{"id":1927,"date":"2025-07-04T09:23:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T09:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/04\/at-90-the-dalai-lama-braces-for-final-showdown-with-beijing-his-reincarnation\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T09:23:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T09:23:54","slug":"at-90-the-dalai-lama-braces-for-final-showdown-with-beijing-his-reincarnation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/profitalarm.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/04\/at-90-the-dalai-lama-braces-for-final-showdown-with-beijing-his-reincarnation\/","title":{"rendered":"At 90, the Dalai Lama braces for final showdown with Beijing: his reincarnation"},"content":{"rendered":"

For much of the past century, the Dalai Lama has been the living embodiment of Tibet\u2019s struggle for greater freedoms under Chinese Communist Party rule, sustaining the cause from exile even as an increasingly powerful Beijing has become ever more assertive in suppressing it. <\/p>\n

As his 90th birthday approaches this Sunday, the spiritual leader for millions of followers of Tibetan Buddhism worldwide is bracing for a final showdown with Beijing: the battle over who will control his reincarnation. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama announced that he will have a successor after his death, and that his office will have the sole authority to identify his reincarnation. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,\u201d the Nobel Peace laureate said in a video message to religious elders gathering in Dharamshala, India, where he has found refuge since Chinese communist troops put down an armed uprising in his mountainous homeland in 1959. <\/em> <\/p>\n

The cycle of rebirth lies at the core of Tibetan Buddhist belief. Unlike ordinary beings who are reborn involuntarily under the influence of karma, a revered spiritual master like the Dalai Lama is believed to choose the place and time of his rebirth \u2013 guided by compassion and prayer \u2013 for the benefit of all sentient beings. <\/p>\n

But the reincarnation of the current Dalai Lama is not only pivotal to Tibetan Buddhism. It has become a historic battleground for the future of Tibet, with potentially far-reaching geopolitical implications for the broader Himalayan region. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been such a magnet, uniting all of us, drawing all of us,\u201d said Thupten Jinpa, the Dalai Lama\u2019s longtime translator, who assisted the leader on his latest memoir, \u201cVoice for the Voiceless.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI often say to the younger-generation Tibetans: We sometimes get spoiled because we are leaning on this very solid rock. One day, when the rock goes away, what are we going to do?\u201d <\/p>\n

In that memoir, published this year, the Dalai Lama states that his successor will be born in the \u201cfree world\u201d outside China, urging Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists globally to reject any candidate selected by Beijing. <\/p>\n

But China\u2019s ruling Communist Party insists it alone holds the authority to approve the next Dalai Lama \u2013 as well as all reincarnations of \u201cLiving Buddhas,\u201d or high-ranking lamas in Tibetan Buddhism. <\/p>\n

At the heart of this clash is the ambition of an officially atheist, authoritarian state to dominate a centuries-old spiritual tradition \u2013 and to control the hearts and minds of a people determined to preserve their unique identity. <\/p>\n

Beijing brands the current Dalai Lama a dangerous \u201cseparatist\u201d and blames him for instigating Tibetan protests, unrest, and self-immolations against Communist Party rule. <\/p>\n

The Dalai Lama has rejected those accusations, insisting that he seeks genuine autonomy for Tibet, not full independence \u2013 a nonviolent \u201cmiddle way\u201d approach that has earned him international support and a Nobel Peace Prize. <\/p>\n

To his Tibetan followers, the self-described \u201csimple Buddhist monk\u201d is more than a spiritual leader or former temporal ruler of their homeland. He stands as a larger-than-life symbol of their very existence as a people, defined by a distinct language, culture, religion and way of life that critics say Beijing is trying to erase. <\/p>\n

But the Dalai Lama\u2019s death could also pose a new dilemma for the Communist Party. Some younger Tibetans in exile view his \u201cmiddle way\u201d approach as overtly conciliatory toward Beijing. In the absence of a unifying figure to guide the exile movement and temper its more radical factions, demands for full Tibetan independence could gather momentum. <\/p>\n

Battle over loyalty<\/h2>\n

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was only 15 when communist troops \u2013 having won the Chinese civil war \u2013 marched into Tibet in 1950 to bring the remote Himalayan plateau under the control of the newly founded People\u2019s Republic. <\/p>\n

The Communist Party claims it \u201cliberated\u201d Tibet from \u201cfeudal serfdom\u201d and reclaimed a region it says has been part of China for centuries. But many Tibetans resented what they saw as the brutal invasion and occupation by a foreign army. <\/p>\n

