The Last Dalai Lama

by Wilfried F. Voss

Introduction

On November 27, 2007, while attending an interfaith conference in the north Indian city of Amritsar, His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama suggested he might not be reborn, ending a 600-year-old tradition of reincarnation as a small boy after his death.

His Holiness was concerned that the Chinese government plans to seize control of his reincarnation and assign the 15^th Dalai Lama by breaking with the traditional selection process.

Such an interference with the Tibetan religious system is not unheard of, as the Chinese had officially enthroned a boy named Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama, the second-highest spiritual leader of Tibet, in November of 1995.

Earlier in the year, on May 14, His Holiness had identified a six-year-old boy by the name of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th incarnation of the Punchen Lama, but only three days later the boy and his parents were taken into Chinese custody.

As of today, there are no records of the boy or his parents.

References:

Dalai Lama may forgo death before reincarnation
by Jeremy Page, Amritsar, India
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/dalai-lama-may-forgo-death-before-reincarnation/story-e6frg6t6-1111114986868

The Last Dalai Lama?
By Barbara O’Brien, About.com Guide
http://buddhism.about.com/od/vajrayanabuddhism/a/dalailamarole_2.htm?r=et

In The News: Dalai Lama Celebrates 75th Birthday

His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama celebrated his 75th birthday today with hundreds of cheering followers in Dharmsala, northern India, which has been his home since he fled Tibet after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

Looking at posters depicting his life as a child, a young man and aspiritual leader, the man who has come to symbolise Tibet’s struggle against China said: “I remember my past and I feel that I haven’t wasted these years.”

In neighboring Nepal, police detained at least 22 Tibetan exiles on their way to a celebration for the Dalai Lama, according to an Associated Press reporter who was at the police station in Katmandu.

The 14th Dalai Lama – A Brief Biography

Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, usually shortened to Tenzin Gyatso was born as Lhamo Thondup on July 6, 1935. He is the 14th Dalai Lama, a spiritual leader revered among the people of Tibet. He is the head of the government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Tibetans traditionally believe him to be the reincarnation of his predecessors.

The Last Dalai Lama – Reincarnation

By the Himalayan tradition, phowa (Tibetan) is the discipline that transfers the mindstream to the intended body. Upon the death of the Dalai Lama and consultation with the Nechung Oracle, a search for the Lama’s reincarnation, or yangsi (yang srid), is conducted. Traditionally, it has been the responsibility of the High Lamas of the Gelugpa Tradition and the Tibetan government to find his reincarnation. The process can take around two or three years to identify the Dalai Lama, and for the 14th, Tenzin Gyatso, it was four years before he was found.

The Panchen Lama Controversy

The present (11th) incarnation of the Panchen Lama, who will select the next Dalai Lama, is a matter of controversy. The People’s Republic of China asserts it is Gyaltsen Norbu, while the current Dalai Lama named Gedhun Choekyi Nyimaon May 14, 1995. The latter vanished from public eye shortly after being named. Chinese authorities state that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima has been taken into protective custody, but there is no information regarding from what, or from whom, he must be protected, where he is being held, or under what conditions.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama – Literature

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935 to a peasant family in northeastern Tibet and was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. The world’s foremost Buddhist leader, he travels extensively, speaking eloquently in favor of ecumenical understanding, kindness and compassion, respect for the environment, and, above all, world peace. His Holiness has written and co-authored a great number of books of which a few are listed in this post.

Literature On Tibet – 50 Years Of Struggle, Resilience And Hope

Freeing Tibet is the story of a culture that has been struggling to survive for half a century… Freeing Tibet is not the chronicle of a hopeless cause—au contraire. It tells how an engaged global community could liberate the Tibetans.

Are Eastern Religions More Science-Friendly?

by Philip Goldberg
HuffingtonPost.Com – July 5, 2010

Religion comes into conflict with science when it is defined by unprovable claims that can be dismissed as superstitions, and when it treats as historical facts stories that read like legends and myths to non-believers. Other aspects of religion — what I would consider the deeper and more significant elements — are not only compatible with science but enrich its findings. The best evidence of this is science’s response to the religions of the East over the course of the last 200 years. As the French Nobel laureate Romain Rolland said early in the 20th century, “Religious faith in the case of the Hindus has never been allowed to run counter to scientific laws.” The same can be said for Buddhism, which derives from the same Vedic roots.

In Search Of The Real Panchen Lama

The Chinese Communist Party resolved to do whatever it took to ensure that it would appoint, train and control the lamas who they saw as the key to political control of Tibetans. It proclaimed that the Dalai Lama-endorsed Panchen Lama was “illegal” and Xinhua news agency denounced the six-year-old boy for having “once drowned a dog”.

For most Chinese citizens, the Communist Party offers broad religious freedom, a process of law and at least an effort to win their hearts and minds. But it is different inside the frontier regions of western China.

Tibetans in China Protest Proposed Curbs on Their Language

New York Times – October 22, 2010 (Excerpt)

BEIJING — Thousands of Tibetan students in western China have protested since Tuesday against proposals to curb or eliminate the use of the Tibetan language in local schools, according to reports from Tibet advocacy groups and photographs and video of the protests circulating on the Internet.

The protests are the largest in Tibetan areas since the March 2008 uprising that began in Lhasa and spread across the Tibetan plateau. But unlike those protests, these have been peaceful and have involved mostly students.

A protest against the proposed policies was also held in Beijing on Friday afternoon, drawing hundreds of Tibetan students at a prominent university that specializes in teaching ethnic minorities, according to witness reports and photographs. [Read the full article...]

Dalai Lama says he will relinquish political role to democratically elected leader

The Washington Post – March 10, 2011 (Excerpt)

DHARMSALA, INDIA – The Dalai Lama said Thursday that he plans to relinquish his political role as head of the Tibetan government-in-exile to a new prime minister, who will be chosen in elections March 20.

The move, announced on the 52nd anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, reflects the Tibetan leader’s long-stated desire to move the Tibetan refugee community away from theocratic rule and toward democracy and to prepare the exile movement, based in this northern Indian hill town, for his eventual death.

But the 76-year-old will remain the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and will continue to wield huge influence both inside and outside Tibet, particularly on relations with China and his desire for “genuine autonomy.” He will also remain the movement’s figurehead and by far its most prominent advocate. [Read the full article...]

Advertisement

The Bleeding Hills

A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.