The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu preach a message of ‘delicious doubt’

First Things editor R.R. Reno writes that when the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu spoke together at a “Peace Summit” in Vancouver, they shared an ideology that was perfect for those who like the idea of God but not the commitment of religion:

The Dalai Lama’s negations make him a lead blocker, opening up a wide hole for Archbishop Tutu to run through. God respects our autonomy, the Christian leader says; God regrets our misrepresentations of his teachings. “God is not a Christian,” he announces, “God allows us to misunderstand her.” The audience in Vancouver erupts with applause.

The Dalai Lama is a very astute and capable politician who has done a masterly job of securing support for Tibet in its ongoing struggle against Chinese domination. I suspect he’s sometimes cynical in his spiritual pronouncements. He must know that the applause does not indicate appreciation or even understanding of Buddhism. Its negations are meant to humiliate and overcome what we so dearly love, which is our self. That’s never something that brings applause.

“God allows us to misunderstand her.” Who’s to say which religion is true? Isn’t God too big for any one religion? These and other negations make Church, sacraments, Scripture seem less certain, less reliable, less authoritative. We don’t experience this as unpleasant or disorienting. On the contrary, it’s a delicious doubt. We want “organized religion,” which in the West means Christianity, to loosen its grip over culture, politics—and our souls. For our goal is neither enlightenment nor salvation, but instead to live by our own lights and on our own terms.

And so our age applauds the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and other adepts of negation and critique. God without priests. Churches without authority. Faiths that are optional. It’s wonderfully liberating. The divine can’t get his hands on us anymore! Now we can be spiritual without being religious. It’s the luxury good human beings have always wanted: bespoke worship, idols made to spec.

Read full column at First Things

China appoints new governor for Tibet

DHARAMSHALA, January 30: Beijing has appointed yet another hardliner Tibetan as the new governor of central Tibet, a move many believe augurs with China’s plans of maintaining its iron fisted rule over the region.

55-year-old Losang Gyaltsen’s name was announced on Tuesday at the end of the 10th annual meeting of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region’s rubber stamp regional assembly.

He replaces Pema Choling, who has now been selected as the chairman of the standing committee of the regional legislature. Fourteen others were elected vice chairpersons of the regional government, official state agency Xinhua said in a report.

According to his official biography, Gyaltsen is a former mayor of Tibetan capital Lhasa and once taught Marxist theory.

He reports to Tibet's top Han official, Communist Party chief Chen Quanguo, a position never held by a Tibetan.

In his first speech as the new governor, Gyaltsen toed the party hard line, saying that under him the regional administration will "resolutely struggle" against exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

According to Xinhua, he “urged maintaining vigilance in times of peace as well as taking a firm political stand and acting consistently to resolutely battling against the 14th Dalai Lama clique and unswervingly safeguarding the unification of the motherland and national unity.”

"All development and progress of Tibet since its peaceful liberation is the results of sticking to the leadership of the Communist Party of China , the socialist system, the regional ethnic autonomy system and the path of development with Chinese characteristics and Tibetan features," the report cited Gyaltsen as saying.

He also spoke about “reform and opening up” of Tibet, a claim which has been denied by Beijing based prominent Tibetan writer, Woeser.

Speaking to Reuters, she called Gyaltsen a “hardline” like all other officials. “There will be no real change in Tibet," she said.

With Tibet reeling under a wave of self-immolations, which has witnessed at least 99 known Tibetans setting themselves on fire protesting Chinese rule, Tibetans have been placed under growing restrictions and increasingly marginalising and discriminatory policies.

According to his official biography, Gyaltsen was born in Chagyab, Tibet, in July 1957 and studied at the Tibet University for Nationalities for five years and worked at the university for another 10 years.

Between May 1996 and January 2003, he was mayor of Lhasa and deputy secretary of the CPC Lhasa municipal committee.

From January 2003 to January 2013, he served different posts, including vice chairman of the regional administration and deputy secretary of the CPC regional committee.

