FW: [WTNN] World Tibet Network News -- December 24, 2010
Alex Bunjes
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The Editorial board wishes you all a very Merry Christmas and Peace on
earth.
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Issue ID: 2010/12/24Compiled by Nima Dorjee
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Contents
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1. Ushering Wellness: The Convergence of Buddhism and Psychoanalysis
2. Tibetan Writer Speaks Out on Tibet Crackdown and Kyigudo Quake
3. Canada sponsors immigration for Tibetans in Arunachal
4. The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography (Penguin)
5. Obituary: Frank Bessac
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1. Ushering Wellness: The Convergence of Buddhism and Psychoanalysis
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Pilar Jennings, Ph.D.
Researcher, Clinical aspects of Buddhism
Posted: December 23, 2010, Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pilar-jennings-phd/buddhism-and-psychoanalys_b
_799903.html
Once considered esoteric by most Westerners, Buddhism and psychoanalysis
have come to infiltrate much of contemporary culture. His Holiness the
Dalai Lama has become a universal symbol of peace and good will.
Buddhist meditation centers abound in most urban centers, and
increasingly the scientific community has given credence to the
ameliorative impact of meditation on many psychological struggles,
including depression and anxiety.
The same is true for psychoanalysis. What was once a stigmatized option
for the mentally ill and affluent, therapy -- at least in most urban
settings -- is today almost a rite of passage. It's the rare New Yorker
who has made it through the various travails of contemporary life --
finishing one's formal education, finding a partner, making a living --
without seeking some form of psychoanalytic support. Add to these
pervasive struggles the distressing issue of terrorism, the rise of
childhood diseases including autism and leukemia and the onslaught of
stimulation from advances in technology, and you have a population
increasingly eager for help in finding psychological and spiritual wellness.
What has changed in recent years, and captured the attention of both
Buddhist teachers and psychoanalysts, is the fascinating relationship
between these divergent traditions. Today, there are growing numbers of
people looking for therapists who respect their need for meditation and
spiritual support. So too, there are scores of long-term (even second
generation) meditators who have come to realize that spiritual practice
does not always eliminate the psychological problems they hoped it
would. In this way, these two radically different approaches to wellness
have begun to intersect with new levels of respect and curiosity.
As a caveat to this growing conversation, scholars of both traditions
have been quick to point out that the differences between these two
healing realms are extensive. Buddhism arose some 2,500 years ago in
India. Its founder, Siddhartha Gautama, was a young man of great wealth
who grew up in cloistered privilege. It was through his introduction, at
the age of 29, to the suffering world of sickness, aging and death that
he was inspired to explore how we might relate to our basic
vulnerability and still remain happy. In his 84,000 ensuing teachings,
he emphasized that despite the pain we would invariably endure,
happiness was our most basic birthright.
Psychoanalysis, in contrast, first developed in Europe just over 100
years ago. Sigmund Freud, its founder and steadfast protector, lead a
radically different life from the young Siddhartha. At an early age,
Freud knew the pain of loneliness and struggle and went on to suffer the
traumas of anti-semitism, two world wars and the loss of a child. It is
not surprising that his approach to healing would posit a basic conflict
inherent to the human condition. Freud believed that much like the
warring world that raged around him, within our own psyches was another
kind of battlefield of raging instincts that constantly seek expression.
His was a more pessimistic view: that the best we can do is find ways to
sublimate our sexual and aggressive urges and settle for "common
unhappiness." Yet, he brought to light the impact of the unconscious,
and the ways in which we can live with less suffering and more integrity
if we accept the truth of what is in our unconscious.
The interest in how Buddha Shakyamuni's approach to wellness might
converge with Freud's, began more than 60 years ago. In the 1950s,
psychoanalysts including Karen Horney and Eric Fromm wrote about their
growing interest in Zen Buddhism, and its more hopeful vision for how
people might come to genuinely enjoy their lives, despite the pain of
loss and the power of desire. In the intervening years, many more
therapists and Buddhist teachers joined in this conversation, exploring
the tools of each path, and seeking creative ways to bring them together.
