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TIBETAN BUDDHISM AND THE GREAT GAME TIBETAN BUDDHISM AND GREAT GAME THE Tibet has been a locus in The Great Game for control of the Indo-Himalayan and Central Asian regions since the late 19th century, and its Tibetan Buddhist leaders continue to be players rather than pawns. What is the position of Tibetan Buddhism in the global geopolitical game, and what do some of the West's leading pro-Buddhist writers have to say about it? You might be very surprised! The Compassion Contradiction: Tibet Under Tibetan Buddhist Rule tis late on a dark night. An urgent warning is raised: "They are coming to kill you." A beloved Asian spiritual leader is roused from bed and he sleepily stumbles around his lamasery gathering sacred artworks and a few personal belongings. He pauses momentarily to reassure, kiss and comfort crying faithful disciples who wish to accompany him, but he will not allow them. They can follow him in secret later, when it is safer. Freshly saddled horses arrive at the front door. He is hurriedly bustled onto a horse and his small entourage disappears into the night. A short time later, two battalions of armoured soldiers gallop in the direction of his flight. Was this the night of the flight of the 14th Dalai Lama to India in 1959? No. It was the flight of the Penchen Lama, the philosophical leader and co-regent of Tibet (Penchen, or Panchen, means "learned philosopher"). The year was 1923, and he was forced to flee Tibet for his life. He was not in fear of the Chinese: he fled to them knowing that they had a large Buddhist population and that he would be protected. He was forced to flee from the 13th Dalai Lama, the political leader of Tibet, who had sent his soldiers with orders to kill the Penchen Lama on sight and show no compassion. Nicholas Roerich's Observations Am I making up this story? No. It is taken from the third chapter, particularly pages 46 and 47, of Nicholas Roerich's famous 1930 book Shambhala. Roerich said that the Penchen Lama was planning sweeping religious reforms throughout Tibet in order to do away with despotic lamaistic practices and re-implement more pure Buddhist practices. He suggested this as the possible reason for this attack on the Penchen Lama by the Dalai Lama. As a pro-Buddhist writer, Nicholas Roerich enumerated this event in detail as well as many other grievances of the Tibetan people "as evidence for a coming internal civil war by Tibetans against Lhasa". On account of all of the distasteful things described in this chapter, Nicholas Roerich, as well as many Buddhists from other nations, refused to call the national religion of Tibet "Buddhism". Roerich had travelled through much of Asia and had studied Buddhism in every country he visited. He claimed that this despotic religion of Tibet bore no resemblance to Buddhism. He preferred to call it "lamaism", as do many other Buddhists who wrote to me after reading my previous article in NEXUS (vol. 12, no. 4). David Richardson, who wrote to me on 2 December 2005, is typical of these: by Rev. Dr Shé D'Montford © 23 May 2006 PO Box 76 Mascot, NSW 1460 Australia Email: shambhallah@yahoo.co.uk by Rev. Dr Shé D'Montford © 23 May 2006 "Dear Dr D'Montford, "Tread your article 'Unveiling Bloody Buddhism' and found some of the practices shocking. I had some idea of the esoteric culture of Tibetan Buddhists. Your evidence highlights for me the fact that this is an erroneous teaching of Buddhism. I feel it highly dangerous to even call the religion Buddhist’. "Lam an active practitioner of the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin, the practice being based on the highest of Sakyamuni's teachings, the Lotus Sutra. "The Buddhism which you describe is not Buddhism... I believe Tibetan Buddhism is a cultural mish-mash of indigenous pagan/shamanistic/Bon practices and is also PO Box 76 Mascot, NSW 1460 Australia NEXUS + 49 Email: shambhallah@yahoo.co.uk AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2006 www.nexusmagazine.com