Dharamshala — His Holiness the Dalai Lama said in his new book, "I have engaged with people who have shown a commitment to shared vision, an openness to trust, the honesty to express one’s thoughts even in disagreement, and the willingness to truly engage and learn. With the Chinese Communist leadership, from Chairman Mao Zedong to President Xi Jinping in the current era, sadly, the situation has been very different. I have often complained that the Chinese Communist leaders have only a mouth to speak but no ear to listen."
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, published a book entitled Voice for the voiceless, over seven decades of struggle with China for my land and my people, on March 11, 2025. In this book, His Holiness recounts the Chinese invasion of Tibet, his escape from Tibet, the suffering of Tibetans, the dialogue between Tibet and China and his hope for Tibet.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama's latest book, Voice for the voiceless, over seven decades of struggle with China for my land and my people, has a total of 16 chapters: 1: The Invasion and Our New Master 2: Meeting Chairman Mao 3: A Visit to India 4: Fleeing Home 5: A Geopolitical Reflection 6: Devastation at Home and Rebuilding in Exile 7: Overtures Toward a Dialogue 8: Reaching Out to Our Fourth Refuge 9: In the Aftermath of Tiananmen 10: Practices I Find Helpful in the Face of Suffering 11: As the Millennium Came to an End 12: The Final Series of Dialogues 13: Taking Stock 14: What Gives Me Hope 15: Situation Today and the Path Forward 16: Appeal.
In this book, His Holiness the Dalai Lama recounts the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950s, how Chinese soldiers entered Kham, eastern Tibet, then central Tibet and invaded Tibet, how His Holiness, at a young age, tried to negotiate with the Chinese leaders and resolve the problem, how the Tibetan leaders sent a letter of appeal to the Secretary General of the United Nations to help Tibet, with the exception of El Salvador, no country supported Tibet at the time.
His Holiness had to flee Tibet after Chinese soldiers entered Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Even after exile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the representatives of Tibet tried to resolve the Sino-Tibetan conflict through dialogue. Although the Sino-Tibetan dialogue has made no progress to date, he remains hopeful in the Chinese people and apealed to the Tibetans, the Chinese, the Indians and the international community to continue to support Tibet and the Tibetan people's struggle.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote, "On March 17, 1959, in the darkness and frozen air of the night, I slipped out of the main gate of the Norbulingka Palace disguised and wearing a chuba, an everyday layman’s form of clothing. That began what turned out to be more than six decades of life in exile away from my homeland of Tibet. Although the seed that grew into my need to flee was sown by the Communist Chinese invasion of my country in 1950, the immediate trigger was the tension that had been building up in the Tibetan capital city of Lhasa, exploding into a people’s uprising on March 10, 1959. For nearly nine years, after the invasion, I had tried to come to some kind of accommodation with the Communist Chinese for the sake of my people’s well-being, but it was an impossible task. A few days after my departure, China’s People’s Liberation Army bombarded the city. In this way, the tragic tale of my homeland and people over the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first unfolded.
"Ever since first being forced into exile in India in 1959, my primary task has been the cause of Tibet and its people. I am now approaching my ninth decade. The issue of Tibet remains unresolved, while my homeland is still in the grip of repressive Communist Chinese rule. Tibetans inside Tibet continue to be deprived of their dignity as a people and their freedom to live their lives according to their own wishes and their culture, as they did for more than a millennium before 1950. Since any expression of Tibetan identity is seen today as a threat by Tibet’s new rulers, there is the danger that in the name of “stability” and “territorial integrity” attempts might be made to erase our civilization.
