Religious Succession in Tibet

Reincarnation as a method of religious succession was articulated by the Karma Kargyo Buddhist sect in 1193. The idea emanated from the Buddhist belief that all humans are trapped in an unending cycle of birth, death, and rebirth until they achieve enlightenment, or nirvana. According to Tibetan Buddhists, some enlightened beings return to human form to aid others in their progress toward enlightenment.

In the late twelfth century, the great Karma Lama Dusum Khyempa prophesized his own rebirth. Shortly after he died, his disciples discovered a child into whom they believed the deceased lama had transformed himself. Belief in reincarnation became a widespread tradition because it enabled the orderly succession of power in lamas.

In the Tibetan capital city of Lhasa. Unable to quell the unrest, the Dalai Lama fled to India. He then renounced the Seventeen-Point Agreement and campaigned to win international support for Tibet's independence.

In 1959, the Chinese military reportedly killed approximately 1.2 million Tibetans or starved them to death in labor camps and collective farms. After the 1959 uprising, the Chinese destroyed Buddhist institutions and attacked traditional Tibetan culture and values. They also endeavored to extinguish Tibetans' belief in the sanctity of the Dalai Lama. China also launched an economic reform program in Tibet.

Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, both sides in the Tibetan dispute struggled unsuccessfully to resolve their disagreements. The Dalai Lama tried to enlist the international community in Tibet's fight for independence. Economic interests prevailed, however. In the late 1960's, the United States moved to improve its relations with China. Despite such setbacks, the Tibetan government-in-exile defended Tibet's right to independence and attacked Chinese policies and alleged human rights violations in Tibet. It also crusaded for creation of a Greater Tibet that would include the Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetans living elsewhere in Central Asia.

Starting in 1984, China's program to develop Tibet's economy quickly led to a large influx of ethnic, or Han, Chinese and Muslims. Labor shortages and the lure of economic opportunity spurred the emigration. Many Tibetans resented Chinese control of their economy and feared that the Chinese would one day outnumber them. On October 1,1987, rioting broke out in Lhasa. Between the fall of 1987 and March of 1989, Tibetans held twenty-one protest rallies against the Chinese authorities. Most of the protests during this period were nonviolent.

In a speech on June 15,1988, the Dalai Lama, for the first time, announced he would return to Tibet but only on the condition that Tibet would become a totally autonomous territory within China. He acknowledged that Tibet was part of China. Following riots in March of 1989, China declared martial law in Tibet. Martial law was not lifted until 1990. After the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, he used his new international stature to embarrass China throughout the 1990's. In August of 1997,

Tibetan refugees flee their country as it was being occupied by China in 1950. (National Archives)

China renewed martial law in Tibet under a campaign called "Strike Hard" to punish people who challenged or resisted Chinese rule. The Chinese also intensified their assault on the Buddhist religion, the foundation of Tibetan civilization, culture, and values.

The Dalai Lama and the Chinese government view Tibet differently. For the Tibetans, Tibet is a nation deprived of its independence since the Chinese occupied it in 1951. The country has had its own centralized form of government since, at least, the seventh century. Tibetans view themselves as equals with the Chinese.

For the government of China, Tibet is an integral part of China. The Chinese authorities promoted regional autonomy everywhere except Tibet to spark local initiative and rapid economic growth. By contrast, the Chinese authorities pursued the opposite course—increased central control—in Tibet, hoping such a strategy would produce stability in the most politically unstable region ruled by communist China. The Han Chinese looked upon Tibet and its traditions as backward and feudal. The cultural biases of China's leaders in Tibet parallel those of the Chinese leadership during the Maoist era, when propaganda attacked Tibetan culture and society as barbaric and encouraged Tibetans to adopt Chinese ways. They felt it was their duty to modernize Tibet.

Following the Chinese communist program of modernization, Chinese media sources such as the Tibet Daily urged Tibetans to renounce their allegiance to Tibet's traditional religious leaders and to turn to atheism. In 2000, the Dalai Lama accused the Chinese government of practicing cultural genocide with these kinds of policies.

China's policies toward Tibet changed following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Following the breakup, there were ethnic revolts in Eastern Europe, the influence and aggressiveness of the Muslim states on China's northeastern border rose, and numerous formerly communist countries became democracies. These events coincided with increased international pressure on China to improve its human rights record. In 1992, the Chinese authorities in Tibet launched efforts to dictate the incarnation process for choosing high-level lamas, or living Buddhas.

In 1995, the six-year-old boy identified by the Dalai Lama as the Panchen Lama, the second-most important religious leader in Tibet, disappeared. A year later, the Chinese government admitted that it was holding him in protective custody and he remained in Chinese custody into the first decade of the twenty-first century. The Chinese replaced the boy with their own candidate for Panchen Lama, whom they forced the Tibetan clergy to recognize. The Chinese attempt to take over the Tibetan religious leadership suffered a setback in January, 2000, when the fourteen-year-old Karmapa Lama fled Tibet and joined the Dalai Lama in India. This also increased tensions between China and India, since India decided to allow the Karmapa Lama to remain.

In the fall of 2002, relations between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government seemed to improve. In September of that year, representatives of the Tibetan leader visited first Beijing and then Tibet. In early October, hoping to move closer to reconciliation, the Dalai Lama urged his followers abroad not to stage protests against Chinese president Jiang Zemin during the president's visits to Mexico and the United States.

The conflict boiled down to whether China would grant selfrule, not independence, for Tibet. China opposed granting the status. The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile wanted self-rule. Both sides seemed reluctant to take the risks to arrive at a compromise that would settle the conflict. Many Tibetans hoped communist China would fall as the Manchu Dynasty had in 1911 and the Soviet Union in 1991. Chinese officials were concerned that disturbances in Tibet might spread to other minority areas such as Inner Mongolia. The key to resolving the conflict was finding a solution that would create a Tibet for Tibetans in a framework the Chinese communists would find acceptable.

Fred Buchstein Updated by the Editors