Tools for the Study of Tibet

Where is Tibet?
Curricular Ideas for K-12 Educators
Questions for the Study of Tibet
Glossary of Political Terms
Timeline of Tibetan History

Words for Reflection

The reason why love and compassion bring the greatest happiness is simply that our nature cherishes them above all else. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another.
- Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet

From the moment of birth every human being wants happiness and wants to avoid suffering. In this we are all the same.
- Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet

We rely so much on each other and are so interconnected that without a sense of universal responsibility, a feeling of universal brotherhood and sisterhood, and an understanding that we really are part of one big human family, we cannot hope to overcome human suffering, let alone bring about peace and happiness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet

Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not a luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.
- Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet

Many times I am asked if I am angry at the Chinese for what has happened. Sometimes I lose some temper, but afterwards I get more concern, more compassion towards them. In my daily prayer, I take in their suffering, their anger, and ignorance...and give back compassion. This kind of practice I continue.
- Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet

While the rest of the world was busy exploring outer space, we Tibetans were busy exploring inner space.
- Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet

For as rain forests are to the earth's atmosphere...so are the Tibetan people to the human spirit in this time of its planetary ordeal.
- Huston Smith, from The World's Religions

Why is it that the fate of Tibet has found such a deep echo in the world? There can only be one answer: Tibet has become the symbol of all that present-day humanity is longing for, either because it has been lost or not yet been realized or because it is in danger of disappearing from human sight: the stability of a tradition, which has its roots not only in a historical or cultural past, but within the innermost being of man, in whose depth this past is enshrined as an ever-present source of inspiration.
- Lama Anagarika Govinda, from The Way of the White Clouds

Tibetans are masters of ritual. Incense; chanting; circumambulation around temples and prayer walls; rhythmic beating of drums and cymbals; receiving blessings by holy monks, or lamas; recitation of mantras; the spinning of prayer wheels are all enacted for the benefit of both the individual and the overseeing deities. Emphasis on ritual provides almost every Tibetan - whether they live in Tibet itself, or in refugee communities scattered throughout India, Nepal, Switzerland or North America - with a deeply satisfying connection to both Buddhism and Tibetan culture.
- Edie Farwell and Anne Hubbell Maiden, The Wisdom of Tibetan Childbirth, In Context, No. 31

When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth, and the Dharma will come to the land of the red men.
- Padmasambhava, Indian Buddhist Guru who helped to spread Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th century, A.D.

When the iron bird flies, the red-robed people of the East who have lost their land will appear, and the two brothers from across the great ocean will be reunited.
- from the Book of Hopi

The word "genocide" must be used with care. Our world and our century have seen countless abominable massacres, and it is easy to slip into the use of the word to denote such atrocities. We should, however, restrict it to those crimes before high heaven which are truly designated by it. If we do so, and if we consider only the last sixty years, there are four such mass murders which can justifiably carry the terrible brand. They are: the Jewish Holocaust, the Stalin Terror, the bloodthirst of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, and what was done to the people and culture of Tibet during the miserable lust for death and torture unleashed by the mad Mao Tse-tung under the name of "The Cultural Revolution".
- Bernard Levin, The Times, September 7, 1990 (Introductory Quote From Mary Craig's, Tears of Blood: A Cry of Tibet)

Chinese are betrayed by their mistrust. Tibetans are betrayed by their hope.
-Jamyang Norbu in Red Flag Over Tibet

If the valley is reached by a high pass, Only the best friends or worst enemies are visitors.
- Tibetan Proverb

Chip ... chip. That's the sound of Tibetan civilization being hacked away
- Melinda Liu, China Invades Tibet - Again, Newsweek, April 3, 1995

Silence is consent.
- Michel Peissel, opening quote from Cavaliers of Kham: The Secret War in Tibet.

For as long as space endures, And for as long as sentient beings remain, Until then may I too abide To dispel the misery of the world.
- Shantideva, from A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, A common dedication prayer for Tibetan Buddhists.

Wisdom is the bliss of seeing through the delusion of self-preoccupation to reveal the underlying dimension of freedom. Compassion is the expression of such bliss to others. Compassion is also sensitivity to other's suffering.
-Robert Thurman, from Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet

Not long before his death, the great historian Arnold Toynbee was asked to name what he considered to be most significant event or phenomenon of the 20th century. It was not one of the great world wars, nuclear fission, television, or the computer. It was, he said, "the coming of Buddhism to the West."
- from The Utne Reader, March/April 1993

Compiled by Tibet Education Network. Taken from: Approaching Tibetan Studies: A Resource Handbook for Educators, by Tibet Education Network (see The Global Source Catalog)