Whole Heritage – Whole Dude

Preserve Tibetan Language to defend Tibetan Culture and Heritage

Language is the peculiar possession of man. Using the faculty called Language, a distinction can be made between man and animal, and between man and man. At Special Frontier Force, I have the opportunity to learn Tibetan Language. All the same, it is important to preserve the Tibetan Language to defend Tibetan Culture and Heritage.

Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA

Special Frontier Force-Establishment 22-Vikas Regiment

CHINA DIGITAL TIMES

Struggling to Preserve “Fading” Tibetan Language

The New York Times’ Edward Wong reports on the erosion of Tibetan language by official policy on one hand and economic pressure on the other:

“This directly harms the culture of Tibetans,” said Mr. Tashi, 30, a shopkeeper who is trying to file a lawsuit to compel the authorities to provide more Tibetan education. “Our people’s culture is fading and being wiped out.”

China has sharply scaled back and restricted, the teaching of languages spoken by ethnic minorities in its vast western regions in recent years, promoting instruction in Chinese instead as part of a broad push to encourage the assimilation of Tibetans, Uighurs, and other ethnic minorities into the dominant ethnic Han culture.
[…] In March 2012, a student in Gansu, Tsering Kyi, 20, set fire to herself and died after her high school changed its main language to Chinese, her relatives said. She is one of more than 140 Tibetans who since 2009 have self-immolated in political protest.
[…] But Tibetan attitudes are complicated by the practical reality of living in a country where the Chinese language is dominant, and where parents and children sometimes prefer English as a second language of education, not a minority language. Some Tibetan parents worry that their native language and culture are dying but nevertheless tell their children to prioritize Chinese studies, in part because the national university entrance exam is administered only in Chinese.

An accompanying video by Jonah Kessel records Tashi Wangchuk’s attempted legal challenge, and his fear that the goal of what “looks like development or help on the surface […] is to eliminate our culture.”

Lack of proficiency in Mandarin can indeed place young Tibetans and members of other ethnic minorities at an economic disadvantage, though discrimination on the part of employers also plays a part.

The central government has stiffened its resolve to decide on the reincarnation of “living Buddhas, so as to ensure victory [in] the anti-separatist struggle”, Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the ethnic and religious affairs committee of the top advisory body to China’s parliament, wrote in the state-run Global Times.

[…] China says the tradition must continue and it must approve the next Dalai Lama. However, the Dalai Lama has said he thinks the title could end when he dies.

[…] In a commentary, Zhu said the issue “has never been purely a religious matter or to do with the Dalai Lama’s individual rights; it is first and foremost an important political matter in Tibet and an important manifestation of the Chinese central government’s sovereignty over Tibet”.

Guard posts erected among shops and in courtyards around the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa watch the comings and goings of residents. The posts are manned by locals who are selected by the residents’ management committee, though some appeared to be unstaffed. At night, the doors to the courtyards are locked, residents say.

[…] “This is a Chinese specialty, where the masses participate in managing and controlling society and they also enjoy the results of managing their society,” said Qi Zhala, the top Communist Party official in Lhasa.

Earlier this month, Reuters reporters, along with a small group of journalists, were granted a rare visit to the region on a highly choreographed official tour. Chinese authorities restrict access for foreign journalists to Tibet, making independent assessments of the situation difficult.

November 30, 2015 1:37 PM

Posted By: SAMUEL WADE

My Buddhist Heritage – My Nagarjuna Connection

I was posted to 54 Infantry Division (popularly known as Bison Division) in December 1974 on completion of my service on deputation to Special Frontier Force (Establishment 22). My Indian Army Service helped me to learn about my Buddhist Heritage and to discover my Nagarjuna Connection.

Whole Dude – Whole Heritage: My Service in Indian Army helped me to learn about my Buddhist Heritage. My Nagarjuna Connection. The Shoulder Badge of Special Frontier Force – Establishment. I served in this organization from September 22, 1971 to December 18, 1974.

**Whole Dude – Whole Heritage: My Service in Indian Army helped me to learn about my Buddhist Heritage. My Nagarjuna Connection.** **I served in Special Frontier Force – Establishment 22 from September 22, 1971 to December 18, 1974.**

**Whole Dude – Whole Heritage: My Service in Indian Army helped me to learn about my Buddhist Heritage. My Nagarjuna Connection. I served in 54 Infantry Division from December 1974 to May 1976.**

My very first assignment at Bison Division gave me the opportunity to participate in a military training exercise near Nagarjuna Sagar Dam from December 1974 to January 1975. I visited Nagarjuna Sagar again during 1979 while I served as Senior Regimental Medical Officer, Army Ordnance Corps Centre, Secunderabad.

Whole Dude – Whole Heritage: My Service in Indian Army helped me to learn about my Buddhist Heritage. My Nagarjuna Connection. I served in Army Ordnance Corps Centre, Secunderabad from December 1978 to January 1984.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama gave 4-Day Teaching on Nagarjuna’s The Precious Garland of the Middle Way Path. I am pleased to share my connection with Acharya Nagarjuna who lived and preached in Nalgonda District of Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, India. My father served as Principal of Nagarjuna Government College, Nalgonda during 1965-67.

Tibet Awareness – My Nagarjuna Connection. His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Teachings on Nagarjuna’s The Precious Garland of the Middle Way. His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the first day of teachings for South East Asian devotees at Tsuglagkhang, Dharamshala, 29 August 2016.

August 29, 2016
By Staff Writer

DHARAMSHALA: His Holiness the Dalai Lama today began a four-day teaching on Chapter II of Nagarjuna’s The Precious Garland of the Middle Way (uma rinchen trengwa) at the request of a group from Asia including Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam at the Tsuglagkhang. Over 5000 devotees from 57 countries had come to attend the teaching, of which 1200 were Buddhist monks and nuns. The remaining include devotees from Mainland China, India and local Tibetans along with 1500 from south east Asian countries of Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

The teaching began with a recitation of Sherab Nyingpo or Heart Sutra in different languages. His Holiness the Dalai Lama greeted all the devotees who come from different part of the world.

Emphasising the importance of Moral Ethics, His Holiness said: “Years of discussions with many scholars and educationist friends have led to the decision of coming up with a curriculum on moral ethics without touching any religious aspect.” His Holiness even mentioned a few Universities in western countries that have started a curriculum on it and suggested the practice of compassion and sense of oneness of humanity.

His Holiness added that friendship is built on trust, and that trust can only be gained through love and compassion in the absence of pride, jealousy and malicious thoughts. “We should all keep our identity and religion aside and consider ourselves humans first. At the fundamental level, we all seven billion human beings are the same wishing for a happy life,” he said.
“It is matter of great sadness and loss if religion becomes a tool of these negative afflictions,” His Holiness noted.
The teachings will continue for the next three days culminating in a long life empowerment on the final day of the teaching on 1 September.