Festival celebrates endangered culture

Half-a-world away the Tibetan people and their culture are facing near extinction due to Chinese occupation and colonization, but the Tibetan people have established a safe place in Bloomington, which was re-opened to the public yesterday.\nThe Tibetan Cultural Center, in honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 71st birthday, hosted a Tibet Fest Sunday to educate Hoosiers about the continued plight of the Tibetan people and to welcome the American public into the realms of traditional Tibetan culture. About 400 community members attended the event, which included traditional Tibetan food, handicrafts and Tibetan art like a butter sculpture and sand mandala.\n"How many places can you have Tibetan culture and Hoosier hospitality all in one?" Elaine Irwin Mellencamp, Chamtse Ling Temple board member and wife of local Hoosier rockstar John Mellencamp, asked the crowd during the ribbon cutting ceremony.\nIn all, seven ribbons were cut by retired professor Thubten Norbu, eldest brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and founder of the TCC; Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan, Patrick O'Meara, IU dean of international programs; Brother Benedict, TCC's Dominican Brother from St. Paul Catholic Center in Bloomington; Tasha Daugherty, communications director from the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau; Elaine Irwin Mellencamp and TCC Director Venerable Arjia Rinpoche.\nSeveral Tibetan rituals were performed to honor the Dalai Lama and to celebrate his birthday, including the recitation of the prayer for the long life of the Dalai Lama and an offering of a traditional Tibetan scarf called a Khata to His Holiness's image. Hoosier guests were also entertained by Tibetan song, dance and music throughout the day. There were also children's activities and a film about His Holiness after the ribbon cutting ceremony.\nAlthough Tibetan history dates back more than 1,500 years, the current plight of the Tibetan people began after the 1949 Chinese invasion of an independent Tibet. The Dalai Lama was forced into exile in India after China completed its occupation in 1959, according to the International Tibet Independence Movement, and more than 1.2 million Tibetan men, women and children have been slaughtered since that time -- including about 350,000 human beings from starvation, about 175,000 held hostage in prison/labor camps and more than 150,000 from execution.\nGraduate student Mary Kate, a representative from the Bloomington chapter of Students for a Free Tibet, said the main focus of her organization is to raise awareness about the continued plight of the Tibetan people under the rule of Communist China.\n"With the world watching Bejing because they are hosting the 2008 Olympics, it's a good time to educate people about the Tibet issue," she said as she offered Hoosiers yellow "I Love Tibet" T-shirts for $5 each. "We'll know Tibet is free when all the Tibetans can return to Tibet and live as they did before China's 1949 occupation -- with their own government, language, money and postal stamps." \nKate said she has seen firsthand the human rights violations, environmental devastation and military wrath of Chinese occupation on the Tibetan people when she visited Tibet two years ago. Besides the destruction of about 6,000 Tibetan monasteries, endangerment of 81 animal species native to Tibet and loss of more than 40 percent of Tibetan forests because of Chinese clear-cutting efforts, she said China has insisted on denying the Tibetan people their human rights to freedom of speech, assembly, press and religion. Tibetans are considered political prisoners and often face death if they display the Tibetan flag, images of His Holiness, protest Chinese occupation or speak the words "free Tibet."\n"I feel really lucky we have Tibetan culture here in Bloomington to expose everyone to," Kate said. "They have a rich religious culture of Tibetan Buddhism, a rich artistic and musical culture, all of which feeds into daily life. Their language is also actively dying in Tibet as Mandarin Chinese begins to dominate. ... The Tibetan people are becoming minorities in their own country." \nAccording to an information display at Tibet Fest, in the Tibetan culture Dalai Lamas are considered "manifestations of the Buddha of Compassion" that chose a path of rebirth to serve other human beings. Tibetan Buddhism is open to people of all faiths and denominations because it is a religion of "enlightenment."\nDespite the 1989 awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for his "opposition to violence" and "forward looking" solutions regarding the betterment of humanity and Mother Earth, Communist leaders of the People's Republic of China have labeled His Holiness a "terrorist."\nRinpoche said he fled Tibet in 1998 before settling in California. He said he is hopeful the United Nations and Western countries like the United States can unite to save Tibet before most of Tibetan culture disappears, but that a future "free Tibet" depends on a present day "free China."\n"Tibet is still an independent country but now it belongs to China." Rinpoche said. "Chinese people are great but the problem is the government -- too narrow. If you have freedom in China, you have freedom in Tibet."\nMellencamp said the Tibetan Cultural Center offers people a different aspect of Bloomington that further promotes peace and compassion -- two qualities, she said, Hoosiers can never have enough of. She said she enjoys hearing the Tibetan story from monks and learning about their journey toward enlightenment.\n"I think there is a long way to go for a free Tibet but this is a good place to start because there are plenty of Tibetan people in Bloomington," Mellencamp said. "Teachings about compassion and the hardship of others are important lessons to learn"