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DHARMA or DECEPTION?: Chinese Soldiers Dressed as Tibetan Monks

Posted on Mar 31st, 2008 by thinkpossible : Dharma Warrior thinkpossible
There is an image and a story travelling around the internet in emails and plastered all over the blogosphere right now that needs to be addressed.

I received the following email thru a large Buddhist community’s email list. The article claims British intelligence has taken images, via satelitte, of Chinese soldiers dressed as Tibetans starting the recent violence in Lhasa, Tibet. The image that accompanied the article seemed somewhat familar to me... that and the fact that the image’s angle tells me that it could not have been taken from a satelitte raised my curiosity level and prompted me to look into the truth of these claims and image.

After alot of research, what I discovered was that the photo is from the set of a 2001 movie. And the reliabilty of of the article is highly questionable, at best.

If you would like more details on exactly what I discovered and how I found out this information, please read on. I encourage you to please post a link to this blog anywhere you see this disinformation online, or pass this on to anyone who may have seen this photo or article and were led to believe it was accurate.

So, what is my motivation for wanting to clear this? Am I calling the His Holiness the Dalai Lama a liar? Am I defending the Chinese’ brutal oppression of the peaceful Tibetan people? Am I denying that the Chinese government has or could have their soldiers masquerade as monks and incite violence?

I am a Buddhist practioner in the Tibetan tradition. I have been a social activist. I have worked to help ease suffering and have advocated for rights and freedom at home and abroad. I am a member of the Buddhist community and devoted to the Tibetan lineage. As a Buddhist, I do my best to study and follow the teachings of the Buddha and all the great teachers of the many lineages who have followed. In Buddhism (as well as Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism) the precious holy teachings are called "Dharma". The word Dharma is often translated as "truth". It would make sense then, to have a deep respect and appreciation for honesty and truthfulness.

As far as my research has uncovered, His Holiness has never addressed this particular photo. He has stated that he had heard reports of Chinese soldiers masquerading as monks and starting the violence in Tibet. Personally, I do not doubt that the Chinese government has done the very things they are accused of in this article/photo. We have seen it plainly and recently in Burma and earlier in Thailand, Vietnam and elsewhere... I absolutley would not be suprised to see this very same tactic from China.

However, I do not believe that the Tibetans’ freedom from oppression (or anyone else’s) will come or should come at the cost of our own honesty. We should not participate in the same kind of disinformation and deceit as the Chinese government. Spreading untruthful rumors based on photographs of a theatrical film and calling it real is dishonest and will only create more suffering, not ease it. It will create more problems, not less.

I think we can all recognize the importance of looking beyond the surface, beyond initial or obvious appearances, and deeper into the heart of honest truthfulness -- even though what we may find is not convenient to our current ways of thinking or perceiving. Especially in this age of immediate global information, we must take individual responsibility for the information we distribute. The dissemination of incorrect or inaccurate information can have repercussions that reverberate around the world and become the cause of further confusion and suffering. A single email rumor can sway the outcome of elections, public support for war, generate debilitating fear, propagate hateful stereotypes, ruin reputations, destroy fortunes, tear apart friendships and communities. It is harmful and ignorant gossip at best. There is simply no excuse for not checking facts and sources.

May the Tibetan and Chinese people, and all beings on this planet always know peace, offer love and respect, be kind, and have happiness and freedom from oppression.

And may all beings benefit from the Dharma (the truth).

Ehron Asher

My Tibetan Buddhist name is:
Palchen Chotsam (trans: Great Glorious Dharma Holder)

"Verily, that which is Dharma is truth.
Therefore they say of a man who speaks truth, ’He speaks the Dharma,’
or of a man who speaks the Dharma, ’He speaks the Truth.’
Verily, both these things are the same."
(Brh. Upanishad, 1.4.14)

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Here is the original email I received:

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Just in case you wondered why these "Tibetan monks" were so violent in Lhasa....

Canada Free Press [Friday, March 21, 2008 10:20] Brit spies confirm Dalai Lama’s report of staged violence By Gordon Thomas
London, March 20 - Britain’s GCHQ, the government communications agency that electronically monitors half the world from space, has confirmed the claim by the Dalai Lama that agents of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the PLA, posing as monks, triggered the riots that have left hundreds of Tibetans dead or injured.

