The Plight of Tibet

I was looking through my computer and found something I wrote awhile back, my views might have changed slightly since then but let me post it up here for everyone to see:

Tibet has suffered under the control of the Chinese government since its invasion in 1950s whether this suffering is through economic, political, cultural or religious issues is not of importance with the point or question I’m asking as long as its agreed that this suffering has of course happened by the hands of the Chinese government towards Tibet.

So why have these Chinese come to impose this suffering on Tibet and its Tibetan people? When I talk to some peers they have a similar thought of China only caring for itself and its own people; if they can better themselves by assimilating Tibetans, destroying Tibetan culture, exploiting resources then they will do it, even at the expense of Tibet and Tibetans. Whether the suffering of Tibet and Tibetans is being inflicted by the wishes of the majority of the Chinese people, its government alone or being a changing mix of both since the invasion is debatable but I think we can agree that there is a particular group of Chinese people who has and is inflicting this suffering on Tibet and Tibetans.

Now why and how would these Chinese be able to purposely and willingly inflict suffering on another group in hopes of improving their own situation? Many times I hear the word evil used to describe these Chinese, so how did these Chinese become to be what we see as “evil”?

However these Chinese are a result of their conditions and environment in China during the period in China before Tibet’s invasion and even preceding it. China and its people before Tibet was invaded had already suffered from the Sino-Japanese war during World War II and its its Civil War; suffering over 20 million dead in the Sino-Japanese war alone. During the invasion and shortly after it, China was also suffering from poor economic policies and rounds of natural disasters causing widespread famine which led to the deaths of 40 million Chinese.

This is why these Chinese were able to purposefully and willingly inflict suffering on Tibet and its people in the hopes of improving their own situation. I think that the Chinese, having experienced great suffering from these events, like any human being, were feeling uneasy about their own security and the assurance of their well-being and thus wanted to stop their own suffering and make sure that they never experienced that type of suffering again and so were willing to even impose suffering on another nation and people if it would help them become more powerful as a nation and thus prevent or deter suffering from other foreign powers or exploit the resources of another nation in hopes of creating a better life for themselves free from famine, lack of necessities, etc..

By saying this I don’t justifying what these Chinese people have done to Tibet and Tibetans. What they have done is no doubt wrong but I think what these Chinese people have done is comparable to the Germans after the events of WWI when the German people were suffering from the heavy reparation fees of the Versailles treaty and the Great Depression. When the Nazi party led by Hitler pointed the finger at the Jewish people as the cause of their suffering the Germans persecuted the Jews in hopes of ending their own suffering and hardships.

Thus I think “desperate times call for desperate measures” is suitable saying for these types of actions but even more suitable is that in desperate times people are more willing to try desperate measures; measures that they would not normally think of doing if they were not in such a situation.

I believe that my theory or thought is an optimistic one. In believing that the Chinese inflicting Tibet’s suffering are a result of their own suffering it gives us hope for the future. Once China develops and these people are able to live a life where they can be free from the fears of suffering, I think that the suffering of Tibet and its Tibetans will in turn be ended.

You can agree or disagree with me on this one, if you disagree please reply.

Orientalist Commercializations: Tibetan Buddhism in American Popular Film

“Many contemporary American popular films are presenting us with particular views of Tibetan Buddhism and culture. Unfortunately, the views these movies present are often misleading. In this essay I will identify four false characterizations of Tibetan Buddhism, as described by Tibetologist Donald Lopez, characterizations that have been refuted by post-colonial scholarship. I will then show how these misleading characterizations make their way into three contemporary films, Seven Years in Tibet, Kundun and Little Buddha. Finally, I will offer an explanation for the American fascination with Tibet as Tibetan culture is represented in these films”.

“Orientalism is defined briefly as Western distortions, purposeful or not, of Eastern traditions and culture, distortions which ultimately can be patronizing or damaging to the studied cultures”.

