by George Leslie Ranasinghe
Day in and day out the media, in this part of the world where the influence of Western powers was overwhelming, in the nineteen thirties and nineteen forties referred to Tibet as "a mysterious land" "a mysterious country" described in books bearing titles such as "Mystics and Magicians in Tibet", "Seven Years in Tibet", "My Country and My People". Hitherto, suggestion kept us in the dark about the real nature of this part of Asia.

An unprejudiced look at a physical geography map of the world should have made us wiser because Tibet is obviously a part of the territory of China. Its area is about 1,221,770 square kilometres. Its population is close to 2,000,000. It's main city is Lhasa. Inhabitants of Tibet resemble Chinese more than Indians. The language spoken in Tibet belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family of language according to linguists. This fact was quite obvious to me when Tibetan words reached my ears sometime back on my visit to Lhasa.

Whenever Buddhism faced risks in India, Buddhist scholars took their books and went to China via Tibet. Nagarjuna, Aryadeva and other Indian Buddhist philosophers from India went to China via Tibet. Tripitaka texts thus brought by them across Tibet to China were translated into Chinese and safeguarded. Text books of Buddhist logic which were supposed to be lost were later found in Chinese translations. Thus geographically and culturally Tibet was always a region of the mainland of China.

A former Prime Minister of India Jawharlal Nehru, who was well informed on the status of Tibet once admitted that Tibet is undoubtedly a Chinese region. He said so at a time when Western diplomats were trying to make out that Tibet is an "independent country" with no direct relationship with China.

There is evidence to show that around the 7th century people of Tibet and other parts of China had friendly and brotherly relationships with one another. In the 13th century when kings of the Yuan Dynasty held power in China, inhabitants of Tibet were recognised as an ethnic relationship made Tibetans feel that they were part of China and the mother nation.

Around the 20th century the diplomacy of Western powers was committed to a policy of dismembering China so as to appease economic rivalry among themselves. Such co-existence of capitalist powers was considered to be a method of avoiding clashes among themselves. The spoils were to be shared by them.

Political thinkers of the calibre of Sun-Yat-sen and Mao Tsetung were quick to understand the gravity of the situation. Though Chiang Kaishek tolerated cultural invaders whose aim was to weaken and enslave the people of China, more sincere nationalist Chinese drove out such enemies and quislings.

'Separate country'
The West then enunciated the theory that Tibet was a "separate country" from where they intended to pounce on China. Fortunately, the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Tsetung came into power in 1949 and closed all avenues from where foreign imperialists could entrench themselves.

On 23rd May, 1951 an official announcement clarified the status of Tibet as an autonomous unit within China. It sealed the possibility of foreign invasion via Tibet.

Planned reconstruction of Tibet thereafter paid due attention to improvements in the fields of education, health and sanitation, industry, opening of new roads, etc. Tibet was divided into 76 prefectures. In each prefecture hospitals, dispensaries and schools were started. Roads were constructed. Feudal lords and so-called spiritual heads were deprived of privileges, which gave them the license to exploit the poor and landless.

Naturally the legitimate central government of China thought it was its duty to intervene and save Tibet from the self-appointed saviour of Tibetan "independence.". In such a context the Dalai Lama fled from Tibet and remained in India for sometime and later migrated to Germany and England. He was given the Nobel Prize for Peace so that he could direct funds to obstruct development under the Chinese Government.

But the Panchen Lama - second spiritual leader of Tibet remained on good terms with China. In the reconstruction that followed, new hospitals were built. 427 doctors were trained within a few years. Research into the flora and fauna yielded exhaustive information of therapeutic value. Thus Tibet was open to its real owners, the common people of the region.

Plots hatched
Tibet was no longer a mysterious place where plots could be hatched against China. Many bridges and roads linked Tibet with the outside world. Trade was thus encouraged so that with more wealth coming into Tibet the people of this region would live more useful lives and contribute to the welfare of mankind.

Agricultural production improved by leaps and bounds during 1951-1991. Products worth 798 million yuans (Chinese currency) were produced. Science, industry and technology were given pride of place. Prior to 1951 feudal lords and their imperialist friends could not help the common man in Tibet to progress economically. But now this autonomous region bids fair to be a centre of modern technological advancement.

With 21,695 kilometres of new roads converging on Lhasa, tourism is also developing and bringing gains from the world over which enrich the people and raise their standards of living.

An important aspect of the development in this region is that attention has been paid to motivation. Chinese scholars, historians and archaeologists are studying Tibet's past, revealing achievements of the ancient Tibetants. Since 1980 numerous books and periodicals on Tibetan studies including Tibetan folklore, folksongs have been published. People of Tibet today take pride in their past, and become motivated to work harder than before and improve their levels of production. There is market research to advise producers and to enable them to contact local and foreign customers without getting into the clutches of middlemen,

Research
Research into Tibetan traditional medicine has brought to light the success of traditional Tibetan doctors of the Bon shool of medicine whose services were available as far back as 2300 years ago. In the 8th century A.D. Yutok Yonden Gonpo achieved fame as a great healer and court physician. He lived till he was 126-years of age. In his youth he travelled far and wide and brought new concepts to enrich ancient Tibetan medical science. More recently in mid 18th century a Tibetan pharmacist wrote the medical classic Jinghol Materia Medica which listed 2298 kinds of herbs and mineral sources with healing properties.

Feudal Tibetan lords were ignorant of the existence of such a work until research was undertaken since the 1951 liberation after which the existence of such a marvellous classic was announced. Today's trained scientists of Tibet have identified a large number of standard medicinal materials including diamonds, minerals and rocks which heal baffling diseases.

With guidance from Chinese experts the Higher Institute of Buddhism was established for research into the Buddhist theory of knowledge. Its first batch of students, enrolled in September 1987, are now concentrating on interpreting Buddhist texts which should be of use to extend the limits of Buddhism as a source of inspiration.

A Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary and a Tibetan-Chinese-English Dictionary have been published for the benefit of international scholars interested in ancient Buddhist thought which flourished in ancient Tibet.