lenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Photo © Marcia Keegan.
After the Great Thirteenth passed away, a conference was held in order to select a regent to serve during the period of the search for the new reincarnation and the minority years of the chosen child. The names of numerous high lamas were put forth, but no agreement was reached.
One lama who was approached on the matter was the Fifth Reteng Tulku. As his name implies, he was the reincarnate head lama of Reteng Monastery. Although he was only twenty-three years old at the time, he seemed unusually mature and strong in character. He was chosen largely because his previous reincarnations had been close with earlier Dalai Lamas, and one of them had even served as regent. Moreover, the young Fifth Reteng Tulku had a deep spiritual connection with the Great Thirteenth. In fact, the Great Thirteenth had visited the young Reteng just before his death, and this was considered significant.
Though the Reteng Tulkus had been prominent and revered since the time of the Seventh Dalai Lama, the Fifth Reteng Tulku has been portrayed in ambiguous or even sinister terms by both Tibetan and Western historians. The story most commonly put about, however, is a misrepresentation of this great man’s life, a heroic tale that is truthfully told here for the first time. In that the present Dalai Lama owes everything to him, a more accurate version of his story is long overdue.
The Fourth Reteng Tulku had passed away in 1911, when the Thirteenth Dalai Lama was living in exile in India. Upon the Thirteenth’s return to Tibet he took personal responsibility for the final decisions in the process of identifying the reincarnation, and conducted the final divinations on the children named on the shortlist of candidates from which the Fifth Reteng would be chosen. He then gave the selected boy his first monastic ordination, and also gave him the name by which he would be known throughout his life: Tubten
Jampel Yeshey Tenpai Gyaltsen. In accordance with tradition the first part of it, or “Tubten,” was part of the Thirteenth’s own name.
Having gotten off to this auspicious start, the Fifth Reteng Tulku entered Sera Jey Monastery for his academic training. He excelled in his studies and in record time graduated as a Lharam Geshey, the highest degree awarded in the monasteries of central Tibet.
The young Fifth Reteng Tulku was offered the job of regent very soon after the Great Thirteenth’s passing. However, his chief manager counseled him against accepting the post. Less than a century earlier the Third Reteng had also served as regent, and even though he had done well for the nation, his service ended in personal tragedy for himself. This was Reteng Yeshey Gyatso, who, as readers may recollect, had become regent in 1845 during the childhood of the Eleventh Dalai Lama, and then in 1862 was the victim of a coup d’etat effected by the layman Wangchuk Gyalpo Shetra. As a result, Reteng Yeshey Gyatso was forced to flee to safety, opting for a self-imposed exile in China. Although Wangchuk Gyalpo Shetra eventually granted him permission to return to his monastery in Tibet and to live out the remainder of his life in peace, this lama passed away soon after his return. Many suspected foul play.
Two lifetimes later, the unpleasant aftertaste still remained in the collective memory of the Reteng Monastery elders. Thus after the Great Thirteenth passed away and the request came for the Fifth Reteng Tulku to serve as regent, the response was less than enthusiastic.
The Tibetan government decided to resort to divination, and requested the Trizur Rinpochey1 to perform this for them. The names of the leading candidates were written on pieces of paper, which in turn were inserted into balls of barley dough. These were placed inside a large bowl. Trizur Rinpochey then offered mantras and prayers, took the bowl in his hands, and began swaying it in a circular manner, until one of the balls was thrown out. The name on the paper inside the ball that emerged was that of Reteng Tulku.
Consequently the government again strongly pressed Reteng Tulku to accept the position, and eventually he did so.
* * * *
Almost immediately after being enthroned as regent, Reteng Tulku established a committee charged with the task of searching for the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s reincarnation. The general area to be searched had already been identified because of a number of natural phenomena that had occurred in Lhasa after the death of the Great Thirteenth, which the divinators considered to be prophetic. Three events in particular caught people’s attention.
The first was an unusual cloud formation that seemed to gather repeatedly to the northeast of Lhasa. Everyone in the city noticed it, and the event became the topic of considerable speculation.
A second sign was that a moss pattern manifested on the wall of the room in which the Great Thirteenth’s body sat in state. The pattern had a shape and presence that seemed to call attention to itself, and was located to the northeast of the body.
Thirdly, during the mummification process the head seemed to repeatedly turn by itself toward the northeasterly direction. The mummifiers would straighten the head each time they placed the body in the dehydration box of salt; but each time they opened the box to change the salt the head was seen to have moved, and to be pointing to the northeast.
These three signs were taken as indications that the Dalai Lama had taken rebirth to the northeast. No distance was indicated, however, and therefore numerous other observations had to be made.
Next the Nechung Oracle was consulted. As always he spoke in cryptic verse, but his message was clear. The search should be conducted in the far northeastern part of the country.
The regent decided that a visit to the Oracle Lake would be necessary. He elected to do this himself, together with a small group of ritualist assistants. Together they traveled to the Olkha region and took up residence in Gyal, the monastery that had been constructed by the Second Dalai Lama near the holy lake. Each day the regent and his group would walk up to the lake and meditate above it, looking down on its waters.
Eventually the visions came. Firstly the Tibetan syllables A, KA and MA seemed to form within the waters of the lake. Then came the image of a three-storied monastery with a turquoise and gold roof, as well as a path running from it to a nearby hill. Finally the image of a small house appeared. It had unique gutters, and gnarled miniature junipers growing around it.
The committee at Lhasa pondered over these indications, and decided that the syllable “A” in the lake referred to Amdo, the province to the far northeast of Tibet. The syllable “XA,” they concluded, must refer to Kumbum, the largest and most sacred monastery in Amdo, for it had three stories and a turquoise-colored roof. As for the syllable “MA,” it was thought to refer to the “m” sound in both Amdo and Kumbum.
The small house in the regent’s vision clearly indicated the dwelling in which the Thirteenth Dalai Lama had taken rebirth, and where the young Fourteenth Dalai Lama could be found. Furthermore, the house must be within walking distance of Kumbum Monastery, because the vision clearly indicated footpaths.
Once more the Nechung Oracle was invoked. The new information was conveyed to him for analysis. He confirmed Kumbum as the area in which the search should be conducted.
Consequently, not long after the Great Thirteenth’s death a team of monks was deputized to Amdo to search for and examine children born with promising signs. The group was headed by Keutsang Rinpochey, a high lama from Sera Monastery. He had been a close disciple of the Great Thirteenth, and was revered for his spiritual accomplishments.
As readers may recollect, Kumbum is the name of the monastery built by the Third Dalai Lama on the birthplace of Lama Tsongkhapa. Later this monastery had been used as a residence by the Seventh Dalai Lama during his early years. In addition, both the Great Fifth and the Great Thirteenth had personally visited and taught in Kumbum on numerous occasions. Thus the region was rich in sacred sites associated with both Lama Tsongkhapa and the early Dalai Lamas, and was an extremely popular place of pilgrimage. Keutsang Rinpochey and his team took up residence in Kumbum Monastery and began listening for rumors of children born with exceptional signs.
Over the three years that followed, their list of promising children grew in length, until in the end it contained sixteen names. In each case they would make an outing to the house of the child and informally observe him. They did not, of course, announce that they were looking for the Dalai Lama, for this would bring too much attention to their activities and create obstacles. Instead they stated that they were on pilgrimage to the local meditation sites associated with the early life of Lama Tsongkhapa. In this way they came to the homes of the children in the guise of pilgrims requesting directions, food or hospitality, depending on the time of day.
Finally one day the trail they were following led them around a hill and directly into view of a village that seemed to match the description given by the regent from his lakeside visions. There they beheld a small house with strange gutters and gnarled junipers. It was midwinter, with snow covering the hills, just as in the original dream seen in the Oracle Lake.
Keutsang Rinpochey instantly knew that their search had drawn to a close. He had one of his assistants pose as the head lama, while he disguised himself as a servant to the group. In this manner they approached the house and requested hospitality for the night.
* * * *
As we saw in the previous chapter, during the Great Thirteenth’s journey from Lhasa to Beijing in 1906 he had stayed for some time in Kumbum Monastery in order to teach and make pilgrimage. At that time he had become friends with the Taktser Lama, one of the great mystics of the Kumbum region. The two had made frequent outings together to local pilgrimage sites associated with Lama Tsongkhapa’s youth.
One of these excursions had been to the small Karma Kargyu monastery where Lama Tsongkhapa had, as an infant, met with the Fourth Karmapa Lama and received from him the traditional hair-snipping rite, as well as a spiritual name. At mid-day the Great Thirteenth and the Taktser Lama had picnicked on a hill overlooking Taktser Village. The Great Thirteenth commented on the natural beauty of the place and asked to be taken on a tour through the village. He walked through each house individually, and put numerous questions to the people. The local villagers were astounded at the unexpected honor of receiving the spiritual and temporal leader of the country in their humble abodes.
When the time came to leave, the Great Thirteenth commented to the villagers that he had fallen in love with their valley, and promised them that one day he would return.
There was one house in particular in which the Great Thirteenth seemed to take an especially strong interest. Several years later, after the elderly Taktser Lama passed away, the Great Thirteenth was asked to oversee the search for his reincarnation. In the end, the child chosen by the Great Thirteenth to serve as the new Taktser Rinpochey was a boy born in this very house.
Although the search party being led by Keutsang Rinpochey did not know the specifics of this history, the trail they were following led them to this same house. The Great Thirteenth had taken rebirth as the younger brother of the reincarnation of his old friend the Taktser Lama.2
* * * *
Like Christ, the present Dalai Lama was born in a cowshed. It was the custom in Amdo, the birthplace of the present Dalai Lama, for a mother in labor to retire to a barn with the village womenfolk. There she would lay out a bed of fresh, clean hay, and use the site for the birthing process. The privacy was appreciated, and clean-up was simple; the hay could simply be carried away and burned. By the time the Dalai Lama came into the world in the summer of 1935 his mother had already given birth to numerous children in this fashion.
When Keutsang Rinpochey and his retinue came to see the child for the first time, he was two and a half years old, yet the group had been in the Kumbum area for almost three years; therefore, when they arrived, he was still in the womb.
As was the custom in Amdo, the group of travelers was shown respect and offered accommodations. During this first visit Keutsang Rinpochey quietly observed the child from a distance and became immediately convinced that he was the object of their search. However, he did not wish to attract any attention to their quest, and the next day they quietly left.
Three weeks later they again appeared at the door and asked for hospitality. This time Keutsang Rinpochey was walking with two canes, one of which had belonged to the Great Thirteenth. When the boy spotted this cane he immediately grabbed it and said, “This is mine! What are you doing with it?”
At the time Keutsang Rinpochey was wearing a mantra rosary around his neck that the Great Thirteenth had once given him as a gift. The boy immediately noticed it and claimed it as his own. He then took it in his tiny hands and began reciting mantras with it.
