Click to Read . . .
A news wrap-up concerning Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, Tibet, India, etc.

Bhutan's wise pursuit of wealth in happiness
The rest of the world would do well to follow the Bhutanese example of minimising material consumerism and focusing on people's well-being and contentment. (Sept. 6)

Lhasa in their dreams
In India, Tibetan refugees build new lives while dreaming about their homeland. (Sept. 3)

Tibetan nomads struggle as grasslands disappear from the roof of the world
Scientists say desertification of the mountain grasslands of the Tibetan plateau is accelerating climate change. (Sept. 2)

Behind China's stern front: paranoia?
Despite the heavy-handed crackdown on Tibetan and Uighur disaffection in recent years, China remains unsure about the firmness of its hold on Tibet and Xinjiang. Its needling of India, and its security cover for an imploding Pakistan - the global hotbed of jihadism, which spills over into Xinjiang - are motivated by this sense of insecurity. (Sept. 1)

India concerned about deepening Pakistan-China ties
Agitated by Beijing's denial of visa to a senior Indian Army official and now concerned over the presence of the Chinese army in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, India is looking at measures to tackle the Pakistan-China nexus. (August 30)

Dalai row: India won't join issue with China
India has refused to get involved in a slinging match with China despite Beijing raking up the issue of the Dalai Lama's meeting with PM Manmohan Singh and saying that New Delhi must not 'disturb' bilateral ties between the two countries. Indian officials say their position on the spiritual leader was well known and that the Chinese remarks have had no impact on it. (August 29)

Visa row: India reads riot act to Chinese envoy
India summoned the Chinese ambassador last week and has refused to allow visits of two Chinese military officials to protest against Beijing's refusal of a visa to a general in the Indian Army. (August 27)

A high-tech titan plagued by potholes
Despite India's rise as a technology titan with some of the world's best engineering minds, the country's full economic potential is stifled by potholed roadways, collapsing bridges, rickety railroads and a power grid so unreliable that many modern office buildings run their own diesel generators to make sure the lights and computers stay on. (August 25)

China may drop death penalty for economic crimes
China, which executes more people each year than any other country, said it is considering dropping capital punishment for economic crimes. A draft amendment to the country's criminal code proposes cutting 13 "economy-related, non-violent offenses" from the list of 68 crimes punishable by the death penalty, the official Xinhua New Agency said. (August 23)

HHDL: A monk on the move
While 75 years old, the Dalai Lama is still a true globetrotter, so much so that he doesn't really need to unpack. (August 23)

Moving toward 'Splendid Isolation"?
The 'strategic depth' that India had once enjoyed in its neighbourhood has been lost, (August 22)

HHDL inaugurates Tibetan language newspaper
The first edition of The Bhoti was published last week. The newspaper aims to keep readers in the Himalayan regions of Spiti, Kinnaur, Dholpo, Ladakh, Tawang, Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan, informed about their language, religion and culture. (August 21)

Obama's timidity on Tibet
Does the Obama administration's silence only encourage China's abuses? A Wall Stret Journal opinion piece. (August 21)

Chinese infantry paratroopers land in Tibet
China recently held its first high-altitude combat parachute drop in Tibet, with a battalion landing in an open area of the Tibet plateau. (August 20)

China's next elite: 2012 and beyond
The transition to a new Chinese leadership has already begun. The domestic and international demands made of it will be greater than ever. But the will the character of the emerging generation severely constrain its ability to cope? (August 20)

Your brain on computers
Five scientists spent a week hiking to understand how heavy use of technology changes how we think and behave. (August 16)

India taking up Tibet dam issue: report
India is negotiating with the international community over China's plans to construct a dam across the Brahmaputra in Tibet. The 2,906-km-long Brahmaputra is one of Asia's longest rivers that traverses its first stretch of 1,625 km in Tibet, the next 918 km in India and the remaining 363 km in Bangladesh before flowing into the Bay of Bengal. (August 15)

Overdevelopment to blame for deadly slides
Overdevelopment and environmental mismanagement are at least partly to blame for mudslides in central China's Gansu province that left more than 1,000 people dead last week, according to Chinese and Tibetan analysts. (August 15)

Smothering Tibet
China is pacifying Tibet the way it has pacified other frontier areas in the past: better educated and more entrepreneurial Chinese are encouraged to migrate, and they eventually dominate the economy and politics of the area. The Tibetans know this, and so far have not been able to do much about it. (August 11)

"A sharp knife above his head": the trials and sentencing of three environmentalist brothers in Tibet
Lawyers for a leading Tibetan environmentalist and philanthropist sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on highly dubious charges of involvement in a 12-year old case of grave robbing, learned yesterday that his appeal was summarily rejected on the same day the court had received the case file. Karma Samdrup is one of three brothers who are all now either imprisoned or serving 're-education through labor' following charges that are believed to have been rigged after their efforts to stop the poaching of endangered species clashed with the local authorities. (August 6)

Will India be ready to host the Commonwealth Games?
With only 52 days left before the biggest sporting event in the nation's history, India looks woefully unprepared. (August 6)

Ancient Buddhist site faces threat from mining
A two-millennia Buddhist monastery site in Afghanistan faces impending demolition, as a mining project worth $3 billion has been awarded to a Chinese metallurgical corporation (who are expected to dynamite the site) by the Afghan government. (August 6)

Longest calligraphy scroll - Tibetan sets world record
Jamyang Dorjee Chakrishar, a 56-year-old Tibetan master calligrapher, has created a 163.2 meters long calligraphy scroll containing long-life prayers composed for His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama by 32 great spiritual masters of Tibet. (August 6)

Is China's Tibet price the South China Sea?
There are territorial disputes aplenty concerning the South China Sea, and Tibet remains an example of how China plays its hands in issues of this sort. (August 5)

Free Tibet from China -- and the West too
Is the trendy "Free Tibet" lobby keeping Tibet in a pre-modern, underdeveloped state for the benefit of eco-conscious Westerners? An opinion piece. (July 31)

China takes over Nepal
What's going on in Nepal? Not much good for India if one goes by the latest news. A blog item -- (July 30)

India digs under the top of the world to match China
For much of its history, India has regarded the Himalayas as a form of protection, not a barrier to be overcome. But in the face of China's military escalation on the Tibetan plateau, all is changing. (July 29)

Library of Congress receives special gifts from HHDL
The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. received three gifts from His Holiness' special envoy (Lodi Gyari) earlier this week: an 18th century thangka of the Buddha, a mandala offering set and a golden butter lamp. (July 20)

Star Man
Mau Piailug died last week. He was a palu, a master navigator, one of the last experts in the ancient art of Pacific Ocean wayfaring. (July 17)

Plants cannot "think and remember," but there's nothing stupid about them: They're shockingly sophisticated
"A big mistake people make is speaking as if plants 'know' what they're doing," says a botanist. "Biology teachers, researchers, students and lay people all make the same mistake. I'd much rather say a plant senses and responds, rather than the plant 'knows.' Using words like 'intelligence' or 'think' for plants is just wrong." (July 17)

In India, castes, honor and killings Intertwine
In India, where the tension between traditional and modern mores reverberates throughout society, there is an apparent resurgence of so-called honor killings against couples who breach Hindu marriage traditions. (July 16)

The Kung-fu nuns of Nepal
The word out of central Nepal is so startling that it sounds almost mythical. Every day at 4 a.m. in the Kathmandu Valley, 200 nuns of the Tibetan Buddhist Drukpa sect assemble to throw punches. (July 15)

Nepal's aphrodisiac war
In a remote corner of the Annapurna Trail, a rare fungus worth more than its weight in gold has ignited a Buddhist bloodbath - and destroyed a once peaceful village. (July 14)

HHDL will see resolution to 'Tibet problem' in lifetime, says exiles
Senior officials close to the Dalai Lama believe there will be a final resolution to the "problems of Tibet" within his lifetime despite renewed crackdowns by China and failures in successive talks with Beijing. (July 8)

Tibetans adapted to high life at record-breaking rate
Mountain-dwelling Tibetans have genetically adapted to life at altitude in the past 3,000 years - the fastest genetic change known to have occurred in humans. (July 8)

India expands role as drug producer
India's drug industry - on track to grow about 13 percent this year, to just over $24 billion - was once notorious for making cheap knockoffs of Western medicines and selling them in developing countries. But India, seasoned in the basics of medicine making, is now starting to take on a more mainstream role in the global drug industry. (July 7)

