Tibetans deliberate on reincarnation
Dharamshala, India Tibetan Buddhist monks from around the world are gearing up to discuss whether the aging Dalai Lama should reincarnate — and, if he does, then how to prevent Beijing from claiming that Tibet’s next spiritual leader will reincarnate in China.
The monks were to congregate in the Himalayas of northern India this week to deliberate on the issue at the 13th Religious Conference on Tibetan Buddhism, but the meeting was called off after Kathok Getse Rinpoche, leader of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, died Nov. 19.
No dates have been set for a rescheduled conference in Dharamshala, where the 83-year-old Dalai Lama and his followers have lived in exile since 1959, but the monks are prepared to deliberate on the steps, interpreted from ancient Buddhist texts, to recognize the reincarnated body if their spiritual leader decides to continue the office after his death. Tibetan Buddhists believe that karma directs a person’s reincarnation, but those who have achieved enlightenment can direct their own path, choosing the body of their rebirth.
The 14th Dalai Lama has been the face of Tibet’s nonviolent struggle against China, which in the 1950s seized the region and killed thousands of Tibetans who resisted communist rule. Since 1959, the Indian government has provided land to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan refugees.
In a departure from 369 years of tradition, the 14th Dalai Lama relinquished political power in 2011 to the Central Tibetan Administration, a democratic institution with a parliament and president. The move came four years after China’s government decreed that all reincarnations of living Buddhas have to be approved by Beijing given that Tibet is officially part of China. They designate the Dalai Lama and his followers as “terrorists” or separatists.
China created the Tibet Autonomous Region in an agreement between Tibetan representatives and Beijing, but Tibetans say they have little autonomy. More than 150 Tibetans, mostly monks and nuns, have self-immolated since 2011 over religious restrictions and interference inside Tibet.
In 2011, the Dalai Lama said preparations to determine how his successor would be found wouldn’t happen until he reached 90, in 2025, when he would first consult with Tibetan Buddhist authorities about whether to even continue the Dalai Lama institution. But last year, the Dalai Lama said the process would begin as soon as 2018. He has in recent years mentioned that perhaps he would not reincarnate.
“There is no guarantee that some stupid Dalai Lama won‘t come next, who will disgrace himself or herself,” the Dalai Lama told BBC in 2014. “That would be very sad. So, much better that a centuries-old tradition should cease at the time of a quite popular Dalai Lama.”
Speaking in Japan this month, the Dalai Lama said that succession through nomination, instead of reincarnation, could be a way to continue his office.
China will likely try to name its own Dalai Lama regardless, as Beijing asserts that the seat of Tibetan Buddhism should be inside Tibet. In the 1990s, the Dalai Lama recognized a 6-year-old boy as the Panchen Lama, the second-most-revered position in Tibetan Buddhism. Soon, though, the boy and his family disappeared in Chinese custody and their whereabouts remain unknown. Then China declared a new Panchen Lama.
The continuation of the centuries-old tradition of reincarnation is crucial because the Dalai Lama is the only unifying figure for the Tibetans and their struggle for autonomy within the Chinese rule. Tibetans would prefer to end the office of the Dalai Lama rather than have a Chinaappointed spiritual leader.
“It’s difficult for us to imagine Tibet without him,” said Namdol Lhagyari, the youngest member of Tibet’s exile parliament. “But, you know, we also have to be realistic. We have to make sure all our energy goes toward the Central Tibetan Administration because this is the only institution that we have which is able to challenge the Chinese government.”
From a mountainside temple in Dharamshala, through international forums (and even Twitter with nearly 19 million followers), the Dalai Lama teaches popular Buddhist values such as compassion, religious tolerance, finding joy and service to others.