The Dalai Lama's Office – An advantage
to the Chinese Government.
The Chinese government’s State
Administration for Religious Affairs enactment of new laws
requiring all reincarnated high Lamas to be born in Chinese
controlled territories and also to be approved by them might seem
ridiculous and may also make no sense to Buddhist who are familiar
on how such offices come about.
One wonder, is the Chinese Government so
ignorance and insensitive to all these traditions? At first glands,
they may seem to be trying to act in the capacity of an All Mighty
God deciding on such major and unthinkable issues, or are they
really?
Likely to the Chinese, the Dalai Lama would
be considered as just another disposed Head of State, but still a
thorn in its flesh, as he can be manipulated by foreign governments
and interest groups alike to the detriment of its security and
interests. His position as a spiritual Head would come in a very
distant second.
If one start to look at the oversea Chinese
whose ancestors left mainland China even recently, and how over
time they evolved and adapt to their new environment, settling,
accepting and giving their loyalty to their new countries, and
eventually de-linking themselves from the Chinese of Mainland
China, one may start to understand why the appointment of high
lamas, including the Dalai Lamas have to come from the local
population.
The Dalai Lama left Tibet more than half a
century ago, many of the Tibetans who are with him now are likely
to be second or even third generation foreign born, living, working
and thinking more like Indians than the Tibetans from Tibet whose
influence are mainly from the majority Han Chinese. They may be of
Tibetan origin, but likely over time, the different groups that
settle overseas will become distinctly different in their outlooks
and loyalty than those in Tibet itself.
To the younger generations of Tibetans in
China, the present Dalai Lama may be just a very remote religious
figure considering the strict ban in place on all things related to
him. How much influence and significant his words would be taken by
these younger people is really anybody guess. The Dalai Lama is getting on in age and the
Chinese Government may have felt it is the right time to enact the
required laws to legitimize the appointment of a local Tibetan as
the Spiritual head of the Tibetan in Tibet; never mind those
Tibetans who are not Chinese Citizens.
All it takes is for a charismatic locally
appointed Dalai Lama to surface for the Chinese Government and the
influence of the present Dalai Lama linkage would be reduced
significantly. With the enactment of the new laws in place, it
would not matter to the Chinese Government whether the 14th Dalai Lama decides to come back as a woman, or
he might not come back at all.
Other than a
complete subjugation to the Chinese Government and waiting for a
change or collapsed of the present government to effect changes; or
advocating a militancy approach, it looks like there are few
options if any, left for the present Dalai Lama to act
on.