Interview with Yangling Dorje (Former Chairman of the CPPCC of the Tibet Autonomous Region)

Brief: Yangling Dorje was a Tibetan political leader who served as Vice Governor of Sichuan Province and Chairman of the CPPCC of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Throughout his life, amidst great changes, he pragmatically promoted the governance of Kham and Tibet and the localisation of cadres. After the Cultural Revolution, he overcame opposition to revive the Tibetan language, led the founding of Tibet University and the modern Tibetan Medical College, and was a key figure in rescuing traditional Tibetan culture and establishing modern Tibetan studies.

Interview. Chief Writer: Fa Ning

July 11, 2026

Yangling Dorje:

Hello everyone, Namo Amituofo, Tashi Delek! This is my first time conversing with people in the human world in a spiritual way; this experience is truly special. I am Yangling Dorje, a Tibetan, but I was not born in Tibet; I was born in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan.

Growing up in a society where Han and Tibetan cultures merged was a wonderful experience. I have a unique longing and affection for the Tibetan people, which is everything I am proud of. However, the political situation was unstable at the time, and the country experienced repeated internal and external troubles. Being in the midst of it, I came to understand the suffering of the human world. Our Tibetan people, especially the civilians at the grassroots level, have always had a difficult life. Beyond the existing internal troubles, there was pressure from the central government, issues of local ethnic integration, and the dilemma of cultural preservation, all of which caused me great concern at the time. Therefore, I dedicated my life to the preservation of the culture, knowledge, and customs of the Han and Tibetan peoples.

Today, I have arrived in a different place called the "Western Land of Dharma Nature," which is a Buddha-land. Although Tibetan people generally believe in Tibetan Buddhism, I was not a Buddhist. As someone within the system, I was an atheist like all other Communist Party members. However, having grown up in a society with a strong religious background, I understood that religion is a spiritual sustenance for people. Therefore, I did not suppress it like other officials; instead, I faced the work of cultural and religious protection with a very open and peaceful attitude.

Come to think of it, I seem to be the first Tibetan to be interviewed by the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia, which is an inconceivable thing. In fact, I left the human world in April of this year, and unfortunately, I went to hell to suffer severe torment. I arrived at a place called the "brain-gouging hell," where my brain was constantly stirred and gouged. I stayed there for over a month until I felt a light shining upon my whole body. Suddenly, my body became light, and I felt no pain at all, only a slight dizziness. I followed this light and arrived directly at this Buddha-land called the "Western Land of Dharma Nature."

According to what I have learned after listening to sutras and hearing the Dharma there, it turns out that this is a Buddha-land established by a human Buddha named Practitioner Su. With the help of Namo Amituofo, he established this Pure Land to lead immeasurable and boundless beings to come here for practice and purification. I am very amazed by this, because I did not know that there were truly Buddhas in the human world. Although there are always living Buddhas in Tibet, I did not believe at the time that those living Buddhas were true Buddhas; to me, they were just religious leaders, and people gave them the title of "living Buddha" as a respectful term, indicating that they were wise elders.

But now, in this dignified world of the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I truly believe that living Buddhas exist. However, he does not exist in Tibet, but in the current Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. This Practitioner Su from the treasure island of Taiwan is called Practitioner Su, Lay Practitioner Su, Sister Su, or Grandma Su, but they all refer to the same person. Everyone respectfully calls him "Practitioner Su" to express their gratitude and admiration.

Practitioner Su is truly great; I can see it clearly from here. As someone who has stayed in the Western Land of Dharma Nature for over a month, I really want to tell the vast Tibetan people about the magnificent situation here: you do not need to worship the living Buddhas of Tibet anymore; you should come to know Practitioner Su of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia sooner. Although Tibetan Buddhism has many different doctrines, it ultimately cannot lead everyone to true and perfect completion. The education that the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia can truly bring to the world is "not grow old, not get sick, and the spirit does not die," which is different from what we Tibetan people have practised.

