By John Sudworth BBC News,
Shanghai 29
January 2015
Could China be bringing Tibetan Buddhism in from the
cold? There are new signs that while a crackdown on Tibetan
nationalism continues, the atheist state may be softening its
position towards the religion - and even the Dalai Lama.
That a former senior Communist Party official would
invite the BBC into his home might, to most foreign journalists in
China, seem an unlikely prospect.
Especially if that official was rumoured to have
close links to the Chinese leadership and to have worked closely
with the country's security services.
But the idea that such an official would then invite
the BBC to witness him praying in front of a portrait of the Dalai
Lama, would seem a preposterous one. Laughable - insane
even.
That, though, is exactly what Xiao Wunan
did.
Inside Xiao's luxury Beijing apartment, in pride of
place atop his own private Buddhist shrine, sits a portrait of the
exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, a man long reviled by the Chinese
government as a dangerous separatist.
For Tibetan monks even the possession of the Dalai
Lama's photograph is a risky proposition and the displaying of his
portrait in monasteries is prohibited.
But there, beneath that same image sat Xiao, with a
Tibetan Buddhist guru, Geshe Sonam, sitting beside him.
It's really no big deal, the 50-year-old Xiao
explains.
"In regard to the political problems between the
Dalai Lama and China… we hardly pay any attention," he
says.
"It's really hard for us to judge him from that
angle. As Buddhists, we only pay attention to him as part of our
Buddhist practice."
Xiao was introduced to the BBC by a Chinese
businessman, 36-year-old Sun Kejia - one of an unknown, but
reportedly growing number of wealthy Chinese, drawn in recent
years to the mysticism of Tibetan Buddhism.
The increasing popularity of religion in general in
China has been well documented and is often explained in terms of
China's rapid economic expansion.
Millions of Chinese today may now have the kind of
wealth that previous generations could only dream of, but economic
growth has been accompanied by seismic social upheaval and many of
the old certainties have been swept away.
"I was once confronted with great difficulties and
problems in my business," Sun says.
"I felt they couldn't be overcome by human effort
and that only Buddha, ghosts and God could help me."
So Sun became a follower not of merchant bankers or
money managers, but monks - Tibetan monks in particular. And he has
indeed since earned his fortune, which he estimates at more than
$100m.
He now runs a chain of Buddhist clubs, and pays from
his own pocket for Tibetan gurus like Geshe Sonam to come and
preach there, giving them badly needed funds for their missions and
monasteries back in Tibet.
But while Sun's invited guests - businessmen, party
officials and property owners - find comfort and spirituality, he
finds something else.
"What I want is influence," he says.
"My friends who come here are attracted to this
place. I can use the resources they bring to do my other business.
From that angle, it is also my contribution for spreading Buddhism.
This brings good karma and so I get what I want."
And it seems to be working.
Sun invites us to meet other well-connected
individuals who use his club.
Seated on the floor with Geshe Sonam is a woman who
Sun says is connected through family ties to the highest echelons
of Chinese politics.
She and a man she introduces as a senior official at
China's National Development and Reform Commission, and who appears
to be her driver, are placing watches, prayer beads and necklaces
into the centre of the circle for Geshe Sonam to bless.
A luxury banquet follows the religious ceremony, and
later the monk admits to being a bit uncomfortable with the whole
thing.
"No matter how good the food is, it's still just
food," he says.
"Sometimes it takes so long and I really feel I'm
wasting my time. I become a bit anxious. But this can also be a way
to preach. If I don't go here, or don't go there, would it be
better for me to just stay in a cave and never come
out?"
Buddhist monks need the money and dozens, perhaps
hundreds, are now prospecting for funds in China's big
cities.
Given that China is still, officially, an atheist
country, that may seem odd, especially because of the links between
Buddhism and political activism in Tibet.
China however is not only allowing this Buddhist
evangelism to take place but may now be actively encouraging
it.
There
have been reports that President Xi Jinping is - relatively
speaking - more tolerant of religion than his predecessors, in the
hope that it will help fill China's moral vacuum and stem social
unrest.
