By Crystal Hsu
Echoing the need to keep politics separate from religion as that doctrined by the Constitution, the Legislature recently abolished a six-decade-old law empowering the government to regulate Tibetan Buddhism in Taiwan.
The legislative action has drawn applause from officials, lawmakers and Tibetan Buddhists although they do admit that the move is more symbolic than substantive in significance.
Promulgated in December 1935, the statute on the management of Tibetan Buddhists and temples had never been put into effect in Taiwan, after the former Kuomintang government relocated to the island in 1949 amid a Chinese civil war.
The Legislature gave its green light on May 27 to the legal revocation proposed by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission in line with the Cabinet’s effort to scrap outdated laws.
The now abolished law had subjected all Tibetan temples and lamas to obtain recognition from the commission and central government that could award or punish Tibetan Buddhist organizations and monks as they see fit.
Jeffrey Hsu (®}єaЄQ), a commission official, said it was time for the nation to ditch a law whose existence contravened the freedom of religion guaranteed by the 13th Article of the Constitution.
The effort to regulate Tibetan Buddhists was first conceived by the Ching Dynasty in the 17th century to secure peace for its vast western borders. The Republic of China inherited the policy after overthrowing the monarchy in 1912.
In recognition of the unique Tibetan culture and religion, the R.O.C. government introduced the eight-article statute 24 years later to assert its dominion over the mountainous region. The law remained intact since Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (Ѕ±¤¶ҐЫ) and his KMT troops took refuge in Taiwan.
Earlier this year, the Mongolian and Tibetan agency decided to make legal reform, noting that the statute was both impractical and undesirable.
“The commission found it odd to retain a law that was out of sync with political and religious reality,” Hsu said. “There is no way the (Taiwanese) government can exert any influence over the ointment of Tibetan lamas, to start with.” Exiled Tibetans in Taiwan pledge their allegiance to Dalai Lama, who has taken residence in India after a failed uprising against the Chinese Communists in 1959.
In October 1999, the Council of Grand Justices handed down a ruling that bars the government from engaging in any activities to discourage or favor any particular religious belief.
Other religious organizations – such as those intended to promote Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Catholicism – need only to register with the Ministry of Interior. No official approval is required for ordination of their masters or priests.
“Despite its belated abolishment, the law had never been invoked by authorities in Taiwan,” Hsu emphasized. “As such, its previous existence had no negative impact on Tibetan Buddhists and their followers.”
There are about 500,000 Tibetan Buddhists and followers in Taiwan, attracted mainly by the religion’s emphasis on meditation, according to the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Tsegyam, the foundation chairman, welcomed the legislative action to free his religion from political interventions though he said no fellow believers ever complained about any restrictions.
“With or without the (abolished) statute, there is little the government can do to legislate one’s religion,” said Tsegyam, who arrived in Taiwan in 1999.
The head of the de facto Tibetan representative office attributed the increasing popularity of Tibetan Buddhism here to the two visits by the Dalai Lama in March 1997 and April 2001.
More than 20,000 people attended the two-day religious festivities where the Nobel-winning Tibetan spiritual leader preached the Buddha’s teachings two years ago.
In Taipei alone, there are over 100 Tibetan Buddhist centers where followers meet regularly to attain spiritual growth.