That evening Keutsang Rinpochey informally placed numerous objects on the table. Among these were a hand drum and a mantra rosary that had been used by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. The boy spontaneously walked up to the table and picked up these two items, showing no interest whatsoever in the others.
After the tests Keutsang Rinpochey told the parents that his group was one of the parties searching for the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. He further informed them that there were sixteen candidates, but that as far as he was concerned this was the true reincarnation.
The young child, generally aloof with visitors, seemed to immediately bond with Keutsang Rinpochey. The two conversed in the Lhasa dialect, which the boy suddenly used with fluency, even though he had never before heard it in this lifetime.
When the group left the next morning the child burst into tears, clutched at Keutsang Rinpochey’s robe, and begged to go with him. Only when Keutsang Rinpochey promised that he would return for him in a few days did the young Dalai Lama console himself.
* * * *
The Kumbum region of Tibet at that time was under the control of a Chinese Turkestani ruler by the name of Ma Pu-fang. He had been informed by Keutsang Rinpochey that the search for the new Dalai Lama was being conducted within his territory, and that sixteen candidates had been shortlisted. Historians today refer to the territory as “Chinese-controlled.” However, Ma Pu-fang himself regarded his domain as an independent and sovereign nation.
Albeit a totalitarian, Ma Pu-fang seems to have been a generally kind man, and was well liked by most of the Tibetans who lived under his rule. He was also somewhat cunning, and saw the potential of personal profit in the situation. He decided to summon the sixteen candidates to his residence, and conduct his own tests on them. Here he sat the boys in a semicircle, and asked them questions individually while observing their responses.
After some time he had a tray of candies passed around. Most of the children took a handful of them, whereas the boy from Taktser carefully selected only one and put it away for later.
Ma Pu-fang was deeply moved by the boy’s appearance and demeanor. He spoke to him, asking, “Do you know who I am?”
The boy looked directly into his eyes and replied without any sense of shyness or intimidation, “You are Ma Pu-fang.”
After this Ma Pu-fang was completely convinced that the boy from Taktser was the true reincarnation. He dismissed the other candidates and their families, but kept the Taktser family with him.
The Tibetan search party soon began regretting the fact that they had informed Ma Pu-fang of their mission. They had done this for diplomatic reasons, for they had no wish to offend a powerful Muslim warlord with large armies on Tibet’s eastern borders. However, over the weeks to follow a cat-and-mouse game ensued. Ma Pu-fang informed the Tibetan committee that he would only allow his guests to leave for Lhasa when he had been paid a fee.
He started by mentioning a smallish sum, but over the months to follow gradually increased the amount.
Thus it could be said that the principal candidate for the office of Dalai Lama was being held hostage for ransom. The committee tried to effect his release by stating that the boy was just one of three short-listed candidates to be tested in Lhasa, and in all probability was not the correct one.
However, the cunning Muslim warlord was not so easily tricked. He was enjoying the drama, and remained convinced that his “guest” was the real Dalai Lama.
In the end the Tibetan government capitulated to Ma Pu-fang’s demands, and paid him what in today’s world would be the equivalent of many millions of dollars.
Because of the length of time required to send messages back and forth to Lhasa, the negotiations dragged on for months. As a consequence, the party could not leave for Lhasa until the third day of the sixth month of the Earth Rabbit Year, or early July 1939.
Tibetans today generally speak badly of Ma Pu-fang, blaming the delay in the official recognition and enthronement of the Dalai Lama on his behavior, and also resenting the large gifts that he demanded for the boy’s release.
However, every cloud has its silver lining. During this period of forced hospitality, the Muslim warlord developed a deep affection for the child, as well as a close friendship with the boy’s father. Fear of reprisals was probably a major factor saving the Dalai Lama from assassination during the drama that unfolded in Lhasa eight years later. The boy may have been installed on the throne at Lhasa as spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people, but he nonetheless remained a son of Ma Pu-fang’s soil.
* * * *
The excursion from Kumbum to central Tibet took the group almost three months, for word had spread that their special ward was none other than the young Dalai Lama. Consequently the group had to stop repeatedly in order to allow people to receive audiences and blessings. In general they tented as they moved, setting up camp every night. They took the northern route, via the Kokonor, or “Blue Lake,” for this was deemed safest at the time. At each stage of the trip the group grew in size, being met by delegations from Lhasa who joined in for the remaining journey.
Finally the caravan dropped out of the mountains and caught their first view of Reteng Monastery. Here the regent himself, together with a large delegation of Lhasa officials, awaited them.
The regent was overjoyed with the meeting, for the arrival of the young Dalai Lama signified the fulfillment of his first and most important duty. He had arranged a grand celebration, with Tibetan opera performances and feasts. The young child seemed to instantly bond with the regent, as though they had been friends for years.
Accompanied by the regent, the entire assembly then left for Lhasa. Here the boy and his family were housed in the Norbu Lingka, or “Summer Residence.” The boy seemed to instantly recognize his quarters, and began rooting around through the cabinets and boxes, pulling out objects that had belonged to his predecessor the Great Thirteenth and claiming them as his own.
It was autumn, and the gardens of the Norbu Lingka were laden with fruit and flowers. Lhasa must have seemed a happy place to the young Dalai Lama. The dark clouds that would soon form within and around Tibet had not yet started to gather, and there was barely a hint of them.
The boy remained in the Norbu Lingka with his family over the winter. With spring came his formal enthronement, a gala ceremony attended by all the greatest lamas and dignitaries in the country. Coincidentally, it was also the first time a Dalai Lama enthronement had been opened to foreigners. Not only was it photographed and documented by several British diplomats, but an Indian journalist on commission from the Indian Government was even permitted to film it with a movie camera.
The young Dalai Lama’s normal, family-centered childhood had now come to an end. The family was given a town house as their residence, and he moved into the traditional Dalai Lama quarters on the roof of the Potala. His education and training would now begin in earnest.
Regent Reteng Tulku composed a beautiful verse work for the enthronement. It was chanted during the ceremony by the many hundreds of monks in attendance, as well as by all the major monasteries of the Lhasa area. It is translated and presented here in full because it tells so much about the regent’s sentiment and attitude toward the young Dalai Lama, and also because it expresses many of the most sublime ideas in Buddhism.
Moreover, the opening verses mention the previous incarnations of the Dalai Lama in a fashion that reveals the context within which most Tibetans see the Dalai Lama today. One can easily imagine the four-year-old boy sitting at the enthronement ceremony, listening to the hundreds of monks who, with him as the focus of their adoration, chant the piece in the low multiphonic style typical of the central Tibetan monasteries.3
In the great sky of compassion’s pure nature Appear clouds of unobstructed wisdom and mercy.
They release a shower of immortality.
The deities of longevity manifest
And erect a pillar of undying diamond life.
O Holy One, the radiance of your merit and wisdom Grew in strength for many aeons,
And you overcame from within yourself The darkness of the two obscurations.
As a result you now fill the world
With the light of the twofold enlightened activities.
In this way long ago you achieved full enlightenment In your life as the illustrious Buddha Kunpak,
And thus now abide in the sphere of highest nirvana.
Yet, moved by compassion, you manifest mysterious emanations Equal in number to the atoms of the world,
Marvelous forms difficult for even The great bodhisattvas to comprehend.
You manifested a pearl necklace of incarnations in India In order to illuminate the vast and profound ways of Dharma. Marvelous indeed was this string of lives As realized yogis, accomplished masters and world leaders,
Such as the Brahmin boy Keyu Nangwa.
Deeply moved by sympathy for all living beings,
You lived the legacy of universal love And manifested the bodhisattva deeds that deliver A feast of supreme and peerless joy To countless living beings.
Then in order to fulfill the wishes of the buddhas,
You accepted to incarnate here in Tibet,
This northern land covered in snow,
And as a line of kings who illuminated The land’s affairs both mundane and supreme.
King Nyatri Tsanpo, King Tori Nyanshal
And the Buddhist patrons King Songtsen Gampo,
King Trisong Deutsen and King Tri Ralpachen:
These are a few of your royal incarnations.
After this you incarnated as numerous Tibetan masters, Including the illustrious master Lama Drom Tonpa,
The accomplished sage Lama Nyanral Nyima Oser,
And Guru Chowang, revealer of treasure texts.
Then for four incarnations (as the first four Dalai Lamas), From Gendun Drub to Yonten Gyatso,
Who were skilled in pouring forth the nectars Of Lama Tsongkhapa’s legacy upon fortunate trainees,
You strove to preserve the essential wisdom doctrines.
After this as the great Fifth Dalai Lama,
Gyalwa Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso,
Who was blessed by Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, You stood like Mt. Meru, the king of mountains,
In the center of the continents of masters and yogis,
And embodied the compassion of an ocean of buddhas Possessing the highest and most sublime of wisdoms.
Then from the time of the Sixth Dalai Lama—
Gyalwa Tsangyang Gyatso, a master who was most wise In teaching the ocean of Dharma By means of beautiful poetry and song In accord with the inclinations of trainees—
Until the Great Thirteenth, Gyalwa Tubten Gyatso,
Who was an ocean-like holder of Buddhist lineages—
You took birth repeatedly as a bodhisattva And performed countless mysterious deeds.
Yet even now you continue to exert yourself and strive To dispel darkness from within Tibet,
And have again sent forth a marvelous emanation,
This illustrious (Fourteenth Dalai Lama) incarnation,
A rising sun ablaze with the radiance of compassion To simultaneously illuminate a hundred thousand lineages In the lotus garden of the enlightenment lore.
O master equal to the Wisdom Bodhisattva,
Whose sublime wisdom, deep as the ocean,
Upholds the legacy of the buddhas,
0 lord over the three worlds, matrix of all peerless qualities,
1 offer this prayer to you.
You who reside in the heart of the Wisdom Bodhisattva, May you become an ocean of wisdom into which All the sutra and tantra lineages collect.
May you then remain with us forever, and Work to preserve the ocean of teachings With your sublime wisdom and unequaled skill.
Crown jewel of all the three worlds,
Remain with us forever to increase The light of prosperity and joy By making shine the sun and moon Of your spiritual and temporal leadership.
Fill the skies of the four directions With the brilliance of enlightenment lore.
Remain until the end of time As protector of this Land of Snows.
Continue to incarnate until all beings are enlightened, Emanating the mysterious deeds of body, speech and mind, And bestowing blessings of the four excellences:
Spiritual knowledge, prosperity, happiness and liberation.
Remain with us untiringly;
And from the realm of the three liberations,
The sphere in which samsara and nirvana are the same, Radiate forth a hundred thousand lights From the sun and moon of your great bliss To guide all living beings through the paths and stages Of spiritual growth leading to freedom and joy.