In the chapter of present situation in Tibet and the path forward , His Holiness wrote, "Sadly, at present the situation inside Tibet looks grim. The policies of Xi Jinping, who visited Tibet in 2021 (the first visit of a Chinese leader in more than thirty years), seem to be focused on the tightening of control and intensification of measures aimed at assimilation. For example, on the language front, Chinese is being enforced as the primary medium in education, aimed at creating a generation of Tibetans whose first language will be Chinese, not Tibetan. There are worrying reports of children— according to some sources, up to a million—being taken away from their families and placed in Mandarin-only boarding schools, suggesting that the Chinese government is adopting a totally discredited colonial practice. This practice, in fact, contradicts China’s own constitution, which guarantees that “all nationalities have the freedom to use and develop their own language.” It is also in direct violation of the Law on Regional National Autonomy, which stipulates that schools and other educational institutions with “ethnic minority students may use their own language for teaching.” I am deeply concerned by this situation.
"On the religious front, there is a new policy of direct control by the Party over monasteries and nunneries, imposing intensified surveillance and control over the monastic communities. I am told that today there are police stations within the compounds of many monasteries. The Tibetan monasteries are also being forced to have Communist Chinese officials within the administration of the monasteries’ management. This tightening around the Tibetan people’s religious life, including especially the monasteries, began in 2017 with a specific policy adopted by China’s State Council’s Regulation on Religious Affairs. In brief, various new regulations are being introduced, all aimed at what the Chinese authorities call promoting “Tibetan Buddhism with Chinese characteristics.” One of these new regulations states that the monastic curriculum must include courses on politics, laws, regulations, policies, Chinese language, and the history of the relationship between Tibet and the “motherland.”
"With respect to the general Tibetan populace, I am informed that in Lhasa and elsewhere, there has been a significant increase in pervasive surveillance of both everyday life and internet use. Community leaders, environmental campaigners, philanthropists, and social activists are especially targeted. There is still no news on the fate of the Panchen Lama, while any display of the Tibetan national flag or my portrait remains banned. In effect, a new social experiment is being conducted through intimidation and forced assimilation, amplified by the apparatus of new technology and digital media. Increasingly, the Tibetans inside Tibet are being made to feel that what is wrong with them from the Chinese authorities’ perspective is simply that they are Tibetans.
"If Beijing were to look at past history, it would see that policies of repression and forced assimilation do not actually work. It is, in fact, counterproductive, with the main result being the creation of generations deeply resentful of Communist China’s presence on the Tibetan plateau. If the Chinese leadership truly cares about a stable and harmonious country wherein the Tibetan people could feel at home, its policies need to be grounded in respect for the dignity of Tibetans and to take serious note of their fundamental aspiration to thrive as a people with a distinct language, culture, and religion.
"If, in the end, Beijing deems our foundational objective to be incompatible within the framework of the People’s Republic of China, then the issue of Tibet will remain intractable for generations. I have always stated that, in the end, it is the Tibetan people who should decide their own fate. Not the Dalai Lama or, for that matter, the Beijing leadership. The simple fact is no one likes their home being taken over by uninvited guests with guns. This is nothing but human nature.
"I, for one, do not believe it would be so difficult for the Chinese government to make the Tibetans feel welcome and happy within the family of the People’s Republic of China. Like all people, Tibetans would like to be respected, have agency within their own home, and have the freedom to be who they are. The aspirations and the needs of the Tibetan people cannot be met simply through economic development. At its core, the issue is not about bread and butter. It is about the very survival of Tibetans as a people. Finding a resolution of the Tibetan issue would undoubtedly have great benefits for the People’s Republic of China. First and foremost, it would confer legitimacy to China’s presence on the Tibetan plateau, essential for the status and stability of the People’s Republic of China as a modern country composed of multiple nationalities willingly joined in a single family.
"In the case of Tibet, for instance, it has now been more than seventy years since Communist China’s invasion in 1950. Despite the physical control of the country, through brutal force as well as economic inducements, the Tibetan people’s resentment, persistent resistance in various forms, and moments of significant uprising have never gone away. Even though generations and economic conditions have changed, very little has changed when it comes to the Tibetan people’s perception and attitude toward those they still view as occupiers. The simple fact is that insofar as the Tibetans on the ground are concerned, the Communist Chinese rule in Tibet remains that of a foreign, unwanted, and oppressive occupying power. The Tibetan people have lost so much. Their homeland has been forcibly invaded and remains under a suffocating rule. The Tibetan language, culture, and religion are under systematic attack through coercive policies of assimilation. Even the very expression of Tibetaness is increasingly being perceived as a threat “to the unity of the motherland.” The only leverage the Tibetan people have left is the moral rightness of their cause and the power of truth. The simple fact is Tibet today remains an occupied territory, and it is only the Tibetan people who can confer or deny legitimacy to the presence of China on the Tibetan plateau."
