(TibetanReview.net, Dec14’24) –The Chinese-organized, three-day Nanhai (South China Sea) Buddhism Shenzhen Roundtable kicked off in Kathmandu on Dec 13 and in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha Shakyamuni. However, the Beijing-appointed Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu was not among the over 220 Chinese Buddhist monks who arrived there. Nor was there any sign that he would arrive to take part in the Dec 14 prayer event at Lumbini, reported the kathmandupost.com Dec 14.
The kathmandupost.com earlier reported Dec 12 that Nepal’s foreign minister and the Chinese embassy had categorically denied that the visit will take place, given the geopolitical controversy that this would give rise to. But other media reports in Nepal made it clear that Gyaincain Norbu will arrive in the country very soon.
It was keenly watched whether the China-backed Panchen Lama, whose name is Gyaincain Norbu, would make a surprise landing in Lumbini to attend a special Puja scheduled for Saturday (Dec 14).
“But he did not arrive,” Lharkyal Lama, vice-chairman of the Lumbini Development Trust, has said. Other monks who arrived on Friday from Beijing will participate in a special Puja on Saturday evening on the Maya Devi temple premises, the report said.
Previously too, both Lamas (the other being the Dalai Lama) were trying to visit Nepal but successive governments didn’t permit them to come to Nepal and Lumbini, the report said.
Earlier, Gyaincain Norbu was reportedly preparing to use a chartered flight from Beijing to Kathmandu to attend the special function scheduled to be organised on Saturday in Lumbini. When the information of his possible arrival was leaked, the government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu to make sure that he was not coming, the report explained.
Nepal was reported to have also made it clear that due to the sensitivity attached to his visit, it could not permit Gyaincain Norbu to visit the country. The Chinese Embassy was stated to have responded to the foreign ministry that “it is also sensitive towards Nepal’s concerns” so there was no plan to bring him to Nepal.
The report noted that Kathmandu faced a lot of external and internal pressure against hosting Gyaincain Norbu as it went against Nepal’s stated policy of ‘non-alignment’ and “maintaining religious neutrality and respecting all religions and sects”.
Nepal was stated to have conducted rigorous checks on every passenger of the chartered flight because Gyaincain Norbu might hold various names and identities and possess multiple passports. Meanwhile, a Nanhai Buddhism Shenzhen Roundtable was held in Kathmandu too on Dec 13 and it was inaugurated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the report aid.