A diamond body of incomparable wonder manifests From the ocean of compassion of all the buddhas,
A magnificent jewel of three mysteries Resting amidst the four splendors.
O incomparable one, remain firmly with us forever.
Although you are absorbed in the formless wisdom Of emptiness free from all distinctions,
Nonetheless you have manifested in this body That is visible to trainees of good fortune.
O venerable lama, I request you,
Stay with us and illuminate the way.
O spiritual friend fulfilling the hopes Of an ocean of living beings,
Remain as firmly as the great king of trees,
Your branches spread wide with knowledge, mercy and power, And heavily laden with the fruits of the three Buddhakayas.
One grows in freedom merely on seeing
Your holy body with the 112 marks and signs of perfection,
Or hearing your holy voice so beautifully melodious With the sixty qualities of excellence,
Or recollecting your mind, with its wisdom Of the non-duality of being and non-being.
O Master, remain with us forever,
The forces supporting you always firm.
O Excellent One, remain with us
And fulfill the wishes of beings beyond number.
Become a wish-fulfilling tree that stands on the root Of having gathered 100,000 teachings;
Of having deeply contemplated their essence,
Like leaves of a tree rustling in the wind,
And of having become spiritually mature through meditation Upon the coarse and subtle twofold path,
Like a tree with its branches heavily laden with fruit.
O Holy One, eye of the world,
May you remain with us forever
And fulfill the three legacies of a master:
Giving spiritual teachings that reveal The essential thought of the buddhas;
Leading discussions that dispel mistaken dogmas;
And composing texts that fill with delight The fortunate beings that love great thoughts.
Remain with us forever
As a great navigator of living beings.
Fulfill ordinary and higher aims of living beings By sailing the ship of profound learning In the traditions of sutra and tantra,
Your driving force the strong and steady wind Of the three noble disciplines.
O you who are the embodiment Of the three great bodhisattvas—
Manjushri, whose nature is knowledge of emptiness, Avalokiteshvara, who watches mercifully over the world, And Vajrapani, lord of the secret way,
The bodhisattva of unsurpassed power Able to crush the armies of evil—
O excellent one, remain with us forever.
Remain with us forever As a great protector of life,
Your body exquisite like a white lotus,
Your speech as melodious as the music Created by the gods of song,
And your mind clearly seeing All aspects of reality.
Remain with us forever,
Roaming on the snow mountain of perfect ethics, Shaking the mane of your magnificently bold samadhi, And roaring like a lion with the wisdom That devours the corpse of ignorance.
O leader of the Land of Snows,
Which these days is steeped in darkness,
Remain with us unwaveringly,
Even until the end of the world.
Let blaze the light of your compassion And fill this world with peace and joy.
Make firm the seven spiritual qualities within yourself And take your seat on Dharma’s golden throne,
Which is engraved with symbols of immutable wheels And supported by eight fearless lions of enlightenment. Do not allow the enlightenment tradition to wane,
And instead strive hard to increase it in glory.
You have returned to us from [Amdo, in] the east,
Like the sun, friend of the flowers,
Possessor of eight divine qualities,
Rising from behind the eastern mountains,
Home of the greatest of gods.
O Supreme One, release a hundred lights Of enlightened activities that will overpower The corruptions that darken this world.
May the root of your great compassion Remain always firm without any weakness;
May you stretch out a thousand limbs Of the ten noble disciplines;
And may you refresh all the living beings In the cool shade of your perfect joy.
May you tame the arrogant beings Who are most difficult to tame By means of turning ten times The great wheel of the four trainings,
Thus bringing them to true spiritual knowledge And releasing a celebration of wisdom and joy.
May you lift up your vajra might And release the thunder of glory Which crushes to powder all harmful forces And evil spirits that obstruct the world’s joy.
May your throne, which possesses the four splendors And symbolizes your spiritual and secular leadership,
Be ever rich with a hundred supreme joys.
May the summer lake of the Ganden Podrang ever thrive, And may you meet with every excellent success.
May the pillars supporting the edifice of your life Constantly stand as undying vajra elements,
That through the force of destiny you may carry The banner of enlightened activity As a supreme leader among gods and men To the very peak of the world.
May those who train under you never be obstructed In spiritual study, contemplation and meditation,
That they may rapidly and easily cross the twofold path Of the quick and joyous tantric way,
Gaining spiritual powers both common and supreme.
May those in your service who carry out your work Have the wisdom to implement your wishes skillfully, And to lead your people in the glory Of the Dharma’s waxing moon.
May you be a constant rainfall flowing without partiality To preserve the teachings and the practices Of the enlightenment tradition in general and also The lineage of the Second Buddha Tsongkhapa,
That they may never weaken or disappear.
May the holders of the various Buddhist lineages Be adorned with the canopy of the three ways of a sage And have the strength to hold on high the gem Of the four ways of benefiting fortunate trainees.
May they enhance the surging currents Of the river of enlightenment transmission.
May the Sangha, embodiment of the seven noble jewels, Live in harmony and with pure ways,
Follow the paths of study, contemplation and meditation,
Engage in the activities of teaching, debate and composition,
And fulfill every Dharmic legacy,
That the enlightenment tradition may remain strong.
May the cold winter of violent ways Subside throughout the world,
Especially in Tibet, China and Mongolia;
That the goodness and joy of the queen of spring May come, and the summer face of enlightenment Be revealed within our minds.
May enlightened thoughts and deeds,
Forces that eliminate obstacles to prosperity and joy,
Cause every force of evil to be calmed And to lose its power to harm,
Such as the destructive attacks on religious freedom Made by barbarians and evil spirits today.
O Great Guru, Holder of the White Lotus,
May you continue to manifest as a teacher of the Great Way Until all living beings have crossed the paths and stages That lead to great enlightenment,
And the two purposes are spontaneously fulfilled.
May the mighty Dharma Protectors,
With whom you have long been familiar, such as Palden Lhamo, Bektsey Chamdrel, Gyalchen Ku Nga And especially the sworn one Dorjey Drakden,
Release an immediate force of the four magical activities.
By the strength of the blessings of the unfailing Refuge Jewels,
The power of the truth of the unchanging ultimate sphere,
And the mighty current of universal love,
May all themes of this prayer be auspiciously accomplished Spontaneously and without the slightest hindrance.
* * * *
Over the years to follow the Dalai Lama spent his time between his residences at the Norbu Lingka and the Potala, with the former being for mid-spring to mid-autumn and the latter for the winter months. This would remain the case until he came into his self-imposed exile in India in 1959, although after his visit to India in 1956 he made the Norbu Lingka his formal home.
As with the previous Dalai Lamas, at this point the emphasis in his young life was spiritual education and training, and he was given the best lama teachers in the country. He regularly underwent public tests in front of the assemblies at the principal monasteries of Lhasa, and impressed everyone with his learning. He underwent the final tests for his Geshey Lharam degree in the presence of over 20,000 monk scholars during the New Year’s ceremonies of 1959, not long before escaping into exile in India. This public examination was captured on film, which survived the holocaust to follow, and has found its way into many of the documentary film studies of the Dalai Lama’s life.
Although the spiritual education of the young Fourteenth Dalai Lama achieved deep fruition, and thus prepared him well for assuming his role as spiritual leader of Tibet at a young age, the preparation for his role as temporal leader proved more problematic. Perhaps nothing would have sufficed in this regard, given Tibet’s external and internal conditions at the time.
On the external side, the Great Thirteenth had never managed to get Tibet’s sovereign status recognized by the international community. Everyone opted to follow Britain’s lead, and, as we saw in the previous chapter, it was more convenient to British colonial interests to have Tibet regarded as a protectorate of China rather than as an independent nation, which might then be vulnerable to grabs by Russia.
The Thirteenth responded to the British position by expelling all Chinese diplomats and officials from within Tibetan borders, sending a strong signal that Tibet was its own nation. He was left, however, with a volatile situation. The result was that both the British and the Chinese were able to fragment the Tibetan aristocracy and play various parties against one another. This weakened Tibet to the point of near paralysis, so that when Communist China invaded in the early 1950s it met with little organized resistance.
Tibet was also affected by the chaotic changes wrought in Asia by the two world wars. One of these changes was the fall of Czarist Russia in 1917» toward the end of World War I, and the subsequent rise of Soviet Communism. This in turn led to the destruction of the numerous Mongolian khannates to Tibet’s north, all of which had been Tibet’s allies for centuries.
The spread of Communism in the north, coupled with the weakening of the Republic of China during World War II, also led to the death of Old China and the rise of Mao’s Communist empire.
The second major change to affect Tibet was the destruction of the British Empire during World War II, resulting in the end of British India. In that it was the British who had defined Tibet’s status for the international community, and British India that had sustained this status, this turn of events could only lead to upheavals in Central Asia, and especially in Tibet.
Thus the present Dalai Lama inherited a nation that was wedged between three powerful yet immature political entities: China, India and the Soviet Union.
Tibet’s internal situation was not much better than her external one. This was partly connected to the events that followed after the Great Thirteenth’s death.
During the last two decades of his life the Great Thirteenth cultivated three particular men, but after he passed away the three were sidelined by the Lhasa power brokers. These three, known as his “three favorites” in literature of the period, were all exceptionally talented and intelligent, and demonstrated tremendous depth of character.
The first of the favorites was Tsarong, whom we encountered in the last chapter. His heroism and success at Chaktsam Bridge, where he valiantly saved the Great Thirteenth’s life during the flight to India in 1909, led to his being made commander-in-chief of the Tibetan resistance movement, and within three years he had forced the Chinese in Tibet to surrender. After the Dalai Lama returned to Tibet, Tsarong was given the position of commander of the army.
Unfortunately in later years he disagreed with the Great Thirteenth on the issue of capital punishment. On his own initiative he had several criminals executed, an act that was in direct contradiction to the Dalai Lama’s own edict abolishing all forms of corporal punishment. When the Great Thirteenth learned of the executions, he removed Tsarong from office.
After the Great Thirteenth’s death Tsarong was kept out of the inner circle of leadership and was forced into retirement on his rural estate. Thus Tibet passed over the person who was perhaps most capable of leading the country through the difficult years of military conflict that would follow.
The second favorite, like Tsarong born of peasant stock, was Kunpella. As a young man Kunpella had been enrolled in the Dalai Lama’s staff as a minor clerk but soon gained the Dalai Lama’s confidence and rose to prominence. By the time the Great Thirteenth passed away, Kunpella had become chief aide as well as head of the mint and of a crack army unit that was more or less equivalent to the Royal Guard.
After the power struggles that followed in the wake of the Great Thirteenth’s death, Kunpella was arrested for treason and sent into exile. Once more, a tremendous talent was wasted.
