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For all the recent media attention it has
received, Tibet is a country whose history is little known and
poorly understood in the West. Because of its cultural and geographical
isolation, during modern times it has come to symbolize an almost
dream-like realm, or a mythical Shangri-la. Novels and films
have portrayed it as a place where people once lived simple,
happy lives while practising their Buddhist religion under the
guidance of their beneficent lamas, innocent of and untouched
by the perceived negative and corrupting influences of Western
materialism.
This simplistic and historically uninformed view of Tibet remains
quite common among many in the movement to “free Tibet”
today. But any attempt to understand Tibet’s present economic,
social, political, religious, and cultural realities must take
into account the long and fascinating history of this remote
and forbidding mountain nation, whose people know it as the “Land
of Snows” on “the Roof of the World.”
A Warrior Kingdom Gives Peace a Chance
Bounded along its long southern and western borders by the lofty
peaks of the Himalaya mountain system, and stretching over vast
distances to the north and east into the flat plains and plateaux
of Asia, Tibet was once a huge country, approximately the size
of Western Europe. The area that currently comprises the Tibet
Autonomous Region (TAR) of China represents only a fraction of
this territory, the rest having been annexed into China proper
in 1965. Whereas only about three to four million ethnic Tibetans
inhabit the TAR—whose capital is the holy city of Lhasa,
the centre of the Tibetan Buddhist faith—today, between
four and six million people who are ethnically Tibetan live outside
the TAR, primarily in China proper.
Almost 2000 years ago, the rulers of Tibet
controlled a huge empire and possessed awesome military power.
Respected and feared by their Chinese, Persian, and Indian neighbours,
they aggressively extended their territory far beyond the present
borders of Tibet. The legendary 17th-century ruler Srongsten
Gampo exacted an annual tribute of 10 000 rolls of silk from
the Emperor of China in order to prevent further invasions of
his kingdom. The Tibetan ruler’s soldiers were skilled horsemen
and archers, who could be unleashed on their unsuspecting neighbours
at a moment’s notice, with devastating effects.
But during the reign of this warlord, something remarkable occurred
in his warrior kingdom. Two of the emperor’s wives, of Nepalese
and Chinese extraction, introduced a new religion into the Tibetan
court. This was the teaching of Buddha, the “Enlightened
One” who had first preached his message of universal peace
and spiritual harmony in neighbouring Nepal many centuries before.
Buddhism found fertile soil in Tibet, where it practically supplanted
the indigenous Bon religion by the eighth century. The most dramatic
result of this spiritual conversion was the decision of Tibet’s
once warlike rulers to renounce conflict with their neighbours.
A contemporary chronicler informs us that the emperor and his
army “laid their weapons at the foot of the Lord Buddha’s
Lotus Throne and forswore the arts of war.” By the 10th
century, Tibet had withdrawn from the Indian and Chinese territories
it once ruled, but its legacy of military prowess remained a
sufficient deterrent so that no outside power dared to invade
it for many years to follow.
In 1207, however, Tibet fell under the control of the Mongol
armies of Genghis Khan. He had led his fearsome hordes from Korea
to the gates of Europe, and presided over an empire whose extent
rivalled those of Rome and Alexander the Great in ancient times.
To this day, Genghis Khan is portrayed in Western history as
a bloodthirsty and destructive warlord. But to Tibetans, he is
remembered as a fair-minded ruler who showed great respect for
their religion and culture.
As a gesture of his ambitions to universal rule, the great Khan
once invited representatives of the world’s major religions—Christianity,
Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, to his court in order to adjudicate
their rival claims to spiritual truth. He declared that he would
decree the winning faith to be the state religion of his realm.
According to legend, the Tibetan Buddhist monks won the contest
by asking Genghis Khan to sit comfortably while they offered
him a glass of his favourite tea. As if by magic, the glass rose
by itself to the astonished Khan’s mouth! Suitably impressed,
Genghis Khan issued an edict confirming Buddhism’s status
as the faith his subjects were recommended to embrace. In 1270,
his grandson, Kublai Khan, officially converted to Tibetan Buddhism.
By 1350, Tibet’s native rulers had reasserted their supremacy
over their land. But Tibetan Buddhism remained deeply entrenched
in Mongolia, where it continues to thrive to this day. While
Tibetan monks administered to the spiritual needs of the Mongols,
the fearsome successors of Genghis Khan underwrote Tibet’s
security from foreign invasion, while donating generously to
the upkeep of its numerous monasteries.
Discussion
1. Identify and explain the importance
of the following: TAR, Srongsten Gampo, Buddhism, Genghis Khan,
Mongols.
2. Why was the introduction of Buddhism
into Tibet such an important event in the country’s history?
3. In what ways does the history of Buddhism
suggest ecumenism, that is, a striving for religious unity that
transcends differences in doctrine?
4. In terms of mythology, what is particularly
appealing about this period of time in Tibet’s history?
5. How does this historical period demonstrate
the issue of autonomy and self-determination? Why is this significant
in terms of this News in Review report?
6. When examining the history of Tibet,
why is it important for us to be aware of our Western cultural
bias?
Introduction
Living Symbols
The Land of Snows
The High Lamas
and the “Great Game”
Tibet and China
in the 20th Century
The Occupation
of Tibet
Hollywood Goes
Tibetan
Discussion, Research,
and Essay, Questions |
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Indicates material appropriate or adaptable for
younger viewers.