Behind the facade of Chinese rule in Tibet
A state-sponsored visit to a Tibetan enclave in the Himalayas was supposed to mollify journalists with an image of happy co-existence. But the truth, as one journalist discovered, was very different. (July 7)

Is unexplained healing "miraculous"?
While researching her book on the role of medicine in determining saints for the Catholic Church, Jacalyn Duffin discovered that medicine and religion are both belief systems. (July 7)

India's emerging nuclear market
Canada's recent decision to resume civilian nuclear trade with India after an absence of 36 years illustrates how far India has come since the international isolation following its 1974 nuclear test. (July 7)

Sentenced to the world's most humane prison
In Norway is the world's first human-ecological prison - a place where inmates learn to take responsibility for their actions by caring for the environment. (July 5)

My own private India -- Edison, NJ
The author reports that his home town has become home to one of the biggest Indian communities in the U.S., as familiar to people in India as how to instruct stupid Americans to reboot their Internet routers. (A humor article that has raised hackles in the community it is written about.) (July 4)

In search of the real Panchen Lama
Exercising the ultimate political control, the Chinese Communist Party manufactured a 'holy' ceremony to appoint its own Panchen Lama after kidnapping the authentic one. (July 3)

China jails Tibetan environmentalist
A Chinese court sentenced a Tibetan environmentalist who organized villagers to pick up litter and plant trees to five years in jail for inciting to split the nation, his lawyer said. (July 3)

India's all-out efforts to woo Obama
In November President Obama will make his maiden visit to the country that he describes as a rising power and a 21st century center of influence. The official announcement had barely been made before a half dozen Indian cities began vying to get on his itinerary. (July 2)

Karmapa celebrates 26th birthday
Read story, see photos. (June 30)

China builds oxygen-rich barracks for soldiers in Tibet mountains
The People's Liberation Army in China has come up with the first batch of ecological oxygen-enriched barracks for use by troops posted in the oxygen deficient mountain regions of Tibet across the Indian border. (June 28)

China's Nepal hand gets stronger
Nepal's beleaguered government is hoping for a dramatic "China" development in four months' time which would mark a change in the geo-political scenario in South Asia. (June 28)

China rewrites history of Korean War
Mao Tse-tung once said that China and North Korea were "as close as lips and teeth." But now, on the 60th anniversary of the Korean War, China has finally rewritten its history of how the conflict began to point the finger of responsibility at North Korea. (June 25)

Trouble in India's Shangri-La
A booming tourist industry is churning in Ladakh,in India's stunningly beautiful Himalayas in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. But 21st-century changes are leaving locals torn between celebrating the area's increasing prosperity and worrying about their Tibetan culture being drowned. (June 24)

Tibetans fear a broader crackdown
Since rioting two years ago convulsed Tibetan areas of China, rights groups say scores of artists, intellectuals, students and businesspeople have been detained and sentenced to prison on charges of subverting state power or seeking to 'split' Tibet from China. (June 24)

He may not be real, but . . .
See how the People's Daily, an official news source of the Chinese government, reports the recent activities of their version of the Panchen Lama. (June 24)

"Real" Catholic men love the rosary
The rosary, a cycle of prayers said while worshippers finger a string of beads, is not gender-specific. Yet many Catholic men say they have always associated the rosary with women, especially older females. (June 23)

HHDL on violence
Attitudes towards violence in Buddhism are enormously complex, and the Dalai Lama's message for Armed Forces Day may surprise those who assume him to be an uncompromising pacifist. (June 21)

How China manipulates media
The leaders of the People's Republic of China have recently decided to invest in propaganda to highlight the 'Chinese Model' of governance. And Beijing is ready to pour a few billion dollars into the venture. (June 21)

India provides 30 million rupees ($714k) to construct 'dharmashala' in Nepal
Considered one of Nepal's most sacred religious shrines and equally revered in India, Mustang's Muktinath Temple will soon have good quality and affordable lodging for pilgrims and tourists. (June 21)

"Awaken your Buddha Seed" HHDL tells Japanese
His Holiness the Dalai Lama told a crowd of over 300 Japanese Buddhists that all human beings have the same potential to achieve Buddhahood if they realize the source of all sufferings is ignorance and delusion about one's true nature. (June 21)

Embracing the love of Amma, 'the Hugging Saint'
In Los Angeles this week, thousands of devotees have billowed through a windowless conference room at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport to see Amma - full name Mata Amritanandamayi, age 56 - known as "the Hugging Saint." (June 20)

That good ol' Himalayan mountain music
Strange bedfellows: Appalachian and Nepalese music. The musicians behind the documentary The Mountain Music Project - A Musical Odyssey from Appalachia to Himalaya set out in search of threads between the two traditions, and from the looks (and sounds) of the trailer at this website, they found plenty. (June 18)

Tibet's watershed challenge
The Tibetan Plateau is an enormous storehouse of freshwater, believed by some to be the world's largest. It is the headwaters of many of Asia's mighty rivers, including the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra, Indus and Sutlej. These vast water resources are of course vulnerable to environmental challenges, including climate change, but they are subject to an array of political issues as well. Should China be the lone stakeholder to the fate of the waters in Tibet? (June 14)

Ancient Buddhist monument gets a makeover in Nepal
The dwelling of Swayambhunath Stupa (Self-Existent Lord), a world heritage site around which the Kathmandu Valley emerged, got a makeover last month, the first in 90 years and 15th in nearly 1,500 years. And it wasn't an easy task. (June 14)

China launches fresh attack on Dalai Lama
A mouthpiece of the Chinese government has criticised HHDL's call for greater autonomy for Tibet and questioned whether he was really qualified to speak for six million Tibetans. (June 13)

Traditional Indian piety makes way for pop culture images of Hindu gods
Nestled between Delhi's wedding sari boutiques and hipster jean shops, there's a store in the city's most popular shopping mall that's playing with the gods. (June 12)

A call for a new term beyond organic: "Authentic"
Is it time to define quality in a way corporations can't co-opt? (June 12)

Yoga heritage: don't even think about stealing it, says Indian government
An Indian government body tasked with protecting the country's rich heritage of medicinal and medical philosophy and practice has started filming hundreds of asanas (yoga poses) in an attempt to make a rigid system out of this most flexible of meditative practices. The "videographs" are intended to provide irrefutable evidence for anyone hoping to patent a new style of yoga that the Indians got there first. (June 11)

Tibetan baby names - can a name dictate the child's future?
Psychologist and sociologists feel certain that giving a child a Tibetan name promises to aid in his/her having a more peaceful and positive life-experience. (June 7)

Tastes like chicken: The quest for fake meat
The desire to eat meat has posed an ethical question ever since humans achieved reliable crop production: Do we really need to kill animals to live? (June 6)

India's Rent-a-Womb industry faces new restrictions
Hundreds of foreign tourists spill into the country every year to hire women to incubate their children. India has become the world capital of outsourced pregnancies, whereby surrogates are implanted with foreign embryos and paid to carry the resultant babies to term. In 2002 the country legalized commercial surrogacy in an effort to promote medical tourism, a sector predicted to generate $2.3 billion annually by 2012. Indian surrogate mothers are readily available and cheap. Unlike in most countries where surrogacy is lawful - and bucking the norm in heavily bureaucratic India - the procedure can take place without reams of government red tape. That may soon change. (June 5)

Meditation dulls the experience of pain
People who regularly meditate apparently find pain less unpleasant, because their brains are busy focusing on the present and so anticipate the pain less, blunting its emotional impact, a new study reveals. (June 5)

Deep in thought: What is a "law of physics," anyway?
One thing that's both disconcerting and exhilarating about physics is how many seemingly simple questions remain unanswered. When you hear the questions that physicists struggle with, you sometimes say to yourself, Wait, you mean they don't even know that? (June 5)

Jews worldwide share genetic ties
Different communities of Jews around the world share more than just religious or cultural practices--they also have strong genetic commonalities, according to the largest genetic analysis of Jewish people to date. But the study also found strong genetic ties to non-Jewish groups, with the closest genetic neighbors on the European side being Italians, and on the Middle Eastern side the Druze, Bedouin and Palestinians. (June 3)

Surveillance in Lhasa hotels
All guests registering at Lhasa hotels and guesthouses will have their details stored in a police database, and their movements monitored by staff. (June 2)

Three misconceptions about meditation
Meditation has been getting a very good rap lately. Scientists have proven that it actually makes you happier. It is included in mental health programs. It is being taught at gyms, schools and in the workplace. Somehow it has become acceptable and not scary. This is wonderful. But it has also made for some misconceptions. (June 2)

