Panchen Lama on Buddhist Forum opening speech in English

yang

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The 19 years old 11th Panchen Lama Erdeni gave a speech in English on March 28th,when he attended the Second World Buddhist Forum in wuxi,Jiangxu,China.

Here is his speech:

Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the SecondWorld Buddhist Forum

  Panchen Erdeni Choskyi Rgyalpo

  The noble truth be enlightened by the Buddha,

  Dependent Origination be the supreme Dharma,

  The paramount teachings brighten beings in the world ,

  I pay my heartfelt homage to the holy Mahapurisa.

  First, the white-lotus-like eulogy is offered to our greatest teacher Sakyamuni, Siddhattha Gautama Buddha.

  Today, eminent Buddhist masters and learned scholars from all over the world propitiously gather here for the Second World Buddhist Forum. I feel greatly honored to attend this magnificent assembly once again.

  Here, I'd like to extend the sincere gratitude to our central government for their kindly concern for and powerful patronage to the World Buddhist Forum.

  This Forum is convened in my country -- China, which has a Buddhist cultural tradition going back two thousand years. This event fully demonstrates that today's China enjoys social harmony, stability and religious freedom. It also shows China is a nation that safeguards and promotes the world peace.

  The theme of the second Forum, “A harmonious world, a synergy of conditions”, best conforms to the Buddhist creed and the mission of modern social progress.

  The following are a few of my personal views on this theme:

  The rapid development of “external material science and technology”, or material civilization of the present world brings about convenient facilities for people's lives on one hand, but on the other, it also causes, the environment degradation, growing disparity between the rich and the poor, financial crises, armed conflicts and wars, terrorist attacks and the like. The reason for all the adversity lies in people's mind -- many people are deluded regarding the causes of suffering and happiness, feel discontent, lack of compassion... Just as Master Tsong Khapa said,

  All the declines in the world,

  Are rooted into avidya.

  Our Tathagata says: “As the karma one accumulates, so shall one achieve the effect.” Sutras tell us: Good is rewarded with good, evil with evil. We should now guide and encourage people with the law of causality to serve others with beneficial deeds. So many stories that we have seen and heard prove that, if one treats and helps the poor and miserable with compassion, one will receive good results; if one inhibits and injures others with selfish mind, one will surely reap evil fruits. Only if we carry forward the philanthropic moral spirit, will everyone be guided to do good, and not to harm others; can everyone bear love and mercy, benefit all sentient beings and protect the environment, so as to enable people to enjoy a harmonious and happy life. It is the glorious obligation for us Buddhists in the twenty-first century to develop the “inner-mind science”, to rectify and eliminate all kinds of social maladies through the help of Buddhist tenets.

  In order to do so, we ourselves should first study many a Sutra, Vinaya and Abhidharma and set our mind on Buddha Dharma. Sāmanaras and Bhikkhasus especially should abide by the Vinaya commandments and regulations. Vinaya reads that, “If Vinaya exists, Buddha Dharma exists”. The eternal existence of Dharma relies on the observation of Vinaya disciplines by Buddhists. Therefore, we should lay a firm foundation of superior Vinaya law, learn and practice three studies, listen to and practice the teaching in tripitaka, so as to success, protect and propagate Buddha's teachings. Only in this way, can Buddha Dharma, the best cure to rescue beings from worries and sufferings, live on through time and space.

  We should also uphold the two means of cultivation ---- teaching and attainment. Venerable Master Vasubhandu says,

  There are two ways of Buddha Dharma,

  Take teaching and attainment as forms,

  Upholding teaching is to preach,

  Upholding attainment is to practice.

  In order that Buddha Dharma can live on and flourish, we should foster more outstanding talents. Different sects within Buddhism should respect each other and coexist in harmony. In addition, I propose that such forums be increasingly held to promote synergy of conditions and thus to realize a harmonious world.

  Finally, I wholeheartedly pray that my Buddha will bless the world and the world will enjoy eternal peace. I wish you good health and a long life. May all of your good wishes come true.

  May the best cure to eliminate afflictions,

  Become the fountain of happiness for all,

  Uphold the Buddha Dharma with piety,

  May the holy teachings shine forever.

  28 March, 2009
 

Singh

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Yang please attach image. The website doesn't allow hotlinking.
 

EnlightenedMonk

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Was the Dalai Lama part of this World Buddhist Forum ???

I guess not...

Now, that's akin to holding a World Christian Forum where the Pope is not attending... I wonder what sort of significance such a non-event has???