Such theorists point out that each tradition has something unique to
offer and limitations to overcome. Psychoanalysis has been extremely
useful in helping people understand how their earliest experience of
relationship influences their sense of self and their approach to
interpersonal relationships. It has respected the importance of early
childhood and the particular ways in which each individual will respond
to his or her caretakers. The downside of this self-centric process, say
its critics, is the solipsism that can result from too many years of
parsing personal struggles.
Theorists interested in how Buddhism and psychotherapy might work
together, have suggested that this very solipsism is powerfully
challenged in Buddhist practice. Buddhism takes a more universal view of
our human struggles, suggesting that all of us, regardless of our
caretakers or personal traumas, can be helped by remembering that
everything changes, including our most entrenched struggles and vexing
relationships. It's simply the nature of reality. So too, we depend upon
each other for everything -- our food, education, healthcare,
companionship. According to Buddhist thought, none of us can get through
this life, or achieve abiding happiness, alone. So it makes sense to
treat each other with genuine care, knowing that we share the same wish
to be happy and free from suffering.
Today, these two paradigms are mixing minds and ideas through an
expanding population of Westerners who want to understand the influence
of their own personal history, while not getting too caught up in it. In
this way, Buddhism and psychoanalysis have begun to cultivate a true
partnership that seems to be ushering in wellness on a new scale.
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2. Tibetan Writer Speaks Out on Tibet Crackdown and Kyigudo Quake
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Friday, 24 December 2010 YC. Dhardhowa,
The Tibet Post International
"I often lose my patience and tolerance when I was reacting to against
China's harsh policies toward Tibetan people that aggravating the
extremely tense situation in Tibet," said Mr. Gedun Tsering, (20), a
Tibetan writer and former teacher from Serdeu Township, Marthang County
of Amdho Ngaba region of Tibet (Ch:Changrig Tibet Autonomous Prefecture,
Sichuan Province), who recently took refuge in India. In the books, he
and several other Tibetan writers have focused the facts and figures on
China's continuous violence against the Tibetans inside Tibet.
Tsering safely managed to escape from Tibet recently, currently he
became one of newest Tibetan refugee in Indian hill town of Dharamshala
where Tibetan government in exile based. Speaking to The Tibet Post
International (TPI), he said the communist regime accused him of
inciting separatism. Since January 2010, he was hiding almost one year
in the hills and mountains of Ngaba region, eastern Tibet after Chinese
authorities found several books and what they write allegedly on the
grounds of "inciting activities to split the nation".
The writers involved in the writing of the books and magazine were
claimed of having political motivation in various Tibet issues. But,
Tsering said that articles of the books and magazines have much more
experimental and reality in their opinions. 'The Tears' (Tib: Migchu),
"The Tongue (Che), 'The Alive Eye' (Sonmig) and 'Peaceful Struggles'
(Shiwai Drakgol) were accused of "inciting political activities.
While Asking him about the difficulties of the writing 'The Alive Eye'
and 'The Tears' in Tibet, Tsering said "I thought you may never know
what good results come out if you merely protest in the streets and
villages, but if you do nothing there will be no result, we have decided
to create a platform of media including Tibetan newspapers and magazines
for our voices to be Heard, get our voice by the world. Therefore, the
books mainly focused 2008-2010 events in Tibet; including the peaceful
demonstration in all parts of Tibet, China's crackdown since March 2008,
and protest contradicts Chinese state controlled media propaganda on
Tibet issue."
Tsering stressed that all of the Tibetan popular websites and blogs
where Tibetan scholars, monks and students usually publish their
articles were shutdown by Chinese authorities, China accused them of
inciting separatism because of their opinions on Tibet. Nowadays in
Tibet, there is no perfect news websites and blogs where Tibetans can
access information and write their opinions. Too much restrictions on
freedom of the press and freedom of speech.
