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A MINORITY WITHIN A MINORITY Being Bonpo in the Tibetan Community in Exile YU-SHAN LIU PhD in Social Anthropology The University of Edinburgh 2012 Signed Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has been composed entirely by me, the candidate, Yu-Shan Liu. Unless otherwise stated or indicated, the work is all my own, and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Signed Abstract This thesis presents a study of the Bonpo in Dolanji, a Tibetan refugee settlement in North India. The Bonpo are a distinctive religious minority within the Tibetan refugee population. In the 1950s, Chinese Communist forces occupied Tibet and, in 1959, the fourteenth Dalai Lama fled Tibet into exile in India. In 1960, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile was established in Dharamsala, and emphasised a ‘shared’ Buddhist heritage as being central to the Tibetan national identity. This discourse, which represents the Tibetans as being homogeneously Buddhist, effectively marginalised followers of non-Buddhist religions, including the Bonpo. As a result, the Bonpo have been compelled to adapt, whilst resisting the marginalisation of their religious identity and the constraints embedded in their refugee status. Based on twelve months of fieldwork carried out in 2007-2008 in Dolanji, this thesis explores the ways in which the Bonpo engage with their marginality and manipulate the constraints applied to their situation in order to empower themselves. It argues that on the margins, where the boundaries between inclusion and exclusion are contested and negotiable, the Bonpo are permitted some flexibility to create their identity with different ‘others,’ and to develop new affiliations in order to modify their situation. This thesis unpicks the ‘dialogues’ the Bonpo have established with the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, including their discourse on ‘the Bon traditions’, the participation of the Bonpo in the Tibetan national community, their relationship with foreign patrons and the Chinese Government, and the representation of the Bon religion in school textbooks. It is contended that the margins provide a consistent energy which feeds the dynamics of social relationships, informing cultural and social change. Today’s Bonpo remain situated on the margins of the Tibetan refugee population. However, this thesis demonstrates that in the past decades of exile, the Bonpo have utilised the marginalisation that was forced upon them by multiple ‘others’ to develop what they claim to be ‘Bon traditions’, in order to illustrate their distinctive, but equally important, status in contrast to Buddhism within the Tibetan ‘national’ identity. 1 Acknowledgement This thesis is dedicated to all the Bonpo in exile and in particular, the Bonpo community in Dolanji. This research would not have been possible without their understanding, patience and support, and without all the help they gave me, in so many different ways, both during and after my fieldwork in Dolanji. First and foremost I must thank H.H. the 33rd Abbot of Menri monastery, who permitted me to stay to carry out my research and appointed teachers to teach me Tibetan. Secondly, I thank all my teachers in Dolanji, who taught me not only Tibetan but a knowledge of Bon philosophy, meditation, and history. They are H.E. Menri Ponlop Trinley Nyima Rinpoche, Chuntul Rinpoche, Kundrol Rinpoche, Geshe A Sonam, Geshe Choglo Sherab Tenzin (Tsultrim), Geshe Dugsay, A Khu Dom, Geshe Nyima Woser, Geshe Yangton Tenzin, Geshe Chaphur, Yungdrung Konchok, Geshe Namgyal Nyima, and all the monastics and the nuns. I would also like to thank the settlement officers, all the settlers in Dolanji, and the girls and boys from the BCH, who took great care of me throughout my stay in Dolanji. Without their great support and patience in answering all my questions, this research would not have gone so smoothly. At the University of Edinburgh, I must thank my supervisors Dr. Dimitri Tsintjilonis, Dr. Ian Harper, and Dr. Richard Whitecross, who helped me in the completion of this thesis. