Introduction
It is popularly believed that the original Tibetan culture under the Dalai Lama was spiritual, non-violent and free from corruption, lust, and greed and that Tibetans lived happily in pre-1950 period before the invasion of the country by China. However, it is claimed by China that the reality was far from true as Tibetan society was marked by corruption, lust, greed, and barbarity. Not a long ago, the head of the Chinese administration for religious affairs, Ye Xiaowen, claimed in a published article in a state-run newspaper 'China Daily' that "History clearly reveals that the old Tibet was not the Shangri-La that many imaginebut a society under a system of feudal serfdom" (Neuss 2009). The Australian journalist Norm Dixon echoed the same tune in his article that in pre-1950 Tibet, "The concepts democracy, human rights or universal education were unknown" (Nixon 1996). Western people view the Dalai Lama as a spiritual, democratic leader who believes in autonomy and works tirelessly to promote the rights and freedom for the Tibetans. However, China projects the Dalai Lama as a former slave master and a power hungry money monger. The Chinese spokesman of Foreign Ministry, Qin, claimed that the "Dalai Lama was the overall leader of the Tibetan serf system in 1959, and when the Chinese government abolished that system it marked a tremendous step forward for the cause of human rightsIn the same way, President Lincoln abolished slavery in the United States" (Olesen 2010). Delving deep into the issue, this paper would discuss how counter to the popular belief that Old Tibet was a paradise of peace and harmony, Tibetan society resembled a medieval society in which economic exploitation, serfdom and slavery were practiced, and how the claim made by China as regards Old Tibet being a feudal society has sparked debate among scholars.
Theocratic Culture, Corruption, and Slavery
Many Buddhists claim that before the Chinese invasion, the old Tibet was a spiritual place free from materialism, corruption, and egotistical lifestyles. Western news media, films, novels, and travel books also painted the same picture of the Tibetan theocracy as a veritable Shangri-La, in which everyone lived in harmony and happiness. In the words of the Dalai Lama himself "the pervasive influence of Buddhismamid the wide open spaces of an unspoiled environment resulted in a society dedicated to peace and harmony" (Parenti 2007). However, the Tibetan history discloses a different picture far from what the Dalai Lama claimed. One western Buddhist practitioner stated that old Tibet resembled Europe in terms of religious conflicts and corruption in the name of religion. All the Chinese sources indisputably agree with each other in their study regarding the condition of old Tibet before 1950 (Powers 2004). They all claim that Tibet was cruel and medieval society marked by corruption and barbarity.
Corruption of the Dalai Lama – the Head of Theocracy
In Lhasa, the Tibetan government consisted of lamas, who were selected on the basis of their religious devotion. The Dalai Lama was the head of this theocracy. The first Grand Lama was created by the great Mongol emperor Kublai Khan in the 13th century. The Grand Lama was to preside over the monastery and all the other lamas just as a pope did over his bishops. Many centuries later, the Chinese emperor sent his troops into Tibet to give support to the then Grand Lama, who titled himself as 'Dalai Lama', the ruler of the whole of Tibet. The newly titled Dalai Lama captured monasteries that did not belong to his sect and destroyed Buddhist writings that contradicted his vision of divinity (Parenti 2007). The succeeding Dalai Lama enjoyed an extravagant life, had many concubines, and lived his life in a way that goes against the tradition of a supposed pious entity. Owing to these moral transgressions, he was killed by his priests.
The next few centuries under the rule of the Dalai Lama, the condition of Tibetan society was marked by violence, religious clashes, and lechery. Until 1950, till the time the Dalai Lama was in power, the condition of Tibet was poor and barbaric. Only two social groups; the rich secular landlords and the power crazy theocratic lamas owned the arable estates in Tibet. A significant portion of the estates belonged to monasteries, which were the money-minting machines amassing huge wealth "through active participation in trade, commerce, and money lending" (Parenti 2007). Drepung monastery was one of the biggest landowners in the world, having 25,000 serfs, 185 manors, 300 great pastures, and 16,000 herdsmen. A handful of high-ranking lamas controlled the wealth of the monasteries (Parenti 2007). While ordinary lamas lived a modest life with no access to wealth, the Dalai Lama himself lived a luxurious life amid riches.
Economic Exploitation, Serfdom, and Slavery
In old Tibet, the majority of the people were under the suppression of a small section of high-ranking lamas and aristocrats who had all the power in their hands. Economic exploitation in old Tibet was rampant. The economic exploitation in the name of god could be compared with the medieval Catholic Church that oppressed peasants in feudal Europe. The barbaric torture inflicted on the unfortunate slaves and serfs was inexplicable. The torture chambers were a dungeon of death in which eyes were gouged out, limbs were amputated, and people were disemboweled for petty theft (Powers 2004, p 126). Such barbaric tortures were carried out in order to keep the common people in total subjection.