See Article

Article Overview:
-The 3rd paragraph analyzes Orientalism in the novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton in 1933.
-The 4th, 5th and 6th paragraph explains what Orientalism is and how it affects peoples views on Tibet, India, China.
-The 7th and 8th paragraph analyzes Orientalism in the film Seven Years in Tibet.
-The 9th and 10th paragraph analyzes Orientalism in the film Kundun by Martin Scorsese.
-The 18th paragraph analyzes Orientalism in the film Gautama starring Keanu Reeves as Gautama himself.
-The 19th paragraph discusses about an Oprah Winfrey interview with Carolyn Massey, the Seattle mother who gave up her son as the incarnation of a lama (*Very interesting).
-The 20th, 21st and 22nd paragraphs conclude and explain why the West creates these conceptions about Tibet

Nazis in Tibet

I came across the book History’s Great Untold Stories earlier today and inside was one chapter that spoke about the Nazi interests and expeditions to Tibet during the late 1930’s. It centered around one German in particular, Ernst Schäfer (pictured to the right). Ernst, a German zoologist, had already been to Tibet twice before his third expedition to Tibet in 1938. Both in 1931–32 and 1934–36, for sport and zoological research. The third expedition was sent with the blessings of Heinrich Himmler, commander of the SS and the second most powerful Nazi in Germany next to Hitler. It was also sponsored by the Ahnenerbe, the German Bureau for the Study of Ancestral Heritage.

Nazi leaders such as Heinrich Himmler believed that Tibet might harbor the last of the original Aryan tribes, the legendary forefathers of the German race, whose leaders possessed supernatural powers that the Nazis could use to conquer the world. When the Nazi expedition reached Tibet they searched for any trace of an Aryan/Nordic race within the Tibet. Many Tibetans were examined by the expedition members and they took record with photographs, face plasters, body measurements and also cultural/environmental observations. The sighting of swastika on Tibetan religious objects was proof to some Nazis of the Aryan link. Others also took note of how similar the Alp’s mountainous environment was to that of Tibet’s.

Nazi researchers and scientists had seen pictures of Tibetan nobles and described them as possessing very Nordic features which had them believe that they were mixed descendants of the Aryan race they had been seeking. Tibet was seen to these Nazis as once a proud warrior nation that had been dominated and weakened by a religion from the outside (Buddhism) and “bastardized” through intermixing with non-Aryans. Thus this was foreshadowing of future Nazi actions and beliefs for the justification of their genocide of the Jews and other “non Aryan” peoples to prevent sharing the same fate of Tibet.

Sources and related information:

1) The Nazi Connection with Tibet
2) Quest of the Nazis
3) Of Lamas and Nazis: The SS in Tibet – 1938-39
4) Die Expeditionen der Nazis – Abenteuer und Rassenwahn
5) Himmler’s Crusade

Special lecture on the essence of Buddhism to Tibetan youth

A few people have informed me about this speech Dalai Lama has given earlier this month and have asked me to post it up, so here it is:

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s special lecture on the essence of Buddhism to Tibetan youth”.

“His Holiness explains the key aspects of Tibetan Buddhism with great emphasis on the benefits of studying Buddhism to Tibetan high school and college students. Highlighting the need for the study of Buddhism, His Holiness advises that a deeper and fuller understanding of Buddhism enables one to become what His Holiness calls a Buddhist of the 21^st century. Complimenting faith with knowledge and reason, one understands why Buddhism is a philosophy, a religion, a science, to transform the mind”.

Date: 1 – 3 June 2007

Venue: T.C.V. School, Upper Dharamsala, India

Click here to listen or view the lecture.

China’s Rising Military Power

China’s defense budget to rise 17.8% in 2007

“Mar. 15, 2007 – At the Fifth Session of the 10th National People’s Congress, it was announced that the country’s military budget for 2007 is 350.92 billion yuan, or roughly US$44.94 billion. This marks a 17.8 per cent increase over the previous year, or $6.8 billion. (Click for full report.)

China’s military expenditure in 2005 accounted for 1.35 percent of its GDP, the lowest compared with 4.03 percent in the United States, 2.71 percent in Britain and 1.93 percent in France.

In terms of proportion of military spending in fiscal expenditure, China reported 7.3 percent in 2005, compared with 20. 04 percent in the United States, 11.41 percent in France and 9.2 percent in Germany”

Does China’s military expenditure surpass its actual needs now that the 2007 Chinese military budget has surpassed Japan’s $42 billion and Germany’s $37.5? It still trails Britain’s $62.38 billion and France’s US$50.78 billion. It is a fraction of the United States’ $532.8 billion.

Tibetan Warriors

The Tibetan Empire beginning in 600CE lasted untill 850CE. In this period we see a struggle over the Tarim basin between the Tibetans, the Chinese, and a Mongolic-speaking people called the Aza.