The hidden brain: what science can learn from 'nothing'
It turns out that when someone is just lying still and the mind is blank, neurons are chattering away like Twitter addicts. (May 31)

"When I die, of course it will be a serious setback"
It is hard to exaggerate the importance of the Dalai Lama to Tibetans; to them he is a king, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism and the embodiment of compassion. He is The Presence, The Holder of the White Lotus, The Absolute Wisdom, The Ocean. His presence often reduces his followers to speechless weeping. For nearly 500 years the tradition has continued, with each dead Dalai Lama reincarnated into the body of a young Tibetan boy. But with Tibet's leadership in exile and an aging Dalai Lama, Tibetan history is at a precipice. (May 30)

Signs of change emanating within China: HHDL
"There have been many incidents in the recent past which are indicative of strong change within the People's Republic of China," says the Dalai Lama. (May 29)

A Himalayan village builds artificial glaciers to survive global warming [slide show]
As glaciers disappear in the rain shadow of the Himalayas, one man is helping farmers irrigate their fields by storing water in an innovative way. (May 28)

I feel your pain, unless you're from another race
Normally, when you see or imagine someone else in pain, your brain reacts to a twinge of pain as well. Not so, when race and bias come into play, scientists say. (May 26)

Chinese engineers propose world's biggest hydro-electric project in Tibet
China's hydropower lobbyists are calling for construction of the world's biggest hydro-electric project on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra river as part of a huge expansion of renewable power in the Himalayas. A Chinese official commented that a massive dam on the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo (the Tibetan name for the river) would benefit the world, despite the likely concerns of downstream nations, India and Bangladesh, which access water and power from the river. (May 26)

China aims to stifle Tibet's photocopiers
Chinese authorities have identified a new threat to political stability in the restive region of Tibet: photocopiers. Fearful that Tibetans might mass-copy incendiary material, public security officials intend to more tightly control printing and photocopying shops, according to reports from the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. (May 26)

Soil bacteria might increase learning
Studies have shown time spent in nature does us all good. Specifically, a recent study done with 1,200 people found that even just five minutes in a leafy park can significantly boost our mood. Well, it might be because we inhaled some bacteria among the leaves and grass. (May 25)

Dalai Lama tweets to Chinese citizens about Tibet
The Dalai Lama tried to hold a rare direct conversation with people inside China, answering questions live on Twitter about the fate of long-tense Tibet. (May 24)

Why are Hindu honor killings increasing in India?
Though Westerners associate the term more with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan than with 21st century India, "honor killings" are shockingly frequent in villages in the northern and northwestern parts of the country, where those daring to cross the barriers of caste are made to pay with their lives. (May 23)

Ann Curry interviews HHDL on NBC's Today Show; May 20, 2010

Even the Dalai Lama has a point man
Imagine a boarding-school-educated young man, fluent in several languages and gifted with a camera, telling his beloved grandmother that he was becoming a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Never an easy tete-a-tete. Now imagine the young man's grandmother is Diana Vreeland, the iconic fashion editor who embraced artifice and luxury in equal measure until her death in 1989. (May 19)

Heat wave continues in northern India
An extreme heat wave continued unabated in northern India with temperatures touching the 47 degree celsius mark (116 degress Farenheit)in many areas. (May 16)

Tibetans evolved to survive high life, study says
The Tibetan Plateau rises more than 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) above sea level. At such heights, most people are susceptible to hypoxia, in which too little oxygen reaches body tissues, potentially leading to fatal lung or brain inflammation. But most Tibetans are genetically adapted to life on the "roof of the world," according to a new study. (May 16)

No let-up in unfair and harsh sentencing of Tibetans by Chinese government
The repressive trends of arbitrary arrest and handing down of harsh prison sentences on Tibetan scholars and teachers by the Chinese government continue unabated, as a Tibetan school teacher in Tibet's Nagchu Prefecture was sentenced to 15 years in jail. (May 15)

30 monks graduate as science teachers in monasteries
The first batch of 30 monks have graduated to become science teachers in Tibetan monasteries in exile. The monks will be teaching science at various monastic institutions including Sera, Ganden, Drepung, and Bon Menri monastery. (May 15)

Scientist inspired by HHDL studies happiness
Scientists often study depression, anxiety and fear, but why not devote your work to the causes of positive human qualities like happiness and compassion? the Dalai Lama asked. "I couldn't give him a good answer," recalled Richard Davidson, a University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscientist. (May 14)

Dalai Lama's example is an inspiration, Says Laura Bush
In her new book, she says HHDL "embodies the hopes for freedom in Tibet." She writes: "George believes that acknowledging the Dalai Lama is a special American responsibility." (May 13)

HHDL "very happy" to be included in 2011 Census of India
This is the first time that the Tibetan exile population is being counted in the census of India. (May 6)

Dalai Lama calls Irish man his hero, honors him
A man who is known for his compassion, from whom many draw inspiration and who is looked up to as their hero has found his hero in another man. (May 5)

In Indonesia, the people who live with dragons
"The dragons are our friends." (May 4)

The yogafication of America
How one 19th-century Midwesterner got us all doing the downward dog (May 2)

Masters of the mandala
Aristotle believed every life form was drawn to what he called "autocompletion" . . . Carl Jung was fascinated by the process of "individuation" in which human beings develop towards maturity and serenity. Abraham Maslow called it "self-actualisation." These impressive words can be put into a picture: the mandala. (May 2)

More than 400 million online in China
The number of internet users in China, already the largest in the world, has surpassed 400 million and accounts for almost a third of the country's population, Chinese state media reported. (May 2)

HHDL marks 50 years exile from Tibet and arrival in Dharamsala with 'Gratitude Ceremony'
On April 30, H.H. the Dalai Lama along with other Tibetan government-in-exile officials and Buddhist spiritual leaders conducted a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of his arrival in Dharamsala, India after fleeing from Tibet. The occasion was also designed to express the Tibetan leaders' gratitude to the people of India for their ongoing hospitality. (May 2)

School is a right, but will Indian girls be able to go?
India has passed a law mandating free, compulsory education for all children ages 6-14. But with the country's weak child-labor laws, many question whether kids - and girls in particular - will ever make it to class. (April 30)

India's dirty war
A violent struggle over resource-rich land is pitting billionaires against Maoists. Thousands of villagers have been killed and displaced. (April 29)

Water: The most undervalued resource
Water - it sustains all life. Yet consider this: Worldwide, 80 countries suffer from water shortages, including highly productive agricultural areas in northern China, the western United States, and northwest India. (April 28)

Tibetan monks ordered to leave China's quake zone
Earthquake survivors say the Tibetan monks helped first, bringing food, pitching tents and digging through rubble after disaster hit far western China a week ago, killing and injuring thousands. Now the Buddhist monks who responded first are being pushed out of the disaster area and off of state media - apparently sidelined by Beijing's unease with their heroism and influence. (April 26)

The "China" quake?
Actually, it's the Tibetan quake. The Western mainstream media have been calling the disastrous earthquake which jolted Tibet on April 14 the "China quake," sending a misleading impression to the world that the earthquake occurred in Mainland China rather than in Tibet. (April 24)

China builds world's highest dam, India fears water theft
The dam will rise to 3,260 meters, on Yarlung Zangbo River (Brahmaputra, for Indians) using special materials and techniques. But India notes that the river is essential to the lives of millions of people and calls for assurances that Beijing does not seem to want to give. (April 23)

From Lhasa to Shangri La: the touristification of Tibet
There are the two vying narratives of Tibet in the West: oppression and sight-seeing; protesting and point-and-shoot. And however much noise is made about the first, it's the second narrative that's winning. (April 20)

To die with dignity in your own land: Tibet, China, and the politics of disaster
The tragic 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Jyekundo last week has been consistently labeled the "China Quake" by the mainstream media. It is worth noting, for many reasons, that Jyekundo is firmly planted in what was formerly Tibet and the vast majority of the victims are Tibetan. (April 19)

Thirteen-year-old Californian to attempt to scale Everest
If he succeeds he will be the youngest to touch the world's highest peak; he scaled Kilimanjaro when he was 10. (April 11)

India opens Himalayan peaks to foreigners
In response to the significant decline in area violence, foreigners will be allowed to climb nearly 100 high-altitude Himalayan peaks for the first time on the Indian side of Kashmir, the Indian governnment has announced. (April 11)

HHDL e-mail hacked by China cyberspies
Computer security researchers in Canada have monitored a China-based cyber-spying organization over the last eight months, as the group attempted to steal sensitive information from foreign governments, including the Tibetan government in exile. (April 10)

