by Richard S. Ehrlich
MCLEOD GANJ, India -- The maroon-robed Dalai Lama says he doesn't have time to achieve nirvana, needs an exercise-bike to stay fit, and wants to visit disputed areas of Chinese-held Tibet.
Copyright by Richard S. Ehrlich
Richard S. Ehrlich's Asia news, non-fiction book titled, "Hello My Big Big Honey!" plus hundreds of photographs are available at his website http://www.oocities.org/asia_correspondent
September 1983
Dalai Lama Seeks Nirvana, Free Movement and Free Speech
The Dalai Lama lives in comfortable self-exile here in McLeod Ganj, protected by armed Indian guards amid a bustling Tibetan refugee community, nestled across a tranquil, forested Himalayan mountain peak just above Dharamsala.
The easy-going Dalai Lama said he refuses to permanently return to Tibet "until the majority of Tibetans express complete satisfaction" under Chinese rule.
"I know the actual situation in Tibet is very sad. The Tibetan people are not at all satisfied.
"Since 1955, one million Tibetans died, killed by the (Chinese) military or starvation, suicide, death sentences, public executions or other ways.
"But since 1979, more changes are taking place, more leniency. I should judge the situation. I want to go and see."
The Dalai Lama said he has not yet told Beijing of his conditions for a temporary visit, which he revealed for the first time in a 90-minute interview.
"My conditions are my free movement, free speech and free expression," he said.
The Dalai Lama's dream visit would also be to re-establish the seventh century borders of Tibet, which do not exist on Chinese maps.
He wants to visit his birthplace in Taktser village, which Beijing insists is outside the "province" of Tibet.
"But I think the Dalai Lama is Tibetan, so my own birthplace is a Tibetan place," he said laughing.
He said he also wants to visit Tibet's "famous Khampa warriors," who led a failed resistance against Chinese communist control.
The Tibetans' anti-Chinese guerrilla struggle was financed by the US Central Intelligence Agency which trained ethnic Khampas, and other Tibetans, in America's Rocky Mountains before giving them supplies and parachuting them back into Tibet.
The CIA manipulated that small, bloody insurgency in Tibet starting in the 1950s, but it was ended abruptly in 1972 by President Richard Nixon when he went to Beijing to improve ties with Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong.
Though the Dalai Lama now wants to pay homage to the fierce, ethnic Khampas, their zone is currently in dispute.
On the Dalai Lama's maps, the Khampas live in eastern Tibet between the Yangtze and Mekong rivers.
Beijing calls the area Yunnan province.
Because the two sides use different maps, the Dalai Lama claims there are six million Tibetans, while Beijing counts only two million.
The Dalai Lama, meanwhile, emphasized he is not demanding Tibet's independence.
"If the Tibetan people get more benefits with the unity and good marriage with China, all right," he said.
"There has been some improvement regarding food, and Tibetan culture," in the past five years, he said.
"But profound religious teaching is not allowed.
"The Chinese say that Tibetans can simply recite prayers. That is the most generous freedom allowed. But that is not sufficient.
"To practice Buddhism, you must study volumes of books and meditate. This the Chinese do not know.
"They do not know what Tibetan culture is," the Dalai Lama said.
After fleeing Tibet in 1959, followed by more than 100,000 Tibetan refugees, the Dalai Lama's international campaign for Tibet has kept him too busy to pursue several serious spiritual goals.
Buddhists do not believe in God. But they do seek to achieve 'nirvana,' the highest state of blissful awareness.
The Dalai Lama, however, said he just hasn't found the time.
Asked if he's reached nirvana, the Dalai Lama replied: "No. I would need complete isolation.
"In order to achieve nirvana, I must have deep meditation.
"You must spend at least a few months, if not, then a few years to qualify for that state of consciousness.
"Now I am 49, although that is not too late.
"But 10 years back, I expressed a desire to begin a three-year retreat, but the Tibetan people complained" because they want him to campaign for human rights in Tibet.
He is still busy, frequently jetting around the world to lobby religious and political leaders.
Last year, he had a private audience with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.
In 1981 and 1979, he toured the United States and met Terence Cardinal Cooke at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.
He also visited Moscow in 1982 and 1979, though he said the Russians have not given him, or Tibet's cause, any material support.
More recently, he completed a one-month trip in August to Switzerland, Austria, West Germany, Greece and Turkey to attend non-governmental, religious conferences.
Beijing frequently reiterates its invitation to the Dalai Lama for his permanent return to Lhasa, capital of Tibet.
Many observers, however, fear the Chinese will turn him into a powerless figurehead.
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th "reincarnation" of the Dalai Lama, is the spiritual and political leader for the world's scattered Buddhist Tibetans.
"Dalai Lama" is a Mongolian title meaning "Ocean of Wisdom," and followers also refer to him as, "His Holiness," or "Wish-Fulfilling Gem."
He was born in 1935 shortly after the 13th Dalai Lama died.
Two years later, a delegation of high lamas searched Tibet for the Dalai Lama's "reincarnation" and gave traditional tests to several children who were born amid "prophetic signs."
They selected an infant who picked out, from among various items, things which belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama -- and who performed other remarkable feats which appeared to indicate reincarnation.
Nowadays, the Dalai Lama appears jovial, strong, witty and spontaneous.
"I exercise by riding a stationary bicycle," he said.
He is not a vegetarian, but said he shuns alcohol.
His quest for nirvana also keeps him energized.
"The communists say they want classlessness, no war, no police, no judges, no arguments about money."
"That is the real nirvana. That is my dream."
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