The young boy who was kidnapped at the age of 6 was 36 on Friday.
What he does, where he lives or even if he is still alive, is not known, thanks to the reluctance of the Chinese government, who kidnapped him with his family and his teacher 30 years ago.
Beijing leaders, distrusting themselves with potential rivals for the authority of the Communist Party, considered the boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as a possible threat.
A few days earlier, the Dalai Lama had appointed him the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second highest spiritual leader of the largest sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Tibetans have long marked his birthday with organized celebrations and have reiterated longtime requests to Beijing to reveal the fate of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
The abduction of the Panchen Lama illustrates the sensitivity of the Chinese authorities to other eminent religious figures in the midst of their efforts to control the Tibetans by removing the expressions of their Buddhist faith.
The fight against the 11th Panchen Lama is considered a likely precursor of the battle on which will succeed in the 14th Dalai Lama, who will be 90 years old this year.
China, still suspicious of the opposition to its authority, in particular in the Tibetan region carried out, says that it can name the successor under Chinese law. But the Dalai Lama said, in a new book, that his reincarnation was born in the “free world”, which he described as outside China.
Tibetan Buddhists believe that the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama are reincarnated at their death, and that they have the right to select religious leaders according to their belief in the principle of the Renaissance.
Who is the Panchen Lama?
The word “panchen” is based on a Sanskrit word for “great scholar”. Traditionally, the Panchen Lama has played a leading role in the Tibetan Buddhist stock market as head of the Tashi Lhunpo monastery in Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet, which has been controlled by China since 1951.
Buddhists believe that the Dalai Lama is a physical representation of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of compassion and the Panchen Lama of Amitabha, of the Buddha of infinite light.
The two lamas share a special spiritual relationship, each recognizing the successive reincarnations of the other and serving as a teacher of the other.
Tibetan Buddhists believe that the reincarnations of Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama are revealed through a series of tests judged by eminent religious leaders.
The most important responsibility for the Panchen Lama includes the research and recognition of the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in the event of death, one of the reasons why China wants a Panchen Lama under its control.
What happened to Panchen Lama?
On May 14, 1995, the Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as Le Panchen Lama, the 11th reincarnation of his predecessor, died in 1989 at the Tashi Lhunpo monastery in Shigatse.
This has angry the Chinese authorities, who rejected the choice.
Three days later, the boy, his family and his teacher were removed. They have been missing since.
For 30 years, Tibetans, world leaders and rights for the Chinese government have to reveal their fate, in vain.
Who is Panchen Lama, named to Beijing?
Shortly after the kidnapping of Panchen Lama, appointed by Dalai Lama, Beijing installed another boy, Gyaltsen (in Chinese, Gyaincain) Norbu, like their own candidate in his place.
However, the Panchen Lama, appointed by the Chinese government, remains unpopular to the Tibetans both in exile and at home and is perceived as a “political tool” for Beijing.
The Tibetans and ordinary monks in the monasteries traditionally faithful to the Dalai Lama were reluctant to recognize or receive it, and during his visits to Tibet, Beijing has in the past small monetary incentives for people who receive his blessing.
Meaning of the role of Panchen Lama
Gyaincain Norbu’s nomination by China of Gyaincain as Panchen Lama underlines Beijing’s attempts to intervene in the selection of the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and to take control and legitimacy among the Tibetans, within Tibet and in exile, say the experts.
This decision is also considered to be China’s attempts to acquire more influence on Buddhism not only inside Tibet, sometimes re -evidence, but throughout the Himalayan region. Beijing has more and more sought to take advantage of religion as a tool for diplomacy of soft power in various Buddhist countries in South and Southeast Asia.
In 2007, the Chinese government decreed that China would begin to supervise the recognition of all reincarnated Tibetan lamas, or “living Buddhas”, including the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama, for which China plans to use its own Panchen Lama Lama named in Beijing.
Published by Kalden Lodoe, Jim Snyder and Mat Pennington.