JULY 14, 2019 • THE WEEK 27HOLY ENCOUNTER
The Dalai Lama blesses a child outside
his residence in Mcleodganjnorth to Bylakuppe in the south. It
has more than 16,000 children under
its care.”
Not only children, but women
from the trans-Himalayan region,
too, have made India their home.
Nangsa Chodon, who takes care of
the Dolma Ling Nunnery in Sidhbari
and is the director of the Tibetan
Nuns Project, recalled with pain
the protests against Chinese rule by
monks and nuns in Tibet in 1987.
Th e situation was so heart-wrench-
ing that they started fl eeing to India,
which had by then helped the Dalai
Lama settle and had given land to
the Central Tibetan Administration
(CTA), of which he was the temporal
and spiritual head. After some years,
he transferred the temporal power
to a prime minister elected by the
Tibetan community in exile.
Nangsa, who worked in the Tibetan
government as education secretary
before retirement, said that while the
monks who came into India settled
in monasteries, the nuns had no
place to go. “His Holiness sensed this
and told his sister, who was president
of the Tibetan Women’s Association,
to do something,” said Nangsa. “Th ey
soon rented a small offi ce and started
enrolling all the nuns coming into ex-
ile. Today, Dolma Ling Nunnery has
around 250 nuns, and has become a
full-fl edged educational institution
teaching English, maths and science,
and helping the nuns obtain doctor-
ates in philosophy and so on.”
Today, not only is the institution of
the Dalai Lama deeply entrenched in
Mcleodganj and Dharamshala, there
is integration of the Tibetan people
into Indian culture and ethos.“His approach towards Buddhism
is very rational, which is relevant in
the 21st century,” Arunachal Pradesh
Chief Minister Pema Khandu told
THE WEEK. “He is an embodiment
of compassion and we revere him
as the living Buddha. His teachings
have shaped me as a person.”
Th e Nalanda masters would be
happy.
But, where is the Tibetan freedom
struggle today? “When I was a young
child, my grandmother used to tell
me stories of snow mountains and
yaks and I was thrilled,” said Tenzin
Tsundue, poet and activist who is at
the forefront of the Tibetan freedom
struggle today. “Th en she told me I
came from that land and at that time
I did not believe her. All I saw then
was brick and mortar, and the sweat
and heat of the refugee camp in
Karnataka.”
Tsundue, 45, lives in a dilapidated
old British bungalow in Dharam-
shala, which has become the nerve
centre of the freedom struggle. It is
from here that the Tibetans across
the world join him for discussions,
seminars and protests. Tsundue’s
parents were construction workers
in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, like
most Tibetans who came as refugees
to India. “We will not give up,” said
Tsundue, who has been to many
Indian jails, as well as two Chinese
ones in Tibet. “As long as we do not
give up, there is always hope. No
matter how big or powerful your en-
emy is. I am inspired by Bhagat Singh
and [Mahatma] Gandhiji. If we throw
out the Chinese by way of violenceMY WAY OF THINKING HAS BEEN SHAPED BY THE WORKS OF
THE MASTERS OF THE HISTORICAL NALANDA UNIVERSITY,
WHICH I HAVE STUDIED SINCE CHILDHOOD.
—The Dalai Lama