India – The Land of Gautama Buddha

I belong to ‘The Land of Gautama Buddha’ and I had whole heartedly pledged my support to His Holiness Dalai Lama and to the people of his Land and I firmly believe that we should seek and give our support for a FREE TIBET and evict the Occupier of Tibet.

Buddham Saranam Gachhami  

Dhammam Saranam Gachhami  

Sangham Saranam Gachhami 

This entry is dedicated to the loving memory of those brave men who sacrificed their lives while nurturing fond hopes to win freedom for Tibet and they cherished a dream to preserve the Tibetan Identity.

Both Telengana and Andhra Pradesh record the influence of Buddha on our hearts and minds. Acharya Nagarjuna, another great Teacher lived in Nalgonda District.  India is the blessed Land where Lord Gautama Buddha had lived and preached. His great compassion and noble qualities made a great impact on our character and our identity as Indians.The symbols such as the National Flag and the National Emblem that we have chosen to represent us speak volumes about the long-lasting influence of the Buddhist preachings.

I had the good fortune to visit Buddhist temples known as Gompas and got acquainted with the Buddhist religious traditions for over four years while I lived with Tibetan Buddhists. I had also visited Tibetan Camps in Bylakuppe and Mundgod in the State of Karnataka.

In December 1974,when I had arrived in Secunderabad,I thought that I am posted to a military station away from my camp life with Buddhists.The motto of our military formation in Secunderabad is “BASH ON REGARDLESS.” I reached Secunderabad from the Himalayan frontier with the hope that I could bring my wife and my daughter from Kadapa where they had been living while I was serving at a field location where families are not permitted to live. As I arrived at my new Unit, the first thing that I was told was that I need to immediately proceed on a military training exercise and that I am not allowed to bring my family to Secunderabad as my services are urgently needed for the exercise.I dutifully took my place in a military convoy and after a few hours my vehicle went past the government quarters where my parents lived while my father worked as Principal of the Nagarjuna Government College in Nalgonda.

I reached the exercise location near NAGARJUNA SAGAR and that was my first visit to that area even though I had lived in Andhra Pradesh for a fairly long time.I took the opportunity to visit the historical site of Acharya Nagarjuna’s ‘VIHARA’.

Buddha had left his wife and son in the middle of the night and abandoned his life of comfort in a royal palace as he desired to find the “TRUTH.” I had no intention to travel in the foot steps of Gautama Buddha, but I chose to stay away from my family if that could help His followers to reclaim their lost possessions and preserve their identity. Even today when I look back, I do not regret the time I spent away from my family and my mission to support Tibetan Buddhists was indeed a serious one. I was willing to put my life on-line if that could make a difference in the lives of those Buddhists who needed my services. I want to share the following essay which was published in ‘The Ann Arbor News’ on Thursday,October 14,1999 and hopefully this essay may convey you the passion with which I had served to support the followers of Gautama Buddha: 

Don’t neglect Tibet for the sake of making money in China: 

The United States-China relationship has naturally come under a critical review because of the nuclear espionage charges.It is irrelevant if China has actually benefited from the sensitive information that the U.S. has lost. What is far more important is the fact that the U.S. has lost its ability to keep sensitive information secure. 

Presidential candidate George W.Bush has very correctly pointed out that the U.S. needs to prepare against a potential military threat that China might pose. 

A review of the U.S.-China bilateral relationship should take us back 30 years to the time it actually began. The relationship,from the beginning,has no solid foundation. In spite of the huge trade and commerce relationship that the U.S. built up with China over these years, there is a basic lack of trust. 

The reason for this mistrust is political. The Chinese political system derives its strength from the ideology of communism. The U.S. essentially adheres to the values of democracy, freedom and liberty. 

China, as of today, is not a free society.Its political philosophy does not inspire us and is not trustworthy.Whatever the U.S. business investments may be,whatever the market reforms that China has introduced in recent times may be, there is a huge gap in terms of our political ideologies. 

Communism and democracy cannot become good partners in a bilateral relationship. 

The reason that I believe would end the U.S.-China bilateral relationship is the problem of Tibet. 

The identity of Tibetan people could not be destroyed by all these years of Chinese oppression.The passion of Tibetan people for their freedom could not be subdued by prolonged, brutal occupation. Tibetan people are brave and courageous. They are willing to pay the price to regain their land and liberate it. They have the strength, will power and commitment to achieve this goal. 

I witnessed this fact when I marched with hundreds of Tibetans through dense inhospitable forests for three months some years ago. 

This was not a camping expedition.We had sick people and severely injured people who were sent to hospitals.We had beautiful people who lost their lives in those remote forests and they lay buried or cremated there. Their sacrifices are etched into my memory. 

The only reason for taking that risk to suffer loss of life is the issue of winning back Tibetan freedom. 

I also had an opportunity to speak with hundreds of Tibetan boys. Each one of them had a clear idea of their national identity and a compelling desire to win their freedom even if they had to pay for it with their lives. 

The U.S. should understand that the issue of Tibet is not going to fade away. 

When China occupied Tibet, the U.S. sent its citizens to help these people to plan their resistance.The U.S. sent tons and tons of supplies to aid their struggle. U.S. did not cover itself in glory when it withdrew this support it gave to Tibetans. The U.S. personnel were withdrawn and the aid dried up. That was an intensely painful moment for people like me who were then living with Tibetan people.

All of us had an understanding of the event that led the U.S. to backstab the Tibetan people. The U.S. sacrificed the freedom of the Tibetan people in its quest for establishing bilateral ties with communist China. 

Thirty years after this betrayal, the United States should reevaluate the basic principles for which it stands today. The U.S. flag has been always a symbol of freedom. The issue is not that of containment of China. The issue is not that of engagement of China. The real issue is that of the freedom of the Tibetan people. We need to stand up for our own fundamental values and do the right thing. 

Dr. R. Rudra Narasimham, B.Sc., M.B.B.S.,

Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India,

M.B.B.S., Class of April, 1970.