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Serf Emancipation Day? I Don't Think so.

Is China winning the fight for world opinion on the issue of Tibet? Serf Emancipation Day is the latest barrage of propaganda against the fortress of goodwill created by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. March 28, 1959 is the day the Chinese Army declared the occupation of Tibet, following the escape of the Dalai Lama across the Himalaya mountains, and into exile in India. The Chinese re-branding of this date in Tibetan infamy, falls on the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the escape.

BBC NEWS Asia-Pacific Serfs' Emancipation Day for Tibet

The new "holiday" reflects the on-going Chinese effort to co-opt Tibet. The violent campaign of terror against the Buddhist clergy during the Cultural Revolution, earned China a reputation that it is still trying to live down, even as it maintains a a stealth campaign of political manipulation designed to gradually eliminate the unique status of the Dalai Lama within Tibetan Buddhism and within Tibet.

It is a strategy with a long shadow, and the Chinese are skillful players. A critical moment in the struggle for Tibet came in 1989, when the Panchen Lama, Tibet's most prominent religious figure after the Dalai Lama, died unexpectedly.

The Tibetan Buddhist belief in reincarnation, creates a vulnerability in terms of transition, that the Chinese are attempting to exploit. Following the death of a prominent Lama, a team is appointed to search for his reincarnation. Usually, a small group of candidates is identified and persons familiar with the deceased Lama use a number of tests to determine which of the candidates is the true reincarnation. Following this tradition, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama have each participated in the selection of the other following death and reincarnation.

The death of the Panchen Lama in 1989 created an opportunity for the Chinese government to manipulate the selection process for his reincarnation. During the period between the death and the discovery of the reincarnation, the Dalai Lama worked with the Chinese government through intermediaries, in an effort to coordinate the selection. By 1995, when it had become apparent to His Holiness that the Chinese were not acting in good faith, he took control of the process and announced the successful candidate, a six year old Tibetan named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima. Within a short time, this candidate was arrested along with his family. They have since vanished, and have not been seen in public since. The Chinese then announced their own candidate, who was subsequently installed as the 11th. Panchen Lama.

BBC NEWS Asia-Pacific China's Panchen Lama visits Tibet

BBC NEWS Asia-Pacific China's Panchen Lama hails Party

BBC NEWS Asia-Pacific China says vanished Panchen Lama 'happy'

Tibetans in India demand release of Panchen Lama Top News Reuters

The Chinese now control the process for selection of the Dalai Lama from within China, through their current control of the Panchen Lama. Upon the death of the current Dalai Lama, this individual will be in a position to determine his successor.

For this reason, His Holiness has announced that following his death, he will not reincarnate within Tibet. He has already selected the individuals who will be responsible for the identification of his reincarnation, and has also publicly discussed the possible elimination of the traditional Tibetan selection process for high Lamas.

In this same vein, the Chinese have recently forbidden reincarnations not sanctioned by the government, as absurd as that may sound, as part of their strategy to control the selection of the 15th Dalai Lama.

The Chinese declaration of Serf Emancipation Day, is intended as a pre-emptive strike against the world support for Tibet which is likely to surge during the run-up the the fiftieth anniversary. The escape into exile by His Holiness and approximately 100,000 Tibetans, across almost impassible Himalayan mountain passes still buried in deep snow, was heroic with world-wide appeal. As March 28th. approaches, the Chinese are anticipating the event, with a campaign of dis-information in readiness, in its struggle to keep the lid on the Independence movement. They had some success in keeping Tibet out of the news during the Olympics, but this crisis is looming.

As the day draws closer, China will be ready with the "real" story; the liberation of serfs living under feudal domination by an aristocratic elite maintaining oppression through both political and religious power.

Unfortunately, it is an imperfect world, and enough truth can be found to create uncertainty in the minds of those unfamiliar with the history of Tibet, and of its' relationship with China. Without question, Tibetan society under the Dalai Lamas before the Chinese invasion was feudal in its' character, with the efforts of the many enriching the aristocratic few. (However, it is also true that the storehouses of the monasteries were used to feed the poor during times of famine.) It is indeed the case that the monasteries had become wealthy under this system, and many of the powerful families were motivated to retain power through corruption of the worst sort.

However, it is also true that the 14th Dalai Lama, like his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama, (known as "the Great Thirteenth,") recognized the problems created within Tibet during its lengthy period of isolation, prior to the modern era. The 13th. Dalai Lama recognized the danger represented by a rising China, and the vulnerability of the Tibetans who had not maintained a military preparedness. His efforts to modernize the military were too late. Otherwise, under the leadership of the 14th., modernization of virtually all aspects of Tibetan society has been a top priority of the government in exile in Dharamsala, India, as well as preservation of Tibetan culture.

Politically, His Holiness has used the time in exile to completely transform Tibet from a feudal monarchy to a modern democracy in which a representative governing body, the Kashag, administers the country and the Dalai Lamas increasingly assume a role that is primarily spiritual.

