The Buddhist leader considers not having a successor and ending an institution that China wants to control
Macarena vidal liy 28 SEP 2014
El songs Lama tenzin Gyatso, In an interreligious meeting the past 21 September in New Delhi, India. / AP
¿A VATICAN WITHOUT POPE? ¿An Islamic Republic of Iran without a Ayatollah Supreme Leader? That is the future that the spiritual guide of Tibetan Buddhism, he Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, seems to point for a religion that they profess between 10 and 20 Millions of people in Tibet and the outside. Dalái Lama has declared that he could not reincarnate and not have a successor to his death, which would end a tradition of almost five centuries. His statements have generated very little sympathy in Beijing, that claims the right to appoint the fifteenth Dalái Lama.
In a recent interview to the German weekly Welt am Sonntag, The religious leader, of 79 years, He has affirmed that “the institution of Dalái Lama became something important for its political power, But that no longer exists ". Since the 16th century, Dalái Lama had been not only the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, but also your political boss. That tradition ended in 2011, When the Nobel Peace Prize for 1989 —"For his fight for the liberation of Tibet advocating peaceful solutions based on tolerance and mutual respect"— formally resigned from any earthly power.
According to Dalái Lama, If it is not reincarnated "a tradition of almost five centuries will voluntarily ended". As Tibetan spiritual leader, Tenzin Gyatso is considered an incarnation of Buddha, Maximum spiritual perfection. The rest of living beings are condemned to pass through a wheel of successive lives, With greater or better fortune, As your previous behavior has been, until reaching the state of supreme perfection, in which all needs and desires are left behind. The Dalái Lama, that has reached that state of lighting, You can choose not to reincarnate more or, on the contrary, continue the cycle to help other living beings to achieve knowledge.
The religious chief believes that, in any case, Tibetan Buddhism will not resent the lack of a Dalái Lama. "Tibetan Buddhism does not depend on a single individual. We have a very good organization, with very capable monks and academics ", state.
It is not the first time that the spiritual leader hints something like that. In the past he already suggested proposals such as allowing Tibetans to decide their next religious chief. Or let himself be, In life, who designates a successor. A rupture, in any case, With the traditional procedure, that can lengthen years. According to the custom, At the death of Dalái Lama his best disciples begin a search process. Through visions, dreams and hearts identify possible candidates, Children who were born on the dates of the death of the spiritual leader. The one who passes a series of tests, which include recognizing objects that belonged to their predecessor, New Dalái Lama is proclaimed and a hard process of academic and religious preparation begins.
In the case of Tenzin Gyatso, that procedure was followed. At the death of the thirteenth Dalái Lama, His followers located the child through visions
in 1937. The little Tenzin, two years old, Born the bosom of a humble family from the Tibetan region of Amdo, correctly identified the possessions of Dalái Lama, Like your drink of drinking or your rosary, And it was proclaimed successor. in 1959, After the failure of the Tibetan lifting against Chinese troops, I fled disguised as a beggar to Dharamsala, In Indian territory, where has reside since then.
"Tibetan Buddhism does not depend on an individual. There is an organization, With very capable monks ", declares the Nobel Prize
According to Professor Jean-Pierre Cabestan, From the Baptist University of Hong Kong, With his statements the Dalái Lama “may want to end the traditional way of choosing the Tibetan spiritual leader. After all, The institution of Dalái Lama is not something so old and can be replaced by any other, Regarding Tibetan Buddhism. He may want to prepare the transfer of political power to a secular and representative leader. In fact, This process has already begun when he renounced his political powers and yielded them to an elected prime minister in Dharamsala ”.
One option is unthinkable for Beijing, For which the religious leader is “a wolf dressed in lambs” which encourages Tibetan separatism. The Dalái Lama, For its part, He emphasizes that he only seeks more autonomy for his people and more respect for his cultural traditions. Many Tibetans lament what they consider the suppression of their language and customs by Beijing.
The central government has sharply unauthorized the statements of the Dalái and has made it clear that, At his death, will be in charge of appointing a successor. "The title of Dalái Lama is granted by the central government", The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assured, Hua Chunying. China "will follow historical customs and religious procedures” To designate the fifteenth Dalái Lama. It's not a new. According to Cabestan by email from Taiwan, “Beijing wanted to have a voice in the selection of the new Dalái Lama, To participate in the process of deciding who will be the new spiritual boss ”, Since the time of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799), of the Qing dynasty.
The ethnologist Qin Yong Zhang, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, He wrote last week in the state newspaper Global Times that “Tibetan Buddhism does not belong to Dalái Lama, and cannot end a tradition of 500 years with a word ". In his opinion, Since the 18th century, "The right to regulate, supervise and have the last word” In the selection of the Dalái Lama it has corresponded to the Chinese central power.
"Beijing wanted to have a voice in the selection of the new Dalái Lama", Professor Cabestan explains, de Hong Kong
The Government, Officially Atheist, has already intervened in other cases. In the case of the Catholic Church, does not recognize the authority of the Vatican, with whom he does not maintain relationships, and he takes care of appointing the bishops of the branch he has established, The Patriotic Catholic Church. In the case of Tibetan Buddhism he has also made his own appointments. in 1995, Dalái Lama appointed the boy Gendun Chökyi Nyima as the reincarnation of Panchen Lama. The Chinese authorities made the child and her family disappear, of those who have not known again. Instead, Beijing named another boy, Gyaltsen Norbu, What happens most of his time in the Chinese capital and to which many Tibetans do not recognize as a spiritual boss.
It is not clear what the reception was outside a Dalái Lama appointed by Beijing. The current one enjoys strong prestige abroad and has acted for decades as an ambassador of the Tibetan cause. Not only is he co -headed with world leaders, but has won personalities from the entertainment world as Richard Gere or Gwyneth Paltrow.
But tibet, or in the Tibetan population regions in other Chinese provinces, Many residents consider him a representative of heaven on earth, Although the mere fact of possessing a portrait of yours can suppose harsh reprisals. As in the case of Panchen Lama, It is difficult to think that someone appointed by Beijing went to receive recognition of believers. Such a situation would only contribute to further aggravate the feeling of grievance of the Tibetan population in China. "If a weak lama came a dalái, It would be a misfortune for the institution ", The spiritual leader himself has declared in the interview
