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Religion, politics and the meaning of self-sacrifice for Tibet

2016; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 24; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09584935.2015.1132191

1469-364X

Zara Ramsay,

Indian and Buddhist Studies

AbstractThis paper analyses opinions of political self-sacrifice amongst Tibetan refugees, and explores their meaning for wider debates on the evolving relationship between religion and politics in the Tibetan national struggle. This is a particularly pertinent question at present, given the recent prevalence of self-immolation in Tibet and connected debates about whether such protests are religious or political issues. Does the increase of self-sacrificial political methodology indicate a secularisation process of the Tibetan movement, as some have suggested, or is it simply reflective of the natural fluidity of religion's political influence? This paper supports the latter position and seeks to explore the nature of this dynamic relationship, including the positioning within it of the Dalai Lama.Keywords: Tibetself-immolationself-sacrificeDalai LamaBuddhism Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1. The term political self-sacrifice, also referred to as self-suffering, is used to mean harm that is willingly accepted, encouraged or inflicted upon the self for political purposes. This study refers in particular to hunger striking and self-immolation.2. Naturally, this study can make no claim to represent the ideas of Tibetans inside Tibet either. Political restrictions in Tibet make this type of research impossible within its borders.3. At an audience at Cambridge University in 2013, a student asked if the Dalai Lama would support an economic and cultural boycott of China. He replied in the negative, stating that he would consider it unfair to target the Chinese masses rather than the state. 'Better to bring China into the mainstream of world affairs and try to influence it on the basis of friendship', he said (see http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/936-speaking-about-non-violence-and-the-path-to-peace-and-happiness-in-cambridge). Of course, sceptics would question the extent to which such a statement may actually result from his awareness that international support in such efforts would not be forthcoming. In terms of realpolitik, therefore, it may be regarded as more sensible for the Tibetan leadership to reject such ideas, and in doing so to maintain the (internationally admired) image of Tibetans as innately friendly/non-confrontational.4. The Precepts are a set of duties instructing Buddhists to refrain from particular actions (do not kill, do not take what is not willingly given, do not engage in sexual misconduct, do not speak falsely, do not use intoxicants).5. Mahatma Gandhi termed his nonviolent political approach satyagaraha, which included a range of methods now standard in most nonviolent resistance movements. One essential component of it was self-suffering (viewed from a modernised Hindu perspective of tapas, or penance). For more information see Gandhi (Citation2005); Saxena (Citation1976).6. Shantideva was an eighth century Buddhist monk, and is generally considered one of the most important contributors to Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. His two most important contributions were the Siksamuccaya and the Bodhicaryavatara, the latter of which the Dalai Lama (Citation1994) has converted into a philosophical guide for modern living.7. See Thinley (Citation2007) for the Dalai Lama's full letter.8. See www.tyc.org; http://www.rangzen.com/archive/98/03_march/strike/strike.html.9. Korra is religious circumambulation around a holy site. 10. In 2006, a Tibetan protestor in Mumbai attempted to self-immolate in protest against Hu Jintao's visit to India. Onlookers managed to put out the flames and saved his life.11. In March 2008, after the Chinese state blocked a peaceful march by Tibetan monks, a riot broke out in Lhasa. Over 150 other protests (most of which are said to have been nonviolent) then erupted in ethnically Tibetan areas. The government's response involved the deployment of huge numbers of armed forces. Chinese statistics suggest that 19 people were killed in Lhasa, primarily in fires, while Tibetan organisations in exile claim that between 100 and 218 Tibetans were killed by security forces during these demonstrations.12. The Dalai Lama originally voiced his opinion of the self-immolations in a way that reflected his views of hunger strikes, but as the political situation progressed, he stopped doing so publicly. It is possible that this change in behaviour is at least partly a result of his not wanting to devalue the bravery of the self-immolators, or to give their families cause to worry about their karma, for example. However, he does continue to plead with the public not to engage in these acts, focusing instead on their likely political ineffectiveness against the Chinese state.13. For more demographic details, see http://www.savetibet.org/resources/fact-sheets/self-immolations-by-tibetans/.14. For the full text of Thich Nhat Hanh's letter to Martin Luther King see http://www.aavw.org/special_features/letters_thich_abstract02.html.15. Staff member of Gu Chu Sum, an organisation for the rehabilitation of political prisoners, in conversation with the author.16. This figure includes questionnaires completed by activists as well as non-activists. Of activists alone, only 46% stated that religion and politics should be combined. Although this is a significantly lower figure than the overall total, it is still a substantial percentage, and quite probably a higher figure than would be found in other communities.17. The latter was never claimed by members of the TYC, who continue to view their activities as political rather than religious.18. The Jataka Tales are a popular collection of parables that detail the Buddha's actions in his past lives, many of which describe situations in which he offered his life in order to appease the suffering of others. Amongst Tibetans in Dharamsala, the most popular Jataka Tale is that of the Hungry Tigress, which tells of a compassionate prince who offered his body as food to a starving tigress so that she would not have to eat her own cubs.19. Interestingly, Barnett (Citation2012) and Buffetrille (Citation2012) note that self-burning can also be legitimated in Buddhism through reference to the Lotus Sutra, which describes it as a religious offering to the Buddha. Reflecting these ideas, Lixiong's (Citation2012) study of 26 self-immolators' last words (handwritten notes, videos and verbal communication to friends and family) underscores an intention to make 'acts of religious dedication'. Since the Lotus Sutra was traditionally popular in Chinese rather than Tibetan Buddhism, Barnett (Citation2012) suggests that the self-immolators' ideas could actually have resulted from their exposure to Chinese culture, which still bears marks of its traditional influences in contemporary respect for nationalist martyrdom, for example (see also Shakya Citation2012a). Notably, however, self-immolation as religious dedication was not mentioned by Tibetans in Dharamsala during this study. This discrepancy perhaps reflects the differences that exist between those living in the globally connected exile environment and those living inside Chinese-controlled Tibet.20. While I believe that the religious beliefs of Tibetans in Dharamsala are genuine, this does not mean that other aspects of the 'Shangri-la' process are not operating. My experience does not suggest that Tibetans' religious beliefs necessarily make them feel 'innately' nonviolent or peaceful, for example, although they do promote these images of themselves in order to protect their international image. This is a very complex issue that relates not only to political ideas but to psychology, and I cannot do justice to a discussion of it here.21. We can only speculate on the reason behind the Dalai Lama's decision not to explain his reasoning in detail publicly. As noted earlier, his first reactions to the self-immolations mirrored his response to the hunger strikes: they were brave acts but ultimately they were violent (and thus undesirable) ones. In Norbu's (Citation2012, n.p.) words, 'he gave the impression that it wasn't a Buddhist thing to do'. As the self-immolations grew in number, however, his public pronouncements became more muted. He shifted to focus on the positive intentions of the self-immolators, and stopped referring to the violence of their acts (although he continued to plead with Tibetans not to self-immolate). As noted earlier, this is perhaps because the topic is an extremely sensitive one, and families and friends of self-immolators would be greatly impacted by an outright pronouncement of disapproval.