World Tibet Network News Wednesday, June 17, 1998

Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights

Hearing on Religious Persecution

Tuesday, June 16, 1998

Thank you Chairman Smith and members of the Committee for the chance to speak about the fact of religious persecution in Tibet.

My name is Gyaltsen Wangmo. I am a Tibetan Buddhist nun,

originally from Tsangu nunnery in Lhasa, Tibet. I now live in India where approximately 1,000 of my sisters have found refuge. We are women who wish to live, work, and study in accordance with the tenets of spiritual commitment. Our stories are in many ways alike.

Tibetans are a deeply devout people, and the Buddhist religion forms a significant part of our lives and our identity. Two of my uncles were monks from the great monasteries surrounding Lhasa. One was a Drepung lama and the other a Sera lama. By the time I was born in 1964, the Chinese has already dynamited their monasteries into rubble, and my uncles were serving long sentences in prison simply because they were high lamas. Both were given 21-year sentences, one uncle at age 16, the other at 19 years of age. They were young men who grew old and sick in prison.

As a little girl, I remember that all Tibetans were forbidden even to recite Om Mani Padme Hum -- our most basic prayer which evokes the compassion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the underlying principles of our faith. Neither could we offer butter lamps, as is our custom, or say "pujas" for the dead. Sometimes we would hide butter lamps in buckets, but it was very dangerous.

When I was about ten years old, my grandmother who had been arrested with my uncles, was released from prison. She had been savagely tortured. Her teeth had been knocked out, and a large part of her ear was missing. Although my family suffered greatly, it was the case of every family that someone had been taken away to prison, tortured or killed by the Chinese.

When I was 19 years old, in 1983, my own "root lama", or

principal teacher, was released from prison. It was he who advised me to become a nun. At that time, many girls wanted to join a nunnery. Communist policies were destroying our religious heritage, and we felt the need to save our traditions and to find refuge in spiritual practice.

The Chinese authorities permitted only 15 nuns at our nunnery, and we were never free of their control. Our first work was to rebuild our main prayer hall. There were no rooms to live, as they had been given over by the Chinese to serve as apartments for lay people. Any donations we received from the people were taken first by the Chinese, and our prayer hall became the room for "re-education" meetings. During this time, I stayed with my family in Lhasa, but the other nuns had to earn money to rent living space by serving as common laborers.

Of course we had little time to pray and meditate. Because our teachers were either dead, in prison, or in exile, we had no way to study and no way to take our vows. My parents advised me to go to India so that I could see His Holiness the Dalai Lama and receive his blessing. We knew that any minute the Chinese could change their policies and that our nunnery could be disbanded. So, I left Tibet in 1985, leaving my parents and three sisters behind.

In India, our nunneries are poor and overcrowded. But we study Buddhist philosophy from high lamas and receive teachings every year from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Still, after hearing so much bad news, I went home to Tibet in 1992. When I first met my parents they cautioned me to keep my mouth shut. Only one nun among my old friends was still there. The others had been expelled or fled to India. There were many new nuns, although there was still no opportunity to learn from elders. Tibetan Buddhism is about developing the mind, for that you need teachings. In my old nunnery, there was not even an understanding of what vows could be taken. Many nuns were busy walking tourists around, and all were required to attend "work meetings" run by the government and Party authorities.

I live now in retreat in the mountains near Dharamsala. At my nunnery new arrivals from Tibet, many of them victims of severe punishment and torture, find peace and solace with their sisters. The process of healing the spirit and the body is slow, and our memories of Tibet are always with us. Many of them have been expelled from their nunneries because they refuse to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama and accept the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama. Others flee in fear.

The Chinese teach us that religion is poison. Their plan for Tibet is the destruction of the Tibetan Buddhist culture. Because we Tibetans believe in the law of Karma, we try to do something to try to stop the cycle of bad effect. So I raise my voice on behalf of the just cause of Tibet, and ask you to continue your support for a negotiated settlement. Thank you for the great privilege of addressing you today.