The third favorite was the genius Lungshar. Lungshar was a true renaissance man: a doctor, musician, philosopher, poet and statesman all rolled into one. The Great Thirteenth had sent him as a youth to England for education, and later assigned Tibet’s modernization program to him.
Again, as with Tsarong and Kunpella, Lungshar became a prime target in the power conflicts that followed the Great Thirteenth’s death, and was arrested on charges of treason. Unlike the other two favorites, he was of aristocratic blood, and thus was perceived by the Lhasa aristocracy as the most dangerous. As part of his sentence he was blinded, so that in future he would not be able to launch any political opposition.
The loss of these three men left Tibet with no clear secular leadership. This was one of the reasons the country was so easily lost to the Chinese Communists in the 1950s, when the present Dalai Lama was still a young man.
* * * *
The present Dalai Lama also inherited the major rift that had developed between the Tibetan government and the administrators of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, which was discussed in some depth in the previous chapter.
In brief, the rift left the Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second highest incarnate lama, in a dangerously vulnerable position, and he fled into a self-imposed exile in China in 1923. Although he attempted to pursue negotiations with Lhasa for his return, the Lhasa aristocracy made the conditions too precarious for him, and the Panchen died in China in December of 1937* f°ur years after the Great Thirteenth’s passing. As was mentioned in the previous chapter, however, he was consulted during the search for the Great Thirteenth’s reincarnation, and Reteng Tulku eventually installed the boy indicated by the Panchen’s divinations.
Tibetans generally shuffle the blame for the rift between the Panchen Lama and the Lhasa government onto the shoulders of minor officials and bureaucrats. Be this as it may, the result was that the search for the Panchen s reincarnation in the late 1930s was undertaken by the Tashi Lhunpo monks who had been with the Panchen Lama in China. The boy who was chosen then came to be controlled by the Chinese throughout his life.
This continued even after the Communists rose to power in China in 1949. They attempted to project the idea that the Panchen Lama was the actual spiritual head of Tibet, and that the Dalai Lama was a mere secular leader.
This divisiveness greatly weakened Tibet, making it easier for the Communists to take over in the 1950s, and hampering the present Dalai Lama’s efforts to lead a unified Tibet during those crucial years.
After the Dalai Lama came into exile in India in 1959, the Communists enthroned the Panchen Lama as the new Tibetan leader. Even though his discomfort with this arrangement resulted in his being imprisoned in 1964 and disappearing for the decade and a half to follow—he was presumed dead for all that time—the overall outcome was further alienation of the Panchen and Dalai Lama offices.
* * * *
Finally, mention must be made of the attempt in 1947 to remove and perhaps even murder the Dalai Lama. Although usually portrayed as a power struggle between the two regents—Reteng and his successor, Taktra—it was in fact far more sinister. The young Dalai Lama survived the episode, but it greatly weakened Tibet and created a major obstacle to his ability to successfully lead the country in its encounter with militant Communist China after he was enthroned in 1950.
As we saw above, Reteng Tulku was made regent shortly after the Great Thirteenth’s death. He successfully oversaw the search for and enthronement of the present Dalai Lama, and carried Tibet through this delicate phase of its history. But along the way, he encountered some enemies.
Reteng Tulku is usually presented in an unflattering light in most Western literature of the period. The reason is simple enough: The writing was being done by British government officials, and Reteng could not be manipulated by them. As a consequence they disliked him and always spoke of him in unpleasant terms. The situation was similar to the manner in which British references to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were always derogatory; the Great Thirteenth would not cooperate with their designs, so obviously he was a man to be scorned. This same attitude was now being accorded to the regent. British diplomats and officials of the period describe him as being vain, greedy and corrupt. He was none of these, and in fact was the opposite: a great man who accomplished great things.
A second source of negative misinformation concerning Reteng Tulku’s character comes from certain Tibetans whose distorted view is often repeated as though fact. This is because the people who murdered him gained control of the Lhasa government, and thus won the privilege of telling the story as they saw fit.
As we saw earlier, after Reteng was appointed regent he set up a committee to search for the reincarnation of the Great Thirteenth. A number of candidates made the shortlist. Reteng Tulku was convinced that the boy from Taktser was the true incarnation, and pushed for his official recognition. The divinations from the elderly Panchen Lama also supported this candidate.
However, one of the chief ministers of the Lhasa government, a man named Langdun, was lobbying hard for another candidate. At the time Langdun had a status equal to that of the regent, and the two co-ruled Tibet.
The candidate supported by Langdun was the son of one of his own immediate relatives. He attempted to promote the boy in various ways, and to hinder the candidacy of the child from Taktser. Langdun seems to have been a bit of a simpleton, and in all probability was placed in his position of power by the Lhasa aristocracy because they believed they could easily manipulate him.
However, Reteng Tulku eventually became impatient with Langdun s interference and gave the Tibetan government an ultimatum. Either they fire Langdun, or else he himself would resign as regent.
Had Reteng Tulku not stood up to Langdun at this time, the office of the Dalai Lama would probably have been given to Langdun’s relative. The boy from Taktser, whom we all know and love today as the Dalai Lama, would have remained in Amdo, and never become the Dalai Lama.
Reteng Tulku similarly fired numerous other government officials for corruption and incompetence. The list is long, and as a result some of the Lhasa aristocracy began to strongly resent him.
Like the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Reteng Tulku united Gelukpa and Nyingmapa lineages within his spiritual practice. It is possible that the more conservative elements of Lhasa society also resented this about him.
In 1940 he visited Samyey, one of the great Nyingmapa monasteries of central Tibet, in order to receive certain Nyingma lineages and also to make meditation there. When he returned in early 1941 he unexpectedly announced that his dreams in Samyey had indicated that he should temporarily resign from the regency in order to undertake the three-year retreat.
His first choice for a replacement was one of his own gurus, the famous Pabongkha Tulku. Pabongkha was undoubtedly the greatest living Gelukpa lama of the period, and would have been an ideal candidate. However, he strongly disliked political affairs and distrusted the Lhasa aristocracy. He therefore declined the request.
Some years earlier an elderly lama by the name of Taktra Tulku from Drepung Gomang Monastery had been appointed junior tutor to the young Dalai Lama. In accordance with tradition, Reteng as regent held the position of senior tutor. Reteng now recommended that Taktra Tulku serve as regent for the three years that he would be in retreat. The Tibetan cabinet was hastily convened, and the proposal was approved.
Thus in early February 1941 Reteng Tulku quietly retired from public life, and passed the regency to Taktra Tulku. He then returned to Reteng Monastery and entered into meditation as planned.
Unfortunately for him, his absence as regent gave those in the Lhasa aristocracy who resented him the opportunity to grow in strength. They quietly but steadily built up their power base within the Taktra regency, and aligned themselves against him.
He might have lived out his life quietly at his monastery but for an unexpected development. In 1944, the year that he completed his retreat, the Nechung Oracle shocked everyone by proclaiming during his trance of the New Year’s celebrations that the Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s life was in danger. Reteng Tulku naturally heard news of this from his residence at the monastery, and requested a conference of high lamas and officials in order to discuss the situation.
The ex-regent was greeted with tremendous fanfare when he arrived in Lhasa. This must have alarmed his detractors, who by this time had gained control over the replacement regent, Taktra Tulku. Reteng remained for the conference, and stayed in order to oversee certain rituals for the Dalai Lama’s well-being, but then returned to his monastery.
It was now clear to him, however, that the danger to the Dalai Lama’s life prophesied by the Nechung Oracle was not merely astrological or spiritual, but came from certain individuals within the Tibetan government who wanted to seize power for themselves, and who would not hesitate to harm the Dalai Lama in order to achieve their goal.
He therefore let his position of dissatisfaction with the state of affairs become publicly known, and subtly expressed the fact that he felt Taktra was not fulfilling his primary obligation, which was to serve the interests of the Dalai Lama and the country.
This distracted the conspirators, and forced them to delay their plans of removing the Dalai Lama. They now understood that in order to do so they would first have to eliminate the ex-regent.
They also knew that before they could launch a successful attack on the ex-regent, they would have to neutralize the Dalai Lama’s father, who had risen to a position of considerable strength after settling in Lhasa. This was partly due to the rank that had been bestowed upon him as the Dalai Lama’s father, and to the generosity that Reteng Tulku as regent had shown to him and his family on their arrival from Amdo; but it was also to a large extent due to his integrity, native intelligence and personal strength of character. The conspirators knew that the Dalai Lama’s’ father would immediately come to the defense of the ex-regent in the event of an attack against him.
Therefore, in early 1947 they invited the father to a social gathering on a country estate near Lhasa, and here administered a poison in the food that was served to him. He became ill the following day, and died a slow and painful death over the month to follow.
Shortly thereafter a rumor spread that a box containing a handmade bomb had been sent to the office of the regent, Taktra Tulku, by Reteng Tulku’s people. What is not known for sure is whether the box was ever received at all, or if it was sent by the conspirators.
To an objective observer, the charge that it had been sent by the ex-regent was ludicrous. Had Reteng Tulku wished to harm Taktra he certainly would have chosen a more subtle and sure means. Tibetans were no munitions experts, and bomb making was not quite their cup of tea. When it came to assassination, poison had been their first method of choice for centuries, with stabbing a close second, and perhaps strangulation a contender for third. Reteng Tulku’s camp certainly had enough people in the inner clique of Lhasa life to effect any of these methods, had murder been their intent or within the boundaries of their character.
Nonetheless the ruse worked, and the plotters were able to use their concocted pretext as a reason to have Reteng Tulku and those closest to him arrested and interrogated.
The ex-regent died in prison a few days later from the torture that was inflicted upon him. In particular, the cause of his death was the internal bleeding that occurred as a result of crushed testicles.
In all probability Regent Taktra Tulku himself was not part of the plot that led to the murder of Reteng Tulku and the Dalai Lama’s father. Nonetheless, at the very least history should judge him harshly for his personal incompetence. He seems to have been a rather aloof and unworldly man, and allowed the lay aristocrats who had worked their way up in his administration to handle most secular affairs. Probably he bought the story that a bomb in a box had been sent to him by Reteng Tulku’s people, and evaded personal involvement by allowing the government to take charge of the matter. If this were the case, he would not have known that the conspirators were playing him for a patsy.
Prior to the arrest of Reteng Tulku, the plotters had tried to press the Tibetan government into having the Dalai Lama’s mother recall her two older male children from eastern Tibet and China, where one was a monk in Kumbum Monastery and the other a student in a Chinese school. Fortunately she suspected that something suspicious was afoot, and delayed in doing so. Had she followed the plotters’ request, no doubt the two children would also have been killed at this time.
None of the perpetrators of these deeds were ever brought to justice for their crimes. To the contrary, they were able to pass themselves off to history as the patriots in the affair, with Reteng Tulku being re-cast as the villain.
