Tibet--Beer and Politics

Tibetans drinks beer, why?....and is Chinese
"communist" beer better or worse than
home-brew Tibetan stuff?

You've seen the bumper-stickers, you've seen the movies, the
books, the internet sites, the "human-rights" groups proclaim, in
a shrill and strident voice: "Free Tibet!"

I say: "They know not of what they speak."

Free Tibet? Huh? Freedom from what? To what?

The history of Tibet is long, and very unique. Very strange too.
Most people know almost nothing about it--including the
Tibetans. The modern battle, seen from Western media
keyholes, usually divides down the simplistic, almost naive line
of the "good, innocent, spiritual Buddhist Tibetans", and the
"bad, materialist, communist militaristic Chinese."

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

The culture of the Tibetan people has been intertwined with
India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and China for a long, long
time. It was Indian Tantra Buddhist thought and practices that
religiously "imperialised" the people of Tibet, culminating in the
8th to 12th century Tantra flowering of masters with names like
Marpa, Naropa, Tilopa, Milarepa, Atisha, and so on. Not too
shabby, to say the least.

Then, when Genghis Khan and his horse-riding armies
"politicised" Tibet in the 13th-15th centuries, creating the
so-called "Dalai Lama" system of reincarnated "Babies for
Buddha" lineage, the Tibetan people fell under a feudal/serf
environment--of course very politically and economically
motivated--that has continued up to the modern era.

When the Qing Dynasty in China (which was a foreign rule of
northern Manchurian "barbarians", as seen by the Han
Chinese), consolidated power in China, they extended their
realm to Tibet too. Not exactly taking it over--it was such an
isolated place, 15,000 ft. up, the "roof of the world". But Tibet
became a protected quasi-colony, so to speak. The Tibetans
basically continued on in their own way, culturally and
otherwise, with a protectorate "umbrella" from the Qing Dynasty
Chinese.

In the 19th century, the Western imperialists moved in, mainly in
the form of the British. This was an extension of the global
British colonization of the world--their "master plan." The Brits
eventually failed, but they had spies, military groups, economic
coercion tactics, etc. Not only in Tibet, but in Afghanistan,
Burma, India, the Punjab/Kashmir areas, etc. The Russians
were in there too-and probably other nations, too numerous to
mention.

Tibet, which the Chinese now call Xizang Province (western
Zang, the main ethnic group), was of vital importance to the
newly victorious Chinese Communists after their 1949 victory.
First, it was imperative to solidify control for extremely tactical
reasons--the Russians wanted Tibet to be part of their Soviet
satellite sphere, the British still wanted influence, and the
Chinese could not tolerate it on any level. The major reason is
not spiritual antagonism, as most naive Westerners
believe--remember, China is the most Buddhist country in the
history of the world--it is really more geo-physical. The greater
Tibetan region, which includes modern Qinghai Province,
western Sichuan, and the southern part of Gansu Province, is
in its entirety the massively important "Qinghai Plateau"--this is
the northern ranges of the Himalayan Mountains that supply the
rivers, and thereby the water, to a greater part of Eastern
Asia--including the 2 major Chinese Rivers, the Yellow River
(Huang He), and the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang).

Think, for a moment, of this disastrous scenario for China. Their
enemies, or adversaries, have control of the sources of water
for the major part of China. They can do what they want. Dam
the rivers, divert the rivers, pollute or poison the rivers, or
anything they think up to control the water as a political/military
strategy. Remember, this was at a very critical juncture of the
communist/capitalist battle in the world. Not a small thing.

I would say that the move of the Chinese PLA into Tibet
probably is the best thing that ever happened to the country,
save for the introduction of Buddhism 2,000 years before. The
primitive theocracy of the area, that served the small minority of
Buddhist priests and lamas--to the detriment of the majority of
dirt-poor laborers who supported the religious aristocracy, was
finally put to an end. Bravo!

The temples are still there, Buddhism is still there, and now
communism is too. Sure, the mix has not been easy, but what
great thing was ever born out of a non-contentious friction?
Even Buddha himself had to fight the majority Hindus at every
level--he went through many difficulties in his life. Let the
bleeding heart liberals of the Western world take note--don't
jump to half-baked conclusions so rapidly. Why do you not have
any public sympathy for the Muslims in Xinjiang Province, who
went through the same situation with China? Maybe it's that you
don't like the the Muslims as much as you supposedly like the
Buddhists. Or who knows what your motivations really are.
Maybe you just don't like the Chinese. Or communism. Look a
little deeper into your own psychological mechanisms, and you
may be suprised at what you find.

Now, after all this heavy political discussion, on to the question
of Tibetan vs. Chinese beer...this is a really important subject.
The Tibetans have been making beer for millenia, because
barley, the grain usually used to make beer, grows good at
higher altitudes, like the Qinghai Plateau--read that "Tibet."
The watered-down Beijing beer, like the ubiquitousYanjing Pijiu,
is now trucked into Tibet, but the homebrews that the locals
have been making and drinking for centuries--including the
so-called holy Buddhist monks--probably is the way to go, at
least for the discriminating connoisseur of good beer. 'Nuf said.

Drink with joy, and drink responsibly too,

Cheers!

Osho Bob
Colorado, USA

oshobob The Living Workshop

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