Atlantis Online
March 29, 2024, 08:19:18 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Ancient Crash, Epic Wave
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/14/healthscience/web.1114meteor.php?page=1

 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links Staff List Calendar Login Register  

Tibetans Grapple With Dalai Lama Succession

Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Tibetans Grapple With Dalai Lama Succession  (Read 131 times)
0 Members and 43 Guests are viewing this topic.
Bianca
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 41646



« on: November 23, 2008, 10:30:56 am »







                                       Tibetans Grapple With Dalai Lama Succession






   
By JYOTI THOTTAM
Sun Nov 23, 2008
Time.com

The long life of the Dalai Lama is, for Tibetans, a profound blessing. But while they might pray to postpone
the moment of his passing, the leaders of the Tibetan community are no longer shy
about preparing for it.


"People have made repeated requests that His Holiness should help us in finding an unmistaken successor,"
says Lhakdor (he uses only one name), a delegate to this week's summit in Dharamsala
and director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. Tibetans do not want a repeat of the calamitous succession of the Panchen Lama in 1995, when China chose its own candidate. Pictures
of the little boy whom the Chinese rejected as the 11th Panchen Lama - he is believed to be imprisoned -
are still displayed here and there around Dharamsala. Tibetans fear that China will make
a similar disruptive move after the Dalai Lama's death, taking advantage of the long traditional process of
divining his next reincarnation through a series of clues.


So what is the alternative? The buzz among the delegates is the idea that it is possible to know the rein-
carnation of a senior lama while he is still alive. The Dalai Lama mentioned it recently, stirring up hopes
that he would name a direct successor, as well as a fair bit of theological head-scratching.

"It's something about the body, mind and spirit being split in two," one delegate told me.


"There has been some confusion," says Lhakdor, a monk who travels frequently with the Dalai Lama
and has worked as his translator. To be clear: he says the Dalai Lama is simply referring to an alternative
to the traditional search parties, in which the senior lama gives clear clues about where
his reincarnation will be found, to be followed after his death. Critics of the practice say that while it might
have some historical precedent, it is outdated and could open up the Dalai Lama to the charge that he is
trying to create a dynasty. "It's a bit discredited," says Jamyang Norbu, an outspoken pro-independence activist. "This was used by reigning family of the Lama to hold on to power."


Whether or not the Dalai Lama decides to take that unusual step, he seems to have begun the succession
process in other, more subtle ways. Senior lamas of all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism
now regularly attend the Dalai Lama's teachings. The Dalai Lama has arranged for the Karmapa, an important
lama who escaped from a Tibetan monastery eight years ago, to be tutored in several languages, including
Korean, an indication of a wider global role.


Most important, the summit itself is an attempt to make the Tibetan government in exile more democratic,
more inclusive and better able to make decisions without the Dalai Lama. The delegates took the first step
in that process on Saturday. They passed a resolution that reaffirmed support for
the Dalai Lama's "Middle Path" approach to China but also, for the first time, acknowledged and validated
those pushing for full independence or an end to negotiations. "It is significant," says Lobsang Sengge, a
delegate and fellow at Harvard Law School whose research focuses on the internal democracy of the exile government. The key to the Tibetan community's future leadership, it turns out, may be Tibetans them-
selves.



See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

View this article on Time.com





Related articles on Time.com:



Tibetans Look to Future, Without Dalai Lama

The Tibetans: How to Set Up a Democracy in Exile
 
The Dalai Lama's Succession Rethink

China Watches as Tibetan Talks Begin

Why Beijing Needs the Dalai Lama



http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081123/wl_time/08599186133800
« Last Edit: November 23, 2008, 10:36:44 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter



Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum
Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy