Claude Arpi
July 27, 2015
Niti
The Communist leadership has recently
developed a great knowledge about ‘soul’ reincarnation! Poor Karl
Marx! Though probably he never heard about the possibility to
‘reincarnate’, he would have certainly disapproved and considered
this a bourgeois revisionist ideological concept. But the times
have changed.
This week, on the same day,
China Tibet Online
affiliated to Xinhua, published 5 articles on
reincarnation of lamas, more particularly on the present Dalai
Lama’s reincarnation.
One of the pieces explains that
reincarnation is “a complete set of religious rites and historical
mechanism” and “as China adopts the policy of freedom to religious
belief,” the Communist Party accepts ‘reincarnations’. Of course,
the recognition process must follow the Party’s rules and
regulations, which prime over religious belief.
One of the articles goes into history and
explains that the title of ‘Dalai Lama’ was conferred by the
Central Government (China); it has a history of over 400 years,
beginning in 1587 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The author
conveniently forgets to mention the fact that ‘Dalai’ is a Mongol
name meaning ‘Ocean’ (of Wisdom). But probably, Mongolia belonged
to China too!
The article mentions ‘The Regulations on
Religious Affairs’ and ‘Tibetan Buddhist Reincarnation Management
Approach’ enacted in 2007 by the atheist Party in Beijing; it
stipulated that “the Dalai Lama should follow the religious rites,
historical mechanism and the national laws and
regulations.”
Today, Beijing says that the present 14th
Dalai Lama, living in India has
“No authoritative power on his [own]
reincarnation issue”, it adds, quoting some of the Tibetan leader’s
recent declarations, that the Tibetan leader even thought of
appointing his own reincarnation while he was still alive, or
reincarnating as a foreigner or a woman…”.
The article calls the Dalai Lama’s recent
statements
“A blasphemy towards the religious rites
and historical mechanism of Tibetan Buddhism, a great disrespect to
the followers of the religion, and an absolute provocation towards
the authority of the central government.”
Why this virulent campaign in favour of a
reincarnation process ‘with socialist characteristics’ at this
point in time?
Beijing is becoming increasing conscious
that it is unable to control the restive populations living on the
Tibetan Plateau and once the Dalai Lama departs for the Heavenly
Fields, the situation may degenerate further. The Communist
leadership wants to prepare the stage for a ‘safe’ Chinese Dalai
Lama, under the Party’s control. It will help the Communist cause,
they believe.
The present leader has repeatedly made it
clear that the final decision about his future life(s) remains his
own. Beijing however believes that it is the Party’s
responsibility.
Another reason for urgency is the
50th anniversary of the Foundation of the Tibetan
Autonomous Region which will be celebrated in 2015, as well as the
Sixth Tibet Work Forum which will decide the policies for the Roof
of the World for the next 5 or 10 years, which will be held in the
coming weeks.
The Communist Government is banking on the
Golden Urn process to turn the issue in its favour.
Though historically wrong, another article
affirms:
“The procedure of drawing lots from the
golden urn is the most significant religious rite and historic
mechanism.”
Beijing’s tainted version of the history is
that sometimes
“Several ‘soul boys’ appeared at the same
time, it indubitably aroused disputes between different sides. To
solve the problem, Emperor Qianlong granted two golden urns in
1792, one placed in the Lama Temple of Beijing and the other in the
Jokhang Temple of Lhasa.”
The Golden Urn was indeed used a very few
times in history, especially when Tibet was too weak to resist
China’s bullying tactics (interestingly, Beijing admits today that
the present Dalai Lama was ‘exempted’ of the test).
Now, Beijing would like to use the Golden
Urn again for the next Dalai Lama, as they have done for their
Panchen Lama candidate, Gyaltsen Norbu (for the past 20 years, the
boy selected by the Dalai Lama is still languishing under house
arrest somewhere in China).
