Boy Buddha - the escape from Tibet to India of Trinley Dorje, a 14-year-old who is the third highest leader in Tibetan Buddhism - Brief Article

Current Events, Feb 4, 2000

14-Year Old Religious Leader Flees Tibet

Dharamsala, India -- It's not easy being both a teenager and a living Buddha--especially in Chinese-controlled Tibet.

On January 5, 14-year-old Ugyen Trinley Dorje, along with five followers, staggered into Dharamsala, an Indian town in the foothills of the Himalayas near the Tibetan border. The group had trekked for eight days through the world's highest mountains, enduring storms, frigid temperatures, and treacherous trails to escape from Tibet.

The trek made headlines around the world. Dorje is no ordinary teen, and his escape was no ordinary escape. He is the 17th Karmapa, the third-highest religious leader in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. (A lama is a Tibetan Buddhist monk.) Among his followers, the Karmapa is revered as a living Buddha.

The Karmapa came to Dharamsala because that is the headquarters of the Dalai Lama, the supreme religious leader of Tibet and head of a government-in-exile opposed to Chinese rule in Tibet. (See Sidelights.)

Little-Known Land

Even today, in a time of instant global communications, Tibet remains a little-known land--a region trace the size of Texas lying in the heart of Asia at altitudes so high it is called "the roof of the world."

Beginning about A.D. 650, the Tibetans, a people related to the Chinese, began to develop a unique culture and way of life based on a type of Buddhism called Lamaism. In Lamaism, religious leaders were also political leaders. From the mid-1600s to 1950, the supreme religious and political leader in Tibet had been the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama lived and governed from the 7,000-room Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet's largest city.

Religion and religious practices dominated the lives of most Tibetans from birth until death. Until very recently, more than 20 percent of Tibetan men became Buddhist monks, living in the country's more than 2,000 monasteries, where they meditated and prayed.

Traditional Tibetan culture and religion came under attack on October 7, 1950, when Chinese troops poured across the China-Tibet border. Chinese governments had exercised loose control of Tibet in the 1700s and 1800s. Modern China uses that fragile link to claim that Tibet should be part of China--a claim strongly denied by many of the 2.5 million Tibetans.

The Chinese government immediately clamped down on what it called Tibet's "primitive" culture. Chinese troops destroyed monasteries, burned ancient Buddhist works of art, smashed Buddhist statues, and forced monks to build roads and office buildings.

Those who resisted China's idea of modernization were tortured, killed, or imprisoned. In 1959, the Tibetans revolted against Chinese rule, but the revolt was swiftly put down, and the Dalai Lama fled across the Himalayas to India along with an estimated 80,000 other Tibetans.

A Well-Known Figure

The Dalai Lama, now 65, has become a well-known figure in the United States and in Europe. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for supporting nonviolent resistance to Chinese rule in Tibet.

Chinese leaders call the Dalai Lama "a fraud" and "a troublemaker" and angrily deny that China violates human rights in Tibet. The Chinese government argues that the Dalai Lama and his supporters are spreading-such lies about Chinese rule in order to regain the power they lost in Tibet and to prevent the region from joining the modern world.

In 1995, the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government clashed over the choice of the new Panchen Lama, the second-highest religious leader in Tibet. The previous Panchen Lama died in 1989. China and the Dalai Lama each picked rival successors. The Chinese arrested the Dalai Lama's choice and are believed to be holding him in a secret location somewhere in China. China's choice was enthroned as the Panchen Lama. The Karmapa was supported by both the Dalai Lama and the Chinese. Now, with the Karmapa's defection, only the Chinese choice of Panchen Lama remains in Tibet.

Dalai Lama Victory

The defection of the Karmapa was a victory for Tibetans opposed to Chinese rule in Tibet. At the time CE went to press, a decision by the Indian government to grant the Karmapa asylum was being considered. If India does not grant asylum, aides said, the Karmapa might go to the United States, where he has many followers. Meanwhile, the Karmapa is staying at the Gyuto monastery near Dharamsala, guarded both night and day by security guards.

Consider This ... Recently the Chinese government has been criticized for other human rights violations besides those in Tibet. What are those human rights criticisms?

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* Buddhism (page 1). Buddhism is one of the world's major religions. It has almost 324 million followers, mostly in southeast Asia, Japan, and Sri Lanka. In North America there are approximately 900,000 Buddhists. Buddhism was founded in India about 500 B.C. by Siddartha Gautama, called the Buddha, meaning "Enlightened One." In his life, Buddha preached that existence is a cycle of death and rebirth. Buddha also taught that life is suffering and pain that can only be surpassed by following a path of knowledge, truth, goodness, kindness, respect, self-control, and meditation. Those who stringently follow this path may reach a state of perfect peace called "Nirvana." There are different varieties of Buddhism practiced throughout the world. Lamaism, practiced in Tibet, is part of the school of Buddhist thought called "Mahayana."