Buddhist scholar Rinpoche slams China for destroying Buddhism and identity of Tibetans

Ling Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar and teacher, chastised China for undermining Buddhism to destroy Tibetan identity. Addressing a press conference in Sri Lanka, he claimed that China has been perpetrating inhumane and bestial atrocities against Tibetans for decades. He further lambasted China for destroying Tibetan literature, Buddhist identity, including the Dalai Lama's palace, a large number of historical and religiously significant monasteries and Buddha statues. In addition, Rinpoche also rebuked China for systematically reducing Tibetans to a state of starvation in its own nation.

Rinpoche went on to say that out of 5,000 monasteries, only five are currently in existence, and the rest have been demolished by the Chinese Army. "Hundreds of thousands of Tibetan peasants, farmers, and other civilians have been killed by gunfire as well as starvation in prisons, concentration camps, factories, and their homes," he said, as per ANI. The Buddhist scholar remarked that Tibetan identity and culture are both based on Buddhism, and the Chinese are attacking Buddhism in order to eliminate Tibetan identity. 

Mahanayake Thero hails India for granting shelter to the Dalai Lama and followers

At the press conference, Mahanayake Thero stated that Tibet was an autonomous country, the only one ruled by a Buddhist monk who was both a national leader and the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He praised India and noted that it had granted shelter to the Dalai Lama and 80,000 monks who were his disciples. Taking a dig at China, he went on to say that the Chinese Communists deserved an unequivocal denunciation for obliterating Buddhism and the Buddhist community.

Tibetan activists in Himachal took out a candlelight vigil

Last year in December, Tibetan activists in Himachal Pradesh's Dharamshala held a candlelight vigil in solidarity with residents in Tibet's Kham Drago, calling on China to stop its repressive practices in Tibet. This followed Beijing's decision to demolish schools, Buddhist sculptures, and monasteries in Kham Drago, a province in Central Tibet, in an endeavour to "sinicise" entire China-occupied countries, ANI reported. The candlelight march came after the Chinese government mowed down a giant 600 feet Buddha statue in Tibet and bulldozed a monastery in December. 

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: ANI/AP