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Tibet

Known as the roof of the world, Tibet has one of our world’s ancient civilizations with a recorded history of over two thousand years of distinct racial, cultural and linguistic heritage.  Located at an average altitude of 13,000 feet above sea level, it lies at the heart of central Asia and has a total population of 6 million.

Historical Tibet is made up of the three provinces of Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang; with a land mass of 2.5 million square kilometers, it is larger than all Western Europe combined. 

Until the mid 20th century, Tibet existed as independently, with its own national flag, currency, language and culture.  For centuries, protected within the confines of its geographical boundaries, Tibet remained largely isolated from the outside world. The general way of life was primarily nomadic and semi-nomadic. The wisdom-heritage of Buddhism permeated and infused every aspect of daily life of the people across the land. 

In 1949, the People’s Liberation Army of the Communist China invaded Tibet.  In 1959    Tibetan people joined in a mass uprising against China’s occupying forces in the capital city of Lhasa. The uprising was brutally crushed. These conditions eventually led to the escape of Tibet’s spiritual and temporal leader, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama to India which graciously offered a home in exile to him. His Holiness was followed into exile by more than 80,000 Tibetans.

Guided by the comprehensive vision, foresight and pragmatism of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government was re-established and re-organized on modern democratic principles in India. Headed by H.H. the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government functions in exile under a democratic charter and is comprised of democratically elected legislative, judiciary and executive bodies. 

The ancient Tibetan culture, religion and identity, under threat of extinction inside Tibet, not only survived but now thrives in exile.   Emphasizing the values of wisdom and compassion, Tibetan Buddhism carries an remarkable treasury of knowledge arising from a philosophical understanding of reality based on centuries of sophisticated  and nuanced scholarship. Tibetan Buddhism continues to evolve, making use of contemporary science to refine its tenets and continue its careful and profound exploration of the ways in which things exist, morality, and the underlying net of interdependence that marks our existence.

Any discussion of modern Tibet, however, must address the dire state of affairs in terms of lack of freedom, displacement of populations, enormous hardship including coercive practices such as forced labor and the use of torture, impaired education and health care systems, and profound lack of respect for human rights that so harshly characterizes life for those in Tibet under the current occupying forces of the Chinese government.

Tibetan Art and Culture

With its diverse  and rich indigenous culture, Tibet manifests its vitality, intelligence and creative talent through music, art, dance, opera and craft. Instruments such as the dranyen, flute and piwang create a uniquely Tibetan sound, while Tibetan opera, Lhamo,  is rooted in a masked dance-drama tradition dating back as far at the 6th-9th centuries.  Dances varied from area to area, and the fast-moving step-dancing traditions, preserved along with other faces of Tibetan Art and Culture through the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), continue to delight contemporary audiences, as they have entertained for centuries. (video)

Infused with spiritual awareness, distinctive Tibetan art treasures has been collected around the world and is gathered for safekeeping and pleasure in impressive collections such as those of the Rubin Museum in New York, the Asian Art museum of California, and the Freer Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC.

Tibet’s Spiritual Wealth

Arising from the  wisdom taught by the historical Buddha over 2,500 years ago in India, Tibetan Buddhism has systematized a path teaching people how to achieve deep and abiding happiness, free from suffering.

As His Holiness the Dalai Lama remarked, 
         "Buddhism changed the whole Tibetan way of life, giving rise to a more compassionate community, in which there is a more peaceful attitude towards ourselves, towards our fellow human beings, towards animals and towards the environment. In today's world there’s a lot of talk about peace and non-violence, but the real factor in creating genuine peace is compassion, not just education and technology. Where there is compassion, a sense of community, a sense of respect for others' rights is automatic. In order to promote compassion, it is not sufficient just to talk; it needs to be spread through example. I believe that our peaceful and compassionate Tibetan society is such an example; that’s why it is worth preserving….” (as quoted on Norbulingka.org).

 

The monastic system which thrived in Tibet emphasized intellectual mastery of the texts which transmitted this path, placing consistent emphasis on the importance of accumulating positive behavior, avoiding destructive behavior, and learning to master one’s heart and mind to subdue the type of craving and hatred that lead only to suffering. Tibetans monks, nuns and lay people have for centuries joined in chanting om mani padme hum, the mantra of compassion which embodies the essential instruction to help others and avoid hurting them. Tibet’s music, art and scholastic institutions all centered around a common understanding of the importance of spirituality.

There were said to be over six thousand monasteries in Tibet in earlier times. The Chinese invasion destroyed all but a handful of monasteries and allowed only some of the most famous to physically remain. Periodic liberalizations have allowed a small number of people to live as monks or nuns but under severe restrictions. Even this small liberalization is not stable and changes easily, depending on the forces governing in Beijing. When rebuilt, these formerly great monastic institutions lack the distinctive character and substance of the previously great temples.

Great suffering has occurred in terms of restrictions being placed on how people can practice their beliefs. Under the current system, monks and nuns have been displaced, and often suffered greatly at the hands of occupying forces. People are no longer free to practice their religion and show their respect for His Holiness without placing themselves and their families in grave danger, and the great monastic institutions have been either completely destroyed, or rebuilt as shells, like movie sets.

 

As stated so movingly by Professor Robert Thurman, President of Columbia University's American Institute of Buddhist Studies: 

     " Tibetans are unique on the planet in that their national life is wholly dedicated to Buddhism. For them the Dharma is all in all. Their culture was laboriously transformed over the thousand-year period from Srong btsan sgam po (early seventh century) to the Great Fifth Dalai Lama (early seventeenth century) from a normally ethnocentric, warlike, imperialistic national culture to a universally Buddhicized spiritual, peaceful culture. Essentially ,they have been unilaterally disarmed for over 300 years. Their material development has been systematically neglected in favor of their spiritual development.