Senior monks of Sera, Drepung, Ganden disappeared

DHARAMSHALA, January 30: In an alarming development, Chinese authorities in central Tibet have reportedly detained some of the senior most monks, including abbots and chant masters of the three principle monastic seats of Sera, Ganden, ad Drepung.

According to Swiss based Tibetan, Sonam, the high-level monks, in total 16, were whisked away on the pretext of a meeting by Chinese officials in the Lhasa region on January 14.

The condition and whereabouts of those disappeared remain unknown, giving rise to anxiety and tension among the monastic community around Tibet’s ancient capital city.

Those disappeared have been identified as abbot Jampel Lhaksam, chant master Ngawang, teachers Ngawang Dhonden, Ngawang Pelsang, and Samten of the Drepung Monastery; disciplinarian Migmar, chant master Samten, teachers Ngawang, and Tashi Gyaltsen of Sera Monastery; and Kalden and Lobsang Ngodup of Ganden Monastery.

Also disappeared were Lhasa Tsug-la Khang’s Lhundrub Yarphel, Tseten Dorjee, and Ngawang Lophel.

Speculations are rife that the senior monks were first taken against their will to conduct ‘patriotic re-education campaign’ at monasteries in the nearby Nagchu region of Tibet.

However, there has been no further information on their whereabouts.

Following the disappearance of the abbots and teachers of the monastic universities, the academic curriculum of the monks has become a matter of great concern.

A report on enforced disappearances in Tibet, titled ‘Into Thin Air – An Introduction to Enforced Disappearances in Tibet’ released in October last, stated that disappearances are “prevalent and commonplace” for Tibetans living under Chinese rule.

“While there is a growing movement to ban enforced disappearances in any form or justification, the Chinese government has for the past many decades used enforced disappearances as a tool to suppress dissent and criticism, by disappearing and detaining incommunicado persons deemed threats to the PRC’s ‘unity’ and ‘stability,’” Dharamshala based rights group TCHRD said.

“Security officers in Tibet, particularly the Public Security Bureau and the People’s Armed Police, use enforced disappearance to terrorize and intimidate the disappeared person, his or her family members, as well as the entire community."

Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elecetd head of the Tibetan people, while releasing the white paper, 'Why Tibet is Burning?' earlier this week had said the current critical situation in Tibet is being "fuelled by China's total disregard for the religious beliefs, cultural values and reasonable political aspirations of the Tibetan people.”

Exile Tibetan leadership launches solidarity campaign in Delhi

Speaker Penpa Tsering (left) and Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay addressing the press in New Delhi on January 29, 2013. (Phayul photo)

NEW DELHI, January 29: On the eve of the four-day Tibetan People’s Solidarity Campaign in New Delhi, the speaker of the Tibetan Parliament and the de facto Tibetan prime minster today jointly addressed a press conference at the Press Club of India here.

Over 100 media personnel attended the conference which began with the screening of the documentary ‘What is China doing in Tibet’ released by the Dharmahsala based Central Tibetan Administration.

Speaking first, Speaker Penpa Tsering of the Tibetan Parliament warned that the situation inside Tibet is “getting more and more grim.”

“Therefore, the Tibetan cabinet and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile have jointly decided to come to Delhi for the first time in the history of our struggle to organise a four-day programme to seek the attention of our host country as well as the international community to call upon the Chinese government to look into the causes of why Tibetans are self-immolating,” he said.

Despite repeated appeals by the exile Tibetan administration, 99 Tibetans have set themselves on fire protesting Chinese rule and demanding freedom and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama since 2009.

Introducing the solidarity campaign from January 30 – February 2, Speaker Tsering announced that India’s former deputy Prime Minister LK Advani would be among a host of top Indian leaders addressing the first day of the campaign tomorrow at the Talkatora Stadium.

Over the next four days various events such as peace marches, interfaith prayers, day-long fasting, public address by Indian leaders, lobbying efforts with foreign diplomats among others will be held.

Speaker Tsering noted that the mass prayer meeting on February 1 will be presided by Kyabje Gaden Tri Rinpoche, the first throne holder of Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism of Indian origin.