The resistance culminated in an armed uprising with calls for Tibetan independence in March 1959, sparked by fears that Chinese authorities were planning to abduct the Dalai Lama. As tensions mounted and the People\u2019s Liberation Army fired munitions near the Dalai Lama\u2019s palace, the young leader escaped the capital Lhasa under cover of night. The Chinese army ultimately crushed the rebellion, killing tens of thousands of Tibetans, according to exile groups, though the exact number remains disputed. <\/p>\n

After fleeing to India, the Dalai Lama established a government-in-exile in Dharamshala. Since then, he has come to represent Tibet, said Ruth Gamble, an expert in Tibetan history at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the 1950s, the idea of Tibet was much more diffuse \u2013 there was a place, there was a state, and there were all of these different communities. But over the years, he\u2019s almost become an abstract ideal of a whole nation,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The Chinese Communist Party has waged a decades-long campaign to discredit the current Dalai Lama and erase his presence from Tibetan life, while tightening restrictions on religious and cultural practices. The crackdown often intensifies around sensitive dates \u2013 especially his birthday \u2013 but devotion to the spiritual leader has quietly endured. <\/p>\n

\u201cDespite all these years of banning his photos, in every Tibetan heart there is an image of the Dalai Lama there. He is the unifying figure, and he is the anchor,\u201d Jinpa, the translator, said. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a profound emotional and spiritual loyalty that defies the risk of persecution and imprisonment \u2014 and one that the Communist Party deems a threat to its authority, yet is eager to co-opt. <\/p>\n

Over the years, Beijing has cultivated a group of senior Tibetan lamas loyal to its rule, including the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama himself. <\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
\n
The Chinese government-selected 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 4, 2024.<\/span> <\/div>
Greg Baker\/AFP\/Getty Images\/File<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Historically, dalai lamas and panchen lamas have acted as mentors to each other and played a part in identifying or endorsing each other\u2019s reincarnations \u2013 a close relationship likened by Tibetans to the sun and the moon. But in 1995, years after the death of the 10th Panchen Lama, Beijing upended tradition by installing its own Panchen Lama in defiance of the Dalai Lama, whose pick for the role \u2013 a six-year-old boy \u2013 has since vanished from public view. <\/p>\n

Beijing\u2019s Panchen Lama is seen as an imposter by many Tibetans at home and in exile. He is often shown in China\u2019s state-run media toeing the Communist Party line and praising its policies in Tibet. Last month, in a rare meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Tibetan monk reaffirmed his allegiance to the rule of the Communist Party and pledged to make his religion more Chinese \u2013 a tenet of Xi\u2019s policy on religion. <\/p>\n

Experts and Tibetan exiles believe Beijing will seek to interfere in the Dalai Lama\u2019s eventual succession using a similar playbook \u2013 appointing and grooming a candidate loyal to its rule, with the backing of the state-appointed Panchen Lama and other senior lamas cultivated by the government. <\/p>\n

That could lead to the emergence of two rival dalai lamas: one chosen by his predecessor, the other by the Communist Party. <\/p>\n

Jinpa, the Dalai Lama\u2019s translator, is unfazed by that prospect. <\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I don\u2019t worry about that, because it\u2019s kind of a joke. It\u2019s not funny because the stakes are so high, but it\u2019s tragic,\u201d he said, referring to Beijing\u2019s likely attempt to appoint its own dalai lama. \u201cI just feel sorry for the family whose child is going to be seized and told that this is the dalai lama. I\u2019m already feeling sad for whoever\u2019s going to suffer that tragedy.\u201d <\/p>\n

For his part, the current Dalai Lama has made clear that any candidate appointed by Beijing will hold no legitimacy in the eyes of Tibetans or followers of Tibetan Buddhism. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is totally inappropriate for Chinese Communists, who explicitly reject religion, including the idea of past and future lives, to meddle in the system of reincarnation of lamas, let alone that of the dalai lama,\u201d he writes in \u201cVoice for the Voiceless.\u201d <\/p>\n

With his characteristic wit and playful sense of humor, he adds: \u201cBefore Communist China gets involved in the business of recognizing the reincarnation of lamas, including the dalai lama, it should first recognize the reincarnations of its past leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping!\u201d <\/p>\n

The search for a dalai lama<\/h2>\n

Tibetan Buddhism reveres its spiritual leader as the human manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion \u2013 an enlightened being who, rather than entering nirvana, chooses to be reborn to help humanity. The current Dalai Lama is the latest in a long lineage of reincarnations that have spanned six centuries. <\/p>\n

