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[This version: 6 August 1993]
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TIBET: Proving Truth from Facts
June 1993

Department of Information and International Relations
Central Tibetan Administration
Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamasala 176 215 INDIA

[This document has been made available for electronic archiving and world-wide
networked access by the Tibet Information Office for Australia, New Zealand and
South East Asia, 3 Weld Street, Yarralumla, ACT 2600, Australia. Telephone
(61-6) 285 4046 or (61-6) 282 4306 Fax (61-6) 282 4301]
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Tibet:
Proving Truth from Facts

Content:

1.	Status of Tibet
2.	Invasion and illegal annexation of Tibet
3.	National Uprising
4.	Traditional Tibetan society
5.	Human Rights
6.	Socio-economic conditions and colonialism
7.	Religion and national identity
8.	Population transfer and control
9.	State of Tibet's environment
10.	Militarisation and regional peace
11.	Quest for solution

Chapter 7.Religion and national identity

Introduction

Tibet's earliest religion is B_n, founded by Shenrab Miwo of Shangshung in
Western Tibet. With the advent of Buddhism, the B_n religion diminished in
influence, but it continues to thrive today with an active community of Tibetan
refugees still practising their faith in India and Nepal. Tashi Menri,
Yungdrungling, and Kharna were some of the major B_n monasteries in Tibet. The
B_n religion has imbibed many characteristics of Buddhism over the course of its
historical development. Tibetan Buddhism, in turn, has also taken much from B_n.

Buddhism flourished in Tibet in the seventh century. Receiving royal patronage,
it spread throughout Tibet. With the assumption of power by the Dalai Lamas from
1642 onwards, the era of "harmonious blend of religion and politics" was
established in Tibet. Since then, for three-and-a-half centuries, ten successive
Dalai Lamas have been the spiritual and temporal rulers of Tibet.

The cumulative effect of its long patronage by successive kings of Tibet, and
the country being later ruled by successive religious heads, has been immense,
both to Tibet as a nation and to its people. Buddhism has not been a mere system
of belief to the Tibetans; it encompasses the entirety of their culture and
civilisation and constitutes the very essence of their lives.  Buddhism
permeated the daily lives of the Tibetan people and formed the social fabric
connecting them to the land. Of all the bonds which defined Tibetans as a people
and as a nation, religion was undoubtedly the strongest.

Through the centuries, highly qualified Tibetans studied, practised, expounded,
preserved, and taught the meaning of this religion and its social and spiritual
relevance to peoples throughout the Asian regions sharing the Tibetan cultural
tradition, including Mongolia.

In the words of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Buddhism thus caused the
"metamorphosis that changed the entire course of Tibet's history. Generations of
Tibetan intellectuals studied and developed a profound culture that closely
accorded with the original principles and philosophy of the Dharma. Down through
the centuries their dedicated services brought about extraordinary developments
which are unique among the literary and cultural achievements of the nations of
the world."

Monasteries, temples, and hermitages were founded in every village and town
throughout Tibet, together with resident monks and, as the case may be, nuns.
Every Tibetan Buddhist home had its altar. Huge monasteries, which were more
like monastic cities, such as Drepung, Sera, and Gaden in Lhasa, Tashilhunpo in
Shigatse, Sakya Monastery in Sakya, Tsurphu in central Tibet, Mindroling in
central Tibet, Tashi-kyil in Amdo Labrang, Gaden Jampaling in Chamdo, Lithang
Gonchen, etc, became high seats of learning.

By 1959 there were more than a total of 6,259 monasteries with about 592,558
resident monks and nuns. These religious centres also housed tens and thousands
of statues, religious artifacts made of gold, silver and other metals  studded
with jewels. Similarly, tens and thousands of chorten (stupas) were built out of
precious metal. Besides texts on Buddhism, these centres were store-houses of
works on literature, medicine, astrology, art, politics, etc, and thus were the
real "treasure houses" of the Tibetan people.

Tibetan national identity became indistinguishable from its religion. Buddhist
folklore and teachings regulated the people's lives, festivals, holidays, work
ethics, family chores as well as national issues. Tibet remained a proud and
independent Buddhist nation until its occupation by China. Tibet also had a
compact community of Muslims, who had their own mosques. These, too, suffered
damage at the hands of the Chinese. In addition, there were small numbers of
followers of Hinduism and Christianity. They were all tolerated and given equal
rights.

