Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, Feb. 11: China has expressed willingness to engage in discussions regarding the future of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, provided that certain conditions are met, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
According to a report by Reuters, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated at a regular press conference that China is open to talks about the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s future, but only if he abandons what Beijing perceives as a separatist stance. “The Dalai Lama needs to openly recognise that Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of China, whose sole legal government is that of the People’s Republic of China,” Guo asserted.
His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama, who turns 90 this July, fled Tibet in 1959 following China’s invasion and has since lived in exile. In a 2011 statement on reincarnation, the Tibetan spiritual leader asserted that the decision on his rebirth rests solely with him and that external political forces should not interfere.
“The person who reincarnates has sole legitimate authority over where and how he or she takes rebirth and how that reincarnation is to be recognised. It is particularly inappropriate for Chinese communists, who explicitly reject even the idea of past and future lives, to meddle in the system of reincarnation,” the Dalai Lama stated in 2011. He also emphasised that if the institution of the Dalai Lama were to continue, its recognition must follow Tibetan Buddhist traditions, rather than political dictates from Beijing. He further stated that, “I shall leave clear written instructions about this. Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognised through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China.”
The Tibetan spiritual leader has long opposed Chinese state interference in religious matters, arguing that Beijing’s involvement in selecting Tibetan spiritual figures contradicts both religious principles and its own secular ideology.
In recent years, Beijing has taken steps to institutionalise control over the recognition of reincarnated Buddhist figures. In September 2024, the Chinese government convened a meeting in Lanzhou to discuss policies and regulations governing the “reincarnation of living Buddhas.” The gathering, attended by Chinese officials and high-ranking Tibetan lamas affiliated with the state-controlled Buddhist Association of China, reinforced Beijing’s stance that all reincarnations must adhere to government-imposed regulations. The Chinese authorities promoted the use of the “Golden Urn” method, a controversial procedure that grants the Chinese government the final say in selecting reincarnated Buddhist leaders.
The Dalai Lama, however, has repeatedly rejected the legitimacy of the Golden Urn process. In his 2011 statement, he pointed out that while this method was historically imposed by the Qing dynasty in the 18th century when the Qing dynasty helped Tibet expel Gurkhas in the Tibet-Gurkha conflict, Tibetans had never fully accepted it as a spiritually valid practice.
A crucial meeting of the heads of Tibetan Buddhist traditions is scheduled for July 2025, shortly before the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday. Sources indicate that discussions will focus on the future of the Dalai Lama institution and the process for identifying his successor. Given China’s growing efforts to control the reincarnation process, this meeting is expected to be pivotal in shaping the future of Tibetan Buddhism and its leadership.
3 Responses
Dalai Lama’s future is decided by His Holiness himself and by the Tibetan people. It is uniquely a Tibetan tradition and China has nothing to do with it.
The only talk with China would be about Tibetan freedom and Independence .
NO NO NO, a big fat no.
Free Tibet.
Free Taiwan.
Free HongKong.
Prayers to all who died in Tibet and in China at the Tianamen Square revolution of 1989.
Take that you commie Pooh.
