NEW DELHI: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping were on a swing along the Sabarmati and their respective Armies continued a face-off in Ladakh, the leader of a Buddhist sect on Wednesday sought help from the Indian government to stop his monasteries in Tibet from being taken over by a richer, rival sect, allegedly backed by the Beijing. Breaking his silence, Jigme Pema Wanghcen, head of 1,000-year-old Drukpa lineage school, also known as Gyalwang Drukpa, told Express about the “conversion” by the Karma Kagyu school. However, the latter strenuously rejected the claims, saying there was no such campaign or orders from their leader, the 17th Karmapa. Drukpa was here on Wednesday to address a seminar on Buddhist tourism.
Drukpa, who has 25 million followers world-wide, told Express on the “disturbing trend” of his monasteries in Tibet, ringing Mount Kailash, being taken over by powerful Karma Kagyu sect. “This has been going on for the past 15-16 years. But, we didn’t speak as we didn’t want to escalate the situation… We were hoping that they would realise what they are doing is bad. But, nothing happened, so we have to speak out now,” Gyalwang Drukpa said.
His office had issued a statement earlier this month, but this is the first time that Drukpa is publicly talking about the issue. He claimed that 12 of his monasteries have been converted “forcibly”, starting with the Dri-ra Phug monastery 15 years ago. This means that slowly through donations from Karma Kagyu followers, monasteries were taken over, the drukpa emblem obliterated and the sect leaders’ photos removed. His followers, numbering around two million across the Himalayas, were reportedly told to ‘convert’ to the Karma Kagyu school or face expulsion.
“There is a strong rumour that all of this is being done with funds from the Chinese government,” he said.
However, he was cautious in imputing any motive to the Chinese government. “We are still trying to find out from the ground on what could be the motive behind this,” he said. China, of course, maintains overall control over monasteries and monks in Tibet with many of them being the nursery for leading the struggle for autonomy in the region.
He emphasised that this was a matter which India had to take cognisance as for centuries, his followers had been the guardians of the Himalayan frontier.
“You know how sensitive the border is… especially now,” said Gyalwang Drukpa, an Indian citizen.
In May, Department of Posts released a special commemorative stamp to mark 1,000 years of Drukpa lineage. The Buddhist spiritual leaderis planning to raise the issue with the Indian authorities.
“India has a big role to play,” he said. When asked as to why the the issue was raised during the Chinese President’s visit, he said, “it is a pure coincidence”.
The Karma Kagyu sect is led by 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who escaped to India from Tibet at the age of 15 in 2000. His spokesperson Kunzang Chungyalpa said that they were not aware of the allegations made by the Drukpa sect. “We have no such knowledge, so we want to verify them ourselves and ask for reports from there. But, His Holiness has not given any such orders for conversion. He has a non-sectarian approach,” Chungalypa said.
Dr. Geseko von Lüpke speaks with His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa on the forced conversion of Drukpa Monasteries in Kailash Region, on 12th September 2014, in Germany. Click here for the Gyalwang Drukpa's official statement: http://goo.gl/bqiGiF
Two weeks before his passing, Shamar Rinpoche gave his last recorded interview in Dhagpo Kagyu Ling on 27 May, 2014.
Later that night, in the car on his way to dinner, he sang the Amitabha Dewachen prayer into an iphone - because he said we were all singing it wrong. After weeks of waiting, the Kudung of Shamar Rinpoche is finally allowed to enter Nepal. It is greeted at the airport by hundreds, and the streets of Kathmandu are overflowing by the thousands.
Report calls L.A. a city in decline, warns of crisis in leadership
Los Angeles is a city in decline, strangled by traffic, weighed down by poverty and suffering from "a crisis of leadership and direction," according to a report released Wednesday by a 13-member citizen panel.
The Los Angeles 2020 Commission, convened by City Council President Herb Wesson to examine the city's economic woes, offered a harsh assessment of civic decision-making, warning that Los Angeles is heading to a future where local government can no longer afford to provide public services.
The panel, chaired by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor, said Los Angeles lacks a coherent approach to economic development and trails other major cities in job growth. City government spending is growing faster than revenue and the pension benefits of city employees are at risk, said the report, titled "A Time For Truth."
"The city where the future once came to happen has been living in the past and leaving tomorrow to sort itself out," the report said.
Wesson, who is scheduled to appear with commission members at 9 a.m. to discuss the report, asked Kantor to convene the panel and choose its members nearly a year ago. "He and others felt there was value in having an independent look at the city’s problems," said Wesson spokesman Ed Johnson.
The panel plans to offer recommendations for solving the problems it has identified later this year.
Mayor Eric Garcetti, who took office partway through the group’s deliberations, offered a statement on the report that did not directly address its assertions.
“We welcome the authors' ideas as we focus on growing our economy and reforming City Hall,” said Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb. “We appreciate this report and look forward to the next one."
When it first convened, the panel promised to review ways to create jobs, expanding Los Angeles' economy and restore the city's financial stability. But the group went further, staking out positions on traffic congestion, poverty and the state of public schools.
The report warns the Los Angeles Unified School District is "failing our children and betraying the hopes of their hardworking parents." It says Measure R, the 2008 tax hike designed to pay for new rail lines, would leave traffic essentially unchanged. And it concluded that the city's push to have 10,000 police officers -- a benchmark reached by former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- is "not real" because of the way the officers have been deployed in recent years.
A key contributor to the report was Austin Beutner, a commission member who served as Villaraigosa's "jobs czar" at City Hall. Some of the commission's members have been doing business at City Hall for years -- and had interests that made their way into the 2020 report.