In this, 'The Alive Eye', we have written some opinions on importance of
environmental protection in Tibet and as well as the preservation and
promotion of the Tibetan culture," said Tsering. "I and my colleagues
from various parts of Tibet discussed and were preparing to distribute
the books, actually it was on 1st January 2010, over 5000 books and
magazines have been widely distributed in many areas in Tibet. But
lately the Chinese authorities accused us of instigating to split the
motherland.
"I and seven other Tibetan writers also have composed a book called 'The
Tongue' (Tib: Che) basically focus on recent massive earthquake in
Kyigudo in eastern Tibet that has killed so many people and later we
distributed book." he said. "The Chinese authorities did not allowing us
to visit quake affected areas, we heard they were crying, their voices
were just heard from where they trapped under the rubble. The
authorities also denied many other Tibetan journalists," Tsering further
told TPI.
Speaking to TPI about 'The Alive Eye', Tsering said, "countless Tibetans
have lost their life by Struggling for Truth and Justice in Tibet during
2008 peaceful demonstrations in all parts of Tibet. He said ."We
expressed how we were suffered, angered and hatred the Chinese
authorities and failed to keep of our patience and tolerance toward
those communist authorities who carried out widespread persecution and
massacre of the Tibetans in their homeland."
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3. Canada sponsors immigration for Tibetans in Arunachal
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By Gaurav Bisht
DHARAMSHALA, India, 19 December 2010 (Hindustan Times)
Buddhist monks watch a cultural programme on the last day of teaching
sessions by their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in Tawang in the
northeastern Indian state of Arunchal Pradesh on 11 November 2009.File
photo/Reuters/Adnan Abidi/India
Tibetans living in remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh bordering
neighbouring China could soon fly their way into Canada. Government of
Canada has agreed to facilitate immigration of Tibetans living in
Arunachal Pradesh. Canadian government¹s initiative came following the
request from Tibet¹s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to settle
Tibetans inhabiting remote areas, many of them inaccessible by roads.
³His Holiness the Dalai Lama had been moved by the plight of Tibetan
exiles inhabiting the remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh which are
underdeveloped as compared to other settlements in India,² senior
bureaucrat in Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) at its headquarters
here told Hindustan Times while he confirmed Canadian government latest
immigration programme proposed for Tibetans.
Under proposed programme, Canadian government would facilitate
immigration of at least 1000 Tibetans refugees from Aruanchal Pradesh in
next five years. Sources say that soon the Canadian government would
work out on immigration process with Indian government in consultation
with Dalai Lama¹s Tibetan government-in-exile.
There are 39 Tibetan settlements across India, and three of them are
located in Arunachal Pradesh which includes Bomdila, Tezu Tenzingang.
All the three are located on route followed by Dalai Lama to enter India
after he escaped from Tibet when Chinese troops marched into Lhasa in
1959. Estimated 80,000 Tibetans followed Dalai Lama to India. Dalai Lama
who was conferred with Nobel Prize for peace seeks more autonomy the
China administered Tibet.
This is not the first time Canada has assisted Tibetans. In 1972, Canada
established the Tibetan Refugee Programme and resettled approximately
230 Tibetans in Canada who had been living in Northern India. Tibetan
officials say that government of Canada will develop special
immigration. ³Tibetans selected under would require to meet Canada¹s
requirements for immigration, including security, criminal, medical and
background checks² said an official.
Canadian government offer came three years after Nepalese government
rejected United States sponsored immigration program for Tibetans.
United States program had hit the road block, as the coalition
government led by Maoist refused to grant exit visa to the Tibetans
living in Nepal.
³American programmes had suffered set back as Nepalese government became
reluctant to give exit visa to exiles² said CTA¹s Cabinet Secretary
Migyur Dorje.
The Bush administration had offered to settle as many as 1000 Tibetans
exiles, particularly those whose kins had participated in American
sponsored covert guerrilla war against Chinese led from Mustang in Nepal.
