TAIPEI: China feels it must control the religious institution in Tibet and because of this a major crisis will arise with the eventual demise of the 14 Dalai Lama as there will be a major power struggle over who will elect Tibet’s religious leaders, according to a report in Taiwan Times.
China, which had installed its puppet Panchen Lama In the 1990s to control Tibet, he is expected to use it to legitimize the appointment of his own selected Chinese candidate as the next leader of Tibetan Buddhism (the 15th Dalai Lama), writes Tsewang Paljor in Taiwan Times.
Ninety-nine percent of Tibetans do not accept Chinese appointments Panchen lama as the real or true Panchen Lama, claimed Paljor. They consider him a false Panchen Lama.
The Chinese government occupied Tibet in 1950 and has since tried to control the region.
The Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959 and on the 10th the Panchen Lama (Lobsang Trinley Lhundrup Choekyi Gyaltsen) stayed in Tibet. He spoke out against Chinese rule many times and wrote a report on the famines in Tibet in the 1960s.
He was later arrested and spent more than eight years in jail. He died in 1989, due to atrocities committed by the Chinese authorities, Paljor said.
In keeping with the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the search team for the 11th Panchen Lama headed by Chadrel Rinpoche asked the Dalai Lama to identify the (reincarnated) Panchen Lama from a list of possible candidates.
On May 15, 1995, the Dalai Lama announced Gedhun as the 11th Panchen Lama. Two days later, the Chinese government kidnapped the boy and his family.
“None of them have been seen or heard from again. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who had just turned six, became the youngest political prisoner in the world. Chinese authorities even arrested Chadrel Rinpoche and his assistant Jampa Chung for finding Gedhun and revealing his information to the Dalai Lama. They were jailed for six and four years, respectively, for “selling state secrets” and “conspiring with separatist forces abroad,” he wrote.
The Chinese government rejected the Dalai Lama’s election of the Panchen Lama stating that his ancestry was “illegal and invalid” and, six months after Gedhun’s abduction, China announced that it had found the “real” reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama named Gyaltsen. Norbu, a Tibetan. child – the son of two communist party members – like the 11th Panchen Lama.
However, the Tibetans have not accepted the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama. The University of the ‘Tashi Lhunpo’ monastery is the royal seat of Panchen Lamas, but Gyaltsen Norbu never stays in Tashi Lhunpo. ”
Defying government orders, local Tibetan officials refused to participate in the preparations for the visit. This was not the first time that Gyaltsen Norbu had faced popular boycotts by Tibetans.
Similar massive public boycotts were witnessed a few years ago when the Chinese authorities took Gyaltsen Norbu to the Labrang monastery.
Time and again, Tibetans have also shown that they will not accept him as their religious leader, Paljor noted.
“The Chinese now feel that Tibet is part of China and that control of its religious institutions should be in their hands. It is a great power struggle over who will elect Tibet’s religious leaders. The crisis will emerge with the eventual demise of the Chinese. 14th Dalai Lama, “he wrote.
“However, in order to checkmate China, the Dalai Lama has declared that he will be reborn outside of Tibet in exile. And so, after his disappearance, there will be a massive search by the Chinese and a massive search by the Chinese. from the exile community held simultaneously to find a new Dalai Lama, “he added.
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