Speaking next, Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected head of the Tibetan people, said China’s policies of political repression, cultural assimilation, population transfer, racial discrimination, economic and education marginalisation and environmental destruction were the causes behind the self-immolations in Tibet.

The de facto Tibetan prime minister noted that 70 per cent of economic enterprises in the so called Tibetan Autonomous Region are owned or run by Chinese, while 40 per cent Tibetan college and high school graduates are unemployed.

“Facing such repressive policies and with no freedom of speech or expression, Tibetans are resorting to the drastic way of protest by setting fire to themselves,” Sikyong Sangay said. “It reflects the desperation as well as the determination of the Tibetan people to protest with their lives.”

Speaking about the strong historical, cultural, and academic bond that Indians and Tibetans share and the security threat currently imposed by China, the Harvard law graduate noted that Tibet “ought to be one of the core issues of India vis-à-vis China.”

He ascertained that the Tibetan movement is “very much made in India,” arguing that the democracy that Tibetans practice is inspired by India and Tibet’s policy of non-violence follows Mahatma Gandhi’s notion of Ahimsa. Many of the Tibetan leaders, including Speaker Tsering and himself have been born and brought up in India, he added.

“Indian government and people have extended so much support to the Tibetans for which we are eternally grateful,” Sikyong Sangay said. “But we would like to see a little bit more given the gravity of the situation in Tibet.”

More than 5000 Tibetans have converged in the national capital from all over India, Nepal, and Bhutan to take part in the solidarity events. Over 1500 Indian supporters are also expected to take part in the campaign.

At the press club, a travelling exhibition on Tibetan history and culture titled, ‘Looking Homeward’ and a ten-panel photo exhibition on the self-immolation protests were displayed.

A Peaceful Plan: Dalai Lama to make Louisville visit

By AMANDA BEAM newsroom@newsandtribune.com

LOUISVILLE — Once-in-a-generation opportunities, by definition, don’t come around very often. But according to Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, residents throughout Kentucky and Indiana will have this exact chance when His Holiness the Dalai Lama comes to the city this May. 

At a special interfaith ceremony held Wednesday at Louisville’s Tibetan Buddhist Center, the Drepung Gomang Institute, representatives from various cultural, academic and religious groups gathered to celebrate and preview the upcoming visit.

“We’re just delighted to be participating here as a city in the visit by the Dalai Lama,” Fischer said. “I just feel like this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for people in Louisville and the surrounding region; the opportunity to hear and learn from the world’s most iconic figure, a true leader in his quest for peace, for justice, for compassion.”

As the 14th and current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso has been officially recognized since 1950 as one of the main leaders of the Gelugpa line of Buddhism. In addition, until his recent retirement in 2011, he served as the head of the exiled Tibetan government. In 1989, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his peaceful advocacy of Tibetan liberation from China.

In addition, His Holiness also is renowned for his dedication to promoting inter-faith dialogue, a key component to his May visit. Indianapolis resident and Sikh representative K.P. Singh has met the Dalai Lama on several separate occasions. Singh said His Holiness’ teachings transcend any particular religion.

“He is compassionate and loving of every faith, tradition, culture and community,” Singh said. “He said learning about other faiths is a reaffirmation about who you are and what your faith is all about. And if there are some elements in there that strengthens your own faith and your own tradition, then by all means certainly learn from that.”

Singh also stressed the Dalai Lama’s connection to Indiana. His Holiness has traveled to the Hoosier state seven times, predominantly to Bloomington. His older brother and fellow Lama Thubten Jigme Norbu taught at Indiana University and founded the now named Tibetan-Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in the city. 

Although Norbu died in 2008, the Dalai Lama still has nephews who reside in Bloomington and carry on his brother’s legacy. 

Lisa Morrison, director of media and public relations for the event, said the family will travel to visit their uncle while he’s in Louisville. 

“I have to remind our honorable mayor of Louisville that he has a lot of catching up to do with the city of Bloomington because every square inch of Bloomington is hallowed ground,” Singh said. “Momentarily, I felt a little jealous of the city of Louisville that he would not be visiting Indiana, but then I realized that his spirit has the power to shine deep within us each time we even think about him.” 

