Jon Wiener: An Interview with Pico Iyer about Tibet
BORN IN Oxford, raised in California, a resident of Japan, Pico Iyer has captured his itinerant life with books and essays that document his journeys to Nepal, Cuba, and most recently, Tibet. He speaks with Dissent’s Jon Wiener (“The Weatherman Temptation,” spring 2007) about his new book, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. ...
... J.W.: Since 1959 the Tibetan exile community has been based in Dharamsala, India.
P.I.: Yes. A thriving Tibetan culture exists in exile, especially in India, where the Dalai Lama has done a good job of sustaining everything that is essential about Tibetan tradition and culture and religion, while getting rid of everything that is feudal or outdated. In exile, he’s set up a living, modern version of Tibet—you could call it “Tibet 2.0.”
J.W.: Let’s talk a little bit about the history of Tibet in exile: Shortly after Mao’s Red Army triumphed in China, China invaded Tibet in 1949-50. What happened when Tibet appealed to the UN in 1950 about the Chinese invasion?
P.I.: Tibet’s apparent sponsors at the UN were Britain and India. And both Britain and India asked the UN not to listen. Tibet never received an answer. Tibet suddenly realized it was completely friendless, and that no country in the world would rise to its defense. Ten years later, the US realized Tibet could be a pawn in its ongoing struggle against China. But the Dalai Lama told me many years ago that Tibet’s greatest mistake was to be too isolated. That’s why now he speaks out against isolationists and in favor of dialogue. Even with China. He says let’s not boycott the Olympics, because isolating any country is only going to bring problems.
J.W.: A guerilla resistance in Tibet was aided by the CIA starting in the 1950s.
P.I.: Yes. The CIA really moved in during the 1960s, when they trained Tibetans in Colorado, of all places, and set them up in Nepal. The CIA wasn’t concerned about Tibet; they were only concerned about trying to foil their great communist enemy China. It was a fitful resistance but the CIA was more than ready to help—until Nixon and Kissinger went to Beijing. At that point, the Dalai Lama realized that violent resistance would only bring more suffering to his people, so he sent a taped message to the guerillas in Nepal and told them to lay down their arms. They did, but some of them were so heartbroken that they took their own lives.
J.W.: The Chinese Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960s was a turning point for Tibet.
P.I.: They tried to destroy Tibetan culture—much as they tried to destroy their own culture, but even more brutally. According to Tibetan estimates, 1.2 million Tibetans died—that’s 20 percent of the population. All but 13 of the 6,000 monasteries were destroyed. Little kids were asked to shoot their parents. Most violently, the Chinese sought to tear apart every last shred of Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Monks were asked to use sacred texts as toilet paper. It was a brutal thing, which the Chinese government has since repudiated. ...
Read entire article at Dissent (Spring)
... J.W.: Since 1959 the Tibetan exile community has been based in Dharamsala, India.
P.I.: Yes. A thriving Tibetan culture exists in exile, especially in India, where the Dalai Lama has done a good job of sustaining everything that is essential about Tibetan tradition and culture and religion, while getting rid of everything that is feudal or outdated. In exile, he’s set up a living, modern version of Tibet—you could call it “Tibet 2.0.”
J.W.: Let’s talk a little bit about the history of Tibet in exile: Shortly after Mao’s Red Army triumphed in China, China invaded Tibet in 1949-50. What happened when Tibet appealed to the UN in 1950 about the Chinese invasion?
P.I.: Tibet’s apparent sponsors at the UN were Britain and India. And both Britain and India asked the UN not to listen. Tibet never received an answer. Tibet suddenly realized it was completely friendless, and that no country in the world would rise to its defense. Ten years later, the US realized Tibet could be a pawn in its ongoing struggle against China. But the Dalai Lama told me many years ago that Tibet’s greatest mistake was to be too isolated. That’s why now he speaks out against isolationists and in favor of dialogue. Even with China. He says let’s not boycott the Olympics, because isolating any country is only going to bring problems.
J.W.: A guerilla resistance in Tibet was aided by the CIA starting in the 1950s.
P.I.: Yes. The CIA really moved in during the 1960s, when they trained Tibetans in Colorado, of all places, and set them up in Nepal. The CIA wasn’t concerned about Tibet; they were only concerned about trying to foil their great communist enemy China. It was a fitful resistance but the CIA was more than ready to help—until Nixon and Kissinger went to Beijing. At that point, the Dalai Lama realized that violent resistance would only bring more suffering to his people, so he sent a taped message to the guerillas in Nepal and told them to lay down their arms. They did, but some of them were so heartbroken that they took their own lives.
J.W.: The Chinese Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960s was a turning point for Tibet.
P.I.: They tried to destroy Tibetan culture—much as they tried to destroy their own culture, but even more brutally. According to Tibetan estimates, 1.2 million Tibetans died—that’s 20 percent of the population. All but 13 of the 6,000 monasteries were destroyed. Little kids were asked to shoot their parents. Most violently, the Chinese sought to tear apart every last shred of Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Monks were asked to use sacred texts as toilet paper. It was a brutal thing, which the Chinese government has since repudiated. ...