Part of the report criticizes city leaders for taking eight years to approve a rail yard backed by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway -- a company that was represented by Kantor, a corporate lawyer. "Competitive ports have all made major improvements, while Los Angeles bent to the will of special interest groups and NIMBYism," said the report, referring to the concept known as "Not in My Backyard."
Another passage hit city leaders for taking three years to approve a $1-billion development plan sought by USC. "Not a sensible way to treat the city's largest private employer," the report states.
Thomas Sayles, USC's senior vice president, serves on the 2020 commission.
The report also warned that the city is "dramatically underinvesting" in the harbor, the airport and the Department of Water and Power. One of the panel's members is Brian D'Arcy, who heads the DWP's powerful employee union. Sayles served on the DWP commission until last year. And Beutner ran the DWP for nearly a year.
From: Kelley Lynch<kelley.lynch.2010@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 11:46 AM Subject: Re: To: Dennis <Dennis@riordan-horgan.com>, "irs.commissioner" <irs.commissioner@irs.gov>, Washington Field <washington.field@ic.fbi.gov>, ASKDOJ <ASKDOJ@usdoj.gov>, MollyHale <MollyHale@ucia.gov>, nsapao <nsapao@nsa.gov>, fsb <fsb@fsb.ru>, rbyucaipa <rbyucaipa@yahoo.com>, khuvane <khuvane@caa.com>, blourd <blourd@caa.com>, wfrayeh <wfrayeh@da.lacounty.gov>, "stan.garnett" <stan.garnett@gmail.com>, Robert MacMillan <robert.macmillan@gmail.com>, moseszzz <moseszzz@mztv.com>, a <anderson.cooper@cnn.com>, wennermedia <wennermedia@gmail.com>, Mick Brown <mick.brown@telegraph.co.uk>, woodwardb <woodwardb@washpost.com>, "glenn.greenwald" <glenn.greenwald@firstlook.org>, lrohter <lrohter@nytimes.com>, Harriet Ryan <harriet.ryan@latimes.com>, "hailey.branson" <hailey.branson@latimes.com>
Hello IRS, FBI, and DOJ,
The City of Los Angeles continues to monitor me. I would like to know if they have a search warrant. The City is evidently interested in the post about the professional liar known as Vivienne Swanigan. According to the operative known as Stephen Gianelli, the reason Swanigan copied the FBI in on her email is because she simply hit Reply All. In any event, it is now very clear why Los Angeles is broke.
From: Kelley Lynch<kelley.lynch.2010@gmail.com> Date: Tue, Aug 5, 2014 at 11:06 AM Subject: Re: Domestic Violence Restraining Order To: Jeffrey Korn <jeffkornlaw@live.com>, "irs.commissioner" <irs.commissioner@irs.gov>, Washington Field <washington.field@ic.fbi.gov>, ASKDOJ <ASKDOJ@usdoj.gov>, "Doug.Davis" <Doug.Davis@ftb.ca.gov>, Dennis <Dennis@riordan-horgan.com>, wfrayeh <wfrayeh@da.lacounty.gov>, "stan.garnett" <stan.garnett@gmail.com>, MollyHale <MollyHale@ucia.gov>, nsapao <nsapao@nsa.gov>, fsb <fsb@fsb.ru>, rbyucaipa <rbyucaipa@yahoo.com>, khuvane <khuvane@caa.com>, blourd <blourd@caa.com>, Robert MacMillan <robert.macmillan@gmail.com>, a <anderson.cooper@cnn.com>, wennermedia <wennermedia@gmail.com>, Mick Brown <mick.brown@telegraph.co.uk>, woodwardb <woodwardb@washpost.com>, "glenn.greenwald" <glenn.greenwald@firstlook.org>, lrohter <lrohter@nytimes.com>, Harriet Ryan <harriet.ryan@latimes.com>, "hailey.branson" <hailey.branson@latimes.com>, Paulette Brandt <paulettebrandt8@gmail.com>, "kevin.prins" <kevin.prins@ryan.com>, sedelman <sedelman@gibsondunn.com>, JFeuer <JFeuer@gibsondunn.com>
Jeffrey,
I am following up on my email of July 30, 2014. I am wondering if you will accept service of my Motion to Vacate the fraudulently registered May 25, 2011 "domestic violence" order. I see Cohen continues to use the same tactics he used throughout the litigation procedures that led to a default. I am, of course, filing a Motion in that matter. I would refer you to the corporate books, records, stock units, Annuity contract, my Indemnity agreement, etc. The IRS views me as someone having an ownership interest in numerous entities. That is a serious ongoing legal matter.
As I explained, I intend to file a Motion to Vacate the May 25, 2011 fraudulent registration of the Boulder, Colorado order as a domestic violence order.
Leonard Cohen and his representatives have taken the legal position that, among other things, this order prohibits me from transmitting or requesting tax information (including IRS required form 1099 for the year 2004) and prohibits me from effecting service of process including with respect to the registered agent of LC Investments, LLC.
Michelle Rice is the individual who appears to have obtained, on behalf of Leonard Cohen, the May 25, 2011 domestic violence order. There was and is no domestic violence and the Boulder, Colorado order was NOT a domestic violence order. Leonard Cohen and I were never in a statutory required dating relationship and I personally believe he has taken the position that we were due to allegations of sexual harassment and indecent exposure. A domestic violence related protection order prevents me from contacting Leonard Cohen's lawyer and manager, Michelle Rice and Robert Kory.
I am, therefore, asking if you will accept service on behalf of your client. Clearly, I am legally entitled to effect service.
