The Week India – July 14, 2019

JULY 14, 2019 • THE WEEK 31

matter in the United Nations was all
right, but what was important was to
give proper education to the young
generation of Tibetans. Over lunch
at Nehru’s house, education minister
K.L. Shrimali was called, and Nehru
gave him instructions that a commit-
tee be created for the education of
young Tibetans. Th e entire expense
was borne by India. Second was the
issue of our settlement. Nehru wrote
to chief ministers to fi nd out who had
the land available. Th e best response
came from S. Nijalingappa, the chief
minister of Mysore.

How did you know Nijalingappa?
In Bangalore, there is a garden in
which there was a Glass House

(Lalbagh). Once I was having lunch

there with a Chinese delegation,

and Nijalingappa was sitting next to

me. During our discussions with the

Chinese, Nijalingappa whispered to

me that he supported Tibetan inde-

pendence. I was surprised and afraid

of what would have happened if the

Chinese sitting there had heard him

(laughs). Today, Mysore has the big-

gest refugee settlement in Karnataka.

Earlier, your envoys used to meet

Chinese offi cials, but for the past

several years there have been no

talks with China.

Th ere is a growing feeling among

the top leaders in China that their

policies have not been able to solve

the Tibet issue in the last 70 years. So

they should follow a more realistic

approach. Even though Tibet was

an independent country, politically

China occupies Tibet today. Under

the given circumstances, I have been

saying for some time now that there

is a need to focus on preservation of

Tibetan culture, religion and identity.

It is no longer a struggle for political

independence.

Why not?

Political independence is main-

ly meant for the happiness of the

people. But, does it alone guarantee

happiness? As long as the Tibetan

people can preserve their thousands

of years old cultural heritage, religion

and identity, it will bring them inner

peace and happiness. For this, I

really admire the Indian Union for

its unity in diversity. In a similar way,

the People’s Republic of China and

Tibet can coexist keeping Tibet’s cul-

tural, linguistic and religious identity.

Independence, on the other hand,

will also mean demarcation of the

border. Historically, Tibet was a large

kingdom, but recent history shows

that some Tibetan areas had come

under Chinese jurisdiction. For ex-

ample, my village may not fall under

Tibetan jurisdiction, and the Chinese

can then say, “Send the Dalai Lama

back to China.” I feel Tibet should

be governed by one administration.

Tibet will get economic benefi ts from

China while the Chinese will benefi t

from our knowledge. In China, par-

ticularly [among] the scholars, there

is a realisation today that the Tibetan

Buddhist tradition is the authentic

Nalanda tradition.

As refugees in India, we are keep-

ing the Tibetan spirit, language and

knowledge alive. Before we came

to India, many scholars thought of

Tibetan Buddhism as Lamaism, not

genuine Buddhism. In the last 60

years, the whole world has come

to recognise Tibetan Buddhism as

Buddhism of the Nalanda tradition.

Th ere is a saying in Tibet, “When

unfortunate things happen to you,

sometimes they are a blessing in

disguise.”

Have you met Prime Minister

Narendra Modi?

Yes, I have met him before and once

after he became prime minister.

I have known him very well. It is

understandable that he has to think

seriously about good relations with

China. Recently, after the elections,

I wrote to him and I received a very

good reply. We are in no hurry. I

know I am anyway a refugee. Some-

times, I jokingly tell Indian offi cials,

“If you say one day that the Dalai

Lama is no longer a guest of the Indi-

an government, I will have to think of

my complicated future.”

Do you get that feeling?

No. I consider myself a son of India

because my entire way of thinking

has been shaped by the works of

the great masters of the historical

Nalanda university, which I have

studied since childhood. My body

has been nurtured by Indian rice, dal

HELP AND GUIDANCE

The Dalai Lama, exiled in India, visiting

Jawaharlal Nehru in Delhi in 1959

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