How the CIA Pays the Dalai Lama $180,000 Per Year!

(Translated by Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD)

During the 1950s and 1960s, the CIA orchestrated a secret war in the Tibetan region of China. The United States used the CIA to finance, arm and train agents of Tibetan ethnic origin. Many people are no strangers to this period of history. However, the Dalai Lama – who has always been perceived as an advocate of ‘peace’ – was well aware of this armed rebellion. This divisive attitude is due to the Dalai Lama’s close association with the CIA. . On June 8th (2015), an article published in the German ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’ exposed some of the insider relations between the Dalai Lama and the CIA, and stated that ‘his relationship with the CIA is closer than he admits; he understands the incident better than he admits. Much more.’

CIA agent John Kenneth Knaus was nervous when attempting to meet the Dalai Lama for the first time in 1964. Prior to this, the CIA operation code-named ‘Saint Circus’ had been underway for eight years. The CIA, known as the ‘Company’ financed and trained Tibetan insurgents in training camps, providing extensive supplies of weaponry. The ‘King God’ (i.e. 14th Dalai Lama) was also subsidized. The CIA financial records state that the US Government guaranteed the ‘spiritual’ leader of Tibet (a Buddhist monk who had taken a vow of povery) no less than $180,000 a year as a personal allowance, which is marked in a formerly ‘secret’ CIA document as ‘subsidy for the Dalai Lama.’

Despite the Dalai Lama’s direct involvement with the (violence of the) CIA for many years, Knaus did not realistically expect to be openly received the gratitude of the religious leader, who prefered a public image (for media purposes) that emphasised non-violence, but he did expect at least somekind of acknowledgement between two close allies. This is why he was disappointed when things did not turn-out as planned. The Dalai Lama had arranged for the first contact point between himself and the CIA insurgency in Tibet, to through that of an older brother. Knaus, aged 89, recalls, ‘That was one of the coldest meetings I’ve ever experienced in my life. It was very formal and full of etiquette.’ The Dalai Lama, who was usually full of enthusiasm for the CIA and expressed a dry humour about its (violent) activities in Tibet, ‘was obviously not willing to show me any welcome.’ Many years later, he understood why the Dalai Lama deliberately distanced him. It turned out that the Tibetan ‘spiritual leader’ clearly knew what the visitor’s identity meant: further poison, murder, and evil.

For the Dalai Lama – who is considered the highest moral authority, this relationship is difficult to interpret. There is a huge contradiction between the infamous CIA funding and the organization’s armed rebellion, and the moderate messages of non-violent resistance he has delivered. A Nobel Peace Laureate backing armed insurgents in Tibet that were armed and trained by the CIA sounds like an unbelievable combination – rather like associating the Pope with womanizing, and driving a Porsche! – but the world is sometimes unbelievable. The Dalai Lama stated that he learned the full truth of the Tibetans’ armed actions afterwards. This is his standard position. The outside world has been skeptical of this statement.There is no dispute that his two elder brothers had established contact with the CIA very early. ‘My brother thinks that the wise way is to avoid the news as much as possible,’ Dalai wrote in his autobiography.

The ‘Southern German News’ and TV magazine’s ‘Panorama’ column concluded after investigation that the Dalai Lama’s relationship with the CIA is more closely connected than he admits; he knows more about the incident than he admits. Apart from the candid confession of Tibetan militants, some U.S. government top-secret documents that were exposed a few years ago, also indicate that the Dalai Lama was involved with the CIA violence in Tibet from the very beginning. Although it could not be formally proven that the Dalai Lama is lying, historical documents and eye-witness accounts (both Tibetan and American) established that he is not telling the full truth.

The Dalai Lama has won 95 high-level or top-level awards. He is referred to as ‘Sacred’ with dozens of doctoral titles. Only the Pope enjoys this official title. However, the Dalai Lama was once a direct pawn of the CIA. The CIA is an invisible hand for US diplomacy, planning to overthrow (through civil unrest) elected governments and assassinating unpopular (leftwing) political opponents. ‘If we do not moderate our own behaviour, it is quite dangerous’, said the former chief of the Central Intelligence Agency, George Tenet, when he took office in 1997.

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How the CIA Pays the Dalai Lama $180,000 Per Year!

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