Note: This is a personal blog post that has nothing to do with Vonage, or any other company – if you’re an analyst, investor, or financier looking for tips & insights – you’re at the wrong place…

I spent twenty days in China, about seventeen out of them in Tibet. I met pure, welcoming, beautiful people with a rich & deep culture situated in one of the most special places on planet Earth. This post is about them, their culture and lives.

Tibet is a huge landmass made of two parts: Tibet’s Autonomous Region with 1.2 Million Square km; what most people call ‘Tibet’ today, and additional 1.3 Million sq.km already incorporated into the provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai in China. For comparison, the State of California is about 420,000 sq. km, meaning California can fit three times into the Tibet Autonomous Region only..

Tibetan population in Tibet Autonomous Region is estimated around 2 Million, with probably the same number of Chinese Han and Hui and an unknown number of “Mix Banana”. This makes it about a total of 4-5 Million people in an area of 1.2 Million sq. km. California has over 36 Million people. Go do the math.

If you put together Tibetans outside the Autonomous region and those in exile, you get a world population of some 6 million Tibetans. The estimated Tibetans in exile at Dharamsala are approximated in few hundreds of thousands.

Except for vast Oceans, anything I’ve ever seen in life exists in Tibet. From Bryce Canyon to Judea Desert, from Alaska Tundra to picturesque Switzerland, from Tokyo, Okutama to Netherlands,Friesland : it is all there. Tibet has the largest lakes in China, The highest lakes in the world, the tallest Mountains, and the highest peninsulas with average elevation of over 4,000 meters. It is so quiet you can hear the water flow, and so sparsely populated you can see the stars. But if you get lost – nobody will ever find you.

Buddhism arrived at Tibet in the 7^th century AD from India, more than millennia after being founded. It got mixed with the than prevailing religion of Tibet: Bon (which still exists today). Some of the known rituals of Tibetan Buddhism: the “praying flags” originally came from Bon, which also contributed more to the mystical elements of Tibetan Buddhism.

While Buddhism in India lost popularity it gained more and more traction in Tibet. Tibet is considered today one of the most religious Buddhist centers in the world, and a destination for Kora (=pilgrimage) from all over the world. The peak is the “Kora” of Mt. Kailash:  a 55 km circling of the Sacred Mountain, and bathing in the water of the sacred lake. Do this 100 times and you’re up for sainthood. The Kora starts at around 4,500 m with highest elevation of 5,600 m…

People in the West know of the Dalai Lama, but actually, there are three important High Lamas: Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama, and Karmapa. The Dalai Lama also functions as a political leader, and in the past directed the Tibetan government.

But most of the above you can find in Wikipedia and elsewhere.

Religiously wise, the three are equally important. There are additional High Lamas, and past Kings all that receive high respect in Tibet. The current 14^thDalai Lama is at exile in Dharamsala, together with the widely accepted Karmapa. The Panchen Lama was seized by the Chinese back when they took over Tibet, he was forced at gun-point to marry (therefore no longer a monk), and the 11^th Panchen was selected by the Chinese and situated in Beijing. Only in Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet, and summer seat of the Panchen you can see pictures on the 11^th Panchen Lama; elsewhere he does not exist. There are also numerous other high-ranking Lamas presenting various schools and streams in Tibetan Buddhism. It is a fascinating yet complex  multi headed system, with regional influence, administration powers and politics.

It is also a money making machine, and many of the monasteries seems more of a financial institutes today than a place of religiously enlightened people. Some of the places give shows for tourists… Monks enjoy relatively comfortable quarters equipped with TV and other riches, while normal people have nothing. My heart goes to the poor and simple and much less to the repressed Monks.

And this is something you won’t read in Wikipedia…

There are a few reasons for that:

- Buddhism is not a religion in the Western sense; it is more of a moral philosophy with certain observations on the nature of life and a “method”: The Middle Way / Noble Eightfold Path to break the cycle of rebirth and suffering. The “method” is not easy to practice, requires long studying, meditations and personal sacrifices. While Karma, reincarnations and other elements of Buddhist philosophy are relatively easy enough to understand and follow, practice of the Middle Way is only for the elite religious Monks. The farmers, and moderately religious people, who make the majority of the Tibetan populations, worship the Monks and the many Buddha & protectors. But this does not seem as Buddhism in it’s purest form…? When visiting the Monasteries, you will see peasants giving hardly earned few Yuan’s to the Monks, or Buddha for better Karma. This is not pure Buddhism; it is a place where Buddha’s are painted with gold paints while people have nothing to eat. It is a place where Monks are well fed and kept by the farmers who don’t have hot water to wash. It is a sad place, where fat Monks sit openly and count their money in front of passing peasants with growling stomachs. Is that really what Siddhartha preached to? In one Monetary I saw seven relatively young Monks kept and fed by twenty or more elderly people cooking for them, cleaning and helping them. It was hard for me to watch.

