Dragon’s shadow

Deepak Dwivedi

Days ahead of his 90th birthday, Tibetan Buddhists’ top spiritual leader, who has been living in exile in India for over six decades, said the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue. A pre-recorded video message from him said the search for his successor will be carried out by Gaden Phodrang Trust, a religious body of Buddhist monks who are part of the office of the Dalai Lama in India.

The statement of Dalai Lama that “no one else has any such authority to interfere in the matter” was a clear rebuke to Beijing’s attempts to assert its authority to appoint the next leader of the Tibetan Buddhism. China’s insistence on having a decisive say in choosing the Dalai Lama’s successor is clearly not about religion, but about control; not about respecting the Tibetan traditions, but at bending them into submission.

There is a bloody history of crushing of the 1959 Tibetan uprising, desecration of the monasteries during the infamous Cultural Revolution and the abduction of the legitimate Panchen Lama in 1995. Governments around the world, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile and rights groups have called on China to free the Panchen Lama. Beijing now wants to appoint the next Dalai Lama, a sacrilegious act that neither the Tibetans nor the international community is likely to accept.

Dalai Lama’s latest move aims to deter China from interfering in the sacred exercise to choose his successor. According to the age-old Tibetan tradition, the search for a successor begins after the death of the incumbent. However, this procedure might be tweaked to thwart China’s plans to impose its own candidate when the position eventually falls vacant. India is a key stakeholder in the developments that shape the future of Tibetans as it has provided shelter to the Dalai Lama ever since he fled Tibet in 1959. New Delhi has rightly stuck to its stand that China should stay away from the spiritual process of choosing the successor. The cycle of rebirth lies at the core of Tibetan Buddhist belief. The Dalai Lama is believed to choose the place and time of his rebirth, guided by compassion and prayer.

Yet, his reincarnation has become a political battleground, with Beijing becoming more assertive to control the destiny of Tibetans. The Dalai Lama had stated in the past that his successor would be born in the “free world” outside China and urged Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists globally to reject any candidate selected by Beijing. However, China insists that it alone holds the authority to approve the next Dalai Lama — as well as all reincarnations of ‘Living Buddhas,’ or high-ranking lamas in Tibetan Buddhism.

At the heart of this showdown is the ambition of an officially atheist state to dominate a centuries-old spiritual tradition and erase the unique identity of Tibetans. The Dalai Lama has been the living embodiment of Tibet’s struggle for greater freedom under the Chinese Communist Party rule, sustaining the cause of exile. Contrary to China branding him as a dangerous separatist instigating Tibetan unrest, the Dalai Lama has, on many occasions, made it clear that he seeks genuine autonomy for Tibet, not full independence – a nonviolent middle-way approach that has earned him international support and a Nobel Peace Prize.

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