Word: lamas
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Ever since he fled the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, the Dalai Lama has lived as a guest on Indian soil, free to do as he pleases provided he refrains from directly antagonizing China. This is not the first time he has journeyed to Tawang from his seat in the north Indian town of Dharamsala. But in the wake of riots in Lhasa last year and amid the present frostiness over the Sino-Indian border, the visit has assumed a deeper political dimension...
...monastery at Tawang is one of the largest and oldest of the dominant Tibetan Gelupga sect and is near the home of Tsangyang Gyatso, the sixth Dalai Lama, born in 1683 - a leader particularly beloved by the Tibetans. As the present Dalai Lama (the 14th) ages, rumors grow that his successor may be tapped from this historic cradle of Tibetan Buddhism in a bid to preempt Beijing, which is almost certain to select its own Dalai Lama once the current one passes...
...Chinese eyes, the prospect of the Dalai Lama ginning up emotions and support in Tawang poses a challenge to its vision of dominion over all of Tibet. The boundary separating Arunachal Pradesh from Tibet - dubbed the McMahon Line - was drawn up by the colonial British and officials from Lhasa in 1914, an act of map-making that China to this day refuses to recognize. According to Beijing, Tawang and its surroundings were under the suzerainty of the Qing dynasty after its armies extended China's frontiers to Tibet and Central Asia in the 18th and 19th centuries. If Tibet...
...Dalai Lama's visit, says Anand, should be seen not as a gesture of defiance toward China nor a validation of democratic India but as an act of solidarity with a community that looks to him for guidance. For years he has pushed for dialogue with China and quietly sought autonomy for Tibet, but this purported "middle path" of peaceful advocacy has made little progress and has frustrated many younger Tibetans who are living in exile from their homeland. Now, suggest observers, the Dalai Lama may be thinking more of shoring up the Tibetan diaspora as it looks toward...
Meanwhile, border tensions around the monastery where the Dalai Lama found asylum 60 years ago continue to simmer. As neighbors and growing world powers, India and China are bound to have their differences, but, say analysts, it is in both countries' interests to move away from the icy, uncompromising positions where they are now entrenched. The possibilities for trade between India's northeast and China's southwest have barely been explored. "Indians and Chinese need to be more confident in their history," says Anand. "This is history, as you see in Tawang, which was more complicated, fluid and relaxed...