BBC on Tibet, Part 3 (Religious Repression)
The BBC’s Michael Bristow is reporting a series of articles from Tibet. Here, SFT provides our running commentary (also see Part 1 and Part 2).
In his latest article, Mr. Bristow tackles the problem of religious repression in Chinese-occupied Tibet.
He rightly reports that on the surface things can look fine (pilgrims at temples, etc.), but under the surface Chinese authorities are trying to control, restrict, and eviscerate the Tibetan Buddhist religion.
China says more than one million pilgrims visit Lhasa each year – evidence, it says, that the Chinese authorities are protecting religious freedom in Tibet.
But the real picture is more complex. Although people can worship openly, Beijing maintains ultimate control over Tibetan Buddhism.
An example of this control came earlier this month when China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs issued new guidelines about who can and cannot be declared a “living Buddha”.
From 1 September, all reincarnated living Buddhas – eminent monks – will first have to be approved by the government.
One can only imagine the pain that this religious repression is causing Tibetans. “The Dalai Lama is in here,” one Tibetan in Shigatse told the BBC as he pointed to his heart. “But we cannot speak about him.”
The Chinese government’s interference with Tibetan Buddhist reincarnations is one of its most outrageous policies since the Cultural Revolution. This is an atheist government telling a deeply religious people (whom it rules by sheer military force) that it has veto rights over mystical reincarnations. As if some Beijing autocrat could tell the Buddha not to enter Parinirvana.
We were going to write in great detail about why this claim is utterly ridiculous. But then we thought — a long rebuttal might acknowledge that the Chinese government has some semblance of an argument. It simply doesn’t.
This claim is utterly crazy, and deeply offensive.
Of course this is about politics. But it’s a whole different level of politics, where the Chinese government is attempting to colonize Tibetans’ spiritual heritage.
And it shows how completely desperate the Chinese government is.
Think about it: China has ruled Tibet for over fifty years, and yet it is still trying to figure out how to control Tibetans. First it tried co-opting them. Then it tried killing them and savaging their civilization. Then it tried marginalizing them and flooding their land with Chinese colonists. None of that has wiped out Tibetans’ refusal to accept Chinese rule.
So of course China does the only thing it knows how to do: clamp down more. Only this time it is treading into a metaphysical realm where it’s completely out of its element, and only makes itself look ridiculous. (See Lhadon’s blog post from Beijing here.)
Tibetans’ culture and faith are their biggest weapons in their fight against the Chinese forces occupying their homeland. Nothing China has done has been able to reduce that faith; nothing China has done has been able to destroy the Tibetan national identity.
Rather, Tibetans have reduced the Chinese government to making an utter fool of itself, for the entire world to see.
** ** **
Michael Bristow is answering readers’ questions about Tibet at the end of his series. Please send him your questions using the form at the bottom of the page here.
No Responsesto “BBC on Tibet, Part 3 (Religious Repression)”
Leave a Reply
- Alex
on Renaissance Series: Amplify Tibet’s Revolutionary Beats - Perry Langlais
on High Peaks Pure Earth Summer 2010 Reading List - cobina-jane cumming
on Dramatic Photos: Tibetans Detained After Anti-Mining Protest in Shigatse
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | ||||||
[...] We discussed this issue previously in the context of a BBC article. The International Campaign for Tibet provides further detail: The Chinese government has announced new measures, translated below into English by ICT, stating that all reincarnated lamas (tulkus) must have government approval. The measures, which are deliberately targeted at one of the core belief systems of Tibetan Buddhism, reveal the Party’s agenda to undermine and supplant the Tibetan religious hierarchy and weaken the authority of legitimate Tibetan religious leaders including the Dalai Lama. [...]
[...] The Economist recognizes that China’s ”apparent determination to control religion in Tibet is especially intense, because Buddhism is so bound up with Tibetans’ identity and nationalism.” As we previously discussed (here and here), this is all a political power-grab by the Chinese government. [...]
[...] We previously discussed this issue (here, here and here), so we’ll just quote this relatively short article in its entirety: [...]
[...] It is heart-rending, simply heart-rending, to consider the implications of the Chinese government’s new regulations claiming the right to control Tibetan Buddhist reincarnations. While we wrote about this issue before (here, here and here), a new analysis by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China drives home how terrifying the implications of this regulation could be. [...]