Can a Dalai Lama Resign?
[This post has been updated. Please click "Read more" below to read the updates.] Jeremy Page reports from Kathmandu for the Times of London that His Holiness the Dalai Lama "hit back at Chinese leaders and Tibetan radicals today by threatening to 'resign' if violence in Tibet escalated." His Holiness also declared that independence was “out of the question," and he urged the Tibetan people to live “side by side” with the Chinese.
"If things become out of control then my only option is to completely resign," the Dalai Lama said. "Even 1,000 Tibetans sacrificed their life, not much help," he continued. "Please help stop violence from Chinese side and also from Tibetan side."
It's questionable whether a Dalai Lama can, in fact, resign, or precisely from what he would be resigning. The Dalai Lama is the head of one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and, historically, the spiritual and temporal leader of all Tibet. However, during his 49-year exile from Tibet his leadership has been more symbolic than actual.
His Holiness has already publicly discussed the possibility that he will be the last Dalai Lama. It is also possible he will choose and enthrone the next Dalai Lama while he is still alive. This would prevent the Chinese government from choosing the 15th Dalai Lama, as they did with the Panchen Lama.
Western tourists say that the streets of Lhasa are now quiet. However, following yesterday's deadline for surrender, many young Tibetans are hiding. The Times also reports that approximately 1,000 Tibetans have been arrested in the past two days.
China's crackdown on the monks of Tibet has been condemned by a leader of the All Burma Monks' Alliance, U Pyinya Zawta. The All Burma Monks' Alliance formed last September as monks in Myanmar (Burma) led protests against the military junta that rules Myanmar. Many of those monks are either imprisoned in Myanmar or have fled the country.
For a good background article on the situation in Tibet, see "Tibetan protests fed by years of frustration" by Jim Yardley of the New York Times. See also "Behind the Turmoil in Tibet."
Update, 1:45 pm EST:The BBC reports that the village in which the Dalai Lama was born has been blocked off by Chinese police.
Update, 2:25 pm EST: Here's a beautiful essay by H. D. S. Greenway in the International Herald Tribune. "Buddhism remains undaunted in Tibet," he writes, "and with it, as the Chinese always feared, the seeds of a resistance."
I've received some emails from people complaining that the Tibet crisis is a political, not a Buddhist, issue. But the two cannot be separated. Part of China's program for assimilating Tibetans into Chinese culture has been to crush Buddhism in Tibet. At least 6,000 religious sites -- monasteries, temples, and shrines -- have been destroyed, along with unique and priceless documents and artifacts. Monks have been harassed, imprisoned and tortured. The head of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, has been exiled for 49 years.
Several accounts I have read of the recent violence in Lhasa say it was touched off when Chinese police attacked and brutalized some monks, and crowds of laypeople reacted to defend the monks. I'm sure the Chinese have a different story, of course.
We're seeing in Tibet, in Myanmar, and in other Asian countries that Buddhist monks are in the forefront of political resistance to repressive regimes. Even where they are not official parts of government, Buddhist institutions have played a leadership role in many parts of Asia for centuries. Thus the practice and future of Buddhism in Asia is very much tied into politics.
Photo Caption: The Dalai Lama blesses attending monks during a 2007 empowerment ceremony in Melbourne, Australia.
Photo Credit: Kristian Dowling/Getty Images
Comments
I am amazed that some people would claim that the situation in Tibet is a political, not a religious one.
Tibetan citizens were promised religious autonomy, a promise which China has obviously broken. The main issue for Tibetans has always been the freedom to practice their religion. Buddhism is the number one religion in China, and Chinese Buddhists are allowed to practice their religion as they see fit, but Tibetan Buddhists are not. The Chinese, in fact, have forbidden the reincarnation of living Buddhas without permission from the government.
The Chinese have chosen to prevent Tibetan Buddhists from practicing their religion. This is now, and has always been the biggest issue for Tibetans. Not only do they try to prevent it, but with what happened with the Panchen Lama, they are trying to destroy it. It would be as if the American government said there was freedom for all religions, but then forbid the symbol of the cross, or even speaking the name of Jesus.
Another thought…..since when is the suffering of beings not a buddhist issue?
“We’re seeing in Tibet, in Myanmar, and in other Asian countries that Buddhist monks are in the forefront of political resistance to repressive regimes. Even where they are not official parts of government, Buddhist institutions have played a leadership role in many parts of Asia for centuries. Thus the practice and future of Buddhism in Asia is very much tied into politics.”
And each time they’ve been brutally and quickly crushed. So what are we supposed to do to help? Sanctions? Armed assistance? Sometimes doing something is worth than nothing but doing nothing is hurting too.