Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has penned three songs for a forthcoming documentary film about Tibet, When The Dragon Swallowed The Sun.

Director Dirk Simon, who has spent seven years making the film, said Damien Rice and composer Philip Glass have also contributed music.

The film is about the ongoing fight of the Free Tibet movement.

Richard Gere, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and The Dalai Lama have all been interviewed for the film.

The film offers a perspective on the Tibetan community in exile and their struggle to gain autonomy from Chinese rule.

Related articles about Thom Yorke

• News Ticker: Michael Jackson, Thom Yorke, Limp Bizkit, Tim Hart (rollingstone.com)
• Radiohead’s Thom Yorke writes new songs for Tibet documentary (guardian.co.uk)

Tibetan Buddhism is considered as the guardian of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, a paradise for diverse species, with its rigorous doctrines.

“The Tibetan Buddhism stresses the harmony between humans and the nature. Despite harsh natural conditions, however, Tibet has done a good job in environmental protection. This has much to do with the Tibetan Buddhist dogmas requiring quietness during self-cultivation in order to better merge oneself with the nature,” said Cao Ziqiang, 75, former vice president of the High-Level Tibetan Buddhism College of China.

The plateau has offered this religion an ideal environment for its expansion. There, all lamaseries have luxuriant woods, vast pastures and fertile land.

“To cherish the land has naturally become a mission for those Buddhist followers,” Cao said, adding: “Meanwhile, some Buddhist disciplines and taboos have helped protect the ecological environment as well. For example, the precept of no killing is actually regarded as a respect to life and conducive to the protection of both animals and plants.”

Tibetans have internalized these disciplines into self-awareness and have been pursuing them to the letter in their daily life. “Tibet’s weak ecosystem has been protected to the utmost this way,” he said.

According to China Meteorological Administration, the growth rate of temperatures in Tibet is four times the national average. Consequently, Tibet has become a big victim of climatic changes. Its Buddhism, closely tied up with the nature, has no choice but to accept this reality.

Related articles

• Stop Torture In Tibet (thepetitionsite.com)
• Dalai Lama visit to India border region too close for comfort for China (nationalpost.com)
• That’s The Spirit [Snap Judgment] (jezebel.com)

From the Big News Network

A five-day photo exhibition was organised by a Buddhist monastery at Dharamsala here to commemorate twenty years of the passing away of the tenth Panchen Lama.

The exhibition concluded on Thursday.

On view were rare photographs and vintage Thangka paintings (traditional Tibetan scroll art) that showed the lives of Panchen Lamas.

The organisers wished that through this exhibition the world will remember the forgotten Tibetan Buddhist lineage of spiritual leaders.

The main aim of the exhibition was to show the world that the tenth Panchen Lama had consistently worked for the welfare of the Tibetan people, and also that he had struggled to preserve Tibetan theological culture despite Chinese conquest and rule.

Read More

Related articles about Buddhism

• Boston schoolboy named Buddhist high priest (telegraph.co.uk)
• Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch ’strong and hopeful’ at beating cancer (guardian.co.uk)
• Tibetan ‘living Buddha’ jailed (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Dalai Lama Receives Human Rights Award (dickstersrandomthoughts.blogspot.com)
• Turning the Wheel of Dharma Mudra’s Meaning

Found at newkerala.com

“The Dalai Lama will deliver a discourse at Palitana near Bhavnagar in Gujarat Jan 3,” according to a post on the website of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

“After that he will reach Bodh Gaya to give teachings from January 5 to 9,” said the website.

The Dalai Lama, 74, along with many of his supporters fled Tibet and took refuge in India when Chinese troops moved in and took control of Lhasa in 1959.

He has ever since been heading the Tibetan government-in-exile from here which is not recognised by any country in the world.

Related articles about the Dalai Lama

• Dalai Lama’s Tawang Trip Strains India-China Ties (time.com)
• Beyond India vs. China: The Dalai Lama’s Agenda (time.com)
• Dalai Lama to Tour India Region Despite China Ire (time.com)

From the Associated Press (AP)

NAGANO, Japan, Dec. 30 (AP) – (Kyodo)—Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will visit Zenkoji Temple in central Japan, which earned praise from him for rejecting cooperation in a Beijing Olympic torch relay, in June 2010, the temple said Wednesday.

