Compassion in Exile

chillibreeze writer — Kaif Mahmood

From the Nobel Peace Prize to the Apple Computers ad to a following in Hollywood, the Dalai Lama has become a celebrated personality. He is seen as a cute and happy old man from the East, a Buddhist incarnation of Santa Claus. For the people of Tibet and a growing number of Buddhists all over the world, he is simply His Holiness, a reincarnation of the Bodhhisattva of Compassion. Freedom in Exile is his autobiography, where Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama tells his story with a candor and simplicity which move you to depths.

The story starts with a sketch of the Land of Snows before its tragic invasion by China. It recreates a land where every facet of life is infused with religion and a culture that is beautifully unique and ancient. Phenomena like reincarnation and oracles are routine and a poor but happy population lives cocooned from the world. The place feels like it is overflowing with an enchantment that is so missing from the rational modernity that we live in. He recalls it with words soaked in nostalgia, calling it “the contentment that was ours”.

At the age of three, Lhamo Thondup was discovered to be the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. The new God King had been found and was welcomed by the whole population of Lhasa ecstatically. Then began a rather lonely and serious childhood. The days were full of religious study in the dark and intimidating chambers of the Potala palace. The country was ruled by a regent till the time the Dalai Lama attained majority.

A monk since the age of six, the Dalai Lama writes about being a lonely and sad child. Yet, he fondly reminisces of amusing incidents when he could not hold back his naughtiness, like bullying his elder brother who visited him occasionally, taking apart toys sent by the British mission and trying to drive one of the only three cars in his country, ending up crashing into a tree. At 16 years of age, he was formally appointed the spiritual and temporal leader of 6 million Tibetans. The next chapter covers political affairs such as visits to China and India, being appointed a high official of the Communist Party and meetings with Mao and Nehru.

Excluding Chinese propaganda, there is now a consensus on the historical events that have shaped Tibet’s present situation. In 1950, the army of the recently formed People’s Republic of China marched into Tibet, proclaiming the liberation of Tibet from ‘imperialist forces’. Their vision was to make Tibet a Communist country much like their own, to abolish religion and bring it under the control of the larger Communist empire. The Tibetan government sent emissaries to India and to countries in the West, but the world looked away as the People’s Liberation Army marched into Lhasa. For 9 years, talks and compromises continued between Tibet and China while the Chinese influence increased in strength and viciousness. As the Dalai Lama remembers one of his initial meetings with a Chinese General, he writes “that was when I really understood what the word ‘bully’ means”.

Finally in 1959, when it seemed that the Chinese might put the Dalai Lama under house arrest, the 24 year old leader escaped into India. Prime Minister Nehru refused to support him politically, but agreed to give him a safe asylum in India. Soon, there followed a huge influx of refugees. They came with dreadful stories of torture at the hands of the Chinese and injuries and frostbites sustained in their long and life-threatening escape. The Indian government, a few Western countries and international organizations such as the Red Cross helped the Tibetans resettle in India.

Much of the book is a painful rendition of these events. The Chinese took up a systematic destruction of all that stood in the name of culture and religion in Tibet. 95% of the monasteries were destroyed or converted into warehouses. Innumerable paintings, idols and scriptures were lost forever. Monks and nuns, who made 25% of the population, were forced to break their vows of celibacy with each other in public. In spite of being followers of a religion that forbids killing, they were employed on extermination programs for rats, birds and insects. Any resistance was severely punished. Public executions were carried out, often by the victim’s own child. Lest the freedom fighters shouted “Long live the Dalai Lama”, their tongues were torn out with meat hooks.

By 1989, 1.2 million of the 6 million Tibetans had died owing to torture, execution, starvation and suicide. Lately, Tibet has become a testing ground for China’s nuclear program and dumping of its nuclear waste. Today, following economic incentives by the Chinese Government, the Han Chinese are migrating to Tibet in large numbers and the Tibetans have already been reduced to a minority in their own land. These facts have been recorded and corroborated by refugees, foreign tourists, several delegations of Tibetan exiles and most importantly, International Commission of Jurists which held China guilty of nothing less than genocide in Tibet.

And yet, the world looks away. Apart from occasional condemnation of the Chinese occupation, the world’s governments consider China to be too important from an economic and political perspective to risk upsetting its leaders. In a recent conference, when it was pointed out that the Western governments have not given political support to Tibet, the Dalai Lama quipped “We do not have oil reserves”.

As one is overwhelmed by this tale of devastation, the narrative moves forward to hope and redemption. Those Tibetans who managed to escape have re-established their culture in India. With the help of the Indian government, foreign agencies such as the International Red Cross and material but not political help from western countries including Switzerland, England and the United States, Tibetan culture has survived in a dislocated fashion. Today the 130,000-strong refugee community in India has its own settlements with schools and colleges dotted throughout India. The 3 major monasteries of Tibet have been reestablished and in the West there are now over a hundred centers of Tibetan Buddhism. The ancient civilization has survived the Chinese holocaust.

Among other things, this book is a testament to the immeasurable good as well as the immeasurable bad that exists in human beings. While political support has been scarce, the stories of material and emotional support for the Tibetans are touching. One of the greatest narratives in this truly remarkable book is about how India, with its own problems of a burgeoning population and scarce resources, has made room for the people of Tibet to live respectable lives. Although India has not supported Tibet politically, it has given the Tibetans the money, land, buildings, administrative assistance and opportunities for employment for half a century. In this way, India has truly lived up to its reputation as a fountainhead of spirituality, for it was from India that Padmasabhava set out to spread Buddhism in the east in the 8th century.

Although this is an autobiography, it is essentially the story of the Tibetan people’s fate in the past six decades. Yet, it carries a very personal tone throughout because for the Dalai Lama Tibet is his life. He talks at length of the Universal Responsibility of each of us towards every other human being and also towards the environment. He talks with deeply felt honesty of why his people should not take to violence, saying “it is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good”. The compassion and sincerity of the man are as genuine as they are poignant. In more private moments, the Dalai Lama comes across as extremely funny. He talks of the cats and dogs that have been his pets and of his interest in science. He also mentions his fascination for fixing watches, comically adding “so that I can save some money!”

Freedom in Exile is truly a great book. It is written in a straightforward style without embellishments, for the story speaks for itself. One the one hand it moves you immensely by narrating both beautiful truths and horrifying realities. One the other, it records for posterity the greatness of the 14th Dalai Lama and his dedication to all humanity with none of the superficialities of smiley-faced politicians. Not a word comes across as shallow or motivated at being politically-corrected. At 71, the man who is the sole hope of his devastated countrymen continues to fight for his land and his people, hoping to return one day to a free Tibet, dreaming of Lhasa.

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—About our writer:

Kaif lives in New Delhi and is studying psychology. He has worked as a journalist. He likes to listen to people, meditate and watch obscure art movies.

Compassion in Exile

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