Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Nine years after he crossed into Nepal from Tibet and moved on to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, where the Dalai Lama heads the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, Wangden Tashi 24 is on his way to acquiring a scholarship in Buddhism.
Isolated from the outside world in the Tibetan monastery of Drepung Loseling in Mundgod village, north Karnataka, Tashi and 5,000 other novices immerse themselves in the intricacies of Buddhist thought. Clad in maroon tunics, the lamas try to recreate the rigorous life of Himalayan Tibet in the sunny plains of Western India.
Classes begin early in the morning and continue through the day with only a mid-morning lunch where the monks make a meal of bread and home-made porridge. Though they are cut off entirely from family and loved ones, the monks are not complaining.
8220;Back home in Tibet, my parents can barely earn a living from farming. Here life is better and I can get some education,8221; says Tashi. With the Chinese government brutally suppressing Buddhism in Tibet,followers of the religion in the Himalayan states are turning towards several parts of India for succour.
8220;Buddhism came to Tibet shortly after Mahmud of Gazni destroyed the Nalanda University. Now the Tibetans are bringing back Buddhism to India,8221; says Dr Pema Dorjee, who heads the Institute for Tibetan Studies at Dharamsala.
Dorjee, however, adds that the loss of Tibet is incalculable to the people of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Lahaul-Spiti, who looked upon Tibet as their spiritual capital. Still, people from the erstwhile Himalayan Buddhist kingdoms and even places like Mongolia make a beeline towards India for initiation to the priesthood.
Of all the institutions established by Tibetans across the country, the three monasteries in Karnataka have emerged as premier institutions for training the lamas. In all, the monasteries have managed to enroll 15,000 lamas from around the world, most of them of Tibetan origin.
With refugees forming a large number of novices joining the monasteries,their upkeep is an expensive proposition. 8220;It costs approximately Rs 12,000 per lama every year to stay in the monasteries,8221; says Dr Kagyur Rinpoche, chairperson, Karuna Foundation, who has been anointed as the reincarnation of the Kagyur lama. Though he has now given up the life of a lama to live as a layman, Rinpoche continues to sponsor several novices in monasteries across the country.
International interest for the Tibetan cause has also helped the monasteries8217; fund-raising efforts.
8220;Our monks are sent abroad to preach Buddhism after they complete their religious training. They also manage to raise funds,8221; says Kalon Pema Chhinjor, minister for security, Tibetan Government-in-Exile based in Dharamsala.
For instance, Tashi has travelled to the United States several times, informing people there about the travails of his family back home in Tibet. 8220;The Chinese authorities are harassing my parents so that I am forced to return home,8221; he said. With the Chinese authorities imposing a ban on theuse of Boti, the language of the Tibetans, anxious parents are leaving their children in Dharamsala so that they can get an education.
8220;The literacy rate in Tibet is just 15 per cent,8221; says Chhinjor. The Dalai Lama is now running more than 800 schools all over India to cater to the Tibetan community.
With nearly 1.5 lakh Tibetans making India their home, their welfare is clearly stretching the limits of the Dalai Lama8217;s finances. 8220;We want the Tibetans to stay on in Tibet and fight the Chinese there. For, once the people leave home, the Chinese resettle on our lands,8221; says Chhinjor.
So till a solution is found to the Tietans8217; problems, the people in that unfortunate country will have to take spiritual solace from India, where Buddhism originally sprung forth. And lamas like Tashi will bide their time waiting for an opportunity to spread the word at home.
