Lhakar is a Tibetan resistance movement that started in Tibet, where people are making a conscious decision to define who they are as Tibetan. That in turn manifests into an unlimited number of actions that people initiate and take part in.
Writing is one of most powerful ways to let others know your thoughts and writing in Tibetan is a double edge swords in resisting suppression and promoting Tibetan language. Tibetans have been using digital tools to express their thoughts in writing. Here is one from inside Tibet posted on Weibo (Chinese Twitter) on a Wednesday few weeks ago.
Tibetan script, Tibetan Language and Tibetan people are Tibet’s blood.
Tibetan home, Tibetan friends, and Tibet’s soil are Tibet’s land.
Tibetan food, Tibetan Tsampa, and Tibetan Chupa are Tibet’s Flavor.
Love for Tibet, passion for Tibet and thinking about Tibet are all for Tibet.
This Wednesday we crosspost another High Peaks Pure Earth blogpost about one of the most popular song from Tibet in recent times.
Dolma Kyap is a very popular and well-respected singer from Amdo, known for his strong voice and integrity. He has become so renowned for this song that he is popularly known as “Gangchenpa Dolma Kyap”.
Dolma Kyab’s powerful rendition of his song ‘Gangchenpa’, Tibetans of the Snowland, on an open stage with back drop of vast Tibetan grassland captivated audiences as well as Tibetans viewers across the world.
This music video of “Gangchenpa” is taken from a recording of a large-scale outdoor show staged by many Tibetan artists, including Dolma Kyap, that took place in Rebkong in July 2006, the same show was where “Mentally Return” was also performed. The song takes its time and slowly builds up to a crescendo, Dolma Kyap working the crowd up into a frenzy! Particularly emotional are the excited shouts from the crowd of “Gangchenpa!” right at the end of the video.
“Gangchenpa”
By Dolma Kyap
Lyrics by Chone Yumtsering
Composed by Chang Zhangtung
In the eastern part of the world
Trodden underfoot, a compassionate people
By reaching the sky over the snow mountains
Practise the search for happiness
In the plains of samsara
One’s own life is carried away by sandy winds though
All sentient beings
Firmly hold onto the realisation that
The lama remembers them in the depth of his heart
Oh, these descendants of great Kings
Are my Tibetans of the Snowland
To whom I voice my joy when I am happy
And to whom I sing mournful songs when I am sad
Oh, these descendants of great Kings
Are my Tibetans of the Snowland
To whom I voice my joy when I am happy
And to whom I sing mournful songs when I am sad
Riding on the horns of wild yaks
A ruddy-faced people
On the banks of the Yarlung river
Turned the hooves of their horses
And rode to all four directions
The three provinces
Their years of joy and sorrow
Are written on the face of Ama
Our forefathers
Their sweet songs will echo
Forever in the blue sky
Oh, these descendants of great Kings
Are my Tibetans of the Snowland
To whom I voice my joy when I am happy
And to whom I sing mournful songs when I am sad
Oh, these descendants of great Kings
Are my Tibetans of the Snowland
To whom I voice my joy when I am happy
And to whom I sing mournful songs when I am sad
Gangchenpa!
Oh, these descendants of great Kings
Are my Tibetans of the Snowland
Oh, these descendants of great Kings
Are my Tibetans of the Snowland
Gangchenpa!
Gangchenpa!
Tashi Rabten (pen name: Theurang) is a Tibetan writer, poet and editor who is serving a four-year sentence in Mianyang Prison, Sichuan Province. He graduated from North-West University for Nationalities and edited the now-banned Tibetan language journal “Shar Dungri” and also published “Written in Blood”, a compilation of his poems, notes and writings on the situation in Tibet following the 2008 protests.
On the fifth anniversary of 14 March 2008 protest in Lhasa, TCHRD has translated and edited one of Theurang’s essays written before his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in 2009. The essay was republished in exile in the book “Reflections on 2008 Protests: a Collection of Essays by Tibetan Intellectuals in Tibet”, by Domey Editorial Committee, Dharamsala, India.
Freedom and democracy belong to those who fight for them
By Theurang
Freedom and democracy are fundamental aspirations of human beings. Every human being and nation on this earth is heading towards democracy, equality and freedom, leaving behind oppression and exploitation of dictatorship and slavery. For the values of democracy and equality, many great men and women gave up their lives. On this earth beneath the vast sky, although freedom and democracy belong to the entire humanity, they will never belong to those who oppress by practicing dictatorship. Be it individuals, organisations, governments or nations, it is a universal truth that those who oppress by practicing dictatorship, their hands and legs will be crushed under the rolling boulder called freedom, equality and democracy. For many years, we have been fighting for our rights—for the values of equality, freedom and democracy. We have been raising slogans and banners for them. Fighting for universal values of human rights is an act of seeking truth. We are not afraid of any one. No one can stop us.
