Tibetan བོད་པ Gossip
Today Tibet, with its unique cultural heritage which incorporates Buddhist spirituality, is truly facing the threat of extinction. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place. Time is running out.
-- His Holiness the Dalai Lama
With an average elevation of 14,000 feet, Tibet is literally the highest nation on earth.
Five of Asia's great rivers including the Indus, Mekong and Brahmaputra have their headwaters in Tibet, nearly half the world's population lives downstream from Tibet.
Tibet's high plains, forests and mountains form a unique ecosystem on the planet and are home to an array of rare wildlife, including the snow leopard, blue sheep and Tibetan wild ass. This ecosystem and many of its species are now endangered.
Tibet fully embraced Buddhism in the 8th century AD. Since then, a paramount objective of Tibetan culture has been the cultivation of a good heart and a calm, clear mind.
In wake of China's occupation, Tibetan Buddhism became a principal target for communist reforms. By 1969, not a single practicing monk or nun remained in Tibet. Today, China's communist Party permits some practice of religion, but controls and severely restricts Tibet's monasteries and nunneries.
www.friends-of-tibet.org.nz/tibet.html
