On Tuesday, October 23rd, His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, visited the University of Miami to speak on “The Quest for Happiness in Difficult Times.” Students and attendees lined up hours before the event in front of the University of Miami’s Bank United Center in order to secure good seats that were given on a first-come first-serve basis. Although the event was broadcasted live via the web, traffic was backed up that morning around US-1. Thousands of students as well as visitors from out-of-town came to see the Dalai Lama speak in person filled the venue. This is the Dalai Lama’s first visit since 2004, when he spoke on “A Human Approach to World Peace”. [1]
Throughout the week prior to the Dalai Lama’s visit were on-campus programs sponsored by the University of Miami’s Department of Religious Studies to educate the students on the subject of Tibet, Buddhism, and what the Dalai Lama represents. These included a lecture on China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama relations from Stephen Halsey, assistant professor in the UM Department of History, lectures on aspects of Tibetan Buddhism by Geshe Tenzin Dorje, a speech by Tsering Yanzo on her experiences as a Tibetan Buddhist nun, as well as a showing of “The Little Buddha”.
Nearly eight thousand attended the Dalai Lama’s speech.[2]
While the Dalai Lama and Tibetan culture was warmly received in Miami, news from Tibet were not as pleasant. The Dalai Lama was expelled from Tibet in 1959. The week before the Dalai Lama’s visit, thousands of Tibetan students took to the streets in protest. Some were advocating for a free Tibet, some against the ruling Chinese government, and some simply for the sake of their disappearing culture.[3]
The Chinese government had instituted the “patriotic education” campaign, an educational reform, upon the Tibetan monasteries and students since 1996. It has been a cornerstone of Chinese religious policy against Tibet’s religious leader, the Dalai Lama. The principle and underlying message of the campaign was to “vehemently oppose the Dalai ‘clique” and “to expose the true nature of ‘Dalai clique” and the ‘March 14 riot” through propaganda. [4]
In 2008, China’s Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu called for a renewed launch for a broader and stepping up of the campaign. [5] Tibetans students claim that “their culture is being wiped out” due to China’s control over classroom curriculum and limiting the use of Tibetan in schools. In fact, secondary education is taught only in Mandarin and the university entrance exams are in Chinese, keeping the Tibetans disadvantaged.
The group Free Tibet claims that “The use of Tibetan is being systematically wiped out as part of China’s strategy to cement its occupation of Tibet.” [3] A major conflict between China-Tibet relations is the argument over China’s rights to the ownership of Tibet. The Beijing government claims that Tibet has historically been part of China, while Tibetans say China invaded their country in 1950.[6] The 49th anniversary of the exile of the Dalai Lama coincided with the year of the Beijing Olympics and the world media are still remembering the pro-Tibet protests that resulted in the violence against many Tibetans and Tibetan monks and the deaths of hundreds of people.
For more information about Free Tibet, visit http://www.freetibet.org/
[1] “The Dalai Lama to Visit UM This Fall”. 26 August, 2010. UM News Releases. http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/the_dalai_lama_to_visit_um_this_fall/
[2] “His Holiness the Dalai Lama”. http://www6.miami.edu/dalailama/index.html
[3] Hong, Helena. “Tibetan students protest, say China is wiping out their culture.” 21 October, 2010. CNN World. http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-21/world/tibet.student.protest_1_tibetans-free-tibet-tibet-autonomous-region?_s=PM:WORLD
[4] TCHRD. “China launches renewed “Patriotic Education” Campaign across all sections in Tibet.” 24 April, 2008. Phalyu.com. http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=20881&t=1
[5] Fan, Maureen. “China Moves to Tighten Control Over Religion in Tibet”. 26 March, 2008. Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032501665.html
[6] “2008 Protests in Tibet”. http://www.freetibet.org/newsmedia/2008-protests-summary
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