     For centuries, the main line item in the budget of the national government has been support of the monasteries and the studies and the practices of the monks and nuns. The wheel was purposely never used for transport, but only for generating prayers, the energy of OM MANI PADME HUM. Their rulers have been spiritual lineages of wisdom and compassion, triumphing over dynastic blood lineages.

     Tibetan culture thus represents Buddhism's most sustained experiment in transforming a social environment. It is of course a still incomplete experiment, and the present Dalai Lama and other active leaders look forward to completing it, especially by balancing spiritual development with more effort toward a modest, post-industrial level of material progress. … It is a culture of inestimable value to us, as a mirror of ours, as extremely inward as we have been extremely outward. It may contain precious keys with which we can rediscover planetary equilibrium, restoring spiritual sanity to those maddened by extreme materialism."

~ Reprinted from Cultural Survival Quarterly. Vol. 12.1988

Environment

With an average elevation of 14,000 feet, Tibet is the highest country on earth. As noted on Tibet.net, “Tibet had one of the most successful systems of environmental protection for the inhabited regions of the world. Formal protection of wildlife and environment through parks and reserves were unnecessary as Tibetan Buddhism taught the people about the interdependence of all living and non-living elements of the nature. Buddhism prohibits the killing of animals and advocates loving compassion for sentient beings and the environment. “

Tibet's fragile high-altitude environment is increasingly endangered by current unwise policies.  This greatly affects  the rest of Asia and the world. Five of Asia's great rivers have their headwaters in Tibet and nearly half the world's population lives downstream. Deforestation in Tibet has already been linked to severe floods in the lower reaches of the Yangtze in China.

In terms of plants, birds, animals, minerals, forests and waters, the high plains, forests and mountains of Tibet are home to an abundance of rare and diverse life-forms, all needing protections and preservation.  50 % of all world species of rhododendron alone grow in Tibet; there are 532 species of birds, living alongside rare and endangered animals such as the blue sheep, snow leopard, and Himalayan mouse hare. Deposits of 126 different minerals lie in Tibetan lands, and  its rivers and forests are so extensive as to affect a high percentage of the earth’s population).

Due to current policies extensive resource extraction, poaching and unsustainable development such as the rail system which has endangered fragile lands, these ecosystems, especially sensitive grasslands, and many of native species of flora and fauna are now endangered; no longer protected by those with profound reverence for life.

 

Tibet’s Needs Today

Fifty years after China's invasion, the government headquartered in Beijing continues to intensify its control over Tibet and Tibetans. These policies represent some of the most serious threat to the survival of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity and cause great suffering to Tibetans still living in their homeland. While material gains have occurred, they have come with a toxic price tag.

Among many, some of the most critical issues confronting Tibet day include marginalization and exclusion, as Tibetan lands become repopulated with citizens from China, and the environment and ecology are subdued in favor of commerce and a political re-engineering of population densities favoring non-Tibetans.

Historically, education has been highly prized by Tibetans, who view ignorance as the root of all suffering. A majority of Tibetans who live in rural areas no longer  have access to adequate or affordable health care and continue to suffer from easily treatable conditions such as malnutrition, diarrhea, pneumonia, or even the plague. Education facilities and opportunities for the Tibetan children are minimal and many nor affordable to most Tibetan families. Often education that is available in Tibet suppresses Tibetan religious or linguistic identity. Each year, over 3000 Tibetan children move into exile in order to receive education in Tibetan schools in India

If you would like to learn more about Tibet and how to support its people and preserve its endangered heritage, you might enjoy becoming familiar with these groups:

International Campaign for Tibet
Tibet House
Students For A Free Tibet
Tibet Fund

 

In Summary

As expressed eloquently in a recent op-ed piece for the South China Morning Post by Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari ( Special Envoy of the Dalai Lama; head of the Tibetan negotiations team in talks with the Chinese leadership)

"The Chinese leadership needs to take responsibility and make a serious commitment to finding a real solution to the issue of Tibet. The urgency of that responsibility is all the more palpable because of the uniqueness of this current window of time. Never before has there been a Tibetan leader like His Holiness, who has so firmly and persistently pursued such a challenging and treacherous path to achieve visionary change for the Tibetan and Chinese peoples.

The PRC proclaimed itself a multi-ethnic state with all nationalities having equal power and rights, rather than a state where a majority has political dominance over the minority. China's leaders have a historic choice to make: will they steward China towards a peaceful future in which Tibetans finally find a sustainable home within such a modern Chinese state? Or will they look the other way as the seeds of alienation are sown, with negative consequences for the distant future?"

Tibet presents the world with different faces, each compelling attention. It holds a storehouse of spiritual wisdom, but cannot honor its most precious figure, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in his homeland without fear of being jailed.  It is a storehouse of environmental treasures, jeopardized by an emphasis on commerce and disregard for the need to safeguard natural resources. Tibet’s people, with their unique heritage and distinctive approach to life, have been guided for centuries by the rare compass of wisdom and compassion. At this time, they live either in exile or under the domination of a harsh force.  The world needs both to honor and to help Tibet and its people.

For more information, please visit these sites:

Current Situation in Tibet:
http://www.phayul.com/news
http://www.savetibet.org
http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org
http://www.tibet.net
http://www.tibet.org
http://www.tibetfund.org

Art, Culture, and History
http://www.norbulingka.org 
http://www.tibetanarts.org
http://www.tibethouse.us
http://tibetanculture.org
http://www.rmanyc.org
http://www.asianart.org
http://www.tibet.org

Links of Interest:
http://www.tibet.emory.edu
http://www.mindandlife.org