By Matt Russell
Rochester, Minnesota – Even amid three days of doctor appointments at Mayo Clinic, even as he walks slowly with an oxygen tank hooked to his nose, 73-years-old Palden Gyatso wants to talk about Tibet.
So it happened that the renowned Buddhist monk spent time between appointments Wednesday afternoon talking about his concerns focused on his homeland thousands of miles away.
“The situation is getting worse,” he said through an interpreter. “People don’t even have basic human rights.”
In 1995, Gyatso testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives about the 33 years he spent in Chinese prisons and labor camps after Mao Zedong’s government forcibly took control of Tibet in 1959. Gyatso’s testimony described the mistreatment he suffered, including beatings, starvation and torture including use of electric cattle prods, before being released in 1992.
Gyatso has traveled the world telling his story, and in 1997, he published “The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk” which included an introduction written by the Dalai Lama.
Talking on a shady bench outside the Mayo Building in downtown Rochester on Wednesday, Gyatso said that torture of Tibetan political prisoners continues. He believes Tibetan ethnicity and culture is being systematically eliminated.
Gyatso is scheduled to continue treatment today for acute bronchitis and other ailments that his friend, Mike Pittman of Minneapolis, said stemmed from the monk’s years of imprisonment and abuse.
After finishing treatment here, Gyatso is scheduled to speak next week in Minneapolis* before he heads to Mexico, where he said he has more speaking engagements. What keeps him going amid health problems, he said, are promises he made years ago to fellow prisoners that he would share their stories with the world if he ever got free.
The Minnesota Tibetan Youth Congress hosts Palden’s visit to Minnesota.
*Scheduled talks:
June 10, 2006 at 3:30 pm – Tibetan Community Hall, 1096 Raymond Ave, St. Paul
June 14, 2006 at 6 pm – Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1200 Marquette Ave, Minneapolis (w/ English interpretation)
mrussell@postbulletin.com
