"Olaf Stapledon - Light and the Darkness" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stapledon Olaf)

type of Lamas and the shallow pretentiousness of much of the orthodox learning. But this disillusionment had merely brought out
more clearly the truth which had been perverted. This, they affirmed, was a truth not of intellect but of intuition. It was a feeling
or apprehension of something which put all things into their true perspective. The whole intellectual edifice of Buddhism, they
said, was an attempt, sometimes sound sometimes false, to elucidate this inarticulate discovery. And the discovery itself was to be
won not at a stroke but progressively, through a long discipline of actual life. In modernism also they found a truth of feeling.
The real achievement of modern culture, apart from science, they summarized under three headings; first, its insistence on action,
individual and social, as opposed to Eastern quietism; second, its demand for equality of opportunity for all human beings; and,
finally, its understanding of the primitive unconscious sources of all human thought and feeling.

The new monastic orders were at first tolerated and even encouraged by the Lhasa oligarchy, but presently they were
reprimanded for stirring up unrest. For though each had its headquarters in some craggy monastery, the inmates travelled
periodically, exhorting the people. They were in fact something between monks, friars, and revolutionaries. They preached a sort
of religious communism, and demanded the abdication of the ruling class, the wealthy monastic orders. The crisis came when the
new Lamas renounced the celibacy which for centuries had been accepted by the monastic class. The motive of this change was a
thoroughly modernistic motive. It was realized in the new monasteries that the two most precious innate social capacities were
the disposition for genuine community and the capacity for intelligent action. It was realized also that, although the average level
of intelligence had not sunk so far in Tibet as in more advanced' countries, there was a steady drain of the more intelligent into
the celibate monastic orders. This, said the servants of the light, must stop. Recognizing the importance of self-denial for spiritual
discipline, they recognized also the importance of propagating intelligence. They therefore boldly affirmed their intention of
striving for complete spiritual discipline and insight though 'unsupported by the prop of celibacy'. Biological responsibility, they
said, must not be shirked by the servants of the light, even though they must assume other weighty responsibilities. Not only so,




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but the experience of family life, with all its trials and all its mental enrichment, must not be shirked by those who undertook to
lead and govern the people. They recognized that family life must not be allowed to absorb too much attention, but to avoid this
they advocated that the state should assume the final responsibility for the upbringing of all children.

The renunciation of celibacy and the attack on the ruling class inevitably caused a serious conflict between the old and the new
monastic orders. Inevitably the Grand Lama excommunicated the servants of the light, and finally outlawed them. Civil war
followed. Since the Young Lamas, the servants of the light, were strongly supported by the people, their victory was decisive. It
happened that at this critical moment of Tibetan history neither Russia nor China was in a position to interfere effectively,
because a move by either would have precipitated an attack by the other; and since internal unrest in both empires was grave, war
would have turned into civil war. So the second Tibetan revolution was successfully accomplished, and a new Tibet was founded,
a society which to all earlier statesmen would have seemed a fantastic dream.

While modest economic development was continued, the main work of the new government was to educate the people in
citizenship and in the new, purged version of the ancient culture. At the same time equality of opportunity for the rising
generation, opportunity both economic and educational, was made absolute. In the new constitution ultimate power lay with the
whole adult population. The constitution could be altered only by their elected assembly, which also could depose the
government or withhold supplies. Current legislation, however, was carried out not by the general assembly but by a body elected
by a section of the population known as the Active Citizens. These were men and women who had qualified by undertaking
certain kinds of social service and by passing certain intelligence tests and academic examinations. The Active Citizens elected