GCHQ analysts believe the decision was deliberately calculated by the Beijing leadership to provide an excuse to stamp out the simmering unrest in the region, which is already attracting unwelcome world attention in the run-up to the Olympic Games this summer. For weeks there has been growing resentment in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, against minor actions taken by the Chinese authorities. Increasingly, monks have led acts of civil disobedience, demanding the right to perform traditional incense burning rituals. With their demands go cries for the return of the Dalai Lama, the 14th to hold the high spiritual office.

Committed to teaching the tenets of his moral authority---peace and compassion---the Dalai Lama was 14 when the PLA invaded Tibet in 1950 and he was forced to flee to India from where he has run a relentless campaign against the harshness of Chinese rule. But critics have objected to his attraction to film stars. Newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch has called him: "A very political monk in Gucci shoes."

Discovering that his supporters inside Tibet and China would become even more active in the months approaching the Olympic Games this summer, British intelligence officers in Beijing learned the ruling regime would seek an excuse to move and crush the present unrest. That fear was publicly expressed by the Dalai Lama. GCHQ’s satellites, geo-positioned in space, were tasked to closely monitor the situation.

The doughnut-shaped complex, near Cheltenham racecourse, is set in the pleasant Cotswolds in the west of England. Seven thousand employees include the best electronic experts and analysts in the world. Between them they speak more than 150 languages. At their disposal are 10,000 computers, many of which have been specially built for their work. The images they downloaded from the satellites provided confirmation the Chinese used agent provocateurs to start riots, which gave the PLA the excuse to move on Lhasa to kill and wound over the past week. What the Beijing regime had not expected was how the riots would spread, not only across Tibet, but also to Sichuan, Quighai and Gansu provinces, turning a large area of western China into a battle zone.

See: buddhism.kalachakranet.org/chinese-orchestrating-riots-tibet.htm
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What follows is what my research uncovered in the order I discovered it:
 
1) Following the link at the end of the email on the day this email was sent (I learned from the webmaster that on this single day he had over 150,000 hits), there was a statement (which, after several lengthy email exchanges with him, has now been changed) which read "This is not an uncommon ’tactical move’ from the Chinese government as could be seen from the 2003 annual TCHRD Report". In the email I recieved, however, and elsewhere on the web, on various blogs and such, which mostly link back to his webpage, this statement is omitted.

2) The article states it is by Gordon Thomas for the Canada Free Press. A search of the Canada Free Press website did not return the article. I sent an email to Canada Free Press asking about the article. Judi McLeod, editor of Canada Free Press responded:

"Gordon Thomas generally files columns to Canada Free Press. The article he wrote was apparently for World Net Daily’s G2 Bulletin. David Dastych our Polish-based reporter sent the article in knowing CFP would be interested in the topic. After posting the article, Gordon Thomas wrote to say we had no right to post it. I immediately wrote to Mr. Joseph Farah, editor of World Net Daily, who requested for us to take the article down. Apparently WND G2 only goes out to paid subscribers."

3) So, the article originated on "G2 Bulletin", a subscription only subsidiary of World Net Daily (WND), which are both uber conservative and far right-wing. G2, WND and CFP’s other columnists include: Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan, the late Rev.Jerry Falwell, Dr. John Hagee, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Robert Novak and Bill O’Rielly. (My including mention of these other columnists is only to illustrate the conservative --'neo-conservative'-- in some cases, world view of these publications.

Canada Free Press (CFP) is also a right-wing, conservative web-publication. CFP and WND have both been in legal trouble in the past for getting caught with false stories, slander/libel (see examples: CFP, WND, WND 2, WND 3)

Other misleading, unsubstantiated or downright dirty, dishonest and hateful stories from WND/G2: 'Vote for Romney is a Vote for Satan', 'Homosexuality, fornication cause of tsunami?', 'Whites-only immigration policy for North America', 'Gay Marriage: The Cure for Homosexuality', 'Soy is Making Kids Gay' and this case where they re-reported on a story over a year old as a completely new story


4) Gordon Thomas is an ’intelligence expert’, who is or has been an exclusive columnist for G2 Bulletin, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, as well as ’American Free Press’ (publisher of 'The Barnes Review') which is well known to be an ’Antisemetic’ (some people claim Neo-Nazi) publication that thinks Hitler should have recieved the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr. Thomas was the featured speaker at the ’Anti-Zionist’, Holocaust-denying "4th Conference on Authentic History, Real News and the First Amendment", hosted by the founder of the American Free Press and the ’Populist Party’ (the party of KKK Grand Wizard David Duke), Willis Carto.