The Buddhist temple in Nagano declined to serve as the starting point of the Japan leg of the torch relay because of the crackdown on Buddhists in Tibet in 2008, and the Dalai Lama gave a statue to the temple in March to show his gratitude over the decision. Both sides have since maintained exchanges.

“Zenkoji Temple’s decision to withdraw from the relay led Tibetans to think that they have received strong support from the Japanese Buddhist community,” said Lhakpa Tshoko, the representative of the Dalai Lama’s liaison office for Japan and East Asia.

The Dalai Lama will arrive in Japan on June 18, attend a ritual at the temple the following day and deliver a speech in Nagano on June 20 before visiting Tokyo and Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, according to the temple.

Related articles about the Dalai Lama

• India limits media on contentious Dalai Lama trip (ctv.ca)
• Sri Lanka: SLA constructs Buddhist temple in Jaffna without Municipality Council permission (tamilnet.com)
• Dalai Lama Visits Disputed Region (nytimes.com)

From the Times Online UK

China has sentenced a revered Tibetan living Buddha to eight-and-a-half years in jail on charges of illegally occupying government land and possession of weapons.

The court in the western town of Kangding handed down the conviction more than eight months after Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche’s trial. It marked the first time a Tibetan arrested following last year’s riots had been allowed to select his own defence lawyers.

He had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison on the two charges and it is possible that the presence of his lawyers persuaded the judges from imposing an even longer term. The judges may also have been wary of handing down a lengthier sentence for fear of renewed outbreaks of anti-Chinese unrest among supporters in the mainly ethnically Tibetan region that is his home. He commands thousands of disciples in Tibet as well as in other areas of China.

Read More

Related articles About Tibet’s Struggle

• Stop Forced Resettlement of Tibetan Nomads (thepetitionsite.com)
• Stop Torture In Tibet (thepetitionsite.com)
• China confirms Tibetan executions (news.bbc.co.uk)

Dharamsala, Dec 28: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama Monday urged the Chinese government to release writer Liu Xiaobo and other political prisoners.

“I am saddened by the Chinese government sentencing Liu Xiaobo, a well-known Chinese writer, to an 11-year jail term,” the Dalai Lama said, according to a statement.

“By forcefully sentencing Liu Xiaobo, and others like him, who use freedom of expression to publicly articulate their opinions, the Chinese authorities have not only violated the binding principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the freedom of expression mentioned in the constitution of the People’s Republic of China.

“I urge the Chinese government to release as soon as possible Liu Xiaobo and other political prisoners who were jailed because of exercising freedom of expression,” he said.

The Dalai Lama, along with many of his supporters, fled Tibet and took refuge in this Himachal Pradesh hill town in 1959. His government-in-exile is not recognised by any country in the world.

Related articles about the Dalai Lama

• Dalai Lama meets with officials ahead of U.S. visit (ctv.ca)
• Dalai Lama expresses concern about Tibetan cause (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Free Dolma Kyab (thepetitionsite.com)

Tibet’s industrial sector has made great headway in 2009 despite its weak foundation, a low standard for industrialization and unprecedented global financial crisis. Growing steadily The sector’s adde…

Related articles about China

• Industrial output rises more than expected in Nov. (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Foreign investment in China rises (news.bbc.co.uk)
• China Sees Factory Activity Strengthen (online.wsj.com)

Nepal’s Communist prime minister will visit the Tibetan capital of Lhasa during his upcoming trip to China, as China tries to forge closer ties with its southern neighbor to control a restive minority.

Related articles about China, Nepal and Tibet

• Nepalese leader to visit Tibet as China seeks closer ties (calgaryherald.com)
• China closes Tibet once again (gadling.com)
• Dalai Lama says China overpoliticizing his travels (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

United News of India Gulbarga, Dec 20: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama today said rulers of China have no faith in Buddhism despite China being a Buddhist country.

Related articles about the Dalai Lama

• Obama raises rights with China’s Hu (nationalpost.com)
• China opposes Dalai Lama’s India border area visit (ctv.ca)
• Dalai Lama visits town near Tibet (seattletimes.nwsource.com)