The Dalai Lama turns 86: Reincarnation debate gathers pace

“Reincarnation of residing Buddhas, together with the Dalai Lama, should adjust to Chinese language legal guidelines and rules and comply with spiritual rituals and historic conventions.”

By Lt Gen S L Narasimhan (Retd), 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama (HHDL) celebrates his 86th birthday on 06 July. His superior age and the intransigence of China in negotiating with him have introduced the difficulty of Tibet and his reincarnation into focus. HHDL escaped from the Chinese language annexation of Tibet in March 1959 and got here into India. That he was given asylum and a Tibetan Authorities in Exile was shaped in Dharamshala is historical past. He was and is the face of Tibetans in all the world. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1989. He propagated the center method strategy for a rapprochement with the Chinese language authorities. The center method strategy implies that the Tibetan individuals don’t settle for the current standing of Tibet beneath the Individuals’s Republic of China. On the identical time, they don’t search independence for Tibet. Treading a center path in between these two, lies the coverage and means to attain a real autonomy for all Tibetans residing within the three conventional provinces of Tibet inside the framework of the Individuals’s Republic of China. Chinese language authorities rejected that stance. From 2002 to 2010, HHDL’s representatives held talks with the Chinese language authorities to no avail. Thereafter, the talks died down.

When HHDL got here to India he had each the temporal and spiritual powers. In 2011 he gave up the temporal powers and retained solely the spiritual function. Even that didn’t assist in altering the stance of the Chinese language authorities. In 2017, Central Tibetan Administration introduced the 5-Fifty Imaginative and prescient that geared toward resolving the difficulty of Tibet inside the subsequent 5 years, whereas on the identical time sustaining and strengthening the resilience of the Tibetan administration and populace in addition to the Tibetan freedom motion and the Tibetan individuals’s distinctive id and tradition for the subsequent fifty years as wanted. That transfer additionally fell on deaf ears. Total, the Tibetan Motion to realize independence initially and autonomy inside China later has not progressed. The Chinese language authorities appears to have dug in its heels on the difficulty of Tibet. China has additionally been altering its place on coping with the HHDL. Initially it mentioned that the HHDL ought to settle for that Tibet is part of China. That place has modified now to that of HHDL accepting that Tibet has been part of China since antiquity.

The worldwide group has been vocal on the Tibet challenge. Nevertheless, these voices appear to be decreasing however for the USA. The USA enacted the Tibetan Coverage and Help Act in 2019 that makes it the official United States coverage that the succession of Tibetan Buddhist leaders, together with the succession of the Dalai Lama, be left solely to Tibetan Buddhists to determine, with out interference from the Chinese language authorities. As well as, in July 2020, it imposed visa bans on Chinese language officers who limit foreigners’ entry to Tibet. Whereas USA’s place on the reincarnation of the HHDL has been made clear by the act talked about above, China has additionally been hardening its stand on the reincarnation challenge. A brand new regulation, titled “Measures for the Administration of Non secular Personnel,” introduced out in Feb 2021 and got here into power on 01 Might 21, stipulate that the succession of a residing Buddha ought to be carried out beneath China’s related rules. Even earlier, in April 2019, Chinese language Overseas Ministry spokesman Lu Kang mentioned “Reincarnation of residing Buddhas, together with the Dalai Lama, should adjust to Chinese language legal guidelines and rules and comply with spiritual rituals and historic conventions.” China appears to be making it clear that the reincarnation of HHDL can be as per its authorities’s determination.

HHDL himself has made plenty of statements relating to the reincarnation. In 2004, he mentioned that if Tibetan individuals really feel that there isn’t a want for the subsequent Dalai Lama then this establishment might not proceed. He made the same assertion once more in 2019 whereas chatting with some college students that “the customized of recognizing reincarnate lamas might have had its day”. In 2011 he mentioned that he’ll depart clear written directions behind on his reincarnation. In April 2013, he mentioned in an interview that “If the circumstances are such {that a} feminine Dalai Lama is extra helpful, then mechanically a feminine Dalai Lama will come”. In March 2019, he additional mentioned that In future, in case you see two Dalai Lamas come, one from right here (India), in a free nation, one is chosen by Chinese language, after which no one will belief, no one will respect (the one chosen by China). In order that’s an extra drawback for the Chinese language. It’s attainable, it may occur”.

One factor appears to be clear in regards to the reincarnation although. Issues are nonetheless fluid and any of the choices above might come true. There have additionally been statements that the Golden Urn technique of choosing the subsequent Dalai Lama could also be adopted. There was no official response or assertion from India on the reincarnation challenge. It doesn’t imply that it has not thought-about the varied prospects and reactions thereof.

(The creator is Member, Nationwide Safety Advisory Board. Views expressed are private and don’t mirror the official place or coverage of Monetary Categorical On-line.)