Dalai Lama Fears Building Frustration

For decades, the Dalai Lama has preached calm and patience to fellow Tibetans campaigning against Chinese rule in their homeland.

Now, with growing hunger strikes and the death of a man who set himself on fire, the political and spiritual leader has admitted that his moderate approach has failed in the eyes of many frustrated, desperate Tibetans.

His response could mark a watershed for the Tibetan independence movement: While reiterating that hunger strikes and suicide betray the Buddhist tradition of nonviolence, the Dalai Lama admitted he was unable to offer any alternative solutions.

"For many years, I'd been able to persuade the Tibetan people to eschew violence in our freedom struggle," he said after visiting Thupten Ngodup, a monk who set himself on fire during a demonstration against China's rule of Tibet.

Ngodup died Wednesday, the first Tibetan exile to die of self-immolation.

"Today, it's clear that a sense of frustration and urgency is building up among many Tibetans," the Dalai Lama said. "In that sense my efforts have failed."

The Dalai Lama is the religious and political leader for more than 100,000 fellow countrymen campaigning from exile in India for increased freedom for Tibet, and for many of the 6 million people who live in Tibet.

His followers, many of whom believe he is the incarnation of a Buddhist deity, may interpret his admission as approval of more forceful tactics such as hunger strikes and suicides.

The Dalai Lama - a title that means Ocean of Mercy - has lobbied heads of governments, popes and potentates to try to push China toward more autonomy for Tibet. But China, which invaded Tibet in 1950 and annexed it nine years later, has not budged.

Younger militants have expressed increasing impatience with the Dalai Lama's moderate policies.

"We, the people of Tibet, need an answer," said Tseten Norbu, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, which organized a hunger strike that culminated with Ngodup's self-immolation. "How long should we wait, wait and wait?"

The Youth Congress has long advocated more forceful steps. It organized the hunger strike even though the Dalai Lama had stepped in to stop similar protests in the past.

It is unlikely, however, that any Tibetan group would defy the Dalai Lama's principles to the extent of waging a campaign of violence to push their cause, either outside the country or against the Chinese in Tibet.

A handwritten sign propped against Ngodup's coffin at a prayer vigil Wednesday declared Tibetans would follow his example "one by one." But such a radical recipe does not appeal to all.

"I feel that with this sacrifice, people will become more determined to achieve independence," said Yang Kyi, a 21-year-old Tibetan who attended the prayer vigil. "But I personally feel it's better to continue the struggle peacefully."

By Krishnan Guruswamy