A message from Costanzia

(SAKA DAWA 2021)

Many people have asked me why I set up this fundraiser on behalf of Tibet's exiled Buddhist monks and nuns.  There are no easy answers.  Tibet is not free.  Tibet's monastics have been targeted for violence from the time the PRC, an officially atheist state, invaded Tibet on 7 October 1950.  Their living conditions have been deteriorated further after the 1959 escape of the Dalai Lama — Tibet's head of state and spiritual leader — to India seeking political asylum.  Since that fateful time, monks and nuns have had to endure inconceivable indignities inside communist detention centres, again and again brutally tortured and imprisonned for years and even decades.  By the late 1970s, 1.2 million Tibetans had died as a result of cultural annihilation and political persecution.  Here's refworld.

The stories of these refugees — orphans and children, adults, families, kind lamas, monks and nuns — are heartbreaking.  These are naturally gentle, deeply spiritual nomadic people who have fled occupied Tibet and been wholly displaced.  They reached exile in India, some settled in Nepal and Bhutan, having crossed the Himalayan mountains on foot — not by plane or train.  For years, thousands upon thousands met death on the way to freedom.

From the 1959 mass exodus from Tibet to this day, it's a miracle that stateless Tibetans in India have survived insurmountable odds, even manage to preserve much of their unique 1300 year-old Buddhist culture from Tibet.  These refugee monks and nuns have taught us compassion and tolerance for all living beings — even for those who oppress them in their fatherland.  In these times of crisis, we cannot simply leave them alone to fend for themselves.  Their world is under siege.  They need help.

Coronavirus has brought the informal economy inside Tibetan refugee settlements — with the philanthropists and pilgrims — to a stand still.  Self-reliant Tibetans are at risk of losing their livelihoods due to the economic fallout post-covid.  With a rapid increase in food prices post-pandemic, Tibet's "great three" monasteries (DREPUNG, SERA and GANDEN in India) really need our help.

Governments alone cannot win this war.  That's why we endeavour to keep this fundraiser ongoing for some time.

Please consider helping the monks in need, in any way possible.  By donating to each FOOD FUND above, on a continuous basis, we can ensure that thousands of monks can sustain themselves in these times of crisis.

Thank you for considering 🌺

Ｃｏｓｔａｎｚｉａ  Ｔｒａｎ  PGDip  MBA  MSc

Written:  Saka Dawa (May) 2021