AFTER DALAI LAMA WHO?

– By Vinit Wahi

Dalai Lama, a Nobel Laureate for Peace has called that a “lie” and says the much-touted golden urn method was used to pick only two of the 14 Dalai Lamas since the first one was born in 1391. The Dalai Lama said a different procedure, the “dough-ball method,” could be used if there were multiple candidates; this entails writing the names on a piece of paper, encasing them in dough balls, placing these in a bowl before a sacred object for three weeks, and then publicly rolling them around in the bowl until one falls out.

The revered Dalai Lama is into the autumn of his checkered but glorious life having completed 86 years last month. The temporal head of the lakhs of Buddhist people in Tibet and spread across the world also has expressed his desire for exploring different possibilities to identify his successor. But he has not specified publicly the ritual qualifications and the talk about who will succeed him has gained currency with both China openly declaring ownership on the process to choose the next one and the US, India and the Tibetans leaving it to the present incumbent as it’s the centuries old tradition till date.

In fact, Tenzin Gyatso (Dalai Lama’s real name), the spiritual leader of Tibetans who lives in exile at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh in India and all others is believed to be a living Buddha who is reincarnated after his death by convention. Traditionally, a search for a child reincarnation is conducted and once a boy is confirmed, he studies to prepare for his role. The current Dalai Lama was identified at the age of two and there is no single, established method of choosing a Dalai Lama.

As India hosts the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala and recognized Tibet as part of China only as recently as 2003, there are talks about how it can influence the choice of the next Dalai Lama though there is obviously no official account of it. But as recent events suggest India convened five separate assemblies of senior monks from various sects and schools in the region. Some observers say the government hopes this group will grant international legitimacy to the current Dalai Lama’s successor and help fill a power vacuum as it could perhaps take years for a reincarnation to only be identified but more importantly, come of age.

It may be recalled some time back the Dalai Lama had once said he would consult with other Tibetan Buddhist leaders when he was about 90 or so on whether the more than 600-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama should continue after he died. It is in this context the Samdhong Rinpoche, who is part of current spiritual head’s personal office, the Gaden Phodrang, which will help decide the succession, clearly says that if Tibet remains occupied by China, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said he will be reincarnated outside Tibet and most likely in India. While China may appoint its own Dalai Lama, its choice will have no legitimacy.” Incidentally, the 6th Dalia Lama was found to be born in Tawang then part of South Tibet and now Arunachal Pradesh. One Dalai Lama was from Mongolia! The first Dalai Lama received his title posthumously! There are fabled stories of birth, death and even life of some of the Dalia Lamas.

Rinpoche went on to say until last year there was “semi- official communication” between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government, with the latter wanting him to return to Tibet. But his return would not be possible under the current political situation, he added. “China has been using Tibetan Buddhism as a soft-power tool”. In 2007, China issued an order that requires authorities in Beijing to oversee the next Dalai Lama’s selection without the interference “of any foreign organization or to be chosen by picking lots from the golden urn in Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.

But when installed, the Dalai Lama must get a “living Buddha permit” from the Chinese government. Chinese officials say there’s precedent for Beijing to be involved in picking the Dalai Lama, as the current one ascended to the position in 1939 after being approved by Chiang Kai-shek, who was president of the Republic of China before the Communist Party took power in 1949.

However, the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Laureate for Peace has called that a “lie” and says the much-touted golden urn method was used to pick only two of the 14 Dalai Lamas since the first one was born in 1391. The Dalai Lama said a different procedure, the “dough-ball method,” could be used if there were multiple candidates; this entails writing the names on a piece of paper, encasing them in dough balls, placing these in a bowl before a sacred object for three weeks, and then publicly rolling them around in the bowl until one falls out.

India was the birthplace of Buddhism, and it is therefore rightly reasserting its role as a protector of the religion. Previously also, leaders in New Delhi saw the Dalai Lama’s presence in the country as a “Tibet card” they could play to pressure authorities in Beijing by holding out the threat of recognizing Tibet as an independent country. More recently, their view of the Tibetan exile community has see-sawed depending on relations with China.

This time, the Prime Minister Mr Narender Modi, once very close of Chinese PresidentXi Jinping, greeted the Dalai Lama on his 86th birthday and also made it public through a tweet. He said he had dialed the Tibetan spiritual leader to wish him on his 86thth birthday, a development that comes amid tensions between India and China along their long, common border. In a tweet from his personal handle, PM Modi said, “Spoke on phone to His Holiness the @DalaiLama to convey greetings on his 86th birthday. We wish him a long and healthy life.”

