Resistance in Tibet: Self-immolations and protest

Posted on 17th February 2012 by Mandie McKeown

China’s repressive policies over the 60 years since it occupied Tibet, and the severe crackdown that followed plateau-wide Uprisings in 2008, have created a crisis in Tibet, provoking an unprecedented wave of self-immolations by Tibetan monks, nuns and laypeople.

In January 2012 a new wave of large-scale protests broke out with demonstrators calling for freedom in Tibet and the return of the Dalai Lama. Chinese security forces responded to these peaceful protests by opening fire on demonstrators, killing at least five Tibetans and seriously injuring many more.

The self-immolations and protests of 2011 and 2012 have been primarily centered in eastern Tibet, an area with a strong history of dissent despite China’s intense and systematic crackdown. Since widespread popular protests in 2008 the area has been flooded with armed troops and virtually closed off from the world. Many monasteries have been all but shut down and Tibetans are routinely harassed by the authorities in the streets, in their workplaces and in their homes.

To date there have been 24* self-immolations; 11 since January 2012. At least 14 have been fatal. As Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule continues, Beijing has tightened security and embarked on a major propaganda drive to paint self-immolation as a form of ‘terrorism’. However, as Tenzin Dorjee, leading Tibet activist and Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet said, “Tibetans who have set themselves on fire in protest were exemplary community members and even widely respected Tibetan leaders who displayed courage and integrity in their final acts of defiance — qualities of character far beyond the reach of the Chinese bureaucrats and officials who attempt to demonize them from Beijing.”

China’s flagrant disregard for fundamental human rights and its cruel and systematic assault on the Tibetan people has to be condemned by global leaders. The scale of this crisis and China’s continued unwillingness to acknowledge concern warrants a strong international response.

This report highlights the widespread recent resistance in Tibet and demonstrates the strong Tibetan identity and unity among the Tibetan people.

Soul of the Tibetans

Posted on 16th February 2012 by guest

བོད་མིའི་བླ་སྲོག

Song by Tsewang Lhamo

Snow mountains are my soul
Blue rivers is my lifeline,
My name is the Land of Snow
I am Tibetan. I speak Tibetan.
I love Tibet’s spiritual inheritance
I love Tibet’s art and culture
My name is the Land of Dharma
I am Tibetan. I study Tibetan.
My name is the Tibetan Plateau
I am a Tibetan girl. I love Tibet.
My ancestors were a monkey and an ogress
I am Tibetan. I speak Tibetan.

[Source: lhakardiaries.com/2011/12/07/three-lhakar-songs/]

Gepe “Are you thinking, Tibetans?”

Posted on 13th February 2012 by keef

Gepe
Are you thinking, Tibetans?

བསམ་བློ་ཨེ་བཏང་གངས་ཅན་པ།
ཚིག་ སྡོང་བཙན་རྒྱལ་བར།
དབྱངས། དགེ་པེ།
རྡུང་ལེན་པ། དགེ་པ།

སོ་ཡེ། བོད་ཡིག་བོད་སྐད་བོད་ཀྱི་སྲོལ།
བོད་མིའི་སྲོག་རྩ་ལྟ་བུ་ཡིན།
བོད་ཕྲུག་གཞོན་ནུ་ཕོ་མོ་ལ།
བསླབ་ཀྱིན་ཨེ་ཡོད་གངས་ཅན་པ།

སོ་ཡེ། མདོ་སྔགས་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་བསྟན་པའི་རྒྱན།
ནང་གི་ནོར་བུ་ལྟ་བུ་ཡིན།
ནང་དོན་ཆེ་ཚུལ་འཛམ་གླིང་ལ།
བཤད་ཀྱིན་ཨེ་ཡོད་གངས་ཅན་པ།

སོ་ཨེ། ཕ་ཡུལ་གངས་རིའི་མིའི་འགྲོ་བ།
ཕ་མ་གཅིག་གི་རིགས་རྒྱུད་ཡིན།
ཕ་བཟང་བུ་ཚོས་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་རེ།
བྱེད་ཀྱིན་ཨེ་ཡོད་གངས་ཅན་པ།

སོ་ཨེ། ཁ་ལས་རླུང་རྟ་དར་བ་རེད།
ཁ་བ་ཅན་གྱི་རེ་སྒུག་ཡིན།
ཁ་སེམས་གཙང་མས་འདིའི་ཕྱོགས་ལ།
བསམ་བློ་ཨེ་བཏང་གངས་ཅན་པ།

སོ་ཨེ། མི་རིགས་ཀུན་ལ་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་དགོས།
མི་ཚེ་སྐྱིད་པའི་མདུན་ལམ་ཡིན།
མི་རིགས་རང་གི་ལ་རྒྱ་དགོས།
གོ་བ་ཨེ་བྱུང་གངས་ཅན་པ།

Tibetan language and Tibetan tradition,
are the essence of Tibetan people.
Tibetans, are you teaching this (these?),
to young Tibetan boys and girls?

The religious learning and practice,
is an inner jewel.
Tibetans, are you sharing this,
to (with?) the world?

The people of this land of snow,
is descendent (are descended?) of one race.
Tibetans, like good sons of a noble father,
Have you been friendly to each other?

Adorning (the? or a?) prayer flag,
is a hope of the people of the snow.
Tibetans, have you give(n?) it a thought,
in clear mind and speech?

To be friendly to all ethnic(ities?),
will bring happiness to live.
But you also need love for your own kind. ?Tibetans, did you understand this?