HHDL: Indians should promote ahimsa like Chinese promote their food
In Rishikesh, His Holiness stressed that India "must take the lead" in promoting "secular ethics" with the "Indian tradition of non-violence and harmony among various faiths", to present a model before the rest of the world. (April 8)

Russian Buddhists hope for Dalai Lama visit
HHDL was last in Russia in 2004; the current obstacle is the position taken by China, which is one of Russia's main partners in politics and economics. (April 8)

China tightening border control in Tibet: HHDL envoy
The number of exiles from Tibet has declined because China is stepping up border control in the region, a senior envoy to the Dalai Lama said. (April 5)

Could melting glaciers force Indo-Pak water cooperation?
India and Pakistan are sparring over water-sharing in the Indus River basin. But some environmental experts say the ominous forces of climate change in the Himalayas might force the two countries to play nice . . . eventually. (April 5)

India counting and ID'ing billion-plus citizens
India has begun a year-long census of its billion-plus population in which it plans to photograph and fingerprint every citizen over the age of 15 to create a national database and then issue its first national identity cards. (March 31)

Suicides jolt India
Suicide has become something of a phenomenon in India, especially in the south, which now has one of the highest suicide rates in the world - a fact that has both puzzled and alarmed public health experts. (March 31)

An Easter story from Japan
Japan's favorite tree: can technology be used to revive the holy spirit? (April 2)

The worldwide war on baby girls
The real cause for gendercide, argues a demographer at an American think-tank, is not any country's particular policy but "the fateful collision between overweening son preference, the use of rapidly spreading prenatal sex-determination technology and declining fertility." These are global trends, and the selective destruction of baby girls is global, too. (March 30)

Radar of compassion
Pico Iyer on the Dalai Lama's unerring ability to zero-in on those who most need his love. (March 30)

Gautama Buddha the unique psychotherapist
In the Buddhist point of view, suffering is not caused by external, traumatic events, but by qualities of mind which shape our perceptions and responses to events. (March 30)

PBS documentary examines Buddhism
It seems like a clash of cultures when you compare the razzle-dazzle of American life and the tranquil practice of Buddhism. But the two are completely compatible, says documentary filmmaker David Grubin, whose two-hour film, "The Buddha" premieres April 7 on PBS. (March 29)

Panchen Politics: Can Beijing win Tibetan hearts?
"Everything we do, we do to ensure that the people live a happier life with more dignity and to make our society fairer and more harmonious." - Chinese premier Wen Jiabao. (March 28)

Obama's gift to HHDL
Amidst the drama surrounding their meeting at the White House last month, few noticed the significance of a gift that President Obama gave to His Holiness - telling the story of a relationship forged between the U.S. and the Dalai Lama before Beijing asserted control over Tibet. (March 25)

America's real Dream Team
N.Y. Times columnist Tom Friedman on our future; "If we can get just a few things right . . . " Must reading. (March 21)

Chinese learn to leap the 'Great Firewall'
To police the internet, China has employed what is regarded by many as the world's most formidable censorship machine. But as ever more Chinese get online, more users understand what it means to jump over the government's 'Great Firewall of China'. (March 19)

Dalai Lama a "US pawn" and Pelosi "an anti-China crusader," says China
China has derided last month's meeting between Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama saying, "Although he did meet with the U.S. President Feb. 18, 2010, it was only after Obama's visit to China, and they only met in the Map Room of the White House. Moreover, the picture of the Dalai Lama leaving the White House from the backdoor by the trash cans makes the meeting seem disgraceful." (March 19)

Is HHDL becoming less relevant worldwide?
Thanks to an increased propaganda budget and help from some Western professionals, Chinese propaganda has become slick. (March 18)

'Panchen Lama' named to China advisory body
The young man enthroned by Beijing as the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, has joined China's top legislative advisory body. The 20-year-old is emerging as Beijing's choice to supplant the Dalai Lama as the public face of Tibetan Buddhism and has taken on an increasingly political role in recent years. (March 17)

India: The gap is narrowing
India's entrepreneurial journey is a few years behind China's own path, but the gap is narrowing. (March 17)

Official tows Beijing's "permission needed" line over Dalai Lama's succesion
A former governor of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region has reiterated China's position over the successor of the Dalai Lama requiring its approval, saying "the final decision on the reincarnated successors to the Buddhist region's top lamas lies with Beijing. There must be approval of the central government; otherwise the reincarnation will be illegitimate and invalid." (March 16)

Recession speeds shift in balance of power
The rise of China and India is redrawing geopolitical lines. (March 16)

Lugar offers bill to permanently authorize Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia (RFA) has been funded by U.S. Congressional appropriations each year since it began broadcasting but it has never been permanently authorized. (March 15)

HHDL issues environmental plea on Facebook
The 291-word message, which ends "We must act before it is too late," is reportedly identical to the one His Holiness issued on World Environment Day in 1986. Perhaps he's hoping we'll realize we've accomplished nothing since. (March 15)

Tibet: Taking a leap of faith to see a vanishing culture
Tibetans represent a third of the population in Lhasa, their own capital, and that proportion is quickly diminishing, with Han Chinese flooding in, attracted by government incentives. (March 14)

Heavy security is the new normal in China's Tibet
The troops with automatic rifles patrolling the Tibetan quarter of the capital of Chinese-controlled Tibet are as ever-present as Buddhist pilgrims. (March 7)

China says only socialism can "save" Tibet
The new Chinese-appointed governor of Tibet said only socialism can "save" the remote region and guarantee its development, and blamed the Dalai Lama for Tibet's problems. (March 7)

Nepal arrests HHDL's representative ahead of March anniversary
Ahead of the 51st anniversary of a failed uprising by Tibetans against the invasion and annexation of their Himalayan country by the Communist regime of China, Nepal police have arrested the representative of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader in Kathmandu. (March 6)

A look back: HHDL escapes to India
The story as it appeared in the April 20, 1959 edition of TIME. (Feb 27)

Dharamsala says "Welcome Home" to HHDL
Hundreds of Tibetans and well-wishers holding traditional ceremonial scarves and burning incense welcomed the Dalai Lama as he returned to his exile hometown, following a high-profile 10-day visit to the United States. (Feb 27)

Karmapa to visit Europe
As head of the Karma Kagyu lineage, the Karmapa ranks third in the list of eminent Tibetan Buddhists, but with number two - the Panchen Lama - having disappeared (captured by the Chinese) and replaced by a Beijing-sponsored appointee, it is the Karmapa who carries the hopes of many Tibetans for a future figurehead. (Feb 26)

Dalai Lama officially joins Twitter
Now receive tweets from the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Click on the headline to sign-up. (Feb 25)

Delhi police crack agency involved in trafficking Tibetans to Europe: report
Authorities claim to have smashed a module allegedly involved in human trafficking by sending Tibetan refugees to Europe via Russia and Hungary. (Feb 25)

HHDL to students: Don't be lazy like me!
In South Florida, tales of growing up and meeting with world leaders (Mao chewed with his mouth open, spit food on my plate). (Feb 24)

The Chinese are in my laptop!
It is now almost routine for China to launch cyber attacks on journalists and news agencies: they have recently attacked the computer systems of Reuters, Dow Jones and Agence Presse. (Feb 22)

Nepal deploys additional armed force on Tibet border
The additional deployment of armed police comes two weeks before the sensitive Tibetan National Uprising Day to be marked on March 10. (Feb 22)

Google will pave way to freedom in China: HHDL
"Do I look like a demon?" the winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize joked, holding his fingers beside his head to make horns. (Feb 21)

Why does the West love the Dalai Lama?
Why is this Tibetan spiritual and political leader such a popular figure in the West? (Feb 18)

Why Tibet matters so much
It would be humorous if it were not so tragic. All Tibet -- not only the Tibet Autonomous Region [TAR] but also the eleven Tibet Autonomous Prefectures [TAP] of other Chinese provinces that are twice as large and are home to twice as many Tibetans as the TAR -- is under military lock-down, with thousands of Tibetans dead in the last two years, imprisoned for peaceful protests and tortured to break their spirit. (Feb 17)

China Intensifies Tug of War With India on Nepal
Last week a Nepalese government delegation visited Beijing on a trip that underscored how China's newfound weight in the world is altering old geopolitical equations. (Feb 17)

Obama to meet with HHDL
Despite Chinese howls, Thursday's White House meeting is on. (Feb 15)

