Originally uploaded by MatthewBradley
From AP (via BeliefNet):
“The Tibetan people would not support a successor selected by China after my death,” the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying on a trip to Japan by the Sankei Shimbun, a national daily.
“If the Tibetan people wish to uphold the Dalai Lama system, one possibility would be to select the next Dalai Lama while I am still living,” he was quoted as saying in an interview.
“Among options being considered are a democratic selection by the high monks of Tibetan Buddhism, or the appointment of a successor by myself,” he said.
I am fascinated by the Dalai Lama succession system. When a Dalai Lama died, his advisers began searching for his reincarnation (the discovery of the present Dalai Lama was illustrated beautifully in the movie Kundun). The young boy was then brought to the capital and trained as a monk and ruler. Regents rule until the boy comes of age. It may come as no surprise, then, that for 200 years, only two out of seven successors survived past the age of 21 (and those two died in their forties). Clearly, the office of the Dalai Lama is a hazardous one.
The Chinese government is currently a player in the appointment of successors. In 1995, when the Dalai Lama announced that they had found the successor to the Panchen Lama (the #2 head monk in his school of Tibetan Buddhism), the boy and his family suddenly disappeared, and the Chinese government appointed a new Panchen Lama. Now if you suspect that someone is the reincarnation of a revered guru, you have to fill out a “reincarnation application” and stand in line at the State Administration for Religious Affairs. I’m not making this up.
Though the 14th Dalai Lama’s suggestion would be a radical break with tradition, given the specter of Chinese meddling, it’s probably a necessary one. I wonder, however, what his followers think. Many, if not most, regard the Dalai Lama as the living incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara. I’ve witnessed the devotion of some Tibetan Buddhists, and their reverence for him is comparable to the regard that many Catholics have for Mary. Is a reincarnation electable?
2 responses so far ↓
1 Rich // Nov 26, 2007 at 9:02 am
I used to work with an engineer from China who surprised me one day with his vitriol for the DL; he saw him as evil incarnate, a wicked, wicked man who was hell-bent on “dividing China”. He had been brainwashed his entire life to believe that Tibet has always been an integral part of China, and the DL represented a wicked effort to keep it separate. His passion made it clear to me that giving up Tibet to its independent leanings would be like willingly chopping off your right arm — no way Jose. Fascinating, the power of propaganda, and also very sad to see the crazy paradox of someone with so much good so vilified by the bulk of Chinese society.
2 xJane // Nov 26, 2007 at 2:16 pm
I wonder if he could simply select regents against the eventuality of more interference. I agree that pre-selecting a reincarnate is just as problematic as standing in line to have the government validate that reincarnate. But at the same time, selecting a successor might not be a bad idea: someone to make sure that things went smoothly while they looked around for the actual reincarnate…maybe even to keep the child safe (i.e. not as the king, simply as the reincarnate) while the “successor” to the throne ruled.
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