(Translation: Jigme)

Resistaencia cultural en el Tibet idioma

Posted on 25th February 2011 by Mandie McKeown

Resistaencia Cultural En El Tibet: Idioma

ཀ་ཁ་ག་ང་། ཅ་ཆ་ཇ་ཉ། ཏ་ཐ་ད་ན། པ་ཕ་བ་མ། ཙ་ཚ་ཛ་ཝ། ཞ་ཟ་འ་ཡ། ར་ལ་ཤ་ས། ཧ་ཨ།

““Los idiomas no son neutrales. Ellos expresan el comportamiento especίfico socio-cultural y pensante de cada pueblo. La extinciόn del Idioma Tibetiano originarίa consecuencias desastrosas en la cultura Tibetiana. No se podrá conservar esta cultura sin él.( )Esto es muy importante porque el Idioma y la cultura Tibetiana son excepcionalmente originales. Olvίdese de lingüística, medicina o arquitectura; solo interesémonos en la Literatura. La Literatura Tibetiana es una de las cuatro más grandiosas y antiguas literaturas en Asia, en volúmen y originalidad, junto con las literaturas Indio-Europea, China y Japonesa.
Entonces, esta serίa una razόn excelente para resguardar esta cultura como patrimonio de la humanidad ”
“

Nicolas Tournadre, Catedrático de Lingüística de la Universidad de Provence

El Idioma Tibetiano es fundamental para la identidad, la cultura y la religión de los Tibetianos y al mismo tiempo es uno de los cuatro más antiguos y originales idiomas en Asia.

En el 2010, el gobierno de la provincia de Qinghai diό a saber sus planes de reemplazar el idioma chino con el idioma tibetiano como idioma principal de enseñanza en los colegios. En respuesta miles de estudiantes de la Región de Amdo,, al Oeste de Tibet, salieron a las calles para defender sus derechos fundamentales de estudiar en su idioma materno. Para más información acerca de estas protestas y cambios de las normas presionar
aquí..

La campaña Internacional por el Tibet del investigador Zorgyi, radicado en India, explica “Las normas de educaciόn en el Tibet han originado un ambiente muy tenso para los estudiantes Tibetianos. Las autoridades Chinas afirman que toda comunidad minoritaria tiene el derecho de conservar su propio idioma y escritura. Pero la realidad es que los estudiantes universitarios tibetianos no pueden conseguir un buen trabajo si no tienen un idioma Chino avanzado después que se gradúan, y aún así lo tuvieran, también es bien difícil conseguir un buen trabajo. El Idioma Tibetiano es primordial para su identidad como Tibetianos sin embargo el Idioma Tibetiano está siendo degradado por todos los medios”

Woeser, un experto Tibetiano en internet, recientemente comentό en un artículo en las noticias de Reuters “, “ El hecho que puedas hablar o no el idioma Tibetiano, ya se ha convertido en un tema secundario, pero el hecho de que puedas hablar el idioma Chino es vital para tu vida cotidiana, de ahί que el idioma Tibetiano ha alcanzado un punto muy serio. Estudios adicionales de Woser acerca de los derechos de los idiomas y de la protestas de los estudiantes las pueden leer aquί
‘Cuando los estudiantes Tibeteanos pelean por el Idioma Tibeteano’..

Actuemos Ahora!Actuemos ahora! Manda un mensaje a Qiang Wei, Secretario del Partido de la Provincia de Qinghai y Liu Yandong, Consejero de Estado a cargo del departamento de Educaciόn en Beijing para invalidar esta norma discriminatoria.

Así como IHeartTibet.org esta subrayada en todo este reporte, el idioma se ha convertido en un instrumento de resistencia para los Tibetianos en Tibet junto con músicos, escritores y ahora estudiantes, quienes usan el idioma para celebrar, expresar y promover su rica y excepcional cultura.

“Treinta Alfabetos” es uno de los videos musicales más recientes del Tibet, siendo muy popular no solo en el territorio Tibetiano si no también fuera del territorio, eso demuestra lo importante que es el aprender su propio idioma. El coro de la canción dice “…a pesar de que es bueno el aprender otros idiomas, es una vergüenza olvidarse el nuestro.”.”

Por favor, mire y escuche “Treinta Alfabetos” de Kelsang Tenzin, es una canción muy profunda y hermosa.

La letra de todas las canciones de “Treinta Alfabetos” se pueden leer AQUI HERE en Tibetiano, Inglés, Francés y Español.

Vea el video y la página web en que muestran cόmo los Tibeteanos en el Tibet están aceptando el crecimiento de una campaña local para mantener la identidad Tibetiana. Este video esta dirigido por Dhondup Wangchen, director de “Dejando el Miedo Atrás” quien está sirviendo un sin número de sentencias por haber filmado “Opiniones de los Tibetianos en el Tibet” como también por su amor hacia su cultura e identidad. Esta página web incluye diferentes actividades que toman lugar dentro del territorio Tibetiano como el movimiento de solidaridad reflejado en las campañas internas en el Tibet:
El Movimiento Lhakar .

Tibetan Singer Tashi Dhondup Released from Prison

Posted on 25th February 2011 by Mandie McKeown

Tibetan Singer Tashi Dhondup Released from Prison

February 8 | Tashi Dhondup, the popular Tibetan singer, was released from Chinese prison after serving 14 months of his 15 months sentence of “re-education through labour”. Radio Free Asia reported that on his travels home he was warmly greeted by Tibetan people along the way to his home town, where his family and friends were waiting for his arrival.

In celebration of this good news High Peaks, Pure Earth have posted another video from Tashi Dhondup’s album “Torture Without Trace”; “Waiting With Hope” is the first song from the album and it directly references Yeshe Norbu (The Dalai Lama).

[subtitled video with permission from High Peaks Pure Earth]

Tashi Dhondup was born into a family of nomads in Sarlang town, Yugan county, eastern Tibet (Chinese: Qinghai province).