The Dalai Lama's principled pursuit of democracy
Now that the White House has announced that President Obama will receive the Dalai Lama, it is important that he be welcomed not only as a moral and religious leader respected throughout the world but also as a fellow democrat who shares America's deepest values. (Feb 15)

Secret of the world's 'most successful' refugees, the Tibetan community
"What the Central Tibetan Authority (CTA) has done in the last 50 years is noteworthy. While Tibet's culture is continuously destroyed in China, it is being preserved in a foreign land." (Feb 14)

"Smile" says renowed Tibetan doctor
"The most important thing in life is to smile three times a day, sincerely from the heart," is the advice from renowned Tibetan physician Dr. Pema Dorjee. (Feb 10)

Destination Romance: Lhasa, Tibet
Author Pico Iyer is enchanted by a mountain-top city on the cusp of great change. (Feb 11)

Chinese police admit enormous number of internal spies
Numbers suggest that China has at least 39 million informants, around three per cent of its population. (Feb 10)

Opinion: Tibetans would make Gandhi proud
They might not be out marching on the streets, but Tibetans are quietly - and steadily - exercising their rights. (Feb 10)

Ladakh -- Chasing the Snow Leopard
She wasn't visible at first. Then she moved, rippling silently down a gully of rocks . . . this was Uncia uncia, the snow leopard, one of the most endangered species on Earth and one of the most beautiful. (Feb 9)

Beijing cuts off Canadian university after Dalai Lama honor
The Chinese regime's vehement opposition to any form of recognition of the Dalai Lama has had repercussions for the University of Calgary, which awarded the exiled Tibetan leader an honorary degree during his visit to Calgary last September. (Feb 9)

Nepal's home minister visits China to discuss security against Tibetans
The high-ranking Nepali official led an eight-member delegation to Lhasa and Beijing to discuss border control and preventing so-called "anti-China" activities by Tibetans on Nepal's soil. (Feb 7)

Tibetans to mark traditional New Year with symbolic protests
Tibetans are marking their traditional New Year, Losar, which falls on Feb. 14 (this Sunday), with symbolic protests and other forms of campaign actions designed to highlight the repression in their country under Chinese occupation rule. (Feb 6)

Special: An unpublished interview with Howard Zinn
The late historian reveals much about his coming-of-age as an original thinker -- specifically his experience as a soldier and its influence on his politics -- and his quest to not only study democracy, but to experience it. (Feb 5)

Obama budgets $7.4M to preserve Tibet culture
The President has proposed a $7.4 million allocation in his annual budget for preservation of the tradition and culture of Tibet in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and other parts of China. He has also instructed Treasury Secretary Geithner to support any funding projects for Tibet at international financial institutions. (Feb 2)

China warns Obama not to meet with Dalai Lama
China yesterday said that a possible meeting between Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would hurt trust between the two countries, already at odds over Washington's arms sales to Taiwan. (Feb 2)

China may become developed, democratic by 2040
China will likely become a middle-ranked developed country and establish a "democratic political civilization" by around 2040, 10 years earlier than anticipated in the plan drawn up by former leader Deng Xiaoping, reported a publication of the Communist Party of China's mouthpiece People's Daily. (Feb 1)

Wisdom out of the box
An intrepid Tibetologist from Utah has dedicated his life to resurrecting ancient Tibetan Buddhist texts by digitizing them and uploading them to the Internet. (Feb 1)

China tells Tibet envoys no compromise on sovereignty
Chinese officials told envoys of the Dalai Lama there would be no compromise on China's control of Tibet and Communist rule was a boon to the mountain region. (Jan 31)

India researchers squeeze more life out of tomatoes
Researchers in India have managed to extend the shelf life of tomatoes by an extra 30 days by suppressing enzymes that promote ripening, helping the fruit stay fresher for longer. (Jan 29)

HHDL's envoys to resume talks with China
Envoys of the Dalai Lama arrived in China yesterday to resume a long-running series of negotiations over Tibet that have so far been fruitless. (Jan 26)

Beijing boasts of "leapfrog development" in Tibet
Despite $45.4 billion in investments since 2001 and more than a decade of double-digit economic growth, some observers question whether Tibetans have benefited as much as Han Chinese. (Jan 25)

China worried Dalai Lama might seek Indian citizenship
The provincial government of Tibetan autonomous region has come out with a statement that reveals a hidden worry among Chinese officials that the Dalai Lama might actually seek Indian citizenship. (Jan 25)

A chicken and egg dilemna in Tibet
Tales from a bus ride along the "Chinese Gulag." (Jan 24)

Is it China and India, or China vs. India?
India and China's historic tensions have been masked by dialog between the two countries but they still ripple underneath. A good overview of the issues. (Dec 8)

Jail terms for Tibetans who posted Dalai Lama photos: report
A Chinese court has sentenced two Tibetans to three years (each) in jail after the pair posted pictures of the Dalai Lama on the Internet. (Dec. 8)

HHDL discusses Science of Mind with top scientists in Sydney
His Holiness joined three of the world's foremost psychologists and neuroscientists for a forum on 'Science of Mind' at Sydney's Mind and its Potential Conference; topics included Buddhist science and modern psychology, depression, positive psychology and the evolutionary basis of emotions. (Dec 7)

Nepalese cabinet meets in the clouds
Nepal's top politicians strapped on oxygen tanks and held a Cabinet meeting in the frigid, thin air of Mount Everest to highlight the danger global warming poses to glaciers ahead of the international climate-change talks. (Dec 5)

The last of the Dalai Lamas?
Even His Holiness questions the institution's future relevance. (Dec 4)

The tragedy of the Himalayas
Scientists call it the third pole -- but when it comes to clear and present threats from climate change, it may rank first. And the problem is water. (Dec 4)

A revival of Maoism in China?
As the Chinese Communist Party leadership tries to convince the world that China is eagerly integrating itself with the global marketplace, the ultra-conservative norms and worldview of Chairman Mao Zedong are making a big comeback in public life. (Dec 2)

China building 27 airstrips in Tibet: Report
China is building or repairing as many as 27 airstrips in Tibet for potential use against India in case of a conflict, according to India's chief intelligence agency. (Dec 1)

HHDL urges world to act on climate change
In Australia, His Holiness said the world's leaders must prioritize the issue of global warming above all else. (Nov. 30)

The older India that endures
Tracking the spiritual quests that make up daily life in a modernizing country. A Wall Street Journal book review. (Nov. 27)

SECRET: Canada's Tibet File; 1944-1969
"The problem of Tibet is a most interesting one . . . " See the original documents. (Nov. 26)

China pledges Rs100 million military assistance to Nepal
In a move that may raise concerns in India, China has pledged a slew of financial assistance to Nepal, including military aid and training the Nepalese Army. (Nov. 26)

Nepal to build on ties with China
Four months after his first official visit to India, Nepal's embattled Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal now heads to China in a bid to enhance ties with his country's northern neighbor. (Nov. 25)

"Shangri-La" caves yield treasures, skeletons
A treasure trove of Tibetan art and manuscripts uncovered in "sky high" Himalayan caves could be linked to the storybook paradise of Shangri-La, says the team that made the discovery. (Nov. 24)

US thanks "valaue based" India for hosting the Dalai Lama
The US has thanked India for extending hospitality to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a statement that is likely to anger China. (Nov. 24)

Indian youth urged to adopt Gandhian principles
The Dalai Lama has urged Indian youths to adopt Gandhian principles of non-violence and truth, describing the principles as a treasure of Indian culture and tradition. (Nov. 23)

Dispelling myths about India and climate change
Barack Obama and Manmohan Singh need to overcome the mistrust that has characterised recent US-India relations on climate change and energy. (Nov. 23)

China tries dissident from U.S. after Obama leaves
A student leader of China's 1989 pro-democracy movement who has long lived in the United States went on trial in China a day after U.S. President Barack Obama finished a visit that raised human rights. (Nov. 20)

Dalai Lama appeals to China on drying Tibet rivers
HHDL appealed to China to take action to stop Tibet's glaciers melting, saying the environmental crisis was more urgent than a political solution over Tibet's future. (Nov. 19)

Why does China have such a short-sighted Tibet policy?
For a country which can boast of the invention of silk and which has given to the world Confucian wisdom, China's stand on certain issues is, to say the least, incomprehensible. (Nov. 19)

My death will be setback to cause: HHDL
In Italy, His Holiness said there will be a setback in the Tibetan cause when he dies, but that he has faith in the next generation of Tibetans. (Nov. 19)

