China’s claim on reincarnation of Dalai Lama violated ancient tradition

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China’s claim on reincarnation of Dalai Lama violated ancient tradition

There has been a historical convention of conferring the title on living Buddhas.

Panchen Erdeni Chos-kyi rGyal-po attends religious activities in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, capital city of Southwest China's autonomous region of Tibet, May 18, 2022. PHOTO XINHUA Experts stressed the role of the central government in the Tibetan Buddhism system of reincarnation, saying it is a historical convention that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and other living Buddhas is subject to approval of the country's central authority.

They made a speech at the International Webinar on the Religious Rituals and Historical Customs of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas on Monday.

The Webinar was sponsored by three Chinese institutions, including the China Society for Human Rights Studies, on the sidelines of the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

For years, the Dalai group has hyped up topics about the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, claiming that the 14th Dalai Lama has the authority to decide his reincarnation, and the central government has no right to interfere, according to Fang Sanping, associate fellow from the Sichuan Tibetology Institute.

He stressed that the claim has violated the historical convention.

He said that leaders of different religious sects of Tibetan Buddhism and grand living Buddhas have been granted by central governments of different dynasties since the founding of the reincarnation system in the 13th century.

The enthronement of the 14th Dalai Lama himself in 1940 followed this established procedure, Fang added.

READ MORE: China opposes US interference in Tibet issues

The system of the Dalai Lama has been reincarnated after hundreds of years of development.

The central government is the supreme authority with the right of final decision, he stressed.

In 2020, US President Donald Trump signed the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020, which claimed that the person who reincarnates has sole legitimate authority over where and how he or she takes rebirth and how that reincarnation is recognized and if there is a need for a 15th Dalai Lama. The US has introduced more bills on the reincarnation issue since 2021.

Wang Yanzhong, director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the US actions have interfered in China's internal affairs.

The US knows about the religious rituals and historical customs of the Tibetan Buddhism system of reincarnation, Wang said.

The country has tried to impose its own policies and will on the convention that has been in place for hundreds of years and on China's laws and regulations.