181010Z SEP 84
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY
7536
E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR
TAGS: PINT, SHUN, CH
SUBJECT: TIBET: A MODEST
RELIGIOUS REVIVAL
1. (C) - ENTIRE TEXT.
2. SUMMARY: EMBOFFS WHO
VISITED TIBET FROM SEPTEMBER 3 TO SEPTEMBER 11 FOUND THAT, UNDER GOVERNMENT
PATRONAGE AND AFTER YEARS OF OPPRESSION, RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY IN TIBET IS ONCE
AGAIN WIDESPREAD. ACCORDING TO THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES, SOME 75 TIBETAN
BUDDHIST MONASTERIES HAVE BEEN RESTORED AND REOPENED AND ANOTHER 125 ARE UNDER REPAIR
(OUT OF AN ORIGINAL 2700). SOME, LIKE THE GREAT GADAN
MONASTERY, WERE SO BADLY SACKED IN THE PAST THAT THEY MAY TAKE DECADES TO
RESTORE. EMBOFFS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO TRAVEL
OUTSIDE THE LHASA REGION BUT A FOREIGNER WHO DID REPORTED THAT IN RURAL REGIONS MONASTERIES THAT ONCE EXISTED HAVE NOT YET
BEEN REOPENED. ONLY A FRACTION
OF THE PRE-1959 LAMAS SEEM
TO HAVE RETURNED TO MONASTIC LIFE, BUT MORE ARE BEING TRAINED AT THE
GOVERNMENT-FUNDED BUDDHIST INSTITUTE NEAR LHASA. TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS FAITH
AMONG ORDINARY TIBETANS APPEARS TO BE VERY STRONG, JUDGING FROM THE CROWDS AT
LHASA MONASTERIES. TWO MOSQUES HAVE ALSO REOPENED IN LHASA, FOR THE ESTIMATED
1500-PERSON MOSLEM COMMUNITY. THE CELEBRATION OF A RECENT ISLAMIC FESTIVAL WAS
FEATURED PROMINENTLY ON LHASA TV.
THE RELIGIOUS REVIVAL
REFLECTS THE BEIJING GOVERNMENT'S REALIZATION THAT TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND
RELIGION IN TIBET HAVE PROVEN RESISTANT TO HAN CHINESE ATTEMPTS TO SUPPRESS
THEM, AND THAT TOLERATION OF RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES MAY AMELIORATE RESENTMENT OF
CHINESE RULE. THE GOVERNMENT ALSO HOPES ITS RELIGIOUS MEASURES WILL HELP TO
ATTRACT THE DALAI LAMA TO RETURN TO CHINA. TOLERATION HAS ITS LIMITS, HOWEVER.
GOVERNMENT POLICY IS ALSO DESIGNED TO ENSURE THAT THE LAMAS WILL NOT BE RESTORED
TO THEIR FORMER THEOCRATIC POSITION OF TEMPORAL AS WELL AS SPIRITUAL POWER.END
SUMMARY.
3. FOLLOWING PARTY SECRETARY
HU YAOBANG'S VISIT TO TIBET IN 1980 AND THE PARTY SECRETARIAT'S WORK CONFERENCE
ON TIBET EARLIER THIS YEAR, CHINESE POLICY IN TIBET – AS ELSEWHERE IN THE
COUNTRY - IS TO PROMOTE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND PROTECT NORMAL RELIGIOUS
ACTIVITIES. TIBET PARTY FIRST SECRETARY YIN FATANG LAID OUT GROUND RULES IN HIS
MAY ADDRESS TO THE REGIONAL PARTY PLENUM: PROTECT ACTIVITIES OF BELIEVERS AND
MONKS, REPAIR TEMPLES, GIVE FULL PLAY TO THE ROLE OF THE BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION, SUPPORT
RELIGIOUS PERSONAGES IN DEVELOPING SOCIAL SERVICES, AND STRENGTHEN PARTY
LEADERSHIP OVER RELIGIOUS WORK (FBIS HONG KONG 180400Z MAY 84). EMBASSY
OFFICERS WHO VISITED TIBET FROM SEPTEMBER 3 TO SEPTEMBER 11 SAW THE RESULTS - A
LIMITED RELIGIOUS RENAISSANCE AND A SLOW RECOVERY FROM THE DAYS, BOTH BEFORE
AND DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION, WHEN MONASTERIES WERE DESTROYED AND MONKS
SENT TO LABOR CAMPS.
