China reserves Dalai's birth

On October 25, 1950, after the Chinese platoons stormed into Tibet and Radio Peking announced that the PLA was on the plateau "to free it from imperialist oppression", the India government lodged a protest. It was met with a stern warning. "No foreign interference will be tolerated," thundered the Chinese radio. Meanwhile in Lhasa, the kashag (cabinet) decided to consult the medium of Gadong Oracle at an official trance. As the protective deity took possession, the medium's body, hissing and shuddering, approached the Dalai Lama's throne and said, "Make him king". At the age of 15, Tenzin Gyatso became the ruler of Tibet, still three years short of the accepted point for a Dalai Lama's ascension to secular power.
Now 76, and having given up his political powers in favour of a democratically-elected prime minister, the Dalai Lama may look like just a simple monk but the issue of his reincarnation is already bothering Asia's two emerging powers - China and India. Last Saturday, as the Dalai Lama announced that he would decide whether to be incarnated when he is "about 90", he made it clear that the Chinese government would have no say in the matter. "No recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in China," the Dalai Lama said at the conclusion of a three-day meeting of Buddhist leaders. The reaction from Beijing, though expected, was acerbic.
In this back and forth posturing, the real significance of the meeting at which the Dalai Lama made his announcement was missed. The fact that Tenzin Gyatso spoke about his reincarnation at a meeting of heads and representatives of four major traditions and sub-traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, ancient Bon tradition and religious l e a d e r s f ro m Himalayan Buddhist regions of India, Nepal and Bhutan has substantial significance. "By doing so, the Dalai Lama has established that he is not just the leader of Tibetans but all Buddhists in this area and so the issue of his reincarnation is not something to be decided between him and China but it may involve all Buddhists in the Himalayan region," says Tenzin Tsundue, writer and activist.
This could be an extremely important development for India, which has a large Buddhist population along the Himalayan arc that forms the border with China. "The issue of the Dalai Lama's reincarnation is a matter of great significance not just to the Tibetans but to Buddhists and followers across the world," says Tsona Rinpoche, a reincarnated monk from Arunachal Pradesh who attended the meeting at Dharamsala.
With Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of Tibetan government in exile, assuming his political powers, the Dalai Lama has now become the global brand ambassador of the "Free Tibet" movement. "Now, the Dalai Lama's international stature is so big that China's assertion that his future reincarnation has to be approved by Beijing lacks complete credibility," says an official of the government in exile. The strategy of turning the Dalai Lama into an international giant who could dwarf the Chinese communists in their game-plan came after a lot of soul searching by the government in exile, particularly after Beijing managed to install their candidate as the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995. "We don't want to repeat the fiasco of Panchen Lama who Beijing is now parading in China and Tibet as a progovernment Buddhist monk," says Tsundue.
Nothing worries China more than the Dalai's travels across the globe. A White Paper on China's "peaceful rise", published by Beijing last month, said, "The Chinese people... will never allow any external forces to interfere in China's internal affairs ...[while China] does not interfere in other countries' internal affairs. It is opposed to the practices of the big bullying the small..."
This is the same language that was used to warn the Nehru government in the 1950s. The ground reality in India, China and Tibet might have changed but not the Chinese posturing over the issue of Tibetan independence.