Presidents Obama and Hu discuss Tibet at their first summit
At the US-China summit in Beijing, Presidents Obama and Hu have released a joint statement that indicates they discussed a resolution for Tibet, human rights and religious freedom. (Nov. 17)

A tale of two train stations
There are hardly any new major railway stations constructed these days with the exception of two new train stations that have come up in the last few years: the Srinagar Railway Station and the Lhasa Railway Station. (Nov. 17)

Five things the U.S. can learn from China
Can the world's lone but weary superpower actually learn something from China? (Nov. 16)

Dalai Lama was a slave master, China tells Obama
The conviction was clear but the message befuddling: China's Foreign Ministry spokesman was equating serfdom in Tibet to slavery in the U.S. - just ahead of President Obama's first trip to China. (Nov. 14)

HHDL: I'm messenger of India's ancient thoughts
His Holiness said he considered India as a master and Tibet its disciple as great scholars like Nagarjuna went from Nalanda to Tibet to preach Buddhism in the eighth century. (Nov. 14)

Obama may raise Tibet, rights issues directly with Hu
President Barack Obama intends to discuss freedom of expression, rule of law and Tibet with Chinese President Hu Jintao during their meeting in Beijing next week, a senior White House official said. (Nov. 10)

HHDL: Be Buddhists of 21st century, bring reform
Asking his followers to be "Buddhists of the 21st century," the Dalai Lama asked the community to work for removing evils like superstition and bring "positive change" in the society. (Nov. 10)

Frontier town venerates Dalai Lama
Perched high up in a remote corner of north-east India, Tawang, the town into which the Dalai Lama entered India in 1959, is every bit the frontier town. (Nov. 10)

Five political risks to watch in India
Tensions between India and China are in focus this month, with the Dalai Lama visiting the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and another round of talks on a disputed border area set to begin. (Nov. 3)

Economy spurs syphilis boom in China
While China in the 1960's nearly eradicated syphilis "through a powerful campaign of propaganda, mass screening, closing brothels and providing free treatment for sex workers," the epidemic has re-emerged since the recent economic boom. (Nov. 3)

U.N. urges Nepal Maoists to respect human rights
The United Nations called on Nepal's government and other parties in the Asian country to ensure that the human rights of all people are protected and respected as protests organized by the former Maoist rebels are held throughout the State. (Nov. 3)

The burden of being Dalai Lama
In the past months the infectious smile -- which has become his trademark -- has left the Dalai Lama's face many times. (Nov. 2)

HHDL in Japan: "We can bring smiles"
"I think we can do it. We can bring smiles all around us," said His Holiness to over 3,000 people in Tokyo. (Nov. 1)

Beijing gets first snow after meteorologists seed clouds
Beijingers woke up this past Sunday morning to a city turned white with snow that came far ahead of the winter. (Nov. 1)

Norbulingka Institute launches biography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
A six-volume biography chronicling the spiritual and temporal achievements of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was recently aunched during a ceremony attended by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Norbulingka Institute in Dharamsala. His Eminence the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje unveiled the new biography. (Oct. 27)

Nothing is off the table with China: India
India's external affairs minister served up an ace a day before he plays host at the ninth trilateral Russia-India-China summit by restating India's position on the status of Tibet as an integral part of China. (Oct. 26)

China's 'new front' on Indo-Nepal border
The Chinese are making their presence in Nepal felt by opening language centers in Nepali cities on the Indo-Nepal border. These centres are teaching Chinese language. But, what raises suspicions on Chinese intentions is the fact that these centers are open only for Nepali citizens. (Oct. 25)

HHDL sees Tibet's future in education
"What I tell Tibet is education, modern education is very essential," he says. "We are carrying our struggle strictly through non-violence. So, in order to carry on a non-violent struggle effectively: education." (Oct. 26)

Why China is scared
It's all about the simple monk. (Oct. 25)

Watch/listen to HHDL's teachings of the Four Noble Truths
Today and tomorrow His Holiness gives teachings on The Four Noble Truths in Dharamsala. Live video and audio streaming in English is available. Very precious! (Oct. 21)

China shows Kasmir as separate from India
China has gone a step further in its bid to internationalize its border disputes with India. Besides issuing separate visas to Indian passport holders from Jammu and Kashmir (Indian States) China is now projecting Kashmir as an independent country on maps, media kits and tourist information brochures. (Oct. 20)

Helping orphans, Tibetan and Chinese alike
Tendol Gyalzur returned from exile to provide homes for children in her native Tibet. (Oct. 20)

Rivals China, India in escalating war of words
China offered to help India's archrival, Pakistan, develop a territory claimed by India. India invited the Dalai Lama, a top irritant to China, to visit a state claimed by China. (Oct. 19)

UN's caste declaration riles India
The United Nations' recent decision to declare discrimination based on the caste system a "human-rights abuse" -- thereby acknowledging centuries of bias against the world's estimated 200 million Dalits (untouchables) -- has evoked a sharp reaction from India. (Oct. 19)

Swarms of rats plague rural Myanmar
A spreading plague of rats has devoured crops in western Myanmar, giving rise to a famine that threatens hundreds of thousands in the country's remote Chin State. (Oct. 18)

Home safe and sound
His Holiness has arrived in Dharamsala, his exile hometown in Northern India, after successfully concluding his visit to the United States and Canada. (Oct. 13)

"Arunachal is an integral part of India"
India has reacted strongly to Chinese objection to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, saying the comments were disappointing as the state is an inalienable part of the country and such remarks do "not help" the process of talks on boundary issue. (Oct. 13)

Future face of the Dalai Lama
The face of the Dalai Lama will be watching over Sydney for the next month as nine billboards are erected before his Australian visit in December. (Oct. 11)

India's floods reveal climate change specter
Indian farmers had been praying for rain after the weakest monsoon season in 40 years had left their crops stricken by drought. But when the rains finally came, forceful and incessant at six times their normal levels, they left behind the worst floods southern India had seen in more than a century. (Oct. 11)

An elite, if eclectic, entourage
In Washington, D.C., His Holiness rolls with operatives, actors and world's happiest man. (Oct. 10)

Why India fears China
Ever since the anti-Chinese unrest in Tibet last year, progress toward settling long-lasting border disputes has stalled, and the situation has taken a dangerous turn. (Oct. 10)

Obama state dinner: First one honors India
And the first state dinner of President Barack Obama's administration goes to . . . India. (Oct. 10)

Politicians in India turn against one another
It is an all-too-familiar political story. (Oct. 6)

New U.S. Tibet coordinator meets and greets Dalai Lama
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, who has met every sitting U.S. president since George H.W. Bush in 1991, met with Maria Otero, the US government's new pointperson on Tibet upon his arrival in Washington, D.C. (Oct. 5)

Obama's delayed meeting with HHDL is a nod to the Chinese
In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama's summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month, according to diplomats, government officials and other sources familiar with the talks. (Oct. 5)

A cure for India's driving mess
Anyone who's travelled India's roads knows the frustrations and chaos, here's some ideas that may hold value for driving experiences way beyond the subcontinent. (Oct. 4)

Tibetan Buddhists prepare for post-Dalai Lama era
The world may never know another Dalai Lama. In a recent interview, HHDL again stated that he isn't too concerned about whether there will ever be a successor. (Oct. 3)

Nepal to tighten Tibet border area to please China
Nepal will for the first time in its history form a Border Security Force to patrol its northernmost tip of the border it shares with Tibet in a bid to prevent anti-China activities by Tibetan dissidents. (Oct. 2)

HHDL proclaims himself a feminist
In Memphis: "I call myself a feminist. Isn't that what you call someone who fights for women's rights?" He then went on to add with his infamous sense of humor that "some feminists have too much emotion, that I don't like." (Sept. 30)

India's army is capable of countering Chinese military threat: Army Chief
Rubbishing the chances of a repeat of the 1962 Sino-Indian war which China won, the Indian Army Chief General said the Army was "capable of defending" Indian territory and warding off any aggression. (Sept. 29)

HHDL: Chinese intellectuals have gained better understanding about Tibet
In an interview in Vancouver, the Dalai Lama said the Chinese intellectuals have gained better understanding about Tibet, and underlined that some negative feeling amongst many ordinary Chinese against Tibetans was caused by Chinese government propanganda and wrong information. (Sept. 29)

The thaw at the roof of the world
After surveying the Himalayas for many years, a respected Chinese glaciologist recently warned that, given present trends, almost two-thirds of the plateau's glaciers could well disappear within the next 40 years. (Sept. 29)