30-year-old Tashi Dhondup became famous amongst Tibetans for his song “1958-2008,” which compares the March 2008 uprising with the resistance movement against China’s invasion in eastern Tibet in 1958. The song also caught the attention of the Chinese authorities who detained Tashi Dhondup in September 2008, accusing him of composing counter-revolutionary songs. He was severely beaten by Chinese police before being released.

Despite previous detentions and severe maltreatment, Tashi Dhondup went on to release the album “Torture Without Trace” in December 2009. After its release he was once again detained on subversion charges and later sentenced to 15-months “re-education through labour” in January 2010. His case was not heard by a proper court but by the Yulgan County Re-Education Through Labor Committee.

Tashi Dhondup was released on 7 February 2011 after severing 13- months for singing songs in support of Tibetan independence and the Dalai Lama.

To show your support for Tashi Dhondup why not join the Facebook page ‘Tashi Dhondup’, which carries updates about Tashi and links to his songs and videos showcasing his continued brave stand for Tibetan Cultural Resistance.

30 Alphabets

Posted on 27th January 2011 by Mandie McKeown

[English] | [French] | [Spanish]

ཀ་མད་སུམ་བཅུ།

གཞས་པ། སྐལ་བཟང་བསྟན་འཛིན།

ང་ནི་གངས་རི་ཡི་གངས་ཕྲུག་ཡིན།
ཁྱོད་ནི་ཚྭ་ཐང་ནས་སྐྱེས་པའི་མེ་ཏོག་ཡིན།
ང་ནི་གངས་རི་ཡི་གངས་ཕྲུག་ཡིན།
ཁྱོད་ནི་ཚྭ་ཐང་ནས་སྐྱེས་པའི་མེ་ཏོག་ཡིན།

ཀ་ཁ་ག་ང་། ཅ་ཆ་ཇ་ཉ།
ཏ་ཐ་ད་ན་། པ་ཕ་བ་མ། ཙ་ཚ་ཛ་ཝ།
ཞ་ཟ་འ་ཡ། ར་ལ་ཤ་ས། ཧ་ཨ།
ཨི་ཨུ་ཨེ་ཨོ། སེམས་ལ་ཟུངས།

སློབ། མཁས་མཆོག་ཐོན་མི་སམ་ཊས། རྒྱ་གར་ཡི་གེར་དཔེ་བླངས་ནས།
བོད་ཡིག་འབྲི་བའི་སྲོལ་ཆེན་བཏོད། དབྱངས་བཞི་གསལ་བྱེད་སུམ་བཅུ་དང་།
སྦྱོང་། གསལ་བྱེད་ནང་ནས་རྗེས་འཇུག་བཅུ།
ག་ང་ད་ན་བ་མ་འ། ར་ལ་ས་དང་རྗེས་འཇུག་བཅུ།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མ་སེམས་ལ་ཟུངས།

བརྩེ་ལྡན་གྱི་གངས་ཕྲུག་ཚོགས་རྣམས། བོད་རང་ལ་ཁ་དཔེ་ཞིག་ཡོད་དེ།
སྐད་རིགས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་ན་བཟང་མོད་ཀྱང་།
རང་གི་ཕ་སྐད་བརྗེད་ན་ངོ་ཚ་ཡིན།

བརྩེ་ལྡན་གྱི་གངས་ཕྲུག་ཚོགས་རྣམས། བོད་རང་ལ་ཁ་དཔེ་ཞིག་ཡོད་དེ།
སྐད་རིགས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་ན་བཟང་མོད་ཀྱང་།
རང་གི་ཕ་སྐད་བརྗེད་ན་ངོ་ཚ་ཡིན།

ཀ་ཁ་ག་ང་། ཅ་ཆ་ཇ་ཉ།
ཏ་ཐ་ད་ན་། པ་ཕ་བ་མ། ཙ་ཚ་ཛ་ཝ།
ཞ་ཟ་འ་ཡ། ར་ལ་ཤ་ས། ཧ་ཨ།
ཨི་ཨུ་ཨེ་ཨོ། སེམས་ལ་ཟུངས།

ང་ནི་གངས་རི་ཡི་གངས་ཕྲུག ཁྱོད་ནི་ཚྭ་ཐང་ནས་སྐྱེས་པའི་མེ་ཏོག
ཚང་མས་ཤེས་རིག་སྦྱོང་ཡ།

བརྩེ་ལྡན་གྱི་གངས་ཕྲུག་ཚོགས་རྣམས། བོད་རང་ལ་ཁ་དཔེ་ཞིག་ཡོད་དེ།
སྐད་རིགས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཤེས་ན་བཟང་མོད་ཀྱང་།
རང་གི་ཕ་སྐད་བརྗེད་ན་ངོ་ཚ་ཡིན།

ང་ནི་གངས་རི་ཡི་གངས་ཕྲུག་ཡིན།
ཁྱོད་ནི་ཚྭ་ཐང་ནས་སྐྱེས་པའི་མེ་ཏོག་ཡིན།

[Top]

Thirty Alphabets

Lyrics: Kalsang Tenzin Composition: Kalsang Tenzin Singer: Kalsang Tenzin

I am a son of land of snows.
You are a blossoming flower from the grassland.
I am a son of land of snows.
You are a blossoming flower from the grassland.

Ka Kha Ga Nga. Ca Cha Ja Nya.
Ta Tha Da Na. Pa Pha Ba Ma. Tsa Tsha Za Wa.
Zha Za A’ Ya. Ra La Sha Sa. Ha Aa.
Ai Au Ae Ao. Memorise them by heart!

