The Dalai Lama, sixty years out of Tibet

BARCELONA – Six decades ago, A Chinese dance company has changed the history of Tibet forever.

The government of Mao Zedong invited Tenzin Gyatso, who was then 23 years old, attended a traditional dance that was to take place on March 10, 1959 in the Chinese Army barracks in Lhasa.

Tibet was under Chinese control for eight years: during those years, Tenzin Gyatso – that's what he called the XIV Dalai Lama, the current one – had tried to negotiate the autonomy of the region with Mao, but the path of dialogue did not work.

In Lhasa, rumor has spread that this seemingly innocent book was a trap from China to kidnap the Tibetan spiritual leader. Thousands of people gathered at the gates of the Dalai Lama's summer palace, Norbulingka, to prevent him from leaving and protecting him. After a week of riots, Tenzin Gyatso took off his monk's robe, put on a black coat, and threw a rifle at his shoulder. Once camouflaged, according to his memoirs, he left the palace escorted by two soldiers and managed to pbad unnoticed among the crowd.

Sixty years later, The Dalai Lama is an icon of pop, a spiritual guide for Buddhists and non-Buddhists, a visible leader of the religion of those who say they are not religious.. He is one of the few people – even for political paradoxes – able to agree with a furious anticommunist with a nostalgic hippie. It is one of the few historical figures that turned the twentieth century into a life, especially after the death of Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro.

In recent years, the Nobel Peace Prize has been criticized for its so-called lukewarmness following the mbadacre of the Rohingya minority by the Buddhist-dominated Burmese army. The Dalai Lama sent a letter to Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Burma, asking him to intervene, and said, "Buddha would have helped these poor Muslims."

(The strange belief, prevalent in the West, that Buddhism breathes souls into indestructible pacifism is belied not only by Burma, but also by Sri Lanka, whose army has found itself armed in 2009 with the Tamil guerrillas in a bloody offensive, he was grossly ignored around the world).

The sworn enemy of the Dalai Lama has always been obviously China, which banned the visit of foreigners to Tibet on the occasion of the anniversary of March 10. The Dalai Lama has long been willing to negotiate with China for autonomy that does not involve the full independence of Tibet, but Beijing knows that it has the advantage and that it does not exist. there is no reason to give way. On the contrary: he knows that, even if there will be another Dalai Lama later, at the death of Tenzin Gyatso, the Tibetan cause will receive a blow.

"For Tibetans in Tibet, there has been sixty years of peaceful resistance and suffering under the Chinese regime," said Sonam Dagpo, secretary of international relations for exiled Tibetan authorities, in an e-mail interview. "For those in exile, sixty years of political struggle have been made to regain freedom."

Nothing indicates that things will move. Dagpo admits that "many governments are falling prey to Chinese economic and political pressures", in reference to the diplomatic vacuum often suffered by the Dalai Lama and to those who demand more autonomy or independence for Tibet.

Some six million people live in Tibet. Some 150,000 Tibetans are in exile, including 100,000 in India. Many are not born in Tibet and are second or third generation, like Palestinians born in Syria and having never seen the land of their ancestors. The new generations must decide the future of the cause.

One of the world's most illustrious refugees will turn 84 in July and face the last part of his life concentrated in the symbolic sphere and something further away from the crowd.

"His Holiness resumed his political responsibilities in 2011. But he is the symbol of Tibetan religion, culture and identity," said Dagpo, referring to the time when the Dalai Lama officially left power in the Tibetan government. the exile, whose seat is in McLeod Ganj, at the foot of the Himalayas.

During my last visit to McLeod Ganj in 2016, I felt that the Tibetan exile was more aware than ever that the political situation was not going to change. He prepared himself with resignation to a lasting pulse. The Dalai Lama has already stated in his memoirs: "The current situation can last all our life, but it can not last forever".

With China stronger than ever and the slogan of Free Tibet historical wear victim and maybe buried in the mud of nostalgiaDiplomatic efforts are continuing, but almost all efforts are devoted to strengthening cultural and religious identity, which should transcend the political plane. And this inevitably happens because of the figure of the Dalai Lama, even though he has moved away from politics.

In the desolate lobby of the first floor of the parliament of the Tibetan authorities in Indian exile, in McLeod Ganj, there was a photo gallery of successive parliaments: the first, in 1960, with only 12 deputies; the last, with 45. The next door was the room that houses the legislative chamber. The room, minimalist and white, was presided by a bristling throne, the one belonging to "His Holiness", which rarely goes to the camera. Behind the throne, a portrait of the Dalai Lama was hanging; on the sides, there was a photo of Norbulingka – the palace from which he had fled – surrounded by snow-capped mountains and a giant map of Tibet.

In this building, I spoke to Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok, Deputy Speaker of Parliament. I asked him if the Tibetan cause was losing strength.

"Even in a century like the twentieth century, of technology and development, competition and conflict, we managed to fight and keep the Tibetan movement alive, I think we are very brave, everyone is late on money, muscle and military power, like China, but we talk about non-violence, "he told me.

I thought I would ask the question differently and I told him that if I had hoped to return someday to Tibet.

"Compared to a century or the life of a person, they spent many years in exile, but for a movement or for a cause, they are nothing."

Copyright: 2019 New York Times News Service