The Dalai Lama, his successor, and China

Indian Express

17 hours ago

A statement by the Dalai Lama on his reincarnation is expected on Tuesday when Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, a former chairman of the cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), and Penpa Tsering, the Sikyong or political leader of the CTA, read out a message from him.
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, will turn 90 on July 6. Why is this birthday of the spiritual leader and the head of Tibetan Buddhism particularly significant?
The Dalai Lama was born in the hamlet of Taktser in north-eastern Tibet — now Qinghai province of China — on July 6, 1935, and was identified at age 2 as the reincarnation of Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama.
A year after the communists took power in China, the People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet. In 1951, Tibet was annexed by China, and in March 1959, a Tibetan national uprising was crushed by Chinese troops.
That month, the Dalai Lama escaped from Lhasa along with a group of his followers, and crossed into India at Khenzimane in Arunachal Pradesh. In 1960, Jawaharlal Nehru's government settled him in McLeodganj, Dharamshala, where the Tibetan government-in-exile was established.
On March 14, 2011, the Dalai Lama wrote to the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies, known as the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, asking to be relieved of his temporal authority. The formal transfer of political power to the democratically elected leader of Tibetans living in exile took place on May 29 that year, ending a 368-year-old tradition in which the Dalai Lama was both the spiritual and political head of Tibetans.
The Dalai Lama, literally 'Ocean of Wisdom, is believed to be the manifestation of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of compassion, and the patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are persons who are on the path to becoming a Buddha, but who put the liberation of other sentient beings ahead of entering nirvana themselves.
The institution of the Dalai Lama is part of the tulku concept in Tibetan Buddhism, in which spiritual masters are reincarnated upon their death, so that their teachings can be preserved and carried forward.
The first Dalai Lama, Gedun Drupa, was born in 1391. Beginning with Lobsang Gyatso (1617-82), the fifth of the line, the Dalai Lama became both the spiritual and political leader of Tibetan Buddhists.
The present Dalai Lama was found by a search party in 1939, six years after the 13th Dalai Lama Thupten Gyatso passed away in 1933. The reincarnation was recognised by several signs, including a vision revealed to a senior monk. In 1940, the little boy was taken to Potala Palace in Lhasa and officially enthroned.
Since 1969, the Dalai Lama has said that whether or not his reincarnation should be recognised was 'a decision for the Tibetan people, the Mongolians, and people of the Himalayan region to make'.
In a statement released on September 24, 2011, he said: 'When I am about ninety I will consult the high Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Tibetan public, and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism, and re-evaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not. On that basis we will take a decision.'
It is because of this statement that the Dalai Lama's coming birthday on July 6, when he turns 90, has assumed significance.
The statement said that if it was decided 'that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should continue and there is a need for the Fifteenth Dalai Lama to be recognized, responsibility for doing so will primarily rest on the concerned officers of the Dalai Lama's Gaden Phodrang Trust.
'They should consult the various heads of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the reliable oath-bound Dharma Protectors who are linked inseparably to the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. They should seek advice and direction from these concerned beings and carry out the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with past tradition. I shall leave clear written instructions about this.'
On Monday, the Dalai Lama said: 'There will be some kind of framework within which we can talk about the continuation of the institution of the Dalai Lamas.'
China denounces the 14th Dalai Lama as a 'splittist', 'traitor', and an exile with 'no right to represent the Tibetan people', and prohibits any public show of devotion towards him.
In his 2011 statement, the Dalai Lama had said that his reincarnation should be found in a 'free country, not under Chinese control'. He also said that 'no recognition should be given to a reincarnation selected for political purposes by the Chinese government'.
In his book, Voice for the Voiceless, published this March, the Dalai Lama said that his successor would be 'born outside China'.
There is fear among Tibetans that as the Dalai Lama grows older, Beijing could announce a successor of its choice, and use it to tighten its control over the Tibetan Buddhist religion and culture.
In 2004, the Chinese government abolished the Religious Affairs Regulations that lay down the process for selecting the Dalai Lama, and in 2007 decreed that 'No group or individual may carry out activities related to searching for and identifying the soul boy for the living Buddha without authorization.' A draw of lots, called the 'Golden Urn method', was institutionalised to select the Dalai Lama.
In 2015, Padma Choling, a retired Chinese politician of Tibetan ethnicity and chairperson of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Tibet, objected to the Dalai Lama's insistence that no government had the right to choose the next Dalai Lama for political purposes.