(TibetanReview.net, Oct04’25) – China’s communist party regime is avowedly atheist; but this has not stopped it from issuing a notice saying the “11th Panchen Lama” it has foisted on the Tibetan people will confer in the coming days a Kalachakra empowerment for, among other purposes, the prosperity of the Communist Party of China-state.
Probably the most popular, if esoteric, teaching in Tibetan Buddhism, the empowerment is meant to initiate devotees in the path for realizing their Buddha-nature by working with subtle energies within the body to purify the mind and attain enlightenment.
The Chinese government-imposed 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu is not recognized by mainstream Tibetans, given that the Chinese government abducted and disappeared since 1995 the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima already recognized and proclaimed by the Dalai Lama.
The Tibetan language tibettimes.net has posted a copy of the notice on its website Oct 3.
The notice issued Sep 29 by the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse City, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, says that for the sake of world peace, the flourishing and prosperity of the motherland, for the wellbeing of the people, and so forth, the omniscient “Panchen Lama” will, out of great compassion, confer a Kalachakra empowerment at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery’s Kyi-kyi Nakha site from Oct 9 to 12.
The notice calls on devotees to abide by the rules of the monastery and obey orders from on-site personnel. It banned the bringing in of any type of arms including knives, inflammable objects, liquor and so forth. It ordered complete silence from the devotees during course of the empowerment ceremony.
This is the second time Gyaincain Norbu is giving a Kalachakra teaching since 2016. The 2016 teaching was given at the Dechen Phodrang near Tashi Lhunpo Monastery from Jul 21 to 24, and was mired in controversy, according to Ms Phentog, Tibetan researcher at the Tibet Policy Institute – the Central Tibetan Administration’s think tank – cited by the Tibettimes.net report.
According to Ms Phentog, the Chinese government at that time paid money to a section of Tibetans to attend it while compelling a section of others to be present at the event. China described the event in its media as the biggest Kalachakra event in Tibet over the past 60 years, she has noted.
Gyaincain Norbu has been touring Tibet for the last several months with the main agenda to promote the Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism in keeping with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s grand vision of promoting a sense of community for the Chinese nation among the ethnic minorities. There is little doubt that the upcoming Kalachakra event will be geared towards that end.
The report noted that during his 2016 event, China’s state media said there were special cloud formations, the appearance of a full-coloured rainbow, and Gyaincain Norbu being the 11th Panchen Lama on account of having been selected by lot drawing from the Golden Urn offered by imperial China.
Gyaincain Norbu lives under close watch and tutelage of the Communist Party of China’s United front Work Department in Beijing, although the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery is supposed to be his estate. The department brings him to Tibet for around six months each year in attempts to boost his influence among the Tibetan people.