MCLC: teaching Tibetan ways

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: teaching Tibetan ways
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Source: NYT (1/27/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/world/asia/teaching-tibetan-ways-school-i
n-china-is-unlikely-wonder.html

Teaching Tibetan Ways, a School in China Is an Unlikely Wonder
By DAN LEVIN

ZHANDETAN, China ‹ There are many marvels at the end of the punishing dirt
road that skirts the edge of this stark white glacier high on the Tibetan
plateau: thousands of fluttering crimson prayer flags, planted on the
slopes by the religious faithful; wild goats scrambling across impossibly
steep cliffs; and Buddhist monks meditating as they have for centuries in
a place where newcomers find themselves gasping for air.

But perhaps the greatest marvel unfolds each morning in the newly built
classrooms here at the foot of one of Tibetan Buddhism¹s holiest mountains
‹ six hours from the nearest city and far from the circumspect eyes of
Communist Party technocrats ‹ where dozens of young men and boys learn to
write the curlicue letters of the Tibetan alphabet and receive their first
formal introduction to a history, culture and religion that many Tibetans
describe as embattled.

³Tibetan language is the key to our culture, and without it all our
traditions will be locked away forever,² said Abo Degecairang, 25, a
ruddy-cheeked monk who is among the inaugural class of young men enrolled
at the school, the Anymachen Tibetan Culture Center, which opened in
September here in southeastern Qinghai Province.

More striking than its improbably isolated setting is the fact that the
Chinese government allowed Rinpoche Tserin Lhagyal, 48, the school¹s
spiritual guide and soft-spoken founder, to set up an autonomous
institution dedicated to promoting Tibetan culture and language. Although
Tibetan areas of China are flecked with Buddhist monasteries, their
mandate is to teach religious devotion through ancient texts and long
hours of prayer. Nonreligious schooling is typically controlled by the
state, most often anchored in Mandarin, although poverty and geographic
isolation deprive many children of any formal education.

It was those young people whom the Rinpoche ‹ a title bestowed on
high-ranking teachers in Tibetan Buddhism ‹ has sought out, eager to give
them a future that he hopes will help preserve their heritage. Today, 30
shepherd boys, orphans and novice monks are learning the fundamentals of
Tibetan culture, as well as Mandarin and English. Some are garbed in
burgundy monks¹ robes, others in jeans and trucker hats. A few arrived
unable to read or write in any language, but the Rinpoche has faith that
these challenges can be overcome, just as he succeeded in establishing
this center despite the daunting political and financial odds.

³If your heart is in the right place, everything else will fall into
place,² said the Rinpoche, who raised more than $3 million to build the
vermilion-painted building topped by shimmering gold roofs. The main
building, which dominates a breathtakingly picturesque valley, also houses
an ornate temple filled with colorful Buddhas and altars illuminated by
butter lamps. The school is so far off the grid that it must rely on solar
power.

The Rinpoche, who has achieved the status of a ³living Buddha,² says the
idea for the center came to him in a vision one morning six years ago.
Dismayed by the growing number of Tibetans unable to decipher the written
form of their mother tongue, he dreamed of a sanctuary where young
Tibetans left behind by China¹s progress could study their culture and
pass it on to the next generation.
³Monasteries just teach monks about Buddhism, but they don¹t teach the
full range of how to be a Tibetan,² he said. ³From a cultural point of
view, it¹s an emergency.²

This frustration over a struggling culture, shared by a great many
Tibetans, has fueled the ethnic unrest that has roiled Tibetan areas of
China in recent years. Part of the anger stems from the influx of Han
Chinese migrants to the region and other policies, including a renewed
emphasis on Mandarin instruction, that some feel is undermining an ancient
way of life. Last year, thousands of middle and high school students in
Qinghai <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8619164.stm> took to the streets in
protest over proposals to eliminate academic instruction in Tibetan.

The deadliest outburst occurred in 2008 in Lhasa, the capital of the
Tibetan Autonomous Region, where rioting and the crackdown that followed
killed at least 20 people. In recent months, the protests against Chinese
governance have taken the form of self-immolations that have left 15
Tibetans dead or gravely hurt.

Rather than be deterred by the tense relationship between the Communist
Party and Tibetan people, the Rinpoche spent years cultivating ³guanxi,²
or personal relationships, with Qinghai officials. Through those efforts
he methodically obtained approvals from numerous government departments.
The government, he says, hopes the center, which he says will eventually
house 600 students, will attract tourism and raise local living standards.
To raise money, the Rinpoche traveled across China seeking donations, and
received them largely from Han Chinese, who make up 80 percent of his
1,000 contributors. ³Han people give me money for the same reason Tibetans
donate: they want to do good,² he said.

Many donors ‹ most of them newly affluent Han ‹ say they view Tibetan
Buddhism as an antidote to the materialism and greed that have flourished
alongside China¹s breakneck development.

Zhu Chuanhong, 35, a banker in the southern city of Guangzhou, says she
was deeply inspired after meeting the Rinpoche at a dinner party there
last year. ³I was so moved by his love, mercy, devotion, selflessness and
determination,² she said in a telephone interview. Soon afterward she
traveled to the center and handed over more than $15,000 for a well and a
passenger van. Friends of hers contributed money for the center¹s
cafeteria and religious statuary. ³That money can buy a lot more, do a lot
more and mean a lot more in Qinghai than in Guangzhou,² she said.

In addition to his fund-raising quest, the Rinpoche traveled to poor
villages and orphanages across Qinghai in search of those young people
most in need of an education. While room and board for each student costs
only $2.50 a day, teaching is more expensive. He said it cost $1,000 a
month to employ an artisan from Tibet to teach the students how to paint
thangkas, the intricately vibrant scrolls that depict Buddhist religious
scenes.

The Rinpoche hopes to enroll girls too, but given religious norms that
forbid monks from mixing with women, that means building another dorm and
a suite of classrooms.

Those who now call the center home have seen their world profoundly
altered. Some, like Tuzansanzhi, 19, a shy youth dressed in monks¹ robes
who, like many Tibetans, uses a single name, had never been to school
before. ³I¹m an only child, and my parents needed me to care for our
sheep,² he said in Tibetan, the only language he knows. Before he arrived
in July, Tuzansanzhi was illiterate. Now, he sits at a desk writing a
Tibetan script that is crisply uniform.

For Tuzansanzhi and his classmates, academic instruction may be hard, but
it beats their old lives. Wearing a blue track suit and brushing long
black hair from his eyes, another boy, Jiuxuejop, 18, said the school had
saved him from a bleak future. ³I don¹t want to be a herder,² he said. ³I
did it for over 10 years, it¹s exhausting. Better to be a teacher and keep
Tibetan culture alive.²

Mia Lee contributed research.