4. OF THE 2700 MONASTERIES
THAT BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION OFFICIALS ESTIMATE EXISTED IN TIBET DURING THE 1950'S
(AND ALL OF WHICH WERE CLOSED DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION), SEVENTY-FIVE
HAVE REOPENED AND ANOTHER 125 ARE IN THE PROCESS OF RENOVATION. NEPALESE CONSUL
GENERAL IN LHASA WHO TRAVELS THROUGHOUT TIBET,
REPORTS THAT THE MONASTERIES THAT ONCE DOTTED THE RURAL AREAS HAVE NOT BEEN
REOPENED. THE POTALA PALACE, JOKHANG TEMPLE, AND TWO OUT OF LHASA'S THREE GREAT
MONASTERIES ARE IN REGULAR OPERATION, ALTHOUGH WITH FRACTIONS OF THE NUMBER OF
MONKS WHO ONCE RAN THEM. THE THIRD MONASTERY, GADAN, WAS SACKED, ALLEGEDLY BY
RED GUARDS, DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION AND WILL REPORTEDLY TAKE DECADES TO RESTORE
TO ITS FORMER GRANDEUR.
5. AT DREPUNG MONASTERY, AN
ELDERLY MONK SAID THAT THE NUMBER OF MONKS THERE HAD BEEN REDUCED TO 380 (FROM
AN EARLIER FIGURE OF 10,000), WITH SIXTEEN NEW, YOUNG MONKS INDUCTED THIS YEAR.
HE GAVE A FLAVOR FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE PAST DECADES BY DESCRIBING HIS
TWENTY-TWO YEARS IN PRISON: "I WAS WITH THE DALAI LAMA IN 1959 (WHEN HE FLED
TO INDIA). THE CHINESE FIRED ON THE MONKS. AFTERWARD I WAS IN PRISON. PEOPLE
DIED EVERY DAY FROM STARVATION. WE ATE INSECTS.
YOU (ADDRESSING THE HAN CHINESE GUIDE) KILLED A LOT OF US." NOW THAT HE
HAS COME BACK TO THE MONASTERY, HE WAS ASKED, ARE RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES
RETURNING TO NORMAL? "ALMOST (CHABUDUO)," HE REPLIED WISTFULLY.
6. THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE
BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION AND ABBOT OF SERA MONASTERY, LHUNZHUB TABKYAI, DESCRIBED
THE CURRENT STATE OF BUDDHISM IN TIBET. HE SAID THERE WERE NOW SOME 3,000 MONKS
IN MONASTERIES, ALTHOUGH THERE WERE OTHERS WHO HAD NOT RE-ENTERED THE
INSTITUTIONS. NEW MONKS ARE BEING RECRUITED, AND OLD ONES RETURNING TO THE FOLD.
HE ESTIMATED THAT THERE ARE ALMOST 1,000 MORE PRACTICING NOW THAN ONE YEAR AGO.
THE NEW GOVERNMENTFUNDED
BUDDHIST INSTITUTE NEAR
LHASA NOW HAS 120 STUDENTS, WHO ARE ALREADY MONKS BUT ARE GETTING ADVANCED
TRAINING OR MAKING UP FOR A LACK OF TRAINING DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION.