Franklin University Professor David Carlson also stressed that the importance of the Dalai Lama’s visit extends to the whole of the Midwest. 

“What happens in Louisville affects us very deeply north of you across the Ohio River,” he said.

Carlson also said communities, as living organisms, are interconnected and that revitalization of society rests on a basic concept.

“The secret of renewing communities is not a mystery. All religions know that compassion is the healing medicine,” Carlson said. “May his visit and celebration of this city as a city of compassion lead other cities and other organizations to take a similar step not only elsewhere in Kentucky but throughout the entire region we know and claim today as America’s heartland, its living center.” 

Featuring three days of activities, the Dalai Lama’s stay in the city will include several teaching opportunities, the largest of which will take place on May 19 at the Yum Center. Expecting a crowd of 15,000 in attendance, Fischer said this two-hour presentation will focus on how people can engage with compassion regardless of their religious orientations. 

On May 20, the Dalai Lama will give two separate public talks at KFC Yum! Center concentrating on Buddhist teachings. Wrapping up his visit, he will also speak to previously selected school children about nonviolence and compassion May 21 at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.

Anticipating a great number of guests attending the events, Fischer said the impact on the community and on individuals themselves will be dramatic.

“The Dalai Lama, as I mentioned, is such as iconic figure for peace and justice and compassion that he’s going to inspire people in ways we don’t know about. So our mission should be to get as many people to hear what his message is,” Fischer said.

Tickets for the May 19 and 20 events are on sale at the Yum Center’s box office and online at ticketmaster.com. For more information on these and other happenings leading up to the visit, drop by the official event website at dalailamalouisville.org

China May Face Power Glut

An analysis by Michael Lelyveld

2013-01-21

Generating surplus may follow slower economic growth.

AFP
Steam rises from a power station in Beijing on Dec. 5, 2012.

As its economic growth slows and air quality declines, China may be building more power plants than it needs.

During 2012, China increased its generating capacity far more than its power consumption growth, according to official reports.

After years of power shortages, the trends suggest a major shift that could soon burden the electricity sector with generating surpluses and under-utilized power plants.

"There's a probability of it, almost a certainty of it," said Philip Andrews-Speed, principal fellow in the East Asia program at the National University of Singapore's Energy Studies Institute.

"The question is, is this a bad thing?" Andrews-Speed said.

Last year, China power production rose 4.5 percent, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) reported. Power consumption grew 5.5 percent, far less than 11.7-percent rate in 2011, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said.

But installed generation capacity climbed 7.5 percent to at least 1,140 gigawatts (GW), according to the NEA. Previously released figures for 2011 suggest growth was actually over 8 percent.

The numbers mean that China is adding power plants at a rate 77 percent faster than it is using them and 45 percent faster than growth in demand.

The gap is the result of last year's slower economic growth in the midst of a longer-term buildup of capacity, which was designed to keep pace with double-digit growth rates.

Capacity

China nearly doubled its generating capacity between 2005 and 2010, making plans to double it again by 2020. Under the 12th Five-Year Plan, China's installed capacity would reach 1,400 GW, implying continued annual growth of about 8 percent.

If the government sticks to that track and slower economic growth persists, overcapacity in the power sector seems set to expand.

Last year, China's gross domestic product—the main measure of a country's economic activity and growth—rose 7.8 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported. The rate fell far short of 9.3-percent pace in 2011 and the 10.4-percent growth of 2010.

Experts cited by the official Xinhua news agency expect lower growth in power demand to become the norm.

"A deceleration in electricity consumption is an inevitable trend in the future, as China has vowed to
optimize and upgrade its industrial structures in the 12th Five-Year Plan," said Zhang Zhibin, an analyst with Broad Consultancy Agencies.

Lag behind

Zhang predicts power consumption growth of about 6.5 percent this year, which would still lag behind the planned increase in generating capacity.

