Fear and Nonviolence: China and Tibet

24 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 T he Beijing Olympics has brought new attention to Tibet, as people, groups, and nations across the world havetakenthesymbolicrunningofthe torch as an opportunity to protest China’s imperialism. However the media’s simplistic reporting and reliance on Chinese sources of information has clouded the issue rather than clarified it. In the wake of supposedly violent uprisingsinTibet ,thereisevenamisconceptionthatHis Holiness the Dalai Lama has lost the support of his own people. Yet in looking past propaganda to better understand what has occurred in Tibet over the past months, it is clear that the Dalai Lama offers the brightest possibility for a lasting solution in the region. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has not wavered from his fifty-year commitment to nonviolenceinseekinganarrangementwiththeChineseCommunistgovernmentthatwill free his people from genocidal oppression at its hands. His “Middle Way” approach is well thought-out, strong, and realistic. His long-standing offer to the Chinese government, whichhehasextendedforatleasttwentyyears,isbasedonprinciplesenshrinedintheChinese Constitution concerning the treatment of what that document calls “Minority Nationalities” within their Republic. The essence of the Dalai Lama’s offer is this: to have the Tibetan people consent legally by plebiscite to accept Chinese sovereignty over the Tibetan plateau, on the condition that all the Tibetan people in all Tibet Autonomous areas are left to be genuinely free to live on theirownplateau,runtheirownaffairs,governthemselves,controltheirowneconomy,and preserve their own culture and environment. Defense and foreign affairs would remain underChina’scontrol,andChinacouldstillinvestinandprofitfromaTibetaneconomyrun sustainably by Tibetans, as long as mining and other extractive industries were conducted in a thoroughly green and clean manner. So all Tibetans would regain their practical freedomundergenuineautonomyinexchangeforgrantingChinalegitimatesovereignty ,which in the post-UN Charter world cannot be gained by force of invasion and occupation. Akeypoint,sometimeshardforAmericanstounderstand,isthattheDalaiLama’sspiritualroleisonehesharesingeneralwithotherTibetanreincarnatelamas :torepresentaliving exemplar of the Buddha, inspiring Tibetans that they too can evolve into enlightened beings,iftheycultivatetheirgoodhumanqualitiestoahighdegree.Thisroleparticularlyin his case mandates that he take an active concern in social and political realities, since his Fear and Nonviolence: China and Tibet by Robert Thurman (above) Tibetan refugees shout slogans during a demonstration in Katmandu , Nepal, Monday, March 10, 2008: the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet that forced the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959. (facing page, top) A Tibetan Youth Congress activist shouts slogans during a demonstration to mark the 48th National Uprising Day of Tibet in the eastern Indian city of Siliguri, Saturday , March 10, 2007. Thousands of Tibetans rose against Chinese rule in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on March 10, 1959. (facing page, bottom) A Tibetan youth shouts anti-China slogans in Bangalore , India, Sunday, April 10, 2005. AP PHOTO/BINOD JOSHI Robert Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. He is Co-founder and President, Tibet House U.S. and author of Why the Dalai Lama Matters. incarnation carries the responsibility to safeguard the Tibetan Buddhist culture, which is designed as the arena wherein the Tibetans are guaranteed the maximum opportunity for the self-cultivation they aspire to. That culture is not just a by-product of the three-milehigh altitude, but is the heroic creation of thirteen hundred years of self-restraint, altruistic development, and intellectual achievement on the part of millions of Tibetans. That is why healwaystalksoftheChinesecommittinga“culturalgenocide”ratherthanaphysicalgenocide .ItishisspiritualdutytoprotecttheculturalmatrixwithinwhichTibetanscanfeelthat theyaremakingtheirhumanlivescountforsomethingmeaningful—inthecontextoftheir evolutionarybeliefthattheyarecloseto their goal ofbuddhahood iftheycaninvestmostof their time in spiritual, contemplative, and intellectual cultivation. He has carried out this duty with great success with the community in exile, wherein among the approximated 150,000 Tibetan exiles worldwide, there are more than thirty thousand monks and nuns. This is an astonishing proportion of a population living as refugees in difficult circumstances .ThekeytohisnevergivinguphisstruggletogetahearingfromtheChineseleadership and people is that he feels it necessary to restore this precious spiritual opportunity to all the Tibetan people, who absolutely depend on him to do so. ThemediahasmademuchoflateabouttheirideathatTibetansarefedupwiththeDalai Lama’s “Middle Way” offer to accept autonomy within China, and want complete independence ,goingtowarwithviolenceifnecessaryandreducingtheDalaiLama’sroletoonly aspiritualone.Butthisistotallyinaccurate.TibetanscontinuetolovetheDalaiLamaheart and soul and body and mind. They are only at odds with China’s stubborn refusal to even...