Some titles of Mr. Thomas’ other articles: "Brit MI6 confirms bin Laden nukes", "Russian WMDs hidden in U.S." and from 2003: "Smoking Gun: Saddam’s Bodyguard Reveals Secret Arsenal", in which he claims he "independently obtained documents smuggled out of Iraq which show he (Saddam) does have weapons of mass destruction that have eluded discovery by UN inspectors." including "motorised underwater chemical weaponized mines", "self-detonating precise guided missiles" and warheads stockpiled in sand bunkers, all of which are "concealed in a tunnel complex deep beneath the sewers of Baghdad". He also wrote a book called "Seeds of Fire" in Dec 2001 in which he claims China used bin Laden to assault U.S. on 9/11.

5) This article by Mr.Thomas appears to have been then reprinted (with exclusive permission by G2) and disseminated by "The Epoch Times", a privately owned newspaper, originally published in Chinese with close ties to Falun Gong (another spiritual group persecuted by the People's Republic of China.) The photo in question was not included in the article.

6) A different article: http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-3-29/67906.html DOES show a different photo which is said to have been doctored by Chinese to exclude what purportedly shows a Chinese policeman dressed like a Tibetan with a machete.

7) Neither the article by Mr. Thomas, or any of the information within it have appeared in any ’mainstream’ news outlet.

8) An email to the GCHQ (UK Government Communications Headquarters - the centre for Her Majesty’s Government’s Signal Intelligence activities) which is the main focus of the article, questioning the validity of the article yielded this response from Alan Thompson, Press Officer at the GCHQ:

"Thank you for your email. It is GCHQ’s long-standing policy to respond that we are able to neither confirm nor deny in respect to enquiries on intelligence matters. I would simply add that I am not aware of Gordon Thomas making any approach to GCHQ prior to publishing on this subject; such an approach would invariably be directed through the Press Office. I hope that is of some help."

9) A search of the website of the TCHRD (Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy), which is referenced underneath the image on the kalachakranet.org website, reveals none of the information reported in the article. Downloading a pdf file of "The 2003 TCHRD Annual Report" also makes no mention of any incidents of this nature and does not show this photo.

10) I then emailed TCHRD asking them if they could identify the image. I then received this email this morning from Tashi Phuntsok at the TCHRD:

"The photo you are referring has nothing to do with the recent unrest in Lhasa. It was true that the photo was depicted in our 2003 TCHRD Annual report back cover. The photo was a part of filmshoot (A MOVIE) made in Tibet where Chinese armies wore the monk robes. We received the photos in 2003."

11) After forwarding this information to the webmaster at Kalachakra.net, he changed the subtitle of the photo to read: "This is not an uncommon ’tactical move’ from the Chinese government, as could be seen on the back-cover of the 2003 annual TCHRD Report. This photo was apparently made when monks refused to play as actors in a movie, so soldiers were ordered to put on robes."

While this is slightly more accurate, it is still misleading... as he decided to interpret the information I gave him differently than the truth I offered. Nowhere does this information suggest that monks refused to be actors in the film. Without knowing what film it is actually from, this is just not possible to know. The people in the photo may not have even been real soldiers. Even if they were real Chinese soldiers, they are routinely asked to be extras in films made in China. The 2002 movie ’Hero’ used 18,000 soldiers as extras, for example.

UPDATE - TUES. APRIL 8: The International Campaign for Tibet made a statement via their website www.savetibet.org that they do not regard this photo as credible evidence of Chinese soldiers disguising themselves as Buddhist monks during unrest in Lhasa last month. They aknowledge that they are in possession of similar images of soldiers carrying monks’ robes in the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, which were taken during a film shoot in 2001 which involved soldiers appearing as monks.

UPDATE - SUN. APRIL 20: The photo is from the set of "The Touch", starring Michelle Yeoh, shot in Tibet in 2001. I have word from a good source that this has been confirmed by the films' distribution company, and am waiting to hear about a supporting confirmation from another inside source. Will update with support for this confirmation soon.

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PHOTO HOAX UPDATE: My Findings Reported & Supported in LA TIMES!

