In Tibet, Dalai Lama Continues to Hold Sway

China Wary of Exiled Spiritual Leader's Politics

(Elizabeth Dalziel - AP)

LHASA, China -- In the cool of early morning, with heavy clouds still brooding over the surrounding peaks, thousands of pilgrims circled around Jokhang Temple, some spinning prayer wheels and others leading fluffy little dogs. Their silent procession was a vivid display of the deep-seated devotion to Lama Buddhism that persists in Tibet nearly 56 years after the imposition of communist rule in China.

The solemn circumambulation -- wrinkled peasants parading slowly alongside fresh-faced monks in maroon robes -- has been a fixture of life in central Lhasa for uncounted years. But the spectacle held special meaning last Thursday morning: It was the 71st birthday of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan religious and temporal leader who still holds the hearts of many of Tibet's 2.7 million people.

Chinese authorities have facilitated the pilgrims' worship, saying China has nothing against Buddhism or any other religion as long as it does not spill over into politics. Beijing has allocated millions of dollars for maintenance of Jokhang Temple and the nearby Potala Palace, Lama Buddhism's holiest shrines. But for many Tibetans, particularly the elderly and the monks who make Buddhism their lives, the Dalai Lama has remained the symbol not only of their spiritual world but also of their ethnic identity and national aspirations.

The intermingling of Buddhism's hold on the Tibetan spirit and the Dalai Lama's role as a political as well as religious leader has confronted Chinese authorities with a difficult situation. Reluctant to be seen stifling religious sentiment or local culture, they have opened up space for worship and pilgrimages, but at the same time they have taken tough measures to prevent Tibetans from coalescing around the Dalai Lama into an organized separatist movement.

The balancing act has produced a more relaxed climate in recent years, although Tibetans who spoke their minds in interviews did so on condition of anonymity for fear of getting into trouble with the authorities. Time, however, may be Beijing's best ally. Economic growth holds the promise of swift evolution in Tibetan society. Economic output in Tibet has risen 10 percent a year recently along with that of the rest of China.

A Tibetan middle-school teacher said intense devotion to Buddhism and to the Dalai Lama as a figure of Tibetan independence is most pronounced among the elderly. Teenagers who learn Chinese and English in his classes have new perspectives on their minds -- from China and the West, he said.

The first train line from Chinese cities to Lhasa, which opened July 1, is likely to accelerate the pace of change, linking Tibet ever more closely with the Chinese heartland. The train not only will bring in thousands more tourists and merchants, but it will also take copper and iron ore from Tibet's extensive deposits to China's mineral-hungry industries, injecting cash into the local economy and outside influences into the culture.

"The opening of the railway will further open up people's vistas and change their concepts," said Champa Phuntsok, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the top Tibetan official here under the Han Chinese Communist Party secretary, Zhang Qingli.

Phuntsok, in an unusually detailed briefing for foreign reporters on a government-sponsored visit, said Beijing's intermittent contacts with representatives of the Dalai Lama have not produced fruit because, beneath recent offers of compromise and limited autonomy, the Dalai Lama's goal remains Tibet's separation from Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama's envoys have raised the prospect of broadening the Tibet Autonomous Region to include Tibetan-inhabited areas of neighboring provinces, Phuntsok said, and have suggested loosening Beijing's rule to give Tibet an autonomous status similar to that of Hong Kong. Most objectionable, he added, are the elections they have proposed to select a regional government.

These conditions are unacceptable to China, Phuntsok said, because "the final goal is the independence of Tibet." A spokesman for the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, queried by the Associated Press, disputed Phuntsok's outline of the talks and said Chinese officials recently have appeared more flexible.

For some of the Dalai Lama's most devout followers, however, independence has remained the goal, and the Dalai Lama has remained the leader of their national cause.