Buddhism and Beyond in Tibet

Silence descended in the cabin as Air China took off from Beijing, transporting four Indian journalists to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), whose mystique has fascinated the world for centuries. It’s the first time the TAR administration let in a delegation of Indian journalists; previously, only the one-off N Ram and Suhasini Haidar had been allowed, upto Lhasa alone. Our itinerary included not just Lhasa, but an extensive tour of the country’s eastern region, right upto remote borders with Myanmar and Laos. Naturally, we were expectant, it would be a lifetime opportunity to put a mark on history. 

Modern city, ancient remnants

Lhasa’s main street

With an average elevation exceeding 4,500 m, ‘The Roof of the World’ stretches 1,000 km north to south and 2,500 km east to west, covering 25 lakh sq km. People have long fantasized about Tibet as a fairy kingdom, dotted with Buddhist monasteries and lama-thronged roads. So on landing, one is in for a shock. The forbidden land of lamas is now criss-crossed by high-speed trains, startling world-class infrastructure and wide, elevated highways. The 35 km, airport-to-city stretch has three long tunnels connecting three valleys. Tibet’s remoteness was once its natural security system. But now, military, security and economic ambitions have transformed it with infrastructure exceeding even its current needs. Still closed to foreign tourists, a special TAR permit is required, besides the Chinese visa. 

Barkhor Bazaar

The red and white Potala palace, perched on a hillock overlooking two small lakes, and the Jokhang Temple in the bustling Barkhor Bazaar are the only ancient relics linking Lhasa with its past. The 13-storey-high palace contains over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and 200,000 statues, and soars 117 m (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the 1,000 ft ‘Red Hill’. This central part of Potala is called the ‘Red Palace’ due to its crimson hue. Richly decorated paintings with jewel work, carvings and other ornamentation, it is devoted to religious study and prayer. There are sacred gold stupas, the tombs of eight Dalai Lamas, their bodies buried on walls, the monks’ assembly hall, numerous chapels, shrines and libraries for important Buddhist scriptures. The White Palace (Potrang Karpo) makes up the Dalai Lama and his monks’ living quarters, which are separated from the Red Palace by the central, yellow-painted courtyard, Deyangshar.

Darwin’s inspiration and Shangri-La

The mystical Shangri-La            

Next, we travel 200 km from Lhasa, just across the Arunachal Pradesh border, to the famous 1,300-year-old Changzhu Monastery in Shannan County; its rugged mountains are said to be the cradle of Tibetan civilization. Pointing to a painting that depicts Tibetans originating from apes, our guide, Dunzhu Ciren claims this is where Charles Darwin stole his theory of evolution from. He says the earliest Tibetans lived on the banks of Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra).

The Eastern Tibetan Plateau, where TAR meets nearby Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, has glaciated peaks, evergreen forests, crystal -clear rivers and glacier-fed lakes. It is considered the inspiration for James Hilton’s mystical Shangri-La, as he visited this region before writing the Lost Horizon. Interestingly, it has  two towns named Shangri-la, both claiming to be the earthly paradise of Hilton’s novel, where people live way beyond the normal lifespan and look far younger than their years. 

Nestled in these high mountains, at over 3,000m—where oxygen is 40 per cent less than in the plains—lies the small village of Qing Mai. We crossed several passes to reach here, encountering snowfall en route. Remote as it may be, it has a government primary school with a library, computers, electronic blackboards, state-of-the-art music equipment and sophisticated tools to teach the Tibetan language—enough to put universities and institutes of higher education in many parts of the world to shame. Here we meet Drashi Dundrup, alumnus of a Chinese university, who has returned to the village to teach children English.

Princesses and politics

Tibetans remain deeply religious with most locals following the Gelug school of Buddhism 

Despite modern amenities, Tibet hasn’t lost touch with the yellow, Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism that most locals follow. Tibetans remain a deeply religious people, busy turning prayer beads with their fingers and chanting on the streets and in shops. Realising this, Beijing is using Buddhism as a political tool to promote its soft power. President Xi Jinping’s mother and wife openly engage with Tibetan lamas.

 Jokhang Monastery, Tibet’s most sacred temple, is crowded all day long. With just two days to go for Buddha’s birth anniversary, as per the Tibetan calendar, the monastery’s director, Duobujie welcomes our delegation, which includes Nepali journalists. “The Lord (Buddha) never came to our land. We only know him by these teachings. He was born and brought up in your land. So we see Buddha in the eyes of Indian and Nepali friends,” he says.

Lamas in penance at the sanctum sanctorum of Jokhang Monastery 

Jokhang, Duobujie says, was built by two brides of Tibet’s most powerful king, Songtsen Gampo—Princess Wencheng of China’s Tang dynasty and Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal; their dowry included important Buddhist statues and images. The temple’s oldest part, built in 652AD, was expanded several times over the next 900 years. Worship was suspended for a decade post the 1966 Cultural Revolution and the monastery underwent extensive renovation from 1972 to 1980. In 2000, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as an extension of Potala Palace.

Besides a sizeable collection of artefacts (Tang dynasty bronze sculptures and finely sculpted figures from the Ming dynasty), it has 54 boxes of Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures) printed in red, 108 carved sandalwood boxes with sutras and a vase (gift by the Qianlong Emperor) used to select the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama.

Tibet is transforming rapidly. Deng Xiaoping had advocated economic prosperity to eradicate separatism in Tibet and Xinjiang, making infrastructure development a part of national security strategy. But not everything is hunky-dory. The Chinese government has moved nomads and villagers living deep in the forests—of earthquake-affected (in 2013) upper reaches of Yangtze River—to the plush, new town of Xiangcheng, forcing them to change their lifestyle and livelihood from rearing yak and cow, to tourism. Disaffection was clear on the face of the caretaker of the magnificent Sangpiling monastery, in Khams’ Chatring district, who followed us, closing doors and wiping floors.

Despite our mutual suspicion, this first official visit by a delegation of journalists must mean something. Perhaps, it’s the first sign of Tibet slowly opening its doors to the world.