By Dawa Tshering
While the Harvard law scholar, Lobsang Sangay, was paying tribute to the Dalai Lama and taking the oath of office last Monday as Kalon Tripa or prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, another poignant drama was being enacted behind the high white walls of a Tibetan monastery situated at the strategic intersection of four major Asian cultures – Tibetan, Mongolian, Han Chinese, and Chinese Muslim – in the traditionally Tibetan region of Amdo. The monks were waiting uneasily for an unwanted bespectacled 21- year- old youth whom Beijing is promoting as the 76- year- old Dalai Lama’s successor.
No agnostic government can have as much trouble with divinity as the Peoples Republic of China seems to be having with what it calls the “living gods”. These are the incarnate lamas whom Buddhists revere and also invested with secular authority. Two living gods, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, and His Holiness Orgyen Thinley Dorjee, the 26- year- old 17th Karmapa Lama, head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Buddhism, prefer living in India to being under Chinese control in their native Tibet.
Only the third is left in China, and his credentials are not universally accepted.
After 16- years of persuasion, publicity and compulsion, the Chinese are still finding it impossible to get Tibetans to accept what is now China’s most prized Tibetan asset.
He is Gyaltsen (also spelt Gyaincain) Norbu whom Tibetans call the “Chinese Panchen Lama”. The controversy now is over whether the Chinese will succeed in foisting Norbu on the monks of the 300- year- old Labrang Monastery in Xiahe in Gansu province, one of the six great monasteries of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism and the biggest outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. The calculation in official circles is that a spell in a major monastery will burnish Norbus religious credentials as the 11th Panchen Lama and make him acceptable to scholars and high monks who are then expected to sway lay opinion.
But most Tibetans believe that another young man, a herder’s son called Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who would now be 22, is the real Panchen Lama. The Dalai Lama anointed him from a short list that the Chinese themselves had approved, on May 14, 1995, six years after the death of Lobsang Trinley Lhundrup Choki Gyaltsen, the 10th Panchen Lama. Little Gedhun Choekyi Nyima hasn’t been seen since that day. The Chinese government’s claim that he and his family were taken into “protective custody” prompted Tibetans to ask who their religious leader needed to be protected from! Nobody knows if the boy is still alive, but pictures of his chubby visage adorn many Tibetan homes and temples. Beijing’s stock reply to inquiries is that he is “safe and comfortable and wishes to maintain his privacy.” Chadrel Rinpoche, the monk who headed the Panchen Lama search committee and had shortlisted the boy with Beijing’s initial approval, was arrested and charged with treason.
The Chinese government, which claims that it alone has the authority to select Tibet’s premier spiritual leaders, chose Norbu, who was a year younger and the son of two loyal Communist Party members. They have tried hard since then to build him up. Norbu was appointed vice- president of the Buddhist Association of China and made the youngest member of the Peoples Political Consultative Conference, the government’s highest advisory body.
He is trotted out on state occasions and important visitors like George Yeo, then Singapore’s foreign minister, are invited to meet him. Last year Hao Peng, vice- chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, praised his appointment and congratulated Norbu for “demonstrating the role of the Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism and encouraging more believers to participate in state affairs”. But Beijing’s effectiveness is confined to secular matters, and that, too, mainly among the Chinese and foreigners. Tibetans remained unimpressed by the promotion campaign. Norbus speech in Tibetan at the inaugural of the 2006 World Buddhist Forum about Buddhism and national unity received a cold reception from delegates. Tibetans thought it gratuitous obsequiousness when in 2008 he denounced the anti- Han riots in Lhasa, saying “We resolutely oppose all activities to split the country and undermine ethnic unity”. In fact, none of his public statements go down well. In one remark in March, he said: “We live in a society governed by law, while the religious practices fall into the category of social activity; therefore, only by administration according to law can we ensure a stable and harmonious development of religious affairs.” Tibetan indifference might explain why though Norbu never misses an opportunity to pray publicly for Tibet and donate money for Tibetan relief after natural disasters, he has not taken up residence at the Tashilhunpo Monastery, traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, though he does visit it sometimes. The Chinese might feel that a stay at Labrang Monastery will qualify him for the grander Tashilhunpo Monastery.
The Dalai Lama’s flight in 1959 made the Panchen Lama Tibets most important political and religious figure. The 10th Panchen Lama tried to curry favour by supporting Beijings suppression of the 1959 Tibetan rebellion. Even so, the Chinese imprisoned him in 1964. His situation worsened during the Cultural Revolution when, according to the Chinese dissident, Wei Jingsheng, he was held in appalling conditions in China’s Qincheng Prison. He was released In October 1977 but kept under house arrest in Beijing until 1982. Choekyi Gyaltsen married a Han Chinese woman in 1979 and had a daughter, Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo, known as ”Renji’, who is regarded with some respect. (This is not unique. Several high- ranking Gelug lamas both in China and in exile have chosen a layman’s lifestyle. The 6th Dalai Lama also renounced his monk’s vows and led a layman’s life but continued to be highly revered by Tibetans.) But Gyaltsen’s sudden death in Shigatse in 1989, aged 51, shortly after making a speech criticizing Chinese neglect of Tibet’s religion and culture, prompted questions that were never answered.
Though the importance of Tibet’s monastic figures has diminished since 1959, many Tibetans continue to regard the Panchen Lama as a significant political and spiritual figure due to the part he traditionally plays in selecting the next Dalai Lama. China fully utilizes the political significance of this position and Tibet support groups in India and abroad suspect the Chinese of planning to exploit the Panchen Lama’s subservience to install their own choice of Dalai Lama when the current incumbent dies. That is why Beijing reacted so angrily when the Dalai Lama suggested that there might not be another incarnation.He had no right to stipulate what would or would not be, said the Chinese, afraid he might be trying to pre- empt their option. The Dalai Lama’s further announcement regarding stepping down from his political role made it even more necessary for China to have their man ready and waiting to take over before someone with a global reputation and mandate from Tibetans in 30 countries like prime minister Lobsang Sangay can stake a claim. INAV
(Copyright Interpretative News and Views)