There is nothing new in the Chinese offer! It’s the same thing with caveats. The international community has demanded that communist China talk without pre-conditions. The CCP ignored the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Government-in-exile since 2010. Dictator Xi has been arrogant to think that he got everything under his control. He was living in his own fantasy. After the recent passing away of Kasur Gyalo Thondup, the dictator realised that one of their “friend” is no more and now there is nobody who could act as a mediator between the Tibetan Government/Dalai Lama and communist China. THE ISSUE OF TIBET IS NOT CONFINED TO THE PERSON OF DALAI LAMA ALONE!!!! IT IS THE SOVEREIGNTY OF TIBET AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE SIX MILLION TIBETANS! The Dalai Lama’s will come and go but TIBET REMAINS FOREVER UNTIL THE END OF THE TIME! Therefore, the Tibetan administration should not be looking for short sighted gains such as a visit of the Dalai Lama to Wutaishan mountains as he is said to have expressed. Learn from history, how the CCP duped the Tibetan Government in 1951 when Tibet was forced to sign the so called “17 Point Treaty” between the legitimate Tibetan Government and the Peoples Republic of China. It demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt that Tibet was independent and in complete control of its territory and the Chinese communist Government bullied Tibet (exactly like its bullying Taiwan today) to sign on the dotted line by the threat of violent invasion!!!! The silvery tongue of the communists duped the Tibetan leadership including the Dalai Lama himself. The Dalai Lama admits, “when I went to Beijing in 1954, I was anxious. When I returned from China, I met Military chief Tang Gua on the way, I told him, now my anxieties have been dispelled”! The Dalai Lama was duped with sugar coated communist rhetoric and he fell for their perfidy. The Chinese communists never live up to their words. They make promises only to broken! The Indians have found it only after 23 round of talks on the Indo-Tibet border fiasco. Indian leaders Nehru and his colleagues were all duped in the believe that China wants to be a friend of India rhetoric that the CCP doled out to them like a holy mantra! Only the 1962 invasion of India brought them back to their senses and the Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai fervour dissipated like water droplets evaporating into thin air on a hot day! They learned the hard way. The CCP treats Tibetans with disdain and detest the Dalai Lama and the exiles as “separatists”! They would avoid talking to the Tibetan exiles and the Dalai Lama unless they have something that is gnawing their hearts! Despite their detestable propaganda against the Dalai Lama to vilify him and the dehumanise the entire Tibetan nation and its people, the Dalai Lama has remained a thorn in their flesh! They know that every Tibetan in occupied Tibet revere him as their leader and their protector! Owing to this reality, it became incumbent upon the CCP to get its blood stained hand on his reincarnation to be used as a proxy to rule Tibet! The experience of their Panchen candidate and his standing among the Tibetans made them realise that having a communist handpicked candidate is not marketable either to the Tibetan public or the international community! Even their client state, Nepal refused to allow the fake Chinese Panchen candidate to attend a supposedly “international Buddhist conference” at Lumbini recently! So, the CCP is trying to woo the Dalai Lama with a bait like a visit to Wutaishan as per the Dalai Lama’s wish and detain him in China until he passes away and then claim, the Dalai Lama left direction where he would be reborn and take stewardship of the 15th Dalai Lama’s reincarnation! This is their final solution to the Dalai Lama reincarnation issue! The Tibetan leadership should not be tempted by the CCP’s amorous gestures. It is like the devil’s embrace NOR IT SHOULD EVER ACCEPT CHINESE DEMANDS ABOUT THE STATUS OF TIBET! THE DALAI LAMA IN HIS WISDOM NEVER EVER ACKNOWLEDGED THE CCP’S DEMANDS AND STEADFASTLY STOOD HIS GROUND THAT TIBET WAS AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY UNTIL IT WAS ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED BY COMMUNIST CHINA IN 1949/50! He made this very clear in his Strasbourg Proposal made in 1988. “Our history, dating back more than two thousand years, has been one of independence. At no time, since the founding of our nation in 127 BC have we Tibetans conceded our sovereignty to a foreign power”!!! The incumbent Sikyong has already disgraced himself by sucking up to the demands of the CCP to curry favour from them. He should keep in mind of the fate of Tibet for many centuries and not only in his life time! TIBET AND TIBETANS MUST NOT BE USED TO FULFIL THE PERSONNEL AMBITIONS OF INDIVIDUALS. The Middle East crises that has dogged the region for decades is ALL ABOUT OWNERSHIP OF LAND THAT BELONGS TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE THAT IS BEING BULLDOZED BY MORE POWERFUL INVADERS. The Tibet issue is the same. THE CRISES IN OCCUPIED TIBET IS THE RESISTANCE TO THE CHINESE INVADER’S BRAZEN THEFT OF OUR COUNTRY SINCE 1949/50! THEY ARE USING THEIR POWER TO RAMROD THEIR ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF TIBET DOWN THE THROAT OF THE TIBETAN PEOPLE AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY! If the Tibetan leadership accepts the conditions put forward by the CCP, IT WILL NULLIFY THE RESOLVE TIBET ACT, passed into US law by bipartisan US Congress and signed by President Joe Biden.