The legacy of lamas: The monk who didn’t sell his country
The year that changed Tibet was 1938. The location was a village in the north eastern part of Tibet, now renamed Qinghai. The morning was shattered by the sound of hoofbeats. The riders were Buddhist monks in disguise. They were on a crucial mission: find the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. ‘Dalai Lama’ is a combination of the Mongolic word dalai (ocean) and the Tibetan word bla-ma (guru).
The Nechung Oracle and monks had identified the location by interpreting various signs, visions of a sacred lake and of a rare fungus growing a holy shrine. Since the 11th century, Tibetans believe that the Dalai Lama is an incarnation of Avalokitesvara, or the compassionate Lord of the World. From 1750 to the 1950s when China swept into Tibet, the Dalai Lamas were the head of the Tibetan government in Lhasa and ruled until 1951.
The riders who reached Qinghai were amazed to find that the two-year-old Lhamo Dhondup called the head monk, whom he had never met, by his Buddhist name. The monk had a rosary that was given to him by the recently deceased Dalai Lama. “It’s mine,” Dhondup pointed at the beads. The riders took Dhondup to Lhasa, the seat of the Dalai Lamas since 1642.
There he was given his Buddhist name—these are Pali names chosen by the head monk of the monastery where the lama is ordained—Tenzin Gyatso. At four years of age, Tenzin Gyatso ascended the throne of the Dalai Lama. He lived under the protection of regents in the Potala Palace, since he was too young. There he learned Buddhist scriptures and practices.
In October 1950, soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China crossed into Tibet. A month after the invasion, El Salvador sponsored a protest by the Tibetan government at the UN, but India under Jawaharlal Nehru and Britian blocked the debate. The Dalai Lama did not leave Lhasa, but continued to try preserve the autonomy of his country within the deadly embrace of Communist China.
In 1954, he met Mao Zedong in Beijing. Mao told him “religion is poison”. The irony of fate is mysterious; the same year, the Dalai Lama struck a friendship with a Chinese Communist party apparatchik. He also befriended a top Communist official whose son was just a year old. The boy’s name: Xi Jinping.
On March 25, 1959, the PLA entered Lhasa. Fighting was intense and the slaughter was terrible: more than 2,000 Tibetan resistance fighters were killed. The Dalai Lama was 23 years old. He fled on horseback; the first Dalai Lama to set foot outside Tibet. Lakhs of Tibetans followed him to India. Subsequently, the atrocities committed by Mao’s Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution obliterated most of Tibet’s 6,000 monasteries, temples and shrines.
More escaped Tibet to India. In 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel peace prize on the same year of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Western governments feted the new Nobel Laureate. He became Beijing’s biggest bug bear. China has banned prayers to the Dalai Lama in Tibet. Display of his image is punishable. Monasteries must instead display Xi’s photos, raise the Chinese flag and force monks to study Xi Jinping Thought.
The state-controlled Chinese media calls him “the source of all turmoil in Tibetan society”, “jackal in monk’s clothing” with the “face of a human and the heart of a beast”. China is browbeating governments that recognise the Dalai Lama as Tibet’s official representative, a successful strategy since many of them have economic interests with China.
The Dalai Lama wants to end 369 years of the Lama hold over Tibetans and lead them towards electoral democracy. His renouncement of political authority is a calculated move, since it neuters the political claim of a China-sponsored Dalai Lama. It will be left to the new reincarnation, to take that legacy forward or to Beijing. He says he will live to 113 years old though he is “having trouble with my knees”. He hasn’t knelt to the Chinese even once.