THESE MONKS WILL GO BACK TO THEIR VILLAGES AFTER GRADUATION. HE SAID HE DIDN'T
EXPECT ALL 2700 FORMER MONASTERIES TO BE REOPENED, BUT "THOSE THE PEOPLE WANT
RESTORED WILL BE." HE SAID ONE LARGE NUNNERY IN LHASA HAD BEEN RESTORED;
OTHERS HAD NOT BEEN. TABKYAI EXPRESSED HIMSELF SATISFIED WITH CURRENT
GOVERNMENT POLICIES, AND THE CURRENT CONSTITUTION GUARANTEEING FREEDOM OF
RELIGION. HIS ONLY CAVEAT, HE SAID, WAS THAT HE HOPED THE CURRENT POLICIES
JOULD BE CONTINUED. (THIS ECHOES WHAT THE HEAD OF THE BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION TOLD
VISITING PARTY SECRETARIAT MEMBER HU QILI IN AUGUST, ACCORDING TO THE NEPALI
CONSUL GENERAL (IN PARAPHRASE): YOU ARE A YOUNG MAN; THEREFORE WE HOPE YOU CAN
CONTINUE THESE POLICIES, RATHER THAN THE ONES OF THE OLD PEOPLE IN THE PAST.)
7. MONKS ARE ALSO APPEARING
IN OTHER AREAS OF LIFE OUTSIDE THE MONASTERIES. WITH THE NEW EMPHASIS ON TIBETAN
CULTURE, SOME WILL BE TEACHING TRADITIONAL MEDICINE WHEN THE NEW UNIVERSITY IN
LHASA OPENS NEXT YEAR. OTHERS ARE SETTING UP LOCAL BUDDHIST ASSOCIATIONS AROUND
THE REGION OR, UNDER THE RUBRIC OF "PATRIOTIC PERSONAGES," ARE BEING
RECRUITED TO SERVE IN ADVISORY POSITIONS IN EXPANDED PEOPLE'S POLITICAL
CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCES. NINE SENIOR MONKS HAVE BEEN INVITED TO VISIT NEPAL IN
OCTOBER TO MEET THEIR COUNTERPARTS THERE, IN WHAT THE NEPALIS BELIEVE IS THE
FIRST OFFICIALLY-SANCTIONED TIBETAN RELIGIOUS VISIT ABROAD, AT LEAST, SINCE
1959.
8. WHILE THE TRADITIONAL
RELIGIOUS HIERARCHY OF TIBET IS CLEARLY BEING PERMITTED NEW BREATHING ROOM
COMPARED WITH THE DAYS WHEN ITS MEMBERS WERE REVILED AND THROWN INTO PRISON,
SUCH REHABILITATION HAS ITS LIMITS. THE LAMAS ARE EXPECTED TO ACCEPT THE
CURRENT POLITICAL ORDER AND THE PRIMACY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY. THERE WILL BE
NO RETURN TO THE FORMER TIBETAN THEOCRACY HEADED BY THE DALAI AND PANCHEN
LAMAS. THE OFFICIAL POSITION, AS OUTLINED TO EMBOFFS BY AN OFFICIAL OF THE
TIBET CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE, IS THAT THE DALAI AND PANCHEM LAMAS ARE THE
HIGHEST RELIGIOUS PERSONAGES IN TIBET, ROLES CONFIRMED EVEN BY PAST EMPERORS.
