80 Years of the 14th Dalai Lama: The Importance of Preserving Tibet’s Identity
As international pressure from Beijing grows alongside sectarian dissent, the protection of Tibet’s culture, more than ever before, proves to be a deeply imperative task.
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. To many, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is much more than a spiritual leader of Tibet, but also someone who offers hope for a united world. Over the years, and throughout countless talks, the Dalai Lama has consistently outlined the need for mutual understanding and dialogue in the modern world. Therefore naturally, his views have increasingly resonated with millions of people across the world.
However, not everybody shares the same sentiments. Those within the Beijing circle more than often view the Dalai Lama as ‘dangerous’ and a ‘separatist’ to China’s sovereignty. Although the Dalai Lama has always maintained a position of non violence, and see’s a viable solution involving compromise and dialogue from both sides. Nevertheless, for one to fully understand the situation, one must look towards the recent historical account of Tibet.
Until 1950, Tibet was a sovereign state that had a distinct language, religion, culture, history, and customs to its neighbours. However, the nation was soon annexed by the People’s Republic of China — and remains under the control of the Communist Party of China to this day. Tibetans strongly oppose Chinese occupation, and it is estimated that since 1959, 1.5 million Tibetans have died as a direct result of Chinese incursion into the country. During 1959, thousands of Tibetans, including the 14th Dalai Lama, sought asylum in India — and the exodus of Tibetans from Tibet continues to this day.
In 1960, after reviewing accounts of Chinese atrocities in Tibet, including the widespread use of summary execution, torture and general abuse that included the forced sterilization of women, the International Commission of Jurists found that the Chinese were committing genocide and the 16 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were being violated. According to the Commission the Chinese were guilty of “the most pernicious crime that any individual or nation can be accused of, viz. a willful attempt to annihilate an entire people.”
With this in mind, I attended a lecture from the Dalai Lama as part of his UK visit in 2012. From this, I soon learnt to understand the Dalai Lama’s stance on Tibet in China and his hopes for independence. With the bulk of the Dalai Lama’s argument focussed upon religious and political freedom, it is clear that even His Holiness believes that Tibetan ‘independence’ (in any form) cannot happen without China’s assistance or say. According to the Dalai Lama, it is therefore imperative that we offer dialogue to our international colleagues; provide a reasoned approach, and stay resilient and strong on the issue of human rights of Tibetans.
“Non-violence means dialogue, using our language, the human language. Dialogue means compromise; respecting each other’s rights; in the spirit of reconciliation there is a real solution to conflict and disagreement. There is no hundred percent winner, no hundred percent loser — not that way but half-and-half. That is the practical way, the only way.” — 14th Dalai Lama
But also, equally important is the preservation of Tibet’s irreplaceable culture, which is dangerously under threat within the ‘One China’ policy. Since the invasion, all but 12 of more than 6,000 monasteries were destroyed. A ‘thousand years’ worth of priceless Buddhist literature, religious paintings and artifacts were either destroyed or have fetched millions of dollars on the international market.
Alongside this, Tibet’s ecology and natural resources (which are deeply important to the global climate) are being irreversibly destroyed. Wildlife, including the rare Tibetan snow leopard and the wild blue Tibetan sheep, has been decimated. Forests have been clear-cut and transported to China (since 1950, 68% of Tibet’s forests have been felled, causing grave concern in
Bangladesh and India, now both frequently devastated by flooding.)
Morestill; Tibet, once a peaceful buffer state between India and China, has been transformed into a militarised zone with at least 300,000 Chinese troops stationed in the Tibetan plateau at any time (as are at least one quarter of China’s nuclear arsenal of 350 nuclear missiles at 5 different missile bases).
Therefore, it was very important that I should see the Dalai Lama ahead of his 80th birthday to shed some light into how we should approach such deeply disturbing developments.
Upon arriving to the venue, a large body of protesters had gathered. However, I soon learnt much to my disheartenment that they were in fact ‘buddhists’ that were protesting against the Dalai Lama. The group are known as the International Shugden Community (ISC).