Profound Scholar Sambhuta bestowed,
based on the Indian Sanskrit,
the system of Tibetan writing.
Learn the four vowels and the thirty consonants
Ten suffix letters of the consonants: Ga Nga Da Na Ba Ma A’
Ra La Sa are the ten suffix letters.
Let’s all memorise them by hearts!

Dear beloved children of land of snows!
Tibet itself has a saying:
“Although it is good to know other languages,
it is a shame to forget your own.”

Ka Kha Ga Nga. Ca Cha Ja Nya.
Ta Tha Da Na. Pa Pha Ba Ma. Tsa Tsha Za Wa.
Zha Za A’ Ya. Ra La Sha Sa. Ha Aa.
Ai Au Ae Ao. Memorise them by heart!

I am a son of land of snows.
You are a blossoming flower from the grassland.
Everyone, study!

Dear beloved children of land of snows!
Tibet itself has a saying:
“Although it is good to know other languages,
it is a shame to forget your own.”
(Repeat)

I am a son of land of snows.
You a blossoming flower from the grassland.
(Repeat)

[Top]

[FRENCH]

Les Trente Lettres de L’alphabet

Je suis un fils du pays des neiges.
Tu es une fleur s’épanouissant dans la prairie.
Je suis un fils du pays des neiges.
Tu es une fleur s’épanouissant dans la prairie.

Ka Kha Ga Nga. Ca Cha Ja Nya.
Ta Tha Da Na. Pa Pha Ba Ma. Tsa Tsha Za Wa.
Zha Za A’ Ya. Ra La Sha Sa. Ha Aa.
Ai Au Ae Ao. Apprenez par cœur!

Le grand lettré Sambhota a légué,
à partir du sanskrit indien,
le système d’écriture de la langue tibétaine.
Apprenez les quatre voyelles et les trente consonnes.

Dix lettres suffixes des consonnes:
Ga Nga Da Na Ba Ma A’
Ra La Sa, voilà les dix lettres suffixes.
Apprenons-les toutes par coeur!

Enfants chéris du pays des neiges!
Au Tibet, nous avons un dicton:
“Même s’il convient d’apprendre d’autres langues,
ce serait dommage d’en oublier la sienne.”

Ka Kha Ga Nga. Ca Cha Ja Nya.
Ta Tha Da Na. Pa Pha Ba Ma. Tsa Tsha Za Wa.
Zha Za A’ Ya. Ra La Sha Sa. Ha Aa.
Ai Au Ae Ao. Apprenez par cœur!

Je suis un fils du pays des neiges,
Tu es une fleur s’épanouissant dans la prairie.
A chacun d’étudier!

Enfants chéris du pays des neiges!
Au Tibet, nous avons un dicton:
“Même s’il convient d’apprendre d’autres langues,
ce serait dommage d’en oublier la sienne.”

Je suis un fils du pays des neiges,
Tu es une fleur s’épanouissant dans la prairie.
Je suis un fils du pays des neiges,
Tu es une fleur s’épanouissant dans la prairie.
Je suis un fils du pays des neiges,
Tu es une fleur s’épanouissant dans la prairie.

FRENCH VIDEO: http://vimeo.com/18961695

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[Spanish]

Las treinta letras del Alfabeto

Kalsang Tenzin

Soy hijo del país de las nieves
Tú eres una flor de las praderas
Yo soy hijo del país de las nieves
Tú eres una flor de las pradera

Ka Kha Ga Nga. Ca Cha Ja Nya.
Ta Tha Da Na. Pa Pha Ba Ma. Tsa Tsha Za Wa.
Zha Za A’ Ya. Ra La Sha Sa. Ha Aa.
Ai Au Ae Ao. ¡Memorizalas bien

Renombrado Académico Sambhuta generó,
el sistema de escritura tibetana,
basado en el Sánscrito Indio.
Aprende las cuatro vocales y las 30 consonantes

Diez sufijos de las consonantes:
Ga Nga Da Na Ba Ma A’
Ra La Sa son los diez sufijos
¡Vamos todos a memorizar bien las letras!

Amados hijos del país de las nieves!
En Tibet existe un dicho:
“Aunque es muy bueno aprender otros idiomas,
(sería una vergüenza olvidar tu propia lengua.”

¡Amados hijos del país de las nieves!
En Tibet existe un dicho:
“Aunque es muy bueno aprender otros idiomas,
sería una vergüenza olvidar tu propia lengua.”

Ka Kha Ga Nga. Ca Cha Ja Nya.
Ta Tha Da Na. Pa Pha Ba Ma. Tsa Tsha Za Wa.
Zha Za A’ Ya. Ra La Sha Sa. Ha Aa.
Ai Au Ae Ao. ¡Memoriza bien las vocales!

Soy hijo del país de las nieves.
Tú eres una flor de las praderas.
¡Todos, estudiemos!

¡Amados hijos del país de las nieves!
En Tibet existe un dicho:
“Aunque es muy bueno aprender otros idiomas,
sería una vergüenza olvidar tu propia lengua.”

Soy hijo del país de las nieves
Tú eres una flor de las praderas
Yo soy hijo del país de las nieves
Tú eres una flor de las praderas
Soy hijo del país de las nieves
Tú eres una flor de las praderas

Spanish Video: http://vimeo.com/19437980

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Sherten – The Sound of Unity

Posted on 1st September 2010 by Mandie McKeown

Sherten (ཤེར་བསྟན།)

He is one of the most well known young singers in contemporary Tibetan music. Sherten’s 2010 song “The Sound of Unity” directly addresses “Tibetans” and boldly uses politically loaded phrases and words such as “three provinces”, “nation” and “freedom” according to High Peaks Pure Earth.

