China, through its “China Tibetology Research Center,” published a screed on Wednesday condemning a declaration by the Dalai Lama that only his office will have power to find his successor after his passing, asserting that the Communist Party regime has final authority over the Buddhist leader.
The current Dalai Lama, who will turn 90 years old on July 6, published a letter on Wednesday confirming that “the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue” after his death. The Dalai Lama is the leader of Tibetan Buddhism and the current leader is the 14th holder of that office. According to Buddhist belief, the current Dalai Lama will reincarnate in a child after his death, which Buddhists must find and elevate to the head of the religion. The current Dalai Lama has questioned in the past whether he will reincarnate given Chinese oppression of Tibet but stated that, if he does, it will be in the “free world.”
The Chinese Communist Party actively represses all religions and currently occupies Tibet, which it refers to by the Han Chinese colonialist name “Xizang.” It has for decades opposed and condemned the Dalai Lama as a “separatist” leader for refusing to accept Beijing’s authority, declaring itself the true arbiter of Tibetan Buddhism. In 2016, the Communist Party secretary of Tibet at the time, Wu Yingjie, declared that the Party must make “the struggle against the Dalai Lama clique… the highest priority in carrying out our ethnic affairs.”
The current Dalai Lama has been exiled in India since 1959 after an uprising failed to oust the communist government that occupied Tibet in 1950.
The Dalai Lama did not mention China in his letter declaring where he would reincarnate and who would have the authority to identify his new form. He affirmed plainly, however, that no one outside of his office, the Gaden Phodrang Trust, “has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” presumably including the Chinese government.
“I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” the leader wrote, noting that he had promised a clarifying statement by his 90th birthday and that he had received many popular appeals to reincarnate.
“The process by which a future Dalai Lama is to be recognized has been clearly established in the 24 September 2011 statement which states that responsibility for doing so will rest exclusively with members of the Gaden Phodrang Trust, the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” he wrote. “They should consult the various heads of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the reliable oath-bound Dharma Protectors who are linked inseparably to the lineage of the Dalai Lamas.”
“I hereby reiterate that the Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation; no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” the letter concluded.
The Dalai Lama read the letter aloud at a religious conference in Dharamsala, India, this week. The Tibetan Government in Exile rapidly issued statements supporting the letter and asserting that the Chinese government held no authority in Buddhist matters.
“The core process of recognizing the reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is as per the unique Tibetan Buddhist tradition,” Penpa Tsering, president of the Tibetan government in exile, said at a press conference, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA). “Hence, we not only strongly condemn the People’s Republic of China’s usage of reincarnation subject for their political gain, and we shall never accept it.”
The Chinese Communist Party has for years insisted that it has ultimate authority in choosing religious leaders. China, a formally atheist state, only allows the legal practice of five religions: Protestant Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam. The Christian churches are governed by the regime-controlled “Three-Self Patriotic Church” and the Chinese Catholic Church, which is not in commune with the Vatican. Islam and Buddhism are similarly repressed through the imposition of religious figures who use their position to spread communist propaganda rather than profess the faith.
In response to the Dalai Lama’s note, the deputy director of the China Tibetology Research Center, Li Deching, wrote a lengthy defense of having the Communist Party choose the next Dalai Lama.
The choice of the next Dalai Lama, Li wrote, “reflects national sovereignty, governmental authority, religious principles, and the sentiments of lay followers.” Li insisted that governments controlling religions is “a universal practice that has been observed throughout history and around the world.” On Tibetan Buddhism specifically, Li insisted that reincarnation must “adhere to the principle of government oversight.”
“The formation of the Living Buddha reincarnation system is inextricably linked to the support of the central government,” the official declared. “As such, a key aspect of the system is that the final authority for approving a reincarnated successor rests with the government.”
Li went on to insist that all Living Buddhas, not just the Dalai Lama, “can only reincarnate within China” and only identified by the Communist Party, an affront to the world’s Tibetan diaspora that has fled the oppression of that regime.
In a book released in March, the current Dalai Lama declared that he would reincarnate outside of China because conducting the work of leading Buddhists within the country is not possible.
“Since the purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor, the new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world,” he wrote, “so that the traditional mission of the Dalai Lama — that is, to be the voice for universal compassion, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the symbol of Tibet embodying the aspirations of the Tibetan people — will continue.”
Li insisted that containing the Dalai Lama in China was a “sovereign” issue.
“This reflects the state’s sovereignty over regions such as Xizang and its authoritative role in the recognition of reincarnations,” he concluded. “It embodies the principle that the state is above religion, with political authority taking precedence over religious authority, and that religious followers are citizens first and foremost.”
The China Tibetology Research Center features a link to the United Front Work Department on its website — an arm of the Communist Party dedicated to spreading regime propaganda internationally and silencing dissent. At press time, the top article on its front page celebrates a recent public event by genocidal dictator Xi Jinping.
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