Master "Immigrati e rifugiati. Formazione, comunicazione e integrazione sociale"
Dipartimento di Sociologia e Comunicazione
Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"
“Laboratorio di dialogo Oriente - Occidente: l'esempio del Tibet",
19 maggio, presso il Centro Congressi de "La Sapienza" di Roma
stata organizzata dal
Master "Immigrati e Rifugiati" dell'Università di Roma "La Sapienza" e dalla Fondazione Maitreya
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A Spontaneous Note from a Tibetan Lama in Rome
It is my pleasure to take part in this event: 'Laboratorio di Dialogo Oriente-Occidente: L'Esempio del Tibet', which is being held in this hall of Rome University and is being jointly organised by the master's programme 'Immigrati e Rifugiati' of the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' and the Maitreya Foundation. I would like to thank the organisers, especially Prof. Macioti and Prof. Maria Angela Falà. This is in fact the third time I have taken part in meetings held in this hall; the previous two were the 'Convegno Internazionale sul Sutra del Loto: un invito alla lettura' on 15 May 1998, and the 'International Congress on Decisions to End Life: Real Social-Cultural Confrontation' on 22 September 2003.
Today, I would like to share with you some insights into my life, particularly how a Tibetan monk can integrate into city life in Rome. I am Tibetan and was born in exile to parents who escaped from Tibet to Nepal in 1959 during the People's Republic of China's invasion of Tibet. They have lived in Nepal ever since and still hold refugee status. In 1970, they settled in the Tashiling Tibetan Camp in Pokhara, which was established jointly by the Nepal Red Cross Society and the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India.
The Tibetan people experienced a very dramatic tragedy in the middle of the 20th century. Mary Craig, author of Kundun, a biography of the Dalai Lama's family (the most well-documented account of Tibet I have ever read), wondered how they coped with losing everything and becoming refugees. How did people steeped in the isolation of one of the most mysterious lands on earth adapt to life in a modern, bustling country like India? How easily did they survive the culture shock of swapping their medieval world, unchanged for centuries, for the disjointed postmodern societies of the West? Were they able to reinvent themselves and find a place in these very different societies? Or did they themselves experience a certain dislocation?'
Nobody knows what Tibet's actual political status was at the international level before 1959. In her book Kundun, Mary Craig reminds us of a speech on Tibet to the Indian parliament by Mr Nehru, then Prime Minister of India, on 27 April 1959, in which he commented: 'Now, where a society has existed for hundreds and hundreds of years, it may have outlasted its usefulness, but the fact is that uprooting it is a terribly painful process. It can be uprooted slowly, or even changed rapidly, but with a measure of co-operation. However, any kind of forcible uprooting must necessarily be painful, whether the society is good or bad”.
I spent most of my early life in Pokhara, Nepal, where I attended a local Tibetan school run by the Department of Education of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in Dharamsala. I finished Class Six at the age of thirteen, and in the same year (1976) I travelled to Dharamsala in India to seek better educational opportunities. I was then sent to a Tibetan monastery called Gaden in Mundgod, Southern India. This is a re-established monastery where there are 350 monks in exile, compared to 4,000 in the original Gaden monastery in Tibet.
At that time, the living conditions in the monastery were terrible. Established only six years previously, the monks earned their livelihood through farming. The annual crop yield was barely enough to feed the monks. I found life at the monastery very difficult at that time, but I was attracted by the education offered there: the higher Buddhist studies system adopted from Nalanda University in India. I had to live with the conflicting situation of an extremely difficult lifestyle and the enjoyment of the most rare and precious studies. I could not visit home for the first three years due to a lack of funds and the thousands of kilometres between Pokhara and Mundgod.
When I was seventeen, I had been ill for several months, which had caused great concern among my teachers and friends that I might be dying. My parents didn't know I was ill, and it took more than two months to arrive. There was no telephone, fax or email available. However, I was taught that this was simply an obstacle to my studies and that the illness was a kind of purification. I strongly believed in this theory, which helped me to cope with the pain.