[English]

མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱི་རང་སྒྲ།

ཚིག སྟག་ལྷ་རྒྱལ།
དབྱངས། བདུད་པེ།
ལེན་མཁན། ཤེར་བསྟན།

མདོ་དབུས་ཁམས་གསུམ་གྱི་ན་གཞོན་རྣམས་ཀྱི་འབོད་ཚིག
མདོ་དབུས་ཁམས་གསུམ་ཁྱིམ་རྒྱུད་གཅིག་རེད།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མའི་ལས་དབང་གཅིག་རེད།

མཛའ་བརྩེ་མེ་ཏོག་མཉམ་བཞད།
མཐུན་པའི་ལག་རྡང་མཉམ་སྤྲེལ།

མཐུན་པའི་ལག་རྡང་སྤྲེལ།
གོམ་ཁ་ཡར་ལ་ཕྱོགས།

རོང་འབྲོག་མང་ཚོགས་རྣམས་ཀྱི་འབོད་ཚིག
མི་རིགས་ཤིག་གི་མདུན་ལམ་བསམ་ན།
ཆོལ་ཁ་གསུམ་པོ་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་བྱེད་དགོས།

མདོ་དབུས་ཁམས་གསུམ་ཁྱིམ་རྒྱུད་གཅིག་རེད།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མའི་ལས་དབང་གཅིག་རེད།

ཁ་བ་བོད་པ་ཚོ།
རྡོག་རྩ་གཅིག་སྒྲིལ་བྱོས།

མདོ་དབུས་ཁམས་གསུམ་ཁྱིམ་རྒྱུད་གཅིག་རེད།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མའི་ལས་དབང་གཅིག་རེད།
མཐུན་པའི་ལག་རྡང་སྤྲེལ།
གོམ་ཁ་ཡར་ལ་ཕྱོགས།

ཉམ་ང་བའི་ང་ཚོ་མི་རིགས་འདིའི་བདེ་སྡུག་དང་མ་འོངས་པའི་མདུན་ལམ་བསམ་ན།
བོད་མདོ་དབུས་ཁམས་གསུམ་གྱིས་མཐུན་པའི་ལག་རྡང་སྤྲེལ།
རྡོག་རྩ་གཅིག་སྒྲིལ་བྱོས།

བོད་པ་ཚོ།

མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས(ཡ)་་་
ཨ་ཕའི་གདོང་གི་སྐྱོ་བ་བསམ་ན།
བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས(ཡ)་་་
མདོ་དབུས་ཁམས་གསུམ་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་བྱོས་དང་།
བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
ཨ་མའི་སེམས་ཀྱི་མིག་ཆུ་བསམ་ན།
བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
ཁ་བ་བོད་པས་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་བྱོས་དང་།
ང་ཚོ་ནི་ཕ་མ་གཅིག་གི་མིང་སྲིང་ཡིན་ཡ།
མི་རིགས་ཤིག་གི་རྒྱུད་འཛིན་ཡིན་ཡ།
གདོང་དམར་བོད་པ་ཚོ།

བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
སྐྱིད་སྡུག་འདྲེས་མའི་ལོ་ཟླ་བསམ་ན།
བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
སྟོད་སྨད་བར་གསུམ་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་བྱོས་དང་།
བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
ཁ་བ་གངས་རིའི་མདུན་ལྗོངས་བསམ་ན།
བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
ང་ཚོ་ནི་སྟོད་ཕྱོགས་འབྲོག་གི་ཕྱུག་བདག་ཡིན་ཡ།
སྨད་ཕྱོགས་རོང་གི་ཞིང་བདག་ཡིན་ཡ།
གདོང་དམར་བོད་པ་ཚོ།

བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
ངུ་མ་དགོད་གྱི་ལས་དབང་བསམ་ན།
བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
ཆོལ་ཁ་གསུམ་པོ་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་བྱོས་དང་།
བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
རང་དབང་འཚོ་བའི་བདེ་སྐྱིད་བསམ་ན།
བོད་པ་ཚོ།
མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་གྱིས་་་(ཡ)་་་
གཞོན་ནུ་ཕོ་མོ་མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་བྱོས་དང་།
ང་ཚོ་ནི་དུས་རབས་གསར་བའི་ཕོ་ཉ་ཡིན་ཡ།
མ་འོངས་གངས་རིའི་བདག་པོ་ཡིན་ཡ།
གདོང་དམར་བོད་པ་ཚོ།

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The Sound of Unity by Sherten

Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang all belong to the same family
We have a common destiny

Let’s all blossom together like flowers
Hand in hand in harmony

Hand in hand in harmony
Let’s step forwards

If you care about the future of our nationality
All three provinces should unite

Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang all belong to the same family
We have a common destiny

Tibetans of the land of snows
Unite as one!

Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang all belong to the same family
We have a common destiny

Hand in hand in harmony
Let’s step forwards

“The Sound of Unity”

Lyrics: Taglha Gye
Music: Dubey
Singer: Sherten

If we care about the well-being and the future of our nationality who are in despair
People from Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang, hold hands together in harmony, unite as one!

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
If you think of the sadness on the face of your father

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
If you think of the tears from the heart of your mother

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
Tibetans of the Land of Snows unite

We are the kin of the same parentage
We are the inheritors of a nation
O ruddy faced Tibetans

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
If you think of the months and years of joys and sorrows

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
Tibetans from all parts of the high plateau unite

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
If you think of the vista of the Land of Snows

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
Kindred, old or young, unite

We are the keepers of herds in the nomadic lands of the upper reaches
We are the farmers in the valleys of the low lying lands
O ruddy faced Tibetans

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
If you think of our destiny of tears and laughter

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
Three provinces unite

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
If you think of the peace and happiness of a life of freedom

O Tibetans!
Unite, unite
Young men and women unite

We are the messengers of the new era
We are the future inheritors of the land surrounded by snowy ranges
O ruddy faced Tibetans

(Translation: High Peaks Pure Earth)

The Virtual Sweet Tea House: An Overview of the Tibetan Cyberspace

Posted on 25th August 2010 by Mandie McKeown

Dechen Pemba

As a place to meet, share and exchange, the Tibetan blogosphere has created opportunities for Tibetan netizens that would be unimaginable in the offline world. Keeping in mind the state of internet censorship in the People’s Republic of China today, these new spaces can be seen as new outlets but also as new areas involving personal risk. Tibetan cyberspace has opened up a new opportunity for expression, which has also brought new risks to this community.

