竹钦泽仁的遗体是检验尼泊尔政府的试金石

竹钦泽仁（Drupchen Tsering），又名竹泽，图伯特色达地区（今四川省甘孜藏族自治州色达县）甲修寺仁波切(朱古，依藏人习惯，尊称他为竹泽朱古)，25岁。2013年2月13日在尼泊尔首都加德满都自焚牺牲，迄今长达32天，遗体仍被尼泊尔政府扣留中……

Drupchen's Body Is a Litmus Test for Nepal
竹钦泽仁的遗体是检验尼泊尔政府的试金石

作者：丹增多吉（Tenzin Dorjee）
翻译：更桑东智（@johnlee1021）
原文发表：赫芬顿邮报
时间：2013年3月15日

作者简介：丹增多吉（Tenzin Dorjee），作家、活动人士和音乐人，他是“自由西藏学生运动”的执行主席。“自由西藏学生运动”是以学生和活动人士为主体的致力于西藏自由的民间组织。

一个历久不衰的佛教故事这样写道：佛陀的前世曾是尼泊尔的一位王子，有一天他看到一头快要饿死的母虎想要吃掉自己的幼崽，出于怜悯和慈悲，这位王子躺在地上，将自己的身体施舍给这头母虎和她的幼崽。图伯特人将佛祖“舍身饲虎”的地点称为“达莫鲁津”（Takmo Lujin），此处现在是尼泊尔最受朝圣者和游客尊崇的旅游目的地之一。

2月13日，在尼泊尔首都加德满都市中心，一位25岁的博巴（藏人）——竹钦泽仁（Drupchen Tsering）以抗议中国对他的祖国的统治。得知这个消息时，我禁不住想象烈焰裹身的他就像在达莫鲁津山上被饿虎包围的佛陀。佛陀用自己的身体去拯救群虎，而竹钦泽仁将自己置于压迫者的利爪之下，用自己脆弱的血肉之躯磨平北京政府的尖牙利齿，从而使他人或能因此幸免于难。如果那位王子是一位生在今天的博巴，看到他的人民、他的国家和他的文化受到一个残暴帝国的鲸吞，他会怎么做呢？

尼泊尔在过去的几十年一直是逃离中国压迫的流亡博巴的避难所。还是孩子的时候，我总是在冬季的假日去探望住在加德满都的亲戚们。达莫鲁津总是在每年的朝圣之旅中排名第一要去的圣地。在尼泊尔度过的时光，让我一直对尼泊尔民众富有感染力的善良、旋律优美的语言和对各种文化自然而然的接纳，心怀钦佩甚至羡慕。在若干世纪以来，尼泊尔一直是一个众多的不同宗教和文化共存的国度。事实上，在斯瓦扬布寺（Swayambunath）和很多其他圣地，佛教和印度教的神殿时常同处一庙。

然而，在过去的十年，随着中国在亚洲地区的霸权扩张，尼泊尔从图伯特难民的避难所变成了噩梦。这一悲剧也体现在尼泊尔政府迄今为止对竹钦泽仁自焚事件的反应方式上。

竹钦泽仁在2月13日自焚之后——他是2009年以来百多位图伯特自焚者之一——他的遗体被警方抢走。在随后的日子里，尼泊尔的博巴民众强烈要求警方交还竹钦泽仁的遗体，以便为他举行必不可少的佛教仪式并实行火化葬礼。但是，他的遗体至今还被封锁在当地的一家太平间。尼泊尔当局一直拒绝将竹钦泽仁的遗体交还予图伯特社区的所有要求。

佛教徒相信，当一个人被宣布临床死亡之后，存在一个被称为“明光时刻”（moment of clear light）的窗口时机。在这个时机，训练有素的喇嘛可以超度死者的魂识去往一个更加高级的轮回阶段。如果没有喇嘛莅临，普通的僧人会坐在死者旁边，修持《图伯特度亡经》。将要离开躯体的魂识在这个最为纯净和强健的阶段会听到祈祷，会知道如何离开死者的遗体并进入更加高级的轮回再生。这个重要的阶段会持续几个小时到若干天，是生死轮回中最为宝贵的窗口时机。

由于竹钦泽仁的遗体依然被扣留在太平间，一天一天过去，得到超度的机会正渐渐离他远去。对于一个图伯特佛教徒而言，没有比这更大的损失了。

人们必须牢记，中国才是真正的罪魁祸首，他们的触角伸进了尼泊尔政府的最高层。北京方面的压迫势力不仅仅剥夺了竹钦泽仁作为生者的政治自由，而且还盗取了他死后最终获得精神自由的机会。尼泊尔政府助纣为虐，让自己成为了暴政的工具。

面对国际社会要求将竹钦泽仁的遗体交还图伯特社区的压力，尼泊尔政府发布了一则警告称，如果在35天之内没有前来认领，则遗体将归属尼泊尔政府处理。但是，竹钦泽仁在一个月之前刚刚翻越喜马拉雅山来到尼泊尔，在这里根本举目无亲。图伯特社区就是他唯一的家人。

