China’s Panchen Lama Carries out Religious Rite in Tibet

Exiled Tibetans carry ceremonial scarves to offer them in front of a portrait of Tibetan spiritual leader, the 11th Panchen Lama in Dharmsala. (Photo: AP)

A youth named by China as the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, but reviled as a fake by many Tibetans, began an important Buddhist rite on Thursday, the first time in 50 years it has happened in Tibet, state media said.

Although officially atheist, China selected Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995 in a drive to win the hearts and minds of Tibetans.

Tibet’s current spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing brands a dangerous separatist, had announced his own choice of a six-year-old boy, but he was taken away by authorities and has since vanished from public view.

The Kalachakra ritual is an obscure but very important rite for Buddhists for activating dormant enlightenment, and has not been carried out in what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region for half a century.

The official Xinhua news agency said China’s Panchen Lama had begun the ritual at the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, the Panchen Lama’s traditional seat. About 50,000 Buddhists were expected to attend.

The London-based group Free Tibet said the ritual would be the biggest religious platform Beijing has given its Panchen Lama to date.

The officially atheist Chinese government has long tried to impose its authority on Tibet by co-opting Tibetan Buddhism.

Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren, Director, Free Tibet

“Its decision to have Gyaltsen Norbu preside over a ritual as important as the Kalachakra marks a stepping up in these efforts,” she added.

(With inputs from Reuters.)