By Yubaraj Ghimire

Lhasa (Tibet), Sept 2

Contrary to general belief outside, practice of religion is a common phenomenon in the western province of China. Uninterrupted burning of lamps soaked in ghee, mostly imported from Nepal, throwing light and heat in the monasteries is a sight that fascinates devotees and visitors in most monasteries here.

Along side are monks and ordinary Tibetans holding and rotating mane (a religious instrument) and chanting hymns like om mani padme hun there.

According to the official information, almost 99 per cent of Tibetans follow Buddhism, a religion being practised since the 7th century A. D. after its introduction from Nepal. And most monasteries were built during the first half of 7th century by King Songtsan Gambo, founder of the Tubo dynasty whose wife Bhrikuti was largely instrumental for influencing her husband to adopt Buddhism as the state religion. Today, Bhrikuti finds her place alongside her husband in many monasteries, which have their statues on display.

A sizeable number of monasteries and relics damaged during the Cultural Revolution have since been restored and opened for religious purposes and tourism. The reopening of these monasteries follows the policy of Chinese constitution granting people of Tibet ‘full freedom’ to pursue normal religious activities. The constitution grants people equal freedom to hold or not to hold any religious faith.

Lhasa, the capital city, alone has more than 200 such sites that include Jokhang, Ramoche, Gandain, Zhaibung, Norbulingkha and Sera monasteries. Besides these, the 13-storeyed Potala Palace, which was used as Royal Palace by Songtsan Gambo and his successors up to the 14th Dalai Lama in his capacity as ‘religious and temporal head’ of Tibetans until he fled to India in 1959 following Tibet’s liberation.

The phase of Cultural Revolution that followed saw destruction or damage of many of those sites in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet, but the Chinese government reviewed its policy in the 1980s, which resulted in large scale restoration of these sites. Potala Palace and some other sites are also listed as the UNESCO World Heritage site.

In all, Tibet houses nearly 1,800 monasteries with the capital accounting for more than 200. About 20 of those in the capital have been opened to the public - both for tourism and religious purposes - while 30 more are to join the list soon.

While the Lamas are running these monasteries or Buddhist monks attached to them raising money for entry and photography from tourists, the state has also contributed a huge amount for repair, restoration and preservation of these ancient sites.

In the past two decades or so, the Chinese government has allocated nearly 380 million yuan (Rs. 342 crores) for the purpose through Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

In addition, the state has also made a provision of 55 million yuan for restoration of the Potala Palace as part of a 5-year phase wise programme with 6.7 million yuan granted already.

Most monasteries are also running religious schools under them imparting religious education. An estimated 3,000 such schools have students enrolled to study religion and the curriculum are decided independently by the monastery concerned. These religious schools will be producing monks and nuns once they complete the education and decide to pursue religion. The province currently has little less than 50,000 monks and nuns.