There are several blog-hosting sites, both Tibetan and Chinese, that are favoured by Tibetans in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) today. One of the of the most popular Chinese language sites is called Tibetan Culture Net or simply TibetCul. TibetCul was started by two brothers, Wangchuk Tseten and Tsewang Norbu, and their head office is in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province. According to Alexa, the web Information Company, TibetCul receives over 400,000 hits every month. TibetCul is primarily a news and blog-hosting site but there are many different sections on the site related to Tibetan music, literature, films and travel. There is a BBS forum (bulletin board) and there is even a section dedicated to “overseas Tibetans”.

For all Tibet related news, blogs and cultural activities, TibetCul is an invaluable resource and source of information. Many posts translated into English by High Peaks Pure Earth come from TibetCul, such as the translation of the popular Tibetan hip-hop song “New Generation” by Green Dragon that was first featured on the group’s TibetCul blog in February 2010 in which a gang of Amdo rappers boldly proclaimed:

“The new generation has a resource called youth
The new generation has a pride called confidence
The new generation has an appearance called playfulness
The new generation has a temptation called freedom”

In a similar surge of pride in Tibetan identity that featured on Tibetan blogs post-2008, TibetCul blogs featured many poems and prose articles with the title “I Am Tibetan” and new posts are being written even today.

Heated discussions and debate take place on TibetCul every day about all matters of concern to Tibetans. One major example would be the online vilification of well-known Tibetan singer Lobsang Dondrup following photos posted on blogs of him and his wife both wearing fur at their wedding ceremony in early 2009. The photos were quickly re-posted across many blogs, incurring the wrath of angry Tibetan netizens and comments criticising the couple flooded the internet forums both in Tibetan and Chinese. This must all be seen in context, in 2006, after the Dalai Lama’s injunction against the wearing of animal fur, a wave of fur burning protests took place in Amdo and Kham. Hence the netizens anger and loathing for the couple. Shortly after, Lobsang Dondrup posted an apology online through his friend’s TibetCul blog.

The above observations on TibetCul demonstrate the nature of cyberspace in the ability to bring people together in discussion and debate and also the ability for the online content to transcend national borders, “New Generation” has gone on to become a popular song amongst Tibetans all over the world and the “I Am Tibetan” poetry and spirit has sparked Tibetan exile groups to hold events to amplify voices from Tibet.

In a paper from 2004, Tibetan scholar Tashi Rabgey referred to the Lhasa tradition of the Sweet Tea House: “Throughout the 1980s, sweet tea houses had served as important gathering places for Tibetans to exchange news, air opinions and discuss ideas.” However, “with the tightening of political controls in the early 1990s […] this unusual space of lively, open debate was brought to an end through constant surveillance.” The new virtual Sweet Tea House contains Tibetans who are literate in many languages but mainly in Tibetan, Chinese and English and Tibetans from Central Tibet, Kham, Amdo, India, USA and beyond, all in contact and dialogue.

Whilst the potential for contact and dialogue in the Tibetan cyberspace is great, control of the internet and the politicisation of the blog content poses difficulties and risks. Monitoring Tibetan blogs reveals that throughout the year, at times deemed “sensitive” by the Chinese government, Tibetan blog-hosting sites will suddenly with no explanation or prior warning either be taken offline or be offline “for maintenance”. This happens typically for Tibetan blogs around the time of March 10, the anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. See this link for an example of TibetCul suddenly disappearing offline and this link for Tibetan-language blogs being taken offline.

Similarly, individual bloggers are in danger of being targeted by the state for blog content deemed to be dubious. The most famous example is the Tibetan poet, writer and blogger, Woeser, who was writing two blogs, one on TibetCul and another on a Chinese blog hosting site but both of which were suddenly shut down on 28 July 2006. Woeser then had no choice but to start a new blog on a server hosted outside the PRC but has since faced a new set of problems such as server cyber-attacks by Chinese nationalists, both to her blogs and her Skype accounts.

Tibetan language blog-hosting sites have been even more vulnerable than TibetCul and two previously very popular sites have been inaccessible since 2009, http://tibettl.com/ and http://www.tibetabc.cn/ The latter was particularly a great loss as prominent singer and blogger Jamyang Kyi’s blog had previously been hosted by Tibetabc but she seems to have stopped blogging altogether since the site was closed down.

Two recent examples of individuals using blogs and the internet for purposes of social justice have been Dolkar Tso and Shogdung. Dolkar Tso, the wife of environmentalist Karma Samdrup, was blogging almost daily in June and July 2010, documenting the events of her husband’s trial and expressing her personal feelings about the injustice of his sentencing to 15 years in prison. Amazingly, Dolkar Tso persistently kept blogging on Chinese blog-hosting site Sohu and, at the last count, is on her fifth blog as the others kept being shut down rapidly.