Exploring the nature of reality
A first glance at Buddhism -- and most Westerners have had at most a quick glance at this ancient religion -- suggests that it has little in common with science. Not so. (Sept. 28)

U.S. takes a radical turn on Myanmar
The Obama administration has broken ranks with its recent predecessors in announcing its intention to engage Myanmar's ruling generals while also maintaining economic and financial sanctions against the military regime. (Sept. 28)

Obama appears to be taking the 'middle way' on Tibet
While he wants to be sympathetic and friendly to the Dalai Lama and his cause, President Obama seems not to want to offend the Chinese government by getting too close to the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile. (Sept. 25)

HHDL begins U.S. visit with a Memphis fist-bump
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader began a more than two-week visit to North America yesterday by learning a contemporary gesture -- the fist-bump. (Sept. 23)

A preview of the Dalai Lama edition of The Vancouver Sun
His Holiness will sit as guest editor of the Sept. 26th edition of The Vancouver Sun. (Sept. 21)

13-year-old Indian to address UN climate change summit
A 13-year-old Indian girl has won the honor to address President Obama, President Hu Jintao of China and other world leaders on behalf of the world's three billion youth and children. (Sept. 19)

HHDL hopes to meet Obama in Nov.
The Dalai Lama hopes to meet Barack Obama after the U.S. president's maiden presidential trip to China in November. (Sept. 17)

This time, India won't stop Dalai Lama
India is not likely to stop the Dalai Lama from visiting Arunachal Pradesh in November, even after China's public whinge. (Sept. 15)

President Obama sends delegation to meet Dalai Lama in Dharamsala
The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama confirmed that discussions between the Dalai Lama and a senior U.S. Government delegation took place in Dharamsala earlier this week. (Sept. 14)

First complete image created of Himalayan fault
An international team of researchers has created the most complete seismic image of the Earth's crust and upper mantle beneath the rugged Himalaya Mountains, in the process discovering some unusual geologic features that may explain how the region has evolved. (Sept. 12)

China launches the "Strike Hard" campaign in Tibet ahead of major anniversary
Chinese authorities in the "Tibet Autonomous Regions"(TAR) have launched a new "Strike Hard" campaign ahead of the 60th anniversary of the National Day Celebration (starting 1 October). (Sept. 10)

In India, national mission for female literacy launched
The National Mission for Female Literacy, a renewed effort to make 70 million people - 60 million of them women - functionally literate by 2012 was launched by Prime Minister Singh. (Sept. 8)

The new Chinese media vs. the Dalai Lama of Tibet
There is a quiet revolution taking place in the world of Chinese official media. (A blog report) (Sept. 7)

China Google boss departure reignites debate over censorship
They were never going to be the easiest of bedfellows. When Google, the modern face of Western freedom, first decided to launch a censored version of its search engine inside communist China, civil liberties campaigners were appalled. (Sept. 5)

China and India dispute enclave on edge of Tibet
Though little known to the outside world, this is the biggest tinderbox in relations between the world's two most populous nations. It is the focus of China's most delicate land-border dispute, a conflict rooted in Chinese claims of sovereignty over all of historical Tibet. (Sept. 3)

The Buddha's steppes
The recent discovery of rare Buddhist relics in Mongolia's Gobi Desert has brought under the spotlight that country's religious heritage. (August 30)

Sudden death for India's moon mission
India's moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, has come to an abrupt end after a communication link with the spacecraft snapped. (August 30)

China intensifies resettlement of Tibetan nomads
The Chinese government announced it has moved about 50,000 Tibetan nomads out of a nature reserve in the west of the country as part of a resettlement program that began in 2005. (August 29)

Is Russia's president a White Tara?
President Medvedev of Russia was hailed as a goddess during a recent official visit to a Buddhist monastery in eastern Siberia. (August 28)

Life has new meaning in the Himalayas
An intrepid tribe of scientific Indiana Joneses has unearthed a remarkable treasure trove of unknown species in the eastern Himalayas, marking one of the biggest-ever series of discoveries of new life forms on Earth. (August 16)

China quietly reshapes Asia
It's all about oil, and Beijing has gained serious geopolitical advantages over Moscow because of the effect the global economic crisis is having on the Russian economy. (August 16)

Turning Buddhist temples into rescue shelters for Taiwan's typhoon victims
108 people were killed, 45 injured and 62 are still missing in Taiwan's worst typhoon in 50 years. (August 16)

The India-China rivalry
"There cannot be two suns in the sky. China and India cannot really deal with each other harmoniously," said a recent article. An Asia Sentinel report. (August 15)

HHDL urges release of Suu Kyi
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, currently on a religious tour of Ladakh, called for the release of fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. (August 14)

India wary as China conducts biggest "long-range" war games
Less than a week after India and China held what they described as fruitful talks on a long-standing border dispute, China embarked on a massive war-game designed to improve its ability to dispatch troops over long distances. (August 13)

Nepal deploying security along Tibet border
With support from China, the Government of Nepal is deploying 12,000 armed police personnel patrolling Nepal's border with Tibet. (August 13)

India threatens Nepal sovereignty
Thousands of Indian security personnel freshly deployed along the Nepal-India open border have threatened the Nepali nationalism, a secret report prepared by the Nepali governemnt says. (August 12)

Escape from Tibet: Crossing the Himalayas with refugees
It's been 50 years since the Dalai Lama fled the Chinese occupation to find refuge in India, and the steady flow of refugees leaving Tibet has never stopped. Swiss photographer Manuel Bauer followed a father and his daughter in 1995 on their dangerous 22-day trek from Lhasa to Dharamsala in India. Here are his photos. (August 11)

The way to resolve the Tibet issue
A very insightful assessment of the Tibet situation by Zhang Boshu of the CASS Philosophy Institute in Beijing. (August 11)

Educating the next generation of Indians
The more educated a nation, the more its chances of being prosperous. An opinion piece from the Asia News Network. (August 4)

Eyewitness accounts of first generation Tibetan exiles made public
Following the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to document personal stories of Tibetan elders the Tibet Oral History Project (TOHP) has posted 25 oral records of the last generation Tibetans to live in a free, unoccupied Tibet on its website. (August 4)

New dangers for Tibetans in Nepal
The wave of protests against Chinese rule that began in Tibet in March 2008 and the resulting crackdown transformed the political landscape -- and made a dramatic impact on the situation for Tibetans across the border in Nepal. (August 3)

One man's harrowing escape from Tibet
A story that is the stuff of legend, and might well end up woven into local lore and marveled at by Tibetan youth for generations to come. (August 1)

Lenders find ex-monks are very bankable
What does it take to win a small business loan in today's economy? Monk-like discipline doesn't hurt. (July 31)

Breastfeeding around the world
Babies and toddlers are the most vulnerable to serious bacterial infections leading to diarrhea, dehydration and in some cases, even death when the water supply is compromised. (July 30)

An interview with the Karmapa Lama: Tibet's young voice
Karmapa means "the one who carries out Buddha activity" or "the embodiment of all the activities of the Buddhas". (July 27)

Sitting quietly, doing something
Can science explain the good cheer of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, the "world's happiest man"? (July 25)

The doctor is within
The first words the Dalai Lama said when he came into exile, were "Now we are free." (July 24)

Mountain Peril
Tibet is becoming a popular holiday destination, but are travellers equipped to handle ailments that can occur at high altitudes? (July 22)

The poem that touched Hillary
While speaking in Delhi, to drive home her point on women's emancipation across the world, Ms. Clinton quoted a verse from a poem penned by young Anasuya Sengupta. (July 20)

Countering riots, China rounds up hundreds
In the two weeks since ethnic riots tore through Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang, killing more than 190 people and injuring more than 1,700, security forces have been combing the city and detaining hundreds of people, many of them Uighur men whom the authorities blame for much of the slaughter. (July 20)

Film review: Unmistaken Child
To accept what happens in 'Unmistaken Child,' you don't have to believe in reincarnation. But you do have to believe that the people in this movie believe in it -- that the idea of a mind passing from a dying Buddhist lama to a newborn boy is part of everyday life. (July 19)

HHDL moves with the times
"The Dalai Lama held temporal and spiritual leadership over the last 400 or 500 years. It may have been quite useful, but that period is over," he says to the Tibetan people in a video. (July 18)

A home for the Tibetan mind: The legacy of Gyatsho Tshering
When the young Gyatsho Tshering approached the Tibetan government in 1967 with the idea to build a library he was told that he was crazy. "They said, 'This is impossible. You're just dreaming.'" Tshering could see their point. "But I am a dreamer. I just go on trying and trying." (July 16)