Of course, among the 84,000 Dharma gates of Buddhism, each gate can lead everyone to a perfect state. It is just that in this age of the Dharma’s decline within the Five Turbidities and Evil World, if no one in the human world realises their true nature and attains Buddhahood, then Namo Amituofo cannot be moved to come to the world, and there would be no way to lead everyone to truly walk out of the six realms of rebirth and the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death. This is an indisputable fact.

Although the name of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia has not yet resounded throughout the world, in the hearts of many, it is truly a sacred place of the Buddha’s teachings. This land is vast, unpolluted, and very peaceful. There are a few small white houses on the prairie, and a group of people are practising here. It is not an exaggeration for people to say that this is a human Buddha-land.

I have travelled to all the large and small temples and high-mountain lakes in Tibet, including the places where people go for mountain circumambulation and prostrations. People are always moved to tears when they come to these places, devoutly circumambulating the mountains, such as the very famous Mount Kailash. But having seen all these sacred scenes, these moments of being moved, there is really no place that compares to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia in terms of authenticity. This place can truly help people solve the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death, and treat various difficult and complicated diseases of the body, mind, and spirit. This is something that perhaps no amount of mountain circumambulation can achieve!

I see it clearly now; it turns out that what is explained most thoroughly in the Buddha’s teachings is indeed this place. Therefore, while in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I have also been paying attention to this land, and to everything Practitioner Su is doing at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre and even across the entire Earth, the entire universe, and the entire Dharma Realm, including the Chao Du performed by Practitioner Su. This is something that every one of us who has arrived in the Western Land of Dharma Nature will open our eyes to experience.

When I first arrived at this place, I was truly watching everything Practitioner Su was doing for Chao Du without blinking. We also have many similar mythological stories in Tibetan culture, which might be close to Chao Du, but I was not sure at the time if it was the same meaning. This is a memory I had before about how the Dharma Body of a person can traverse many spaces.

And now, Practitioner Su before my eyes can act at will, moving freely through many different spaces to save beings. This scene evoked some of my past memories, but it is also vastly different from what I have seen and heard before. Because this is a Chao Du with an extremely wide scope and deep vow power, and it is truly very different from all the formal or superficial things performed by everyone in the human world. What I saw before was merely in terms of worldly Dharma, limited to all religious rituals and pageantry within this body. This is vastly different from Practitioner Su’s ability to perform Chao Du in a spiritual way, with ever-changing capabilities, and the ability to have countless manifestations, dividing into many, many small Practitioner Sus to perform Chao Du in various spaces.

Because Practitioner Su has already attained Buddhahood, and his vow power is the same as Namo Amituofo’s, his heart to save beings is so compassionate and broad that he can achieve such skills. That is to say, however he wants to perform Chao Du, there are various ever-changing ways for Practitioner Su to develop and save beings. With the help of Namo Amituofo, all of this is performed very perfectly.

Practitioner Su has always emphasised in the Thrice Yearning Ceremonies that his Chao Du in the Dharma Realm and other spaces is improving every day, and the spaces he saves every day are becoming deeper and broader. In terms of the Dharma Realm, the beings Practitioner Su has saved in a few years have reached a number of years that people in the human world can hardly imagine. That is very distant. Spiritual lives of billion-billion-trillion years can all have the opportunity to obtain liberation because of Practitioner Su’s Chao Du. Such a good thing is hard for people to imagine, because this has completely exceeded the scope of what people in the human world can think of.

In this process, immeasurable and boundless, countless beings and demon crowds have obtained deliverance, no longer needing to wander in this world of impermanence, but can be reborn in the Western Land of Dharma Nature.

In the Western Land of Dharma Nature, we beings also practise diligently here, chanting Buddha’s name, performing prostrations, listening to sutras and hearing the Dharma, and reading sutras. These daily essential lessons help us purify. Under the purification of Buddha’s light, this has also become a great help to us, allowing our spirits to be constantly elevated. One day, everyone can be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss and walk on the path to true and perfect Buddhahood.

