h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Not all Tibetans follow Buddhism, the belief which was there before Buddhism was Bon - an animist belief system. In fact, some still follow it. And some Tibetans are Muslim. Have you read Namma, an autobiography of a Bristish woman who married a Tibetan and lived there for a while. Its a beautiful read.

You're right. In fact, there were some representatives of the Bon religion in Washington DC, at the Smithsonian folklife festival. It's hard to get a grasp of the size of old Tibet, and how spread out its relatively tiny population was. Comparisons to modern states are almost meaningless, when you think of Tibetans spread so thinly over such a vast expanse, trekking for weeks or months on pilgrimages and trading expeditions.

I haven't read 'Namma', but I will look it up. The most moving book I have read about Tibet is 'Ama Adhe, The Voice that Remembers', the autobiography of an amazing woman who spent 27 years in Chinese prisons. She lost everything, but her spirit remains unbroken by her ordeal. It's worth looking up.

JTG

Hi John
nice to bump into you again, I will look out for that book. Its a fascinating country.
I was looking for something about the Chinese occupation, I havn't found anything yet. Its an area I'm irate about, but not too knowledgeable on. Do you know of anything or anyone who maybe interested in a joint effort? Unless I've missed something already on the site!
How about you, are you interested?
Oh and how are you by the way, I'm still jealous that you get Praying Mantis's!

John
sorry, you must think I havn't actually read your article. What I was after, is maybe updates.
For instance, China has recently asked for US assistance with their Tibetan problem, in return for helping them with the terroist problem.
Words can't express how that made me feel, without being moderated that is.

Words don't need to express how you feel. It sickens me too. The BBC recently ran a story on the topic, featuring 'terrorists' at a sentencing rally. They looked like Uyghur people. The reporter made no mention of the fact that they could be facing long prison terms (or worse) for nothing more sinister than owning a photograph of the wrong person or having a political pamphlet. I wrote a rather angry email to the BBC about it, with a copy sent to Amnesty International. I got a reply form AI, stating, in fairly general terms, that they are urging governments to respect human rights in their fight against terrorism. I'd be delighted to help in any way that I can.

Ive put together a list of Websites offering information about the Chinese occupation,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A342398

You're certainly welcome to use it. Let me know what else I can do.

JTG

ps I should mention that I'm going on holiday tomorrow for to weeks.

Just a thought: Do you think we could manage a University of Life project on the subject? There are certainly other Researchers who are sympathetic to the Tibetan cause.

JTG

Hi JTG
thanks for highlighting your page of links, I hadn't managed to find it before. Theres a lot there for me to work through!
Thanks for asking about the Uni of Life, to be honest, I don't thhink I can add much to what you know. However, I know some people who regularly go to Nepal, to trade. So I might be able to come up with something original!
I get a lot of info from HUman Rights who send me e-mails every day. I'll put the url on my page as I believe it will be removed, if I put it here.
Have a good holiday, where are you going?

Thanks. We're off to Louisiana tomorrow, via Lexington, Kentucky. In fact, we're going to see 'Mystical Arts of Tibet' exhibit, which has been touring America. Ironically, it was right there in Indiana two years ago when we went to the Kalachakra there in Bloomington, but we didn't go.

I subscribe to an email news service, 'World Tibet Network'. I've just added a link to the Canada Tibet committee, which hosts WTN. This is a very good source of information. In fact, it is used by the American-based 'International Campaign for Tibet'. London-based Tibet Information Network is also very good. They have an email subscription service and publish reports (quarterly, I think).

The insight of people who have been to Nepal or India and perhaps talked with recent refugees would be very valuable. I'd be very interested in reading about their impressions. Mark Moxon stayed in Dharamsala for a while. Perhaps we could ask him to contribute someting.

JTG

The Bon religion is largely practised by fringe groups, like the Menba, that live on the edge of Tibetan society today . Some Zang (ethnic Tibetans) still practise it, but most of them have assimilated Bon practices into Buddhism.

Thanks.

Have you considered doing an Entry about Bon, or participating in a comprehensive University of Life project on Tibet?

JTG

Hi John, good holiday?

To be honest, although Tibet and related subjects are of great interest to me. Having read your articles I really don't think I can help you, you are far more up-to-date than I am. Although I will keep an eye out for anything else you may do.

I would be fascinated to read anything you do on Bon, with the unnamed researcher. Again, not a lot I can help with. I am interested but know nothing!

Hi, Kazzikins. A good time was had by all, thanks. My wife and I spent 12 days dashing around the southeastern USA like maniacs, a total of over 6400km in 12 days.

I'm not really that well informed either; I rely mainly on the WTN email for new information. My secret is that I bash out entries before being mad about what I read turns to being depressed about it, which comes later.

It would be nice to work with a group of Researchers on the subject of Tibet, as it's an important issue that deserves a broad range of contibutors. Whatever form the project takes, your contribution would be very welcome.

JTG

Hi John
thats very sweet of you, I will see if I can find something out, are we covering recent events then?

Yes, let's. We can include historical information, too, if the fancy takes us. But I think something that covers aspects of life in Tibet right now would be much more meaningful. We should try to cover life in the exile community too, if we can. I would like to do something about the Drepung monks, for instance, who do a touring performance of sacred songs and dance. I'm sure other topics will come to mind.

JTG

Starting research tomorrow!