Since 2008, Tibetans inside and outside Tibet have pursued many campaigns such as protests, fasts, peaceful marches and other commemorative events. These non-violent campaigns reflect the agonising thirst of the Tibetan people for freedom and democracy. They expose the political system and policies of the People’s Republic of China under which we are living. Our campaigns are not to secure freedom and democracy for Tibetan people only. They reflect the growing aspirations and hopes of peoples and nations who yearn for freedom and democracy. Many nations and peoples on this earth support our struggle.
Any nation or people aspiring for democracy must respect the life of every individual citizen without any discrimination. Amid our non-violent struggle, however, we witnessed ‘some ugly incidents of looting, burning, smashing and killing.’ Such incidents violate human rights and sacredness of human lives and thus pollute, and are a blot on, the non-violent struggle of our people. Moreover, these horrible incidents tarnish our movement in the eyes of other peoples and nations, contradict the vision of peace espoused by the noble Gyalwa Rinpoche and negate a people fighting for truth and justice.
Since we do not have military might, we cannot pursue an armed struggle. The only solution we have is non-violent protests that express our opposition to lies and oppression of Chinese government. It is extremely important that such non-violent protests are organised in countries and among nationalities that cherish democracy and freedom. While campaigning for freedom, many of our brave fellow Tibetans lost their lives to guns while many underwent enormous suffering walking thousands of miles on peaceful marches. If you are a Tibetan nurtured on milk and tsampa, if Tibetan blood is running into your veins, you have to speak up and campaign for Tibetan freedom. You cannot support dictatorship and slavery. I have heard that some Tibetan leaders [working for Chinese government] are criticising our freedom struggle. In Chinese newspapers and televisions, some Tibetans are condemning it. The Tibetan nation cannot be represented simply by Tibetans living under Chinese rule, leave alone by a few Tibetan residents of Lhasa. Moreover, those reactionaries who have become tools of Chinese oppression cannot represent the Tibetan people. This truth should be made clear to the world. In our campaign for freedom, many Tibetans have lost their lives. Rather than accepting this truth, China is attempting to hijack our non-violent struggle. We must send true information and pictures of our protests to the outside world. We must mention the number of Tibetans killed and arrested, slogans raised by protestors and places where protests were held.
“A true and verified picture of an injured Tibetan is more valuable than [poorly-verified and thus hard to prove] information about the death of a hundred Tibetans,” a friend once told me. This is true. No matter what campaign we pursue, we must not pursue them in haste—that is without any strategic planning. Nor should we resort to violence. Moreover, our educated folks must write appeal letters on behalf of Tibetans who were arrested and disappeared in some places. All these information must be propagated throughout the world. In short, freedom and democracy belong to those who fight for them. They will never belong to those who murder democracy and freedom by practicing dictatorship and slavery. If we do not lose our pride and determination, Tibetan people will have a chance to taste democracy and freedom one day.
A photo of Lo Lo from his album, “Raise the Flag of Tibet, Sons of the Snow.” [RFA]
On Wednesday 13 March we feature a song from a popular Tibetan singer named Lolo who was recently given a six year prison sentence. Lolo is a popular Tibetan singer from Yulshul (in Chinese, Yushu). He was detained in April 2012 after releasing album called “Raise the Tibetan flag, Children of Snowland”. According to Voice of Tibet, Lolo was sentenced in February 2013 to six years in prison; his current whereabouts and well-being are not known.
High Peaks Pure Earth has translated the title track from his album. The blog notes that ‘
the song lyrics are extremely political and talk about Tibetan independence, the national flag and Tibetans who have sacrificed their lives. The video as well shows surprisingly strong scenes such as a candle lit vigil where the candles spell out 3 and 10, possibly a reference to March 10, Tibetan National Uprising Day. When the lyrics about the “Protector” are sung, a photo of the Dalai Lama is shown alongside the Karmapa and what looks like the tenth Panchen Lama, unfortunately the video quality is quite poor.’
“Raise the Tibetan Flag, Children of the Snowland” by Lolo
For the sake of protecting Tibet’s independence
Our Kings resisted the red Chinese leaders
From the true meaning of the middle path
Raise the Tibetan flag, children of the Snowland!