Covert war met an abrupt end when the Dalai Lama sent a recorded message
in 1972 appealing the guerrillas warriors to give up weapons, many of
them offended committed suicide and other took up petty professions like
working on the roadside. It is estimated that at least 20,000 Tibetans
are currently living in Nepal, but the actual number could be well over
30,000.
Of these, less than 20,000 are believed to have Registration certificate
and new regulations enforced by Nepalese government is making it
increasingly difficult for exiles to obtain and renew RC¹s on an annual
basis.
Nepal stopped allowing Tibetan refugees to settle in its land following
diplomatic pressure after a flood of refugees fled in the wake of the
1987-89 Lhasa protests.
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4. The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography (Penguin)
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Written by Nick Main
Friday, 24 December 2010 09:50
Tetsu Saiwai's life history of the Tibetan spiritual leader, covering
the Dalai Lama's formative years and the Chinese takeover of his homeland.
208 pages B&W; $15.00
(W / A: Tetsu Saiwai)
The Dalai Lama is easily one of the most fascinating people in the world
today, and this illustrated biography covers his remarkable life in a
light, enjoyable read, despite covering some serious topics.
Writer/artist Tetsu Saiwai has made a career out of doing educational
comics for the past 20 years. He uses a manga style similar to Osamu
Tezuka with clean, expressive linework, supported by half-tone textures.
Cartoony faces mix with realistic, researched backgrounds, clothing and
details that do well in establishing the time and place. For this, he
drew inspiration from Martin Scorsese's film Kundun and the Dalai Lama's
own autobiography, Freedom in Exile. The 14th Dalai Lama reads like
autobio, with the present-day Dalai Lama recounting his life, actually
starting just before his life with the passing of the 13th in 1933 and
the events leading up to 1937, when 2-year-old Tenzin Gyatso was found
to be the 14th reincarnation of the spiritual leader of Tibet, the one
we know today.
Most of the book focuses on his childhood as he progressed through his
education, quickly taking on more and more responsibilities. At only 15
he was given full political power, and at 23 he became the spiritual
leader of Tibet. Throughout this time the tensions surrounding him and
his country were mounting. China, Tibet's neighbor, was unifying under
the Communist party to become the People's Republic of China, led by
Chairman Mao Zedong. They were putting increasing pressure on Tibet,
claiming it to be part of China and using propaganda and political
trickery to gain control. Not just after the land, they intended to
erase Tibetan culture and absorb its people into China's ways. Tibetan
leaders were being forcibly taken to Beijing and "reeducated" until they
acknowledged Tibet was part of China and the Communist party, its
leaders. With little hope in defending their homeland, the Dalai Lama
and the Tibetan people escaped to India in 1959, where they have lived
in exile since, continuing their traditions and culture.
The book highlights the Dalai Lama's belief in peace, non-confrontation
and hope above all else. Those interested in Buddhism won't find much of
it here, as the book only touches on it occasionally, sticking to the
more political aspects of his life and his inner struggles. Of course,
for that you may want to check out Tezuka's highly acclaimed series, Buddha.
This would be a great book for a classroom. Young adults (and anyone
really) will find it to be a good primer on the Dalai Lama and the past
hundred years of Tibet's history. | Nick Main
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5. Obituary: Frank Bessac
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Frank Bessac, who died on December 6 aged 88, was one of two survivors
of an epic and ill-fated trip led by the CIA in the early days of the
Cold War which took him from the borders of Mongolia to the Tibetan
capital Lhasa amid Great Game-style efforts to stymie communists both in
China and in Russia.
6:01PM GMT 21 Dec 2010, The Telegraph, UK
Bessac, who went on to become a social anthropologist, had officially
resigned as a spy by the time he undertook the journey. But his
companion on the trip was a CIA officer believed by some to have been
ordered to arm the Tibetans against the insurgent Chinese People¹s
Liberation Army.