Violation of religious freedom: 1949-79

The Chinese Government initially proclaimed that while complete consolidation of
its annexation of Tibet was underway, no restrictions would be imposed on the
practice of religion. Their formal pledge to protect and respect Tibet's
religious tradition was set forth even in the "17-Point Agreement" of 1951. This
"Agreement" explicitly stated that the traditional status, functions and powers
of the Dalai Lama would not be altered and that "the policy of freedom of
religious beliefs laid down in the Common Programme of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference will be protected."

However, the Chinese soon began to undermine the traditional social system and
religion of Tibet. People were told that "Religion is the enemy of our
materialist ideology and believing in religion is blind faith. Therefore, you
should not only not have faith in religion but should also condemn it." While
the Chinese constitution and initial assurances made to the Tibetans purported
to allow a semblance of religious freedom, their resolve to undermine Tibetan
religion was absolute from the very beginning. The Chinese Government
pronounced:

The Chinese Communist Party considers that its ideology and that of religion are
two forces that cannot co-exist and occupy the same spot at the same time. ...
the differences between the two (ie, science and religion) can be likened to
those between light and darkness, between truth and falsehood. There is
absolutely no possibility to reconcile the mutually-opposed world views of
science and religion.

This Communist Chinese view was all-pervasive. In Mao Zedong's own words, "...
but of course, religion is poison. It has two great defects: It undermines the
race ...(and) retards the progress of the country. Tibet and Mongolia have both
been poisoned by it."

By the middle of the 1950s, the Chinese authorities realised that religion was
the principal obstacle to their control of Tibet. Therefore, from the beginning
of 1956, a so-called "Democratic Reform" was carried out, first in Kham and
Amdo, and later (in 1959) in Central Tibet. Monasteries, temples, and cultural
centres were systematically looted of all articles of value and then dismantled.

First, special teams of mineralogists visited religious buildings to locate and
extract all the precious stones. Next came the metallurgists who marked all
metal objects which were subsequently carted away in trucks requisitioned from
army head- quarters. The walls were then dynamited and all the wooden beams and
pillars taken away. Clay images were destroyed in the expectation of finding
precious metals inside. Finally, whatever remained  bits of wood and stone  were
removed. Literally, hundreds of tons of valuable religious statues, thangkas
(scroll paintings), metal artifacts, and other treasures were shipped to China
either to be sold in international antique markets or to be melted down.

When a team of Tibetans visited China in 1982-83 to retrieve Tibetan artifacts,
a Chinese man in Beijing told them that "(m)ost of the Tibetan cultural
artifacts carted to China were destroyed. The statues and ritual objects of pure
gold and silver were never seen again. Those of gilded copper, bell-metal, red
copper, brass, etc, were ferried to Luyun, from where they were eventually sold
to foundries in Shanghai, Sichuan, Tai Yun, Beijing, Tianjin, etc. The foundry
called Xi-you Qing-shu Tie (precious metal foundry) situated about five
kilometers to the east of Beijing city, alone purchased about 600 tons of
Tibetan crafted metals." The team found out that almost all artifacts taken by
other foundries had already been melted down.

This physical desecration and destruction was accompanied by public condemnation
of religion, and humiliation and ridicule of religious persons. Religious texts
were burnt and mixed with field manure; the sacred mani stones (stones or slates
with prayer inscriptions) were used for making toilets and pavements; monks and
nuns were forced to have sex in public and demanded to perform miracles; ruined
monasteries and temples were turned into pigsties; starving monks and nuns in
Chinese prisons were told to get "food from the Buddha".

Destructions before the Cultural Revolution

Contrary to official Chinese assertions, much of Tibet's culture and religion
was destroyed between 1955 and 1961, and not during the Cultural Revolution
(1966-1976) alone. This was confirmed by Bhuchung, the then Vice-President of
the so-called TAR People's Government, at a press conference on 17 July 1987,
when he stated that what little remained to be destroyed was obliterated during
the Cultural Revolution under the slogan "Smash the Four Olds".

