TRYING TO DISCUSS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AT TIBET'S TASHILHUNPO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000235 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/CM, DRL, AND G E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/24/2032 TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI CH SUBJECT: TRYING TO DISCUSS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AT TIBET'S TASHILHUNPO MONASTERY REF: CHENGDU 137 CHENGDU 00000235 001.2 OF 003 CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General, Chengdu. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: While doing everything possible to dodge our questions during a recent meeting choreographed by the Lhasa Foreign Affairs Office (FAO),a high-ranking monk/official of the Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse did acknowledge that the over decade-long dispute between Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama over who should be recognized as the true incarnation of the 11th Panchen Lama represents a significant "management challenge." There was a noticeable underlying tension between some of the ethnic Tibetan and Han Chinese officials who accompanied us on our visit to Tashilhunpo, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama and one of the holiest sites in Tibetan Buddhism, with Tibetan handlers quietly indicating dissatisfaction with government interference at the monastery. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Kicking off the start of a two-week swing through western regions of China's Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR),CG met September 10 in Shigatse with Tashilhunpo Monastery Democratic Management Committee (DMC) Executive Director Salong Punla to try to discuss the current situation with regard to religious freedom at his institution. (Note: DMCs are one of the tools through with government authorities try to exercise control over monasteries and are charged with such tasks as conducting "patriotic education" sessions. End note). The meeting was chaperoned/controlled/interrupted by the government's chosen handler for our visit, newly-appointed Lhasa FAO Deputy Director Wu Yinjian, a Han Chinese who just arrived in August from the Foreign Ministry in Beijing to begin a three-year assignment in the TAR as a "Help Tibet Cadre" (Yuanzang Ganbu). In the end, however, Salong Punla needed little direction as he appeared more than willing to stick literally to the party line. Salong Punla was not joined by any other monks during the meeting, something which at other discussions we have had at Tibetan monasteries sometimes results in the private volunteering of information by those attending. FAO Deputy Director Wu was accompanied by ethnic Tibetan officers from both the Lhasa and Shigatse FAOs. Congenoff and ethnic Tibetan FSN also participated. -------------- -------------- -------------- Chadrel Rinpoche and the Search for the Panchen Lama -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) In response to a number of questions from the CG, Salong Punla described his take on the dispute between Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama dating back to 1995 over who should be recognized as the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama and spiritual head of the Tashilhunpo Monastery. Salong Punla stated he had been a member of the Tashilhunpo search team in charge of looking for the 11th incarnation following the passing away of the 10th Panchen Lama in 1989. Salong Punla claimed he and other team members decided to disqualify Gendun Choekyi Nyima as a candidate because the principal local supporter, Tashilhunpo Lama Chadrel Rinpoche, had been in secret communication with the Dalai Lama about the selection process and tried to fix divination results in Gendun Choekyi Nyima's favor. Salong Punla asserted that Gyaltsen Norbu is the true 11th incarnation and has wide support from local Tibetan Buddhists, not just the central government. Without going into detail, however, he did acknowledge the issue continues to be a significant "management challenge" for him at the monastery. ¶4. (C) Salong Punla would not be drawn out on the fate or current whereabouts of Chadrel Rinpoche who has not been seen publicly since 1995 and is reportedly under house arrest in Lhasa. Salong Punla tried to dance around the issue, saying on the one hand he was sure Chadrel Rinpoche was not being detained, but also that he had no idea what has happened to him. With regard to other supporters of Gendun Choekyi Nyima, however, Salong Punla noted that "perhaps" four or five, some of whom were monks, were sent to prison in the mid-1990s. He said he was sure that by now they "must have been released," but also that he had no idea what has since become of them. -------------- Where is Everyone? -------------- ¶5. (C) Salong Punla was equally cagey as to the whereabouts of Gendun Choekyi Nyima. In an almost comic exchange, when asked CHENGDU 00000235 002.2 OF 003 by the CG if Gendun Choekyi Nyima is currently studying in Beijing, Salong Punla replied in the affirmative only to be quickly interrupted by an FAO official who noted his exact location is "unknown." At