Tibetan American Student Association SCSU

We stand with the Black and African American community, a great beginning of the week!

Jury reaches verdict in George Floyd case

Can’t wait to go vote for the first time for the TPiE!! - Tenzin Kunchok Lhadon

5,000-page funding bill including COVID relief also has section detailing reincarnation of Dalai Lama The legislation calls out China's "interference" in the succession process for the leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

Happy Kongpo Losar from TASA to you!!! Kongpo Losar is celebrated typically a month before traditional Losar. Famous for its archery, kong is located in the Utsang province of Tibet. Locals participate in various customs during the three-day event, such as preparing a feast for dogs.
“Whatever the dog eats is believed to bring a different luck in the coming year,” said Nyima, a resident in Mainling county.
“If dogs choose to eat tsamba, cooked barley flour mixed with cheese and sugar, it means there will be a bumper harvest the next year,” he said.
Activities during the festival will include events such as clearing out the ghosts, carrying holy water, religious offerings, songs, dances and archery, according to residents.

Today, on the Gregorian Nov 7th, 2020, it is the 22nd day of the lunar month according to the Tibetan Buddhist calendar. It is also a day Tibetans call Lhabab Duchen, which is the anniversary of Buddha Shakya-muni’s descent from heaven after liberating his mother and teaching to the gods. On Lhabab duchen, similar to other auspicious days, Tibetan Buddhists engage in various virtuous activities to practice Dharma (the nature of reality regarded as a universal truth taught by the Buddha) It is said that all actions, both positive AND NEGATIVE on these auspicious days are multiplied up to 10 million times! So just remember, it’s easier to to be kind and compassionate, than hateful and rude.

Happy birthday to the mother of Tibet, Ama Jetsun Pema la, the younger sister of His Holiness! She started the Tibetan Children’s Villages around India in order to give kids places to live and learn and teach the culture. Thank you for your role in our lives 🙏🏽

“The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds.” Today on July 6th, 2020, we celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 85th birthday. At the age of 15 he fled his home country across the Himalayas for months before reaching India. Even though his home was stolen, he has taught nothing but peace, love, and compassion for all sentient beings. One world, one dream, Free Tibet.

གངས་རིའི་རྭ་བས་བསྐོར་བའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་སུ་
ཕན་དང་བདེ་བ་མ་ལུས་འབྱུང་བའི་གནས་
སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཡི་
ཞབས་པད་སྲིད་མཐའི་བར་དུ་བརྟན་གྱུར་ཅིག་

TASA would just like to give a HUGE congratulations to the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota for buying a new cultural center! Ever since Tibetans first came to MN, our gatherings were held in this small old office building with only 5 toilets for 500+ people. Now, although a bit of a drive, we have a new building to celebrate birthdays, graduations, weddings, and prayers in! We can’t wait and hope to bring TASA members there one day!

Happy TRUE Independence Day to our Black and African American friends, families, and allies. TASA will not stop until Black Lives Matter and racial injustices stop.

Yesterday, TASA President, Tenzin Lhadon, went to George Floyd’s memorial. Out of respect, she prostrated and offered 2 white kathaks (ceremonial silk scarf that symbolizes purity and compassion) George Floyd is not the only reason we are protesting, George Floyd was the top of the iceberg, change needs to happen. Reformations must be some, fake tears by government officials only harm the community.

“I am unable to breathe”
“The movement for Black lives is a struggle that is honest and genuine. Those that respect freedom and equality, this is there movement as well”

What is happening in Minneapolis and St Paul is due to the brutal use of police force and the abuse of power. TASA stands by the Black community and everyone fighting for justice to be served. We riot with you in our hearts and out on the streets where we join you to have your voices be heard and to have no more deaths. Black Lives Matter.

༄་བཀྲ་བཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་།

TASA would just like to say thank you, ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་ to everyone that has shared this post and felt a meaningful connection to it. Facebook says we’ve reached over 26,000 people!! Growing up Tibetan, we did not have many things in pop culture that we could relate to. It’s heartwarming to see people we’ve never met around the world sharing this. We’re a small group and only have 4 Tibetans at our school without much support from the school. It’s hard when you see the people that are supposed to help your community grow stay silent on Tibetan issues but continue to share events and information about the other organizations. But we’ve known from a small age that no one will work as hard as you work for yourself. Once again TASA and our community say thank you, this is the most interacted with post on both our FB and Insta .stc since we were founded last summer and wish for you all to stay safe.

