(TibetanReview.net, Nov21’23) – Questions continue to hang starkly over the whereabouts or, indeed, the very fate of the 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima he replaced in 1995. But this has not prevented the Chinese government-appointed 11th Panchen Lama Gyaltsen (or Gaincain) Norbu from ordaining on Nov 4 nearly 30 young Tibetan monks at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse City, Tibet, according to bitterwinter.org, the website of a magazine on religious liberty and human rights, Nov 21. What is more, he has asked these monks to be grateful and loyal to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in his first ordination of Buddhist monks.
Nov 4, 2023, corresponded to the Tibetan calendar day’s festival of Lhabab Düchen, which marks the Buddha Shakyamuni’s descent from heaven after sojourning there in a trip to impart teachings to the heavenly denizens and his mother reborn there.
The report said: “The false Panchen Lama selected this sacred day to ordain, for the first time, 28 monks in the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse. The monastery is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, which he unlawfully occupies.”
In an apparent act of Sinicizing the ordination vows, Gyaltsen Norbu, assisted by other monks subservient to the CCP, has given his usual instructions to the newly ordained young men. He instructed them to “be grateful to the Party, listen to the Party, follow the Party, promote the Party,” the report said.
He has also told them that they should thank the Party every day because the world is full of wars and crises, and they are fortunate to live in a happy, peaceful, and well-governed country.
In a press release issued over the social media on the event, the Party-loyal China Buddhist Association has said: “This ordination shows that the Panchen Lama has the ability to accept disciples and ordain, signalling a further improvement in the Panchen Lama’s Buddhist achievements and religious status. The peaceful and successful ordination ceremony also demonstrates the Panchen Lama’s prestige in the religious world.”