XINING, China - Three years after its leader fled to the United States and complained of religious persecution, Kumbum Monastery, one of the most important centers of Tibetan Buddhism, appears to be firmly under the Chinese government's control.
Still, many of the 600 monks remain quietly defiant of the Communist Party's intrusion into their spiritual affairs. Their monastery in western China's Qinghai province, in a region that historically was part of Tibet, is where the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, was educated. The tensions at this center of Tibetan culture and learning illustrate the government's uneven efforts to suppress loyalty to the exiled Tibetan leader.
The head of the monastery, Arjia Rinpoche, who now lives California's Bay Area, was one of the most senior Tibetan religious figures to leave the country since the Dalai Lama fled in 1959. He also was a government adviser and a vice president of the official Buddhist Association of China, which defends the government's religion policies.
He objected, however, when the government interfered with the religious practices used to find the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in the religion. The Chinese government rejected the candidate approved by the Dalai Lama through religious rites and installed its own candidate. Arjia Rinpoche said he left when the government's Panchen Lama was about to visit the monastery for a ceremony, because at that point he would have been required to recognize him as legitimate.
"Rather than compromise my religious beliefs, I chose to leave," he said in a telephone interview.
He said that when he reached age 50 he wanted to spend more time on religious practices, but the government would not let him withdraw from his political duties. He added that he was concerned about the monks at Kumbum, but was not in contact with them because he did not want to make their difficult situation worse.
At the monastery, two senior lamas, Benba and Xiagiri, refused to comment on how the government tightened control since Arjia Rinpoche left. For a recent interview with foreign reporters, which was monitored by Chinese government officials, Benba wore monk's robes, and Xiagiri wore a Western-style shirt and slacks.
Officials at Kumbum and other Tibetan monasteries have forced monks to attend political loyalty meetings that involve condemning the Dalai Lama. In a wider campaign in recent years to tighten control at monasteries in Tibet, monks who have refused to speak ill of the Dalai Lama have been expelled.
The senior monks' frequent consultations with one another in quiet Tibetan and their uneasy moments of silence spoke volumes about the limits of religious freedom in China.
Officially, Tibetan Buddhism can be freely practiced in China, as can many other religions if their leaders swear allegiance to the government and submit to its controls.
In reality, Tibetan Buddhists are free to practice their religion only if they denounce the Dalai Lama, Tibet's chief spiritual leader who is revered in Tibet and in ethnic Tibetan enclaves in neighboring provinces that were once part of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has said he seeks only cultural autonomy for Tibet. But Chinese government officials contend he is a political - not religious - leader who seeks independence.
Much of what remains of Tibetan culture is preserved in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries both in Tibet and the adjoining provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan and Sichuan.
Kumbum Monastery has special importance because it was built at the birthplace of Tsongkhapa, founder of the reformist Yellow Hat Sect to which the Dalai Lama belongs. It is one of the most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and a major Chinese tourist attraction.
Over the centuries, deep grooves have been rubbed into its wooden floor from the hands of prostrating monks and pilgrims.
Another unique feature of the monastery is the Hall of Butter Sculpture, which contains tableaux of Tibetan and Buddhist legends carved in yak butter that are kept in air-conditioned display cases.
In past times, Kumbum was home to more than 3,000 monks, many of them leading scholars in Tibetan Buddhist medicine, astronomy, dance and esoteric rituals. They were fed from a kitchen so large that 10 oxen could be cooked at a single time.
Now about 600 monks ranging in age from 7 to 88 live here. The monastery is run not by an abbot but by a "democracy committee" of 10 people, according to the two senior monks.
Neither was forthcoming about the Dalai Lama. Speaking through a translator, they said only that he was a reincarnation. A central idea in Tibetan Buddhism is that leading lamas are reincarnations of their predecessors.
Other monks, approached when no government officials were present, were less reluctant to speak.
One said government controls over the monastery have periodically tightened and loosened over recent years, often for reasons that remain unknown.
Another said police sometimes check the monks' rooms for photographs of the Dalai Lama and confiscate them. He said most monks keep such pictures, although many do not display them.
Mounted on a wall inside one temple, however, is a large photograph of a youthful Dalai Lama.
Outside the temple, a monk who looked about 50 sat on cushion reviewing a text with a younger monk. He said the Dalai Lama photo had been on display for a long time and had been seen by many Chinese officials.
"They pretend they don't see it," he said.