Travels: Thailand/India 1997

Travel Letter #5

Dharamsala

Delhi, June 3rd, 1997

I keep using these strange words for greetings, but it's just become a habit, to greet in the native language. The two words above are the usual greeting in Tibetan, but I don't know exactly what it means. The use of Tibetan is of course related to the fact that we spend 10 days at the edge of the Himalayas, in the small hill-station Dharamsala (which literary means 'pilgrims shelter') which where 'given' to the Tibetan refugees by Nehru in 1960. It has since then served as headquarters for the Dalai Lama and the rest of the exiled government as well as a centre for everything Tibetan, cultural and religious.

For those of you how haven't been to the Himalayas and are used to Norwegian mountains, I'd like to share the impressive image of this glorious 'abode of the Gods' as the Hindus call it. The contrast between the flat and green plain of Ganges and the word's tallest mountain-range is an amazing view. They rise very steeply and sudden like a protective wall with its peaks towering between 5 and 8 thousands meters, covered with white snow most of the year. The trip through Punjab to Dharamsala is one of my favourite journeys. The Punjab is always green and fertile, with all kind of crops covering every available squaremeter, and different kinds of flowers spreading their odour at any time. Apart from being a people of pride, dignity, and tolerance, the predominant Sikhs in this region are also masters of modern agriculture. And then, from the distance, the whole horizon is covered with these magnificent mountains. A marvellous sight to behold!

Dharamsala was may favourite place 6 years ago, as it is with many of the Westerners going there. It has this rare quality of being a break away from India and Indians - in India. Since the Tibetan majority don't lift their eyebrows at the presence other foreigners, the remaining Indians, even hawkers and sellers are bearable. We stayed at the upper part of Dharamsala one the edge of the forest up to the high mountain. So there were actually more of nature than of houses and traffic. Anne and me had some different needs. She wanted to walk around in the Tibetan community, look at their handicraft and observe the ceremonies and monastic activities in the monasteries and temples.

I wanted to calm down the mind and try to let the peace and quiet of the landscape sink into me. The best place for this is Tushita retreat centre. Those of you who have read my letters from 6 years ago (published on www.uio.no/~dagtj), will know this place already. For a short introduction I can mention that this is one of the many centres around the world run by an organisation called Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). It is founded and directed by a few Tibetan lama's (guru's), but consist almost exclusively of Western members. It's sole objective is to spread the teachings and practice of traditional Tibetan Buddhism in the reformed version of Gelukpa (of which also the Dalai Lama adheres). The mostly white, middle-class Anglo-American members include some 160 monks and nuns who have dedicated their lives to adopt a Tibetan religion and culture. I must confess I find it quite astonishing how people in this way leave everything familiar behind, learn Tibetan and dive into the very different, complex and complicated world of Tibetan Buddhism.

The adoption of Buddhism in the Western world is a fascinating phenomena. It didn't really take off until the late 60's, but has rapidly grown to a position now where it is to be regarded as a influential religious thread in the web of Western society. It is not just a temporary expression of counterculture, but a new chapter in the history of religions. If Sri Lanka and Thailand was the Southern transmission of Buddhism from its roots in India, and China and Japan its Northern transmission - well, then Europe, Australia and the Americas are the third major transmission. This Western transmission will forever shape the totality of Buddhism and the cultural balance in the West. Not because of its size, but because of its influence, especially amongst people in art, music, literature and films.

One example is the upcoming films from M. Scorsese and J.-J. Annaud. The first one is based on the life of the present Dalai Lama, and produced by Disney Co. China in its continuous attempt to eradicate the very term 'Tibetan' from the surface of the earth have threatened Disney to call of lucrative business deals inside China if Disney distributes the film outside China. Disney has so far given more attention to its artistic freedom than to its possible reduction of growth in China. The development of Buddhism in the West have just started, and still a lot of its textual foundations haven't even been translated into f. i. English. The dominant tendency so far have been the export of entire cultural 'packages' from Asia, where Westerners enter a quasi-Asian world in order to reap the fruits of only one of its components - see the example of FPMT. But just as Christians haven't been circumcised for quite a while now, Buddhists in Europe and elsewhere will have to leave the Asian Žpoque behind and develop a Buddhist culture and way of life suited to its own historical, cultural and social conditions. Only then will we also see Buddhist grow in number amongst people only interested in confronting the problems of existence, but not the least interested in Oriental romanticism.

So my time was spend in reading and becoming updated on Western and Tibetan Buddhism, and some meditation in the meditation-hall at Tushita. There were some political activities in the Tibetan community, but there no festivals or ceremonies who set their mark on the place. And the Dalai Lama is spending weeks in USA this summer. Even Vesak (Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death) passed without us hardly recognising it. Still, the desperate hopes of the Tibetans for their survival is still active. The return of Hong Kong is closely followed by Tibetans in what impact it will have on the development inside China. Also the triumphant reception of the Dalai Lama in Taiwan earlier this year was an expression of the rising sympathy for the Tibetan cause in Asian countries, and could become a step towards an acceptable solution for the unresolved political status of both Tibet and Taiwan in relationship to China.

But on the other hand is the pessimistic trauma of the eleventh Panchen Lama. He is traditionally the second in religious leadership in Tibet next to the Dalai Lama, and when one of them passes away the other acknowledge the next reincarnation. Since the present Dalai Lama is soon 60 years old, and may be the only lifeline for the survival of Tibet, the circumstances after his death will be very crucial for the final success of the Chinese genocide of Tibet. Since China didn't succeed in winning the former Panchen Lama (died 1989) for their policy in Tibet, they have now done everything possible to secure the loyalty of his new incarnation. The Chinese 'kidnapped' the whole selection process which they themselves had initiated, refused to acknowledge the boy Dalai Lama had recognised as the new Panchen Lama but instead brought the boy and his family to an unknown destination. And then in the autumn of 1995 they offended the religious sentiments of the Tibetans deeply by drawing lots on the candidates of which Dalai Lamas choice wasn't even present - in the most sacred temple in Lhasa. So the atheistic Chinese have suddenly become better Buddhists than the Dalai Lama himself! It's like Fidel Castro should decide on who should be the next Pope, to cite a commentator. Therefore, the Dalai Lama could very well be right in his warning that he might be the last Dalai Lama, as the only person who can authorise his future incarnation is in Chinese captivity, and the Chinese is shaping their expectations of liquidating Tibet on a 6 year old boy. So the future of the Tibet is now very much in the hands of the Tibetans inside Tibet, for without their support for the Chinese version, the whole game will be over.

I guess some of you by now is still waiting for news about our near future and the prospects of returning to Norway. The situation is this: We have completed everything we wanted to do on this trip. Aereflot has no available seats for us to Oslo until June 15th. But there are still good chances for us on the standby-list before this date. With didn't succeed last night, but will try again in a few days, and might be back on Friday. We are now at the complete mercy of Aeroflot, and with these words I think this is the last letter from Asia.