And there have also
long been rumours that members of the Chinese elite have been
interested in Buddhism, including Xi Jinping's wife, Peng
Liyuan.
The president's father, Xi Zhongxun, a Communist
Party revolutionary and leader, is himself
reported to have had a good relationship with the Dalai Lama
before he fled China in 1959.
And that's perhaps where Xiao Wunan comes in,
because
another unsubstantiated rumour has it that his father was also
close to the president's father.
Much of this is speculation, of course, but the
important question is whether Xiao's permission for the BBC to
witness him worshipping at a Buddhist altar is meant to send a
signal.
Xiao had yet another surprise up his sleeve, handing
the BBC some video footage of a meeting he had with the Dalai Lama
in India - his place of exile - in 2012.
Formal talks were last held in 2010 but even they
were only between representatives of the two sides.
Xiao's footage is rare evidence of face-to-face
talks between the Dalai Lama himself and someone close to the
Chinese government.
There were at the time a few unconfirmed newspaper
reports about it in the Indian press, full of speculation about the
significance, but there was never any official confirmation that it
took place - until the BBC received the video.
At one point in the conversation the Dalai Lama
tells Xiao he is concerned about the activities of fake monks in
China.
"I am also concerned about this," Xiao replies.
"Therefore, we are really in need of a Buddhist leader and that's
why I think your holiness can play such an important
role."
Elsewhere, the Dalai Lama complains about China's
whole approach to Tibet.
"Let's be honest, the Chinese government has been
thinking like a crazy person on their Tibetan policy," he
says.
"They haven't been facing up to it. This tough
policy is not beneficial to China or to Tibetans and also gives
China a very bad international image."
Xiao Wunan's exact role when he was in government is
unclear - "just call me a former high official", he
says.
He also insists that he was not acting as a Chinese
government envoy when he met the Dalai Lama.
He says he was in India in his capacity as the
executive vice chairman of an organisation called the Asia Pacific
Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF).
APECF is often described as being backed by the
Chinese government and is involved in some pretty substantial
influence building, including a multi-billion-dollar investment in
developing a Buddhist site in Nepal.
Either way, it seems unlikely that any former senior
Chinese official would be able to visit the Dalai Lama in India, or
for that matter be filmed worshipping in front of his picture,
without some pretty powerful backing in Beijing.
So what might it all mean? I put this question to
Robbie Barnett, a Tibet specialist at Columbia University in New
York.
Barnett advises against reading too much into Xiao
Wunan's meeting with the Dalai Lama, but says it is nonetheless
symbolic.
"I can detect no politically significant activities
in that meeting," he says, "but it is significant as a symbolic
indicator, a glimpse of a shift that might be under consideration
in, or near, the policy-making heights of the Chinese
system."
He suggests that Xiao's confidence in releasing the
video does not necessarily mean he has the backing of the whole of
the Chinese leadership, but that he probably has the backing of a
powerful faction within it, at the very least.
"We know it is meant to symbolise something,"
Barnett says.
"They want us to see that something might be
happening, that a debate may be taking place."
There can be little doubt that the ban on the
portrait of the Dalai Lama and the tightening of Chinese control
over the past two decades have served to heighten tensions in
Tibet.
Throughout that period there have been talks between
the two sides, both formal and informal, but little has
changed.
In recent months, however, some reports suggest that
the unofficial dialogue has become more substantial, even raising
the possibility of the Dalai Lama being allowed to return from
exile for a historic visit.
So, should the release of the video by Xiao Wunan be
seen as evidence that Xi Jinping really is changing China's
approach to Tibetan Buddhism, or is it simply a smokescreen,
designed to give the appearance of a softening line, while the
harsh crackdown in Tibet continues?
If nothing else, Xiao Wunan and his Dalai Lama
shrine appear to be proof that well-connected members of the
Chinese elite are now taking an active interest in Tibetan Buddhism
- and that monks are now being given license to encourage
them.
"They may not be able to buy their way into Nirvana," Geshe Sonam
says, "but in Buddhism, you can get more karmic reward the more
money you spend on rituals."