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Religion - What Is The Controversy Over Tibet?

What is the controversy over Tibet?

During the seventh and eighth centuries A.D., the people of Tibet embraced Buddhism, a religion based on the pursuit of nirvana, or complete enlightenment, through a series of steps that involve strict moral discipline. They began building great monasteries (religious houses where monks live) throughout the nation, which then bordered China on the southwest. Although the Chinese conquered Tibet during the 1700s, Buddhists were allowed to practice their beliefs undisturbed for nearly forty years. Tibet became an independent nation in 1912, but in 1950 the Communist-controlled Chinese government claimed Tibet as part of China. (Communism is a political system characterized by the lack of social classes and the common ownership of property and means of production.) At first the fourteenth Dalai Lama (the Buddhist spiritual and political leader of Tibet) Lhamo Thondup (1950– ) tried to...

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