I'm sure none of the world media has wasted any column inches on this... only Xinhua is the one playing this up as if its the next best thing to happen to China since sliced bread...
 

EnlightenedMonk

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Thank you for the pictures Yang... they were very colourful indeed...
 

yang

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Thank you for the pictures Yang... they were very colourful indeed...
Yes,they have a both Indian and Chinese characteristic,and they cost almost 1.4 billion RMB,so you can see China also has religious.
 

Auberon

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Was the Dalai Lama part of this World Buddhist Forum ???

I guess not...

Now, that's akin to holding a World Christian Forum where the Pope is not attending... I wonder what sort of significance such a non-event has???

I'm sure none of the world media has wasted any column inches on this... only Xinhua is the one playing this up as if its the next best thing to happen to China since sliced bread...

That's cause this is the Panchen Lama appointed by PRC, not the genuine one.

So sure, China has religious freedom ..... as long as its regulated by the state :|
 

ShyAngel

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Thank you for the pictures Yang... they were very colourful indeed...
CCP is all about looking good from outside! he he Colorful I'm sure; but there's nothing that's worth inside. ha ha ha The end of his speech sound more like it came right out of bible then any buddhist philosophy. Like may the teaching of buddha shines and blah blah blah...hahaha What the hell! ha ha ha
So fake!
 

pyromaniac

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well..it looks like the Chinese govt. is trying to pull one hell of a PR stunt.
 

ShyAngel

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Yes,they have a both Indian and Chinese characteristic,and they cost almost 1.4 billion RMB,so you can see China also has religious.
Wow! 1.4 billion RMB? Now that's the real buddhist mentality! It's all about money right. Good job! Keep it up..... I should give you guys props for spending that much on such a simple religious occasion. Yang you seem to be more interest on the $$$ that they spent rather then what you have learned from message of buddha dharma. ha ha ha Keep showing off CCP's dirty money.
:)
 

ShyAngel

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now they want to control the religion
50 year's ago the government who said religion should be throw out in garbage is now showing off their fake religious figure! HA HA HA What a joke! They have became a cartoon of the whole world now.
 
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they are trying their best to get rid of tibetans identity/culture/history
 

pyromaniac

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In image war over Tibet, China deploys own lama

A young man China has embraced and declared the 'Panchen Lama' is at the center of a media blitz aimed at discrediting the movement -- led by the Dalai Lama -- to free Tibet from communist rule.


BEIJING -- In the propaganda war to implant its views of Tibet as widely as possible, China increasingly is deploying a lanky 19-year-old Tibetan with rimless glasses, a hint of a mustache and a husky voice.

Beijing anointed the Tibetan, Gyaltsen Norbu, more than a decade ago as the latest incarnation of the Panchen Lama, the No. 2 leader in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy, even though many Tibetans consider him a fake.

Rarely seen in public, the Panchen Lama is suddenly all over the news. On a newscast Friday, he exalted China's ruling Communist Party for pulling Tibetans from ''very miserable lives'' before a clampdown 50 years ago this month.

Earlier this week, the Panchen Lama praised the party's ''wise leadership'' in an editorial under his name in the People's Daily newspaper, the party mouthpiece.

Observers of China's news media describe the appearance of the Panchen Lama as an integral part of a broader media blitz to shape domestic public opinion about Tibet. It comprises hundreds of essays in the news pages and lengthy programming on the airwaves to praise the party's rule of Tibet and condemn the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, who's widely seen outside China as an icon of peace but whom China's leaders revile as a dangerous separatist.

''The Communist Party is pulling out all the stops,'' said David Bandurski, a researcher at the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong. ``This is one of the most aggressive propaganda attacks it has launched in recent years.''

Bandurski added: ``Tibet has been sealed off, and there are virtually no alternative voices. And the volume is loud on this story.''

It's a particularly sensitive time in Tibetan areas. A year ago this month, the worst ethnic unrest in nearly two decades broke out over China's rule. This month also marks five decades since the Dalai Lama, Tibet's top spiritual leader, fled to exile in India after an aborted uprising.

The Dalai Lama said March 10 that life had become ''hell on earth'' for Tibetans under Chinese rule.

Attempting to seize the offensive, the party declared Saturday as Serf Emancipation Day in Tibet, claiming that it marks 50 years since 1 million Tibetans were pulled from serfdom under a despotic theocratic rule. It has ceremonies planned for the square in front of the imposing Potala Palace, the former holy sanctuary of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

For his part, the Panchen Lama lauds the officially atheist Communist Party, saying that Tibet under the Dalai Lama was inhumane.

