Dalai Lama Visits Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh India

[Nagarjuna]

Dalai Lama Visits Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh India
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091108/ap_on_re_as/as_india_dalai_lama
By MUNEEZA NAQVI, Associated Press Writer

TAWANG, India – Joyous Buddhist pilgrims welcomed the Dalai Lama back
Sunday to the Himalayan town he first set foot in five decades ago
while fleeing Chinese rule in his native Tibet — a rare trip close to
his homeland that has angered Beijing.
The Dalai Lama's arrival here highlighted a lingering border dispute
between India and China, exposed Beijing's ongoing sensitivities over
Tibet and raised questions over who would succeed him as the region's
spiritual leader.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said last week that the
trip "once again exposes the nature of the Dalai Lama as anti-China."
The Dalai Lama, however, insisted the accusation was "baseless" and
that he was only seeking to promote religious values, peace and
harmony.
"My visit here is nonpolitical," he said soon after his arrival Sunday
morning.

For the residents of Tawang, it seemed purely religious.
The streets were lined with prayer flags and banners welcoming the
Dalai Lama and thousands braved the cold temperatures and biting wind
to attend his five-day visit of prayer meetings and lectures on
Buddhism.
"It made us very happy to catch a glimpse of him. Nobody is more
important to us than him. The Dalai Lama is our god," said Karmayacha,
who uses one name and traveled with her family from a village 20 miles
(32 kilometers) away.
Monks clanged cymbals and sounded traditional Tibetan horns to greet
the Dalai Lama as he arrived at the Tawang monastery — filled with
fresh orange, white and red flowers — from a nearby helipad.
The Dalai Lama smiled and chatted with the gathered crowds. One monk
shaded him with a giant yellow silk umbrella, while scores of others
bowed before him as he walked into a hall to lead a prayer session.
The Dalai Lama first came to Tawang, which has close religious and
political ties to Tibet, in 1959, when he fled communist rule. He has
since made five visits to the town, the last in 2003.
At that time, he was ill, weary and suffering from dysentery, but when
he finally made it here, he felt safe, he said Sunday.
In the days leading up to this visit — only his fifth trip here in the
last half century — monks and residents painted the monasteries of
Tawang and scrubbed the town.
Pilgrims arrived in packed trucks, others walked along narrow paths in
the Himalayan foothills for as long as five days to hear a man they
revere as a living god speak.
The local administration, which expects 25,000 people, erected a small
tent city for pilgrims, while other visitors sought shelter in local
monasteries and guesthouses.
China accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking Tibetan independence and is
especially sensitive to protests against its control over the
Himalayan region following deadly anti-government riots there last
year.
It regularly protests the movements of the Dalai Lama, but it is
particularly sensitive to this trip, which highlights two issues of
special concern to Beijing, Tibetan independence and its disputed
border with India, said Srinath Raghavan, a senior fellow at the
Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.
"The Chinese are highly distrustful of what the Dalai Lama is doing
there," he said.
Tawang is home to the Monpa tribe, who have strong ties to the Tibetan
capital of Lhasa. The sixth Dalai Lama came from the region in the
17th century and China fears that if the next one is found here as
well, he will be beyond Beijing's grip.
The visit also highlights worsening tensions between India and China,
which have been embroiled in a border dispute over this northeastern
state of Arunachal Pradesh since 1962. The two Asian neighbors are
vying for economic and political power in the region.
India's decision to let the Dalai Lama visit Tawang — just weeks after
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Arunachal Pradesh — is another
declaration of its sovereignty over the disputed border area.
For his part, the Dalai Lama no longer appears concerned about
angering China since negotiations over his Himalayan homeland have
gone nowhere, Raghavan said.
"The Dalai Lama really has nothing to lose," he said. "The key thing
is for him to be able to preserve Tibetan religion and culture."
___
Associated Press writer Ravi Nessman in New Delhi contributed to this
story.