Tibet Symposium attracts crowd

Author: Julia McKinnon

Looking for a clean slate? If you were in the Great Hall in John M. McCardell, Jr. Bicentennial Hall this weekend you would have been surprised to find two Tibetan monks clad in orange robes working on the creation of a mandala. A mandala is a meditative exercise in the impermanent nature of existence. It involves many hours of intricate work placing grains of colored sand in a circular design. The mandala is a unique art form practiced in Tibetan Buddhism in which, once the artwork is complete, monks ceremoniously wipe away the whole design and leave a clean slate indeed as well as a compassionate mindset.

The mandala was a central piece of the International Student Organization (ISO) symposium last weekend entitled "The Changing Face of Tibet." They symposium featured a plethora of Tibetan lectures, films, panels, dances, music and art around campus that helped to foster a dialogue about Tibetan culture here at Middlebury. There are three Tibetan students on campus.

Organizing the Symposium

A team of international students planned the weekend's events. Cheryl McClurg '08 from South Africa, Pema Tshomo '08 from Bhutan and Monica Balan '08 from Romania were in charge. All three girls attended divisions of the United World College for high school and are now active members of Middlebury's ISO. The process of organizing the symposium began last fall when the three presented the idea to the Board of Trustees and, out of eight choices, the Board chose their program.

The subject of Tibet turned out to be an enormous topic to tackle in just one weekend. They broke the task down, Balan explained. "We all did our little bit and it went perfectly."

The purpose of the event, as McClurg explained, was not to have a political debate or to give a biased portrayal of the complicated and emotional Tibetan-Chinese interface, but to instead objectively trace the ways in which Tibet has changed over the past 50 years.

"It was about how Chinese presence in Tibet has changed the culture and society," McClurg said.

"It's very difficult to have anything to do with Tibet without having it be political," explained Tshomo. "Because that's what it comes down to in the end." The students carefully chose the events, however, so that the conference did not have a political angle, but instead focused on global change and the issue of preserving cultures.

Though the "Free Tibet" slogan arises ubiquitously in the United States, discussing Tibetan issues at a campus-wide level seemed an important endeavor to many professors and members of ISO. "Lots of professors said that [their] students say, 'Yeah, free Tibet,' yet if you ask them 'From what?,' they don't know," said Balan.

Screenings and Lectures

The symposium opened with a screening of "Seven Years in Tibet" followed by a lecture about "historical and modern perspectives on Tibetan culture and identity" by Rinchin Dharlo.

This lecture provided a background in Tibet's situation. Under Mao Zedong, China's People's Liberation Army entered the nation of Tibet in 1949 and occupied the country during Mao's "Great Leap Forward." Since then, the country has become part of China even though Tibetans wish to have national autonomy. The unique Tibetan language, religion and culture all struggle to survive as a distinctive entity under these circumstances.

On Friday, Robert Barnett lectured about economics in Tibet and the new Qinhai Tibet Railway Project. He seemed enthusiastic about entering into lengthy discussions with various students. "Barnett, in particular, took a long time to talk to the Chinese students after his lecture," noted Balan. "I think they had a very good dialogue."

The makeup of the crowd at the weekend events was moving to McClurg, Tshomo and Balan. They were thrilled that many of the Chinese students on campus attended and they were moved by the overwhelmingly positive response and attendance from the students, faculty and community.

Chengcheng Xu '09, a Chinese student, attended every single event of the symposium. It was the first opportunity that she had had to learn about what happened between Tibet and China. "I went out of obligation. We should know what happened in Tibet. We have to learn from our mistakes," said Xu. "We have to change ourselves first. We have to be the change we want to see."

Xu comes from Nanjing, a city where 300,000 Chinese were killed during a Japanese invasion in 1937. "In my city people are still struggling," she said. "There are many governments that have done terrible things."

Xu took full advantage of all the events of the weekend. "The Chinese government does not represent the people of China as a whole," she said. "But I'm here [at Middlebury] to see things that I can't see in China."

The Chinese students "wanted to make sure that we knew that what was happening was the government in China, not the Chinese people," said Tshomo. "They kept saying, 'It's our government, not us.'"

Friday night featured a cultural evening at The Grille with traditional Tibetan dumplings accompanying live music, singing and dancing performed by Tibetans in traditional costumes. A large crowd showed up to munch and move their hips. The performers were Tibetans who live in the U.S. but supplement their American lives by putting on shows that depict their national heritage.

On Saturday afternoon, many students and community members turned up to participate in a round table discussion about the changes that might occur for Tibet if China were to democratize. Later that day, Jamyang Norbu, a Tibetan novelist, gave a closing address about "what it means to be Tibetan today."

Sand Mandalas

The most widely viewed aspect of the The Changing Face of Tibet, however, was undoubtedly the sand mandala set up in McCardell Bicentennial Hall. Two monks from the Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, New York created the mandala over a period of two days. The monks presence on campus delighted Tshomo. "This is my culture, too," she explained. "When I saw [the monks] in the airport in their robes I got so excited."

On Friday, the monks held a workshop for a large crowd to show how a mandala is constructed-with two cone-shaped metal funnels that they rub together causing the sand to dribble out the bottom. The sound created is a low raspy monotonous hum that helps cultivate the meditation process. One of the monks demonstrated the technique at a table in the Great Hall. He wrote his name in sand with his tools and then drew another design. "It's an elephant, see? You can do whatever you want," the monk said with a smile. "But over there, on the mandala, you have to follow the text."

The intricate mandala is created for the deities in Buddhism. It proved a highly successful image that sparked interest in the symposium and drew attendance to other events.

"We often get the mistaken impression that this campus is all about academics and athletics, so we don't always have time to appreciate the diversity that we have here," said McClurg. "The fact that the symposium was so well attended showed that interest is high."

Part of the tradition of the mandala is that shortly after the delicate masterpiece is completed, it must be erased. The Buddhist tradition is that the sand must be disposed of into a moving body of water. McClurg and a few others got to accompany the monks in this endeavor in the dark.

"A few of us went with the monks to dispose of the sand in Otter Creek on the footbridge," said McClurg. "They had a ceremony. They were speaking Tibetan. The whole mood was so powerful and spiritual; it was a perfect ending to the weekend."

The event's organizers credited its success to their co-sponsors and Assistant Director for Student Organizations Charlotte Chase for their help in planning and funding the various activities.