His
Holiness the Dalai Lama
Many people embrace a faith that advocates non-violence. Yet few
have been so tested in their beliefs as Tenzin Gyatso, His
Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. As the spiritual and
temporal leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama (meaning "Ocean of
Wisdom") has consistently opposed the use of force against
the Communist Chinese who invaded his homeland in 1949-50.
Instead, for almost 50 years, he has steadfastly proposed
peaceful solutions and compromises based on mutual tolerance and
respect for all people, including adversaries.
"At the heart of Buddhist philosophy is the notion of
compassion for others," the Dalai Lama has said. "It
should be noted that the compassion encouraged by Mahayana
Buddhism is not the usual love one has for friends or family. The
love being advocated here is the kind one can have even for
another who has done one harm."
At issue is whether Tibet is an independent nation. Tibetans cite
almost 2,000 years of self-governance as proof of their
sovereignty. The Chinese cite two historic incidents-a marriage
between a Tibetan king (who actually had five wives) and a
Chinese princess in 641 and a peace pledge signed by the two
countries in 821-as proof that Tibet is part of China.
Few would disagree that the Chinese occupation of Tibet has been
harmful. As early as 1960, the International Commission of
Jurists reported that the People's Republic of China had violated
16 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in
Tibet, and that they were guilty of "the most pernicious
crime that any individual or nation can be accused of, viz. a
willful attempt to annihilate an entire people."
Since the occupation began, the Chinese have directly or
indirectly caused the deaths of more than 1.5 million Tibetans.
They have transferred more than 7 million ethnic Chinese into
Tibet, making Tibetans minorities in their own country and
causing shortages in land and food. China has built nuclear
missile sites on Tibetan soil and uses the country as its nuclear
waste dumping ground. It is aggressively clear-cutting forests
for lumber, which has led to serious erosion and flooding
problems, especially in neighboring India and Nepal.
Even worse for the unique Tibetan culture, the Chinese have
forcibly suppressed Buddhism-the backbone of this historically
religious country. This suppression has resulted in the
destruction of 6,000 Buddhist monasteries and shrines. Buddhist
monks and nuns have been arbitrarily executed, imprisoned, or
detained. Rare Buddhist manuscripts and artifacts have either
been destroyed or sold. Images of the Dalai Lama, whom Tibetan
Buddhists believe to be a living god, have been banned.
The Dalai Lama has tried to negotiate a resolution since 1950,
when at age 16 he assumed full political power of Tibet. His
efforts included traveling to Peking in 1954, where he talked to
Mao Tse-Tung, Chou En-Lai, Deng Xiaoping, and other Chinese
leaders, and to India in 1956, where he met with India's Prime
Minister Nehru.
In 1959 rumors of intended murder or kidnapping by the Chinese
military forced the Dalai Lama to flee to India. There, in
Dharamsala, he set up the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, through
which he appealed to the United Nations for help. In response,
the UN adopted three separate resolutions urging China to respect
the human rights of Tibetans and their desire for
self-determination. In 1963, the Dalai Lama promulgated a
democratic constitution for Tibet.
In 1987 he proposed a Five-Point Peace Plan at a Congressional
Human Rights Caucus in Washington, D.C. This plan called for
making Tibet an international peace zone and environmental
preserve-"a sanctuary of peace and nonviolence," he
said, "where human beings and nature can live in peace and
harmony." The plan also called for ending the transfer of
ethnic Chinese into Tibet, restoring basic human rights and
democratic freedoms to Tibetans, abandoning Chinese nuclear
weapons production and waste dumping in Tibet, and beginning
"earnest negotiations" to resolve the issue. A year
later, he amended his Peace Plan before the European Parliament
in Strasbourg, France, by stating that he would agree to the
creation of a self-governing, democratic Tibet that functioned
"in association with the People's Republic of China."
These efforts, while as yet unsuccessful in achieving a
resolution, earned the Dalai Lama the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize. In
presenting the award, Egil Aarvik, chairman of the Norwegian
Nobel Committee said that the Dalai Lama's "policy of
non-violence is all the more remarkable when it is considered in
relation to the sufferings inflicted on the Tibetan people during
the occupation of their country. The Dalai Lama's response has
been to propose a peaceful solution which would go a long way to
satisfying Chinese interests. It would be difficult to cite any
historical example of a minority's struggle to secure its rights,
in which a more conciliatory attitude to the adversary has been
adopted than in the case of the Dalai Lama."
Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama has signed
the 1991 Universal Declaration of Nonviolence and received other
peace awards for his continuing advocacy in that area. A
distinguished scholar of Buddhist philosophy, he has received
several honorary doctorate degrees from western universities. He
is the author of several books, including Kindness, Compassion,
and Insight, published in 1984.
His decades-long labors on behalf of Tibet may yet bear fruit. In
June 1998, following talks with U.S. President Bill Clinton,
Chinese President Jiang Zemin has agreed to open up discussions
with the Dalai Lama on Tibet's status. In the meantime, the Dalai
Lama travels throughout the world seeking support for Tibet, as
well as promoting global environmental causes and "universal
responsibility."
"Today the world is smaller and more interdependent,"
he has said. "Thus, without a sense of universal
responsibility, our very survival becomes threatened. Basically,
universal responsibility is feeling for other people's suffering
just as we feel our own. It is the realization that even our
enemy is entirely motivated by the quest for happiness. We must
recognize that all beings want the same thing that we want. This
is the way to achieve a true understanding, unfettered by
artificial consideration."
