"Tibet Awareness Programme in Sri Lanka"
(Friends of Tibet: Sri Lanka, March 19, 2011)

Ravindra Ranasinha (Left) with the power point presentations on Tibet during the Tibet awareness programme in Sri Lanka on March 19, 2011 organised jointly by the Enlightenment Seeker's Study Circle and Friends of Tibet (Sri Lanka).

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Sri Lanka: The Enlightenment Seekers Study Circle, Colombo extended invitation to Ravindra Ranasinha of Friends of Tibet (Sri Lanka) to conduct an awareness programme on the Tibetan Struggle for Freedom, Tibetan Buddhism and Non-Violence on March 19, 2011. The programme was held at Erika Dias Residence with a gathering of people from various walks of life.

Erica Dias is a writer on Spiritual Studies and a Poetess who concentrates a lot on the Power of Meditation. The participants at the session were lawyers, university lecturers, ecologists, writers, enlightenment seekers and those who have experience in connecting with the realm of 'consciousness'.

Ravindra Ranasinha commenced his discussion by reading the poem 'Refugee' written by known Tibetan poet and activist Tenzin Tsundue. The gathering was made aware of the present plight of the Tibetans who have been subjected to the harassment, persecution and torture of the Chinese and the non-violent path taken by His Holiness Dalai Lama to defend his people. Ravindra showed the immense power of spirituality of the Buddhist Tibetans who are in a forward march to defend their nation with the enormous faith and energy of non-violence which has become a very active strategy in facing the perpetrator. He stated that Tibet is a strategic point for the Chinese and since they are vying to be the super power in the globe, China wants Tibet as a region from where all military strategies could be worked out. Therefore, Chinese occupation in Tibet is to ensure global power in their hands. However, with this intrusion into Tibet, the normal life of the Tibetans is severely disturbed and the Tibetan culture is now under threat. The Communist China wants reforms in Tibetan education, religion, politics and environment which mean that China is pushing for a complete subjugation of Tibet, destroying the cultural and spiritual strength of the Tibetans.

It was further elaborated that the expectation of the Chinese is to isolate the Tibetans from His Holiness Dalai Lama, however, His Holiness has made all arrangements to have a secular government-in-exile to be appointed so that total Tibetan population can have a participatory role in deciding their politics and all Chinese efforts to suppress the Tibetans will not be so easy. With this explanation Ravindra read the statement issued on March 14, 2011 by His Holiness to the Fourteenth Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies which explains why devolution of political power is needed.

Further, at this discussion it came to light that Chinese intrusion into the economic, military and social aspects of Sri Lanka is part of an effort to concentrate regional power in their hands. Ravindra showed that the clearing of jungles and building highways in Tibet affect the regional eco-system and that imbalance badly reacts on Sri Lanka, too. The clearing of jungles in Hambanthota, down south of Sri Lanka for the new Chinese funded international air port causes immense damage to the ecology in Sri Lanka. Also the wildlife is threatened severely with these constructions and especially, the elephants are compelled to enter into human settlements in search of food and water which aggravates the human-elephant conflict. Consequently, quite a number of elephants were killed during the recent past.

Under such circumstances, as convinced, the Sri Lankan has a duty to make everyone conscious of what's happening locally and create a strong network in order to stop the damages to bring peace to Sri Lanka and Tibet. Therefore, to think globally and to act locally is a strategy that was explained by Ravindra, if one needs to counter Chinese intrusion. The discussion further moved towards Tibetan Buddhism and its non-violent approach to build peace. A dialogue ensued on the differences between Theravada (practiced in Sri Lanka) and Mahayana (practiced in Tibet) traditions and how the Tantric practices are visible in Tibetan Buddhism which is completely alien to Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Also at the discussion Mr. Dharmin Samarajeewa said that Tibetan Buddhism has a connection with Bodhisatvas which was visible in Sri Lanka only at the time when Abhayagiri monastery was well established in Sri Lanka. This discussion made Mr. Sunimal who is more concerned on Bodhisathvas to query as to what happens to them when reincarnated in the human form and are unable to identify their responsibilities and duties and have subjected themselves to mundane trivialities. As he mentioned, the purpose of becoming a human should be understood by everyone and act to fulfill that purpose. Further, Erika Dias stated that the enhancement of a person's aura depends on how far one has consciously understood one's duty towards one's self and the environment.

This maturity of consciousness, as pointed out by Dr Laurel, decides for the Being to reach higher realms in the world of 'consciousness'. Dr Laurel Botsford further went into querying with all her enthusiasm as to how a Lama is selected. Mr. Jayawardane, a specialist in Kundalini Yoga explained the process of how a Lama is selected which made Dr Laurel to state that unless the previous Lama's have 'thought' to have reincarnated, there cannot be any possibility of finding another Lama. The logicality of Dr Laurel was accepted as it is believed in Buddhism that the 'thought' of a person at the time of death plays a vital role in deciding his or her next birth. The question of peace was clearly elaborated by Prof. Hiran Dias who mentioned that if everyone understands one's duties and act accordingly towards the society and environment then peace could be established with all its energy. This thought was further upheld by Ravindra stating that each one has a different role to play and not everyone is going to do the same thing. Either one could plant a tree or one could stop someone from cutting down trees. Also one could talk to people and make people aware of conditions whereas some could organize events that could raise awareness of others. And this diversity of peace action was accepted by everyone.

There were two PowerPoint presentations on the Beauty of Tibet and also of the Freedom Struggle that helped the gathering to visualise Tibet's natural environment and to see the struggle that is taking place in the Tibet Autonomous Region to achieve lasting peace. Prof Hiran Dias said that peace could be achieved only if people think positively and act positively, renouncing all negative thoughts and viewing things negatively. Ravindra read two of Erika Dias' poems, namely, 'Peace is Space' and 'The Artist Within' that vibrate the strength of peace.

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Friends of Tibet is a people's movement to keep alive the issue of Tibet through direct action. Our activities are aimed at ending China's occupation of Tibet and the suffering of the Tibetan people. Friends of Tibet supports the continued struggle of the Tibetan people for independence. Friends of Tibet is also one of the principal organisers of World Tibet Day around the world.