Here, I also reviewed my own life. When I was suffering in hell, I was very puzzled as to why I ended up on the path to hell. I spent my whole life fighting for the cultural preservation and rights of the Tibetan people; it can be said that I was a bridge between the Tibetan people and the officials within the system in the mainland.

In this, on one side were the vast Tibetan people, who, after decades of various internal and external troubles and the Cultural Revolution, were still living a very difficult life with everything waiting to be rebuilt; on the other side were the officials within the system from the mainland who wanted to desperately Sinicise various parts of Tibet. Caught in the middle, I wanted to truly do things for the Tibetan people, especially the grassroots people, who attach great importance to the preservation and learning of the Tibetan language and Tibetan culture. This is also what I have always wanted to do regarding cultural preservation work.

Therefore, I often overcame opposition and tried my best to speak for the Tibetan people in various decisions. I hoped that, relying on my own strength as a Tibetan, I could beg the central government to allow our culture to preserve the essence of the Tibetan language while learning the Chinese language, so that every Tibetan child could recognise their own culture, speak the Tibetan language, and allow Tibetan culture to shine on the world stage.

I wonder, did I do anything wrong in this? How could I have such an outcome?

I only truly understood after listening to sutras and hearing the Dharma in the Western Land of Dharma Nature. I went to the brain-gouging hell because, in the past few decades, while I was fighting for many interests for the Tibetan people—whether it was building the then Tibet University, preserving many essences of Tibetan culture within it, or establishing the Tibetan Medical College, and many other tasks of preserving the Tibetan language and Tibetan culture—did I go astray in any of these?

Although my purpose in doing everything was to benefit the people, in the process, the way I conducted myself was too intense, and I often carried my own rather strong personality. When I contacted officials from the mainland to express my ideas and views, I always carried a rather hard heart, hoping that the other party would listen to my suggestions and achieve the purpose I wanted. Such thoughts were always about how to complete these things, one after another, never stopping. Therefore, I never stopped debating or fighting with others.

Although everything seemed very successful, and I fought for the interests of the Tibetan people and brought them substantial help—whether in economy, culture, medical care, or education—I did my best to do a perfect job of protection. It is just that in this process, my personality was a bit too strong, and I often had a strong desire for gain and loss; I would spare no cost to achieve what I wanted, so the negative karma formed by the verbal karma I created was heavy. Accumulated day by day, as time went by, it became a massive amount of karma!

It turns out that this is why I later died of old age and sickness and then went to hell. Although I lived a long life, living to ninety-eight, it does not mean that I am a person of great fortune; I still had to go to hell to receive retribution. This is the truth of the human world. Many people do not see this clearly during their lifetime, and only after death do they realise that on the path of life they walked, their own strong personality led to such a miserable end.

I am one of the very lucky ones! I went to hell to receive retribution, but it was only for a month or so before I had the opportunity to be led to this Buddha-land, the Western Land of Dharma Nature, without having to continue suffering torment. This is really quite different from the experience of many people!

I am now sitting in the Western Land of Dharma Nature with a heart full of gratitude, on this lotus seat that belongs to me, looking at everything that has happened in the Greater China region, and I am still very moved. Because there is Practitioner Su in the human world, this world has become more beautiful. Although people cannot see all this with their physical eyes, I tell everyone with my spiritual experience: with the help of Namo Amituofo, Practitioner Su is performing extensive Chao Du in various regions of China using the Twelve Lights, day and night, never stopping.

Practitioner Su has countless manifestations and can perform Chao Du in many places at the same time. In terms of Tibet, on such a vast land, every mountain, every lake, every piece of land, and every Tibetan antelope has not missed being bathed in Buddha light. Everyone has been shone upon by Buddha light, and no matter how deep the space is, Practitioner Su is also breaking through them one by one.

In Tibet, we have the highest mountains in the world, where countless demon crowds are suppressed and trapped, receiving their retribution. Because they committed many evils, they were pressed into water, high mountains, or various dark spaces when they were sanctioned by the laws of karma and cause and effect. The mountains here are so high, and the demon crowds within them are truly layered and uncountable. Practitioner Su is also doing his utmost to perform Chao Du for these beings.