接下来将会发生的事情将会成为尼泊尔的民主、人权和主权是否存在的试金石。3月20日，竹钦泽仁自焚后的第35天，尼泊尔方面将会决定是否将竹钦泽仁的遗体交还图伯特社区以施行一个恰当的火化仪式，或者将他的遗体送交中国外交人员，甚至将遗体秘密“处理”而让竹钦泽仁遭遇第二次死亡。

尼泊尔是否依然是一个尊重信奉佛教的少数族裔权利的民主国家？尼泊尔是否依然是以加德满都为首都的主权国家？或者，尼泊尔是否已经成为了一个将自己的决策权“外包”的卫星国？尼泊尔是否依然尊崇达莫鲁津的那位王子所体现的慷慨和慈悲精神？

而尼泊尔能否通过这样的检验，3月20日，我们拭目以待！

One of the most enduring Buddhist tales goes like this. In a previous life, when the Buddha was a Nepalese prince, he saw a starving tigress about to eat her own cubs. Overwhelmed by compassion, the prince lay down on the ground and offered his own body to the tigress and her cubs. Takmo Lujin ("Body Offered to the Tigress"), as the site of this sacrifice came to be known among Tibetans, is today one of the most revered destinations for pilgrims and tourists in Nepal.

On February 13, in the heart of Kathmandu, Nepal, a 25-year-old Tibetan named Drupchen Tsering set himself on fire to protest Chinese rule of his homeland. When I heard the news, I couldn't help but imagine him in flames, surrounded by hungry tigers on the hills of Takmo Lujin. While the Buddha prince fed himself to tigers, Drupchen fed himself to the jaws of oppression, using his fragile human body to blunt Beijing's teeth so that others might be spared. If the Buddha prince had been born today as a Tibetan watching his people, nation and culture being devoured by a draconian empire, what would he do?

Nepal was for many decades a sanctuary for Tibetan refugees fleeing China's oppression. When I was a child, I used to visit my extended family in Kathmandu during the winter holidays. Takmo Lujin was always #1 on the list of annual pilgrimage trips. The time I spent in Nepal has made me admire, and sometimes envy, the Nepalese people's infectious kindness, their melodious language, and their natural acceptance of all cultures. Nepal is a land where many religions and cultures have coexisted for centuries. In fact, at Swayambunath and many other holy sites, Buddhist and Hindu shrines would often be housed in the same temple.

Over the last decade, amid China's growing hegemony in Asia, Nepal has turned from a sanctuary to a nightmare for Tibetan refugees. This tragedy is embodied in the way the Nepalese government has so far responded to Drupchen Tsering's self-immolation.

After Drupchen set himself on fire on February 13 - joining more than a hundred Tibetans who have self-immolated for freedom since 2009 - his body was seized by the police. In the days that followed, as Tibetans in Nepal scrambled to claim his body in order to perform the essential Buddhist rites and cremation rituals, his body remained locked up in a mortuary. The Nepali authorities consistently rejected all requests to hand over the body to the Tibetan community.

After a person is pronounced clinically dead, Buddhists believe, there is a window of opportunity called the 'moment of clear light' when a trained lama can transfer the deceased person's consciousness into higher rebirth. In the absence of a lama, ordinary monks would sit by the deceased and chant from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The departing consciousness of the deceased, passing through its most pure and potent stage, can hear the prayers that carry instructions on how to exit one's body and enter a higher rebirth. This window, which could last from a few hours to a couple of days, is considered one of the most precious moments in the cycle of life and death.

As Drupchen's body lay still in the mortuary, day after day, this opportunity slipped away from him. For a Tibetan Buddhist, there is no greater loss.

It must be remembered that the real culprit is the China, whose tentacles stretch deep into the highest echelons of Nepal's government. Beijing's long arm of oppression not only deprived Drupchen of political freedom in his life, but it also stole his final opportunity for spiritual liberation in his death. In facilitating this injustice, Nepal has allowed itself to be used as an instrument of tyranny.

Amid growing international pressure to hand Drupchen's body to the Tibetan community, the Nepalese government issued a warning that if the body is not claimed by family members within 35 days, it would belong to the state. But Drupchen had escaped from Tibet just a month before by walking over the Himalayas, and had no family in Nepal. The Tibetan community was his only family!

What happens next will be a litmus test for Nepal's democracy, its humanity, and its sovereignty. On March 20th, the 35th day since the self-immolation, Nepal will decide whether to give Drupchen a proper cremation by the Tibetan community, or to hand it over to Chinese diplomats, or to secretly "dispose of" the body and subject Drupchen to a second death.

Is Nepal a democratic nation that respects the rights of its Buddhist minorities? Is Nepal a sovereign state centered in Kathmandu or is it a satellite state that outsources its decision making to Beijing? Does Nepal still honor the spirit of generosity and compassion embodied by the Buddha prince at Takmo Lujin?

Whether Nepal passes this litmus test or not, we will know on March 20th.