How India enabled Tibetans to preserve their religion, culture and language

Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, celebrates his 90th birthday this weekend. This is a moment to rejoice in India’s history of solidarity with the Tibetan people, and the fact that the Dalai Lama chose India to be his home when he fled Tibet in 1959. Reducing the event to a matter of political expediency alone keeps us from appreciating the cultural links, meanings, and symbolism at play.

 

In his autobiography, Freedom in Exile (1990), the Dalai Lama shares that the decision to leave Tibet was made at the insistence of Nechung, the state oracle. He realised that his life was in danger, and that he would be able to serve his people better in exile. Tibetans see him as an emanation of Chenrezig, a Bodhisattva who takes rebirth to benefit sentient beings.

 

“For centuries, the Dalai Lamas have conferred with the Nechung Oracle — human mediums who become periodically possessed by Pehar (a protector deity) and his emanations — over matters of governance,” writes Christopher Bell, associate professor of religious studies at Stetson University in Florida, in his book The Dalai Lama and the Nechung Oracle (2021).

 

The original Nechung Monastery, which is the seat of the oracle, is on the outskirts of Lhasa. A new Nechung Monastery was built in Dharamsala close to the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, and the offices of the Tibetan government in exile. This is just one example of how being in India has enabled Tibetans to preserve their religion, culture and language.

 

Vicki Mackenzie’s book The Revolutionary Life of Freda Bedi: British Feminist, Indian Nationalist, Buddhist Nun (2017) applauds Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, for giving the Dalai Lama “a warm welcome on the grounds that India and Tibet shared cultural and spiritual bonds that had existed for centuries”. Ms Bedi was appointed to the Ministry of External Affairs as an advisor on the welfare of Tibetan refugees. She provided assistance at refugee camps in Missamari, Buxa, Sikkim and Kalimpong, raised funds, and also involved her children as volunteers.

 

T C Tethong, a Tibetan student of medicine in Darjeeling, was asked to be an interpreter from Tibetan to English when the Dalai Lama crossed into India. In Ms Mackenzie’s book, Tethong recalls, “Having just escaped from a deteriorating and desperate situation in Tibet, I thought His Holiness would discuss the political scenario and what could be done to help along those lines. But the Dalai Lama’s priorities were resettlement and education for his people.” This interpreter became the Dalai Lama’s private secretary in later years. Ms Bedi turned out to be the first Western woman to become a fully ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun. She  was convinced of the need to pay special attention to the young refugees who were known to be reincarnations of highly advanced spiritual masters. With funds from the Indian government, she set up the Young Lamas Home School in Delhi where they were taught English, Hindi, current affairs, geography, how to conduct themselves in a cultural environment that was new to them, and how to present themselves before a Western audience because she wanted them to “plant the seeds of the Buddha’s teachings into American, European and Australian soil”. The school was later moved from Delhi to Dalhousie.

 

Ms Mackenzie points out that many of these students — Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Gelek Rinpoche, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Akong Rinpoche, Tarthang Tulku — became “the founding fathers of Western Buddhism”. Another crucial development has taken place within Tibetan Buddhism in exile. The feudal and patriarchal structure of Tibetan society, which prevented nuns from having access to the same opportunities as their male counterparts, is gradually changing thanks to Ms Bedi and other women who have spoken about their struggles.

 

The Dalai Lama has expressed his gratitude for India’s hospitality on multiple occasions, and has been vocal about his admiration for the Gandhian approach to nonviolence. It remains to be seen whether the campaign to award him a Bharat Ratna will yield results anytime soon. It is reassuring, however, for his followers all over the world to know that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue in exile. 

The author is an independent journalist and educator based in Mumbai