What surprises me most in the Western Land of Dharma Nature is Practitioner Su's indescribable compassion for the demon crowds. You might feel fear or terror at the words 'demon crowds', but Practitioner Su does not. No matter how they attack his body, causing painful reactions, Practitioner Su has never had a single complaint; he just works tirelessly with a compassionate heart to save them.

Demon crowds become so because they have not received Buddhist education. The equality of the Buddha-heart is something I see clearly in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, and I am deeply moved.

Regarding the whole world, I see that Practitioner Su has another very special feat: the establishment of Namo Amituofo billboards. Under the blessings of Namo Amituofo, these billboards all radiate golden light. The physical eyes of people cannot see it, but beings in the spiritual realms have strong responses. After feeling the warmth of this Buddha’s light, they follow the Buddha’s light to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia to receive Chao Du. Currently, nine countries around the world have initiated such Chao Du because of these Namo Amituofo billboards.

Taking my hometown of Sichuan as an example, a new Namo Amituofo billboard was recently established, enthusiastically sponsored by local fellow practitioners. As someone who was within the system, I know that such billboards are not permitted by local officials. People secretly hang these billboards high up or in more secluded spaces. But regardless of the space, for the spirits, there is no obstacle to receiving Chao Du. Because beings in the spiritual realms are inherently different from those in the human world, they can sense this Buddha’s light in unique ways and follow it to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia to receive Chao Du.

The compassion emitted by Practitioner Su is fully reflected in the various creative changes during the Chao Du.

I sincerely hope that one day, our people in Tibet can also have such a Namo Amituofo billboard. In an autonomous region where most are Buddhists, you are not unfamiliar with Namo Amituofo, but most people have not truly heard the news that Namo Amituofo has come to this world. Once this news can spread throughout our vast Tibetan regions, it will surely bring the hope of rebirth to our Tibetan people. You will no longer need to worry about the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death, nor worry about where to go after death, and you can have a firmer goal to move forward.

Finally, with a sincere heart, I truly hope that all Tibetan people who can see this interview, or people from the Sichuan and Tibet areas, if you are not unfamiliar with this old man, I hope you can take what I have said to heart.

It is not an easy thing for me to encounter the Buddha now. I hope that by knowing the news that Namo Amituofo has come to the human world, you can have the same opportunity for deliverance as I have; otherwise, as you walk in this human world, you will inevitably create karma of varying depths, and after death, you will be reincarnated according to your karma. Perhaps a single deviation of thought could lead you into the hells to receive retribution, which would be a great pity. Having obtained a human body this time, you should be able to practice diligently; why suffer in the hells?

I was also ignorant before, had not received Buddhist education, and let myself act according to my own personality, thinking that everything I wanted must be achieved. Although these were good things, I still created a lot of negative karma. This is why I went to the hells. I truly hope you do not follow my old path, because this path is truly too painful. If you do not receive Practitioner Su's deliverance by then, you will continue to suffer endless retribution in the hells.

Besides the suffering of the hells, I also see many Tibetan people who lived ordinary lives and did no evil, yet after death, they cannot leave, trapped in the spaces they are attached to. Or they are trapped in the high mountains and lakes of various regions in Tibet, where countless Tibetan people are still trapped in the high mountains and lakes at this very moment; or they are trapped in animals, becoming animal spirits, becoming an animal. These are all sufferings that make people suffer, and they do not know when they can leave, life after life. Without the Buddha's deliverance, leaving these spaces is not an easy thing!

Now that I have come to the Western Land of Dharma Nature, such a dignified and beautiful Buddha-land, I want to tell all Tibetan people this good news, hoping that everyone will soon know the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia and soon get the chance for liberation.

Gratitude to the compassion of Namo Amituofo, gratitude to the compassion of Practitioner Su.

Namo Amituofo

Yang Lingduojie