Tagyal, a writer and intellectual who used the pen name Shogdung meaning “Morning Conch”, openly spoke out in April 2010 following the devastating earthquake that hit Yushu. He, along with several other intellectuals, published an open letter on Tibetan language blog-hosting site http://www.sangdhor.com in which they expressed condolences and at the same time were critical of the Chinese government in their handling of the earthquake relief efforts. Following this open letter, Shogdung was arrested and is still facing trial. Following Shogdung’s arrest, the site Sangdhor was taken offline for several months and has only recently come back online.

The last two examples of Dolkar Tso and Shogdung illustrate the importance of Tibetan blogs as sources of information and as ways to highlight injustice but evidently this comes at a great price for the individuals involved. The virtual Sweet Tea House is ultimately as vulnerable as the Lhasa tea houses of the 1990s were and is likely to remain so as long as Tibetan blogs remain behind the Great Firewall.

______________________________

Dechen Pemba is a UK born Tibetan, based in London. She is the editor of the website High Peaks Pure Earth, which provides insightful commentary on Tibet related news and issues and translations from writings in Tibetan and Chinese posted blogs.

Download bloggers’ profiles here.

The Dalai Lama’s Birthday Song from Tibet

Posted on 23rd August 2010 by Mandie McKeown

For His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 75th birthday, Tibetans from Golog, Amdo (Qinghai Province) sang these two songs. One of the singer explained in an interview with Radio Free Asia that this is a tribute to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his 75th Birthday. She further stated that she does not fear arrest over this and even if detained she would not have any regret.

Here’s the lyric of the song:

སྐུའི་འཁྲུངས་སྐར་བསུ་བའི་གླུ་ཞིག་ལེན།

གཞས་པ། ཀུན་དགའ་སྒྲོལ་མ།

ཆོས་མདོ་སྔགས་རྒྱ་གར་ཡུལ་ནས་དར།
ལུང་འཆད་ཉན་གངས་ཅན་བོད་ནས་རྒྱས།
གང་གི་གདུལ་བྱ་འཛམ་གླིང་ཀུན་ལ་ཁྱབ།
ཆོས་བསྟན་པ་དར་བའི་གླུ་ཞིག་ལེན།
རྗེ་བླ་མ་ཨ་མདོའི་ཡུལ་ནས་འཁྲུངས།
སྐུའི་མཛད་འཕྲིན་རྒྱ་གར་ཡུལ་ནས་རྒྱས།
མཚན་སྙན་གྲགས་འཛམ་གླིང་ཀུན་ལ་ཁྱབ།
ཁྱེད་སྐུ་ཚེ་བརྟན་པའི་གླུ་ཞིག་ལེན།
ང་གླུ་བ་གངས་ཅན་བོད་ནས་ཡོང་།
ངག་སྙན་མོ་འདིར་ཚོགས་ཁྲོམ་ལ་བླངས།
བཀྲ་ཤིས་བའི་གངས་ཅན་ལྗོངས་ལ་ཁྱབ།
བོད་གཞིས་བྱེས་འཛོམས་པའི་གླུ་ཞིག་ལེན།
བཀྲ་ཤིས་བའི་གངས་ཅན་ལྗོངས་ལ་ཁྱབ།
བོད་གཞིས་བྱེས་འཛོམས་པའི་གླུ་ཞིག་ལེན།

ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མས་ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་འཁྲུངས་སྐར་བསུ།

གཞས་པ། གཙང་མཆོད་རྟེན།

ང་ཚོའི་ཕ་ས་གངས་ལྗོངས་ཕྱུག་མོ་ཡིན།
གངས་སེང་དཀར་མོར་དགའ་བའི་རིགས་རྒྱུད་ཡིན།
འཛམ་གླིང་ཡང་རྩེ་སྲུང་བའི་མི་རིགས་ཡིན།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མ་གདོང་དམར་བོད་པ་ཡིན།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མས་ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་འཁྲུངས་སྐར་བསུ།

ང་ཚོའི་སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ་ཡིན།
ཞི་བདེ་ལས་ལ་བྲེལ་བའི་རིགས་རྒྱུད་ཡིན།
ལས་དང་རྒྱུ་འབྲས་བརྩི་བའི་མི་རིགས་ཡིན།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མ་གདོང་དམར་བོད་པ་ཡིན།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མས་ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་འཁྲུངས་སྐར་བསུ།

ང་ཚོའི་ཕ་མཁར་ཕོ་བྲང་དམར་པོ་ཡིན།
གངས་ལྗོངས་འདི་ཡི་གཞི་འཛིན་དང་པོ་ཡིན།
རིག་གནས་སྣ་མང་འཛོམས་པའི་མི་རིགས་ཡིན།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མ་གདོང་དམར་བོད་པ་ཡིན།
ང་ཚོ་ཚང་མས་ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་འཁྲུངས་སྐར་བསུ།

A Song in Celebration of The Birthday of His Holiness

Melody and Singer: Kunga Dolma

Buddha Dharma originates from India,
Profound practice developed in the Snowland of Tibet,
Disciples spread all over the world,
A song for the Buddha dharma to flourish.

Our great spiritual teacher was born in Amdo,
Your great works were accomplished from the land of India,
Your fame and greatness have spread across the world,
A song for your long life.

I, the singer, come from the Snowland of Tibet,
Singing a Melodious song to the gathering,
Good wishes spread across the land of Snow,
A song for the reunion of Tibetans inside and outside Tibet.

Good wishes spread across the land of Snow,
Singing a song for the reunion of Tibetans inside and outside Tibet.

We All Celebrate Your Birthday.

Singer: Tsang Choeten

Our dear father is the Boddhisattva of Compassion,
We are descendants of the one that is compassionate and kind,
We are a race who strive for Religious faith and Good deeds,
We are all red faced Tibetans,
We all celebrate your birthday.

Our dear mother is the Rock Ogress, [i]
We are descendants of the one that is brave and courageous,
We are a race who have wisdom and perseverance,
We are all red faced Tibetans,
We all celebrate your birthday.

