Who will succeed Dalai Lama? All eyes on conference in McLeodganj next week

As the spotlight shifts to McLeodganj, where preparations are underway to ring in the 90th birthday of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on July 6, the possibility of the Nobel laureate hinting at his reincarnation and the succession plan cannot be ruled out amid apprehensions that China wants to hijack this sacred tradition.

Buddhist scholars and revered monks from the world over will converge at McLeodganj, also known as the “Little Lhasa”, on July 2 for a three-day conference, where there could be some clarity about the vital issue of the successor of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, being anxiously awaited by the global community.

“The fact that the Dalai Lama has, in his latest book ‘Voice for the Voiceless’, said that he will be born in a free country, maybe India and certainly not China, has upset the communist regime. In such an eventuality, the possibility of the Chinese communist regime taking control over the deeply Tibetan spiritual tradition of finding the Dalai Lama’s reincarnate cannot be ruled out. This obviously is totally unacceptable,” said Claude Arpi, renowned French Tibetologist, while speaking to The Tribune.

He echoed concerns of the Dalai Lama on China’s desire to hijack the issue of finding his successor. “The Dalai Lama has been very vocal about this threat and has publically asked his people not accept a China-appointed Dalai Lama as that would be a very bad thing,” he explains. The Dalai Lama has no intention of coming back in a communist system that rejects the very basis of reincarnation, he emphasises.

Claude clarified that it was solely the Dalai Lama who had to decide how to choose his successor, without any political interference. “Either he goes for the traditional way of reincarnation or emanation, where a highly advanced spiritual leader emanates to one young monk like in Hinduism it is done for selecting the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram,” he explains. Claude said he was personally against the reincarnation system in today’s times when things were moving at such a fast pace.

“Though the Dalai Lama has said that he will live for 113 years, he is also on record stating that once he turns 90, he will give a precise indication whether he will return through reincarnation. All this while, China has been trying to hijack this centuries-old sacred tradition, rooted in Tibetan Buddhism,” he says. The fact that in 2007 the Chinese government brought in a regulation giving the Communist Party the power to approve reincarnations, which has nothing to do with spirituality or religion, is causing anxiety not just to the Tibetans, both inside and outside Tibet, but also to the supporters of a “free Tibet”.

Claude said the Panchen Lama, recognised by the Tibetans, disappeared in 1995, and the child named by China was reportedly told to follow a political script as this issue remains unresolved.

China may hijack sacred tradition

The Dalai Lama has, in his latest book “Voice for the Voiceless”, said he will be born in a free country, maybe India and certainly not China, which has upset the Chinese communist regime.

In such an eventuality, the possibility of the communist regime taking control over the deeply Tibetan spiritual tradition of finding the Dalai Lama’s reincarnate cannot be ruled out.