Speaker 1:

It's the festival of Losar, Tibetan New Year, and in the mountain outpost of Tibetan exiles, prayers to summon good fortune for the future.

Devotees raise holy flags and 100,000 prayers fly up to Heaven. But this new year, good luck has come early. One of the highest Lamas in Tibet, sanctioned and feted by China, has fled to join the exile community in Dharamshala.

He's the Karmapa Lama, and his presence here is a very public vindication that Beijing's attempt to win over Tibetan Buddhism in support of China's occupation is failing badly. In Dharamshala this New Year, there is cause to celebrate.

This is Beijing's Buddhist showpiece, the 300 year old Lama Temple. These days, it's a permanent fixture on the tourist trail. Everywhere is evidence of China's unshakable belief of a long and distinct history of sovereignty over Tibet.

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The Lama Temple is a microcosm of how China would like Tibetan Buddhism to be, controlled and patriotic, where living Buddhas like the Dalai Lama don't dabble in politics.

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For years, communist China's focus was to destroy the power of the monasteries, to break the hold of religion on Tibetan politics. But in the 80s and 90s, Beijing switched tack, injecting billions of dollars into Tibet's economy, trying to co-opt Buddhism, and win Tibetan hearts and minds.

According to Chinese writer [Wong Lee Sheung], whose recent book on Tibet has been banned, the Karmapa was central to this game plan.

Wong Lee Sheung:

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Speaker 1:

The Karmapa heads the [Kagyu], or black hat sect of Buddhism, and by virtue of that is one of Tibet's most influential Lamas.

After an 11 year search, regents for the Dalai Lama identified Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the latest reincarnation of the Karmapa Lama. A lavish enthronement took place in 1992. The head of China's religious affairs bureau paid his respects. That Beijing and the Dalai Lama had jointly approved the choice was a watershed in what had been an uneasy existence between an atheist state and its deeply spiritual charge.

When China's leaders were told of the Karmapa's escape, Beijing's Tibet strategy lay in shreds. The defection of one of China's most accepted and sanctioned Lamas exposed the sham of religious tolerance. If the Karmapa had been free to continue his work and studies in Tibet, then why did he defect?

That's a question Beijing isn't prepared to acknowledge. The government says the Karmapa left to collect religious relics taken abroad by his predecessor.

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But if the Karmapa went to collect relics, it was a strange route he took. Like other exiles before him including the Dalai Lama, the journey is a long and hazardous trek across the Himalayas. For all Tibetan exiles, it's an arduous journey.

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This young man arrived a month ago, as scores of others arrive every week. He wants to remain anonymous because someday he plans to return to Tibet to push for independence.

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Tenzin Choegyal:

It was pitch dark. We were not allowed to use any torch lights, and far away on the right side, we can see the light of the Chinese military camp. Yeah, everybody's sort of the same, telling people not to talk loudly. Keep it down.

Speaker 1:

[Tenzin Choegyal] knows the escape route well. As a child Lama, he fled Tibet in 1959 with his brother, the Dalai Lama.

Tenzin Choegyal:

The people who cross into Nepal, they just go through such a lot of problem. Very high mountains. That's risking everything. They want to be free, and some of these passes are never sort of ... How do you say? Tried before. And they just come out. So what I'm trying to say is if you really want to do it badly enough, you can do it.

Speaker 1:

This is peak season for refugee arrivals. Each year, about 2,500 make the hazardous journey across the Himalayas, a journey which ends here. The new arrivals tell us that winter is the best time to escape from China because there are fewer border patrols once the snow sets in.

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At the refugee centre, they land tired and hungry. They have no home, no job, and barely any money.

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Yet another busload has come in today. Tibetan New Year. The hard climate has left its mark on children sent by poor parents to be educated in their mother tongue. Like the Karmapa, many of the victims of growing restrictions on Tibet's religious education.

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While the monastic tradition thrives in Dharamshala, Tibet's religious scholars feel increasingly stifled by Beijing's obsession with patriotic education. Those close to the Karmapa confirm his education was a primary cause of dissatisfaction.

