10-12 May 1996.
Bonn, Germany
By A.C. McKay
The symposium attracted more than 400 people on each of the first two days, bearing witness to the continuing
fascination which Tibet continues to exert in the West. But the land attracting such attention is not necessarily Tibet
as understood by Tibetans. Tibet has often been confused with 'Shangri-la' in the popular imagination, and its image
in the West is the repository for wishful fantasies, alternative spiritualities, and imagined constructions of a utopia
on the 'roof of the world'.
While virtually all of the 18 papers were academic, many of the audience were drawn by the very images of Tibet
which the presentations were criticizing. The biggest applause was reserved for the speaker who gave the audience
his personal impression of a Tibet which was all they hoped for; demilitarized, purely Buddhist, eco-friendly, and
non-patriarchal; a utopian home for the 'little people from the roof of the world'. That this construction was
inaccurate, and firmly rejected by the Tibetans present, did not dislodge the preconceptions of many
participants.
Yet this blending of specialist and non-specialist was perhaps the most valuable aspect of the conference. The varying
standpoints of those present challenged the validity of purely academic constructions, raising unexpected questions
and approaches. At this conference, speakers were not preaching to the converted: academia faced the challenge of
interpreting its findings to the outside world.
Two papers in particular challenged Western understandings of Tibet. Donald Lopez outlined the work of one of the
'Great Mystifiers', T.Lobsang Rampa, whose books describing his life in Tibet played an important part in creating
Western images of an occult Tibet. Mundanely, Lobsang Rampa was actually a British plumber, who had never been
to Tibet; his 'facts' were fiction. Lopez felt it is the task of scholars to question such easy assumptions. He located
Rampa within questions of authority in Tibetan Buddhism. While Western scholarship rejects such inventions, there
are precedents within Tibetan culture for similar charismatic authority, which many scholars deem legitimate. Lopez's
stimulating interpretation received unexpected support from a Tibetan participant, who confessed to having read and
enjoyed, (although not believed) all of Rampa's works, while one of the conference organizers admitted that these
books had originally stimulated his own interest in Tibet; proving that it the results which matter, not the point of
entry.
Reverse orientalism
Tony Huber's paper provided the greatest challenge to 'Environmentalist, Pacifist and Feminist Tibet Images'. He
described a 'Reverse Orientalism', in which the Tibetan community-in-exile had created images of Tibet in response
to Western concerns, and argued that these represent unprecedented contemporary concerns rather than the
maintenance of ancient traditions. The creation of images is by no means a monopoly of Western powers.
This critique of modern constructions of Tibet was the focus of other papers. Elliot Sperling gave us examples of
violence within Tibetan authority and history, Frank Korom traced the origins of Tibet's role in the New Age
movement back to social utopian ideals in England in the mid-19th century, and Per Kvaerne examined the religious
and ideological orientations of several renowned Tibetologists.
Older image constructions were also put under examination. Peter Bishop discussed images from Western literature,
Poul Pedersen analysed the role of the Theosophical movement, Peter Hansen dissected the image of Tibet in early
film and cinema. Heather Stoddart and Thomas Heberer discussed images in art, Geoffrey Hopkins spoke eloquently
on competition within Tibetan monastic colleges. A notably original contribution was Reinhard Greve's study of
paradoxical Nazi images of Tibet. One group viewed Tibet as the centre of a Buddhist conspiracy for world
domination, another, which appealed in particular to Himmler, saw Tibet as an Aryan homeland. It was this latter
view which led to the German mission to Tibet in 1938-39 composed of a party of SS men.
Truth, not image
The Tibetan perspective on these issues was the question most frequently asked, and a panel composed of Tibetans
participants, from varying backgrounds, were united in the conclusion that, while images of Tibet may have been
politically useful, 'ordinary existence in the here and now' is the Tibetan's main concern, and Western scholars need
to recognize that concern. What the Tibetans want is truth, not image.
Much of the final day of the conference was devoted to panel discussions. Here the 'gap between reality and image'
varied in breadth. While some specific myths were rejected, hopefully forever, others will remain fixed in some
minds - one audience member probably spoke for many when she stated that she preferred to keep her idealized
images. Yet for all participants, both European and Tibetan, this was an extremely valuable opportunity to move
closer to a realistic understanding of Tibet
Dr Alex C. McKay is an affiliated fellow at the IIAS.