Our father’s land is the rich snowland of Tibet,
We are descendants of those who love the white snowlion [ii],
We are a race who protect the roof of the world,
We are all red faced Tibetans,
We all celebrate your birthday.

Our savior is Yeshi Norbu [iii],
We are descendants of those who endeavor for Peace,
We are a race who believe in karma,
We are all red faced Tibetans,
We all celebrate your birthday.

Our father’s home is the Red Palace [iv],
The first rightful owner of this land,
We are a race who has a rich and abundant culture,
We are all red faced Tibetans,
We all celebrate your birthday.

[i] Ancient Tibetan Legend says that the Tibetan people arose from the union of a monkey and a rock ogress. The monkey is identified with Avalokitesvara, Buddha of compassion and the Rock Ogress, as an incarnation of Tara.

[ii] The snowlion is a mythological animal of Tibet, fearless and full of goodness, known as the protector of Buddhism. It is used as a national emblem on Tibetan coins, postage, banknotes and the national flag of Tibet. The body of the snowlion is white while its flowing mane, tail and curls on the legs are green.

[iii] Tibetans normally refer to the Dalai Lama as ‘Yeshi Norbu’ – the Wish-fulfilling Jewel.

[iv] The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet is also known as the Red Palace. It is the main residence of the Dalai Lama in Tibet.

[Translation: International Campaign for Tibet]

Kunga “Aspiration of the Land of Snow’s Children”

Posted on 17th August 2010 by Mandie McKeown

Kunga Phuntsog ཀུན་དགའ་ཕུན་ཚོགས།

Kunga Phuntsog is one of the most famous young singers in Tibet. His song, ‘Sadness’ (nyi da kar sum) is probably the most well known Tibetan song of modern times, propelling Tibetan music to another level. Born in eastern Tibet in 1981, Kunga attended music school and learned musical art from legendary Tibetan singer Yadong, with whom he performs the highly popular modern song “Mentally Return”, along with two other singers. Kunga’s songs are widely appreciated by Tibetans both for their melody and for their meaningful lyrics.

The song featured above was on the list of songs that were banned in Tibet. See the article: Crackdown on Tibetan Ringtones (RFA).

[Profile] | [English] | [Download]

༼གངས་ཕྲུག་གི་མདུན་ལམ།༽

ང་གངས་ཕྲུག་གངས་རིའི་འདབས་ལ་སྐྱིས།
གངས་དཀར་པོའི་བཀའ་དྲིན་མ་བརྗེད་ཟེར།
ཨེ་མ་གངས་རི་ཚོའི་གྲོགས་པོའི་མདུན་ལམ་གང་རེད་ཟེར།
ང་ཚོའི་ལ་རྒྱ་སྙིང་ནས་སྐྱོངས་།
ང་ཚོའི་ཕ་ཡུལ་གངས་ལྗོངས་རེད།
གངས་རིའི་སྤུན་ཟླའི་ལ་རྒྱ་མ་བརྗེད་ཟེར།

ང་གངས་ཕྲུག་གསེར་ལྗོངས་ཡུལ་ལ་སོང་།
བན་སེར་མོ་ཞིག་ལ་བགྲོད་གླེང་བྱས།
ཨེ་མ་གངས་རི་ཚོའི་སྤུན་ཟླ་ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་མདུན་ལམ་གང་རེད་ཟེར།
གངས་རིའི་ལ་རྒྱ་རིགས་པའི་གནས་ལ་སྦྱོངས་ཟེར།
གངས་རིའི་ལ་རྒྱ་སྦྱོང་བའི་གངས་ཕྲུག་ཚོ།
ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་མདུན་ལམ་རིགས་པའི་གནས་ལ་སྦྱོངས་ཞེས་ཟེར།

ང་གངས་ཕྲུག་སྡེ་ཆེན་གྲོང་ན་སོང་།
ངས་མི་རྒན་ཞིག་ལ་གཏམ་ཞིག་བྲིས།
ཨེ་མ་གངས་ཕྲུག་གཞོན་ནུ་ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་མདུན་ལམ་གང་རེད་ཟེར།
ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་མདུན་ལམ་སྤུན་ཟླ་ནང་མཐུན་རེད་ཟེར།
ང་ཚོའི་ཕ་ཡུལ་གངས་ལྗོངས་རེད།
སྤུན་ཟླ་ནང་མཐུན་མདུན་ལམ་གཅིག་རེད།

[Profile] | [Tibetan]

“Aspiration of the Land of Snow’s Children”

I, Child of the Snow Mountain, was born at the foot of the Snow Mountain.
I was told not to forget the kindness of the snow mountains.
Oh people of the Snow Mountains, to what do you aspire?
Bear a sense of devotion deep in your hearts.
Our fatherland is the Land of Snow.
Do not forget to love your identity.

I, child of the Snow Mountain, went to the Land of Gold.
I conversed with a Buddhist monk
He asked: Oh people of the Snow Mountains, to what do you aspire?
The pursuit of knowledge is your devotion to the Snow Land.
Oh, devoted people of the Land of Snow,
The pursuit of knowledge is your aspiration.

I, child of the Snow Mountain, went to the Big City.
I asked an elderly person a question
He asked: Oh youth of the Land of Snow, to what do you aspire?
Your countrymen’s solidarity is your aspiration.
The Land of Snow is our fatherland,
Solidarity is a common aspiration of its people.

[Translation: Based on Khenrap Yeshi & Thupgon’s translation]

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– DOWNLOAD Kunga’s profile and the lyrics to this song.

– Copy and paste the embed code below to your website. The size can be adjusted. Or get it directly from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN-rH0v5YZk