Dharamsala: Tibetan Buddhism is the spirit of Tibet, and the biggest offence to Tibetans is to insult this spirit. Although the Chinese constitution stipulates the freedom of religious belief, this "freedom" does not exist in Tibet, and many obstructions are set to keep people away from their belief, Ms Zhu Rui, a Han Chinese writer, said in an interview with The Epoch Times.
The current regulation forbids anyone under 18 years of age to become a monk. However, in the past, there was no age limit. In Tibet, monasteries are also schools, and these have produced many extraordinary Tibetan scholars, Zhu Rui said.

She said: "In the temples, one can be taught architecture, linguistics, literature, etc. Tibetan Buddhism is not just the essence of mankind's spirituality; it also has close ties with science. In some aspects, it is even more advanced than current science. This contributes to the reason why many scientists generate interest in Tibetan Buddhism."

"Unfortunately, the Chinese people under the communist regime do not bother to grasp a deeper understand of Tibetan culture. They hold groundless views on age regulations for monasteries, claiming that one would become ignorant and incompetent if entering the temple at a young age," she added.

She further said: "The regime also casts restrictions on what can be taught in the monasteries. Every monastery has a work team from the regime. They turn the monk's study time to communist patriotism education, with every monk needing to pass with a red certificate. Upon visiting one temple, a monk showed me his certificate."

Without such a certificate, the monk would be kicked out of the temple. Very often, the most disciplined monks were kicked out because they put their belief above the so called "patriotism education", she added.

"What has happened in the temples now is communist politics under a religious coat, and is completely against the spirit of Buddhism," said Ms Zhu Rui, who has written several novels, poems, and essays, with most of her works related to Tibet, including 'Why Tibetans Want to Protest', 'Write to Some Chinese' and 'A Letter to His Holiness the Dalai Lama'.

She was also critical of the regime for abolishing some of the religious system that has been passed down for many generations. "Take the Geshe exam, for example. Geshe is the highest position in the temple, equivalent to PhD. The System of Debating Buddhist Scriptures has not been abolished, but has been changed completely," she added.

She said: "In the past, monks would annually go to a valley close to Lhasa to hold their Buddhist Scriptures Debate forum. Now the number of monks permitted to participated is restricted, and often the forum is cancelled for no reason."

She also said the Chinese government put strict restrictions on religious festivals in Tibet, which are the most illustrious and colourful part of Tibetan culture.

She noticed some of the festivals such as the butter lamp festival, although is not banned, are closely monitored by heavy police vigil. People who worked in the government were absolutely banned to participate in this activity, she added.

Speaking on the destruction of Tibetan traditional buildings, she said, "The ancient Tibetan buildings are part of Tibetan culture, and have inestimable values in architecture, history, culture, and aesthetics. In the past, there were over 500 ancient buildings around Barkhor Street in Lhasa. But only 93 remained when I visited in 1997, the majority of them were demolished by the communist regime."

She was also critical of the elements that bring moral degeneration into Tibet.

"Currently, Tibet is full of prostitutes; hairdressers on the streets of Lhasa are mostly brothels. One often spots seductively dressed females from the neighboring Sichuan province, wandering on the streets of Lhasa," she said.

"According to one dermatologist at the People's Hospital in Lhasa, before 1978, there was no single case of a sexually transmitted disease among the 11,081 people being surveyed. But in 2002, there were over 10 cases daily, and the diseases showed many variations," she added.

Friday, September 26 2008 @ 01:10 pm BST