A Mandarin speaker, Bessac had himself joined the CIA on its formation
in 1947, gathering intelligence on both Nationalist and Communist
activity as China descended into civil war. He was considered for a
senior role in the organisation, but left when he discovered that this
meant working covertly and would stop him pursuing a new-found interest
in Mongolia. Instead, he studied Classical Chinese and Mongolian at Fu
Ren University, Peking, where he wore the robes of a Chinese scholar.
In spring 1948 Bessac and Prince De, a descendant of Genghis Khan,
distributed food aid for the US State Department¹s Mongol Branch of the
China Relief Mission, for which Bessac was made an honorary Mongol and a
Knight of Genghis Khan. In September he was awarded a Fulbright
scholarship and decided to deepen his knowledge of Mongolian and the
life of the pastoral nomad.
Early in 1949 he travelled to Dingyaunying, near Lanzhou, central China,
where he settled and engaged a language teacher. In August he attended a
congress, summoned by Prince De, which proclaimed the formation of a
provisional Mongolian Republic. But within days the whole area became
engulfed in fighting between the Nationalists and Communists, and Bessac
was forced to flee. After travelling 200 miles north-west by camel to
Shandan, he hitched a ride on a truck to Hami, then travelled by air to
the remote western city of Urumqi, where he was astonished to be met by
a car flying the Stars and Stripes.
The car belonged to the American vice-consul, Douglas Mackiernan, who
was about to evacuate the city after the closure of the consulate.
Mackiernan was, in fact, an undercover CIA agent who was in the region
principally to spy on the first Soviet atom bomb test, which was
eventually staged across the border from Urumqi at Semipalatinsk on
August 29 1949.
When Mackiernan used Bessac¹s old code word, it was clear that he knew
Bessac had been a CIA man too. Mackiernan asked him whether he would be
interested in helping Osman Bator, the anti-Communist Kazakh leader of
Chinese Turkestan. Feeling that it would be ³interesting to spend time
in a Kazakh camp while trying to get a better deal for them with the
communists or help them escape to Tibet², Bessac agreed. On September 27
1949, having picked up three White Russian refugees as they left, the
two Americans duly drove out of Urumqi in a Jeep.
They soon abandoned the Jeep and joined Osman Bator and his Kazakh
horsemen at their winter camp by Barko, north of Hami (³Left Urumchi on
September 27 1949 and arrived about two weeks later in company of Ozman
Bator¹s Kazak Hordes,² Mackiernan noted in his log).
But it was clear that the Chinese Communists knew their location, so
Mackiernan, Bessac and the White Russians set off once again, this time
ostensibly to save their own necks from the advancing ³Reds². Despite
apparent alternative routes of escape, they headed south on horse and
camelback on a year-long, 2,000-mile trek across almost uninhabited and
unmapped territory out of Communist-controlled areas and towards Tibet.
In later life Bessac was concerned to rebut suggestions that he himself
had been working for the CIA in Tibet, but the murky story of why
Mackiernan opted to head there was a potential embarrassment for the
Americans, and information about the expedition was classified. If
Mackiernan had been dispatched to stoke Tibetan national resistance to
Chinese Communists, Bessac claimed to his dying day that he had not been
privy to the plotting.
The group crossed the edge of the Kara (or Black Gobi) desert, at times
struggling to find water. After covering 500 miles in 30 days, they met
a local Kazakh leader, Hussein Taiji, with whom they were to spend the
winter. ³Reached Timerlik Bulak at about 10.00am,² Mackiernan noted in
his journal. ³Royal welcome by Kussaim Tadji who had yurt all ready for
us. [He] has the largest yurt I have ever seen.²
On March 20 the following year they bought new horses and camels and set
off on a route never before travelled by any Westerner.
About a month after setting out, however, they had a fatal encounter.
Arriving at a Tibetan border post near Shegarkhung Lung on April 29,
they decided to make camp. While Bessac went over to the border post
with gifts, six guards on horseback approached. Bessac heard shots and
saw his four companions with arms raised. Four of the horsemen
dismounted and again opened fire. Mackiernan and two of the Russians
were killed and the third Russian was shot in the leg.
