Today I've been shifting through more, and more, articles to find annotated sources. Mostly I'm looking for sources that focus on Tibetan refugee studies. While searching, I came across an article about the role religion has played in helping these people to assimilate into a new society. The Dali Lama was arguably a key figure, and assimilation was heavily assisted by his leadership. I don't know why, but I had not considered the major impact religion plays on assimilation. Yes, I knew that Tibetan Buddhism was a large part of their lives, and they followed the Dali Lama...but what did that mean for assimilation. Well, then I went and wikipedia-ed "tibetan Buddhism" and came to learn a lot about how the refugees could be so greatly influence.
According to Wikipedia, Tibetan Buddhism teaches a great respect for the teacher. The teachers are to be revered, and their decision accepted. However, this process of becoming a teacher is a long process and accompanied by skepticism (questioning to make sure that they are qualified). With this respect of the teachers, it would be a great comfort to know that your leader would help you to have what was needed, etc. You could also trust the lower level teachers, under the Dali Lama, because you know they are worthy of your respect. I assume this direction would assist in moving/working/and starting life over.
That does make a lot of sense. And having a great teacher would really help in assimilation because they could just follow him and his decisions. It would make the stress of moving less overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteI don't know very much about this "assimilation" - have the Tibetans been assimilated to a new society? What is this new society? What changes were involved? And how exactly did the presence of these religious leaders ease the transition?
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested in learning more about these things from you through the semester and beyond!
Interesting finding. Do you think this will pull your project in a different direction to look at leadership roles in McLeod Ganj or continue looking at the role of host families. I am sure religion plays an important part there as well.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you are struggling to find sources on host families you could look at other communities outside of Dharamsala to get an idea of what some potential questions might be. Or maybe just try toggling around with keyword searches and see what comes up.