The majority of the population in rural areas was serfs who were under the lifelong bond to work for the monastery or the landowners. They worked without pay, collected firewood, repaired the houses of the lord and transported his crops. The peasants and serfs in Tibet had little freedom. They could not do anything without the permission of the lamas. They did not have the freedom to marry unless approved by their lord or lama. The serfs were imposed taxes for getting married, giving birth to each child, for every death that takes place in the family, for keeping animals, planting a tree in their yard and for religious festivals. Those unable to get jobs were taxed for being unemployed, and if they travelled from one place to another in search of work, then also they had to pay a passage tax. People who could not pay were given debts at 20% to 50% interest (Parenti 2007). The burden of these debts was carried down from one generation to another. If the debtors were unable to fulfill their obligations, they were thrown into slavery. They lived in abject poverty while the Dalai Lama and his coterie of lamas lived amid riches.
Young Tibetan boys were forcefully taken away from their homes and brought into the monastery to be trained as monks. Once they became monks, they were reduced to the condition of bonder labor for life. The high-ranking lamas subjected them to a lifelong servitude as dance performers, domestic servants, and soldiers. They were also victims of sexual abuse. Tashi Tsering, who is now an English professor at Lhasa University, reports that he was taken away from his family at a young age and forced to join the dance troupe of the Dalai Lama. He was raped repeatedly by an influential monk. In his autobiography, 'The Struggle for Modern Tibet, he wrote that China did not bring tyranny (Neuss 2009). Rather, China was the long-awaited hope that freed the country from the evil practice of serfdom.
Debate on the Accuracy of the Chinese Claim of Slavery
However, there is a huge debate on the veracity of the story of serfdom in Tibet. According to Melvyn Goldstein, an American anthropologist, though it is true that Tibetans were bound to the landowners by written documents, but it was unlikely the system was feudal and that the landowners tortured the peasants, because they needed peasants for labor. Besides China did not make any claim at the time invasion that they were liberating the Tibetans from any social injustice. Their only claim at that time was they were freeing the Tibetans from British imperialism. The issue of liberating Tibetans from serfdom and feudal practices only arose after 1954 in eastern Tibet and 1959 in central Tibet (Barnett, Blondeau and Lopez 2008). Perhaps, China made this justification in order to avert international pressure from its own repressive policies as has been claimed by a document distributed by the Dalai Lama's Office of Tibet (Nixon 1996). However, John Powers opines that the lack of documentary evidence is not so important, because it is ludicrous to believe that the descriptions of barbarism are the figment of Chinese imagination. Besides, the descriptions of torture are not so unrealistic to believe that the society, dominated by the religious leaders and those who were close to them, was feudal in nature in which every sort of imaginable vicious action took place (Powers 2004, p 130).
Conclusion
The popular belief regarding old Tibet is that the Tibetan society was a paradigm of spirituality, purity, peace, and harmony before the 1950s. However, a group of Chinese scholars claim that the reality is far from the picture popularly imagined and promoted by the western news media, novels, and movies. In fact, a feudal system of corruption, barbarity, and slavery prevailed in the old Tibetan society before the Chinese invasion. The common people, especially those belonging to the peasantry, were subjected to untold cruelty and economic exploitation. The methods of torture and punishment were most brutal in form. The monasteries were the money-minting machines in which the high-ranking lamas like the Dalai Lama lived amidst wealth and extravagance while the poor rotted in extreme poverty. Though the Chinese claim as regards the condition of old Tibet has attracted controversy with many scholars like Goldstein claiming that the condition of Tibet was not as feudal as has been described by China, but taking into account the version of Chinese sources and a few western scholars, it seems that the society of Tibet was not perfect a society and that slavery and serfdom were really in practice.
Work Cited
Dixon, Norm. The Dalai Lama's hidden past. Green Left. 25 Sept 1996. Web. 17 Nov 2014. <https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/13373>
Barnett, Robert; Blondeau, Anne-Marie and Lopez, Donald. Human Rights in Tibet before 1959. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2008. Web. 17 Nov 2014. <http://info-buddhism.com/Human-Rights-in-Tibet-before-1959_Robert_Barnett.html>
Neuss, Sorrel. What we don't hear about Tibet. The Guardian. 11 Feb 2009. Web. 17 Nov 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/feb/10/tibet-china-feudalism>
Powers, John. History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles Versus the People’s Republic of China. Oxford University Press. 2004. Web. 17 Nov 2014. <http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEEQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fxa.yimg.com%2Fkq%2Fgroups%2F23157333%2F1590857931%2Fname%2FHistory%2Bas%2BPropaganda.pdf&ei=zJFpVKrtGcf9yQSn-4IY&usg=AFQjCNEJQGBNtEp9x78jLittZNhq8nMv1Q&sig2=86T-10R5DtVXCCmA3jYW2w&bvm=bv.79142246,d.aWw>
Parenti, Michael. Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth. 2007. Web. 17 Nov 2014. <http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html>
Olesen, Alexa. China To Obama: Dalai Lama Was A Slave Master In Tibet. The Huffington Post. 18 Mar 2010. Web. 17 Nov 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/15/china-to-obama-dalai-lama_n_358472.html>