* * * +
Having murdered Reteng Tulku and the Dalai Lama’s father, as well as numerous people loyal to them, the conspirators were now ready to try and eliminate the Dalai Lama himself.
However, they were afraid to attack him outright. To do so could easily have caused a civil war, for he was intensely popular with the people, and also with the monks of the large monasteries in the Lhasa region. They could perhaps pass off the death of the Dalai Lama’s father as an unexpected illness, and portray the death of the ex-regent as a natural outcome of internal intrigues. Any harm to the Dalai Lama himself, however, would have been examined much more closely, especially with so many bodies turning up everywhere.
Moreover, harming the Dalai Lama could have had profound international consequences. As we saw earlier, His Holiness had been born outside of Tibet in a Chinese Turkestani country ruled by the Muslim warlord Ma Pu-fang. A suspicious death of the boy could easily be used by Ma Pu-fang as an excuse for a punitive invasion.
The conspirators therefore decided that the safest course of action for them was to attempt to remove the Dalai Lama by casting doubt on the authenticity of his identity. They did this by bringing up the issue of the various children who had originally been on the shortlist for the Dalai Lama office eight years earlier. Had not the minister Langdun supported a different child, one who had been later enthroned as the reincarnation of a high lama by the name of Ditru Tulku?
The conspirators hatched a simple plan. They would spread the rumor that Reteng Tulku had enthroned the wrong candidate. The boy now known as Ditru Tulku, they professed, was in fact the real Dalai Lama, whereas the boy on the Dalai Lama throne was the reincarnation of Ditru Tulku! The two had been confused in the selection process, and the wrong choice had been made. All that was needed to right the wrong was to have the two switch names and residences.
Spinning this tale was one thing, but getting the Tibetan monkhood to swallow it was another.
Nonetheless the conspirators did succeed in convincing the elderly regent Taktra Tulku that the theory carried enough weight in order to demand that a new divination be performed on the matter.
Consequently a grand assembly was convened in the Jokhang, with all the high lamas and officials of central Tibet in attendance. The names of the Dalai Lama and the Ditru Tulku were both inserted inside barley balls. These were placed in a bowl, prayers were recited, and then the bowl was held up and rotated. The name in the barley ball that emerged was that of the boy from Taktser.
The divination was performed a second time, and again the name of the boy from Taktser emerged. A third divination was performed, but this again produced the same result.
There was no way around it. The conspirators found themselves stalemated on the issue. They would have to console themselves with Reteng Tulku’s candidate, the boy from Taktser who had already been enthroned. This is, of course, the boy who became the present Dalai Lama.
In retrospect, were it not for the spin of the barley balls that day, the Ditru Tulku would have become the Dalai Lama, and the man who is now the Dalai Lama would have become the Ditru Tulku.
* * * *
The above interpretation of the events of 1947 is not common with Tibetans, nor even with Western Tibetologists, for after the episode the conspirators came to power and controlled all the instruments of the Tibetan government, with the regent Taktra Tulku as their puppet. They immediately launched a campaign of character assassination on Reteng Tulku in order to justify what had happened.
Most Tibetans bought the demonized version of Reteng Tulku that was created at that time, and Western Tibetologists picked it up from them. However, in that it was spun by the very people who murdered both the former regent and the Dalai Lama’s father, we can safely write it off as outright propaganda.
The conspirators placed great emphasis upon the theory that Reteng Tulku had originally resigned the regency because he had broken his vows of celibacy and felt it would be inappropriate for him in his fallen state to give the Dalai Lama the ordination of a novice monk. The idea is ludicrous. With the exception of the Dalai Lama, very few Tibetan reincarnate lamas are actually expected to be celibate. Nobody seems to mind, so long as the matter is not flaunted. Tibetans follow a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in this regard. Reteng Tulku could easily have gotten around the problem without any great inconvenience. Moreover, he resigned well over a year prior to the date on which the Dalai Lama was to receive the novice ordination.
In all probability the talk of Reteng’s “non-celibacy” was spread so as to temper public perception of his murder. The average Tibetan considered personal assassination one of the risks taken by lay politicos engaged in power struggles, whereas the murder of a pure monk was far more repulsive. By spreading the story that Reteng had broken his vows, and thus was not a pure monk, the conspirators were essentially redefining him as fair game.
The spin somewhat changed after the Communist takeover of Tibet in the 1950s and the mass exodus of Tibetan refugees in 1959. Now it was said that the political orientation was the real reason behind the power struggle. Reteng Tulku, we are told, had favored a policy of rapprochement and dialogue with China, whereas Taktra was strongly anti-Chinese and pro-British.
Again, the transparency of the propaganda is obvious. It is true that Reteng Tulku rejected the idea that Tibet could establish its independent status through ignoring China and relying on the British to sort things out for them. The Lhasa government had tried this for some three decades, and he could see that it had produced no results whatsoever. The British were no closer to representing Tibetan interests to the international community than they had been in the beginning of the exercise. In fact, they were probably farther from it than ever, for World War II had made England and China allies against Japan. Reteng Tulku believed, probably correctly, that the only hope for Tibet’s future lay in direct engagement with its enormous eastern neighbor, and he attempted to swing the Tibetan government in this direction.
Be this as it may, his attitude in this respect was not a pressing factor in the minds of those who murdered him. Simply stated, they were afraid that he would regain the regency and would have them all fired or even worse for their incompetence. They far preferred to have the elderly and unworldly Taktra on the throne, for he seemed blind and deaf to all secular affairs.
History is usually told by the victors, who invariably spin a yarn that they want the world to believe, conveniently adding and subtracting from the facts in order to suit their purposes. In the case of the events of 1947, the people directly or indirectly involved in the plot against Reteng Tulku succeeded in their power struggle, and as a result gained and for many years thereafter retained high offices in the Lhasa government. Theirs was the privilege of rewriting history so as to cover up their evil deeds.4 But despite their vilification, Reteng Tulku was no villain; he was a hero in the most classic sense, a man whose life was sacrificed for higher principles. In a sense Reteng’s life was a tragedy, for he died a violent death; but it was also a supreme success, for through his death he saved the life of the present Dalai Lama, and completed the sublime task that had been entrusted to him.
To the best of my knowledge, and judging from his own writings, the present Dalai Lama himself is not aware of what really occurred during this dreadful period of modern Tibetan history. He was, after all, only twelve years old at the time. I never questioned him on the matter during any of the interviews I conducted with him, as I felt it would have been inappropriate to his dignity. My guess is that he had been told as little as possible, in order to protect his innocence. He certainly was not in any position to influence things one way or another.
I feel it nonetheless necessary to relate it here. An understanding of the events of 1947 is prerequisite to an understanding of the present Dalai Lama’s life, for these set the stage for the political situation His Holiness would inherit when he was enthroned as supreme spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet in 1950, only three years after the murders occurred.
By that time the perpetrators of the conspiracy dominated the Tibetan government, and all forces loyal to Reteng Tulku had long since been eliminated or reassigned to the provinces. His Holiness had mainly incompetent and corrupt officials as his underlings. It is little wonder that Tibet fell so easily to the Chinese Communists.
* * * *
While most of the petty aristocrats of Lhasa were caught up in these internal machinations, the Communists were busy consolidating their power in China. Chairman Mao’s armies gained final victory in 1949. One of his first deeds as dictator of his newly formed Communist empire was to proclaim his determination to consolidate China’s borders, and his intention to “liberate Tibet” as part of this strategy.
Until now the intrigues of Lhasa had not directly impacted the young Dalai Lama. His spiritual education had remained at the center of his life, with his days and nights being given largely to study, prayer and meditation. Everyone was careful to keep talk of these unpleasant political events away from him. He was, after all, only a teenager. The announcement from Communist China of its intent to reclaim Tibet brought an immediate end to his age of innocence.
The Chinese began to make their move almost immediately after taking power. In late 1949 they invaded the lowlands along the eastern Tibetan border. Then during the spring and summer of 1950 the Chinese began building up a strong army on the Tibetan border.
The clique that had seized power in 1947 and now ruled Lhasa panicked. It was one thing to wrest control over a sleepy Lhasa government, but quite another to have to stand up to the Chinese Communists.
A hasty meeting of the cabinet was called, and it was decided that only the young Dalai Lama could save the day. The Nechung Oracle was invoked, and his words confirmed the decision.
Thus it was that on November 17,1950, when the present Dalai Lama was only fifteen years old, he was enthroned as supreme ruler of Tibet. A large Chinese army of almost 100,000 soldiers had amassed on the eastern border and was poised to strike. On his side, he had nothing other than his integrity and good intentions as his tools.
The position, of course, was hopeless. His Holiness was only a boy, and he was surrounded mainly by the incompetent officials who had ousted anyone with vision and talent.
Delegations were sent to the West to solicit political backing. Perhaps Britain or America, it was hoped, would be able to stand up for them and convince China not to invade. Perhaps the United Nations would help. These delegations, however, met with no success.
The only recourse was to negotiate a treaty directly with China. Therefore in 1951 a delegation was appointed, headed by Governor Ngabo of Chamdo, and was sent to Beijing in order to probe this avenue. Although the delegation was only entrusted with the authority to discuss preliminary conditions, the Chinese partly threatened and partly bribed its members into signing off on the terms dictated by Beijing. The head of this delegation eventually went over to the Chinese Communist side, and was later given a high post in the Communist administration.
This treaty, known as the “Seventeen Point Agreement” for the seventeen conditions set forth in it, put the Tibetans in an awkward position. To repudiate it would mean invasion by China, for which the Tibetans were utterly unprepared. They had spent the sixteen years since the death of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama obsessed with internal rivalries, and had given no thought to external threats. The time had now come to pay the piper. They remembered the words that the Great Thirteenth had spoken in his Last Testament, and were filled with apprehension.
Although the treaty of 1951 theoretically guaranteed Tibet its autonomy, and promised that neither Tibet’s internal administration nor culture would be interfered with, it granted the Chinese Communists permission to send troops into the country and set up fortifications in order to protect Tibets status against “imperialists.” The Chinese would be on an honor system not to use these troops against the Tibetans.
For the Communists, of course, the Seventeen Point Agreement was just a means to an end, and they had no intention whatsoever of honoring it. Their plan was to firmly entrench themselves and then slowly tighten the noose.
This is precisely what came to pass, and Chinese troops soon began pouring into the country. Because the Lhasa government had agreed to the treaty, any Tibetans who resisted were at odds with their own administration.
In 1954 the Dalai Lama was invited to visit China, where the wonders of Communism were explained to him in detail. He also met with Chairman Mao on numerous occasions. When His Holiness complained to Mao that the Chinese soldiers in Tibet had begun to attack and destroy religious institutions, Mao just replied, “Well, you know, religion is poison.” The young Buddhist monk realized then the predicament into which his nation had fallen.
