(TibetanReview.net, Apr17’25) – As Tibetan Buddhists, government leaders, parliaments, human rights groups, and religious organizations in numerous countries expressed their opposition to China’s move to hijack the Dalai Lama reincarnation recognition process, atheist Beijing has turned to foreign Buddhists to support its position. It has taken a number of foreign Buddhists on a junket to Beijing and Tibet’s capital Lhasa to impress them with its narrative on the Tibetan Buddhist reincarnation system.
More than 20 monks and officials from 12 countries visited the Lama Temple and the China Tibetology Research Centre in Beijing, as well as the Sera Monastery, Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Tibet University in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, from Monday to Wednesday (Apr 14-16), reported China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Apr 17.
The report cited these foreign Buddhist practitioners and religious affairs officials as claiming their visits to key Tibetan sites and research institutions in China deepened their understanding of the reincarnation system of Living Buddhas and the development of Tibetan Buddhism in the country.
The report said that at the Lama Temple in Beijing, monks expressed strong interest in the Discourse of Lama, an inscription carved in Manchu, Han, Mongolian and Tibetan. Written by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the piece outlines the policy of selecting reincarnated Living Buddhas through a lot-drawing process using a golden urn.
The report quoted Lharkyal Lama, vice-chairman of Nepal’s Lumbini Development Trust, as saying Living Buddhas play a vital role in promoting Tibetan Buddhism and that their reincarnation has a long and rich history. He is reported to have called the Lama Temple “a symbol of cultural connection between many different places. … You can see scriptures in different languages, including Tibetan and Chinese, and the architecture and relics have been beautifully preserved.”
Lharkyal Lama is a controversial figure in Nepal. A leader of the Maoist Centre Communist Party of Nepal, he was forced to resign shortly after being appointed a minister when his party came to power on an earlier occasion. He was also suspected to be the key person who tried to bring the Chinese government-appointed 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu to a Chinese Buddhist conference in Nepal last year even after Kathmandu had decided not to issue him a visa.
The report also said that after viewing an exhibition on the reincarnation of Living Buddhas — including the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama — at the Museum of Tibetan Culture at the China Tibetology Research Centre, Penh Vibol, a member of the Secretariat of the Supreme Sangha Council of Cambodia, said the visit helped him better understand the background of the reincarnation tradition in China.
Other visitors mentioned by the report included Phra Sophonvachirabhorn, assistant abbot of Wat Arun Ratchawararam in Thailand; Nguyen Van Tan, a member of the General Buddhist Association of Vietnam; and Mendbayar Demberel, an abbot from Mongolia.
“I’m glad to have the opportunity to visit it for the first time. There are so many worshippers here, which shows that Buddhism has been well promoted,” Nguyen was quoted as saying.