Revised Tibetan Buddhists constitution says no to separatism

Source: Xinhua | 02-19-2009 09:01

LHASA, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Tibetan Buddhists revised their association constitution Wednesday, calling on lamas and nuns to safeguard social stability, abide by the law and not to participate in separatist activities.

The revision was unanimously endorsed at the annual congress of the region's Buddhist association which began Monday and closed Wednesday.

Monks and nuns should "safeguard social stability, the socialist legal system and fundamental interests of the people", and should "consciously keep themselves away" from separatist activities and illegal demonstrations that impair social order, the new constitution said.

It urged monks to "see clearly that the 14th Dalai Lama is the ringleader of the separatist political association which seeks 'Tibet independence', a loyal tool of anti-China Western forces, the very root that causes social unrest in Tibet and the biggest obstacle for Tibetan Buddhism to build up its order."

The revision was made as a response to the unrest in last March under the backdrop of a complicated international situation and new problems that had emerged in monasteries, said Pencog Cering, secretary general of the Tibet Branch of the Buddhist Association of China (TBBAC).