''Serfs had neither human rights nor freedoms,'' he said on the Friday newscast. ``The estate owners treated them as horses, and even exchanged serfs as gifts.''

In a statement, the Tibetan exile government decried Saturday's celebrations as ``offensive and provocative.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/story/971894.html


This is just sad
 
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Shyangel i like your tenacity i hope other tibetans are the same in this regard.
 

Flint

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An atheist government authorizing religious figures. Its almost comical.

Also, the comparisons with pre-1940s Tibet are disingenuous. Whoever does that should be reminded of what China looked like in the 1940s.

If anyone has questions about what an independent Tibet would be like today - they should look at Bhutan. A perfectly safe, peaceful country. Perhaps not as rich as other countries, but wealth is certainly not happiness.
 

Flint

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Tibet's Panchen Lama, Beijing's propaganda tool
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g4z56PSsE15aH9AaSUAtI4-M_AaQ
Mar 26, 2009

BEIJING (AFP) — China's controversial choice as the second highest Tibetan spiritual figure is increasingly being used by Beijing as a tool in its propaganda offensive against the exiled Dalai Lama, say experts.

Rarely seen in public previously, but believed to have been educated in the Chinese capital, the 19-year-old Panchen Lama Friday expressed loyalty to Beijing, in stark contrast to the views of the Tibetan spiritual leader.

"For a long time the Dalai's separatist clique has ignore the success of Tibet's development, plotted and planned to ruin Tibet's social stability and wantonly attacked the policies of the central government," he said, referring to the Dalai Lama's exiled Tibetan administration.

The comments made in an interview with China Central Television came as he attended a symposium marking the 50th anniversary of what is officially called "the end of serfdom in Tibet" held at Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

"Old Tibet was a theocratic feudal serf society, the ruling class, nobility and clergy rode on the backs of the people and exploited and persecuted them," he said in the interview.

On Saturday, China will, for the first time, celebrate the end of Tibetan "feudalism," a day that coincides with the quelling of an anti-Chinese uprising in the Himalayan region 50 years ago.

The Panchen Lama is also scheduled to appear at the opening of the Second World Buddhist Forum in eastern China's Wuxi city on Saturday, according to state press reports.

During the last forum two years ago, the young monk with an almond-shaped face and small round glasses made his first public appearance, more than 10 years after his controversial enthronement.

Earlier this month, the Dalai Lama, exiled from his homeland for 50 years, accused China of having transformed Tibet into "a hell on earth" and of killing hundreds of thousands of Tibetans during its rule.

But in an essay that appeared in the communist mouthpiece the People's Daily on Monday, the Panchen Lama expressed full loyalty to the atheist ruling party.

"Facts show that it is only under the leadership of the Communist Party of China that Tibet can enjoy its current prosperity and an even better future," he wrote.

Born Gyaincain Norbu, the controversial figure was enthroned as the 11th Panchen Lama in a 1995 ceremony overseen by the Communist Party, which had rejected a boy selected by the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama's choice, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, immediately disappeared from public view and is believed to have been under a form of house arrest ever since.

The 10th Panchen Lama died in 1989 after a tumultuous relationship with China's communist leaders that alternated between prison and relative freedom.

But even if the new Panchen Lama becomes more high-profile in China, that does not mean he is accepted as a spiritual leader by Tibetans, according to Tibetan scholars outside of China.

In Tibetan temples, it is rare to see images or photographs of him, while those of his predecessor are common.

"He is a piece of propaganda. He is being used by the Beijing government," said Samten G. Karmay, the Paris-based former head of the Association of International Tibetan Studies.

"The Tibetan population does not recognise him, especially as he is saying the things that fall in with the Communist Party line."

Although both the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama belong to the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, differences between them have existed historically and the communists are not the first to try to take advantage of this, Karmay said.

In the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty tried to play on the antagonism by attempting to make the Panchen Lama an ally.

Beijing's manipulation of the selection of the Panchen Lama in 1995 could be a sign of what will happen after the death of the current Dalai Lama.

"The Chinese government will try to name someone, but China will have a problem with legitimacy," said Tsering Shakya, a leading Tibetan historian at the University of British Columbia.

"It is certain that 100 percent of Tibetans will not recognise a child chosen by China as the Dalai Lama. But that won't matter to Beijing. For the Chinese it is only a question of showing their power."
 

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