OPINION
Norbu Tsering* presents his take on what he sees as the Nechung-bashing monk members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile and their alleged dominance of the parliament sessions.
‘Love thy neighbour’ being traditionally a Christian exhortation does not seem to cut any ice with the politically enlightened group of monk MPs when it comes to relating to their next door neighbour. Every time the Parliament meets, Nechung ends up being their punching bag. The wrathful way the monk MPs rant against the great State Oracle Nechung seems to make them feel like being a cut above the others. Nechung, on the other hand, seems to be cowering in a corner behind the Parliament House as if fear stricken.
The great Nechung Choegyal is jolted into a shocked awakening by the swarming attack by these monk MPs who seem to share a deep sense of whatever common purpose they share. Along with the oath of office they took as MPs, they might have also taken a secret tantric oath to stick together come rain or shine, hell or high water or high tide or low tide. Nechung is made to realize that his power of formlessness can no longer go unchallenged.
These our monk MPs seem to have the exclusive claim to being the first among the equals in the Parliament. When people think of the Parliament, they only see monks. The rest of the MPs fade into a thick fog of invisibility as if cringing from the tirades that the monk MPs unleash when provoked. What secret and esoteric political lessons that Buddhist scriptures impart that help the monk MPs dominate all the sessions of the Parliament! An inquiry into this can produce a fascinating PhD dissertation.
No force like the timid Speaker or the subdued fellow MPs can throw a spanner in their work of making the other MPs feel awestruck by their oratorial skill acquired from the monasteries that trained them in turning spiritual education into a political weapon. The revered Nagarjun would feel like a novice seeing our monk MPs so deftly delve in power politics with the full force of their politico-religious recourse to Buddhist logics. They are buoyed up by the vote bank of thousands of monks who revel in the spectacle of realpolitik they do in the Parliament.
When a monk MP stands up to address the Parliament, the whole of Tibetan society start speculating with a fair degree of accuracy the subject he would be talking about. It would either be the hated Sikyong or the poor defense-less Nechung or the lowly middle way or Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche who, on his part, seems to have the attitude of “don’t give a damn” to anything that the monk MPs throw at him. At moments when they go into a waking kind of trance, their confidence of invincibility induces them to claw even at the Gaden Phodrang in the name of 100% pure and complete democracy. All are equal in the eyes of the glorious Democracy including the Dalai Lama.
The rest of the MPs who choose to sit safely on the fence when Nechung is dragged on to the floor of the Parliament might have a myriad of personal reasons for letting the monk MPs devour the oracle. One possible reason could be personal safety. It is always safe to keep at a distance from the angry oratorial arrogance of the Khenpos and Geshe Lharampas. Confronting them is a sure way to expose oneself to their relentless ire. The other reason for many of the MPs choosing to look the other way when Nechung is made to stand in the accused box could be their hope that his godly power would come to his own rescue.
Poor Nechung oracle is in the vice-grip of a catch 22 situation. If he simply excuses the outbursts against him in the Parliament as just a weakness of the lowly humans, there is the danger that the MPs will construe it as a sign of his fakeness. If he displays his supernatural power by going into a deep trance, fly into the Parliament House, sit in the Speaker’s seat and pick up his detractor monk MPs into his iron grip, the monk MPs would, still, not be impressed with his power. They would simply dismiss this unimpressive display of diabolical capability as childish compared to the wizardry taught at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft in one Harry Potter book.
The Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and the rest of the MPs who may have some trust in Nechung tucked away in some remote corner of their heart just can’t gather enough courage to show it scared as they are by the fearlessness and boldness with which the monk MP declare to the world their suspicion of Nechung’s genuineness. Who can have the heart to advertise to the world on the floor of the Parliament that Nechung, the Dalai Lama’s trusted deity-advisor is not reliable? Of course, the monk MPs. This gives the larger monk community greater impetus to become more frenzied in their support. And, Nechung may be feeling heartbroken finding Khenpos and Geshe Lharampas, of all people, volunteering to insult him. It would be less painful if the lowly, ignorant mi-nag laypeople did this to him.
The relentless way the monk MPs keep harassing Nechung is a very ominous sign to the lesser oracles. If the Nechung is not criticism-proof, what chance they have of avoiding falling victims to the wrath of the combative monk MPs. They need to be very careful in watching their interpreter as to how their speech is deciphered. These are very uncertain times, specially, with regard to any assertion that the monk MPs deem offensive. They have the democratic parliamentary freedom and privilege to pull up any Tom, Dick and Harry under the sun.
As ill luck would have it, Nechung can’t hope for a Parliament without his antagonist monk MPs anytime soon. The more vehemently they dress down Nechung in the Parliament in full view of the world, the more enthusiastic monk community becomes to send them back to the Parliament almost in a vengeful way. The only way the Nechung could hope to avoid the fate of the famous Oracle of Delphi is to wait patiently and with baited breath for the voluntary retirement of the monk MPs in whose eyes he is a painful sore.
Nothing that Nechung can do to allay monk MPs’ deep-seated dislike for him will work. Once they have marked someone as not of their own ilk, they show no mercy. The Sikyong and the Education Minister will verify this truth from their tough time in the Parliament warding off missiles that the monk MPs fire at them. Nechung is also getting to know this the hard way. The best course for Nechung to respond to the taunting by the monk MPs is for him to move his residence far away enough from Gangkyi so as to be not within the sight of the monk MPs. This way he can avoid being in their mind as he is, now, out of their sight. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is the principle that governs the law of remembering and forgetting.
Long live democracy and long live monk politicians.
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* Norbu Tsering was a Lecturer at the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Leh, Ladakh; served as the Principal of TCV, Ladakh; taught English at Upper TCV and Gopalpur TCV; and currently lives in Toronto, Canada.