China wants to control Tibetan religious institutions, major power struggle expected after demise of 14th Dalai Lama: Report

China feels that it should control religious institution in Tibet and due to this a greater crisis will emerge with the eventual demise of 14th Dalai Lama as there will be a major power struggle over who will get to choose the religious leaders of Tibet, according to a report in Taiwan Times.

China, which had installed their puppet Panchen Lama in 90s to control Tibet, is expected to use him to legitimise the appointment of their own selected Chinese candidate as the next leader of Tibetan Buddhism (the 15th Dalai Lama), write Tsewang Paljor in Taiwan Times.

Ninety-nine per cent of Tibetans do not accept Chinese appointed Panchen Lama as the real or true Panchen Lama, Paljor stated. They regard him as false Panchen Lama.

The Chinese government occupied Tibet in 1950 and has ever since tried to control the region.

The Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959 and the 10the Panchen Lama (Lobsang Trinley Lhundrup Choekyi Gyaltsen) stayed behind in Tibet. He spoke against Chinese rule many times and wrote a report chronicling Tibet's famines in the 1960s.

He was then arrested and spent more than eight years in jail. He died in 1989, due to the atrocities committed by the Chinese authorities, said Paljor

As per the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama was requested by the search team of the 11th Panchen Lama headed by Chadrel Rinpoche to identify the (reincarnated) Panchen Lama from a list of possible candidates.

On May 15, 1995, the Dalai Lama announced Gedhun as the 11th Panchen Lama. Two days later, the Chinese government abducted the child and his family.

"None of them have ever been seen or heard from again. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who had just turned six, became the world's youngest political prisoner. Chinese authorities even arrested Chadrel Rinpoche and his assistant Jampa Chung for finding Gedhun and disclosing his information to the Dalai Lama. They were imprisoned for six - and four years respectively for 'selling state secrets' and 'colluding with separatist forces abroad," he wrote.

The Chinese government rejected the Dalai Lama's choice of Panchen Lama stating that his ascendance was "illegal and invalid" and, six months after Gedhun's abduction, China announced that it had found the "real" reincarnation of 10th Panchen Lama named Gyaltsen Norbu, a Tibetan boy - the son of two Communist Party members - as the 11th Panchen Lama.

However, Tibetans have not accepted the Chinese appointed Panchen Lama. 'Tashi Lhunpo' monastery University is the real seat of Panchen Lamas but Gyaltsen Norbu never stays in Tashi Lhunpo".

Defying government orders, local Tibetan officials refused to participate in preparations for the visit. This was not the first time Gyaltsen Norbu had faced popular boycotts by Tibetans.

Similar mass public boycotts were witnessed a few years ago when the Chinese authorities brought Gyaltsen Norbu to Labrang monastery.

Time and again, Tibetans have also proved that they are not going to accept him as their religious leader, Paljor noted.

"Chinese now feel that Tibet is a part of China and that the control of its religious institutions should be in their hands. It is a major power struggle over who will get to choose the religious leaders of Tibet. And, of course, the greater crisis will emerge with the eventual demise of the 14th Dalai Lama," he wrote.

"However, in order to checkmate China, the Dalai Lama has declared that he will be reborn outside Tibet in exile. And so on his demise, there will be a massive search by the Chinese and a massive search by the exile community held simultaneously to find a new Dalai Lama," he added.

(ANI)

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