The Buddha Party: How the People's Republic of China Works to Define and Control Tibetan Buddhism

by John Powers

Overview

The Buddha Party tells the story of how the People's Republic of China employs propaganda to define Tibetan Buddhist belief and sway opinion within the country and abroad. The narrative they create is at odds with historical facts and deliberately misleading but, John Powers argues, it is widely believed by Han Chinese. Most of China's leaders appear to deeply believe the official line regarding Tibet, which resonates with Han notions of themselves as China's most advanced nationality and as a benevolent race that liberates and culturally uplifts minority peoples. This in turn profoundly affects how the leadership interacts with their counterparts in other countries. Powers's study focuses in particular on the government's "patriotic education" campaign-an initiative that forces monks and nuns to participate in propaganda sessions and repeat official dogma. Powers contextualizes this within a larger campaign to transform China's religions into "patriotic" systems that endorse Communist Party policies. This book offers a powerful, comprehensive examination of this ongoing phenomenon, how it works and how Tibetans resist it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199358151
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/03/2016
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

John Powers is Professor of Asian Studies in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University. He specializes in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan history and is the author of 17 books and more than 80 articles. His books include A Bull of A Man: Images of Masculinity, Sex, and the Body in Indian Buddhism (2009) and Historical Dictionary of Tibet (with David Templeman; 2012).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Preface

1 Acts of Ingratitude
2 The Limitations of Propaganda
3 Patriotic Soul Boys and Other Chinese Myths
4 Tibetology with Chinese Characteristics
5 Chinese and Tibetan Perspectives on History
6 Conclusion

Appendix A: Tibetan Spellings
Appendix B: Chinese Terms
Appendix C: Buddhist Terms

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"The Buddha Party is an excellent book that will be essential reading for students of contemporary Tibet. It is a handy and accessible classroom resource for courses on contemporary China that address the PRC's ethnic policies and the status of the country's ethnic nationalities. The book focuses on Tibetans, but it is highly relevant for understanding Chinese nationalism and the narratives that underpin the Chinese Dream — Xi Jinping's vision for the great rejuvenation of China. It will also be helpful to those wishing to gain a greater understanding of current events in Xinjiang, where Islam is being similarly targeted as a threat to national integration and China's return to world power status." —Journal of Asian Studies

"Although this book is important reading for anyone who wants to understand the contemporary religious situation in Tibet, it is also a useful resource for understanding the use of propaganda in modern China. I would also highly recommend the book to general readers who are interested in, and concerned about, the recent rise of similar forms of discourse in Europe and America: 'alternative facts' is propaganda by another name."—Manuel Lopez, Nova Religio

"[T]his book is a complete and thorough examination of its topic, written in a clear and unambiguous manner and backed up by exacting citations. More importantly it offers a concise overview of the way in which the People s Republic of China (PRC) is attempting to redefine Tibetan Buddhism and history for its own purposes...Powers locates the vast range of ongoing manipulations in available Chinese government literature and reports of conferences involving high-ranking officials, and his research and sources are impeccable and broadly sourced. Much of his primary source material is seen for the first time outside of hard-to-access archival and obscure locations."—H-Net

"Powers compellingly guides the reader to a nuanced understanding of Chinese efforts to control and shape opinion about Tibetan history, Tibet's international standing, and the Dalai Lama. He investigates Chinese domestic and international propaganda strategies and the judicial, security, and educational methods directed at controlling Tibetans' thinking. Most valuable of all, he skillfully unveils the ways in which Chinese approaches utterly fail to change Tibetan attitudes." —Derek F. Maher, translator and annotator of Tsepon Shakabpa's One Hundred Thousand Moons: An Advanced Political History of Tibet

"Why can't China and Tibet just get along? Could the PRC government really believe their own propaganda about Tibet? Does the Communist Party really believe that only they are capable of recognizing reborn lamas? What is Patriotic Re-education in Tibet, and why do Tibetans hate it so much? If you want answers to these questions, and wish to understand contemporary Sino-Tibetan relations, read this book. John Powers brings his extensive scholarship and personal experience in Tibet and with the Central Tibetan Administration, as well as a reading of the patriotic re-education training manuals to bear in this masterful and engaging account of a political situation that both absurd and tragic." —Jay L Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities, Smith College, Visiting Professor of Buddhist Philosophy, Harvard Divinity School and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Central University of Tibetan Studies

From the Publisher