May 17 marks 25 years since Chinese security forces took away a 6-year-old Tibetan child, Gendun Choeki Nyima, and his parents from a remote town in Tibet. “In the absence of the Dalai Lama, India cannot make a similar claim.”Īs China’s influence in South Asia rapidly increases and the Dalai Lama grows old and frail, the exiles in India can only worry and wait.Exile Tibetan Buddhist nuns carry placards during a protest march demanding the release of their religious leader Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, who was put under house arrest by the Chinese authorities this day in 1995 in Tibet, in Dharmsala, India, Wednesday, May 17, 2017. This claim provides a moral legitimacy for the Indian government. “All the privileges afforded to the Tibetans on the ground, they are honoring an important and internationally recognized religious figure. “The current Indian stand towards the Tibetans is based on its relationship with the Dalai Lama,” Shakya said. These are worrying developments for the community. The note reportedly said that the events, in March and April, came at a “very sensitive time in the context of India’s relations with China.” A week later, the Tibetan Central Administration – the government in exile – decided to move a major cultural event from New Delhi to Dharamsala, where the exiled community is based. JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty ImagesĬelebrations last year to mark the start of the 60th anniversary were moved or canceled when asking senior leaders and government officials not to attend them. In 2011, in a move to democratize the Tibetan government-in-exile, the Dalai Lama gave up his political and administrative powers to become just a spiritual leader, but he is still by far the community’s most influential figure.Įven though he has set up a democratic structure for Tibetans in India, many are concerned their future may look bleak without the Dalai Lama to speak on their behalf.Ī Tibetan exile activist is detained by Indian police during a protest near the Chinese embassy in New Delhi on March 12. It reviles him as a traitor, “a wolf in monk’s robes” engaged in “anti-China separatist activities under the cloak of religion with the aim of breaking Tibet away from China.” The Dalai Lama says he no longer seeks an independent Tibet, only its cultural autonomy, but China is not convinced. Sanjay Gupta: Lessons from meditating with the Dalai LamaĬhina’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in March the “reincarnation of living Buddhas including the Dalai Lama must comply with Chinese laws and regulations and follow religious rituals and historical conventions.”īeijing must have full control over the appointment of the next Dalai Lama to help strengthen its overall grip on the Tibetan community, which is deeply faithful to its spiritual leader. The Dalai Lama meditates 5 hours a day Vijay Bedi, CNNĭr. So that’s an additional problem for the Chinese. In the interview, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate said: “In future, in case you see two Dalai Lamas come, one from here, in a free country, one is chosen by Chinese, and then nobody will trust, nobody will respect (the one chosen by China). It is given to those deemed to be the reincarnation of a line of revered religious teachers.Īsked in a recent interview with Reuters what might happen after his death, the Dalai Lama anticipated a possible attempt by Beijing to foist a successor on Tibetan Buddhists. Traditionally, the title is bestowed on the highest-ranking leader in Tibetan Buddhism. It is unclear who will succeed him when he dies, how that person will be picked or whether there will even be another Dalai Lama. The globe-trotting monk, now 83, decided last year to cut down on his travels, citing age and exhaustion. AFP/AFP/Getty Imagesīut as Tibetans mark 60 years of exile for their cultural icon, there is growing uncertainty about what the future holds. Tibetans gather during the armed uprising against Chinese rule on March 10, 1959, in front of the Potala Palace, the former home of the Dalai Lama, in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.
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