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Tsintjilonis and Dr. Harper who, with their kindness and patience, helped me traverse all the difficulties I faced at each stage in my research. Also, I would like to pay special thanks to Dr. Whitecross who introduced me to Bon studies when I was a master’s student, helped me to build academic connections with related scholars, and encouraged me to continue my research on the Bonpo for my doctoral studies. I thank him profoundly for his advice and constant support and encouragement, throughout my studies in Edinburgh and during my fieldwork. I honestly don’t think I could have managed to reach this stage without his kind and consistent support. I also want to take this opportunity to pay my grateful thanks to Professor Charles Ramble and Professor Anthony Good for their examination of this thesis. During the Viva, I received a great many suggestions and references from them for this thesis and for the future development of this research. Moreover, many special thanks go to: Professor Samten Karmay who kindly provided me with helpful advice and comments on my research and for parts of the thesis; and Dr. Krystyna Cech who gave me advice and encouragement when we met in Dolanji in 2007. I thank all the people I met at the conference on ‘Bon, the indigenous source of Tibetan religion and culture’ in Blou in France in 2008, at which time I had just finished my fieldwork. Meeting so many people who had devoted themselves to Bon studies from a variety of perspectives, really inspired me and led me to see my thesis in a new light. I must also offer my profound thanks to Professor Yasuhiko Nagano, Professor Minoru Mio and Dr. Shinichi Tsumagari, from the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan. Professor Nagano and Professor Mio supervised me for a project related to Bon and 2 Zhangzhung during my 3-months (March-May) stay in Osaka in 2011. Dr. Tsumagari introduced me to important textual sources in relation to both Bon and Buddhism, and provided invaluable assistance in my research into the Shon dance and the general Tibetan context. Their advice and comments led me to re-examine the framework and context of this thesis in its final stages. Moreover, I thank all the research fellows I met from the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka University, and Kyoto University, during my stay in Japan. It was probably at this point that I first realised the considerable potential for development of my research, in relation to various aspects of Bon studies, Tibetan studies, South Asia Studies, and Minority Studies. The ideas we exchanged about our research interests and plans helped me to view my thesis from many different angles, and to locate it in various academic contexts. I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to Professor Hiroko Yokoyama, a specialist on the Bai minority group in Yunnan, China; to Professor Tien-shi Chen, whose main research relates to the legal rights of stateless people; to Dr. Seiji Kumagai and Kengo Konishi, in the area of Bon studies; to researchers of the Tibetan diaspora, including Dr Tatsuya Yamamoto; and to those researchers working on minorities, including Yoshiaki Takemura in the context of South India, Li Ying Lin on Eastern Taiwan, and Gaku Kajimaru and Chie Miyawaki on South China. Many special thanks also go to Dr. Aya Ikegame and Dr. Crispin Bates, who helped me with accommodation in Osaka, and shared both my struggles in writing up and my experiences in Japan. The completion of this research also relied on financial assistance from a variety of grants, including the Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust (London, 2006); the Tweedie Exploration Fellowship (the University of Edinburgh, 2007); a Government Scholarship to Study Abroad from the Ministry of Education (TAIWAN, 2007-2009); a Dissertation Fellowship from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (TAIWAN, 2009-2010); and a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship (Short-Term) for North American and European Researchers (JAPAN, 2011). Furthermore, I must thank Stuart Martin who helped to proofread my thesis. Also, I would like to extend my thanks to all my lovely friends, who were with me throughout this tough journey, even when I forbade them to ask about my progress when writing-up. Thank you a million times: Yihsien, Rosie, Dhana, Fish, Fluff, Stella, Chi-rung, Yifang, Watan, Shulin, Annie, Nickie, Anne, A-Liang, Bowls, Lealeaf, Vivian, Nan-wei, Liang-ping, Chi-i, Yihua, Yu-Hsuan, Kim, Min, Brandi, Rebecca, Mihirini. Most of all, I must thank my dear family, especially mum, dad and Khan-khan, who tolerated my short temper and unreasonable demands, and helped me deal with all the stresses, particularly during the final stages of writing up. Without their understanding, constant support, encouragement, and love, this thesis could not possibly have been completed. I also want to dedicate this thesis to my grandparents, who passed away during my studies in Edinburgh and my fieldwork in India.