While the Dalai Lama tackles its 90th anniversary on July 6, the world is waiting for the decision of the Tibetan spiritual chief to know if there will be an upcoming Dalai Lama – an announcement The head of Tibetan Buddhism promised to reveal the efforts of the Chinese government on the control of its succession.
The announcement should be the most consecutive in modern Tibetan history, which will shape the future of the wrestling of the seven decades of Tibetans to preserve their religious and cultural freedoms in the face of Chinese oppression and the continuation of the inheritance of the 14th Dalai Lama as a global ic of compassion, peace, democracy and human dignity.
During a conference of Tibetan religious leaders scheduled for July 2 to 4 in Dharamsala, a few days before his 90th anniversary, the world Buddhist leader should announce whether the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue and confirm whether the formal responsibility for the recognition of the 15th Dalai Lama should rest with the Gaden Phodrang Trust, his private office.
In 2011, at the end of a similar convention by the leaders of all Tibetan religious traditions, the Dalai Lama published an official declaration saying that when he was 90 years old, he would consult the Tibetan religious leaders and the public on the question of whether there should be a next Dalai Lama.
“If it is decided that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should continue and it is necessary that the fifteenth Dalai Lama is recognized, the responsibility of doing so will be based mainly on the Officers concerned of the Dalai Lama Gaden Phodrang Trust (the office of the Dalai Lama),” said the buddhist leader in his septicreity 24, 2011, declaration.
“They should consult the different heads of Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the reliable Dharma protectors at the oath which are linked inseparably to the line of the Dalai lamas … and will carry out research and recognition procedures in accordance with past tradition. I will leave clear written instructions on this subject, “he added.
At the time, the Dalai Lama also clearly indicated that “… apart from a reincarnation recognized by such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political purposes by anyone, including those of the People’s Republic of China.”
If China intervenes, it would not be the first time. On May 17, 1995, the Chinese government removed a 6 -year -old boy named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, just a few days after being officially recognized by Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, the second highest spiritual leader in the largest Tibetan Buddhism sector.
The rights defense groups say that his disappearance continues and the installation by the China of another boy, Gyaltsen (in Chinese, Gyaincan) Norbu, in his place, highlights the long -standing plan of the Chinese government to control the recognition of the next Dalai Lama, since the two Lamas have historically recognized the successive reincarnations of the other and served as a teacher of the other.
The Chinese government, for its part, believes that it can appoint the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama under Chinese law.
“The reincarnation of living Buddhas is unique to Tibetan Buddhism. He must comply with Chinese laws and regulations as well as religious rituals and historical conventions, and follow the process which consists of research and identification in China, a lot of the Golden Urn, and approval of the central government, “said Liu Pengyu, a Chinese hose spot at Washington DC.
In 2007, Beijing decreed that the Chinese government would begin to supervise the recognition of all reincarnated Tibetan lamas, or “living Buddhas”, including the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama. China plans to use its own Panchen Lama named to Beijing to approve its choice – a movement that the Dalai Lama declared contradict the political ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.
“It is particularly inappropriate for the Chinese communists, who explicitly reject even the idea of past and future lives, not to mention the concept of reincarnating the Tulkus (or embodied Buddhist beings), to mingle with the reincarnation system and especially the reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas”, declared the Dalai in 2011.
“Such a cheeky melee contradicts their own political ideology and reveals their double standard. If this situation continues in the future, it will be impossible for Tibetans and those who follow the Tibedian Buddhist tradition to recognize or accept it,” he added.
Dalai Lama’s declaration on his reincarnation can therefore be used to pre -empt Beijing’s efforts to intervene in the recognition of the 15th Dalai Lama.
It should only occur a few days before the US Congress was officially appointed on July 6 as a “day of compassion” thanks to a bipartite resolution introduced by American legislators in the House of American Representatives and the Senate in recognition of the understanding of Dalai Lama to peace, non-violence, human rights and religious. »»
Published by Greg Barber