Thoughts On The Chinese Occupation III

Around Shigatze there are several monasteries of great importance, the main ones being Nathang, Shalu and Ngor. I had tried to visit them during my first visit to Tibet but this proved impossible. During the 11th century these monasteries were important centers for translating Buddhist texts into Tibetan and when the great Rahul Sankrityayan visited them in the 1930’ he found hundreds of perfectly preserved Indian palm leaf manuscripts in their libraries. It was at Ngor that he found the only known copy of the Subhasitaratanakosa which he was able to acquire so that we can now read and delight in it (See my post of 15th May 2008). He found numerous other unknown Buddhist works, photographed some, copied others out by hand but had to leave most of them in their libraries. After the Chinese invasion these monasteries were trashed and desecrated, their priceless manuscripts torn up and burned and the few that survived were carted off to Peking where they presumably still are, although no one really knows. Now that Shalu and the rest are ‘State Designated Cultural Relics’ it’s possible to visit them and so I took the opportunity to do so. It turned out to be a very depressing experience. Shalu was the seat of Buston Rimpoche, one of the greatest minds Tibet ever produced. The once stately Shalu is now a shambles, trash, garbage and dirt all over the place, its once hallowed halls silent and its library empty. A few years ago a UNESCO-Norwegian group that came to inspect the government’s restorations at Shalu reported that ‘concrete has been used to fill a number of cracks. New paint and varnish is seen in many chapels. In the top-most Vajradhara chapel, a panel with garish new paintings does not match in any way the superb quality of the 15th originals’. In short, the so-called restorations are inept, unprofessional and destructive to the temple’s original character. We saw evidence of this too. The paintings were done in 1304 by Newari or perhaps even Indian artists and are a rare and precious survivor of this genera of painting. Those that survive are breathtaking – Buddhas, bodhisattvas and scenes from the life of the Buddha. The abbot showed me where Chinese vandals have hacked a long scar down one side of a painted image with the intention of removing a whole section of wall (see picture below). In other places the eyes of all the figures have been hacked out. It seems that two principles have guided the Chinese government’s attitude to Tibetan cultural treasures – (1) Destroy the original then build a copy, and (2) Don’t trust the ‘natives’ to look after the treasures they devotedly preserved for 1500 years. Shalu offers a good example of this second principle. The circumambulatory passage around the main shrine is covered with the most exquisite paintings. Pilgrims and devotees have been shuffling through this passage since the seven centuries and there is not a mark, not a scratch, not a dirty fingerprint on the paintings. They are immaculate. And yet the Chinese have now nailed chicken wire to the lower level of these paintings ‘to protect them from damage’.Narthang is in an even worse state than Shalu. All the original buildings erected in 1033 and the famous ‘forest of stupas’ have been raised, piles of rubble being the only witness to what was once there. One of there stupas has been rebuilt in a rather poor copy of its original (an example of the first of the two principles). Only a few 17th or 18th century buildings are left standing. At first we couldn’t find anyone to open the doors but eventually an old monk appeared and I asked him about the library. As I half expected, he said it didn’t exist any longer but he offered to show me the old printing press. The Nathang edition of the Tibetan Tipitaka was one of four such editions and was published in the 15th century. Thousands of printing blocks lined wooden racks around the walls. I was relieved that this precious resource had not been damaged and mentioned this to the old monk. He pointed to some of the lower racks and I realized my optimism was misplaced. There were printing blocks with all the letters planed off, some were split into two, three or four, probably to be used as kindling, others were hacked in half. I found a trowel made of a cut-up printing block and an intricately carved book cover (I would have said about 14th century) split into three, again probably to make kindling. The Red Guards had given most of the printing blocks to the villagers to use as lumber or fire wood and had used the rest for various purposes. The villagers had hidden the blocks until the glorious Communist Party of China ‘corrected’ its policy on nationalities, and then reverently returned them to the monastery. Nathang is now yet another ‘State Designated Cultural Relic’ which doesn’t mean very much after the state that’s now doing all the ‘designating’ destroyed just about all the ‘cultural relics’.

