By Zhou Yan

"Religion is the last subject that the intellect begins to understand," the late Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and philosopher Will Durant said.

The power of religion and belief was often used to further the political ambitions of kings and emperors. Even in modern times, religious shrines and the faith of the faithful can still be used by those with ulterior motives.

Sometimes by cliques that attempt to split a country.

There could be only one real purpose for the bloody riot in Lhasa: to separate Tibet from China.

Otherwise, why did the rioters kill and attack innocent civilians, set fires and destroy public facilities?

Why did groups of monks start a "March to Tibet" across the border in India, on exactly the same day that 300 aggressive monks from the Drepung Monastery paraded into downtown Lhasa?

Why did similar turmoil occur in other parts of China and why did mobs attack Chinese diplomatic missions overseas?

And on top of everything, why is the man behind the bloodshed playing the good guy and making false claims that the Chinese government, rather than the rioters, was to blame for the violence?

Anyone with the least common sense can see through this: by pleading innocence, he is seeking sympathy from innocent people across the globe and soliciting international support for his independence claim.

The chain of events that took place in Lhasa and elsewhere was apparently organized. The Lhasa mobs, who seem to have been equipped with stones and flammable liquid, were ready to kill, sabotage and trigger public fear.

What happened in Lhasa is not even remotely close to what the Dalai Lama and his clique claim: that the events were "spontaneous" and "peaceful" protests.

When the Dalai Lama clique allegedly tried to defend Tibet from so-called "cultural genocide" and "religious repression", they were using the same old trick to put their anti-China stance under the camouflage of religion.

"The rioters who wore cassocks were no real monks and what they did is completely against Buddhist codes," said Ngawang Daindzin, a living Buddha.

If the Dalai Lama really wanted to be worthy of his self-proclaimed title of spiritual leader, he should at least have stopped abusing the power of religion.

And if he really loved his homeland and his fellow Tibetans, he shouldn't have disrupted the peaceful Buddhist holy city with fire and blood and and left innocent people groaning in pain.

Even children became victims.

My heart ached when I read that more than 20 knife-wielding mobs set fire to a school in Lhasa after failing to break into the campus on Friday. More than 800 teen-aged students huddled together in fear and felt anguish over their lost classrooms, satchels, books and the danger of losing their lives.

I have no idea how long the painful memory will cling to these children, Tibetans and Hans alike. Not all their lives, I hope.

The Dalai Lama's hypocrisy has put the power of his religion at stake, but he cannot cheat all the people all the time. Buddhism is no harbor for separatism.

All in all, it's China's Tibet, now and forever.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 19, 2008)