In the book “Army of Tang China” by Karl Heinz Ranitzsch It describes the Tibetan army the Tang Chinese fought against: “The men and horses all wear chain armour. It’s workmanship is extremely fine. It envelops them completely, leaving openings only for the two eyes. Thus strong bows and sharp swords cannot harm them. When they do battle, they must dismount and array themselves in ranks. When one dies another takes his place. To the end, they are not willing to retreat. Their lances are longer and thinner than those in China. Their archery is weak but their armour is strong. The men always use swords, when they are not at war they still go about carrying swords.”

Arab sources also refer of the Tibetan infantry. From another chapter in a battle where the Uighurs allied with Chinese to fight the Tibetans.

“The Uighurs considered themselves more of a match for the cumbersome Tibetan cavalry, the Chinese infantry was equipped with crossbows with leather flighted arrows and with longbows whose steel tipped arrows could pierce the Tibetan armor.The Tibetan infantry were the main threat ,Heavily armed encased in armor they were known for their bravery under attack.But the Tibetan army was also reinforced by Turkic soldiers who were excellent cavalrymen.The Tibetan army was waiting for the allied army under Beshbaliq.The Chinese and Uighurs could make no headway against the Tibetans and as the battle progressed they became weak and dispirited,then at last the Tibetan lines begun to advance a grey ironclad mass of Tibetan infantry rolled forward relentlessly routing the enemy”. There was an exhibition of Tibetan arms and armours in New York last summer

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId=%7BDD23FA42-2DC3-4DBD-82CB-CB529C69DC56%7D

Dalai Lama warns against China containment

“It is absolutely wrong to isolate China and also contain China. It’s wrong, morally also wrong,” the Dalai Lama told the Australian National Press Club…China must be brought into the mainstream of the world community, and now fortunately China themselves want to join the world community. Most welcome. Very good”.

-H.H. Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama warned major nations on Tuesday not to try to contain China’s economic and military rise, and urged countries like Australia to use their trading clout to pressure Beijing on human rights.

See Article

Tibetan Women

The Sexism in Tibetan Society seems to be a popular topic so I’ve decided to make a post about Tibetan women:

I got a book from the university library called The People of Tibet written by Sir Charles Bell and in the book there quite a large section dedicated to Tibetan women. The book is quite old, published in 1968 but I’ll post a few of the author’s comments on Tibetan women from his experience in Tibet. His experience seems to be more with the upper class Tibetans, which shows in his writings also you have to keep in mind that this book was written or published in the 60’s.

The author points out areas where Tibetan women were equal or well treated:

• -”Tibetan women were not kept in seclusion, unlike Indian women”.
• -”They are accustomed to mix with the other sex throughout their lives”.
• -”They are at ease with men, and can hold their own as well as any women in the world”.
• -”…many of the ladies stay in their houses as far as possible during winter for the sake of their complexions.”
• -The author also says that Tibetan women think their appearance to be very important to them. He has a few stories about it and also describes treatments that different Tibetan women do for their appearance.
• -”The position of women in Tibetan society is remarkably good. Such is the verdict recorded in the books of the late Mr.Rockhill, an American, and of Shramana Ekai Kawaguchi, a Japanese, both of them among the leading foreign authorities on Tibet”.
• -”Kawaguchi considers that, ‘The condition of Tibetan women with regards to men…may be considered as surpassing the ideal of Western women, so far as the theory of equality of rights between the sexes is concerned’.
• -”Chinese writers, too, have noted the high status accorded to Tibetan women”.
• -”But one reservation must be made. A girl does not, as a rule, choose her own husband. The choice rests with her parents…”
• -”The Tibetan woman is brought up with the boys and men. She is physically strong; she is undeniably intelligent.”
• -”When still a girl, she may hold charge of part of the household. Later on, she will probably have great influence with her husband. And if her husband be absent or dead, she may manage the estate till her son grows to manhood”.
• -”In an ordinary household the husband appoints the menservants, the wife appoints the maids and has the chief power indoors”.
• -”Probably Buddhism also has had a share in elevating the women’s position to some extent. The Buddha, though at first unwillingly, admitted women into the religious order. During the early days of Buddhism women were influential; in Tibet, as we shall see presently, some held high positions”.(*This is contrary to what I’ve read elsewhere).
• -The author writes about Tibet in the past when it was ruled by a number of “petty principalities”, he points out that some of these were under the rule of women.