Electricity surpluses were last seen as a problem in 1998-2002, when the Asia currency crisis slowed China's economy, prompting the government to halt power projects, Andrews-Speed said.

So far, there is no sign that the government plans to do so again.

Starting in 2003, faster economic growth began to give China the opposite problem with power shortages that forced cuts in service and drove factories to run diesel generators.

But despite warnings, major power shortages have largely failed to materialize since 2010, while capacity expansion rates have stayed about the same.

Andrews-Speed said a moderate surplus would not necessarily be a problem.

"If you have overcapacity of 10 percent or so, then you're more able to deal with crises of different types," he said.

Drought has been a periodic problem for hydro-electricity production, for example. Hydropower accounts for 21.8 percent of China's generating capacity, according to the NEA.

Reforms

Surplus capacity could also help if the government is serious about promoting reforms in the power industry.

"If they wish to go ahead and start to introduce some form of real competition in the power sector, then you need excess capacity. If you don't have excess capacity, you can't have competition," said Andrews-Speed.

But the problems with overcapacity may be under-utilization of power plants by dispatch centers and insufficient return on investment.

"Some power companies are going to find themselves losing money," Andrews-Speed said. "They're going to find that some power stations are not dispatched, or they're going to have to sell at a lower price."

For years, China five big state-owned power companies have reported heavy losses on thermal generating, mostly from high-polluting coal, as a result of government-controlled electricity rates.

But overcapacity could turn the tables on the situation, since the risk of losses may be because rates are too high rather than too low.

Instead of scrambling for power wherever they can get it, regulators may be called upon to choose which electricity supplies to dispatch into China's grids.

Decisions could be based on price, environmental impact or local political interests.

Choices

Whatever the criteria, capacity surpluses may present the government with choices it has not had to deal with in years.

"It's an interesting moment," Andrews-Speed said. "The government will have to make decisions either to reinforce the administrative measures or to move toward more economic dispatch."

Last week, SERC predicted that power consumption will pick up this year, reaching 9-percent growth. But that pace would still be slower than the 2011 rate.

SERC cited a strong 10.7-percent increase in household electricity use last year. But consumption in the industrial sector rose only 3.9 percent, the NEA said.

Breaking: Tibet continues to burn, Second self-immolation in the new year

DHARAMSHALA, January 18: The wave of self-immolation protests in Tibet against China’s continued occupation of Tibet shows no sign of abating with reports just in of yet another fiery death in Khyungchu region of Ngaba in eastern Tibet.

Initial reports have identified the Tibetan self-immolator as Tsering Phuntsok. According to a Swiss based Tibetan, Sonam, the protest occurred at around 3:15 pm (local time).

“Tsering Phuntsok set himself on fire in front of the local Chinese police station in Drachen village of Khyungchu region,” Sonam told Phayul. “He passed away at the site of his protest.”

Chinese security personnel arrived at the scene and bundled away Tsering Phuntsok’s body to Barkham, the same source said.

Tsering Phuntsok is survived by his wife and two children.

Photos of today’s self-immolation protests show the charred body of Tsering Phuntsok, still on fire, lying on the ground. A number of people could be seen surrounding the body.

Reports suggest that monks of the Amchok Monastery are currently carrying out a prayer service for the deceased.

This is the second self-immolation protest in Tibet since the beginning of the new year. In 2012 alone, as many as 82 Tibetans set themselves on fire demanding freedom and the return of Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile.

Chinese authorities in the region have intensified their repressive policies by criminalising the self-immolation protests, arresting family members and friends of protesters and off late, confiscating thousands of satellite TV dishes aimed at creating an information black hole in the region.

“Tibet is getting into the global evening news because of self-immolations and so there’s this anxiety to bring it under control,” Michael Davis, a law professor and Tibet expert at the University of Hong Kong told AP. He warned that the new leadership “will be particularly anxious not to have any of these problems blow up in their face.”

“I think self-immolations and all of this suggest that they are not winning the hearts and minds of the Tibetan people and in fact the more repressive they are, the more resistance they encounter, so it’s a kind of vicious circle,” Davis said.