Out of Tibet's total of 6,259 monasteries and nunneries only about eight
remained by 1976. Among those destroyed were the seventh-century Samye, the
first monastery in Tibet; Gaden, the earliest and holiest monastic university of
the Gelugpas; Sakya, the main seat of the Sakyas; Tsurphu, one of the holiest
monasteries of the Kagyus; Mindroling, one of the most famous monasteries of the
Nyingmapas; Menri, the earliest and most sacred B_n monastery, etc. Out of
592,558 monks, nuns, rinpoches (reincarnates) and ngagpas (tantric
practitioners), over 110,000 were tortured and put to death, and over 250,000
were forcibly disrobed.

The extent of religious destruction in Tibet was referred to by the late Panchen
Lama in 1988 in Beijing during the first General Meeting of China's Institute of
Tibetology. He said:

The destruction suffered by monasteries in the Tibetan inhabited areas was total
and hundred per cent. About 99 percent suffered total destruction. Those seven
or eight which remained also did not escape damage. The condition of the Potala
Palace was the best among those which remained. But it too suffered damage.
Therefore, I say that the destruction caused was hundred per cent.

1979-92: Religious freedom, a ritualistic facade

Since 1979, a much-heralded programme of "liberalisation" began in Tibet under
which some superficial facade of religious freedom was allowed. This included
limited and selective renovation of places of worship, and allowing people a
degree of ritual practices  such as making prostrations, circumambulating places
of worship, offering butter lamps, reciting mantras, turning prayer wheels,
burning incense, putting up prayer flags, etc. These are only external acts of
worship. But propagation of the teachings of the Buddha is either banned or,
when permitted, strictly controlled.

The essence of Buddhism lies in mental and spiritual development achieved
through intensive study with qualified lamas, understanding and practice. But
the Chinese discourage this in their campaign to misrepresent the Tibetan
religion as nothing more than practices in superstition and blind faith rather
than what it really is: a functional and scientific philosophy. The Dalai Lama,
in his 10 March 1987 statement, said:

The so-called religious freedom in Tibet today amounts to permitting our people
to worship and practice religion in a merely ritualistic and devotional way.
There are both direct and indirect restrictions on the teaching and study of
Buddhist philosophy. Buddhism, thus, is being reduced to blind faith which is
exactly how the Communist Chinese view and define religion.

Today's Chinese policy is aimed at bringing about a gradual and natural death of
Tibetan culture and religion, thus reducing the Tibetans to an uncultured,
superstitious nation, fit only to be ruled and reformed by them. In this way
they hope to validate their "liberation" of  and claim to  Tibet.

Reconstruction and renovation

Almost all Chinese state-sponsored reconstruction of Tibetan monuments has been
highly selective, intended only to serve their political and economic aims.
These serve as museums for tourist attraction rather than living cultural and
religious institutions.  Also, contrary to the Chinese claim, most of the
rebuilt or renovated monasteries, including the "state-sponsored" ones, came
through the initiative of Tibetans who contributed their labour and finances.
The aid sanctioned by the Chinese Government forms only a very small fraction of
the total expenses incurred.  On the other hand, China confiscates income of the
monasteries from entry fees (imposed by the Chinese) and offerings made by
pilgrims.  Reconstruction and renovation of monasteries can be done only after
receiving permission from the Chinese Bureau of Religious Affairs.  Such
permission is given with great reluctance following a long period of
bureaucratic red tape during which Tibetans have to make repeated appeals and
listen, in return, to constant lectures about the negative influences of
religion to "national interest".  The limited number of monks allowed in them
serve more as showpieces and, in most cases, caretakers rather than religious
students and practitioners.

In independent Tibet, the major Tibetan monastic universities served as cultural
and learning centres for large numbers of students from Inner Asia.  These
institutions each had from three to ten thousand students and the rigorous
curriculum began around the age of eighteen and culminated around the age of
forty-five.  The basic units of Tibet's monastic universities were its colleges,
each university having at least two.  These had their own administration,
faculty and textbooks.  For centuries, the monastic colleges functioned to
promote critical and creative spiritual thoughts.

