World Tibet News - January 18, 2000
WTN Editors
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_________________WTN-L World Tibet Network News _________________
Published by: The Canada Tibet Committee
Editorial Board: Brian Given, Conrad Richter, Nima Dorjee,
Tseten Samdup, Thubten (Sam) Samdup
WTN Editors: wtn-e...@tibet.ca
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ISSUE ID: 00/01/18 Compiled by Tseten Samdup
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Tuesday, January 18, 2000
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Contents:
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1. Tibetans denounce China's ordainment of two-year-old "living Buddha"(AFP)
2. China's Lama not true reincarnation, says exile Tibetans (AP)
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1. Tibetans denounce China's ordainment of two-year-old "living Buddha"(AFP)
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BEIJING, Jan 17 (AFP) - The rift between China and the Tibetan government
in exile widened Monday after China announced it had enthroned a
two-year-old boy as one of Tibet's most important religious leaders.
The exiled Tibetan government in India denounced the move and said the
Dalai Lama, Tibet's most revered spiritual leader, did not recognize the
boy as a new "living Buddha."
It also accused China of violating sacred Tibetan Buddhist traditions
guiding the search for reincarnations of religious leaders.
"The reincarnation system is unique to Tibetan Buddhism and there is a very
well established procedure which has not been followed in this case," said
Tashi Wangdi, minister of religious and cultural affairs of the
government-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala.
The Dalai Lama has to be informed of the search and any reincarnation must
be "approved" by him, the minister said.
Beijing on Monday announced it had ordained Soinam Puncog Sunday as the 7th
Reting Rinpoche. The move was seen as an attempt to save face after the
recent escape of one of its hand-picked lamas, the Karmapa Lama, to India.
The 14-year-old Karmapa Lama, one of the highest leaders in Tibetan
Buddhism, was being groomed to be a pro-Beijing religious leader for
Tibetans.
Beijing's latest move to exert authority over the process of identifying
reincarnations is seen by political analysts as a deliberate ploy to try to
legitimize its rule over Tibet.
"The Chinese authorities want to demonstrate that life is normal in Tibet
after the departure of the 17th Karmapa," said Joseph Cheng, political
analyst at the City University in Hong Kong.
"They also want to show that they have the power to recognise and annoint
new living Buddhas. They claim that they can preside and legitimise the
ceremony, just like the Manchu Emperors did in the past."
Exiled Tibetans fear China could try to use the two-year-old to legitimise
the choice of the next Dalai Lama, following the death of the current Dalai
Lama, who is despised by Beijing but treated as a god-king by Tibetans.
A precedent had been set by the sixth Reting, Dandzim Jigme, who played a
role in administrating Tibet in the 1930s and headed the search for the
present Dalai Lama. He died in February 1997.
The present Dalai Lama has lived in exile in northern India since he fled
Tibet in 1959 after China brutally suppressed an uprising against Chinese
rule.
Wangdi told AFP by phone that the ordainment Sunday was "meaningless" and a
"futile" political exercise.
"If anyone is appointed politically, he will have no influence on the
people because they will not accept him," he said.
The Chinese government news agency Xinhua said Monday the new Reting
Rinpoche was born in Lhari, north of Lhasa, on October 13, 1997.
The ordination ceremony was held in the Johkang temple in Lhasa, and
attended by the leading authorities from the city and the Tibetan
autonomous region.
Xinhua described the new Reting as "one of the highest-ranking positions in
Tibetan Buddhism."
The enthronement comes just weeks after the 17th Karmapa Lama's escape,
which has proved a major embarrassment for Beijing.
Beijing is still insisting he has not defected but has gone to fetch
traditional musical instruments.
China had been counting on the 17th Karmapa to lend credibility to the idea
of a "patriotic" version of Tibetan Buddhism, and had pushed the
14-year-old leader forward as a counterbalance to the revered Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama remains one of Beijing's arch rivals and is repeatedly
denounced as a dangerous separatist working to split the motherland.
The conflict surrounding the legitimacy of Tibetan lamas led to the
desgination of two Panchen Lamas in 1995 -- one chosen by Beijing and one
by the Dalai Lama.
The number two in Tibetan Buddist hierarchy, the Panchen Lama's most
important role will be to recognise the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama,
after his death.
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2. China's Lama not true reincarnation, says exile Tibetans (AP)
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NEW DELHI, Jan 18 (AP) -- The Reting Lama, an important monk in Tibetan
Buddhism, has not yet been reborn, and the 2-year-old boy installed by
China cannot be the true reincarnation, the Dalai Lama's office reported
Tuesday.
The Dalai Lama told followers of the Reting Lama last month his mystical
powers of divination have produced no clues indicating that the soul of the
abbot has been reborn, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama said.
On Sunday, members of the Buddhist clergy ordained Soinam Puncog as the 7th
Reting Lama at a ceremony in Tibet's holiest shrine, the Jokhang Temple in
Lhasa. An official from the Chinese government attended, and a certificate
approving the ordination was issued.
The Dalai Lama, who has been secluded in a two-month period of intense
meditation, has not commented directly on the installation in Tibet, said
spokesman Tsering Tashi, the secretary of the Dalai Lama's bureau in New
Delhi.
The Dalai Lama has interrupted his "retreat" only to meet privately with
the 14-year-old Karmapa, the high-ranking monk who fled Tibet to India this
month, Tashi said.
Beijing rejects the Dalai Lama's authority to recognize reincarnations,
claiming only the government can ordain high lamas, which it sees as
reinforcing its hold on the restive Himalayan region.
Tibetan Buddhists believe high lamas are reborn to help mankind, and their
incarnations can be identified through mystical clues seen and interpreted
in visions or meditation. Such lamas are referred to by their positions
rather than their names.
The line of Reting Lamas traditionally has been recognized by the Dalai
Lamas, and in turn helps in the search for the incarnation of the Dalai
Lamas. By naming the 7th Reting Lama, Beijing would gain a key foothold in
the process of identifying a successor to the current 14th Dalai Lama, the
paramount Tibetan religious leader.
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