Posted on Apr 30th, 2008 by thinkpossible : Dharma Warrior thinkpossible
Shortly after I had posted my findings about the article and photo supposedly showing Chinese soldiers dressing as Tibetan monks during the recent unrest in Tibet, I was contacted by Mark Magnier, the Beijing Bureau chief of the LA Times. He called me from Beijing and we spoke for about an hour. I related all of the details and sources for my information, and then had an interesting discussion about the media in the 'Too-Much-Information Age', the Jeffersonian explication of a 'marketplace of ideas', and how people are much more alike than they would like to admit... including communists and capitalists, Chinese and Tibetans, conservative and liberal.

Mr. Magnier followed up on the information I provided to him, as well as digging up plenty of his own. The result is this article in today's LA TIMES.

I feel that Mr. Magnier did the best he could with this article, considering the difficulties he must encounter trying to report anything at all out of Beijing. The end result is not an outright 100% confirmation, but what I would consider substantial evidence, especially when all the pieces are put together.

Here, in my opinion, are the most important pieces from the article:

* Urgen Tenzin, director of TCHRD (Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy) in Dharmasala, said that the Dalai Lama's comments that "A few hundred soldiers have been dressed like monks." were drawn "...on independent sources." "He never based his information on that photo."

* I had informed Mr. Magnier that I was able to locate set reports and quotes from actress Michelle Yeoh's (now deleted) online diary from the 2001 film set of "The Touch", which talked about the filmmakers needing to use 2,500 extras because they couldn't find enough genuine lamas. (Michelle Yeoh fan website - See Entry 10/28/01) and (Film Gossip Site - See Entry 9/12/01)

Mr. Magnier reported this, and took it a step further by making contact with a photographer and an extra who were on the set in Tibet in 2001, both of whom confirm the story. The photographer, Yuan Rongzhao, shared his pictures from the set on his blog. The images clearly show military wearing monks robes in Lhasa on the 2001 set of 'The Touch'.

I suspect that these are the photos that are the "...similar images of soldiers carrying monks’ robes in the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, which were taken during a film shoot in 2001 which involved soldiers appearing as monks." which 'The International Campaign for Tibet' acknowledged that they are in possession of. (which I mentioned in a previous update)
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I had reported in my previous update that I had a solid confirmation from the films' distributor that the photo was from the 'The Touch'.  At this time, due to complications I'm sure you can imagine in dealing with information coming out of China, I cannot provide support for that specific confirmation.
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On a personal note, my one real disappointment with the article is that even though I made a very strong effort in my posts and throughout my hour long conversation with Mr. Magnier to point out that I am a Buddhist in the Tibetan tradition -- he did not mention it... or even that I was a Tibet supporter. In fact, the quote attributed to me in the article leaves out the heart of what was actually said, and without the context of my being a practicing Buddhist who supports the Tibetan cause, the reasons why I 'made it my mission' to convince people to not pass the photo along, are lost.

What was printed: "But the Internet picture supposedly featuring the Chinese paramilitary and the robes did not pass the smell test, as it seemed vaguely familiar, said Ehron Asher of Denver, a blogger, musician and artist. He has made it his mission on his blog and in Internet chat rooms to persuade people not to pass it along.

"Yes, the Chinese government should respect human rights," Asher said. "But the Tibetan cause should not come at the cost of our own honesty."

What was actually said to Mr.Magnier, and what I have repeated here and elsewhere many times: "It does not help the Tibetan cause (nor does it make sense, logically or karmically), to use deceit when trying to expose the Chinese govt's deceit. As a practicing Buddhist of the Tibetan lineage, devoted to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Karmapa, the Vajra-Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche -- I firmly do not believe that the freedom of the Tibetan people should come at the cost of our own genuine truthfulness, compassion and respect. Yes, the Chinese govt should respect Human Rights... and we should respect ourselves enough to not use deception and dishonesty to attain that goal."
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With that being said, I sincerely appreciate Mr. Magnier's effort and recognize how difficult it must be to try to investigate anything in China and try to report anything out of China. I wish you well, Mark. Please stay safe.

May all beings benefit from the truth.

with sincere respect,

Ehron
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By this merit may all obtain omniscience.
May it defeat the enemy, wrong doing
from the stormy waves of samsara may I free all beings.

By the confidence of the Golden Sun of the Great East
May the lotus garden of the Rigdens' wisdom bloom.
May the dark ignorance of sentient beings be dispelled.
May all beings enjoy profound, brilliant glory.
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