The situation in Tibet worsened almost on a daily basis, and by 1956 the Tibetans of Kham and Amdo in the east had begun to rise up in revolt. His Holiness was now in the uncomfortable position of having to serve as a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communists and publicly condemn the freedom fighters.
That same year His Holiness received an invitation from Prime Minister Nehru of India requesting him to come to India in order to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha’s passing. The Chinese objected, but could not completely refuse him permission to go due to the friendship that Nehru had established with Mao. Consequently His Holiness made the journey. In India he discussed the Tibet situation with Nehru, and described how unpleasant and precarious things had come. He also discussed the possibility of remaining in India as a refugee. Nehru, who was pursuing a strong policy of friendship with China, insisted that His Holiness return to Tibet for the time being, but assured him that if Tibet erupted in war the Tibetans would be welcomed in India as refugees.
Everything came to a head on March 10, 1959. The Chinese general in charge of Lhasa sent a forceful invitation to His Holiness to visit him in the army camp without bringing along his normal security force. The Tibetans interpreted the invitation as being part of a plan to kidnap His Holiness and carry him off to China. Many Tibetan lamas had disappeared in this same way, never to be seen or heard from again.
Word spread like wildfire, and soon tens of thousands of Tibetans had gathered around the Norbu Lingka in order to protect His Holiness, and to prevent him from going. The Chinese general then gave the order for them to disperse, but this caused the crowd to grow in size.
The Nechung Oracle was consulted and went into trance. The only recourse, he stated, was for the Dalai Lama to be smuggled to India, where he could pursue the Tibetan cause from Indian soil. “Go,” he said. “Go tonight.”
Thus it was that on March 17, 1959, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, disguised as a Tibetan warrior and led by a group of Khampa horsemen, slipped quietly from the Norbu Lingka and melted into the crowd. He was on his way into exile in India.
The escape was successful, and His Holiness crossed the border onto Indian soil some two week later. Prime Minister Nehru remained true to his word, and offered the hospitality of the Indian government.
Over the months to follow more than a million Tibetans—approximately twenty percent of the entire population—attempted to follow His Holiness into exile. It is estimated that ninety percent of these died in the attempt, or were captured and imprisoned on the way. However, more than a hundred thousand succeeded in completing the journey.
In India His Holiness blossomed as a leader. He was no longer hampered by the incompetents who had gained control of the Tibetan government in Lhasa during the years of his minority, and who had surrounded him during the initial period following his enthronement. He was now able to act as his own man, and to build up a group of solid people on whom he could rely. Here he excelled in his twofold role as spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetans, and succeeded at everything he undertook.
Here also he would emerge as a great philosopher, humanist, world spiritual leader and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
* * * *
For the young Dalai Lama, life in India was very different from what it had been in Tibet. First, he had the unenviable task of settling and caring for the tens of thousands of refugees who were fleeing into Inda. Secondly, his was also the responsibility of overseeing the efforts to preserve Tibet’s ancient culture, which now was under full attack in its homeland. Thirdly, he was in charge of the effort to lobby internationally for the rights of his country and people.
Almost immediately after arriving in India the Dalai Lama set up his Central Tibetan Government-in Exile in order to accomplish these three tasks, working from temporary quarters provided for him in the Himalayas at Mussoorie, Arunachal Pradesh. A few years later the Indian government moved him and his government to Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, and he has remained there ever since.
At first the work of resettling the refugees took priority, for they had fled their homes with nothing more than what they could carry. Moreover, they had descended from the high, dry climate of mountainous Tibet into the subtropics of India, and within weeks they were beset by a wide range of diseases hitherto unknown to them, and to which they had little if any resistance. The water gave them dysentery, the mosquitoes malaria, and the low-protein diet malnutrition. Moreover, the low altitude rendered them susceptible to tuberculosis, a disease that had been almost nonexistent in Tibet, and almost a quarter of them came down with it.
Perhaps the most pressing problem was the children. Many had lost their parents while escaping from Tibet, and as a result there was a large contingent of orphans and semi-orphans. The Dalai Lama called upon international aid organizations for help, and a series of “children’s villages” was established. These were run as residential boarding schools, with twenty or thirty children in each house, and with each house under the care of a surrogate mother and father. The education in these schools combined traditional Tibetan with modern Western studies.
The Dalai Lama then brokered a deal with the Indian government in which the main body of the refugees could be settled in various communities around the country. Unused land, mostly in South India, was provided for this purpose, and soon Tibetan agricultural settlements began to spring up across the country. These were located in remote regions, such as the jungles of Mysore and Karnataka. Their isolation not only allowed the refugees to pursue traditional lifestyles, but also protected them culturally as a people. Each community was established with its own internal administration, with direct links to the Central Tibetan Government-in-Exile.
The situation of Tibetan youth was considerably different from that of most Indians, and therefore the Dalai Lama pressed for establishing a separate school system in all the Tibetan communities in India, Nepal and Bhutan. These schools, His Holiness stated, should combine the best of traditional Tibetan education with the best of modern Western studies. He called a conference of Tibetan and Western educators, and together they hammered out a curriculum that would be appropriate to the Tibetans in exile. These schools have continued to operate from that time until today, and to produce young Tibetans enriched with a solid grounding in traditional and modern knowledge.
Once these basic foundations of Tibetan society had been established, the Dalai Lama turned his attention to the preservation of Tibet’s ancient culture. Here he called on all the spiritual and intellectual leaders who had escaped into exile, and together they devised blueprints for what had to be done. Soon small replicas of all the great Tibetan monasteries and nunneries sprang up, with traditional training programs once more firmly in place.
Tibetan medicine was a priority with His Holiness, and he directly oversaw the creation of the Tibetan Astro-Medical Centre (which is so named largely because Tibetan doctors rely on astronomy in deciding when to collect specific medicinal herbs). Since that time this institute has trained dozens of young doctors, and has established clinics throughout India and Nepal. Doctors from this institute now regularly tour the West in order to share their ancient knowledge with an international audience. Indeed, in 2001 both NBC’s Dateline and CNN’s Larry King Live aired special programs featuring Dr. Yeshey Donden and his work with American cancer patients. Dr. Donden, who many years ago delivered my own first-born son, served as the first doctor at the Tibetan Astro-Medical Centre established by His Holiness in Dharamsala.
His Holiness similarly realized the importance of the traditional performing arts, and commissioned the re-creation of Tibet’s National Opera. This institution, now known as the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, has produced hundreds of young artists accomplished in Tibet’s legacy of music and dance. Their company has toured the West on numerous occasions, and as a consequence many Westerners have directly experienced the fruit of this work.
Tibetan literature was similarly endangered by the Chinese Communist takeover, with all but a handful of Tibet’s 10,000 libraries being destroyed. The loose-leaf pages of Tibet’s ancient scriptures found a new use with Chairman Mao’s soldiers, who used them as toilet paper. However, most escaping refugees had brought one or two of their favorite books with them; and in addition many Tibetan books existed in the Buddhist libraries of Himalayan India. The Dalai Lama established two institutes—Tibet House in New Delhi and the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala—and charged them with the task of gathering, preserving and cataloging whatever traditional literature they could find. In addition, these institutes were charged with finding and preserving traditional artworks, such as paintings and statues.
The latter of the two institutes—the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala—also established programs for training young Tibetans in the traditional fine arts, such as tangka painting, metal sculpture, wood sculpture, calligraphy and so on. In addition, the Dalai Lama instructed this institute to open a school of Tibetan Buddhist studies for Western students interested in Tibet. He personally chose the teachers for this program, and oversaw the development of the curriculum. I am one of the hundreds of Westerners who received training in that illustrious institute, and thus am especially indebted to His Holiness in this regard.
During the last three or four years of my twelve-year residency in Dharamsala, I had the honor of working for the Research and Translation Bureau at the Tibetan Library. My work there often involved translating and/or editing works chosen by His Holiness for various conferences or other purposes. I also worked on numerous projects with Ven. Doboom Tulku, who at the time was an aide to His Holiness. During this time I spent many long afternoons in Doboom’s office. This adjoined the balcony of the Dalai Lama’s reception room, and on these occasions I could directly witness the amazing schedule that His Holiness kept. A steady stream of Tibetans came, some individually and others in groups large and small. It seemed that everyone wanted the involvement of His Holiness in the crucial aspects of their lives and works. High lamas, civic leaders and ordinary people alike came to him to report on their various activities, and to ask for his advice and blessings.
Throughout this period His Holiness was also expected to dedicate several hours a day to meditation, and to undertake numerous intensive retreats. He accomplished the former by getting up at three o’clock every morning in order to hit the meditation seat, and the latter by making retreats of a few weeks’ or months’ duration whenever a lull in the demands placed upon him so allowed. In 1967 the consistent effort paid off, for it was during a retreat then that his meditations produced the desired inner experiences.
That year His Holiness went from being a symbolic spiritual leader to being a living Buddhist master.
* * * *
By the early 1970s the situation with the refugees and Tibetan culture had been set on a firm footing, and His Holiness was able to begin traveling abroad in order to raise awareness of the Tibet question. First he made several short visits to Europe, for the Tibetan connection with England was an old one. Then in 1979 he visited the United States for the first time. Wherever he went he was received with tremendous enthusiasm, not only by spiritual and civic leaders, but also by scientists, educators, philosophers and healers. His prestige on the international circuit seemed to grow in leaps and bounds.
Since that time His Holiness has divided his time between serving his twofold role of spiritual and secular leadership of the Tibetans, and traveling the world in order to speak for Tibet. As spiritual leader, he oversees the spiritual affairs of the Tibetans as a people, and also teaches extensively, both to the Tibetans in India and to interested peoples around the world. He travels widely in order to spread his message of the need for love, compassion and wisdom, and to fulfill the many requests to teach that come to him. Those who subscribe to Internet news services (such as the World Tibet News) and follow his schedule will read of him being in Germany one day, Russia the next, Japan a few days later, and America the following week. There are few places on the planet he has not visited over the past two decades, from South Africa to the Scandanavian tundra fields. Capacity crowds turn out to hear him speak wherever he goes. He is sought after as a keynote speaker at conferences and think-tanks related to issues as diverse as the environment, psychology, spirituality, art, science and world peace.
The Western media generally depict his humble and humorous side. The amazing depth of his Buddhist scholarship is perhaps less well known.
During the twelve years of my residency in Dharamsala, His Holiness gave numerous public and semipublic discourses a year. These would generally be held from noon until sunset, and last anywhere from a week to a month or more. In these discourses the Dalai Lama would read from an Indian or Tibetan classic, elucidating the numerous levels of meaning buried in each passage.