Thoughts On The Chinese Occupation II

The other significant difference between the Nazis and the Chinese communists was/is their attitude to culture. The Nazis were careful not to destroy any great works of art, apparently on the direct orders of Hitler and Goering. Paintings, sculpture, manuscripts, furniture, etc. was looted and carefully carted off to the Reich to adorn Nazi museums and the homes of Nazi big shots. The Chinese communists by contrast, dedicated themselves to smashing, denigrating, tearing up and destroying as much art as they possibly could. It has been suggested that more cultural treasures (Chinese and Tibetan) were destroyed ‘than at any time or place in human history.’ Oh, and don’t give me the, ‘That was then, this is now’ brush off. The party that perpetrated these crimes is the same party that still rules China, and many of the hooligans who committed the vandalism now sit on the regional and central committees of that party. The portrait of the man who authorized all the destruction still hangs in its place of honor on the Gateway of Heavenly Peace. Can you imagine the German government hanging a portrait of Hitler on the Brandenburg Gate! The CPC has never come clean about its atrocious past. Of course scroll paintings, statues and Ming vases are not sentient, they feel no pain. Read Chang’s Mao – The Untold Story on the fate of several million people tortured and beaten to death during the Cultural Revolution and shudder. A visual reminder of this time can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIrUHVFkm9A

On my journey through Tibet I saw ample evidence of the destruction to Tibetan culture caused by the Chinese, despite nearly 30 years of cleaning up the mess or trying to hide it. The monasteries, hermitages and stupas that once dotted the landscape have nearly all gone, as have the Om Mani Padme Hum invocations that were once etched into the hillsides. A few larger monasteries that might bring in tourist dollars have been repaired, rebuilt and ‘museumized’. When in Lhasa I asked our guide to take us to the Yuto Sampa (Turquoise Bridge) which I had been unable to find during my trip in 1984. It was one of the ‘six sights’ of Lhasa, but he had never heard of it. I asked him to inquire from some older Tibetans who might know its whereabouts, he did, and we found it. I could hardly see this once beautiful monument being as it is now squeezed between some modern flats and a line of shops, one end walled up and serving as a Chinese medicine shop. A plaque in front proclaims that it has the dubious distinction of now being a ‘State Designated Cultural Relic’.But nowhere was the destruction more obvious than in Tholing. Most of the shrines and temples, built in the 10th century, have been reduced to rubble, their sculptures, paintings, manuscripts, ritual objects and furnishings gone forever. The once magnificent Yeshe O Temple, designed like a huge mandala and famed for its beauty, has been completely gutted. All the murals have been scraped off and all the images smashed to bits. The only evidence of its belated ‘State Designated Cultural Relic’ status is a few $1.99 plastic lamps illuminating the empty interior. Walking around the outside I found this fragment of an ancient sutra in a garbage heap.

A series of temples of enormous cultural and historical significance have been destroyed and hardly any fuss has ever been made about it. Imagine what the world would be thinking now if the Nazis had scrapped all the frescos off the Scrovegni Chapel, smashed all the statues in the Loggia dei Lanzi or dynamited the Sistine Chapel! Every time a Chinese delegation turn up at some UNESCO conference they should be confronted with pictures of all this vandalism and asked to explain it.

