Why does the dalai lama not live in tibet

A brand new socialist Tibet has taken shape. The impact on traditional culture has been stark. While repression has been less harsh than in nearby Xinjiang, which has seen mass incarcerations of Turkic Muslims, residents are under extreme pressure to monitor each other and infractions can bring long prison sentences, rights groups say.

The party has evolved a system to try to control Tibetans through their faith, said Robert Barnett, a Tibet scholar at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. From campuses to homes, portraits of Xi now hang from the walls of homes and temples as once did images of the Dalai Lama. China has increasingly vilified the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule in , and has in recent years relinquished his political role as head of the self-proclaimed Tibetan government-in-exile.

Seeking to quell protests that pop up every decade or so, the party banned all images of the Dalai Lama in , excised the exiled leader from books and broadcasts, and installed cadres in most villages, monasteries and nunneries. While the Dalai Lama says he seeks only meaningful autonomy under Chinese rule, Beijing accuses him of supporting terrorism and seeking to split Tibet from China, and has cut off all contacts with his representatives.

With the Dalai Lama soon to turn 86, attention has increasingly turned to the question of his succession, or reincarnation as traditional belief holds. Over the following few days, the protests expanded into declarations of Tibetan independence and the mobilizing of rebel troops to fight the Chinese forces. He embarked on a dangerous journey to asylum, crossing the Himalayas on foot with a retinue of soldiers and cabinet members.

They traveled only at night, to avoid detection by Chinese sentries. But until he appeared in India, two weeks after taking flight, people around the world feared that he had been killed, according to the BBC. Back in Tibet, thousands died fighting the Chinese forces. Over the centuries, the mountain-locked nation of Tibet has often been overrun by invaders — Mongols, Manchus and Gurkhas, but most often Chinese.

Whenever China was strong, it would send a garrison to occupy Lhasa. Whenever China was weak Tibetans would drive the garrison out. How was the Dalai Lama chosen for his job? And what is at stake in choosing his successor? Credit: A. Tibetan Buddhists believe all beings come to this present life from a previous one and that they will be reborn again after death.

Several hundred special reincarnational lineages have been identified in Tibet, the most respected being that of the Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas have played a dominant role in Tibetan politics in addition to their spiritual leadership. Dalai Lamas, or their regents, governed much of the Tibetan plateau with varying degrees of autonomy from the 17th century until China occupied Tibet in But he fled his homeland in after a Tibetan rebellion against Chinese rule was forcefully repressed.

Tibet has undergone sweeping changes in his absence. For more than 60 years, the Dalai Lama has lived in a compound with a garden where he walks each morning if it is not raining, near a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Dharamshala, a picturesque Himalayan hill station in northern India.

The town hosts the Central Tibetan Administration, also known as the Tibetan government in exile, which represents hundreds of thousands of Tibetans who have fled their homeland since it was annexed by China. Tibetan exiles set fire to Chinese goods in Dharamshala in after a crackdown by Chinese troops against protests in Tibet.

Credit: AP. I first encountered the Dalai Lama at a difficult moment for him and the Tibetan people. It was March and anti-China protests inside Tibet had turned violent, attracting global media attention. The press conference was sometimes tense as reporters questioned why he was not being more critical of the repressive tactics being used by Chinese authorities inside Tibet.

When my turn came, the Dalai Lama held my hand for some time and remarked on how far I had come to attend. At one point, the Dalai Lama leant forward in his chair, fixed me with an intense gaze and described the predicament facing all Tibetans campaigning for greater autonomy for their homeland.

It can only express the truth. Our only weapon, our only strength, is justice and truth. The Dalai Lama during a press conference in Dharamshala in March The conclusion of that press conference was different to any I have experienced.

The Dalai Lama stayed on to greet his inquisitors one at a time. With charm and grace, he shook hands, joked and chatted. Reporters now jostled to meet the famous monk they had been grilling minutes earlier. I left with a deeper appreciation of why this Dalai Lama is so widely admired. An attendant carries the new Dalai Lama as he prepares to journey across the Himalayas to Lhasa, Tibet.