The more profound teaching sessions would be held in a small private chapel on the grounds of his residence, and it was during these that his extraordinary level of scholarship shone through. Attendance at these was usually limited to the monks of whatever monastery had requested the teaching, as well as to high reincarnate lamas and monks holding the geshey degree. In addition, monks from the two small local monasteries that were especially close to the Dalai Lama—Nechung and Namgyal Dratsang were invited. Finally, a few Westerners who were able to speak Tibetan were allowed to attend.
The subject matter at these semiprivate discourses would be far more obtuse than at his public teachings, and the text used would be downright tough. Of the two or three hundred monks in attendance, the front row would be comprised of the elderly abbots and high incarnates, the next row of slightly less prestigious monks, and so forth. In brief, the front two or three rows held the greatest monk scholars in all of Central Asia.
Whenever the Dalai Lama would come to an especially difficult passage he would pause from his discourse in order to challenge members of the front rows to offer their interpretations. He would on these instances play the devil’s advocate, and challenge them to debate on the matter, attempting to find a flaw in their reading. Often these interludes would last a half hour or more, with him challenging the greatest living Buddhist scholars in debate on the most difficult passages of a very difficult text.
He would then turn the situation around, offering an interpretation himself and openly inviting the members of his audience to find a flaw in it. Although outnumbered several hundred to one, it would be very rare to find him hard-pressed on an issue.
It was also interesting to see how he was never hesitant to acknowledge when someone got a point on him during these sessions, a testament to his humor and humility.
* * * *
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is, at the time of this writing, in his mid-sixties. More than forty years have passed since he came into exile, and he has accomplished a tremendous amount during that period. Tibetan culture is no longer seriously endangered, for most of its essential traditions have been re-established. His travels and activities have caused international awareness of the Tibet situation to grow from a tiny glimmer to a constantly blazing and ever-increasing fire. He has addressed the European Parliament on the Tibet issue, as well as both the United States Congress and Senate, and has met with almost every important world leader. Because of his efforts Tibet remains at the forefront of human rights issues, and is China’s greatest and most pressing embarrassment.
From the beginning His Holiness has maintained a policy of utilizing only nonviolent means in order to resolve the Tibet/China conflict, and he urges other nations to solve their own political problems in this same way. His tremendous contribution to the world peace movement was rewarded in 1989 when he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He has similarly been awarded a dozen other prestigious awards for his contributions to human affairs.
Concerning the Tibet situation His Holiness once said to me in an interview, “This is the darkest period in Tibet’s long history, and its very existence as a nation is under threat. I am very honored to be the Dalai Lama with the job of bringing it through this critical phase.”
There is still a long way to go on the road to solving the Tibet situation. However, due to the efforts and skill of His Holiness, things look a lot better today than they did when he came into exile four decades ago. As he once put it, “Accomplishing this task through peaceful means can take some decades, perhaps even a few generations. We have to be firm but patient. If we can succeed, we can really make a contribution to world culture. If little Tibet can overcome the terrible force of Communist China solely through nonviolent means, people will be able to see the power of nonviolence. It could serve as a model for others, and encourage them to also adopt nonviolent methods. Otherwise, if we just win by violence, all we get is a piece of real estate. The Tibet for which we yearn will have been lost.”
* * * *
After winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, His Holiness the Dalai Lama delivered the following acceptance statement. Although the references to particular events date it, it otherwise stands as a timeless statement of the ideals to which His Holiness has stood throughout his life, and which have won him friends and admirers throughout the world.
I am very happy to be here with you today to receive the Nobel Prize for peace. I feel honored, humbled and deeply moved that you should give this important prize to a simple monk from Tibet. I am no one special. But I believe the prize is a recognition of the true value of altruism, love, compassion and nonviolence, which I try to practice, in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha and the sages of India and Tibet. I accept the prize with profound gratitude on behalf of all of the oppressed everywhere and for all those who struggle for freedom and work for world peace. I accept it as a tribute to the man who founded the modern tradition of nonviolent action for change—Mahatma Gandhi — whose life taught and inspired me. And, of course, I accept it on behalf of the six million Tibetan people, my brave countrymen and women inside Tibet, who have suffered and continue to suffer so much. They confront a calculated and systematic strategy aimed at the
destruction of their national and cultural identities. The prize reaffirms our conviction that with truth, courage and determination as our weapons, Tibet will be liberated.
No matter what part of the world we come from, we are all basically the same human beings. We all seek happiness and try to avoid suffering. We have basically the same human needs and concerns. All of us human beings want freedom and the right to determine our own destiny as individuals and as peoples. That is human nature. The great changes that are taking place in the world, from eastern Europe to Africa, are a clear indication of this.
In China the popular movement for democracy was crushed by brutal force in June this year. But I do not believe the demonstrations were in vain, because the spirit of freedom was rekindled among the Chinese people, and China cannot escape the impact of this spirit of freedom sweeping in many parts of the world. The brave students and their supporters showed the Chinese leadership and the world the human face of that great nation.
Last week a number of Tibetans were once again sentenced to prison terms of up to nineteen years at a mass show trial, possibly intended to frighten the population before today’s event. Their only “crime” was the expression of the widespread desire of Tibetans for the restoration of their beloved country’s independence.
The suffering of our people during the past forty years of occupation is well documented. Ours has been a long struggle. We know our cause is just. Because violence can only breed more violence and suffering, our struggle must remain nonviolent and free of hatred. We are trying to end the suffering of our people, not to inflict suffering upon others.
It is with this in mind that I proposed negotiations between Tibet and China on numerous occasions. In 1987, I made specific proposals in a Five-Point Peace Plan for the restoration of peace and human rights in Tibet. This included the conversion of the entire Tibetan plateau into a zone of Ahimsa, a sanctuary of peace and nonviolence where human beings and nature can live in peace and harmony.
Last year, I elaborated on that plan in Strasbourg at the European Parliament. I believe the ideas I expressed on those occasions were both realistic and reasonable, although they have been criticized by some of my
people as being too conciliatory. Unfortunately, Chinas leaders have not responded positively to the suggestions we have made, which included important concessions. If this continues, we will be compelled to reconsider our position.
Any relationship between Tibet and China will have to be based on the principal of equality, respect, trust and mutual benefit. It will also have to be based on the principal which the wise rulers of Tibet and of China laid down in a treaty as early as 823 ad, carved on the pillar which still stands today in front of the Jokhang, Tibet’s holiest shrine, in Lhasa, that “Tibetans will live happily in the great land of Tibet, and the Chinese will live happily in the great land of China.”
As a Buddhist monk, my concern extends to all members of the human family and, indeed, to all the sentient beings who suffer. I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction.
Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed.
The problems we face today, violent conflicts, destruction of nature, poverty, hunger, and so on, are human-created problems which can be resolved through human effort, understanding, and a development of a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share. Although I have found my own Buddhist religion helpful in generating love and compassion, even for those we consider our enemies, I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility with or without religion.
With the ever-growing impact of science in our lives, religion and spirituality have a greater role to play reminding us of our humanity. There is no contradiction between the two. Each gives us valuable insights into each other. Both science and the teaching of the Buddha tell us of the fundamental unity of all things. This understanding is crucial if we are to take positive and decisive action on the pressing global concern with the environment.
I believe all religions pursue the same goals, that of cultivating human goodness and bringing happiness to all human beings. Though the means may appear different, the ends are the same.
As we enter the final decade of this century, I am optimistic that the ancient values that have sustained mankind are today reaffirming themselves to prepare us for a kinder, happier twenty-first century.
I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we succeed in building a better world through human understanding and love, and that in doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings.
* * * *
During the past four decades as a refugee in exile His Holiness has made major contributions in a dozen different fields of human endeavor. Some of these contributions have been recognized by the international community through awards and honorary degrees. I thought it might be interesting to readers to see the list of some of these. It conveys something of the breadth and depth of His Holiness as an ancient spirit in the modern world. One award tells the story of a thousand accomplishments.
• Life Achievement Award, 1999, Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization, Jerusalem, Israel
• Juliet Hollister Award, 1998, New York, USA
• Honorary Doctorate, 1998, Brandeis University, Boston, USA
• Honorary Doctorate, 1998, Emory University, Atlanta, USA
• Honorary Doctorate, 1997, Sun Yat-sen University, Chungshan, Taiwan
• Spirit of the Dream, 1996, The International House of the Blues Foundation, Hollywood, Calif., USA
• The Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award, 1994, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, Middelburg, Holland
• World Security Annual Peace Award, 1994, New York Lawyer’s Alliance, New York, USA
• (Honorary) Doctor of Human Arts and Letters, 1994, Columbia University, New York, USA
• (Honorary) Doctor of Human Arts and Letters, 1994, Berea College, Kentucky, USA
• Honorary Fellow, 1994, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
• First Prize for Humanity, 1993, Sartorius Foundation, Germany
■ Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law, 1993, St. Andrews University, St. Andrews, U.K.
' Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law, 1993, Aberdeen University,
Aberdeen, U.K.
• Degree of Doctor Honoris Causa, 1992, Pontifica Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo, Brazil
• (Honorary) Doctor of Literature, 1992, Andra University, Visakapatnam, India
• Honorary Doctorate of Law, 1992, Melbourne University, Australia
• Shiromani Award, 1991, Shiromani Institute, Delhi, India
• Peace and Unity Award, 1991, National Peace Conference, New Delhi, India
• Wheel of Life Award, 1991, The Temple of Understanding, New York, USA
• Earth Prize, 1991, United Earth and U.N. Environmental Program, New York, USA
• Distinguished Peace Leadership Award for 1991, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Santa Barbara, USA
• Advancing Human Liberty, 1991, Freedom House, New York, USA
• (Honorary) Degree of Doctorate of Literature, 1990, Karnataka University, Dharwad, India
• (Honorary) Doctor of Education , 1990, Bologna University, Bologna, Italy
• (Honorary) Doctor of Divinity, 1990, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, India
• Le Prix de la Memorie, 1989, Foundation Danielle Mitterrand, Paris, France
• Nobel Peace Prize, 1989, Norwegian Nobel Committee, Oslo, Norway
• In Recognition of Perseverence in Times of Adversity, 1989, World Management Council, USA
• Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Award, 1989, Congressional Rights Caucus for Human Rights, Washington, D.C., USA
• Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize, 1988, University of Tubingen, Germany
• The Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, 1987, The Human Behavioral Foundation, New York, USA
• Doctor Honoris Causa, 1984, University of Paris, Paris, France
• Liberty Torch, 1979, Gilbert di Lucia, New York, USA
• (Honorary) Doctor of Humanities, 1979, Seattle University, Seattle, USA
• (Honorary) Doctor of Divinity, 1979, Carol College, Waukesh, USA
• Special Medal, 1979, The Asian Buddhist Council for Peace, Ulan Bator, Mongolia
• The Lincoln Award, i960, Research Institute of America, USA
• The Admiral Richard E. Byrd Memorial Award, 1959, USA
• The Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, 1959, Manilla, The Philippines
• (Honorary) Doctor of Letters, 1957, Benares Hindu University, Benares, India
An extraordinary gathering of spiritual leaders from around the world assembled at the United Nations in New York during August and September of 2000. Billed as “The Millennium World Peace Summit,” it was promoted as an unprecedented effort by spiritual leaders to build bridges for the future.
