I’m raising money for the Free Tibet charity because it is a charity that is close to my heart. It campaigns and raises awareness to try to defend and protect the centuries old practice of Tibetan buddhism. Working with its monitoring arm Tibet Watch – the charity keeps an eye on what is happening in the country, pressures governments and publishes research so that the world can know about the human rights abuses and the truth cannot be silenced.
Here in the West, especially in wellness, we have benefited so much from practices like meditation, mantra, mindfulness and yoga. Practices that wouldn’t have been possible without Tibetan buddhism – which is central to Tibetan culture. A culture and faith that is being systematically targeted and destroyed by the Chinese government. With prayer wheels and sacred statues being ripped out of monasteries and monks and nuns arrested. The Chinese government has recently been stepping up its campaign to erase all memory of Tibetan buddhism in an area called Drago County. Learning institutions are being shut down and demolished and children are being separated from their parents and forced into residential schools for forced re-education – and we all know how that went for Indigenous children in Canada and the US.
His holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan buddhism, was exiled in the 1959 to India after fears he would be murdered by the Chinese authorities – who saw the religion as a threat to their control of the country. Now the Chinese government is intensifying the oppression of Tibetan culture and their belief in re-incarnation by trying to appoint a leader of Tibetan buddhism themselves. We cannot stand by and watch this happen.
It is not right that our government and royal family cosies up to the Chinese government and it is vital they are held accountable by us and in particular by those who know the issue best -the Free Tibet charity. But they need backing from us.
It is really striking to me that we are free to practice here in whichever way we want and benefit from its teachings, while our Tibetan brothers and sisters cannot. I regularly sing Tibetan mantras and pray for Tibet, but prayers are only part of it. I am also aware we must take action. There is so much going on in society at the moment, it can be hard to know where to start, but there is also so much we can do to make it better. I believe if we all cultivated a mindset like Tibetan buddhists and reduced ego, fear, mindless consumerism, greed and lack and instead increased feelings of loving kindness towards ourselves and others, that problems like climate change, selfishness and war would cease to exist. The world would be a more loving place and a reflection of our inner peace. This is why I consider it a force for peace that is vital to protect.
How you can help?
About Balance has kindly donated a room to me, so I am holding a charity soundbath on the 30th of September at 8pm there. The address of About Balance is 20-22 Gloucester Place , BN1 4AA. It’s in central Brighton. The bowls have been made by Tibetan artists under a full moon and I will be writing about them soon. Please contact About Balance and book a ticket: 01273 686882, or book through the mindbody app under workshops. All proceeds go to the Free Tibet charity.
I would love to see you there and hopefully you can benefit from the bowls and lay there and relax while doing something amazing for Tibet. If you can’t make this, then you can also donate to the charity directly and if you have no money, then you can be amazing and use your voice instead and please sign their petition here…
https://secure.freetibet.org/stop-chinas-war-buddhism
Wishing you love and happiness. x