New Delhi: India has strongly refuted China’s assertion that the successor to the Dalai Lama must receive Beijing’s approval, emphasizing that the decision rests solely with the established Tibetan Buddhist institution and the Dalai Lama himself. This firm stance comes a day after China reiterated its long-held position on controlling the reincarnation process.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, a practicing Buddhist, on Thursday underscored the sanctity and autonomy of the Dalai Lama’s institution. “The Dalai Lama is the most important and defining institution of the Buddhists, and nobody else has the right to make such an important decision,” Rijiju stated, in an apparent rebuke to Beijing’s interference. He further elaborated that followers of the Dalai Lama believe the reincarnation should be decided by established convention and according to the Dalai Lama’s wishes, with no external interference.
The Dalai Lama himself, just days before his 90th birthday, had affirmed that the 600-year-old institution would continue and that the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which he established, would have the sole authority to recognize his future reincarnation. He explicitly ruled out any role for China in the process.
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China, however, continues to insist that any future heir must comply with “religious rituals and historical conventions as well as Chinese laws and regulations,” including the “Golden Urn” method and approval by the central government. This divergence highlights a long-standing point of contention between Beijing and the Tibetan Buddhist community, as well as India, which has provided asylum to the Dalai Lama since 1959.
Kiren Rijiju, along with another Union Minister, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, will represent the Government of India at the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday celebrations in Dharamshala on July 6, further signaling India’s solidarity with the Tibetan spiritual leader and his autonomous religious tradition.
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