Chinese sophistry and Dalai Lama's succession

By Mayank Chhaya

China continues to amuse with its strange assertions on the question of the Dalai Lama and all things Tibetan. The latest one comes from Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao on the issue of the succession of the 14th Dalai Lama.

Troubled by the Dalai Lama's recent comments that he was looking at "different methods or ways" of selecting a successor, Jianchao was quoted by Xinhua on November 22 as saying that such an action would "violate religious rituals and historical conventions of Tibetan Buddhism."

The question that the spokesman's comment prompts is since when is China conscious about respecting Tibetan religious rituals or conventions of Tibetan Buddhism. After it annexed Tibet in 1950 it has systematically destroyed all important elements of Tibetan culture, including monasteries. From all independent accounts it has also gone about brutalizing Tibetans who have chosen hold on to their traditions, including displaying portraits of the Dalai Lama in their homes. For Beijing to wake up to the importance of "historical conventions" of Tibetan Buddhism on the issue of the Dalai Lama's successor is not just disingenuous but particularly galling for its cynicism.

Although the Dalai Lamas have historically been installed as reincarnations after a complex search process, the peculiar geopolitical circumstances that the current Dalai Lama finds himself in preclude the traditional route to find his successor. At 72, Tenzin Gyatso remains in good health and there is no immediate provocation to focus on the issue of succession. However, he is conscious that time is not on his side and it would be prudent to address the succession issue.

Notwithstanding a fundamental break from the centuries-old tradition it represents, the Dalai Lama has been candid that it is possible that he might appoint a successor in his own lifetime. Tibetans have always recognized a new Dalai Lama at least a year or so after the demise of the previous one. Reincarnate Dalai Lamas have been subjected to fairly intense tests before being installed to the exalted position. The current Dalai Lama and his secretariat are acutely aware of the consequences of waiting until his demise and then look for his successor. In the interim, while the new Dalai Lama grows up and acquires a position of consequence, the Tibetan cause stands to lose its bearings in the absence of a figure of international stature to espouse it. The only practical way out appears to be to groom a successor while the Dalai Lama is still alive and wields influence.

In one of his interviews for my authorized biography (Dalai Lama: Man Monk Mystic) he said about the succession: "There are ways out of this. You see the next Dalai Lama can be named in my lifetime." I also asked him if he had a successor in mind. "I have not. I am still quite young but you see, death does not respect age," he said in 1997. That was over ten years ago. Now that question has acquired more urgency.

He reiterated his position that a successor can be found in his lifetime while speaking with reporters on November 27. He said should he die while Tibetans are still in exile and Tibet is still under Chinese control, "then logically my reincarnation would come from outside Tibet".

Although on the one hand China has been historically dismissive about Tibetan traditions, it has always viewed their enduring appeal with a great deal of nervousness. A clear manifestation of this nervousness was in new measures that the Chinese authorities announced earlier this year requiring that all reincarnate lamas or tulkus be approved by Beijing first. It was an unambiguous assault on the authority of the Dalai Lama's institution which has always been in control of such matters.

But the issue with Beijing's latest pronouncements is more fundamental in nature. It is taking two completely contradictory positions when it comes to Tibet. As a communist system it rejects Tibet's Buddhist beliefs. At the same time though, it feels compelled to hold on to exercise its sway over the very institutions which perpetuate such beliefs. It is nothing but a combination of expediency and cynicism that Beijing employs in such matters.

The Dalai Lama's Special Envoy to Washington, Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, was quoted as saying: "Such an uninformed response from Beijing betrays its own lack of legitimacy in this area. His Holiness was referring to options that exist in the future and that are deeply rooted in Tibetan Buddhist practice."

"This is a religious matter, and His Holiness and Tibetan Buddhist leaders are far more competent to interpret Buddhist traditions than atheist members of the Communist Party of China. His Holiness has a historical and moral responsibility to the Tibetan people to safeguard the authenticity and purity of Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and in order to fulfill that duty he is sharing some of the possibilities for the future regarding the institution of the Dalai Lama. His Holiness has shared such views on other occasions over the past few decades since he arrived in exile," Gyari said.