma, which is creating a very bleak future for them. His observation sums up the Tibetan leadership's poor management of themselves and their people, with its root cause stemming from their childish regional rivalry to their brutal feudal regime, clearly showing that the Central Tibetan Administration are anything but democratic!

Jayadeva Ranade’s insightful observation on Dalai Lama’s declining situation
By Shashi Kei

In October 2017 the Tibetan government-in-exile, known as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), launched its latest initiative, the ‘Five Fifty Forum’ (5/50). From their headquarters in Dharamsala, North India, the CTA declared this was its strategy towards “resolving the issue of Tibet and Tibet’s political future” in five years or, in an unspoken ultimatum to Beijing, spending the next 50 years fighting what it regards as China’s occupation of Tibet.

The forum was intended as a show of stamina and resolution by the Tibetan leadership. However, whispers have abounded for some time now that things are not going well at all for the Dalai Lama’s administration. Indeed, to paraphrase a news article by Jayadeva Ranade published in the Sunday Guardian Live on 28th July 2018, this 5/50 is nothing but a futile pantomime, an empty charade.

During the launch of 5/50, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay declared that the program aims to reinvigorate the Tibet movement for the next 50 years. But the Ranade article maps a worrying trend for the Tibet narrative, which brings into question its ability to survive with any significance even in the short term, let alone over another half a century.
 
The CTA’s Politics of Division

It did not escape Ranade’s notice that the feud between Penpa Tsering and Lobsang Sangay finally snapped what was an already chronically splintered community. Historically, the Tibetan people are already divided by region (Ü-Tsang, Amdo and Kham) and by religious tradition. This partitioning was a significant factor in the Tibetans losing their country to begin with. Indeed, few people are even aware that Tibet was never one united country, but rather an agglomeration of often-warring factions that in the end was carved up by a handful of aristocratic families and brutal feudal lords.

Into this volatile mix, the Tibetan leadership continually introduced highly discordant policies. Some of their attempts to dissolve all Tibetan Buddhist lineages into a single one under the Dalai Lama include:

1) The Gungthang Tsultrim murder;
2) Inducing a three-way split in the Karma Kagyu lineage over their highest spiritual leader, the Karmapa;
3) Illegally imposing the Dorje Shugden ban thereby splitting the Gelug tradition;
4) Politicizing Tibetan Buddhism, demonizing the religious rituals of those they perceive as challengers, and banning reincarnations;
5) Refusing to incorporate representatives of the Jonang tradition into the Tibetan parliament;
6) Confusing the objective of the ‘Tibetan cause’ by pitting independence (rangzen) activists against those standing for meaningful autonomy (umaylam), thereby creating a conflict which culminated in street brawls;
7) And not least, the continual infighting at the highest levels of the Tibetan leadership.

All these policies have damaged Tibetan unity tremendously and under such conditions, the Tibetan struggle has never really been a unified one. Read more >>> http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/jayadeva-ranades-insightful-observation-on-dalai-lamas-declining-situation/

[Rowntree]

Democracy is just a label that Lobsang Sangay uses to fool the westerners for money. It is as simple as that. His talk about human rights, democracy, Chinese rhetoric are all talks for money. He thought he is so powerful and famous because he is fighting for a noble cause. What we see is him fighting with the members of the Kashag, especially Penpa Tsering, and always out and about to get media exposure of himself, not to mention constantly looking for young girls for favours and segregate the Tibetans so that there is no unity. He doesn't want unity because he doesn't want the Tibet cause to be successful. This is Lobsang Sangay in a nutshell.

What strikes me most in the article is the insightful paragraph written by Jayadeva Ranade who clearly stated the future of the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama:

In the midst of these developments, China’s anxious efforts to prevent emergence of a situation of “two Dalai Lamas” like that of “two Panchen Lamas” have of late gained higher profile. Beijing is making persistent efforts to persuade the Dalai Lama to “return” to his “motherland”, or, at the least, afford some form of legitimacy to China’s occupation of Tibet. Channels of contact and communication exist between Beijing and the Dalai Lama, as evidenced by the visit of Prof Samdhong Rimpoche, possibly among the Dalai Lama’s closest and trusted advisors, to China in November 2017. More recently, last month the state-owned China Central Television showed a clip of Rinzin Wangmo, daughter of the Xth Panchen Lama, visiting the important Ramoche and Jokhang monasteries in Lhasa and Tashilhunpo in Shigatse, accompanied by her children.

China is very much aware of the influence of the 14th Dalai Lama. They know that he is the answer for a peaceful Tibet no matter how hard they try to reduce his influence on his people. The Dalai Lama is extremely powerful and he has proven to be so in the last 60 years. One sentence from the Dalai Lama can easily solve the two Panchen Lama issue and to avoid two 15th Dalai Lama in the future, if that ever happens. According to the scripture, there will be no 15th Dalai Lama, so we will see.

What I wish very much is to see the Dalai Lama returns to him home, retire from politic completely and have a peaceful few years in retreat after working so hard for the Tibet people all his life.

[Drolma]

Lobsang Sangay still want to fight with China for the next 50 years? When China was not one of the most powerful countries in the world, the CTA already couldn't fight with them. What makes Lobsang Sangay thinks he would one day succeed as China is growing stronger everyday? It does not take a genius to know the CTA will continue to fail, because if they can succeed, they would have succeeded long time ago.

What are their strategies for the next 50 year for Tibet cause? I hope they are not using the same strategies as now. The method they used for the last 60 years is not working, if they still use the same method, they are wasting their time and money.

It is sad that high lamas such as the Dalai Lama and the 17th Karmapa have expressed their dissatisfaction with the CTA in different occasions. The CTA has not been able to deliver what they promise, nor did they make any plan for the Tibetans especially the youth. They don't care about the welfare of the Tibetans in exile. It will be really awkward if Dalai Lama and Karmapa escape from the CTA and seek asylum from China.

[Rowntree]

Lobsang Sangay still want to fight with China for the next 50 years? When China was not one of the most powerful countries in the world, the CTA already couldn't fight with them. What makes Lobsang Sangay thinks he would one day succeed as China is growing stronger everyday? It does not take a genius to know the CTA will continue to fail, because if they can succeed, they would have succeeded long time ago.

What are their strategies for the next 50 year for Tibet cause? I hope they are not using the same strategies as now. The method they used for the last 60 years is not working, if they still use the same method, they are wasting their time and money.

You have asked valid questions that Lobsang Sangay cannot answer. He has no real solution to the problem and he doesn't know how to strategize. He is just using the Sikyong post for corruptions, sex and power. It is a well-known fact that he is constantly looking for opportunities to get media exposure in the west, to look good and to get more favours and donations. The Dalai Lama was very displeased with his agenda and was said to call off one of the important events before the Thank You event. To displease the emanation of the Buddha of Compassion who is always patient and kind is not easy, so you can imagine how much damage Lobsang Sangay has done to get this result.