It is not quite often when India has made public an interaction with the Dalai Lama at the highest political level. Previously such interactions had not been even disclosed mainly out of respect for Chinese sensitivities. Further, this comes 14 months into a tense military standoff between India and China along the common border in Ladakh. With Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar asserting umpteen times that ties between the two countries cannot be normalized until China pulls its troops back from the borders, a solution seems very far.

Last year, a senior government official had visited Dharamshala to convey greetings on behalf of the Modi government that was kept tightly under wraps. A handful of Indian government figures had wished the Tibetan spiritual leader — whom China reviles — via Twitter. The 14th Dalai Lama has been living in India since 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule with hundreds of thousands of his followers. China has rebuffed attempts by the Central Tibetan Administration to reopen a dialogue since 2010, and Beijing maintains that the Dalai Lama is a “separatist”. The Dalai Lama calls himself a “son of India while India on its part describes him as a revered

Tibet watchers see in it several important reasons to facilitate and guide Dalai Lama’s incarnation as India is home to the largest cohort of Tibetan refugees in the world. A post- Dalai Lama scenario needs to be guided by India, to reduce the possibility of extremism in the Tibetan ranks. Second, India has itself revitalised its own Buddhist heritage — with over 200 monasteries and thousands of monks and a concerted attention to Buddhist conferences to provide a platform for evolving Buddhist thought. So in light of all this, India cannot obviously leave the future of Buddhism to either China or chance.

At the same time, as India fights to stabilise the border conflict with China, its stand and actions on Tibet will be very important. Tibet is not Taiwan. It has rapidly been elevated —for geopolitical, cultural, and ecological reasons — as one of India’s more important interests. They all run through the Dalai Lama. For India, therefore, it’s important to state that it will throw its weight behind whatever re-incarnation decision is taken by the Dalai Lama as per previous practice.

In a 2004 interview with Time, the current Dalai Lama stated: The institution of the Dalai Lama, and whether it should continue or not, is up to the Tibetan people. If they feel it is not relevant, then it will cease and there will be no 15th Dalai Lama. But if I die today, I think they will want another Dalai Lama. The purpose of reincarnation is to fulfill the previous life task. My life is outside Tibet; therefore my reincarnation will logically be found outside. But then the big question is whether the Chinese will accept this or not? And it obviously will not.

President Xi visits Tibet After long thirty years, a Chinese President put his foot in Tibet, a contentious region whose inhabitants are not ready to accept the rule of the mainland. President Xi had first landed at Mainling airport in Nyingchi, southeast Tibet, very close to Arunachal Pradesh, on July 21. Incidentally, the birthday of Dalai Lama passed away comparatively peacefully in Tibet a fortnight before on July 6.

The visit by Xi also came a month after China had inaugurated its first high speed electric bullet train service between capital Lhasa and Nyingchi City, a week before the ruling CCP had celebrated its 100th birthday on July 1. The inauguration of the bullet train near India’s border had already become an issue of concern for India. The train connects Nyingchi. a prefecture-level city of Medog county, adjacent to the Arunachal Pradesh border which China claims as part of south Tibet, but firmly rejected by the Indian government.

India’s policy on Tibet has been mindful of Chinese sensibilities and it recognised Tibet as part of China. But with the recent stand-off between the two countries, India’s position took a U-turn. The strategic significance of Xi’s visit in the backdrop of the ongoing face-off between Indian and Chinese armies across the Ladakh border has assumed importance.

XI landed in Nyingchi first and told its people that not a single ethnic group must be left behind in the efforts to fully build a modern socialist China. Next day, he came to Nyingchi Railway and took a train ride to Lhasa. There he visited the Drepung Monastery, Barkhor Street and the Potala Palace square.He also addressed a gathering in front of the Potala Palace, once abode of the Dalai Lama. Years ago in the same spot some Tibetan old ladies too feeble to walk but on a visit to Potala Palace muttered something to this visiting writer sensing that I am from India in their language. What I could only make out they were saying Dalai Dalai in folded hands and gesturing that I should convey their reverence to the ultimate spiritual leader whom they consider the living Buddha.

Significantly, Xi met with the representatives of the Tibet Military Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the last day of his visit. On July 23, Xi called on ethnic Tibetans and other minority groups to help defend the country. China is already recruiting local Tibetan youths to put on the border with India considering their climatic adeptness. India too has Indo- Tibetan Border Police forces. ITBP is India’s primary border patrol organization for its border with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. In his calibrated speeches Xi tried to send the message to the world that Tibet is under full control of China as “an integral part of China”.

Source: Himalayan News Chronicle