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China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

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Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

#151

Post by cr1895 »

pgrote wrote: post #146
kweks wrote: post #29

I was there literally three days ago. The place is nothing short of breathtaking. Nestled at 4200km, it was a three day motorbike ride from Chengdu. Even at its foothills, you have no concept of the scale of the town hiding in the hills. This will truly be a tragic loss - the town is much more than the 'slum' it is represented as - it's arguably the most important Buddhist learning institution in the world.. Photos f…

Thanks for sharing the photos. There is one showing a metal rooftop with logs and rocks on top. Why are the logs and rocks on top of the roof?

Not OP but I'd guess they're to help keep the sheet metal from blowing off the roof.

Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

#152

Post by davesque »

coldtea wrote: post #95
nsomaru wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Renunciation is defined with reference to your mental attitude towards possessions, not the presence or absence thereof. See, for example the 'Royal Sage' (Raja Rshi).

Hypocrisy though is defined by "the presence or absence thereof".

Attachment also applies to doctrine and ideas.

Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

#153

Post by gumby »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #108
gumby wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is the colonial power; that's all the authority required. Note that China did the same to the Han majority as well, for example in the destruction of the Hutongs in the major cities such Beijing this century, not to mention the destruction of the temples 70 years ago during the communist revolution. When I read this context-free article all I could think of was Henry VIII's destruction and confiscation of the m…

Except Henry VIII destroyed all monasteries and outlawed all monasticism in his realms. I'm sure there are Buddhist monasteries and seminaries (or whatever they are called) elsewhere in Tibet and China.

There are some still active, yes, though the Party is quite active to prevent them from becoming centers of unrest. The party controls th panache lama and wants to appoint the next dali lama as it does with catholic bishops, heads of monasteries etc. And like Henry, the government confiscated the wealth of the monasteries in the cultural revolution

Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

#154

Post by osazuwa »

kweks wrote: post #29

I was there literally three days ago. The place is nothing short of breathtaking. Nestled at 4200km, it was a three day motorbike ride from Chengdu. Even at its foothills, you have no concept of the scale of the town hiding in the hills. This will truly be a tragic loss - the town is much more than the 'slum' it is represented as - it's arguably the most important Buddhist learning institution in the world.. Photos f…

I've been to Kangding and Tagong before, how far is it from those places?

Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

#155

Post by osazuwa »

snnn wrote: post #90
jmknoll wrote: post #69

Your account has been active for 5 years. You should be aware that racism and non-constructive comments are not really acceptable here.

Sorry, I edited the reply and removed the description of shower. My remark was not meant as a slight on them. I just want to show you what I know about them. Most people do not have a chance to see how poor Chinese lives, because the information you can get is controlled by China propaganda machine. Beautiful Beijing, huge international airport, rich buyers. Even you already have a Chinese Visa, you can't travel to T…

Small note: this place is in Sichuan Province, not the Tibet Autonomous Region. A Chinese tourist visa should be sufficient to visit.

Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

#156

Post by osazuwa »

andy_ppp wrote: post #128

I do not understand the cowardice and fear the Chinese government seem to have of a small buddhist settlement in the middle of nowhere high up in the mountains of Tibet... It looks like they feel the opposite of a superpower and that a few buddhist monks might threaten them so much they have to destroy them. It's very easy to forget how free we are by comparison to those persecuted in occupied territories.

This place is in Sichuan Province.

Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

#157

Post by coenhyde »

rrggrr wrote: post #121
dave2000 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's perfectly meaningful to talk about Israel/Palestine - and by extension the US - when criticizing actions by China. Otherwise you end up with the same narrative you get in pretty much every media outlet in the world; whatever the US does is good, no terrorism or support for murderous dictators there (cough south america..cuba...saudi arabia..iran...iraq...indonesia etc etc etc ), and whatever China does is ba…

Discouraging. Demolishing Larung Gar was likely on China's to-do list, but was probably moved-up in response to Obama's meet with the Dali Lama last week. China's real motivation in Tibet is water, arable land and secondarily eliminating a religious threat to central party rule. Everything else is pretense. Israel's motivation in Palestine is its own security from universally acknowledged threats it faces from its ne…

A lot of what you said is just not true. Israel takes a lot of West Bank water. And while the illegal jewish settlements might not be a sovereign claim by Israel. Israel isn't doing anything to stop them.

Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

#158

Post by LiweiZ »

andy_ppp wrote: post #128

I do not understand the cowardice and fear the Chinese government seem to have of a small buddhist settlement in the middle of nowhere high up in the mountains of Tibet... It looks like they feel the opposite of a superpower and that a few buddhist monks might threaten them so much they have to destroy them. It's very easy to forget how free we are by comparison to those persecuted in occupied territories.

Self organized groups are just like fire to wood. They are deeply aware of this. Anything like that would be removed with top priority. On the other hand, Chinese nowadays have poor performance while working as non-top-down groups. We lost that DNA through the Ed system and social norms. It's really sad.

Re: China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet

#160

Post by jjcc »

mac01021 wrote: post #58
kweks wrote: post #29

I was there literally three days ago. The place is nothing short of breathtaking. Nestled at 4200km, it was a three day motorbike ride from Chengdu. Even at its foothills, you have no concept of the scale of the town hiding in the hills. This will truly be a tragic loss - the town is much more than the 'slum' it is represented as - it's arguably the most important Buddhist learning institution in the world.. Photos f…

Assuming most of those little structures are inhabited, how does this city sustain itself? The land around it does not appear to be cultivated, and there does not appear to be much of a commercial area. That's a lot of people to feed.

It's seldom known to westerners but many knowledgeable Chinese know that there are financial aid programs for minorities. Similar to that of financial support from Canadian government to the natives in northern Canada.

In other words, the money from tax payers of developed areas in China feeds the people. The purpose of the programs is also quite similar to the Canadian government, (at least in the beginning): the people in those area need support.

Unbelievable? I choose some source which can not be some propaganda from Chinese government to partially collaborate my claim (the source of income): http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB868829960463522500 (BTW, the subjective speculation by the author about the motivation of the financial aid can satisfied the western readers but is far from the truth. These false claims happen all the time in almost all western media. The lies fuels anger and nationalism inside China which is not healthy in my personal view. Nobody in western world are aware of that)

Another policy that is favorable to the minorities is the notorious "One Child Policy": All the Han Chinese can have only one child while the minorities include Tibetans are not restricted by the rule.

Those information were never told by western journalist and Free Tibet Movement because they are opposite to the common belief that Chinese government is oppressive regime. The sprite of "Truth, nothing but truth" exist in science/technology/engineering. In politics and religion lies spread.

"Politics, like religion, is a topic where there's no threshold of expertise for expressing an opinion. All you need is strong convictions." --Paul Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html

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