Tibet: New Crackdown on Tibetan Buddhism Underway
This compelling and authoritative report outlines the impact of official Chinese policy on contemporary Tibetan Buddhist culture through previously unpublished internal government documents and eyewitness reportage.
Accompanying the report is a Sourcebook of Current Chinese Documents on Religious Policy that provides governments, human rights organizations and academics extensive evidence of changes in religious policy. A video containing recent and rare footage also accompanies the report, graphically illustrating the recent demolition of key monasteries, officials conducting political education sessions in monasteries, official enthronement ceremonies and many other topics in the report.
"China proclaims to be protecting religion and culture in Tibet but its internal documents flatly contradict this and show an intensification of control and repression by the government," said John Ackerly, President of the International Campaign for Tibet. "We are now seeing a level of government intrusiveness and control over monasteries that was unheard of in the 1980s and early 1990s," Mr. Ackerly continued.
The 122-page illustrated study demonstrates that many of the controls and restrictions that China has been implementing in recent years have little to do with curbing dissident political activity but are simply aimed at suppressing the growth and strength of religion in Tibet.
'When the Sky Fell to Earth' reports that:
Officials at all levels in Tibet are now being exhorted to
strengthen control over monasteries and over the process of identifying reincarnations
of important Buddhist monks and nuns.
Crackdowns on prayer ceremonies for the Dalai Lama and important religious institutions
in eastern Tibet in recent years have been described by some Tibetans as being
like a 'second Cultural Revolution.'
Political education campaigns continue in monasteries and nunneries throughout
Tibet, contrary to representations by Chinese officials to Western governments
that they have been discontinued.
The PRC authorities are focusing increasingly on the 'control' of religion through
administrative and legal mechanisms that enable them to clamp down on religious
activities while claiming they are operating according to a 'rule of law.'
The atheist Chinese government is taking a more aggressive approach to the identification,
enthronement and education of reincarnate lamas following the escape of the
17th Karmapa into exile in 2000.
The enforcement of atheist policies by the Chinese state has created widespread
despair among Tibetans in Tibet, as spiritual faith and loyalty to the Dalai
Lama are intrinsic elements of Tibetan Buddhist culture. 'When the Sky Fell
to Earth' details the factors that have led to many thousands of Tibetans escaping
into exile in recent years to practise their religion, including: the dearth
of senior teachers and scholars inside Tibet; restrictions on the movement of
popular religious leaders; virulent political campaigns; the historical legacy
of the Cultural Revolution; limitations on numbers of monks and nuns in monasteries
and nunneries; and restrictions on pilgrimage.
"Undermining religion in Tibet is a political imperative for today's China," said Kate Saunders, a Tibet expert and one of the authors of the report. "The close links between Tibetan identity, sense of nationhood and spiritual faith means that religious practice and devotion are often perceived by Beijing as a threat to the state and to the unity of the PRC, and an obstacle to economic progress," Ms. Saunders said.
"The result of China's current policies and practices
will be the emasculation of one of the world's great religious traditions and
in its stead a sanitized, superficial set of practices beholden to a communist
party," said Mr. Ackerly.
Source: International Campaign for Tibet