Is May 30 the day for us?

[DharmaDefender]

There's been a lot of talk about waiting to see what happens after His Holiness retires.

Looks like May 24 is the date to watch for us - that's when the Tibetan leaders meet to discuss what will happen. Also May 30, when the new parliament is sworn in...

(taken from http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=231114)

Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), April 5 (IANS) The Tibetan leadership in India will hold its national general body meeting next month just before the parliament-in-exile gets down to amending its constitution to allow Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to retire from political authority.

Faced with a situation where the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, has refused to budge from his stand of seeking retirement from his political role as head of the exiled Tibetans, the meeting will deliberate upon the finer points of allowing the shifting of authority from the Dalai Lama to elected political authority.

The meeting, likely to be attended by 400-450 Tibetan leaders from India and other countries, will be held for three days from May 21.

This is the second time the Tibetan government-in-exile (TGiE) has called for the national general body meeting. The last meeting was held in November 2008, attended by nearly 600 Tibetan representatives, to discuss the future course of the Tibetan struggle.

The meeting will be followed by the special session of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile to be held May 25-28 where the actual amendment in the Tibetan Charter, which will allow the transfer of political authority from the Dalai Lama, will be made.

"It would be a big meeting, of the same magnitude that we had in November 2008. Around 420-450 people are expected to attend this three-day meeting. All present and former members of the cabinet, present and former members of parliament, newly elected prime minister and social activists who are working for the Tibetan cause will participate in this meeting," Penpa Tsering, speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, told IANS.

"The only agenda that we would discuss in the meeting would be the proposed amendments in the charter. We would not take up any other issue as we want to focus on this matter only," he added.

Tibetan MPs in exile are also attaching a lot of importance to the meeting and the special session.

"Making the amendment in the charter will be a historic decision. It is an important occasion in Tibetan history. All MPs should be present in parliament when this amendment is made," MP Karma Yeshi told IANS.

For the amendment in the Tibetan Charter to be passed, three-fourths majority of the house of 43 MPs is required.

A high-level body, the Charter Amendment Drafting Committee, has already been formed by the Tibetan authorities here to work out the modalities on what all aspects of the charter need to be amended to allow transfer of political authority from the Dalai Lama.

The committee includes the Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) Samdhong Rinpoche, parliament Speaker Penpa Tsering, Deputy Speaker Dolma Gyari, Education Minister (Kalon) Thupten Lungrik and former speaker and MP Pema Jungney.

"It is our general meeting that will be held May 21-23, before the session of our parliament. The meeting is very important and many key issues will be taken up," Lobsang Choedak, press officer of Central Tibetan Administration, told IANS.

"All members of the cabinet, MPs, the prime minister, members of the four schools of Buddhism, Tibetan NGOs, autonomous Tibetan associations, scholars, volunteers and social activists from various walks of life will attend this meeting," stated Choedak.

The Dalai Lama had announced his decision to retire from his role as political head of the Tibetans last month. His formal communication to the exiled parliament was read in the house March 14.

Though the parliament, after a series of deliberations, urged him to reconsider the decision to retire and even passed a resolution to this effect, the Nobel Peace Prize winner declined to accept the plea and sent his retirement proposal back to the house.

The exiled parliament then formed a committee to look into all aspects of the devolving of powers of the Dalai Lama.

The amendment to the charter will be done by the outgoing house (14th parliament-in-exile). Newly elected members of the new parliament will take oath May 30. Elections for the Tibetan prime minister's post and that of MPs was held March 20.

[triesa]

Dalai Lama's firm decision to retire from the political authority of TGIE is unavoidable. Now is only left with the drafting of the fomalities of how to dissolve the power of the Dalai Lama and to choose a successor, if any.

I reckon that an interim committee will be formed after Dalai Lama retires officially. There are quite a lot of issues this committee will need to handle and perhaps they should start sorting out their own matters rather than continuing to harrass the Shugdenpas.

[Zach]

In hind sight His Holiness has done us a great favour by being the cause of the establishment of Serpom and Shar gaden monastrys, It was amazing how quickly they came into being and amazing how they are fast becoming extremly large, Now we can safely say that the Gaden lineage will certainly survive and be kept safe in Dorje shugdens hands.
Thank you your Holiness may you live a very long time !

