© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre (TRSHC), Darjeeling, INDIA
Being an inspiration for 6 million Tibetans, and the approximate 100,000 impoverished Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal who had followed his lead into exile, it is no surprised that photos and newspaper cuttings (in various languages) of the 72*-year-old Buddhist monk, the 14th Dalai Lama (or Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (born Lhamo Döndrub)) is seen every where at TRSHC.
The 14th Dalai Lama is not only revered as a spiritual leader, but that of a subtly, passive defiant monk whom they place their hopes for a free Tibet and reunification with love ones.
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On hearing that the Chinese Communist had invaded Tibet in 1950, the 14th Dalai Lama’s advisers purportedly placed two balls of kneaded tsamba (barley flour) in a golden bowl filled with water to seek divine confirmation if the Dalai Lama should leave Lhasa. With the affirmation received, cups of buttered tea was set out for good luck and a troop made their way over mountain passes in freezing 24° C below zero weather to a monastery at the Indian border, marking his first trip to India.
Returning seven months later, the 14th Dalai Lama’s political and religious position and power had shifted; the Chinese gave him 10 yellow limousines, a telephone that connects with Peking (Beijing), a household full of Communists and in 1954 an ‘invitation’ to Peking (Beijing) for ’special tutoring’. With time and under suppression, more and more of his duties were passed on to the Panchen Lama, then a 21-year-old ‘puppet’ to the Chinese Communist.
Set against the backdrop of the Chinese Communist’s aim to gain legitimacy of its existence by carrying out what it regarded as the reunification of China, oppression and erosion of the Tibetan’s uniqueness (i.e. the Buddhist religion and culture), on 17th March 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama set off to India once again on an epic 15-day journey on foot with an entourage of 20, including 6 cabinet ministers.
Crossing the 500-yard wide Brahmaputra river, enduring harsh climate, extreme heights and avoiding Chinese sentry guards, the 14th Dalai Lama finally crossed the Indian border at Khenzimana Pass, taking refuge at the Tawang Monastery, 50 miles inside the Indian border. Offered asylum in India and settling in Dharamsala, in Northern India, his exile to India was followed by about 100,000 Tibetans, most of whom settled in the same area – making it known as ‘Little Lhasa’ and is currently the center of the Tibetan government in exile.
Despite half-a-century has gone by and the destruction of hundreds of gompa’s across Tibet, Beijing continues to crack down harshly religion and Buddhist tradition and brutally ‘crushes’ any oppositions leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of death through starvation, torture and execution.
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* By the Gelugpa Buddhist reckoning, the 14th Dalai Lama is 572 years old, since he is the reincarnation of all his predecessors.