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The Dalai Lama's unreligious life in India

After living in Mussoorie, India for a year, the Dalai Lama moved to Dharamshala in April 1960. Dharamshala was an unknown place at that time. Earlier, it was a British colony and the Brits had once planned to build it into a summer resort and even planned to select it as the capital of Himachal Pradesh. But in 1905, it was hit by an earthquake which destroyed the church bell tower and therefore, the plans had to be delayed. Up to now the Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamshala for 50 years.

Dharamshala’s climate is quite similar to Lhasa’s, and it is usually referred to as “small Lhasa.” However, the streets here are dirty and disorderly. A foreign reporter once wrote that the roads are abrupt, steep and narrow. Some can only accommodate one car and often have many sharp turns. Road surfaces are made of rubble and mud, and are not hard enough. The streets are usually quite dirty, and it has deeply disappointed many pilgrims. Iron sheets are used to construct many of the schoolhouses, and the houses are usually very short. In the classrooms, the lights are dim and it feels quite spooky.

Besides his frequent overseas visits, the Dalai Lama’s daily life every year mainly includes two parts, “political affairs” and Buddhism study. He usually studies in the morning,and receives visitors or handles the “political affairs” in the afternoon. It is said that his servants planted many American flowers and fruits in his residence garden, and paved a small road there as well.

Affected by the propaganda of the Dalai Clique, a small number of people wrongly believed that they would no longer need to worry about food and clothes in Dharamshala.To avoid legal punishment, criminal suspects climbed snow-capped mountains and risked their lives to get there. However,once they arrived at Dharamshala through illegal immigration, they will be strictly interrogated with torture by the Dalai Clique, and many of them had to confess to false charges under torture and were put in jail.

When the Dalai Lama “met with” Tibetan people in the past, he prayed for blessings by touching their heads.Today, he rarely does this as he is afraid that some people may smear poison on their heads. Some Tibetan men cannot bear the hardship after traveling there,so they look for “targets” on the streets every day, attempting to meet and marry women from Europe, the US or China’s Taiwan to secure legal identities.

In terms of food and drink, the Dalai Lama believes that it is ideal for temples to eat only food raised from the outside world, but the idea is impractical for his circumstance. The Dalai Lama once suffered from serious hepatitis in his early years, so he took doctors’advice to eat a meat diet.

The Dalai Lama also pays particular attention to his security so that he continues to accept various types of equipment from overseas groups. The Indian government started offering him advanced bulletproof vehicles, infrared scanners and a group of trained police dogs. There are also a lot of armed personnel around the Dalai Lama’s residence. Media agencies reported that the Dalai Lama has received death threats from some groups since 2003. India therefore installed 24 metal-plated detection doors for the Dalai Lama at the 28th Kalachakra ritual ceremony held in the same year. It was also reported that in 2007, the Dalai Lama received death threats from the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

At times, the Dalai Lama uses modern and popular things to attract young Tibetans in exile. In September 2002, he held a “beauty talent contest ” in Dharamshala. However, only 30 people registered for the contest due to various traditional pressures. Furthermore, 26 people finally withdrew from the contest because of psychological factors and inadequate preparation, and only 4 people participated in the event.

In the eyes of Dharamshala residents, beauty talent contests are a practice of rebelling against orthodoxy. However, relevant officials from the Dalai Clique which is very close to western countries claimed that the beauty contest was staged for increasing Tibetan women’s awareness of modern trends. Some senior officials from the Dalai Clique stated that this practice has ruined the characteristics of Tibetan culture and runs counter to Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama enjoys a comfortable traditional and modern life in Dharamshala. This “religious leader” even appeared in a 2003 advertisement for the software company who is the Dalai Lama’s sponsor, while the Dalai Lama also charged the company 100,000 US dollars as his service fee. The Dalai Lama also formed a soccer team in 1999. The first step of their European tour was Switzerland. However, because of their poor performance they could only join in some “low-level” matches.The French government even refused to issue visas to the soccer team.

In terms of “Tibetan culture preservation”，the Dalai Lama likes to propagate views such as the harmony between human beings and nature to gain fame. For example, he prohibited all modern western foods such as KFC. The Dalai Lama also wrote KFC a letter in June 2004, requesting the company to give up its plan of opening chains in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama’s birthday on July 6,is one of the most important events for the entire exiled Tibetan clique each year. In fact, the Dalai Lama’s birthday parties are nothing but happy feasts organized by the Tibet Independence Clique.

Disclaimer: Tibet Sun has republished this piece to bring awareness among the people.

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Published in China Tibet Online