DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW When the Dalai Lama,Tibets spiritual leader-in-exile,suggested at the end of September that for the first time in 600 years his successor might be an emanation and not a reincarnation,he may have wrong-footed the Chinese government that runs Tibetfor the second time this year. China quickly rejected the proposal,which the 76-year-old Tenzin Gyatso,the 14th Dalai Lama,said has 14 years to be debated by Tibetans,with a final decision around 2025. Yet Chinas rejection creates a deep irony: The tradition-proud Dalai Lama,and Tibetan Buddhism,now appear more modern and flexible than the self-styled modernising Chinese state,which insists on the more old-fashioned and rigid reincarnation system,experts said. A first modernisation move by the Dalai Lama came in March. The Dalai Lama announced he would end the 369-year-old Gaden Phodrang system of governance,which had made him both political and spiritual leader,and devolve political powers to an elected prime minister chosen by exiled Tibetans in AprilLobsang Sangay. Sangays six-person cabinet,sworn in last month,includes two womenanother sign of change. The move has deep appeal for Tibetans,said Robert J. Barnett,director of the Modern Tibet Studies Program at Columbia University,New York. His democratisation strategy has huge resonance inside Tibet,because the Chinese constantly promise democracy but so far have not delivered it, Barnett said by telephone. The Dalai Lamas second modernising move was on September 24. In a 4,000-word statement,he tackled the subject of his succession. When I am about 90,I will consult the high lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions,the Tibetan public and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism,and re-evaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not, he wrote. The statement did two things,said Barnett. First,it sent a message to China: back off on the succession issue. There is a clear and unambiguous message that a lineage decision in Buddhism is to be decided by the lineage holder, said Barnett in the interview. No one else can decide. In fact,the statement was the Dalai Lamas long-awaited response to Order No. 5,issued in 2007 by Beijings State Administration of Religious Affairs,that it controls reincarnations. All reincarnation applications must be submitted to the religious affairs department of the provincial-level government,the provincial-level government,the State Administration for Religious Affairs and the State Council,respectively,for approval, Peoples Daily,the Communist Party mouthpiece,reported at the time. In his September 24 statement,the Dalai Lama called the order outrageous and disgraceful, and said Chinas insistence could cause irreparable damage to Tibetan culture. Moreover,they say they are waiting for my death and will recognise a 15th Dalai Lama of their choice, he wrote. So,secondly,the Dalai Lamas statement was an extremely judiciously worded announcement about the need to modify significantly the reincarnation system,or even a preparation for replacing it, said Barnett. The concept of emanation is already well known in Tibetan Buddhism,with many high lamas also considered to be emanations, Barnett stated. For the Dalai Lama,emanating rather than reincarnating might be preferable because it is more flexible. A successor could be identified while the Dalai Lama is still alive,since a lama can have multiple emanations during a lifetime. Emanating could solve the problem of the often messy interregnum in a reincarnation,since a child-successor can be identified only after a lama dies. Last week,China rejected the change. The title of Dalai Lama is conferred by the central government and is illegal otherwise, said Hong Lei,a Foreign Ministry spokesman. There is a complete set of religious rituals and historical conventions in the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and a Dalai Lama identifying his own successor has never been the practice, Hong said. Despite that,Barnett predicted in the interview that China would have to take notice,since the Dalai Lamas proposal would change the internal conversation in Tibet. By claiming control over all reincarnations,the Communist government has boxed itself into a theological corner,Barnett said. It may also be that this message is saying,Youve set yourself in stone as controlling reincarnation,demanding a right to control that,a claim which is offensive to most Tibetans, he said. They now face the prospect, he said,that reincarnation is not the way that the Dalai Lamas successor is chosen anyway.