[Helena]

In hind sight His Holiness has done us a great favour by being the cause of the establishment of Serpom and Shar gaden monastrys, It was amazing how quickly they came into being and amazing how they are fast becoming extremly large, Now we can safely say that the Gaden lineage will certainly survive and be kept safe in Dorje shugdens hands.
Thank you your Holiness may you live a very long time !

Zach W, I totally agree with you!

I will probably get bombarded again for saying this BUT I will say this much -

In the same respect that Tibetan Buddhism could step out into the world due to the Chinese invasion of Tibet and spread into the 10 directions - is all the pain and suffering not worth it? Is bringing Dharma to the world, not worth it?

If we compare the pain and suffering that took place during the Chinese invasion of Tibet, one might argue that it is a whole lot worse than the ban of Dorje Shugden. For one, it affected an entire country. But as a result of it, Tibetan Buddhism reached to almost every door step of the globe. That is a HUGE, TREMENDOUS BENEFIT FOR SO MANY MILLIONS OF BEINGS.

Personally, I rejoice in seeing that there are more DS monasteries coming up. And those existing ones are growing in number and size. THIS IS A CLEAR INDICATION that DS is not fading away. It's the opposite, actually.

Whatever pain and suffering we are experiencing now, experience it as a form of purification in order for Dorje Shugden to grow even bigger. When I see it this way, the pain and suffering do not make me angry neither will it provoke negative feelings in me. I don't know about the rest but I like abiding in no hatred, no anger and no trace of negativity.

This is how I am finding peace within myself and I hope the rest will find their own peace as well.

[jessicajameson]

Oh dear, I found that was published on the Guardian about 3 weeks ago.

"It's time for a new generation, says Dalai Lama as he drops political role
Tibetan government in exile fears it is not 'competent' to take over from figurehead, who will stay on as spiritual leader"

Does that mean that they are admitting how unprepared they are?...

""Without the Dalai Lama, we will not have any legitimacy in the eyes of Tibetans. It is a real question before us and we have to find a solution," the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche, told local reporters."

Yikes!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/10/dalai-lama-retires-political-role?intcmp=239

[thaimonk]

Oh dear, I found that was published on the Guardian about 3 weeks ago.

"It's time for a new generation, says Dalai Lama as he drops political role
Tibetan government in exile fears it is not 'competent' to take over from figurehead, who will stay on as spiritual leader"

Does that mean that they are admitting how unprepared they are?...

""Without the Dalai Lama, we will not have any legitimacy in the eyes of Tibetans. It is a real question before us and we have to find a solution," the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche, told local reporters."

Yikes!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/10/dalai-lama-retires-political-role?intcmp=239

Tibetan Govt people are right for once, they will have zero legitamacy in the eyes of the Tibetans without the Dalai Lama's backing. Dalai Lama himself created this situation by being in control and not grooming anyone up for the past 50 years. Tibetans are 'trained' to not believe in anyone else except the Dalai Lama. They have been trained to not abide within democracy. It has served the Dalai Lama very well, but on the long term, it does not serve Dalai Lama well. After his passing, his people will be without anyone they can trust, believe in or have the legitamacy to rule. They will disband super fast, become lost and go down the religious-political tubes. It is just a matter of time. It is the beginning of the end now for the Tibetan Govt and Tibetans in exile in general. Some are intelligent enough to sense it, very few will voice it as it is treason since the Dalai Lama is still alive. Dorje Shugden will grow and the ban will be like all their other ridiculously silly policies, fade and disappear. We just have to be patient a bit longer. We can keep eachother company here on this forum while we wait for Dharamsala to just fade.It is a natural end. Sorry to sound happy, I am not happy per se, but looking forward to Dorje Shugden's growth and an end to the sufferings the Tibetan Govt has created. Caught in their own web.

[DharmaDefender]

We just have to be patient a bit longer. We can keep eachother company here on this forum while we wait for Dharamsala to just fade.It is a natural end.

Haha yes, we have been waiting for a long time, we can afford to wait a little while longer. thaimonk, you're right about fading. I guess that is one nice fact of impermanence. The ban can't last forever because the karma for the ban can't last forever. Until then, I'll see y'all around these here parts...