POP CULTURE LESSON!!!

What have you been binging during quarantine? We’ve been watching Avatar the Last Airbender among with many other Tibetans!! Since we were kids, we grew up being able to relate to this TV show more than real people. Believe it, Avatar the Last Airbender is based off of Asian cultures and historical events. The most widely recognized view is that the Air nomads are actually Tibetan!!
The process of finding a new Dalai Lama is similar to the process of discovering the Avatar. After Roku died, the Air Nomads found his reincarnation by having children pick from thousands of toys. The Avatar would pick the four that belonged to past Avatars because they were familiar to them. The same process is used in choosing a new Dalai Lama: asking questions and presenting possessions of the Dalai Lama to the candidate to see if they truly are the Dalai Lama. The Fire Nation was recognized as China and their invasion of Tibet. Some other factors are that Aang's mentor was named Monk Gyatso and his son Tenzin, which form the real name of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. The Air Nomads were a monastic culture: Their bald heads, clothing, and meditation practices closely parallel real-world Buddhist monks. Monk Gyatso and Aang used airbending to lightheartedly make cakes. In Tibetan Buddhism, gtor-ma cakes are sacrificial cakes used in ceremonies and play an important role in Tibetan culture. The four elements are the elements represented in Tibetan prayer flags! If you watched Legend of Korra, Korra means circle in Tibetan, Aangs son is named Tenzin, and his wife is named Pema, meaning lotus flower, more commonly called “Methok Pema” @ Southern Air Temple

❤️- Tenzin Kunchok Lhadon

Hi everyone! TASA hopes that you are doing well along with your loved ones. As finals week is now here, we’re gonna give you some facts about Tibet that you may not know!

1) Airplane runways have to be longer the higher the altitude, the longest runway in the world is at a small Tibetan airport, measuring at 18,045 feet long!

2) 46% of the worlds population relies on freshwater from Tibet

3) pugs originated in Tibet! They were bought as a present for Sailors wives and were called “little Turks”

4) The Lhasa Apso dog was domesticated and bred as long ago as 800 BC in Tibet as indoor monastery sentinel dogs. The first pair was first brought to America in 1933 as a gift from the 13th Dalai Lama.

5) In Tibet, and still going on today in a small rural village (considered a monarchy), arranged marriage traditionally consisted of a single wife shared equally between multiple brothers of a household.

6) The British used Pundits to explore Tibet in the 1800s. Disguised as religious pilgrims, these Indian men were trained to walk precisely 2,000 steps per mile and mapped much of the area for the British while skirting the bans placed on westerners.

7) Potala Palace in Tibet has been the official residence of the Dalai Lama’s since the 7th century until 1959. The palace is the highest in the world and now, due to Chinese occupation, it has been turned into a neutral museum and visitors are asked to acclimatize themselves before entering, as they are not allowed to take oxygen supplies into the palace for fear of fire.

8) Even though Tibet is under Chinese occupation, there are no KFCs in Tibet in part because the Dalai Lama wrote them a letter explaining how the mass slaughter of chickens violated Tibet’s traditional values.

9) the Chinese government has banned multiple celebrities from coming to Tibet or China because they have recognized Tibet as an independent country

10) Part of one of the “Silk Road” routes went through Tibet.

YOUR SIX YEAR OLD CHILD SHOULD NEVER BE A KIDNAPPED POLITICAL PRISONER.

Today the Panchen Lama turns 31. Imagine if your child was kidnapped at 6 years old.

In 1995, His Holiness the Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a six-year-old boy, as the 11th Panchen Lama, the second most well-known religious figure in Tibet.

Three days later, Chinese authorities abducted the Panchen Lama and his family, making him the world’s youngest political prisoner.