Chinese government control over religious institutions

China today refuses to let the colleges  the functioning units of the monastic
universities  to continue in the traditional way.  It has also placed a ceiling
on the number of monks allowed in each university.  Before the Chinese invasion,
Sera had 7,997 monks on its rolls; it is now permitted to have only about 300;
Drepung which used to have 10,000 monks is now permitted only 400; and Gaden
which numbered 5,600 monks is now permitted only 150.  In addition, the daily
functions of the monasteries are regimented through a maze of state
bureaucracies, such as the United Front Work Department, Religious Affairs
Bureau, Tibetan Buddhist Association, Democratic Management Committee, political
education and investigation Work Inspection Teams, security organs, etc.

China has, in part, laid down the following criteria for admission in a
monastery: The candidate should be at least 18 years old; should "love" the
country and the Communist Party; should have the consent of parents; should
obtain formal approval from the monasteries' Democratic Management Committee;
should have consent of local authorities; should have consent of county or
provincial authorities; should obtain clearance from Public Security Bureau; the
candidate and the candidate's parents should have "good political background";
should have been raised in a certain geographical area (eg, Tibetans from Kham
and Amdo may not be admitted to monasteries in Central Tibet); should study
Marxism; should be aware that materialism and spiritualism are contradictory,
etc, etc.

Admit only the "politically correct"

China's guiding principle behind admission is that "We must foster a large
number of fervent patriots in every religion who accept the leadership of the
Party and government, firmly support the Socialist path, and safeguard national
and ethnic unity", and that "seminaries should hold entrance examinations and
admit upright, patriotic young people ... who have reached a certain level of
cultural development."  These principles are clearly laid down in the Chinese
"Basic Viewpoint and Policy on the Religious Question during Our Country's
Socialist Period," and "Rules for Democratic Management of Temples," etc.  Yet
another organ known as the Tibetan Buddhism Guidance Committee is being set up
to "oversee the practice of Buddhism in Tibet (TAR), Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan,
and Yunnan (Amdo and Kham parts of Tibet incorporated into Chinese provinces).
Foremost among its tasks will be the implementation of government policies,
education of monks and nuns in the patriotic mould, and supervision over
monastery management."

In addition to the above, there are other subtle and insidious methods of
undermining religion which are not easily discerned by the uninformed.  These
include: persistent anti-religious publications and theatrical performances,
restricting religious teachings, educating Tibetan youths along Marxist lines
with heavy anti-religious overtones, lack of regular curriculum in the
monasteries, lack of textbooks and teachers, forcing monks to perform for
tourists, keeping police and para-military forces at the monasteries, arresting
and torturing those suspected of having independent thoughts, planting informers
in the monasteries, conducting political education and investigation in the
monasteries by Work Inspection teams, ban on prayers composed by the Dalai Lama
though being utterly devoid of any political overtone, etc.  On account of such
restrictions, the Panchen Lama, on 28 September 1988, called for the eradication
of Chinese "administrative interference in the religious activities in Tibet
(read TAR) and other Tibetan-inhabited regions and increased Tibetan regulation
of religious affairs."

Conclusion

Though China no longer bombs or sends Red Guards to destroy Tibet's monasteries,
its aim still remains the same as before: total elimination of Tibetan religion
and culture.  This is clear  official document, Policy on Religious Freedom,
prepared by Ganze (Kanze) Prefectural Propaganda Committee and dated February
1990,  which states: "With the development of our socialist system, the social
system for the natural extinction of religion was established."  Yet, another
official document licy on Nationalities and Religion brought out in 1991,
states: "We should oppose all those who work to split the motherland in the name
of nationality and religion.  There should be no hesitation in taking harsh
decision to deal with any political disturbance carried out in the name of
nationality and religion, and in doing so the state's political, judiciary, and
even military powers should be used."

In carrying out its unremitting persecution of Tibetan religion, China continues
to violate not only the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also all
the clauses of the United Nation's Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms
of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion and Belief.  In its
reports of 1959 and 1960, the Legal Inquiry Committee of the International
Commission of Jurists said:

The Committee found that acts of Genocide had been committed in Tibet in an
attempt to destroy the Tibetans as a religious group, and that such acts are
acts of genocide independently of any conventional obligation."
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