Excellent

JTG

I know very little about the Bon religion except that it seems to be obsessed with a pantheon of daemons and evil spirits - placating them and working with them... or even mastering them. Much of the spirits depicted in the tangkas, the manner in which they are represented, the liturgy, animistic and shamanistic rituals, the philosophy of life and death, the death rituals, and the prayer rituals are the Bon aspects that have melded into Buddhism in Tibet. And although it is largely practised within Tibet and Nepal by Tibetans and their more immediate ethnic siblings, it has spread out of Tibet through Buddhism in the Han inhabited regions of Central, Northern, and Northeastern China, Mongolia, Siberia, and, more recently, into the West (albeit an even more diluted form). Tibetan Buddhist art is definitely reflective of Bon. The 'Sky Burial' is probably a Bon practice: the deceased are wrapped in gauze and placed atop a pile of stones for a few days, carved up, and fed to the birds who supposedly carry the spirit of the deceased into the heavens. I don't recall if the bones are collected or if they remain on the site of the sky burial. Stone burial mounds can be found as far north as Mongolia, but here it's questionable if it's more Siberian shamanism or if it's actual Bon practice. Actual Buddhist practice is to incinerate the corpse into ashes as in Hindu practice; it's loosely adhered to out of convienience of culture or culture of convienience. In accordance to Daoist practice, the Han traditionally bury the dead with offerings as the physical and spiritual realms are connected; this practice may be observed even among the most fervent of Han Buddhists. Conversely, cremation is found practiced among Han Daoists, Christians, and Muslims in areas that would rather more space but cannot afford it. I think Bon is very, very interesting to learn about as it seems to not only centre upon a pantheon of daemons with a unique cosmology of Man's role in it all, but also upon death and how they confront it, deal with it, and live with it.

Tibet's future is not all that bleak, not fully promising, not anything we can fully make out at the moment. I guess the worse thing may be in all the debating about what may or may not be really going on or whatnot while they, like millions of other souls across the developing and developed world, languish in limbo wondering about tomorrow, divided by time, place, politics, personal convictions, and culture. Tibetan karaoke bars; McDonald's and Hilton in Lhasa; Socialist ideology embedded into the curriculum of Tibetan-language schools; the end of a brutal theocracy still trying to reassert its political thumb; the worrisome unpredictable mutations of the new government; Tibetan rock music; modernisation and urbanisation of the Tibetan city; Tibetan publishing houses with mostly secular publications; settlements of other Chinese groups completely alien to Tibet; star Tibetan vocalists on national television; developments possibly threatening the local environment; Chinese police trying to stop poachers from exterminating already dwindling species -- the whole bit may be a bit too much. The politics is largely out of our hands but the little that we can do goes a long way. By 'little', I mean nurturing what good they do have - and there's quite alot. The Communists grabbed Tibet out of geopolitics as well as internal politics. They had to show to their own people revolutionary change from an external perspective as well as safeguarding land being threatened for the taking (in their shoes, you'd take your neighbour's house before invaders or other neighbours pick the whole neighbourhood). The "Free World" holds the negative propaganda around Tibet to get China to meet Americocentric interests. They're pushing to do what China, in a strange but necessary way, tried to safeguard Tibet and herself from. All the little fringe groups only help push the propaganda of either side and sometimes seem to exist only for the sake of themselves. The real issue is Tibet and her people. All the money pouring into the campaigning of Free Tibet could actually be better spent providing schoolbooks and improving or building schools in Tibet. They can use that money to help fund the "medical van" (it's some vehicle that patrols Tibet providing medical aid... don't ask me why ) or hospitals in Tibet. Focusing on the positive would really help out in a big way. They'd value themselves, nurture their culture, nurturing an adapting culture, and grow as valuable people within the framework of China and the globalising world -- and it can all be done to usurp the political chessgame by touching on what really matters: people.

Wow... that was interesting.

It's true that we should be careful about the rhetoric. But the crux of the problem in Tibet is that Tibetan culture is being destroyed as a matter of national policy. It's not a question of Tibetans not valuing their culture. The number of 'splittists' in prison for defending it is testimony to that. The West turns its concern for Tibetans and others on and off like a light switch, according to its own interests. However, Tibetans continue to be pushed to the margins as Han immigration continues to reduce them to a minority in their own land; and the healthcare and education resources in Tibet are overwhelmingly tipped towards the Chinese newcomers. The problem is that Tibetans aren't permitted to grow as Tibetans... they are being persecuted and killed for it. They don't even stand much chance of becoming good Chinese in an environment that robs them of educational opportunity and economic incentive.

Cultures change and one shouldn't be too attached to life as it was. We all have to face change, like it or not. But, cultural and political considerations aside, there is a real humanitarian crisis in Tibet. People are being locked up, beaten, and abused; women are being forced to have abortions (including third trimester!); and the right to practise religion (guaranteed by Chinese) law is being denied, religious institutions being reduced to a sideshow for tourists. These are the things which matter, because they are the cause of suffering for the people of Tibet.

Pray for us all as we tread once-conquered land in shoes marked 'Made in China'.

Pray for us, ideed, for we have already done what the Chinese are doing. The difference now is that aboriginal people in many parts of the world are encouraged to rebuild their connection to the past and their rich cultures. What makes the Tibetan situation terrible is the insidious nature of Chinese control, which attacks the very heart of the Tibetan identity and punishes trivial dissent with barbarous cruelty. This Orwellian nightmare is abetted by Western companies which exploit the labour of political prisoners or workers in sweatshops operated by the People's Liberation Army. It is also supported by companies like the American brewers, Pabst, which sells beer in Tibet and celebrates '50 years of peaceful liberation' in its advertising... along with nice Pabst Blue ribbon umbrellas for the comfort of the PLA sentries standing watch on the streets of Lhasa. High tech companies like Nortel are also joining the fight against freedom by providing state of the art surveillance technology to monitor and control Internet access, the so-called 'Golden Shield'.

JTG