Tibetans protest ‘Kalchakra’ teachings by Chinese Lama

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 21

Tibetan NGOs protested against the move of the Chinese government to hold ‘Kalchakra’ teachings in Tibet by its appointed Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu. The Tibetan groups here today held the move of the Chinese government as a direct interference in the religious and cultural affairs of the Tibetans.

The Chinese government-appointed Panchen Lama began his ‘Kalchakra initiation’ or the ‘wheel of time’ teachings at Tashi Lhunpo monastery in Shigatse, Tibet, today.

The Tibetan Women Association, Student for a Free Tibet, Gu Chu Sum Movement and the National Democratic Party of Tibet (NDPT) today organized a ‘scarf offering ceremony’ near Tsuglakahang Temple to a portrait of the Panchen Lama Gendun Choekyi Nyima recognized by the Dalai Lama.

Lukar Jam Atsok, president of Gu Chu Sum, said the move to politicise an entirely religious event can be construed as a direct “insult and belittling” of the Tibetan people and its way of life. He said, “The matter concerning Gyaincain Norbu being the fake Panchen is not a personal issue; it is a full-fledged assault by China on the tulku tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and an attempt to assert authority over the issue of reincarnation of tulkus in general.”

He further said that China was possibly prodding on a model to establish their proxy religious figures. If they achieve success this time through propaganda and sheer enactment, the next move may be to apply the same methods in launching their own Dalai Lama in the future.

The sacred teaching of Due-Khor-Wang-Chen in Shigatse is not without resistance inside Tibet with local Tibetans being forced to attend the religious event. Reportedly, Chinese authorities have made it mandatory for each Tibetan household to send two members to attend the proceedings.

National Director of the activist group SFT Tenzin Tselha said the scarf offering ceremony served a dual purpose of asserting that Tibetan people have always considered the incarcerated Gendun Choekyi Nyima as the true Panchen and at the same time let China know that Tibetans will not accept the lies manufactured by the CCP.