For the sake of honouring the Snowland
And to win Tibet’s complete independence
Based on the manifold truth
Raise the Tibetan flag, children of the Snowland!
For the sake of the return of the Protector
For the sake of uniting Tibetans home and abroad
From the wounds of the souls in flames
Raise the Tibetan flag, children of the Snowland!
This snow lion and snow mountain adorned flag
Is the national flag of the Tibetan people
Avenge those departed for the sake of Tibet
Raise the Tibetan flag, children of the Snowland!
Raise the Tibetan flag, children of the Snowland!
Small Acts of Resistance (How Courage, Tenacity and Ingenuity Can Change the World), is a book by Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson. The book contains over 80 true stories from 60 countries exploring people’s ability to resist injustice and change the world around them. The preface is written by Vaclav Havel,
former President of the Czech Republic.
Big changes often start with acts that looked pointless at the time: small acts of resistance, bold acts of defiance, subtle acts of subversion, even witty acts of disobedience. The small acts range from famous struggles such as those against Nazism and Communism and for Civil Rights to ones that have been ignored by the media or are still continuing.
The protagonists range from a few icons to, mainly, people who have been unjustly forgotten or have remained anonymous. Telling the stories of more than eighty acts of resistance, spanning the world and the 20th and 21st centuries, this book pays homage to the groups and individuals that treat the impossible as the possible that just hasn’t happened yet. Small Acts of Resistance celebrates the awe-inspiring ingenuity and courage of the human spirit and pays tribute to those who have been standing up to say “no”.
A project of International Tibet Network | www.tibetnetwork.org
Translated from English to Tibetan by Pema Tsewang Shastri
A simple yet powerful song that prays for the long live of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from Tibet. This became a beloved song for its lyric as well as for its music both inside and outside.
The Buddha of Compassion, Cherezig
the one who protects the sentient being,
and lifts us from this karmic cycle.
His Holiness the Tenzin Gyatso
May you live long.
Tibetan Buddhism stresses the importance of the teacher as the source of knowledge and the one who guides beings through the evils of the world. This is one reason why Tibetans have such deep faith in reincarnate beings, especially those whose previous incarnations have left a legacy of teachings.
For Tibetans, the Panchen Lama is a highly revered reincarnate being and a religious teacher. The first Panchen Lama and the first Dalai Lama were disciples of Tsong Khapa, the famous founder of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. From the very first Panchen Lama, this line of reincarnate beings attracted religious followers in Tibet and made important connections that led to the lineage becoming one of most well known and beloved religious leaders in Tibet.
The fourth Panchen Lama, considered to be the greatest teacher of the time, played a pivotal role in the search and recognition of the great fifth Dalai Lama, who consolidated temporal and spiritual power of Tibet. Since that time on, these two reincarnate lamas developed a religious connection, which included playing an important role in finding each others’ reincarnation when possible.
The 10th Panchen Lama shared a special bond with the current Dalai Lama even though the two were separated by political circumstances. The Dalai Lama jokingly refer to the 10th Panchen Lama as the ‘brave one’ because he stayed behind in Tibet and suffered greatly during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. After his political position was reinstated in the 1980s, he fought hard to preserve Tibetan identity, including re-instituting Tibetan as the primary language in Tibetan schools.
Some years after the 10th Panchen Lama passed away in 1989, His Holiness the Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was six at the time, as the 11th Panchen Lama. A few days later, on 17 May 1995, Chinese officials took him into custody and for the last 17 years, his whereabouts and well being have remained unknown despite repeated urging from Tibetans and world governments. China installed another boy, Gyancain Norbu, as its choice of Panchen Lama.
Tibetans have dedicated many prayers and songs to successive Panchen Lamas and many of them are collected here. One of the most famous songs dedicated to the 10th Panchen Lama was composed in exile before he passed away. It is a song about the bond between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. It is a sad reminder of the political reality but at the same time a Tibetan belief that there will be brighter days ahead. It became an instant classic both inside and outside Tibet.
Small Acts of Resistance (How Courage, Tenacity and Ingenuity Can Change the World), is a book by Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson. The book contains over 80 true stories from 60 countries exploring people’s ability to resist injustice and change the world around them. The preface is written by Vaclav Havel,
Tibetan Buddhism stresses the importance of the teacher as the source of knowledge and the one who guides beings through the evils of the world. This is one reason why Tibetans have such deep faith in reincarnate beings, especially those whose previous incarnations have left a legacy of teachings.