However, the world press was shocked to learn that His Holiness had been excluded from the gathering because of pressure from the Chinese government. Hundreds of outraged articles appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world condemning the UN for capitulating to Beijing. In the end the organizers compromised by requesting His Holiness to deliver a keynote address at an off-site closing ceremony. His Holiness did not fly over to do so personally, but nonetheless consented to have a message read on his behalf.
I include this message below, because it expresses in succinct form so many of the international, humanitarian and environmental ideas to which His Holiness has dedicated himself over the years.
I also include it as a demonstration of the success that His Holiness has achieved with the Tibet issue. The very fact that China would work so hard to have him excluded from the summit stands as a testament to their fear of him, and to the grand status that he still commands in their minds. They regard their act of having him excluded as a success. However, the mere fact that they held meetings and conducted a major lobbying effort to exclude him reflects the weakness of their position.
Moreover, as a result of their efforts they generated hundreds of press articles in which they were presented as tyrants and the Dalai Lama as an underdog hero championing freedom and goodness. In the end, the major topic of everyone at the conference was the absence of the Dalai Lama.
The message by His Holiness was delivered by proxy on his behalf. It was regarded by participants and organizers as one of the great statements coming out of the summit.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I join in spirit the more than 1,000 religious and spiritual leaders around the world who will gather at the United Nations to attend the Millennium World Peace Summit to discuss ways to engage the power of religion to create a more peaceful world.
While wishing the historic summit and the eminent participants every success in their deliberations, I take this opportunity to share with you a few thoughts of mine. I think it is a wonderful idea to employ the wisdom of the ages to make our common future more peaceful and to discuss ways to ensure that, rather than dividing us, the power of religion will make us into a family of peacemakers.
I see all the different religious traditions as paths for the development of inner peace, which is the true foundation of world peace. These ancient traditions come to us as a gift from our common past. Will we continue to cherish them as a gift and hand them over to the future generations as a legacy of our shared desire for peace or will we turn it into another weapon that will snatch away the future of the coming generations?
The choice we will make is obvious. What needs detailed discussion is how we can ensure that different religions of the world can become powerful allies of peace.
In order to do this, the different faiths need to develop mutual respect for and understanding of each other’s beliefs and values.
The world’s religions can contribute to world peace if there is peace and growing harmony between the different faiths. It would be sad and tragic if inter-religious rivalry and conflict undermines world peace in the 21st century.
In this regard, I have always encouraged and supported efforts towards better understanding among our different faiths. It is my firm belief that this better understanding will enhance the ability of different faiths to make positive contributions to world peace.
In this respect, the religious and spiritual leaders of different faiths can play a pivotal role by making a sustained effort to explain to their respective followers the importance respecting the beliefs and traditions of other faiths. We need to embrace the spirit of pluralism.
It is also my belief that whereas the 20th century has been a century of war and untold suffering, the 21st century should be one of peace and dialogue. As the continued advances in information technology make our world a truly global village, I believe there will be a time when war and armed conflict will be considered an outdated and obsolete method of settling differences among nations and communities. The nations and peoples of the world will soon realize that dialogue and compromise are the best methods of settling differences for mutual benefit and for the sake of our future and the future of our much ravished and fragile planet.
However, there can be no peace as long as there is grinding poverty, social injustice, inequality, oppression, and environmental degradation. There can be no peace as long as the weak and small continue to be trodden by the mighty and powerful.
The world’s spiritual and religious leaders need to address these real and pressing issues and find ways to contribute towards their elimination These are the enemies of peace and true tyrannies of our times.
In conclusion I would like to share with you a prayer composed by Shantideva, an 11th century Indian Buddhist master, in the hope that it will provide you the same inspiration and determination as it continues to give to me. Shantideva said, “For as long as space endures, and for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I, too, abide to dispel the misery of the world.”
* * * *
Finally, I would like to close this chapter with the first text that I ever translated from Tibetan into English. It is a short verse work that is known by heart to every Tibetan, and is chanted at the conclusion of most Tibetan spiritual gatherings. It was jointly composed by Kyabjey Ling Rinpochey and Kyabjey Trijang Rinpochey, who respectively became the Senior and Junior Tutors of the Dalai Lama in the late 1940s, when he was in his mid-teens. They remained at his side until they passed away in the early 1980s.5
The text is considered a masterpiece of traditional Tibetan poetics, as well as a jewel of spiritual sentiment. Naturally the Tibetan version is far more beautiful than my English rendition, especially for chanting purposes, yet some of its elegance comes through even in translation.
The formal title of the prayer is Song Producing Immortality, although Tibetans generally know it simply as “The Long-Life Prayer of His Holiness.”
To the hosts of kind lamas, present and lineage,
Who are all three mysteries of the myriad buddhas Magically manifest suiting those to be tamed,
Most precious of gems fulfilling all wishes,
Source of all goodness temporal and spiritual,
I pray from the depths of my heart:
Send forth your transforming powers
That Tenzin Gyatso, Lord of the Lands of Snow,
Live indestructible a hundred aeons
And his visions be spontaneously fulfilled.
To the myriad of tantric deities appearing As countless supporting and supported mandalas, Anatomic phantoms of bliss and wisdom Matching the vast span of dharmadhatu Like clouds pervading the skies,
I pray from the depths of my heart:
Send forth your transforming powers,
That Tenzin Gyatso, Lord of the Lands of Snow,
Live indestructible a hundred aeons
And his visions be spontaneously fulfilled.
To all buddhas of the three times,
Fully accomplished in abandonment and insight, Working the beneficial in seas of worlds By ever creating lights of perfected karma, Possessors of ten faculties; gods of gods,
I pray from the depths of my heart:
Send forth your transforming powers
That Tenzin Gyatso, Lord of the Lands of Snow,
Live indestructible a hundred aeons
And his visions be spontaneously fulfilled.
To the holy Dharma of the three vehicles,
Giving sure liberation from the three worlds,
A jewel mine of serenity and utter purity, Uncontaminated, unfluctuating, totally good,
I pray from the depths of my heart:
Send forth your transforming powers
That Tenzin Gyatso, Lord of the Lands of Snows
Live indestructible a hundred aeons
And his visions be spontaneously fulfilled.
To all sublime Sangha wise and free,
Those most brave in smashing The machinations of cyclic existence,
Sages directly perceiving truth
And wandering not from liberation’s vajra city,
I pray from the depth of my heart:
Send forth your transforming powers
That Tenzin Gyatso, Lord of the Lands Of Snow,
Live indestructible a hundred aeons,
And his visions be spontaneously fulfilled.
To the dakas and dakinis of the three stages,
Dwelling in Vajrayogini’s Pure Land,
In the regions, places and cemeteries,
Who, delighting in a hundred absorptions.
On great bliss and voidness,
Aid yogis to accomplish the true path,
I pray from the depths of my heart:
Send forth your transforming powers
That Tenzin Gyatso, Lord of the Lands of Snow,
Live indestructible a hundred aeons And his visions be spontaneously fulfilled.
To the oceans of wisdom-eyed Dharma protectors Who ever bear upon their crowns the knot Symbolizing their pledges to Buddha Vajradhara And have power to guard the doctrine and its holders, I pray from the depths of my heart:
Send forth your transforming powers
That Tenzin Gyatso, Lord of the Lands of Snow,
Live indestructible a hundred aeons And his visions be spontaneously fulfilled.
By the power of this, a heartfelt prayer Offered to the unfailing Refuges,
May Ngawang Lobzang Tenzin Gyatso,
Sole hope of the Tibetan people
Who are tormented by the relentless pains
Of this age of five harsh conditions
Sit constantly firm an ocean of aeons On an indestructible vajra throne,
His three mysteries unperishing,
Immutable and undeclining.
May the wishes of he who has a heart of gems,
Who benefits all with great waves of perfected karma,
Carrying on his courageous shoulders
The burden of the work of countless buddhas,
Be spontaneously fulfilled just so.
And by that power may the heavenly door Of this auspicious aeon’s fulfillment phase Open onto a springtime revival for beings;
And may there spread to the peaks of the world Auspicious signs of the enlightenment lore Flourishing in all times and places.
O Holder of the White Lotus,
May a nectar stream of your transforming powers Ever mature the might of my heart.
And by my delighting you with the offering Of living in accordance with the spiritual teachings,
May the seas of bodhisattva deeds reach their goal.
By the power of the blessings of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, The power of unfailing cause and effect,
And the power of my pure aspirations,
May each and every aim of this prayer Be easily and quickly fulfilled.
* )4- * *
The final chapters of the present Dalai Lama’s life are still to be written. He has accomplished a tremendous amount to date, perhaps even more than any of his predecessors. The challenges that fate have thrown upon him have dictated that it be so. His contributions toward re-establishing the Tibetan refugees, saving the endangered Tibetan civilization, and generating international awareness of the Tibet situation have all met with tremendous success.
In addition, his efforts to promote world peace, humanitarian and environmental issues, universal love and compassion, and interpersonal understanding have brought him to the forefront of today’s world leaders.
However, it is only in the final chapters—those remaining to be composed—that we will know if his life is a happy tale or a tragedy. After all is said and done, his principal task as the Dalai Lama is the preservation of Tibet and its spiritual culture; and for all his many personal accomplishments, this task has not yet been fulfilled. And as said earlier even though the Tibetan aspiration from some angles looks brighter today than it did a few decades ago, it could also be argued that from other angles it is still extremely precarious. The Dalai Lama may have succeeded with flying colors in a dozen areas of the deadly game which is the Tibet-China conflict, but China nonetheless is still completely entrenched in Tibet, ruling it with an iron fist that shows no signs of weakening. The number of Chinese troops and bureaucrats in Tibet, as well as the large number of Chinese immigrants, seems from conventional appearances to give China a distinct advantage in the struggle. Moreover, China’s newfound wealth and political clout in the international arena imbue it with an aura of near invincibility. It is possible that the sheer weight of the Chinese presence could smother Tibet’s hopes for freedom, and thus render all the Dalai Lama’s works ineffective.
That said, the Dalai Lama remains optimistic. As he puts it, “Truth and justice are on our side.”
Those of us who love and admire him, and who wish him and his nation well, can only hope against hope that fate will eventually rule in his favor.
lenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Photo © Marcia Keegan.