The search for a dalai lama\u2019s rebirth is an elaborate and sacred process. Important clues are the instructions or indications left by a predecessor (it could be as subtle as the direction in which the deceased dalai lama\u2019s head was turned). Additional methods include asking reliable spiritual masters for their divination, consulting oracles, and interpreting visions received by senior lamas during meditation at sacred lakes. <\/p>\n

Following these clues, search parties are dispatched to look for young children born after the dalai lama\u2019s death. Candidates are subject to a series of tests, including identifying objects that belonged to the previous incarnation. <\/p>\n

But the dalai lama\u2019s reincarnation hasn\u2019t always been found in Tibet. The fourth dalai lama was identified in the late 16th century in Mongolia, while the sixth was discovered about a century later in what is currently Arunachal Pradesh, India. <\/p>\n

The current Dalai Lama, born into a farming family in a small village in the northeastern part of the Tibetan plateau, was identified when he was two years old, according to his official biography. He assumed full political power at 15, ahead of schedule, to guide his distressed people as they faced advancing Chinese Communist forces. <\/p>\n

If the next dalai lama is to be identified as a young child, as per tradition, it could take some two decades of training before he assumes the mantle of leadership \u2013 a window that Beijing could seek to exploit as it grooms and promotes its own rival dalai lama. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, the one recognized by the Dalai Lama, born in exile, is the real one. So as far as the matter of faith is concerned, I think there is no issue. It\u2019s just the politics and geopolitics,\u201d said Lobsang Sangay, the former prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala. <\/p>\n

For instance, Beijing could pressure other countries to invite its own dalai lama for ceremonies, said Sangay, now a senior visiting fellow at Harvard Law School. <\/p>\n

Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Vajrayana Buddhism \u2013 one of the major branches of the faith \u2013 which is widely practiced in Mongolia and the Himalayan regions of Bhutan, Nepal and India. <\/p>\n

These countries \u2013 and to a lesser extent, other nations with large Buddhist populations such as Japan and Thailand \u2013 could be forced to choose which dalai lama to recognize, according to Gamble in Melbourne. \u201cOr they may and say: \u2018We\u2019re not going to get into it.\u2019 But even that might anger the Chinese government,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Aware of his own mortality, the Dalai Lama has been preparing the Tibetan people for an eventual future without him. He laid what he sees as the most important groundwork by strengthening the institutions of the Tibetan movement and fostering a self-reliant democracy within the exile community. <\/p>\n

In 2011, the Dalai Lama devolved his political power to the democratically elected head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, retaining only his role as the spiritual head of the Tibetan people. <\/p>\n

Sangay, who took up the baton as the political leader of the exiled government, said that by making the transition to democracy the Dalai Lama wanted to ensure Tibetans can run the movement and the government on their own, even after he is gone. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe has specifically said: \u2018You cannot just rely on me as an individual\u2026 I\u2019m mortal. The time will come when I won\u2019t be there. So it is for the Tibetan people, while I\u2019m here, to transition to full-fledged democracy \u2013 with all its ups and downs \u2013 and to learn from it and grow, mature and be stronger, moving forward,\u2019\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

That goal has taken on added urgency as the Tibetan movement for safeguarding their culture, identity and genuine autonomy increasingly finds itself in a precarious moment. <\/p>\n

Under leader Xi Jinping, Beijing has ramped up security and surveillance in its frontier regions, intensified efforts to assimilate ethnic minorities, and rolled out a nationwide campaign to \u201csinicize\u201d religion \u2013 ensuring it aligns with Communist Party leadership and values. <\/p>\n

The Chinese government says it has safeguarded cultural rights and religious freedom in Tibet and touts the region\u2019s economic development and significant infrastructure investment, which it says has improved living standards and lifted hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty. <\/p>\n

United Nations experts and the Dalai Lama have expressed concerns over what they call an intensifying assimilation campaign by the Chinese government, following reports that Chinese authorities have closed a large number of rural area Tibetan language schools and forced about a million Tibetan children to attend public boarding schools. Officials in Tibet have strongly pushed back on the accusations. <\/p>\n

And as China\u2019s political and economic clout has grown, the Dalai Lama\u2019s global influence appears to be waning, especially as old age makes it difficult to sustain his extensive globe-trotting. The spiritual leader has not met a sitting US president since Barack Obama in 2016, after numerous visits to the White House since 1991. <\/p>\n

But some Tibetans remain hopeful. Jinpa, the translator, said that while the Dalai Lama is still alive, Tibetans must find ways to establish a sure footing for themselves. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy own feeling is that if we can get our act together and the dalai lama institution continues with a new dalai lama being discovered, the power of the symbol will be maintained,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

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