By Thupten N. Chakrishar
I’ve had so much magic for so long, I thought of throwing out some.
Anybody home? Ok, let me share my views with you. This article is for people who share my views, for people who oppose them, and especially for those who don’t have a view.
As a child I heard many magical stories about Rinpoches and Tulkus, of how great they and their supernatural powers were. I wondered why they didn’t use their powers and destroy all our enemies, so we could go back home.
I was a kid then. Growing up, I began to believe our Rinpoches were too humble, or they weren’t allowed, to demonstrate their powers in public.
On school walls, banners boldly proclaiming “OTHERS BEFORE SELF” were plastered everywhere. They looked cool. I even gave it a try. In a friendly race with four friends, I let everybody run before me, following slowly. Obviously I lost the race.
Now I realize we were taught to think from a defeatist point of view. We are raised with that mindset. One thing I know for sure, if we continue to teach our youngsters the same philosophy, we will never win anything.
Lately, the reactions of our ‘learned’ political leaders to the Shambala Miss Tibet Contest surprised me, they consider it being against Tibetan Buddhism and culture. Swimsuits are considered too obscene, and against a Buddhist way of life. Wow, if we ever get to participate in the Olympics, I wonder what will Tibetan girls wear in the swimming competitions, Chupas?
Sometimes, I think we are so blinded by religious faith, that we consult Gods for everything. His Holiness, realizing the effect of religion on our life, gave us a chance to select our political leader, one who could think freely outside the box and lead us into this competitive, challenging, manipulative and sometimes dirty political world, but ah! We chose another Rinpoche to lead us.
Then they sold all the Exile Government’s income generating units because they couldn’t manage them, and hence, weren’t making any money. I am not talking about firms as big as Microsoft or even Reliance India, but little tiny units. How can we ever imagine running a country, if we can’t run a few shops and hotels?
Unemployment is a serious problem today. Instead of creating new job opportunities and encouraging youths to explore modern possibilities, the present elected leaders want all of us to become farmers.
With the forthcoming elections, I hope people will think more liberally, and vote with practical thoughts, instead of religious reverence. Rinpoches look and sound best in their respective monasteries or dharma centers, currently flourishing around the world as some sort of fad or fashion.
His Holiness and the Tibetan government work toward autonomy, but every Tibetan protest echoes with slogans like “Free Tibet” and “Chinese go home”. Recently people walked from Boston to New York, on a “March for Independence”. So which one is it? Autonomy or Independence, you can’t choose both.
Our struggle doesn’t make much sense now, does it? We are not sure of what we’re fighting for. Are we?
Many years ago my brother and I were so excited on our National uprising day, the 10th of March, screaming at the Chinese Embassy, burning the Chinese flag, the police beatings and the arrests etc. But now my brother supports autonomy, while I fight on to free Tibet, and my sister is truly confused.
My grandmother was tortured and killed by the Chinese. About 1.5 million Tibetans have sacrificed their lives for Tibet’s Independence and still they expect me to say that Tibet is a part of China.
I feel we are like a handful of sheep in a wild jungle filled with ferocious wolves, expecting them to understand and be compassionate to us, believing we shouldn’t fight.
We spend hours before Chinese embassies shouting “Free Tibet” and “Chinese Go Home”, while our delegates visit Lhasa and Beijing with smiles on their faces and the “Middle Way” mantra on their lips. And we still expect the Chinese leaders to trust us.
It hurt, when our leaders requested all Tibetans and supporters not to protest because there was a dialogue going on. I was shocked and angry. First of all, I wasn’t protesting because anyone told me to. I was fighting for the rights of my people. That moment somehow broke me down. It was like cheating our brave men and women who fought for ‘OUR’ freedom. All of a sudden I felt stupid.
Has not our passivity caused more pain to our people than all the guns of China?
I feel the middle way approach can be likened to a man on the threshold who is there to claim that if people accuse him of being inside he could say he was half outside, and if they accused him of being outside then he could claim he was just going in.
Our Tibetan Teacher told us that truth will ultimately win and one day Tibet will be free. He used to tell us that no matter how harsh the wind is, it can never blow out the light of truth.
Genla, are you still there?
“I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honor than that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonor.”
– M. K. Gandhi *
How can we go back to Tibet, and what will we tell our brothers and sisters there? They risked their lives, fought to the very end, while we surrendered even before the real fight began.
We compromised and even went as far as judging our own fight impractical. What a shame.
Their sacrifices seem to mean nothing for our leaders. They fought for us and we betrayed them. But, when I go back home to Tibet, I want my Tibetan brothers and sisters to look at me with pride and honor.
Now I am 25 yrs old, and have come to the conclusion that Rinpoche and Trulkus don’t have any supernatural powers. They never had any. Such was the world I lived in. That was what I thought.
With deep respect and apology to our leaders, I wish to disagree with your policies.
Never mind, I’ll keep fighting on my own.
*www.mkgandhi.org/nonviolence/index.htm
Thupten N. Chakrishar is a New York based Tibetan activist, poet, author and a filmmaker. He can be reached at thuptensft@yahoo.com