The author also points out areas where Tibetan women were treated unequally/inferior:

• -When the Dalai Lama grants blessings to worshipers he has 3 varying grades of blessing which he accords: He places both hands on the heads of those of the highest rank (granted to very few), one hand on ecclesiastical and civil officials (ex. monks; granted to less than two hundred laymen, and several thousand monks), and a tassel, held in his hand, for all of the others. This tassel blessing is the last and commonest form of blessing and it includes all women, except for one woman, Dorje Pamo who is one of the only female incarnations in Tibet and is one of the highest. She is granted a one handed blessing.
• -Laymen are generally considered common and unclean (kyu-ma tang tsok-pa), and so are all women, even nuns”.
• -”The very word ‘kye-men’ i.e “the lower birth”, shows that we Tibetans think so.”
• -The author writes about the monastery of Ta-lung where women are prohibited from entering, nor does any female dare to look towards this monastery.
• -”In Burma, another Buddhist country, in The Soul of a People, Fielding Hall records that it is to some extent believed there ‘that a woman must be born again as a man before she can enter on the way that leads to heaven’(This doesn’t have to do with Tibetans but I thought it was interesting and also because someone commented something similar to this within Tibetan beliefs in the Sexism in Tibetan Society post.
• -”In some measure Buddhism may have helped the Tibetan women, strong, intelligent, capable, to maintain their position; but it does not give them such power in religious affairs as it does to the men. And perhaps they do not want it. They are religious up to a point, more so than the men”.
• -”For every nun there are thirty or forty monks”.

On Tibetan women’s work and recreations:

• -”At midday [a Tibetan woman] goes, not infrequently, to visit relations and friends. The talk perhaps turns on some fascinating piece of jewelery, which, being for sale, one of them wishes to buy; about the beauty or otherwise of their lady friends, which of these go about with their male acquaintances more than is seemly, and so forth”.
• -”A Tibetan nobleman expressed himself to me thus as to the duties of Tibetan ladies: ‘She will love and obey her husband. She will show kindness to her relatives. She will not be harsh to her servants, will explain their faults to them, not punishing hastily. She must avoid making favorites among them. She will not trouble her husband the the faults or disputes of servants, but will settle these herself. She must be an adept in all household management. she must avoid making favorites among her children. Tibetans do not rank a son higher than a daughter, but both as equal. The crime of female infanticide, though found in some countries, has never found a home in Tibet. She ought to go to plays and spectacles, be sociable and not keep to herself. She ought to visit her friends frequently and give them presents and entertainment, thus showing a friendly and affectionate disposition.” The author claims this opinion to be the general among the men of the upper classes and that the whole of Tibetan ladies fills the part well.

Paradox Lost: How Not To Be A Tourist In Tibet

Anyone planning to ever go to Tibet should read this:

“‘Paradox Lost’ gives a reality check on the sights of Lhasa, exploring how both China’s assertions of power and Tibetan expressions of identity are revealed in the architecture of the city, as well as the reality behind Tibet’s apparent economic progress. The report advises tourists how to avoid putting Tibetans, and themselves, at risk, and offers tips on how to understand the signs of religious repression, and subtle acts of dissent by Tibetans.

ICT recommends that tourists read it before they leave for Tibet. Carrying a copy in a backpack or suitcase into Tibet could be regarded as a political or ’splittist’ act (in other words, as an attempt to ’split’ the motherland), and could therefore put local contacts at risk”.

See the Travel Guide Here

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=16739&article=New+travel+guide+for+tourists+to+Tibet+unmasks+propaganda&t=1&c=1

The Chinese Within Tibet

Here are some statistics I got off the net on the ethnic make-up of the population within Tibet. (*I think the source might be Chinese or compiled by the PRC)

-In the Tibetan Autonomous Region(TAR) has a population of 2,616,329, of which 2,427,168(92.8%) are Tibetan and 158,570(6.1%) are Han Chinese.

-In the Qinghai province, which encompasses the historical Tibetan province of Amdo, there are 4,822,963 inhabitants. Of this 1,086,592(22.5%) are Tibetan and 2,606,050(54.0%) are Han Chinese.

-In the Sichuan province, which encompasses part of the historical Tibetan province of Kham, the Tibetan areas are on average 50-75% Tibetan and the 20-25% Han Chinese.

*Also I don’t think these statistics incorporate the large number of Chinese soldier and military personnel that are stationed in Tibet.

So what I want people to comment on is:
-If Tibet gains its independence what should Tibetans do about these Chinese inhabitants? Should they be deported? Should they be allowed to stay? Encouraged to leave through incentives?