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The Dalai Lama Blocks China from Choosing his Successor
by
findingDulcinea Staff
On Nov. 27, in a move taken to prevent Beijing picking his replacement, the Dalai Lama declares that a ballot will decide who succeeds him, breaking with 600 years of religious tradition.
30-Second Summary
In 1937, when he was two years old, Tibetan boy Tenzin Gyatso was visited by a band of monks, who requested the child examine the possessions of the late Dalai Lama.
Legend has it that Tenzin identified enough of those objects as his own to convince his visitors that he was none other than the 14th reincarnation of their deceased religious leader.
Such ceremonies have heralded the inauguration of senior lamas for centuries. But in 1995, Chinese authorities kidnapped the six-year-old boy who had just been declared the 11th Panchen Lama, one of the most important positions in the Tibetan Buddhist religion. He was replaced by a candidate approved by Beijing, which now uses that surrogate lama as a mouthpiece for Chinese policy.
It is to avoid such an incident happening again that the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader and exiled head of state, announced on Nov. 27 that he favors a referendum on his successor.
The Dalai Lama’s opposition to China's occupation of Tibet has won him admirers the world over. But although he is often perceived as the embodiment of compassion and fortitude in the face of oppression, he is not without his critics.
According to Corey Flintoff of NPR, the lama “is sometimes reviled for his willingness to accept that Tibet should remain tied to China.”
In addition, many were surprised in 1998, when the Dalai Lama spoke in support of India’s nuclear weapons tests.
Legend has it that Tenzin identified enough of those objects as his own to convince his visitors that he was none other than the 14th reincarnation of their deceased religious leader.
Such ceremonies have heralded the inauguration of senior lamas for centuries. But in 1995, Chinese authorities kidnapped the six-year-old boy who had just been declared the 11th Panchen Lama, one of the most important positions in the Tibetan Buddhist religion. He was replaced by a candidate approved by Beijing, which now uses that surrogate lama as a mouthpiece for Chinese policy.
It is to avoid such an incident happening again that the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader and exiled head of state, announced on Nov. 27 that he favors a referendum on his successor.
The Dalai Lama’s opposition to China's occupation of Tibet has won him admirers the world over. But although he is often perceived as the embodiment of compassion and fortitude in the face of oppression, he is not without his critics.
According to Corey Flintoff of NPR, the lama “is sometimes reviled for his willingness to accept that Tibet should remain tied to China.”
In addition, many were surprised in 1998, when the Dalai Lama spoke in support of India’s nuclear weapons tests.
Headline Link: ‘Dalai Lama defies China over Successor’
In August, China claimed it had the right to choose who will replace him as Tibet’s spiritual leader. On Nov. 27, after announcing that his successor will be chosen by referendum, the lama told reporters, “If people feel that the institution of the Dalai Lama is still necessary it will continue.”
Source: The Guardian
Reaction: China condemns Dalai Lama
In a document faxed to The Associated Press, China’s Foreign Ministry declared, “The Dalai Lama’s statement is in blatant violation of religious practice and historical procedure.” Earlier in the year, China’s atheist Communist regime had declared that “all future incarnations of living Buddhas related to Tibetan Buddhism ‘must get government approval,’” according to the International Herald Tribune.
Source: International Herald Tribune
Opinion & Analysis: Perspectives on the Dalai Lama and Tibet
Journalist and author Christopher Hitchens responded in 1998 to the Dalai Lama’s support for India’s nuclear weapons program. Hitchens does not profess to being surprised at what he characterizes as “a perfectly realpolitik statement” that is “crass and banal and opportunist.” He goes on to enumerate various reasons why the lama should not be regarded with unquestioning awe, among them his allegedly puritanical attitude to common sexual practices and his receiving money from a Japanese doomsday cult and terrorist organization.
Source: Salon
Independent Television News sent a reporter to Tibet to interview figures from either side of the political debate. Journalist Lindsey Hilsum wrote, “Steadily, rapidly, the [Chinese] government is integrating Tibet into the Chinese economy, making it ever more difficult for what it calls splittists, those who proclaim independence, to have any impact.”
Source: PBS
History: Tibet
Known as “the roof of the world,” Tibet is now an autonomous region of China. Its history is told in an overview by public policy organization GlobalSecurity.org.
Source: GlobalSecurity.org
Key Players: The Dalai and Panchen lamas
The BBC profile of the Dalai Lama begins with a definition of his role's importance in Tibetan culture: “The Dalai Lama is the head monk of Tibetan Buddhism and traditionally has been responsible for the governing of Tibet, until the Chinese government took control in 1959.”
Source: The BBC
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after an uprising failed to eject the Chinese occupiers. He and tens of thousands of followers traveled to Dharamsala, India, where they formed a government in exile. NPR details the man’s life and work.
Source: NPR
One of the most important religious figures in Tibet is the Panchen Lama, who, like the Dalai Lama, is chosen in a ceremony that identifies a child as the reincarnation of the previous incumbent. That happened in 1995, but the boy identified, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was kidnapped by the Chinese authorities and replaced with a surrogate picked by Beijing. That event and its impact are discussed by the International Campaign for Tibet, a non-profit organization working for human rights and democracy in Tibet.
Source: The International Campaign for Tibet
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