(TibetanReview.net, Oct06’19) – The Third Special General Meeting of exile Tibetans called by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) at Dharamsala, which opened on Oct 3, has concluded on Oct 5 by rejecting communist China’s claim of having an imperially inherited right to appoint the next Dalai Lama. The final authority rests indisputably and completely with His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself and the concerned authorities of the exile Tibetan leader’s Gaden Phodrang Trust, the meeting was stated to have declared.
The meeting also answered in the affirmative the Dalai Lama’s oft repeated declaration since 1969 that the Tibetan people should decide on the relevance and therefore the need, if any, for the continuation of the Dalai Lama institution.
“On 5 October 2019, 340 Tibetan authorities representing the three pillars of Tibetan democracy: The Kashag; Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission, the five major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan diaspora spread across 24 countries, unanimously declared the six million Tibetan’s earnest prayers for the 14th Dalai Lama to reincarnate as per the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and rejected outrightly China’s preposterous interference in the sacred institution of Tibetan reincarnation,” reported the CTA on its Tibet.net website Oct 5.
The report said the Kashag (cabinet) and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, which jointly convened the 3-day event, announced that the two-page declaration of the meeting will be adopted as the official policy of the CTA.
“No nation, government, entity or any individual can claim to recognise the reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The final authority on decisions regarding the reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama rests indisputably and completely with His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself and the concerned authorities of the Gaden Phodrang Trust,” Speaker Pema Jungney was quoted as saying, reading the declaration at the event’s closing ceremony.
The meeting was stated to have rejected ‘with contempt’ Order No. 5 issued in 2007 by China’s State Administration of Religious Affairs for the “management of the reincarnation of living Buddhas”. The order declared that all reincarnations of tulkus of Tibetan Buddhism must get government approval, otherwise they are “illegal or invalid”.
The meeting was stated to have unanimously endorsed the Dalai Lama’s 2011 declaration that if the decision is arrived at to continue the institution of the Dalai Lama, the responsibility for the recognition of his reincarnation shall primarily rest with the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which will follow his written instructions for the purpose.
