By: Tsering Namgyal KhortsaProf. Robert Thurman, an American Buddhist scholar and activist who passed away recently, epitomized the optimum synthesis of Buddhist scholarship with activism for the Tibetan cause. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in his condolence letter to the family, wrote that Thurman “understood profoundly that the survival of Tibetan Buddhist culture is inseparably linked to the future of Tibet itself.”In other words, Buddhism is the foundation of Tibetan civilization, and without it, there would be no Tibetan nation. In the 65 years since the Dalai Lama’s arrival in India in 1959, the Tibetan prelate has won international respect and much sympathy for a Tibetan cause to which he is central, as a spiritual leader, as an international statesman, and as an essential figurehead uniting Tibetans. Without him, there would have been no Tibetan nation in exile, just a trickle of refugees vanishing into India’s vastness. In those years, a vibrant “Little Tibet” has formed—based on shared memory, language, narrative, and myth. And as more Tibetans have migrated from India to the West over the past two decades, this exiled community has morphed into a true diaspora.The question is: what will become of this Tibetan nation in exile in the years to come?At the heart of this collective identity lies Buddhism, in all its variations. For Tibetans, Buddhism is not simply a religion—it is a way of life, the essence of their culture and the foundation of their civilization. Without it, Tibetans risk becoming just another displaced ethnic group. With it, they remain a living, breathing civilization.In exile, spirituality—alongside common narratives—is often the last thread that holds a people together. That thread becomes more vital as elders with a lived memory of Tibet pass away. Today, few Tibetans in exile have any direct experience of their homeland; many are now welcoming fourth-generation descendants, some of whom do not speak the language.This shift demands a transition—from memory to imagination. In the language of political scientist Benedict Anderson, the Tibetan nation must become an imagined community, held together not by borders but by shared memory, myth, and ritual.Just as Judaism preserved the Jewish people during centuries of exile, Tibetan Buddhism, and the language that carries it, is essential for sustaining the Tibetan nation through its long, uncertain exile.Yet Buddhism faces threats from two directions: from Chinese communists on one side, and Tibetan secular nationalists on the other. The former seeks to dismantle it within Tibet. The latter, influenced by Western ideas of progress, often scapegoats Buddhism and theocracy for Tibet’s past failures. This camp’s well-intentioned but arguably misguided view is that for Tibet to become a modern nation-state, Buddhism must be cast aside, a belief that, ironically, mirrors the logic of the Chinese Communist Party. Where Beijing sees Buddhism as a political threat, some Tibetan secularists view it as a cultural liability—an outdated vestige of a theocratic past.While secular Tibetans are right to emphasize democracy, education, and modernization, many underestimate the extent to which Buddhism remains the vessel through which Tibetan language, culture, ethics, and collective memory are transmitted.Meanwhile, in highly developed societies such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and even in China, Tibetan Buddhism is embraced as a sophisticated alternative to modernity and materialism. As modern Tibetans turn away from their heritage, others in the world are turning toward it.Thanks to the foresight of the Dalai Lama, hundreds of monasteries and institutions in India and Nepal continue to preserve Tibetan Buddhism, language, ritual, and philosophy. These are now the subject of growing academic and scientific research, well beyond exotic fascination.Tibetan nationalists also forget that the heroes of the Tibetan resistance—the Chushi Gangdruk fighters—drew inspiration from Buddhism and called themselves The Voluntary Force for the Protection of Dharma. It is that dharma (Tibetan faith and spirituality), now the essence of our collective cultural memory, that must continue to be protected. Political activism and democratic participation are important and will help Tibetans respond to immediate geopolitical challenges and continuing Chinese repression. But it is the cultural memory of Tibet that will allow its people to imagine a nation in exile in the long haul. And there is one more quiet certainty: Buddhism will outlive communism.This does not mean that young Tibetans need to become monks, meditators, or scholars, nor is it a call to reinstate theocracy or religious rule, which the exile community has long outgrown. Bhutan is a good example of this synthesis between Buddhism and modernity. It’s hard to imagine Bhutan without Tibetan Buddhism. Similarly, Tibetans might consider looking at Tibetan Buddhism as an alternative form of modernity and take pride in their rich spiritual inheritance and values. In it, they may find not only memory, but meaning. Through Buddhism, they rediscover their language—the soul of the Tibetan nation.In doing so, they ensure that Tibet remains not only a political cause, but a living civilization in diaspora. And history teaches us this: no civilization that has sustained its memory and meaning has ever vanished from the earth. Tsering Namgyal Khortsa is a writer and and occasional contributor to Asia Sentinel. He is the author of three books, most recently, of novel ‘Tibetan Suitcase’ (Speaking Tiger, 2024). His novella about Buddhism and modernity ‘A Season of Retreat’ is forthcoming from Speaking Tiger later in the summer.