Exile stirs up unrest

The exiled Dalai Lama is using his position as a religious leader to cause political unrest in his home country, according to Tibet Daily. Excerpts follow:

He is using monks and nuns based at temples in the country to try to achieve his aim of an independent Tibet.

China says that while it tolerates religious freedom, it will oppose anyone who tries to break up China.

The Dalai Lama uses Tibetan Buddhism as a tool and this constitutes the biggest obstacle to order.

President Jiang Zemin has written in support of Tibetan Buddhism, saying he expects believers to love their country and religion, but also unite and make progress.

However, the Dalai Lama has been inducing monks and nuns to cause trouble, using temples as bases to help realize his dream of Tibetan independence.

His separatist activities have done great harm to Tibetan Buddhism as well as to large numbers of monks and nuns.

As a result, normal religious activities in some temples have been disrupted. Some monks and nuns have been forced into engaging in political activities to divide the country. This has been strongly criticized by the Panchen Lama of Tibetan Buddhism.

Worse still, the Dalai Lama has gone as far as violating religious tenets by interfering with the selection of the 10th Panchen Lama's reincarnation. He turned what should have been an auspicious occasion in Buddhism into a political farce.

Since 1987, the Dalai Lama has met Shoko Asahara, the founder of the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo cult, five times. The two have got together for political reasons.

The Communist Party of China does not believe in religion, but respects believers' freedom. However, it opposes anyone who tries to destroy the motherland's reunification, national unity and social stability.

(China Daily 2000/07/13)