Tibet, China: Dialogue is crucial, says lama

This is a continuation of an RFA Mandarin service report from Wei Si:

The monks in the lamasery in Daofu county, Sichuan province, also tell us that a group of reporters arrived a few days ago, but were turned away by Chinese security forces who were guarding the gates. Such incidents have become commonplace since the Tibetan anti-Chinese protests which began on March the 14th in Lhasa, they say.
Things are really very tough for Tibetans at the moment, one lama says. We are not free, and it was inevitable that there would be a backlash. Beijing, he says, has changed a lot of things in the lives of Tibetans – our cultural activities, the way we live our lives, the economy. It’s as if they want to change who we are completely, he says.

He adds that the railroad, recently extended amid great fanfare from Qinghai to Lhasa, has made things worse for Tibetans. Many lamas are leaving the country to take refuge overseas, mostly in India. Now, there isn’t a single living Buddha left in China, and the monasteries are beginning to empty in the face of such powerlessness.

His emotion is plain to see when he talks about the role of lamas in defending the faith and keeping the sacred Law. But he says he wouldn’t urge people to boycott the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer. I still support the Olympics, he says, because it’s a good thing, and will bring honor to the Chinese people. He says he understands the feelings of Westerners, but his main concern is to continue to practise his faith in the face of huge political pressure from the Chinese. Dialogue, he says, between Beijing and the Dalai Lama, is crucial at this stage.