The Guardian Weekly

China Storm brewing over Dalai Lama successor

Tibet’s spiritual leader insists he has many more years still to live. But his succession has become a political battle

By Hannah Ellis-Petersen

During a meeting of Tibetan leaders in Dharamshala in India a couple of years ago, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was asked about his reincarnation. Addressing the room of monks, religious teachers and Tibetan politicians, the Dalai Lama asked them: “Do you think it’s time now?”

It was a meeting that would end with the Tibetan leaders agreeing the issue of reincarnation was one to be decided only by the Dalai Lama himself. But China, which annexed Tibet in 1951 and has since retained tight control over the region, has other ideas. It insists the choice of the next Dalai Lama lies only with China, and has enshrined this right into Chinese law.

The Dalai Lama, who recently turned 86, has insisted discussions of his death are premature (according to his own visions, he will live to 113).

“We are looking at the highly likely situation that when the 14th Dalai Lama dies, there will be two Dalai Lamas named in his place,” said Robert Barnett, an expert on Tibet. “One selected on the basis of instructions left behind by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and one chosen by the Chinese Communist party.”

Since 1959, the Dalai Lama has lived in exile in Dharamshala, nestled in the Himalayas, and Tibet has remained a sensitive factor in India’s relationship with China, with whom it shares a 4,000 km border. India has control over the Dalai Lama’s movements, both within India and abroad.

But as relations with China have deteriorated, there has been increased pressure on the Indian government to strengthen its Tibet policy. Last month, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi wished the Dalai Lama happy birthday on Twitter and, according to the president of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, a meeting is planned between the two this year.

According to teachings, each Dalai Lama is a reincarnation of the

After he dies, search parties are sent to find children born around the date of his death

Avalokiteśvara, who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is both the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and in many times past and present also a political leader of the Tibetans.

After he dies, a search begins in Tibet to find his reincarnation, based on signs such as where he was looking when died and which direction the smoke blows when he is cremated. Search parties are sent out to find children born around the date of his death who are put through a series of tests, until the right one is divined.

But with Tibet under the control of China, this process that led to the discovery of two-year-old Lhamo Dhondup – now known as Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama – in a small village in north-eastern Tibet in 1940, is unlikely to be repeated. The Chinese government must now approve all reincarnations of senior Buddhist Lamas (teachers), including the Dalai Lama, a position that was strongly reiterated in a white paper released by China in May this year, on the 70th anniversary of its annexation of Tibet.

This has been rejected by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan parliament in exile, which sits in Dharamshala.

The Dalai Lama has also expressed concern that his reincarnation will be hijacked and politicised in “brazen meddling” by the Chinese, and has publicly contemplated being reincarnated as a woman or not at all.

According to Barnett, the Chinese Communist party in January secretly assembled 25 senior government figures into a committee to begin preparing for the selection process. The preparations appear to be a Chinese attempt to avoid repeating the chaotic events of 1995, when, without consulting the Chinese government, the Dalai Lama declared that a six-yearold boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was the next reincarnated Panchen Lama, the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. Three days later, Nyima disappeared and has not been seen since.

The Chinese government has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of “separatist” activities and held him responsible for the self-immolations that Tibetans still carry out in protest, and Tibetan uprisings such as those in 2008.

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2021-08-06T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-08-06T07:00:00.0000000Z

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