INDEPTH: THE DALAI LAMA
Tibet Today
CBC News Online | April 19, 2004
Reporter: Patrick Brown
From The National Apri1 16, 2004
In China, the Dalai Lama is persona non grata. It's been 45 years since he fled his homeland, yet time hasn't weakened his influence, despite all the efforts of Beijing.
Tibetans cling devoutly to their traditions, but Tibet is changing fast.
Pilgrims still prostrate themselves at the doors of the temple in Lhasa. Some have taken years to get there, throwing themselves to the ground every step of the way. Inside, whirling prayer wheels spin their prayers up to heaven as they have for centuries.
Now, a Chinese supermarket chain is about to open its first branch in Lhasa. "We have better business skills than the local people," says the purchasing manager, "so we decided to come here to invest and help develop the Tibetan economy." About 250 people have jobs in the rush to open on time. Only a third of them are Tibetans.
Tibetan language and culture are threatened as never before.
One monk who would certainly be arrested for saying so if we didn't conceal his identity says that only the return of the Dalai Lama could turn the tide. "Here in Lhasa, if you want to do business or get a job, everything's in Chinese," he says, "or in English. Tibetan is spoken in very few places. There's no way to make a living if you don't speak Chinese."
Lhasa is starting to look like any one of a thousand Chinese cities. The palace, traditional seat of government of the Dalai Lama, is surrounded by a growing sprawl. The palace has been restored as a tourist attraction.
It's now almost half a century since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. But if the Dalai Lama were ever to return to his homeland, he'd find the rest of his capital just about unrecognizable. One building under construction is more of a threat than all of the rest put together. It's a railway station. An army of workers is pushing the tracks across mountains and deserts towards Lhasa. They'll drive the last spike in 2007.
The government hopes to drown Tibetan nationalism in a sea of development and immigration. But Tibetans remain devoted to the Dalai Lama.
Among Tibetans, reverence for the Dalai Lama seems universal yet silent. It's dangerous even to say his name out loud.
"People are really longing for him to come back," the monk says. "He's getting old, and people, especially older people, are afraid they'll never see him again."
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The name Dalai Lama means "Ocean of Wisdom".
In the fourteenth century Tsong-kha-pa led a reform movement in Tibetan
Buddhism and eventually founded a group of Buddhist monks known as the Yellow Hat or Gelupga order. In 1438, he founded a monastery at Tashilhundpo. His successor moved the order to Drepung, near the capital, Lhasa.
The third leader of the Gelupga order was a Mongol, Bsod-nams-rgya-mtsho, who
converted to Buddhism. He was head of the order from 1543 to 1588. The Mongol ruler, Altan Khan, bestowed on him the title Dalai Lama. Dalai means both "ocean" and "all-embracing" and "lama" means teacher, the combination of words
creates the idea of a teacher who embraces all wisdom. The title was given posthumanously to the first two leaders of the order, making Bsod-nams-rgya-mtsho the third.
The fourth Dalai Lama was also Mongol, the grandson of Altan Khan.
The fifth Dalai Lama who ruled from 1617 to 1682, extended the temporal
power of the order across Tibet and built the large palace overlooking
Lhasa, the Potala, which is was a symbol of the country - and after the
Chinese occupation, as symbol of Tibetan nationalism.
It was during the reign of the fourth Dalai Lama that the holder of the
office became known not only as the reincarnation of previous Dalai
Lamas but also of a bodhisattva, an enlightened being, known for
compassion.
Throughout the eighteenth century, Tibet was caught in power struggles
between China and the Mongols, a fight that China eventually won, and
which ended with Tibet as a Chinese protectorate.
The 13th Dalai Lama, Thypten Gyatso tried to modernize Tibet during his
reign, from 1875 to 1933, sending students out of the country for
education and raising the overall standards in the monasteries.
Finding a Dalai Lama
When a Dalai Lama dies, a successor is usually found through signs and
omens.
In the case of the present Dalai Lama, the Regent of Tibet went to a
sacred lake southeast of Lhasa in 1935 and there saw a vision of a
monastery with a green and gold roof and turquoise tiles. A mission set
out, in disguise, to find the monastery, where the new Dalai Lama would
be found. Near the monastery a small boy recognized a rosary from the
previous Dalai Lama. The boy was also able to correctly guess the names
of the two monks in the mission. That and other tests confirmed for the
mission that the boy was the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama
The monk's conclusion was later confirmed by the Nechung Oracle, where
the medium in a dance trance communicates with the god Pehar, one of the
deities that protects the Dalai Lama.
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