After Dalai Lama Who?

With the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama ‘Tenzin Gyatso’, 73, not keeping good health in recent times, there is speculation that a “regent” may be appointed for the interim period after the passing away of the present Dalai Lama.

The Times of London reports that the Tibetan exiles are keen to prevent China from hijacking his reincarnation, as it has tried to do with other of the most senior positions in Tibetan Buddhism.

“The idea was discussed this week at an unprecedented meeting of 600 Tibetan exiles in Dharamsala, the northern Indian town where the Dalai Lama set up his government in exile after fleeing Tibet in 1959.

“The most likely candidate for the regency is the 23-year-old Karmapa Lama, the third highest in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy, who was born and raised in Tibet but escaped to India in 2000 in a huge embarrassment for China’s government. (Karmapa Lama visited the USA in April this year.)

“Dalai Lamas are traditionally chosen by senior monks who interpret signals from the last incumbent after his death, search for promising young boys and then set them a number of tests.

“The current Dalai Lama ‘Tenzin Gyatso’— the 14th — was born into a farming family in eastern Tibet and identified at the age of two after passing tests, including identifying his predecessor’s rosary.

“However, exiled Tibetans fear that following this process would leave them leaderless while the next reincarnation grows up, and open the door for China to appoint its own rival Dalai Lama.”
More here…

For my earlier post — “Very Important Tibetan Lama To Visit USA Soon” — please check here.

For Dalai Lama biographer Pico Iyer’s version, please check here.

And for the Dalai Lama photo gallery, please check here.