Monk to speak on Tibetan opression
A Tibetan monk that spent half of his life imprisoned and persecuted by the Chinese government because of his beliefs will share his survivor's story with CMU Wednesday.
Palden Gyatso will speak at 7 p.m. in the Moore Hall Kiva room as part of his U.S. speaking tour.
The Buddhist monk suffered torture and interrogation from Chinese officials for 33 years after being jailed in 1959, 10 years after Chinese Communist forces invaded the nation of Tibet. In 1959, Tibet's political and spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India to escape the Chinese invasion.
"Gyatso will speak about China's ongoing attempts to dominate Tibet and the Tibetan culture, religion and political beliefs," said Angie Forton, CMU alumna and member of the Grand Rapids group TIBETWestMichigan - the state's only major Tibet support group that is helping coordinate Gyatso's visit.
Gyatso became an ordained Buddhist monk when he was 18 and, next to the Dalai Lama, is one of the most recognized and well-loved Tibetans in the world. He was freed from prison in 1992, due in part to the efforts of groups like Amnesty International.
Since his release, Gyatso works to expose the abuse still endured by Tibetans by the Chinese government. In addition to testifying before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and the U.S. Congress about his experiences, Gyatso has spoken in all four Tibetan Freedom Concerts and in all 50 states, Forton said.
At CMU, Gyatso will share his prison experiences and will show the instruments of torture that Chinese officials used on him and other prisoners, she said.
"He has a large knapsack he smuggled from Tibet to India, full of instruments of torture. He has a stun gun, a cattle prod and a thumb cuff."
Gyatso knows very little English so translators travel with him on tour.
"He's the political side for Tibet. The translators are ex-monks and are more on the religious side," Forton said.
China invaded Tibet for many reasons, she said, including the desire for Tibet's metal resources and for more space for China's immense population.
"And it's human nature to be afraid of and try to destroy something you fear. Tibet challenges China's brainwashing machine."
Guy Newland, philosophy and religion associate professor, teaches courses such as REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition and REL 220: Religious Traditions of China. He said there were no Chinese in Tibet prior to the invasion.
Tibetans have a different language, political history, religion and culture than the Chinese, Newland said. The Chinese have recently allowed some free practice of religion, but still do not allow Tibetans to have pictures of the Dalai Lama.
Newland said Tibetans consider the Dalai Lama a living embodiment of the spiritual principle of compassion, but the Chinese regard him as a rebel, politically, because he tries to free Tibet.
The Dalai Lama still lives in exile in India. He attempts to negotiate religious freedom and a regional autonomy for Tibet, but the Chinese are unwilling to negotiate, Newland said.
According to human-rights organizations, there are currently over 1,200 political prisoners in Tibet. Newland said more than 90 percent of Tibet's monasteries have been destroyed by the Chinese.
Government and economic conditions around the world still allow human rights abuses to exist in Tibet, he said.
Forton said Gyatso's current speaking tour started in March and will continue for a couple more months.
"He's almost 70 years old, though, so his health is always a concern of ours, because he had been in prison for so long."
Gyatso's efforts in the Tibetan Freedom Concerts has earned him the moniker "the MTV monk."
"But when you see Palden, it'll be more than a fad, more than a rock concert.
"We hope this motivates students on campus to start a Free Tibet movement, to do letter mailings and to write to their Congress members about Tibet," Forton said.
Copies of Gyatso's book, "The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk," will be on sale after the talk.
The monk's nationwide U.S. tour is organized by Global Exchange, a nonprofit human-rights organization in San Francisco that works with groups like TIBETWestMichigan to arrange speaker tours.
Gyatso's CMU visit is also sponsored by the Multicultural Education Center, the Office of Institutional Diversity, the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, the department of philosophy and religion, the department of history and the department of sociology, anthropology and social work.
The event is free and open to the public.