I completed the traditional tenth-year exams in 1985 with excellent results. In the same year, I was elected to oversee secretarial work in the monastery. I held this position continuously in various offices, including Gaden Lachi, Gaden Jangtse, Gajang Gyalrong Khangstsen, and the Gelukpa University Examination Controllers Board, for six years. During this time, the conditions became more favourable for my studies. As well as doing office work, I was able to dedicate lots of time to studying, and I completed the two-year KARAM (B.A.) degree course and the two-year LOPON (Master's) degree. I also wrote my doctoral thesis, 'The Gateway to Abhidharma', for the Lharampa Geshe degree. This thesis has recently been published in India and distributed to major Tibetan study centres.
In 1993, I completed all the exams required for Tibetan classical studies at Gaden, after which I undertook a one-year Vajrayana master training course at Gyumed in 1994. Ultimately, I was satisfied with the results of my spiritual training, and I now feel confident and resourceful. This enables me to live independently and help others.
In 1995, I received an invitation to study Western philosophy and religion in Rome. After seeking His Holiness the Dalai Lama's advice, he encouraged me to accept. I arrived in Rome on 15 September 1995, residing at Sant’Anselmo College for one academic year and attending courses at Beda College in Rome. During my time at Sant'Anselmo, I had the honour of welcoming His Holiness the Dalai Lama to my college during his three-day visit to Rome. Acting as the main intermediary between his secretaries and the college staff, it was a unique experience for me to be close to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
It was during this time that I met Lama Lodro at Sant'Anselmo. He is a Kagyupa Lama who teaches Buddhist meditation to his group, Dharmaling, in Rome. He introduced me to Maria Angela Falà, and they invited me to their home for an interview about my life and work in Rome. The interview was later published in the magazine Occidente Buddhista, issue no. 9, under the title “Fra le antiche mura”. It's a beautiful article about me and my thoughts — the first article about me in Italy!
Lama Lodro is a French lay Buddhist teacher who was trained in the Tibetan Kagyupa tradition, which is a different school of Tibetan Buddhism to the one I belong to. However, we have remained very good spiritual friends and still share many Buddhist approaches and practices together.
Maria Angela Falà specialises in Theravada Buddhism and has held many positions of responsibility at UBI, EBU and Fondazione Maitreya for many years. She is also the editor of the journal Dharma and a contributor to many other Buddhist publications in Italy. We also share many views on the future development of Buddhism in Italy, including its integration and collaboration with established religions and traditions.
In 1997, I was awarded a scholarship to study in the US for one year, but I turned it down and decided to stay in Rome as a guest of a local family. Within a year, I had become known to many people in Italy, and I realised that the Roman climate suited me well. I began teaching Dharma in various parts of Italy. I taught the Tibetan language at IsMEO for a year and occasionally worked at the IsMEO library, assisting with the cataloguing of the Tucci collection of Tibetan texts. However, I then chose to devote myself entirely to teaching Dharma, because of its noble principles and ideals, which I feel are the most meaningful things to be involved with.
In 1999, I won scholarships to attend a three-month English language course at Cambridge and was invited to spend two months as a visiting teacher at the Chung Hwa Buddhist Institute in Taipei. I successfully took up both opportunities. In the following years, I continued to attend courses in Western philosophy and religion at the Angelicum University, receiving some financial support from a trust in the UK.
In 2000, I moved to the Fondazione Maitreya as a guest monk. Since then, I have been living at the foundation, carrying out my daily meditation practice in the foundation's small shrine and giving Dharma lessons to the people of Rome, while continuing my studies and writing. I have received many gestures of appreciation from my Italian friends. I have also been delivering courses and participating in conferences in various locations across Italy, as well as in Switzerland and England. In 2003, my first Italian book, La Via del Nirvana, was published, and some of my articles and talks have been published in Italy and abroad.
