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Existing in exile: Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama
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Revered by Buddhists the world over as the 14th reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion, and officially known as Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (Holy Lord, Gentle Glory, Eloquent, Compassionate, Learned Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom), His Holiness the Dalai Lama has actively held the highest office of Tibetan Buddhism since 1950.
While many people from outside Tibet, China, and India regard Gyatso, now 73, as a fascinating and important person politically and spiritually, many do not know he fled from Tibet in 1959 in a wake of uprisings following a “necessary (and violent) occupation of Tibetan-controlled Chinese territories,” according to a paper by one of my former university students in China.
Nor do they know Gyatso, unable to return to his home in Chinese-controlled Tibet under threat of imprisonment for treason, presently claims temporary residence in Dharamsala, India, 500 miles from his magnificent palaces in Lhasa, Tibet's capital city. Meanwhile the town of Lumbini in Nepal, where many historians trace the origins of Buddhism to the enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama in the mid-6th century B.C.E., sits a mere 250 miles from either point in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains.
It is inherent and necessary, and a tactic often ignored by activists for a free Tibet, to understand and sympathize with the Chinese point of view. In the West we often say simply “well Tibet wants to be free, so China should let them be so;” but like it or not that is not the Chinese opinion or philosophy, and China claims it has inherited rights to Tibet that can be traced back 5000 years. To support the rights of the Tibetan people would mean necessarily to learn about Chinese beliefs. While Westerners tend to believe China follows a strictly communist, anti-religious attitude, there are literally hundreds of millions of Buddhists in China who hold varying occupations from educators to shopkeepers to police officers, Army sergeants, and government officials, though their opinions of the Dalai Lama are not nearly as diverse.
In fact, though Buddhism had taken a firm hold in China by 100 BCE (www.buddahnet.net), nearly 900 years passed before the Tibetan King Trisong Detsen (d. 797AD) declared Buddhism the official state religion of Tibet. The first well-documented appearance of Buddhism in Tibet occurred nearly 1200 years after Siddhartha’s ascension when Tibet’s king Songsten Gampo (d. 650AD) married two Buddhist princesses, one Chinese and the other from Nepal. So it could be possible to argue that China was responsible for bringing the pivotal point of religion into question! But the largest issue commonly associated with the Dalai Lama is not his religious or spiritual impact, which we will examine in the future, but rather the autonomy of Tibet and the inherent right to self-governance of all human beings.
Though no foreign country has ever recognized Tibet as a sovereign state it has been a disputed area for hundreds of years, and the Chinese are even so bold today as to categorize Tibetans among the 56 recognized ethnic minorities that compose the Chinese people. The Tibetans disagree with Chinese presumptions, sometimes violently, and as recently as March 14th of 2008 anti-Chinese sentiment roused serious enough feelings that 19 people died, according to China's Xinhua News Agency. The Chinese use these incidences as claim to examples of the Tibetan people's inability to peacefully govern themselves, and the Tibetans in turn claim there would be no violence but for the undesired and unauthorized Chinese presence, which is primarily in Lhasa.
In describing the March 14th unrest, American shop owner in downtown Lhasa, who must remain nameless for political and legal reasons, said there were “beatings and rioting in the streets, shop windows smashed, and a general state of panic, but luckily not towards Westerners, ultimately.” He told me how he stayed in his shop for 3 days with his Tibetan employees, tying his doors shut with red, white and blue ribbon, and listening to gunfire on the street while hoping his presence as a Westerner would prevent violence in his shop during the suppression of the protests.
Since 1959 China has labeled Buddhism's highest Lama a terrorist, rebel leader, CIA pawn, and general political troublemaker. Lhasa has been under control by the Chinese Army since '59, and has become a major draw for pilgrimage and activist tourism from the West over the past 40 years. It is impossible to enter Tibet today without a permit issued by the Chinese authorities, and to receive that candidate travelers must submit a detailed itinerary and hire a local guide who, along with the booking agency, assumes full legal responsibility for the behavior of guests. According to my Tibetan guide when I visited Lhasa this past January, an agency faced a 10 year suspension of booking privileges and multiple fines and a local guide faced up to 15 years in jail if a traveler created any anti-Chinese sentiment or incited “unrest,” and the Chinese laws have been strictly enforced following the March 14th uprising.
The present Dalai Lama is an exceptional and inspirational person if for no other reason than his personal energy and good-natured character which are evident from many media interviews, and to political supporters and faithful worshipers his exile remains a moral and political blemish displayed prominently on their faces, in Lhasa and elsewhere. But his character does not prove or even justify the claim of the Tibetan people to an area they claim is theirs. Many Chinese, if they are willing to talk about the issue, will point out the admitted and famous Tibetan nomadic lifestyle and counter the argument by saying “nomads don't have a specific home,” and “there are Tibetans all throughout China, not just Tibet.” But to see the spectacular, ancient, and obviously permanent homes of each reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion, one can not help but hope the man in his present form will get to see his home again.