This was especially troubling as such dissent may suit the Chinese Communist Party, who have been long seeking ways to draw unfavourable sentiments towards the Dalai Lama. Mystified by the ISC, I spend a good few minutes trying to understand why people who claim to be supporters of Tibetan buddhism would act against Tibet in such a way. After all, Beijing severely restricts the teaching and study of Buddhism in Tibet, an essential core of Tibetan culture. The Communist Party regulates the admission of monks and nuns into the monasteries and “political education” is compulsory. Surely this would be enough to mount a protest against Chinese occupation and not say, the Dalai Lama? Clearly not.
Considering this, the ISC’s public denunciation of the Dalai Lama has been widely criticised by the vast majority of Buddhist communities worldwide. What’s more, several bodies including the International Campaign for Tibet and the Buddhist Society recently formed part of an alliance of 10 UK Buddhist organisations, which have since issued a formal statement dissociating themselves from the ISC and its protestors.
“[The ISC] is aligned with the political agenda of the Chinese government in Tibet to undermine the Dalai Lama and enforce allegiance to the Chinese Communist party”, said Kate Saunders, the communications director of the International Campaign for Tibet.
“We are very concerned about the protesters’ aggressive, misleading and unethical behaviour, and the false image being presented to the public”, a spokesperson said.
The experience I had with the ISC made it pertinently clear that we cannot be lax about Tibet’s situation, both internationally and domestically. I could only put it bluntly, Tibet’s cultural identity was under threat right on our doorstep.
By the time the Dalai Lama arrived and introduced his talk, I was hit by a wave of emotion. His mere presence brought a lot of hope for most people in a difficult world full of struggle.
His Holiness touched upon several areas including quantum physics, the importance of science and the dangers of ignorance. As His Holiness was also inaugurating the opening of the Buddhist Centre as the patron, he was quick to recommend that the place should also be a centre of study as well as a centre of religious practice.
The Dalai Lama also mentioned the recent rise of ISIS, where he denounced the extremists members as perverting the faith of Islam to meet their agenda of violence — for instance, members and supporters of ISIS commonly misuse the term ‘Jihad’ to mean ‘holy war’ but according to the Dalai Lama, it has a far more spiritual dimension within the context of Islam.
“Jihad combats inner destructive emotions,” the Dalai Lama said. “Everybody carries jihad in their hearts, including me.”
The Dalai Lama’s speech very much mirrored his earlier teachings during his historic appearance at the Glastonbury Festival, where he added that “there is nothing wrong with religious beliefs, but the people who are supposed to be following the religion have a lack of moral principle, lack of conviction.”
Most important of all was when His Holiness began to recall his life. “21st century should be of peace, dialogue”, replies the Dalai Lama, “throughout my life I have seen war.”
Creating peace in the world is a large task, especially with 7 billion people on this planet. But we must start working and sowing the seeds now, and rightly so. We cannot win by making enemies, we must hold hands with our brothers and sisters across the world and form dialogue. From the teachings of His Holiness, non-violence is absolutely essential throughout this entire process.
Moreover in recent years, Beijing has been particularly vocal on its sovereignty amid the overt military expansion of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region. In reaction, China has been extensively constructing numerous artificial islands. This along with various other maritime conflicts with its neighbouring countries suggests that China’s visceral grip on Tibet will not be easing any time soon.
Driving back home, we stopped by a red light and I glanced towards the corner of the side window where a small girl clasping the Tibetan national flag with her tiny hands caught my eye. She was wearing a brilliant crimson traditional dress of Tibet, alongside her father. I was captivated by her heartfelt determination, knowing that even the youngest of children will not give up despite facing a tall order. Somebody took her country — but we will not give up fighting for it back.
This gave me a sense of inner peace and harmony as it drove me to work towards fighting for the vulnerable, to speak up against injustice. But also, to campaign for the preservation of Tibet’s Buddhist culture, a culture of peace and non-violence. A culture which taught me that our prime purpose in this life is to help others.
And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.
Written by Ash Chetri