Though Bessac and the Russian survivor were taken prisoner, the
Tibetans, who appeared to have thought the group were Kazakh bandits,
soon understood their mistake and treated them kindly. They set off for
Lhasa and, after three days, the two men realised that the three round
balls in a sack on a camel in front were the heads of their dead companions.
It seems that Mackiernan had radioed Washington to arrange a safe
crossing with the Tibetan authorities, but the messengers conveying the
safe conduct arrived five days too late. The Tibetan government offered
Bessac the opportunity to have his attackers executed or mutilated in
retribution, but he decided on a relatively lenient 40 lashes. To his
surprise, the men thanked him for saving their lives.
On June 12 1950 the men arrived in Lhasa where, after about a week, they
paid a formal visit to the Dalai Lama, then aged 14, in his summer
palace. Tibet at that time was under threat from the approaching Chinese
People¹s Liberation Army, and the Tibetan Foreign Affairs Bureau invited
Bessac for discussions about establishing relations with the United
States. Though he protested that he had no authority to negotiate,
eventually they agreed to his suggestion that they should send an
official request for American military aid. ³The council voted on the
proposal which was passed by only one vote,² he recalled. ³They thought
the People¹s Republic of China would not invade until spring 1951 and
that with the threat of US military help and UN recognition they could
save their country.²
At the end of July, the travellers left for India, and after floating
down the Kyi Chu river for 30 miles in a coracle, they crossed the high
Himalayan passes into Sikkim. By the time Bessac handed the Tibetans¹
request to Secretary of State Dean Acheson in Washington, however, the
Chinese had invaded. Bessac always felt that, had Mackiernan not been
killed, he might have had time to convince Washington to recognise Tibet
soon enough to preserve it as a sovereign state.
The third of four children, Frank Bagnall Bessac was born at New
Vineyard, Lodi, California, on January 13 1922. His ancestors had
migrated to New Jersey from France, and married into a well-established
family in Connecticut. His great-grandparents and grandparents moved to
Wisconsin and then to California in the Gold Rush of 1849. His parents
were teachers and dairy farmers.
After taking a degree in History at the College of the Pacific in
Stockton, in 1943 he volunteered for the Combat Engineers and applied
for specialist training to learn Chinese at Cornell.
He was subsequently recruited into the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS), forerunner of the CIA, and in 1945 flew ³the Hump² from India to
Kunming to join a Chinese parachute commando unit on missions to rescue
American aircrew who had been shot down behind enemy lines. When the war
ended he was dispatched to Peking to assist with the surrender of
Japanese troops, then northwards to rescue American parachutists
operating in Manchuria who were threatened by the Soviet invasion of
August 1945.
With China descending into chaos, in March 1946 Bessac visited the
Chinese Communist Eighth Route Army in Kalgan, about 100 miles
north-west of Peking, towards the border with Mongolia (the name Kalgan
means ³frontier² in Mongolian).
While there, he rode out by camel to visit the nomads on the borders of
Outer Mongolia; they told him of their hopes for political freedom. Back
in Peking, he was contacted by Prince De, who told Bessac of his plans
to establish Mongolia as an autonomous state.
After his Asian adventures, Bessac took advantage of the GI Bill to
return to his studies. He obtained a degree in Anthropology at the
University of California, followed by a PhD at the University of
Wisconsin. He then embarked on a teaching career, at the universities of
Texas, Lawrence, and Montana, where he was Professor of Anthropology
from 1970 to 1989. He was the author of three books, including Peoples
of Inner Asia (1972) and a memoir, Death on the Chang Tang Tibet 1950.
Last year, 59 years after their first meeting, he was delighted to be
invited to meet the Dalai Lama again, in New York.
Frank Bessac is survived by his wife, Susanne, whom he married in 1951,
and by five of their six children.
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