I came to know an English Theravada monk, Ajahn Chandapalo, the abbot of the Santacittarama monastery, through Maria Angela Falà in 1996 during a Vesak event organised by the UBI. We became very good friends, and he is my closest Buddhist monk friend in Italy. Through our friendship, I have learned a great deal about Theravada Buddhism.
A few months ago, I attended a meeting with him at the Ministry of the Interior in Rome as a participant in a drafting committee for the 'Carta dei Valori della Cittadinanza e dell’Integrazione'. During the meeting, we discussed various topics, including interreligious dialogue, mixed marriages, educational materials for Italian schools, bioethics, abortion, euthanasia and gender equality. This meeting was significant in raising awareness of Buddhism in Italy, and of how Italian Buddhists, both native and adopted, can practise Buddhist principles while respecting local religions and the constitution of the country, without losing the values of their own cultural and traditional background. The final version of the Carta dei Valori was released on 23 April 2007 by the Italian Home Secretary.
Living as a Tibetan monk in an urban setting such as Rome may not be easy, but as the saying goes, 'practice makes perfect'. As Shantideva said: 'Everything can become simple with training'. In Tibetan, the word 'Bikshu' (Ge Long in English) means 'monk' and comes from the Sanskrit term for 'living for Dharma supported by offerings'. In Hindu terminology, 'Sannyasi' implies a life of renunciation.
Therefore, a Bikshu is someone who practises virtuous actions based on the realisation of nirvana and the renunciation of samsaric gains. Therefore, a monk's life is founded on skilful living and the right attitude. Based on this, I don't find it difficult to live in Rome with a motivation of renunciation — at least, I try my best to do so.
After many years of living in Rome, I now feel that Rome is my home, not only due to habit, but also because of my fascination with ancient Roman history and its incomparable artistic beauty. I feel very comfortable living in Italy, a country where the highly civilised rights of freedom, social rights, and democratic rights are so well preserved and respected by both citizens and the state.
On 6 May, I attended a commemoration event for Fr. Agostino Antonio Giorgi (1711–1797) in San Mauro Pascoli, marking the 210th anniversary of his death. Fr Giorgi wrote a Tibetan dictionary, the Alfabetum Tibetanum, in Rome. He learnt the Tibetan language from Capuchin friars who had been to Tibet. These Christian missionaries who went to Tibet include: Fr Ippolito Desideri and the Cappuccino brothers left their mark on Tibetan history. Many of Ippolito Desideri's Tibetan-language works have been translated and published by IsMEO.
The renowned Italian Tibetologist Prof. Giuseppe Tucci also left behind a vast collection of Tibetan books and writings on Tibetan history, culture, and arts. Professor Tucci invited two Tibetan scholars from Dharamsala to Rome to collaborate with him at IsMEO. Professor Luciano Petech has produced many writings on the history of Tibet, particularly the western regions. The works of these Italians have become a very significant testimony to the history, culture and religion of Tibet. I am saying that relations between the two countries have been based on cultural, religious and literary exchanges for a long time. I started writing an autobiography a long time ago, but it now seems like a mission impossible!
Recently, I have been thinking about conducting some brief research into the scientific history of Tibet, particularly the status of Tibetans in exile, as this is where I was born and raised. I am also thinking of creating a research project on the development of Tibetan studies in Italy. I feel it is my duty to do these things, given the time and circumstances in which I find myself. However, my main dream is to spend my life teaching Dharma, writing about it and studying it for the benefit of all sentient beings.
I firmly believe that all religions have equal value in serving humanity. They all preach the same principles of love and truth, despite minor differences in their norms, rules and regulations. I dream of uniting the significant elements common to all religions to enable them to serve humanity better than ever before, becoming an authentic source of peace, tolerance and harmony.
The most inspiring messages for me are Gandhi’s ahimsa philosophy, the Passion of Christ, the Middle Way wisdom of Sakyamuni Buddha, the Dalai Lama’s compassionate heart, and the simplicity of Saint Francis of Assisi. 'Less desire, fewer problems' – if I could give one message to others, it would be this.
Geshe Gedun Tharchin
Rome, 19 May 2007