Thoughts On The Chinese Occupation I

What’s the difference between being occupied by the Nazis and being occupied by the Chinese communists? Mmmm. Let me think. Two significant differences come to mind. After the Nazis took over they made no effort to win the affection of the subjugated peoples. Their attitude was, ‘We’re here, we have the guns and the rubber trundgens and we’ll blow you away if you look sideways. GET USED TO IT!’ When the communists (of whatever sort) took over, they expended enormous effort and recourses on trying to create the illusion that the subjected peoples were joyously happy. Huge billboards proclaimed it, all media outlets broadcast it and pictures of smiling workers were everywhere. The weird thing is that the Party knew it was a lie, the Party knew that the people knew it was a lie, the people knew that the Party knew they knew it was a lie, everyone in the so-called Free World knew it was a lie, and yet they kept up the charade right up to the day before communism consigned itself to the dustbin of history.
Visiting Lhasa must be one of the few places in the world where you can still see this type weird, cloud-cuckoo illusion, North Korea is probably the other. There are heavily armed Chinese soldiers and policemen on every main intersection; their surgical masks (against H1N1 flue) and white gloves making them look even more sinister. We had to pass through at least 30 military and police checkpoints during our trip – four between the airport and the city – and they don’t just peruse your documents, they check the thoroughly, sometimes ringing the previous checkpoint to confirm the time you passed through. While walking on a Lhasa street I passed a group of SWAT team-like guys – black balaclavas, black body armor, black AK47’s. I’m not joking when I say I tried not to make any sudden movements or eye contact. A platoon of soldiers, guns at the ready, paraded around the square in front of the Jokang all day. There were also soldiers with binoculars on the rooftops constantly monitoring the crowds in the plaza. I saw one Chinese policeman approach a group of Tibetan men casually chatting, check their ID’s and order them to move on. How many plain-clothed secret policemen there were mingling with the crowds is anyone’s guess, but I suspect there were lots of them. At one military checkpoint the vehicle in front of us was being thoroughly searched, apparently at random. As we entered and left Tibet customs officers again went through everyone bags and seemed particularly concerned about printed matter. Someone told me they are after Lonely Planet’s Tibet – a subversive publication if ever there was one. For all this suspicion and caution, checking and control, intimidation and paranoia, the Chinese spend nearly as much time and effort insisting that the Tibetans are just so damn happy they can hardly contain their joy. I saw a huge billboard showing a beaming Tibetan lady in traditional dress appreciatively pouring chang for a group of PLA soldiers. There were signs up everywhere (in Chinese and Tibetan) trying to whip up enthusiasm for the 60th anniversary of the communist takeover. None of it fools anyone, especially not the Tibetans. At least the Nazis never bothered to pretend, probably the only honesty thing they ever did.

The Glory Of The Lhakhang Karpo

Without any doubt at all the highlight of my Tibet trip was visiting the Lhakhang Karpo, White Chaple in Tsaparang. Over the years I have been privileged, I might even say blessed, to have seen nearly all the great Buddhist monuments in the world except those in Korea and Japan, and I would have to say that nothing I have ever seen compares to the glorious Lhakhang Karpo. I stood in silent awe at the exquisite paintings of the Buddha and bodhisattvas. Even the images of the Tantric deities left me speechless. On the right side of the chapel on the lower edge of the paintings is a series of panels depicting events in the life of the Buddha, which even in this treasure house of art stand out as superlative. I have not been able to find out when they were painted but the Indian/Newari influence is most noticeable so they must be very old – I’ll say 13th century. The colors are stunning and so shiny their surface, that they look like they could have been painted yesterday. Most amazing of all I was able to recognize most of the events they depicted. It thrilled my to think that people in this most remote place eight or nine hundred years ago, outwardly so different from me, read or heard and connected with the same things I do now. The Dhamma is truly timeless (akaliko). I took of some of these panels. Some of them are of poor quality but the light was poor and I’m not such a good photographer so I’m sure you’ll forgive me. (1) The Bodhisattva practicing austerities. Note the cowherd boys poking sticks in his ears as mentioned in the Majjhima Nikaya. (2) The Temptation of Mara. I cannot figure out what the object on the pedestal below the Buddha is meant to be. (3) Enlightenment. (4) The gods giving the Buddha a crystal bowl. (5) The First Sermon. I cannot identify (6), (7) and (8). (9) Floral decoration. (10) The Parinirvana and the cremation of the Buddha’s body. (11) The first eight stupas.

