The 86-year-old retired teacher passed away in his Indiana home. He didn’t always agree with his brother:

While the brothers were close, they held different views about Tibet’s future. The Dalai Lama advocates a “middle path” policy that espouses “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet, rather than the full independence that some activists are seeking. But Rinpoche, a retired professor of Tibetan studies at Indiana University, “wanted nothing but full independence for Tibet. In that, he differed from his brother,” Chhoekyapa [the DL’s secreatry] said. However, “that did not affect his relations with his brother,” he said. Rinpoche, who is survived by his wife Kunyang Norbu, and three sons, was “devoted” to the Dalai Lama, Chhoekyapa said.

The DL was also nominated for the EU’s human rights award. (One stereotype in the U.S., fostered and encourgaed by the conservative media, is that Europe resents American power and therefore tends to side with the U.S.’s “enemies” — that is, the Palestinians, China, Russia, but the past few months have revealed the ridiculousness of this lie. Freedom fries, anyone?)

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