Speaker 8:

We have been receiving reports in the last number of years that he was having difficulties receiving teachings from Lamas of different traditions, and high Lamas of his own tradition as part of his religious education. He's also having difficulties of receiving visitors, and that we have had reports, which cause us great deal of concern, that he was not very happy.

Speaker 1:

With the teenage Lama now ensconced at the Gyuto Monastery in Dharamshala, the faithful wait for their first meeting with him. There are devout Tibetans and some curious foreigners. Together, we wait under the watchful eye of the Indian army.

Finally, we're called into the monastery, but there are rules. No jackets, shoes, or socks. The Indian government is so sensitive about the Karmapa's presence, not even cameras and watches are allowed inside, and for everybody, two body searches. Even for toddlers, there's no escape.

While life goes on as usual outside the monastery, inside it's an extraordinary ten minutes with the Karmapa. He delivers a modest message of peace and tranquillity, but his physical presence transcends his words. The Karmapa may be only 14, but already his incredible spiritual presence leaves a deep and lasting impression.

As the faithful depart, the Karmapa finally makes a more public appearance. Despite the high security, he appears relaxed in his new home, in no apparent rush to return to Tibet. Though no one dares to say it now, it's an unspoken conclusion that India will grant him refuge.

Speaker 8:

The government has never at any state said that he cannot stay, so I don't think there is formal procedure to be adopted.

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But still, China battles to control the Tibetan soul.

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In recent weeks, state television has showcased the child Lama chosen by Beijing as the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, the Panchen Lama.

In May 1995, the Dalai Lama named his own choice of Panchen Lama. China was so infuriated it nullified the choice, and the boy disappeared. Six months later, Beijing's nominee was instated, the son of communist party members.

In recent weeks, China's leaders have appeared in the company of the young Panchen, projecting an image that since the Karmapa's flight, all is well on the roof of the world.

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Speaker 1:

What do you think were the reasons why the young Karmapa fled from Tibet?

Tenzin Choegyal:

Because he didn't have freedom. He felt that he was being used as a puppet. He went in the prison. The prison wardens have all the say, and, yeah, even though you might have a little kind of freedom, but then someone's always watching you if you cross the light, you know? You get the chop.

From here, you can see ... You know the river right there? It's Beas. River Beas. One of the rivers of Punjab.

Speaker 1:

Tenzin Choegyal has renounced his monkhood. These days, he prefers a different type of solitude, running a small guest house, which was once part of a British hill station. It's a quiet existence, where protecting his guests has become a more worldly concern than meditation.

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Tenzin Choegyal:

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One of his main occupations these days is keeping monkeys well away from the guest house.

Tenzin Choegyal:

This will be really interesting.

Speaker 1:

You're going to be slingshotting the monkeys? Does it hurt?

Tenzin Choegyal:

Oh, yeah. If you hit them, it'll hurt, but we only do it to frighten them away. Please mind your head here.

Speaker 1:

Thank you.

But there is a more serious side to harassing the wildlife. The traditional slingshot has achieved near-mythical status amongst Tibetans. Hundreds of years ago, it was used to fight the Chinese.

Tenzin Choegyal:

And in history, there is an incident where Tibetans used sling against the Emperor's army. And that's why people wear this kind of thing around their neck, reminding us that we drove them away by slings.

You've got to choose the right kind of stone. Just physical [inaudible] a person doesn't ensure the persons are, how you say, goodwill towards you. They haven't won the heart of the Tibetan people.

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Why, after 40 years, are Tibetans still unhappy with Chinese rule?

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Tenzin Choegyal:

If you want to make friends, you can't bash the person and say "Be my friend." If you treat the person well, have a certain amount of trust and faith in each other, have some kind of a human interaction, then you might become friends.

Speaker 1:

The exiles stand firm in their resolve that someday, in some form, they will return to their own land. Already, there are whispers that some time in the future, the Karmapa may succeed the Dalai Lama, a role presently reserved for Beijing's puppet Panchen. China may have won Tibet's physical submission, but the spiritual crown lies far beyond its reach.