That Was Then This Is Now

I notice quite a few wed sites making the claim that Tibetans are better off under the Chinese than they were before – the standard claim imperialists and colonialists have always made. These wed sites all include photos of the gruesome punishments that were handed out in the good old days and of dirty, ragged serfs. So far so good. Traditional Tibetan justice could be barbaric and all visitors to the old Tibet commented on how filthy the place was. The Japanese Buddhist monk Ikai Kawaguchi dubbed Lhasa ‘the citadel of filth’ and by all accounts it was pretty dirty. But have things improved after 60 years of Chinese occupation? Well, I found Lhasa to be relatively clean and neat and one could not help notice the extensive reforestation, at least in the areas I visited. But beyond Lhasa every town was squalid and filthy beyond description. The level of hygiene in hotels and restaurants was uniformly rock bottom. The main street or streets of all towns was filled with piles of stinking garbage, puddles of reeking sewerage, rotting animal parts, mud, dust or both. The bathrooms/toilets of one new Chinese hotel we went to were all padlocked and several others we stayed in, again all new, had no bathrooms or toilets or running water at all. One was told to go around the back and do it in an open space stinking to high heaven and covered with the shit of earlier guests while pigs and dogs waited in anticipation. Now I’m well accustomed to the squalor of Bihar and UP in India and it doesn’t worry me – but Tibet was something else. Nowhere except Lhasa did I see evidence of a sewerage system, of garbage collection or of the delivery of safe, clean drinking water. And as for the people, many had that unkempt, grubby look that usually goes with poverty and want – although they were all cheerful and good humored. Then has the system of justice become more civilized? Not according to every single human rights organization. Under the lamas it was iron chains, whips and the stocks. Now its rubber truncheons, electric cattle prods, drills, surgical pliers and stun guns. In the good old days if a serf didn’t like his lot he could leave, although there was no refugee community in India or Nepal. Now Tibetans can only approach the borders of their country with a special permit and they’ll be shot if they try to cross them.

Recently there were reports of such a shooting which the Chinese indignantly denied. But a mountain climbing team happened to witness and film the whole incident and later posted it on the internet, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkMcj4vQtRU Don’t be fooled by the smiles and the business suits of the Chinese officials. They’re as brutal as they ever were and they still couldn’t tell the truth to save their lives. Some 20 survivors of the shooting remain missing. If they are still alive they’re probably receiving ‘patriotic re-education’ in some grim prison. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nangpa%20La%20shootings So are the Tibetans really better off under Chinese rule? Nothing I saw gave me that impression.

