Monks fled their homeland after facing persecution from communist China
By Meredith Ann Steback
Penn Contributing Writer
From a tightly packed room at the Six O’Clock Series lecture to a filled and buzzing dining hall containing table after table overflowing with food at the Interfaith dinner, to a steady stream of people watching the evolving sand mandala in the Ohio Room, the visiting Tibetan monks continually brought Indiana’s individual communities together this week.
Geshe Lobsang Chogyal, 67, and Tenzin Phenthok, 22, are two of the Tibetan monks. During an interview Wednesday, Phenthok acted as a translator for Chogyal, the monks’ leader, and the tension of the language barrier soon crumbled under Chopyal’s wide, kind smile, and Phenthok’s good-natured laugh.
When Chogyal was 22, he was one of the few monks who escaped from Communist China’s intensified invasion and occupation of Tibet in 1959. He crossed the Himalayan Mountains on foot and sought political asylum in India along with the Dalai Lama.
“There were only 216 surviving monks in 1959. Before that, there were more than 10,000,” Chogyal said. “Before 1959, Tibet was an independent country. We have our own history. In every aspect of culture we are a totally separate country [from China]. It is a truth. That is why we are struggling.”
During the Chinese occupation, “1.2 million people were killed. They completely destroyed more than 6,500 monasteries and temples,” Chogyal said.
“Since then, in Tibet, there is no freedom and no independence, not even freedom to study one’s own language,” Chogyal said.
“As for the monks and nuns, they do not have the freedom to study their own religion or their own practices. The Chinese established many jails for the thousands and thousands [of Tibetans] struggling for their independence. The population of prisoners in Tibet is still in the thousands and thousands.”
Returning to Tibet is a deep desire that has crossed generations. Even Phenthok, who was born in India, speaks of Tibet when asked when he will go home.
“If we want to go to Tibet it is very difficult,” Phenthok said. “Even though we are Tibetan, we are not allowed to go to our homeland.
“We need permission from outside people to go. It is not free. [The Chinese] will send an official guide for each person, for each tourist. We are not free to go where we want in our own homeland.
“Unfortunately, if they do recognize a person who has fled from Tibet, they will get [sent] to jail. Even people like me, not born in Tibet, if I wanted to go to my homeland, no. I cannot go to Tibet.”
It is partly this desire to reclaim their home that inspires the monks to travel, perform and share Tibetan culture as they did this week at IUP.
“Through our tour we are making awareness about the Tibetan situation,” Chogyal said.
“We are appealing. If any of you can write to your representative in Congress or the President of the United States, George Bush, please write to ask for a peaceful resolution between the governments of Tibet and China. The United States is very active in the struggle for Tibet, and until we regain our own independence, we are still asking for support internationally.”
The monks travel mainly in the United States, but they go all over the world, as well.
“This particular group of monks started touring last September and will end in December,” Phenthok said. “Another group is going to come here, and we are going to the reestablished monastery in India.”
Two groups of monks simultaneously run tours. The monks travel lightly — They have a trailer for their performance equipment and instruments, but individuals bring almost nothing.
“We are carrying just a sleeping bag, one toothbrush, one toothpaste. That’s about it. Monks usually do not carry too much,” Phenthok said.
This group has traveled extensively throughout the United States, including California, Oklahoma, Michigan, Florida and Pennsylvania.
“The most wonderful thing [about the United States] is its very friendly people,” Chogyal said. “Wherever we go, there is a friendly atmosphere, warm hearts, even though we haven’t met before.”
After the monks return to India, those who haven’t finished their education will continue it.
“I have not completed my studying,” Phenthok said. “Usually, in Tibetan Buddhism, philosophy to be a Geshe takes 20 years.
“Geshe is a title that is equal to a [doctorate] in Buddhism. For me a [doctorate] will take five years more.”
Both the monks entered monastic life at a young age — Chogyal at 13 and Phenthok at 9. They made the decision in agreement with their parents.
“When I was 9, I asked my parents, and they permitted me,” Phenthok said.
The monastery they will return to in Karnataka, South India, was built to continue the tradition of the monastery left behind in Tibet.
According to the Mystical Arts of Tibet Web site, the original Drepung monastery was established in Lhasa in 1416.
Loseling, which means “Hermitage of the Mind,” was one department out of four in this monastery and, at one point, housed up to 15,000 monks.
After the escape to India, “The Dalai Lama started to reestablish the monasteries, nunneries and schools for young Tibetans [in exile],” Phenthok said.
“There was almost nothing, then only about 200. Now, the population is still growing, more than 2,000 monks. Still people come from Tibet. They want to join the monasteries.”
The monks are working to keep their culture alive and vibrant even in exile. Through their travel this society, which was so isolated before 1959, has spread knowledge of itself across the globe.
Their goal is even larger than the preservation of their own identity.
“Tibetans have many various ceremonies for harmonizing the world and revitalizing the natural elements,” Phenthok said. “We bring this tour, the Mystical Arts of Tibet Tour, in order to contribute to world peace, harmony and happiness.”
For more information, check out www.mysticalartsoftibet.org
