(TibetanReview.net, Aug01, 2017) – After being in Qinghai from Jul 14 to 24, Gyaincain Norbu, the so-called 11th Panchen Lama appointed by China to replace the one rendered disappeared in 1995 for having been recognized by the Dalai Lama, is visiting Tibet Autonomous Region, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency Jul 30.
The Xinhua report said that as in Qinghai, he had performed a series of Buddhist services in Tibet’s capital Lhasa over the past few days.
These including visiting on Jul 27 the Jokhang Temple, Tibet’s most sacred shrine, which houses a life-sized statue of Buddha Sakyamuni as a 12-year-old brought to the temple by Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century when she married Tibet’s powerful seventh-century king Songtsen Gampo.
The report said Gyaincain Norbu “led sutra chanting at the temple, praying for peace, prosperity and stability, before performing a head-touching ritual to bless the lamas”.
On Jul 30 morning he was reported to have “held a head-touching ritual for long lines of Buddhists, including young moms with sleeping babies in their arms, at his Lhasa residence”.
Gyaincain Norbu, born Feb 13, 1990 in Lhari County of Naqu (Tibetan: Nagchu) Prefecture in northern Tibet, was enthroned as the 11th Panchen Lama on Dec 8, 1995 after a lot drawing ceremony supervised by the Chinese government in the Jokhang Temple. He was appointed in place of Gedhun choekyi Nyima, a six-year-old recognized by Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The latter was taken away and rendered disappeared forever by the government of China three days’ after the Dalai Lama formally announced his recognition.