Circumambulating Mt. Kailash

After our time at Manasarovar we drove to Dachen, got two rooms in a rather dirty jerry-built hotel and made preparations for doing the parikarma the next morning. I had trouble sleeping, not because of my blocked nose and my headache but because of the elation of finally being able to do something I had dreamed of doing since I read Lama Govinda’s Way of the White Cloud nearly 40 years ago. Cittalaya had been lethargic for at least three or four days, a condition he and I attributed to tiredness. In his enthusiasm, he had climbed up to the to the fort at Gyantze, scuttled up the hill above Sera and Sakya and was, we assumed, paying the price for overexerting himself. In the morning he looked terrible. I happened to notice that his fingernails were purple and I immediately knew that he was suffering from altitude sickness. Reluctantly he decided to stay in the hotel while we did the parikarma and we made arrangements for him to be fed and looked after until we returned. That done we left. I had my staff, my pack and my Singapore Armed Forces boots and a horse and two porters carried some of Jason’s and Hoai’s gear. I had decided to do the parikama as mindfully as possible and very soon I fell into a state of being completely focused on the movement of my feet. This didn’t just keep me focused, it allowed me to ignore the the physical strain of the march. After several hours we got to Chorten Kanayi, the stupa that marks the official start of the parikarma. The steep walls of the valley are really is impressive here and you can see the summit the holy mountain above it. A few kilometers before Dirapuk Gompa it started to snow, first lightly but then quite heavily, although at least it was blowing from behind us. By the time we got to the monastery, our rest for the night, I at least, was freezing cold and utterly exhausted. The thought of the next day’s march, the most arduous of the parikarma, was starting to fill me with foreboding. After several cups of tea and a cup of instant noodles I went to bed and fell asleep almost immediately. When we awoke the next morning we found that it had been snowing all night. An icy wind was blowing, the yaks were covered with snow and visibility was reduced to a few hundred yards. The view for Mt. Kailash from Dirapuk Gompa is the mast spectacular on the whole of the parikarma but we could see nothing, not even the cliffs behind the monastery or on the other side of the valley. Our whole visual world was white. During breakfast (two cups of butter tea and a boiled egg) we discussed with our guide and other pilgrims the possibilities of continuing. If it stopped snowing soon it would probably be possible to keep going, even more grueling than it would be otherwise, but still possible. If we continued and it kept snowing we could be snowed under or even end up in serious trouble. We agreed that we had to turn back. With the wind and snow blowing in our faces, the plummeting temperature and all our energy sapped by the previous day’s march, the return journey strained my physical endurance almost to breaking point. By the time we reached Chorten Kanayi I was finished. The physical exhaustion was compounded by disappointment of not having been able to complete the parikarma. After a days rest at Darchen we left for Toling and Tsaparang with the intention of trying to do the parikarma again on out our return. When we did return the sun was bright, the sky was cloudless but because it had been snowing all the time we were away, the snow was also deep – neck deep on the path around the mountain locals said. I was not as disappointed as I thought I might be. I resigned myself to not circumambulating the sacred mountain this time. Perhaps next time.

Mt. Kailash

Mount Kailash, called Kelasa, Mahameru, Meru, Sineru or Neru in the Tipitaka, is a 6638 meters high peak in the western Himayayas (A.I,227; Ja.I,321; III,210). The Tibetans call it Khang Rinpoche. The commentary says the mountain is bent inwards `like a crow’s beak' which is a clear reference to its unusual bent pyramid-shaped summit. Although by no means the highest peak in the Himalayas the much lower mountains nearby make it look high. By any standards is is an incredibly impressive mountain. In ancient Indian geography, Mt Kailash, more commonly called Mt. Meru, was believed to be the point at which the four continents met, the highest mountain on earth and, according to later cosmology, the place where the gods dwelt. Hindus believe that Siva and Paravati dwell on the mountain and the Jains believe that one of their Titankaras was enlightened there. It is sometimes said that Mt. Kailash is ‘sacred' to Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and to followers of Bon, the indigenous religion of Tibet, but this statement needs to be qualified as far as early Buddhism is concerned. While the early Buddhists glorified Mt Kailash for its size, majesty and beauty, they did not believe that it had any spiritual powers as such. According to the Buddha, going to `sacred' mountains, trees or shrines cannot give any genuine spiritual benefit (Dhp.188-92). However, in the Tipitaka, Mt Kailash's perceived characteristics are sometimes equated with the highest spiritual values. To have attained enlightenment was metaphorically described as having `touched great Neru's peak' (M.I,338). The mountain's immovability and equanimity were also seen as traits worthy of emulation.
However, other characteristics of the mountain were considered less admirable. Legend said that it gave off a golden light which made the animals that lived on it, noble and ignoble, all appear to be the same. In other words, it lacked discrimination (avisesakara) and the ability to distinguish (navibhajati) between skilful and unskilful, good and bad, foolishness and wisdom (Ja,III,247; V,425). The Jatakas uses this legend to make a very important point.
In contemporary Western society, there is considerable reluctance to express disapproval of any belief, no matter how unrealistic, or any behaviour no matter how immoral. When opinions about such things are made hastily or with bias, when they become a means of avoiding looking at oneself or when they lead to self-righteousness and smugness, such reluctance is more than justified. But having philosophical ideals and ethical values and then living by them, requires us to be discriminating, to make informed judgments and to chose one idea or course of action and reject others. This is how wisdom is developed.