April 25, 2020 is the Panchen Lama’s 31st birthday. His whereabouts remain unknown, and he has not been seen in public since his kidnapping, although it is believed he is still alive.

The case of the detained Panchen Lama shows China’s long game for securing control over Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet.

Shortly after abducting the Panchen Lama in 1995, China selected another boy to replace him. This person, named Gyaltsen Norbu, now takes part in formal events and serves as a proxy for the Chinese government.

Historically, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama have been involved in the recognition of each other’s reincarnation.

By empowering its selected Panchen Lama, China hopes to commandeer the eventual rebirth of the Dalai Lama.

The issue of the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation has been in the news recently. In response to media questions last month, the Dalai Lama said it was possible his next incarnation might be found in India, where the Dalai Lama has lived for the past 60 years since he was forced into exile from Tibet.

Tibetan Buddhists believe high-ranking lamas can select the time and place of their rebirths in order to benefit others. The Dalai Lama also formally declared in a 2011 statement that only he has the authority to decide his future incarnation.

Despite this, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry asserted in March 2019 that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation “must comply with Chinese laws and regulations.” Not only is this statement, coming from an officially atheist, communist regime, clearly absurd; it also represents a severe government intrusion in religion.

The location of the Panchen Lama is one of China’s most tightly-guarded secrets, one that they refuse to share. Despite Beijing’s claims that he is safe and does not want to be disturbed, Tibetans continue to demand to know where he is. Even after China appointed their own, pro-Chinese Panchen Lama, Tibetans have never forgotten Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.

In May 1996, China admitted that Gedhun and his family were being held at a secret location and China's ambassador to the UN claimed that, "(Gedhun) has been put under the protection of the government at the request of his parents." He did not say where Gedhun was being held.

In February 1998, American clerics visiting Tibet were told that Gedhun was in Beijing, but in March 1998, the vice governor of Tibetan Autonomous Region Yang Chuantang told Austrian delegates that he was actually living in Lhari - the place of his birth. In April 1998, a third location was put forward when a British journalist was told that Gedhun was studying, possibly in Gansu Province.

The Chinese government still refuses to reveal Gedhun's whereabouts or respond to requests from the United Nations and Western governments to check on his wellbeing.

We pray for his well being and will wait for his return and FREEDOM. we do not and will never support the illegal occupation of Tibet under the Chinese.

Earth Day 2020
Tibet- a small mountainous country that supplies 47% of the worlds population with freshwater
Tibet- where gold is being illegally mined
Tibet- where the temperature is increasing 3x faster than the rest of the world
Tibet- our home country, where we cannot go and pray to the Dalai Lama
Tibet- The land that is so close yet so far from independence

Take the pledge in our Instagram bio to help the Tibetan climate crisis. This isn’t just something for a small population, but for our whole word and the politics of the world we’re in.

Meet the board for the 2020/2021 school year!!

Today marks the beginning of a New Year in Nepal. We follow the Bikram Sambat Calendar which is estimated to be 56.7 years ahead in count of the solar Gregorian Calendar. The Year begins with the first day of the month of Baisakh which usually falls around 13- 15 April and ends in Chaitra.
Wishing everyone a happy new year full of happiness!

Our zoom meeting ID is.... ID: 806-784-9679 join us at 4:15 to see what our plans for next year are and our board members!!

If you would like to join the MN chapter of Students For a Free Tibet please comment or message us! We would love for more people to join, regardless of location!

This is one of the 8 auspicious symbols in Tibetan Buddhism called the Victory Banner.

In Sanskrit, the banner or sign of victory is known as the dhvaja, meaning standard, flag or sign. Originally, the victory banner was a military standard carried in ancient Indian warfare, and bore the specific insignia of its champion. For example in the Mahabharata, Krishna's chariot was adorned with a banner showing the image of the monkey-god Hanuman.

The victory banner was adopted by early Buddhism as an emblem of the Buddha's enlightenment, heralding the triumph of knowledge over ignorance.

This was painted by Tashi Dhargyal

We apologize for not posting sooner! Journey Across the World has been cancelled due to COVID-19 🥺 but no worries! We’re getting next years board together and we’ll wait to see you all again in the fall! Stay safe everyone