There is a big article in Rolling Stone about China and Tibet, that as a former Party Secretary of Gansu Province, I find quite disturbing.
I have always been bothered by the bumper sticker romanticism applied to the notion of a “Free Tibet,” or more recently “Save Tibet.” Do the operators of these vehicles favor military intervention on behalf of the native Tibetan population, or are the stickers there to express an opinion and nothing more, save for maybe a rally every five years on this side of the globe. What is pleasant to think about, to hope for, is not the political reality of a truly autonomous Tibet, but the idea of a mysitcal place far away in the Himalayas that, were we to ever get off our asses and venture to, would bestow upon us, in the words of Bill Murray’s grounds keeper character in Caddyshack, “total consciousness.”
Or something like that.
Take, for example, this description of Tibet in the Rolling Stone article:
“…Lhasa was the capital of a remote kingdom where a long line of Dalai Lamas presided over a civilization infused with spirituality, perpetuated in more than 6,000 monasteries and protected by the snow-capped Himalayas. In their sacred land, Tibetans built a distinct and mystical culture, a matchless experiment in faith that permeated their lives.”
Over here there’s been an experiment in bad faith, in thinking that with bumper stickers we are really doing something for these people, when in reality the stickers are a collective admission of fantasy. I don’t see how this fantastical talk of the Tibetan people helped them. As a fantasy people, they really don’t need to have a homeland. As long as we have pictures of monks, they will always be instantly accessible to our imagination.
Not surprisingly, the article goes on to lament the beginning of a decline in influence of the Dalai Lama in his homeland. It’s all the fault of the Chinese, of course, who don’t understand that Tibetans need to be under the collective leadership of a lama. After all, what is the point of having political rights for these people when it’s so enchanting to think of the wisdom of the Dalai Lama spreading across the magic land and “permeating” everybody as they work their over-time shifts as noble serfs for the monasteries.
From the article:
“With the quality of world leaders declining in recent years, the Dalai Lama has become even more important,” says Robert Barnett, a Tibet expert at Columbia University. “He is one of the few morally inspiring leaders left.”
A leader elected by whom?
The problem with the Dali Lama, according to Rolling Stone, is that like the current Panchen Lama, when the need arises, a new Dalai Lama won’t be “chosen through an ancient process of reincarnation, in which the soul of the dead monk is rediscovered in a young boy.” I need not remind you at this juncture that to question the efficacy of governance that this selection offers is to admit you have no soul. It was a great system, just ask the exiled leader.
The truth of the matter is that there is a long history of the Dalai Lama being installed for political purposes. The position was set up by the Mongol, Altan Kahn, in order to consolidate the Mongols with the Tibetans in 1578. Dalai, is actually Mongolian for “Oceanic.” Altan Kahn was a real sweet guy, especially to the Chinese, who he often massacred. In one of those rare ironic twists of fate, the monks responsible for, as Rolling Stone puts it “crisscross[ing] Tibet’s rugged landscape, consulting oracles, visions and markers in the sky or in the waters of Lake Namtso,” chose Altan Kahn’s great-grandson to be the next Dalai Lama. I guess the criss-crossed into Mongolia by accident. Or what about in 1750, when Qing Dynasty China installed the Dalai Lama? Etc., etc..
But this old man, the current Dalai Lama, the one that the world is so in love with, he’s the real deal I guess. I’ve heard that he is threatening not to be re-born again to stave off the Chinese from chosing his successor. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him born again on the big screen though, most likely played by his buddy Richard Gere. The story of too little too late.
Never mind your cynicism, what about mine?
The Stone: “…Lhasa was the capital of a remote kingdom where a long line of Dalai Lamas presided over a civilization infused with spirituality, perpetuated in more than 6,000 monasteries and protected by the snow-capped Himalayas. In their sacred land, Tibetans built a distinct and mystical culture, a matchless experiment in faith that permeated their lives.”
How about a word substitution game?
“…DC was the capital of a large kingdom where a long line of Presidents presided over a civilization infused with Christianity, perpetuated in more than 600,000 churches and protected by powerful armed forces. In their sacred land, Americans built a distinct and mystical culture, a matchless experiment in faith that permeated their lives.”
All of a sudden, not so nice, eh?
Regarding leaders, it seems that brown people (Tibetans) need them, Chinese people need them, black people need them, our Indians need them… So howcum no “Caucasian leaders”? Or is that an accident of the press?
clark
PS Chogyam Trungpa’s Born in Tibet — about his escape in 1959 — is exciting reading still today.