which point, Salong Punla quickly said, "that's right, I'm not sure where he is, but I do know he is studying." (Note: per reftel, a senior lama at a Tibetan monastery in western Sichuan indicated to CG in May that Gendun Choekyi Nyima remains under close government control in Beijing. In late August, however, TAR Vice Chairman Nyima Tsering told the Chinese press Gendun Choekyi Nyima is currently studying at a high school in the TAR. End note). ¶6. (C) Not wishing to speculate as to when the government-backed Gyaltsen Norbu would move from Beijing to Tashilhunpo to preside over the monastery or why he makes few public appearances, Salong Punla stressed that Gyaltsen Norbu (eighteen-years-old in 2007) still has "much to learn" in Beijing. (Note: we understand that one rumor currently going around the Tibetan community has it that Gyaltsen Norbu himself has disappeared and may be trying to leave China for India. End note). -------------- -------------- Regs on Reincarnation and Cultural Relics -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) According to Salong Punla, he has not yet had the opportunity to review the new regulations from China's State Administration for Religious Affairs on the "Management of and Identification of Tibetan Buddhist Reincarnates" issued in July ¶2007. He said he is sure, however, they would not in any way conflict with traditional practices which he claimed also call for close coordination of the selection process with government officials. Salong Punla also brushed aside a question from the CG on regulations regarding ownership of cultural relics/artifacts, noting that "of course" all such items ultimately belong to the state, although he remarked it is unlikely they would ever be removed from monasteries. -------------- Taking a Look Around -------------- ¶8. (C) At the conclusion of the meeting, FAO Deputy Director Wu went on at length thanking Salong Punla for his "contributions" to his country. Wu made a point of letting Salong Punla know he would make sure Beijing is made aware of his great "service and dedication." Later during a quick tour of the monastery led for us by a young monk, throughout which Wu hovered close by, we had a chance to see briefly one of the current challenges of the monastery. As the young monk told the CG and as was evident by the large number of picture-snapping visitors, "summers at Tashilhunpo are for tourists." In fact, the monastery gets up to 10,000 tourist visitors a day during peak summer season. According to the young monk, those who are interested in religion and pilgrimage should best come during the winter. -------------- Comments -------------- ¶9. (C) Given the absence of a Panchen Lama in residence, as well as the fact that the overall head of the monastery's DMC is believed to be in Beijing serving as tutor to Gyaltsen Norbu, Salong Punla is de facto acting head of Tashilhunpo. He is currently in his late 70's and has been a monk at the monastery since he was thirteen. Whatever his inclination to toe the official line, a government regulation that limits monasteries to accepting only religious students who are eighteen-years-of-age or older appears to be openly violated at Tashilhunpo. We saw many young boys dressed in robes who appeared barely to be in their early teens and the young monk who gave us the tour told the CG he joined the monastery when he was just twelve. ¶10. (C) The reliquary halls of Tashilhunpo that attract most of the monastery's tourist traffic were some of the few places during our entire tour of Shigatse Prefecture where we saw any portraits of the government-backed Panchen Lama. The portraits of Gyaltsen Norbu were always that of him as a young child and part of a triptych with the ninth and tenth Panchen Lamas. Our young tour guide declined to comment as to why there were not any up-to-date portraits of Gyaltsen Norbu. We also did not see any portraits of Gyaltsen Norbu for sale in the many picture shops around Shigatse, although there were many of the 10th Panchen Lama. Local contacts told us that, as it is risky to possess portraits of the Dalai Lama-backed Gendun Choekyi Nyima, Tibetan Buddhist believers show their opposition to the government-backed Gyaltsen Norbu by wearing or displaying images of the 10th Panchen Lama instead. CHENGDU 00000235 003.2 OF 003 ¶11. (C) While FAO Deputy Director Wu may have been impressed (relieved) by Salong Punla's laudatory comments of government policies during his meeting with us, the other ethnic Tibetan officials in the room apparently were less so. When the Consulate's Tibetan FSN asked one of them later in private what he thought about the meeting, the official replied "what do I think? I think Salong Punla is well paid." During our subsequent tour of the monastery, when one of the ethnic Tibetan officials saw that our FSN was visibly moved by the sight of the stupa or shrine containing the remains of the 10th Panchen Lama, she took him aside quietly and said that he should perform his religious devotions in the back of the stupa rather the front, noting that "the Chinese" shifted his remains and enclosed them in the back in order to "hide" the fact that the body was not decomposing. BOUGHNER