TIBETANS HAVE GREAT RESPECT FOR THEM AND WOULD WELCOME THE RETURN OF THE DALAI
LAMA AS PART OF THE RESTORATION OF NATIONAL UNITY. THE DALAI LAMA MADE ERRORS
IN LEAVING TIBET AND IN HARMING NATIONAL UNITY FROM ABROAD, BUT HE IS WELCOME
TO RETURN TO WORK FOR UNITY. THE POSITION RECENTLY ARTICULATED BY PARTY
SECRETARY HU YAOBANG IN HIS INTERVIEW WITH YOMIURI (BEIJING 16653) MADES IT
CLEAR THAT THE DALAI LAMA COULD NOT RETURN TO LIVE IN TIBET AND WOULD HAVE ONLY
SPIRITUAL, NOT SECULAR, RESPONSIBILITY. BY CONTRAST, A NUMBER OF
CHINESE-SPEAKING MONKS AND SHOPKEEPERS SELLING PHOTOS OF THE DALAI LAMA IN THE
BAZAAR, EXPRESSED A MUCH LESS EQUIVOCAL VIEWSCLEARLY WELCOMING THE PROSPECT OF
A VISIT. SHOULD THE DALAI LA1A WISH TO AND BE PERMITTED TO COME BACK TO TIBET,
HE WOULD BE GUARANTEED A TUMULTUOUS
WELCOME SURPASSING THE OUTPOURING OF ENTHUSIASM THAT GREETED THE PANCHEN LAMA
ON HIS VISIT IN 1982. AND THAT FACT, OF COURSE, ENTERS INTO CHINESE CALCULATIONS OF WHETHER OR NOT, AND UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS,
HE WOULD BE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO LHASA. THE CHINESE CLEARLY DO NOT WANT TO
APPEAR TO BE SOLICITING HIS RETURN, AND WOULD PROBABLY TOLERATE A VISIT ONLY
UNDER STRICT GUIDELINES. SO FAR THE DALAI LAMA HAS PLACED CONTRARY CONDITIONS
ON ANY VISIT (I.E. MINIMAL INTERFERENCE FROM BEIJING). OFFICIALS IN LHASA
APPEAR JUSTIFIED IN THEIR EXPECTATION THAT THEY WILL NOT BE SEEING HIM THERE
SOON. BUT THE RESULTS OF A SCHEDULED VISIT TO CHINA BY THREE PRESENTATIVES OF
THE DALAI LAMA HOULD PROVIDE A CLEARER INDICATION OF THE BOUNDARIES F
FLEXIBILITY ON BOTH SIDES.
9. ISLAM, A DISTINCTLY
MINORITY RELIGION IN TIBET, HAS ALSO BENEFITTED FROM THE LIBERALIZED POLICIES,
BUT APPARENTLY ONLY IN LHASA. TWO MOSQUES REOPENED IN THE CITY IN 1982 AFTER
BEING CLOSED DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION. ACCORDING TO AN IMAM AT ONE OF
THEM, THOSE ARE THE ONLY TWO OPEN IN THE REGION. THE IMAM SAID THERE WERE ABOUT
1500 MOSLEMS IN LHASA, OF WHOM 300 REGULARLY ATTEND THE FRIDAY SERVICES. HE
SAID HE HAD BEEN REHABILITATED IN 1979 AND RETURNED FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE. AS AN
INDICATION OF OFFICIAL APPROBATION, TIBET TV SHOWED LENGTHY SEGMENTS ON
SUCCEEDING NIGHTS OF THE CELEBRATION OF ID-AL-AZHAR TWO WEEKS AGO.
10. COMMENT: RELIGIOUS
LIBERALIZATION, LIKE OTHER REFORMS (SEPTEL), WAS WELCOMED BY THE
CHINESE-SPEAKING TIBETANS TO WHOM EMBOFFS SPOKE. THE MANY WHO SUFFERED UNDER
THE OLD, POST-1959 POLICIES UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT THE STAYING POWER OF
PRESENT DIRECTIVES FROM BEIJING. BUT SO FAR THEY ARE HELPING TO IMPLEMENT THEM BECAUSE
THEY TOO HAVE AN INTEREST IN REVIVING TRADITIONAL TIBETAN CULTURAL AND
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES. THE LAMAS ARE A SMALL FRACTION OF THEIR FORMER NUMBERS BUT
EXPRESS CONFIDENCE THAT THEY CAN RECRUIT NEW DEVOUT TIBETAN BUDDHISTS TO THE
FOLD (EMBOFFS SAW YOUNG NOVICES IN SEVERAL LHASA-AREA MONASTERIES). TIBETAN
BUDDHISM SUFFERED MUCH PHYSICAL DAMAGE AFTER 1959 AND IS PROBABLY LOSING SOME
SUPPORT AMONG YOUNG, ANIZED TIBETANS. RELIGION,
HOWEVER, IS SO INEXTRICABLY BOUND UP WITH TIBETAN LIFE THAT THE GREAT MAJORITY
OF TIBETANS APPEAR TO REMAIN COMMITTED TO THEIR FAITH, A FACT THE CHINESE HAVE
RECOGNIZED AND -- FOR THE TIME BEING AT LEAST -- ACCEPTED AS INEVITABLE. HUMMEL
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