During a graduate exam for Nyingma sect lamas, a Tho Ram Pa program student (sitting in the center) of the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China is challenged by four Buddhist scripture debaters invited by the college from other temples to test the candidate. Photo: Li Hao/GT

A graduation ceremony was held at China's top educational institution for Tibetan Buddhism on Wednesday in downtown Beijing. Dozens of monks were awarded with advanced and intermediate academic titles. Meanwhile, several government-funded Tibetan Buddhism colleges are under construction in areas with significant ethnic Tibetan populations. The government strives to draw more monks to study in the colleges, so as to cultivate qualified Tibetan Buddhists who are highly educated and politically reliable.

Last week, loud clapping was frequently heard coming from several of the halls of Xihuang Temple in  Beijing. One by one, dozens of candidates were being challenged by Buddhist scripture debaters, a vital step in their quest to attain top academic awards.

The High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China (HTBCC), a top government-run educational institution that was established in 1987, is located in a temple Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Emperor Shunzhi built in 1652 for the fifth Dalai Lama.

The college aims to cultivate patriotic and highly-qualified religious teachers. In May, its students, either tulkus (Living Buddhas who are believed to be reincarnations of religious figures of the past) or eminent monks, face their final examinations.

On May 20, after days debating doctrines and defending their thesis, 11 graduates were awarded with Tho Ram Pa, an academic rank equal to a doctoral degree, and 28 were awarded with Chi Ram Pa, equivalent to a master's degree.

The college established the academic ranking system in 2004 and started enrolling students for its three-year Tho Ram Pa program and two-year Chi Ram Pa program. Last year, it doubled its student admission quota for the Tho Ram Pa program to 26.

Tho Ram Pa means "advanced learned sage" in the Tibetan language.

Fierce competition

HTBCC is the only institution that issues the highest officially-recognized academic rank of Tho Ram Pa. So far, a total of 121 monks have been awarded the title.

The college is unusual as it isn't open to the public and the students can't leave without permission.

But it covers all the students' living costs, even any medical treatment they may require and transportation fees for their vacations back home. Each year they have a three-month summer vacation.

Every class has a head teacher who is in charge of managing the students' daily lives, offering them guidance and recording their attendance.

The school's rules are strict. Last year, three students were expelled for missing classes, according to Luosang Jinmei, an official from the student affairs department.

But just as it is hard to be accepted by top universities like Tsinghua and Peking University, becoming an HTBCC student is not easy.

The applicants must already be a licensed tulku or monk, be willing to pledge their support to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, profess their love of the socialist system, promise to safeguard national unity and oppose separatism.

These requirements are checked by their local governments, which then decide whether to approve their application.

After being recommended, then they can apply to take the entrance examinations organized by the college, which are composed of scripture debates, written tests on constitutional law and Tibetan language exams.

Gatuo Texiu, a Tho Ram Pa student  from Long'en Temple in Gande county in Qinghai Province, said when he applied, more than 20 monks joined the entrance examinations in Gansu and only the top two were enrolled.

"I won first place," Gatuo Texiu said.

Patriotic education

According to the HTBCC's teaching schedule, 60 percent of class hours are spent on Buddhist teachings.

The others are used for general education, such as learning about China's legal system, socialism with Chinese characteristics, China's history, as well as the Chinese language and computer skills.

"We never force the students to be patriotic. It's a process that aims to influence them unconsciously by having them feel and see by themselves," Luosang Jinmei said.

According to the student handbook, the college's task is to cultivate and build a reserve of Tibetan Buddhists who are "politically reliable, educated and venerable."

Gatuo Texiu said there's nothing wrong with demanding that a monk love his own country.

"Every country has such requirements for its religious believers. As a monk, we should strictly obey the disciplines and learn to be a good citizen first," Gatuo Texiu told the Global Times.

The students say the college has never taught them about the exiled Dalai Lama but they were told to stay away from separatist content or people with malicious intentions from time to time.

Xirao Duojia, a Chi Ram Pa program graduate from Yanduo Temple in Chaya county in the Tibet Autonomous Region, said that his two years of study in HTBCC have been worthwhile.

"I don't think patriotism is instilled into us. The principles of unity, harmony and justice are consistent with the doctrines of Buddhism," he said.

He believed that the college has offered him a sound environment to study and expand his horizons.

"The Buddhist teachers are excellent. Here, I can communicate with monks from other temples and sects and make friends with them," he said.

Value of the certificates

The certificates are an official recognition of the monks' high degree of education and diligence. For some students, they are also a means to get promoted.

According to Luosang Jinmei, who has worked in the HTBCC for more than 24 years, right now the remuneration for monks who have achieved the Tho Ram Pa or Chi Ram Pa differs from area to area.

"Some places will put them in more important positions, such as on a political advisory body or the temple's management committee," he said.

But in other places, the changes the certificate brings are small, he revealed, adding that the college is cooperating with local religious authorities to use graduates as a talent pool for senior religious managers.

"Based on the responses we have received from local temples and authorities, the graduates from our college perform well in their duties," said Luosang Jinmei.

But for Gatuo Texiu, with his Tho Ram Pa certificate, the best thing about holding the qualification is that he can hold large-scale religious assemblies at which he can preach doctrines and knowledge. When he didn't have the certificate, the government wouldn't grant him a permission to hold such assemblies.

Monks getting a higher-level certificate is a trend at the moment, he said. "This high academic degree is recognition of my knowledge. With it, I'm able to preach doctrines convincingly."

But he says he also hopes the authorities and temples make better use of them so that they can play a larger role in religious life.

Jiasacang, a Living Buddha and chairman of the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Buddhist Association, said the significance of the certificates needs to be recognized more widely.

"Many certificate holders didn't receive better treatment. The certificate didn't win them respect when they go back to their temples," Jiasacang, who was invited by the college to help assess the Chi Ram Pa exams, told the Global Times.

"Ordinary Buddhists have more respect for monks who are accredited through the traditional way in temples," he said.

Traditional or government-run

There's a long history of Tibetan Buddhist temples offering monks education in topics ranging from medicine, painting and sculpture to the sciences, and internal educational systems for monks to reach higher degrees and become learned lamas or abbots have been around for a long time.

But during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), some temples and educational institutions were shut down and the system was fractured, according to Han Fangming, chairman of The Charhar Institute, a Beijing-based non-governmental think tank.

In 1980s, several Tibetan Buddhist colleges were officially established by the government. In 2005, the Geshe Lha Ram Pa, traditionally the highest academic title issued to the most learned lama at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, was reinstated.

But the degree is only issued to Gelug sect monks who hold a Tibet-region household registration, said Tsering Thar, professor with the College for Tibetan Studies at the Minzu University of China. This has led to monks of other sects or those who are not from Tibet, who have no other options, to seek education overseas,

"They have become the targets of the separatism forces to implant separatist thoughts," Thar said in an article collected in a book published by the United Front Work Department of Qinghai in December 2014.

"These monks are always the most intelligent and ambitious, and most of them are already influential in their temples. If they accept adverse propaganda, it's easy for them to be a source of instability in Tibetan areas," he said.

The government-run colleges can be a solution to this problem. Thar said the central government is promoting the construction of religious colleges and has allocated funds to build new facilities.

The Gansu Daily reported that the new campus of the Gansu Tibetan Buddhism College is under construction on the Sangke Grassland in eastern Qinghai.

After its completion, there will be eight official Tibetan Buddhism colleges in China, including four provincial-level schools with one each in Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan and three prefecture-level institutions in Yunnan's Diqing, Sichuan's Ganzi and Qinghai's Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefectures.