(TibetanReview.net, Sep04’24) – The “Tibet” branch of the Buddhist Association of China (BAC) has a new president, and he is the Chinese government-appointed 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu again. He is being groomed and has been mandated by China to Sinicize Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism.
On Sep 3, “Panchen Erdeni Chos-kyi rGyal-po” was unanimously “elected” president of the “Xizang” branch of the BAC at the first council meeting of the branch’s 12th council, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Sep 3.
The meeting began on Sep 2 in Tibet’s capital Lhasa.
The BCA is the official government supervisory organ of Buddhism in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is overseen by the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
The report said that earlier, on Jun 22, 2019 too, Gyaincain Norbu was unanimously “elected” to the same post, for the first time.
China expects him to play a leading rule in Sinicizing Tibetan Buddhism, in the tough task of winning Tibetan loyalty to the CPC-ruled PRC, and in China’s selection and appointment of the reincarnation of the current, 14th Dalai Lama.
To make a point of legitimizing his credentials for that role, the Chinese government media report said “Panchen Erdeni” is one of the most influential Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism. It noted that he was born on Feb 13, 1990 in Lhari County of Nagqu City in Tibet Autonomous Region.
“On Nov 29, 1995, he was approved and confirmed by the State Council as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen after a lot-drawing from a golden urn. He was then enthroned as the 11th Panchen Erdeni,” the report added.
The report said nothing about the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was abducted by the Chinese government in May 1995, just days after being recognized and proclaimed by the Dalai Lama, and whose fate has continued to remain one of China’s best kept secrets to this day.