Truth must be told in this Tibetan story
April 5th, 2008 Posted in Pets Guide I TRAVELLED to Tibet in 1991. It was scary. Tourists were
confined to the capital, Lhasa, so I had to leave before dawn to
visit a village while researching the life of Lama Thubten Yeshe
(1935-84), whose biography I was writing. On the return trip our
jeep was stopped by Chinese soldiers for a car wash, compulsory for
Tibetans only. There were a dozen similarly oppressive incidents.
Arriving back in Kathmandu, I suddenly knew what it was to feel
safe.
My son (who has a Tibetan name) and I joined a recent
demonstration outside the Chinese consulate in Irving Road, Toorak.
We carried flags and shouted along with members of Melbourne’s
Tibetan community, who were clearly as distressed and desperate as
people can be. “Release, release the Panchen Lama! Long live the
Dalai Lama! One world, one dream - Free Tibet!” When the already
solid police presence was boosted by the arrival of four police
horses and a couple more cars, my son muttered: “Watch out! Here
come the Buddhists,” slipped his mobile phone into my bag and went
to work. For the next two hours he used his unusually strong body
and decade of experience as a nightclub bouncer to hold Tibetan
youths back from the horses.
I know a bit about Tibet, so when an English teacher asked if I
would speak to her class about a listed book, Sky Burial, by
Chinese author Xinran, I agreed and got hold of a copy. Besides
being rather childish and full of mush (tears course endlessly down
the central character’s face), the book is peppered with insulting
inaccuracies about Tibetans and Buddhism. The author completely
misrepresents the tradition of sky burial, a practical solution
that feeds carrion birds - which are not “sacred” - in a country
where you can’t dig the ground. Sky burials are not about appeasing
“demons” and the “soul” going to “heaven”. The Tibetan female lead
in the story is a Chinaphile (surprise, surprise!) and names her
pet Tibetan monk Tiananmen. The Chinese heroine’s missing husband
(they are both soldiers) insists the army entered Tibet because:
“All we wanted to do was bring Chinese knowledge to you, to improve
your lives.” When they finally arrive in modern Lhasa, after
decades living with Tibetan nomads, the monk Tiananmen, the Tibetan
friend and the sobbing Chinese widow are all welcomed into Chinese
military headquarters and treated with great politeness. I don’t
think so.
Sky Burial is lies, denial and cunning politics tied up
in an improbable love story. I have to wonder: was she - uh -
encouraged by others to write this, or did she make it up all by
herself? When the book first came out, Xinran said it was “a true
story”. She has since dropped that line. Teachers who would like a
different kind of study guide to Sky Burial can go to the
website of the Australia Tibet Council.
LINK
atc.org.au/skyburial
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Tags: ash, bet, birds, demonstration, horses, lear, love, Pet, tradition
