KEY POINTS:
It was supposed to have been a "happiness connection" tour for six Tibetan monks. Instead it has turned into one of total anguish.
Upon their arrival in New Zealand, the first news from home the group heard was of the crackdown in Tibet.
It just got worse when
one of the monks, Sonem Toshi, 33, found his master had been killed in the violence and his younger brother arrested for the March 10 protest.
"As monks, our master is like our father so for Toshi, he is grieving like he has lost his father," said Gen Lama Thupten Phunstok, 73, who is leading the monks on their New Zealand tour.
"It is only our Buddhist belief in reincarnation, and the teaching of compassion and forgiveness, that is keeping us going."
What was supposed to be a cultural exchange programme by the monks - chanting and prayers throughout the three-day programme which ended last night at the Blockhouse Bay Boat Club - was instead dedicated to their violence-hit homeland.
"We prayed not only for those who have lost their lives in the unrest, but also for the Chinese authorities, that they may have a little compassion for the Tibetan people," Gen Lama said.
The violence involving Tibetan rioters and China's security forces in the capital Lhasa and elsewhere has left, depending on different reports, between 19 and 140 people dead.
On Tuesday, another two people died in fresh protests in a Tibetan part of western China, with China's state media saying one police officer was killed and the exiled Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy reporting one protester being shot dead and another critically hurt after unrest in Sichuan's Ganzi Tibetan Prefecture.
"Unlike Westerners [who see] demonstrations and protest as their right, this could be a death sentence in Tibet," said Gen Lama, who has lived in exile for 50 years.
"In fact, the utterance of the word 'Free Tibet' can land one a life sentence, so you can imagine how much the Tibetans must be suffering for them to have the courage to stage this protest."
Meanwhile, members of Auckland's Burmese community welcomed the leader of the International Buddhist Monks Organisation, Venerable Sayadaw U. Pannya Vamsa, who arrived from Australia yesterday.
Last night he addressed monks of his New Zealand-based order at the Yadanadipa Temple in New Lynn.
He discussed how the oppression in Myanmar could be brought again to the attention of the world media, especially in light of the recent violence in Tibet.
