The Langzixia Prison, which lies not far from the Johkang Monastery in Lhasa, houses numerous instruments of torture in old Tibet. The three-story prison was built by the old Tibetan government.

Pictures on the walls of the prison, now a museum not open to tourists, record horrible scenes like the hands of a woman being cut off and complete skin of an adult man and a child being peeled off. Scaffold, fetters, handcuffs and many other unknown instruments are also on display.

It is reported that Tibetans had their nose, ears, tongue and even heart dug out in this prison. Some were buried after having their skin peeled and genitals cut off.

There is a "cave of scorpions" at Zongshan Castle. When a prisoner was thrown into the cave, countless scorpions as large as the palm of a person's hand would quickly sting the person to death.

Those who had been punished were ordinary Tibetans who could not pay their taxes or thieves, with the approval of the Dalai Lama.

According to the archives of the Tibetan government, the Dalai Lama, when chanting scriptures, had ordered presentation of the person's fresh heart, human fat, teenager's skin and stones used to kill people.

Even major lamaseries did something contradictory to the purpose of Buddhism. Lamas at the Zhebung Monastery burned to death a Tibetan woman who gave birth to a triplet. The Dalai Lama' s teacher had raped 400 women, sodomized 300 males and beat 2,300 slaves.

The practices were eventually abolished after the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951. the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959. He still preaches that Tibet under this rule was a Buddhist heaven where men were equal.

(People's Daily 05/14/2001)