His vision for the future would be to return to an autonomous Tibet within China, to establish a democratic society with a drastically reduced political role for the Dalai Lama. But clearly, this goal is incompatible with the present situation in China. The precarious balance between capitalism and communism that governs modern China, is intolerant of democracy. And so the government cannot risk it. Which means that the government cannot risk the return of the Dalai Lama to Lhasa.

It is not the rescuing of serfs from the corruption of the Lamas that motivates the Chinese campaign against His Holiness, it is their fear of democracy. Specifically, it is the government's fear of loss of control, supported by the anger of hubris now being expressed with characteristic arrogance by the Han Chinese, who have become the dominant ethnic group in Lhasa, Tibet's capital.

For many years His Holiness, recognizing the long-term advantage to China in the struggle for the future of Tibet, and committed to a goal of non-violent struggle, has disavowed the goal of independence as unattainable, and has instead sought autonomy under Chinese authority. Over time however, this goal has become increasingly unrealistic. The Chinese have invested heavily in Tibet, and large numbers of ethnic Chinese have relocated to Tibet. The recent completion of Beijing - Lhasa passenger rail service, has opened Tibet to tourism and created a thriving tourist industry. Native Tibetans have become an oppressed minority in their own homeland.

Given the present reality, the vision of an autonomous and democratic Tibet under the umbrella of China, has become recognized as a failed strategy, even by the Dali Lama himself. Recently in Dharamsala, he led a discussion on the future of Tibet, in which he put everything on the table, and made clear his willingness to remove himself from the picture if his people thought it necessary. They didn't.

But many, especially the younger generation, have grown impatient; they've seen Chinese development overtaking the homeland, risking the dream of a cherished past that may be gone forever. As a result an unequivocal movement for full independence is growing in Tibet and throughout the Tibetan diaspora. As it grows, I hope Tibetans and their friends throughout the world will remember the lessons of non-violent struggle taught by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and their own beloved Tenzin Gyatso.

In other posts I have talked about my spiritual life and the benefit I have gained recently from the disciplined study of Buddhism offered through Jewel heart - Cleveland, so my sympathy with Tibet is no surprise. But I feel identification with the people of Tibet in another way. The modern America in which I grew up was a world marvel of wealth and leisure, at least for the fortunate ones. Many Americans however, became aware that the childhood game of cowboys and indians, had its' origins in genocide.

A hidden history, once revealed, has great power. For myself, the discovery of the suffering of native people following the arrival of Europeans, was transformative in terms of how I viewed the world and my place in it. I felt impelled to learn as much as possible about native American culture and history. While in granduate school, I focused on federal policy on Indian affairs and the contemporary conditions of poverty for native people. In the process, I learned about the native way of understanding the world through the wisdom of the Great Spirit.

Not only did I learn from the example of native people to make my life meaningful through following a spiritual path, but while traveling that path, was re-introduced to my own culture at a deeper level of understanding. It was through the great Lakota holy man Black Elk, that I learned to see Jesus, not as an icon of the Christian church, but as a man on the earth with a deep insight into human character, and a genius for healing.

It is important to know of the greatness of the Indian people, before one can fully appreciate the enormity of the terrible crimes perpetrated against them. It is important to know of Indian spiritual power and its' ability to open the eyes of humans so they can see the true nature of the world, and of their proper place, before we can fully appreciate the enormous crime we are committing against the earth.

Many have learned of these things through the study of the great people of the Indian nations. The military leaders such as Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse. Or the political leaders like Chief Seattle. Or the holy men such as Handsome Lake and Black Elk. And we have come to learn of the terrible loss to a world in need of wise leadership and spiritual guidance, that our mistreatment of Indian people has caused. Many are remorseful for the cruelty of the past, and wonder if our future has been compromised in ways that the spiritual knowledge of native people might have prevented.

It is through the lens of the American experience with its' native people, that we can fully appreciate the current situation in Tibet. Though many love him, Tibet is much more than the Dalai Lama. The people of Tibet, and the culture they have created, is a world treasure, a unique resource for the planet. A repository of a human way of knowing. As such its' value to all people of the earth is inestimable.

But the Tibetans themselves, and not the gift they have to offer, should be our first concern. Just as our own native people were abandoned to the material aspirations of the so-called superior culture, so the Tibetans are being lost to the dominance of the Chinese.

Yet not completely. It will always be so, that if you seek, you will find. The knowledge of Buddhism will be preserved both in Tibet and in the west through the efforts of its great teachers. In the same way, the knowledge of the native people is preserved within the wisdom stories of the people. But to know of the loss of wisdom and of the loss of wise and holy people is to know that the crime of genocide must be resisted. Never again should a great power be permitted to overpower the rights of indigenous people.

DHL

Update: This report by Eric Campbell on the Tibetan independence movement, is fourteen minutes well spent. Discuses a possible role in the future of a freeTibet for the Kharmapa Lama.

YouTube - After The Dalai Lama - India

DHL