NOTE ON THE SITUATION IN TIBET
Located in "the hidden heart of Asia," Tibet is home to one of the world's highest inhabited lands. With its sophisticated Vajrayana traditions and primary emphasis on compassion, Tibetan culture has been blessed with a spiritual expanse as vast as the windswept passes and mountains of its terrain.
Sequestered amid the arid elevations of the Greater Tibetan Plateau, Tibet's Buddhist culture flourished in an unusual isolation well into the 20th century, spawning an outpouring of spiritual practice and philosophy the West has discovered only recently. But Tibet's removal from neighboring conflicts came to an abrupt end when the Chinese Communists invaded in the 1950's.
Faced with the increasingly radicalized policies of the Chinese occupation, the Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet for India in 1959, making a political refugee of the leader of the Tibetan people. And so began a term of exile and occupation that continues for all Tibetans to this day.
The physical impact of China's policies in Tibet has been both incompletely documented and appalling: 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a result of the occupation. Over 6,000 monasteries have been destroyed, as a systematic influx of Chinese settlers has threatened to make Tibetans a minority on their own land. Meanwhile, most of Tibet's spiritual practices have been made forcibly illegal for decades.
While a growing segment of the world community has learned about and sympathized with the plight of Tibet in recent years, persecution there, both cultural and religious, still continues.
THE YUNGCHEN LHAMO FOUNDATION
Seeking to address the dangers faced by Tibetans worldwide, the Yungchen Lhamo Foundation was created in 1997 to help Tibetans in the occupied territories of Tibet and the more than 120,000 refugees who have fled across the Himalayas to other countries since 1959.
Based initially only on proceeds from Yungchen's performances, the goal from the beginning has been three-tiered, with a special focus on the needs of Tibetan women:
To inspire...
Tibetan history is accented by the lives of many great women. As warriors, as mothers, physicians, religious practitioners and artists, many of the lives of these women are not as well known as they should be.
The Amnye Machin Institute in India has gathered together many works from the rich chapters of Tibetan history, and we need sponsorship to publish them in both Tibetan and English. Bringing these biographies to light, with careful thought and annotation, will guide women to look at Tibetan history as a source of role models and inspiration to make new goals.
To educate...
In the West, the astonishing developments of the Information Age are often taken for granted. But in countries where people do not have the opportunity to go to school when they are growing up, a computer is a kind of miracle machine providing education resources unimaginable until recently.
Not only do most refugees fleeing Tibet lack access to computers, many do not believe themselves capable of learning to use them for their own practical development. In addition to building dormitories for young girls arriving in India from Tibet, the Yungchen Lhamo Foundation seeks to make education programs as well as Internet access available to Tibetan refugees. To accomplish this, modern facilities need to be purchased. In time, refugees will be able to gain access to valuable knowledge and degrees, thereby enhancing their skill sets and employment prospects.
To sustain...
The realities faced by a young woman arriving from Tibet are such that even if education resources exist, empty stomachs must come first. If you prefer to sponsor people rather than projects, we have many women with children who need sponsorship to survive. Likewise in Tibet, the majority of Tibetan women live under conditions of great suffering and hardship. Many women need sponsorship for education expenses for their children.
A WORD FROM YUNGCHEN LHAMO ON THE FOUNDATION
These projects require significant funding that exceeds what I am able to raise through my concerts alone. And so I ask you for your help.
I hope that you will be able to provide financial support, which will be of great benefit to Tibetan women who have recently escaped from Tibet and for our sisters who are still there, struggling to survive.
Sincerely,
Yungchen
Lhamo
Contact us for information on how to make a contribution to the Foundation. You can also write to:
PO
Box 4262
Sunnyside
New York
11104-0262