- Today’s Monks are officially appointed by the Chinese government and earn a monthly salary (in addition to donations from passersby). Before the Chinese took over Tibet, it was different: each family could have sent their smart boys or girls to the Monastery to get education and some of them later become Monks. Today when youngsters reach about twenty years of age they may apply to the government to get a certifications for Monkhood, if the government allow, and the candidates proves sufficient understanding of the scriptures they may enter the Monastery. Monks become the richer, educated elite, get monthly salaries and when they wish to leave the Monastery, they can get married and continue with their lives. A couple of years at a Monastery and a Monk can buy himself a nice house in Lhasa with toilet and running hot water, for the rest it may take twenty years to earn that much, if ever. You see Monks talking on cellular phones, have TV in their quarters, listen to western music and even drink beer after the Monastery shuts down at 6pm. In Shigatse I saw an old lady walking with a stick being help by a beautiful young girl, it was apparent that both came from far away to give their few Yuan, the young Monks were playing around them, shouting, pushing each other around more like Monkeys than Monks and paid no attention to the poor. I suspect, that even if the Buddha was walking among them they wouldn’t have noticed. We are all human, it is not that Rabbis, Priests or Imams act any better – but from the picture I had in mind, based on the movies and information received in the West – I expected them to act more spiritually. 

- When the Dalai Lama fled back in 1959, he was accompanied by the best and finest of the Tibetan elite, those who did not flee with him joined him later in Dharamsala. The people in Dharamsala, some of them second and third generations are not part of Tibet today. Their language evolved differently, their customs. They are now shepherds without the sheep.  When the Dalai Lama fled with the educated core they escaped the dilemma of immediate death vs bowing to the Chinese government, but paid with slow decay of their society. Tibet society today is diluted, step-by-step immersed in the great Chinese empire. History will judge.

There are two sides to every coin. The Chinese have spent billions of USD, and still continue the construction of roads in Tibet. Routes that used to take weeks, now take hours on newly paved roads. Construction work is everywhere. Cellular reception at distant areas is better in some cases than AT&T coverage in NY City. Food from Mainland China is being imported, electric facilities are being built, there are even Apple local resellers in Lhasa, iPad2 is a big thing!

Tibetan people are not always appreciative, they want to go back, but go back to what? Would any of them really give up cellular phones? Stop riding 4WD on paved roads and go back to riding Yaks on the hills? It’s hard to reverse progress.

Chinese try to portray how happy Tibetan life is. While at the other hand they do everything in their power to assimilate the population. Average salary in Tibet is still way lower than Mainland China. Even in Lhasa most houses don’t have running hot water or toilets. Tibetans are totally dependent on Chinese Medicine, the government subsidies Alcohol and smokes. A pack of smokes cost 5 Yuan, that’s less than $1 per pack… Beer is around $1. Tibetans smoke their brains out, and when workday ends soak their lives in Lhasa Beer, because it’s cheap and accessible. This is not the moral way to make people happy, it is a way to make them forget and pass away… A conqueror is a conqueror – Tibetan people may smile, but their soul is not.

China needs Tibet first of all for the country richest – Minerals. There are more than 126 identified minerals in Tibet from uranium to iron, gold, copper, oil and gas. Tibet is one huge mine, and it will be very difficult for China to give this up.

The Exiled Tibetan government’s strategy was to try to convince the world to pressure China into releasing Tibet. If that did not work twenty years ago, why would it work now? Every schoolboy knows about the Dalai Lama, with numerous books and Hollywood films -  but what’s next? It is unlikely that China can give up their hold on Tibet. Not after investing so much money, and not after having more Chinese than Tibetans living on those hills. US and EU first look after their financial interest in China. They won’t piss off the Dragon for few Tibetans.

Tibet should remember that the fifth Dalai Lama received respect and rule over Tibet from Mongolia and not from the UN. I can only hope, albeit maybe naively, that both governments can find the Middle Way directly and avoid further suffering.  otherwise I’m afraid that few generations down the road what I saw in those twenty days will end up as pictures in a museum not the vibrant culture Tibet is.

As for me…

I reached Lhasa by a train that travels for 24 hrs and reaches the highest elevation on earth. I climbed and trekked,  met interesting people, learned about Buddhism and Tibetan culture. I learned to let go and do nothing. I lost 5Kg in less than three weeks and found out my body acclaims very well to heights.  I traveled ten days with unique group of individuals.  We saw the sacred lake, Mt. Kailash, the place where dead children were fed to the fish and dead man fed to the eagles. We climbed Guge Kingdom and crawled in the caves. We’ve seen sunrises and sunsets.  I’ve spoken to the Female Buddha of Qomolangma (Mt. Everest) and visited the meditation cave of the Famous Samboha . I saw the end of the earth. I completed what I set to do.

Big thanks to Shan for setting up the group and handling the logistics. Special thanks Xiao-Ya who traveled with me most of the way. She does not speak a word of English and I don’t speak Chinese but she’s one of the purest people I met and showed me the real essence of Buddhism by actions and not words.  Thanks to the team for the memorable celebration – I’ll never forget that.  To my best friends Joe and Akiko for hosting me in Beijing and sending me on one of the most interesting trip of my life. Special thanks for those who stayed behind and made this possible. Thank you all very much.

There’s a lot more, but that will suffice for now.

Amichay