CNN reached out to the Gaden Phodrang Trust to see if new instructions had been issued but did not receive a reply. The Dalai Lama said that his reincarnation should be carried out “in accordance with past tradition.” “I shall leave clear written instructions about this,” he said in 2011. The Dalai Lama added that if he chose to reincarnate, the responsibility for finding the 15th Dalai Lama will rest on the Gaden Phodrang Trust, a India-based group he founded after going into exile to preserve and promote Tibetan culture and support the Tibetan people. What the Tibetan government-in-exile might doĪt the moment, there are no official instructions laying out how the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation will take place, if he dies before returning to Tibet.īut in that significant 2011 statement, the 14th Dalai Lama said that “the person who reincarnates has sole legitimate authority over where and how he or she takes rebirth and how that reincarnation is to be recognized.” “The most important thing is the centuries old Tibetan reincarnation system is built on people’s faith in rebirth,” said Tenzin, from the Tibet Policy Institute. The fourth Dalai Lama was found in Mongolia, while the sixth Dalai Lama was discovered in what is currently Arunachal Pradesh, India. In every case, he chose the correct one.īut the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation hasn’t always been found in Tibet. In his autobiography, “My Land and My People,” the Dalai Lama wrote that he was handed sets of identical or similar items – including rosaries, walking sticks and drums – one of which had belonged to the previous incarnation and one which was ordinary. The son of a farmer, the Dalai Lama was born in a small hamlet in northeastern Tibet, where just 20 families struggled to make a living from the land.Īs a child, he recognized a senior lama who had disguised himself to observe the local children, and successfully identified a number of items belonging to the 13th Dalai Lama. Some of the methods include showing the children items which belong to the previous incarnation.Īccording to the 14th Dalai Lama’s official biography, he was discovered when he was two years old. Once they find a number of candidates, the children are tested to determine whether they are the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. China says he's now a college grad with a job Hindustan Times/Hindustan Times/Hindustan Times via Getty ImagesĪ boy chosen as the Panchen Lama disappeared in 1995. Tibetans stand next to a portrait showing the last know image of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, on Apin Mcleodganj near Dharamsala, India. “There’s a heavy responsibility on these people to get it right,” she said. Then they send out search parties across Tibet, looking for children who are “special” and born within a year of the Dalai Lama’s death, according to Ruth Gamble, an expert in Tibetan religion at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Sometimes it is based on signs that the former incarnation gave before he died, at other times top lamas – a monk or priest of varying seniority who teaches Buddhism – will go to a sacred lake in Tibet, Lhamo Lhatso, and meditate until they have a vision of where to search for his successor. The search begins when the previous Dalai Lama passes away. The Dalai Lama has been reincarnated 13 times since 1391, when the first of his incarnates was born, and normally a centuries-old method is used to find the new leader. Tenzin Tseten, a research fellow at the Dharamsala-based Tibet Policy Institute, said the Dalai Lama was of great significance to the Tibetan people and a symbol of their “nationalism and identity.” “The Tibetan people will never accept a CCP-appointed Dalai Lama,” Tenzin said.Ī Tibetan activist lights a candle in front of a poster of spirtual leader The Dalai Lama as members of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RTYC) take part in a candlelight vigil during a protest rally in Hyderabad on March 10, 2016. That could lead to two separate Dalai Lamas being chosen – one in China and one in India. Over the years, the Dalai Lama has floated a number of options for his reincarnation, including picking a new successor himself in India, rather than in Tibet – and has even toyed with the idea of a woman taking on the role.Įxperts, however, have said that, regardless of what he chooses, the Chinese government will almost certainly move to pick a new Dalai Lama in Tibet – one who is expected to support the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) control of the region. Since 1974, the Dalai Lama has said he does not seek independence from China for Tibet, but a “meaningful autonomy” that would allow Tibet to preserve its culture and heritage. Today, Beijing views him as a separatist with the aim of breaking Tibet away from China, and is therefore keen for the next reincarnation of his role to fall in line with its own political aims.
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