Why the West is silent on rioting in Xinjiang
When China slapped Tibet, the world shouted. But things change. (July 15)

India hopes for movement forward
On the eve of India and Pakistan's first substantial official interaction since last November's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the Indian side accepts that Islamabad has taken "some steps" to address its concerns even as doubts persist about how deep the Pakistani establishment is prepared to go in putting the various terrorist groups operating on its territory permanently out of business. (July 14)

U.S. advances legislation to fund programs for Tibetans inside Tibet and in exile
Legislation that provides millions of dollars for Tibet programs is advancing through the Congress, having passed both the House and Senate. (July 14)

China Crucible
China has taken a strikingly different path towards a prosperous future than the West. But has the world's last great one-party state reached the limits of its formula for success? (July 13)

Looking at China unrest from a Mongolian perch
As events unfold in Xinjiang Province, there has been a resurgence of ethnic Chinese nationalist sentiment mixed with fear and mistrust of not just the Uighur people but also the outside world. (July 12)

India's top court favors death by hanging
India's top court has refused to replace hanging with lethal injection as the country's sole method of execution, saying there is no evidence it is less painful than other ways. (July 7)

China's latest Tibet?
There are sinister echos of China's treatment of Tibet in their response to the unrest in the capital of its northwestern region of Xinjiang. (July 6)

The obscenity of Tibet tourism
The equation is simple, visiting Tibet as a tourist does not in any meaningful way benefit the Tibetan people. (July 5)

HHDL interviewed: Companies need hearts and brains
Buddhism, economics and management are all interconnected; the Dalai Lama believes the financial crisis is a moral crisis. (July 4)

Tibetan monks and nuns turn their minds toward science
At the Dalai Lama's urging, exiled monastics seek more physical knowledge. (June 30)

Karmapa appeals for wildlife preservation
"Animals are not our enemies. We are all interdependent; every animal has a role to play in the ecology. If you remove one layer, everything is affected. Even in the interest of human beings, by saving wildlife, you are ultimately helping yourself." (June 29)

Journey of Discovery
A group of adventurous volunteers in Tibet took the route less travelled, and was greatly enriched by the experience. (June 28)

Obituary: Gyatsho Tshering, eminent scholar of Tibetan studies
His work enabled the spread of Tibetan dharma texts worldwide. (June 28)

Buddhist bedside manner
At New York's Beth Israel Medical Center, Buddhist chaplains offer prayers, meditation, massage and other assistance to the sick. 'We focus on listening,' one says. (June 23)

HHDL: My job is too big for one man
In a speech that underscored the pressures he has had to bear during his life serving as both a spiritual and political leader, the Dalai Lama says there is no need for his successor to perform the two roles. (June 22)

Tibetan monks tell tale of escape from China
The monks left a monastery after participating in a protest in front of journalists in 2008. (June 21)

Quitting the Chinese Communist Party
Here are two stories about how eagerly some Chinese are seeking ways to break away from the CCP. (June 20)

Burma's Suu Kyi turns 64 amid outrage over trial
Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spent her 64th birthday in detention as supporters worldwide condemned her trial and called for tougher sanctions against the military regime. (June 19)

India, Pakistan start talks ball rolling
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh broke the dialogue logjam, meeting President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia. Their talk topic: terrorism. (June 16)

China presumes power struggle in Tibetan PM's resignation move
China has interpreted the recent move by the prime minister of the Tibet's government in exile to resign from the top post as an indication of "troubles within the Dalai Lama's circle." (June 15)

The Tibet question: a Chinese think-tank dares to ask
A group of legal scholars from a Chinese think tank have put their careers and reputations on the line by daring to try to shed some reasoned light on the "Tibet question" and the causes of last year's unrest in the region. (June 13)

China Communist Party newspaper to expand coverage
The ruling Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily, is expanding its coverage as part of a reported multi-billion-dollar drive to expand China's international media influence. (June 12)

China creates specter of dueling Dalai Lamas
The current Dalai Lama and his followers are competing with the Chinese government for control of how the 15th Dalai Lama will be chosen. (June 9)

Monk suicides on the rise in Buddhist Tibet
This pattern is alarming and clearly indicating to the level of religious repression in Tibet. (June 8)

Alarm over China's web-filtering plan
Personal computers sold in China after July 1 must carry a software that filters online content. (June 6)

HHDL's statement on 20th anniversary of Tiananimen Square uprising
A call for courage and far-sightedness on behalf of the Chinese leaders. (June 4)

New images of burning of wild animal pelts in dramatic act of dissent
Images received from Tibet depict thousands of dollars worth of wild animal pelts being burned in a dramatic assertion of Tibetan identity at the height of the current crackdown on dissent. (June 1)

Autonomy is solution for Tibet, Dalai Lama says
The influx of Han Chinese and the growing restrictions on religious practice have become the biggest threats to Tibet, which faces "something like a death sentence" under Chinese rule, said His Holiness. (May 30)

Launching the endgame
After decades of patient manoeuvring, China has initiated the "endgame" to finally resolve the Tibet issue and eliminate opposition by a Dalai Lama to its hold over Tibet. A Times of India editorial. (May 28)

BBC to help sell China's Lhasa for tourism
The BBC is to make a short film and broadcast it free to help China promote tourism to Tibet's capital Lhasa. (May 25)

Six Tibetans seriously wounded in protests
At least six Tibetan women have sustained serious gunshot wounds after Chinese security forces opened fire at a group who were protesting against China's forceful relocation of tens of thousands of local Tibetans. (May 24)

The Karmapa interviewed
Ogyen Trinley Dorje hopes to get a university education, but will the government allow it? (May 23)

HHDL pins hopes on exiled Chinese
Years of fruitless negotiations with Beijing and the undying hope of returning to Tibet one day appear to have prompted the Dalai Lama to change his strategy (May 20)

Peace laureates publish declaration against nuclear weapons
Seventeen winners of the Nobel Peace Prize are calling for a world free of nuclear weapons in a joint declaration that was published in a Hiroshima newspaper. (May 19)

Veteran Communist Nepal wins Nepal's PM seat
The protracted and tricky race for a new prime minister in Nepal came to a virtual end with veteran communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal getting the backing of 22 of the 24 parliamentary parties. (May 17)

HHDL: Himalayan communities better placed to preserve Buddhism
His Holiness said Buddhist nuns from Himalayan regions have an important responsibility in preserving Tibetan Buddhist traditions, which he said are facing an uncertain future in their homeland. (May 16)

China's future leaders
China has its leaders planned far, far off into the future. A Forbes report. (May 15)

Rural Tibetans Are Being Forced to Relocate on Massive Scale
Recalling the socialist engineering of an earlier era, the Chinese government has so far relocated some 250,000 Tibetans -- nearly one-tenth of the population -- from scattered rural hamlets to new "socialist villages." (May 7)

HHDL Says He May Live Out His Days in Exile in India
In a Taiwanese magazine interview, His Holiness, calling himself "semi-retired" from Tibet government affairs, says he may never see his homeland again. (May 6)

MySpace "China Style": Report Thy Neighbor
MySpace has launched in China, the world's most populous nation, but this is definitely NOT the MySpace you're used to. (April 28)

On the Road: the Little Lama Who Loves Being Nemo
He's four years old, and his arrival in Singapore from Nepal brought more than 500 people to the airport to greet him. (April 7)

Tibetan Catholics Defy Atheist China on Faith
A small group of villagers, converted by Swiss missionaries generations ago, hangs on in Yunan province. (April 3)

New Delhi Court to Drivers: "Butts Out"
The city's High Court imposes a "first on the world" ban on smoking while driving, claiming it makes the already dangerous city streets more so. (March 28)

China Firm on Tibet, Taiwan Issues, Premier Says
Rejecting talks with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and warning the island against a break-away, Premier Wen Jiabao talks tough. (March 18)

Look Who's Praising Hu . . .
The Dalai Lama sought to bridge a very difficult emotional gap for Tibetans when he praised Chinese President Hu Jintao on the anniversary of Uprising Day. (March 11)

China Says: "We are Tibet's Real Buddha"
The People's Party has a pretty high impression of itself regarding its role in the lives of the Tibetan people. (March 5)

Much at Stake for Tibet at Remote Monastery
The monastery, located in Tibet, is in what was one of His Holiness' favorite spots. It is no secret to the Chinese that one day it may play a pivotal role in determining his successor. (March 4)