How Norbu was selected is recounted by a
Tibetan Lama, who participated in the ‘test’ and later managed to
escape China.
The Lama, Arjia Rinpoche, the Abbot of the
Kumbum monastery in today’s Qinghai Province, was part of the
great tamasha
to ‘select’ the 11th Panchen Lama in
1995.
The process is explained in his
book, ‘Surviving the
Dragon: A Tibetan Lama’s Account of 40 Years under Chinese
Rule’.
In 1995, Beijing, furious that the Dalai
Lama had ‘unilaterally’ decided on the new incarnation of the
10th Panchen Lama, decided to use the Golden Urn.
In November 1995, an emergency meeting was called in Beijing to
‘clarify’ the Communist Party’s position:
“We must not allow the Dalai’s separatist
clique to interfere.”
To avoid the Dalai Lama being involved in
the selection process, the Golden Urn was the best method, it was
decided.
A few days later, some Party cadres and
high Lamas were called to Lhasa.
As recalled by Arjia, the test was to be
held in the Jokhang Cathedral:
“We landed at Gonggar airport in Lhasa,
which was tightly guarded by People’s Liberation Army soldiers and
armed policemen. …Soldiers were lined up along the entire route
‘for our protection’. …At the Lhasa Hotel, I saw squads of PLA
soldiers with machine guns, as well as regular police, surrounding
the hotel so that no one could slip in or out”.
The Communist officials told the
rinpoches:
“The Golden Urn Ceremony will take place
tonight, please be prepared. …If a separatist clique [followers of
the Dalai Lama] attempts any disruption of the ceremony, everyone
will be protected.”
The ceremony took place on November 29,
1995 at 2 am:
“As we walked toward the statue of the
Buddha [the famous Jowo], we saw undercover policemen standing in
every corner and shadow.”
Arjia Rinpoche continues the narration of
the dramatic event:
“In front of the statue of Sakyamuni Buddha
was a large table covered with a yellow silk cloth. Alone on the
table stood a golden urn about 15 inches high, surrounded by seated
high officials.”
Luo Gan, a Minister (later, a member of the
Politburo’s Standing Committee) presided over the
ceremony:
“Inside the gold urn was a small case,
which contained three ivory lots, an inch wide and seven or eight
inches long. The names of the three candidates were written on
three separate pieces of paper, each of which was then slipped into
a tightly fitted pouch of yellow silk. …The three ivory lots were
placed into the Golden Urn.”
Arjia remembers:
“I expected him to lift the vessel and
shake one of the lots out of the urn, but instead he passed his
hand quickly over the lots and pulled one out.”
The name of the ‘selected’ candidate was
Gyaltsen Norbu
An official present later told
Arjia:
“When we made our selection we left nothing
to chance. In the silk pouches of the ivory pieces we put a bit of
cotton at the bottom of one of them, so it would be a little higher
than the others and the right candidate would be
chosen.”
That was it.
There is no doubt that the selection of the
next Dalai Lama will be done in the same manner, if Beijing is
allowed to have its way.
There is another factor that Beijing is
aware of, though not mentioned in the recent articles.
Traditionally, the Panchen Lama has to put
his seal on the entire process. To make sure that the Chinese
protégé obeys, President Xi Jinping gave him an ‘audience’ at
Zhongnanhai in Beijing on June 10. The encounter looked more like
summons-cum-lecture than an ‘audience’. Xinhua announced that the
meeting showed that the Party “has consistently given a high level
of attention to Tibet.” It also indicated, said the news agency,
“the great importance that the Central Committee attaches to the
religious work.”
Apparently Gyaltsen Norbu, though selected
by Beijing in a dubious manner, needed to be briefed: could he
rebel like his predecessor and refuse to follow the diktats of the
Party?
In all probability Norbu was told what he
should do …in case of a new Dalai Lama needs to be ‘recognised’ by
the Communist Party.
But, will this solve the Tibetan issue?
Certainly not!