This Article was written by me on 10th December, 2010 and was published in Sikkim Express His Holiness last visit to our Demazong.
Soon streets will be full of gates and lights, security will be tight, where we will see people joggling with fight to get the better side for clearer and closer sight of a person who they regard as a more than of a human, because Gyalwa Tenzing Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, the living embodiment of Avaloketesharaya, Buddhist’s ambassador to the world, spiritual leader of millions of Tibetans and the Nobel prize laureate will be on his next visit to our tiny Himalayan state, Sikkim. The institution of Dalai Lama of Tibet shares a great attachment with our tiny Sikkim, right from the beginning, as it is known fact that before the merger in 1975, our erstwhile kingdom had a great relationship with Tibet than any other, where then also previous Dalai Lama was actively engaged with the affairs of Sikkim, be it social, political or religious, but from all his predecessors the present Dalai Lama is in more ways different in terms of present Tibetan political scenario and responsibilities. He was not a man born of Kings and Queens, he was just a simple monk from a pheasant family, who lost his complete freedom at the age of fifteen years and had to leave his country for his own survival with handful of people. His wisdom came from the quiet meditation from the mountains of roof of the world, and the winds and the trees, from the rivers and the vast open spaces of his motherland where his people had never thought that their deserted country will be a victim of invasion by another country. It was a country of a pure and mesmerizing peace, where person can truly contemplate the scope and meaning of their life. Few years back in his present residents in Dharamsala where he runs his government in exile, he says: “Here (in India) you can enjoy the freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of movement, because when I was just a fifteen I lost that freedom”.
From the invasion to the detritions of his rich culture he has witnessed everything but never forgets to smile and wait for the justice. At the age of 70s today, Dalai Lama is beloved by Hollywood celebrities to the politicians all across the globe and often regarded as a uniter of people from all religions and political backgrounds. He believes in inspiration that he receives from every human being. Today, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is a great promoter and practitioners of the science of peace and love, besides being a writer on the subjects running from the neural science to the art of happiness. His glowing personality and infectious laugh makes him distinct from others. On one level he is a humble Buddhist monk from the humblest of beginnings; on another he has become a kind of rock star of peace, drawing huge crowds of fans, media and admirers everywhere he goes on the world. It is irony to see a man of such a great charm, dynamic, play full and wise could have any enemy at all, but for all his worldliness, he is a refugee, a citizen of the world, lacking of passport from his own country. As the truth cannot be hidden, China today has always seen him as their greatest obstacles. Still then, he has not given up his fight, his fight for the religious freedom, preservation of rich Tibetan culture and human rights, but differences is his just being in a purely Buddhist principles of Non-violence. He has forgiven long time back to his enemy and constantly tries even today to find a common ground, and in his seventies today his search continuous for the answers and as the world embraces this giant nation more and more every day, easy answer seems further away than ever.
This visit of His Holiness to this peaceful state seems to be more significant than his earlier many visits. As it is known fact that human life is not permanent, and one day they have to leave this mundane world leaving behind all and everything, be it layman or noblemen, rich or poor, everyone. As Buddhism says, death is the greatest truth. So, at the age of seventy five plus will he ever be able to visit again due to his numerous responsibility and huge demand all over the world amidst his growing health concern??. Secondly, the question of re-incarnation is lingering in the minds of Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism all around. Can they ever get to see their next Dalai Lama with the growing Chinese power and intervention into the Tibetans internal affair, will ever Dalai Lama institution allows continuing?? Even if they did, can’t it be same as mysterious as Penchen Lama or rather different?? These are some of the harsh reality that is coming into observation looking at today’s Chinese politics and power. On the question of his re-incarnation, he answered to the television programme on the occasion of his 75th birthday in July this year with NDTV24/7 host Barkha Dutta (the famous television personality) “my re-incarnation or whether never, shall depends entirely on the faith of Tibetans and followers, if they have strong belief in it with diligent practices of religion”.
Now the real question is how faithful is Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism. Are they real Buddhist that he always preached them to be? There are two kinds of Buddhist as we see today in Sikkim. One who is because they have found a meaning on it, which helps them to attain inner peace and fulfil their life’s purpose. Second one is either because their family is or cannot adopt other religion due to social or family reason. But they claim themselves Buddhist without knowing and trying to know the basic ideas of religion that they are proud of. The first one is seen today mostly in western or other countries where the growing challenges and competitions are disrupting their happiness and inner peace, and Buddhism is in growing demands to solve inner as well as external problems around the world. Buddhism in Sikkim roots back to eighth century A.D when the great patron saint Guru Padmasambhava visited and consecrated this tiny place as a holiest place and hides many treasures and texts for the prosperity of future generation of this land and longevity of Buddhism all over. In the course of time, many Lamas and scholars have visited the holy place and revealed many treasures and helped to maintain the traditional religious sanctity of Sikkim. Today, Sikkim is in the edge of having massive statue of Triratna (Choed-Lung-Trul- Sum-Ku) in different parts of Sikkim. Thanks to government of Sikkim, that Buddhist could actually see it happening and governmental effort to further enhance and develop the Buddhist sanctity. However, the construction alone will not give any Buddhist identity until and unless people grow with the ideas of self satisfaction, harmony, faith, brotherhood, compassion, patients, diligent and most importantly the love. The growing penetration of technology into human life, people are going far away from all of these noble ideas for which Buddhist is known for. People are endorsing themselves more with the outer materialistic world and becoming very impatient, jealous and lazy which is resulting in a rise of stress and restlessness, suicides and even divorce also.
Time has come, whether if Buddhists in Sikkim are truly follower of Buddha which is today promoting by Dalai Lama, to understand and faithfully follow their teaching and pray purely for his safe return and blessings for the peace and harmony in Sikkim (be it in this life or next life) or just be Buddhist and go for his preaching or initiation like they always do and forget everything as soon as that ends and return back to the usual materialistic world. Or do people really want his re-incarnation?? Choice is peoples’.
Thuchela
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