In the chapter of what gives me hope, His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote, "Although to date there has been no meaningful breakthrough with the Beijing government, what gives me hope is that the relationship between the two peoples—Tibetans and Chinese—has not been irreparably damaged. As more and more ordinary Chinese come to understand the issue of Tibet, they are coming to understand and sympathize with our just struggle."
In the final chapter, His Holiness the Dalai Lama appeals to the Tibetans, the Indian government and Indians, the Chinese, and the nations and peoples of the world. His Holiness wrote, "To my fellow Tibetans: Never lose hope, however dark the sky may become. As our saying goes, “If you fall nine times, you get up nine times.” Always remember that a bright sun awaits behind the clouds. We are an ancient people with a long history of resilience. For millennia we tsampaeaters have been the custodians of the expansive Tibetan plateau known as the “roof of the world.” Throughout our history of more than two millennia, we have navigated through all sorts of ups and downs, always sure of our identity as a people with our distinct language, culture, and religion, and the core values that define us. Today’s dark period of Communist Chinese occupation may seem endless, but in our long history, it is but a brief nightmare. As our Buddhist faith teaches us, nothing is immune to the law of impermanence. What we need is patience, unflagging determination, unity, and courage rooted in the clarity of our goal.
"To the great nation of India and our Indian dharma brothers and sisters: You have been my host and my home since 1959. I have spent more of my life in India than in my own homeland of Tibet. I will never forget the amazing and long generosity you have offered to me and my people in exile. The fact that India gave us a new home, a base, is what enabled us, more than anything else, to reestablish our civilization in exile and to keep the torch of justice for Tibet alight for so many decades. We Tibetans have always looked to India as the source and teacher of wisdom, knowledge, and spirituality in our Buddhist tradition that was received from you many centuries ago. Throughout our long religious and cultural history, India (arya-bhumi, “the land of the noble ones”) has been our guru, and we Tibetans the chela (student). I thank you for your unflagging support of me and my people, and I request of you to continue to extend the same as long as we need it.
"To Chinese brothers and sisters: I appeal to you to open your hearts to the ongoing plight of the people of Tibet. The Chinese and Tibetan peoples share a common spiritual heritage in Mahayana Buddhism, and cherish compassion for all suffering beings. I assure you that through the long history of my struggle on behalf of the Tibetan people, I have never harbored enmity against the people of China. I have always urged Tibetans not to give in to hatred due to the injustices inflicted by a cruel government in the name of the Chinese people. I ask you to be vigilant against any attempts to promote racial hatred against the Tibetans, through state propaganda aimed at splitting the long history of good feeling, neighborliness, and friendship between our peoples. I appeal to you to make efforts to understand that the Tibetan struggle for freedom is not only just; it is also not anti-Chinese. Help us find a peaceful, lasting solution to the issue of Tibet through dialogue in the spirit of understanding and accommodation. Over the years, many Chinese scholars and intellectuals have spoken out. I believe many Chinese who know the truth about Tibet, its culture, and its people will come out when they are able to express their true feelings without fear of reprisals. Protecting Tibet is a matter important also to the very heart of China itself. I want to share with you that for me, like for so many across the world, one sad thing is that the amazing economic liberalization of China was not matched with progress in respect for human rights and democratic freedom for your people.
"To the nations and peoples of the world, especially those who have stood in solidarity with the Tibetan people: Your expressions of concern and support, as well as the attention of the international media on Tibet, continue to encourage us and give us comfort. I thank you and ask you not to forget Tibet at this critical and challenging time in our people’s long history."
