Note: The above list of numbers includes only those which were found in the records of the Council for Religious and Cultural Affairs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India.

APPENDIX E

The Administrative Framework

Religious policy is implemented by cadres and government functionaries at all levels of the administrative structure. The Tibet Autonomous Region is made up of 7 Prefectures, 74 counties, 30 towns and 895 townships. The Chinese government has made 6 Tibetan autonomous prefectures in Qinghai Province, 2 in Sichuan Province, 1 in Yunnnan Province and 1 Gansu Province (see map p.2). The following table is meant to identify and clarify terms which appear in the literature in English, Tibetan and Chinese.

APPENDIX F

Admission Process to Lhasa Area Monasteries

Case #1: Tenzin Namgyal

- Case Histories

Tenzin Namgyal, a 22-year-old Drepung monk, grew up in Meldrogongar, a region to the east of Lhasa from which many candidates to Lhasa's monasteries originate. Tenzin first obtained permission from his parents to enter the monastery and then found a teacher who agreed to take him on as a pupil. After 3-4 years of scrutiny by the DMC, Tenzin was given official status as a monk. According to Tenzin, the most effective method of gaining admittance to the monastery was to bribe, or otherwise gain the favor of, a powerful person outside of the DMC. Tenzin served as a laborer/servant to an official in the RAB for a year without pay.

Tenzin further reported that at Drepung, the DMC had three basic qualifications for admission:

1. The candidate must be between the ages of 18 and 30.

2. The candidate must love religion and the Communist Party. He must secure the guarantee from 3 teachers that he will abide by the law and the constitution.

3. The candidate must not have a bad record.

During the 3-4 year probationary period when the DMC was evaluating Tenzin, he lived in the monastery but was not permitted to take part in the prayer sessions nor receive a share of the donations generated during these activities.

After the DMC accepted Tenzin, the Committee gave him a piece of paper acknowledging its approval and then sent him to the Lhasa RAB office (Choedhon Chu). That office in turn required him to get the permission of five different local offices. At each stage, the respective

2. Xu Chi - Jamphel bribed the official with a 60 yuan payment. (This administrative unit has since been abandoned.)

3. Xiang- The candidate bribed the xiangtang with one sheep and seven kilograms of butter.

4. Dzong - Jamphel brought gifts of meat and butter every time he visited the office to check on his status. The Tibetan official who was the head of the dzong was reportedly the worst hurdle of the process.

5. Ganden DMC

6. TAR government

Admission to Shekar Monastery

Until 1986, only monks who had been at Shekar prior to 1959 could be admitted. As of that time, there were 24 monks at Shekar, 11 of whom had been imprisoned or had remained in Tibet throughout the Cultural Revolution, and 13 of whom had returned from exile in Nepal. Several Shekar monks believe that the rule prohibiting new monks may have been imposed by local authorities, rather than by the authorities in Lhasa or Beijing.

In 1986, the monks petitioned the local authorities to allow the admission of novices. In the absence of any novices, the monks argued that the monastery could not fulfill its traditional responsibilities of transmitting teachings and training young monks to assume management of monastic affairs after the older ones had died.

After months of negotiations, some of the older monks were allowed to take on novices. Although there were 40-50 novices seeking admission, only 13 positions were available. Local authorities stated that no one under 15 could be admitted, but this policy was not strictly enforced and the monks were able to admit some novices as young as 12. The monks focused the admission process on relatives, in part to ensure that they admitted novices they could trust. Today there are reportedly eight young monks at Shekar. Aside from imposing age restrictions and a quota, outside authorities did not interfere with the selection process. The novice's family only had to provide a thumbprint to give its approval.