2024-09-19 23:33:39
The Dalai Lama’s health scares his followers. The spiritual leader of Tibet, who recently celebrated his 89th birthday, has vowed to live to be 113. But the monks say that the Dalai Lama has never looked weaker.
In the past two weeks, the Dalai Lama has made several public appearances. He arrived in a golf cart for a meeting with his followers last week and had to be supported by young monks as he walked. A week before, he appeared in public with a cold.
“I’ve never seen him so weak,” nun Dolma Jangchup told the Wall Street Journal. “He is our only guru in this world, it pains me to see him suffer.
The health of the leader of Tibet and the highest representative of Tibetan Buddhism was discussed this June when the Dalai Lama flew to the United States for a knee replacement. “I recently had knee surgery that caused me some problems. However, I’m on the mend and have no problems,” he said in a video message for his birthday in July. “I’m almost 90 and apart from a little discomfort with my legs, I don’t feel unhealthy,” he added.
The state of health of the 89-year-old winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize is the subject of debate, mainly because it is not clear who will replace him as the leader of the Tibetan people. The Dalai Lama, as the highest representative of Tibetan Buddhism, reincarnates, therefore it is believed that the current fourteenth Dalai Lama is the same one who was born in 1391. He has worked in fourteen different bodies, the current one being the longest so far.
The new reincarnation, as in the past, should pass to the child after his death, to be found by the Dalai Lama himself. However, it is not yet certain whether this will happen at all.
The Dalai Lama has vowed that when he turns 90 next year, he will decide together with the senior monks what will happen next with his position. One possibility is that his reincarnation will be the final one. A child or even an adult successor could be chosen before the current Dalai Lama dies.
“This is new territory. This has never happened with the Dalai Lama,” explains Robert Barnett, an expert on modern Tibetan history.
If the Tibetan government took this step, it would gain more control over the succession. This is threatened by China, which has been occupying Tibet since the 1950s. At the same time, the current Dalai Lama, civil name Tändzin Gjamccho, seized power. Due to the deteriorating situation and the strengthening of Beijing’s power, he fled to India nine years later. The Tibetan government-in-exile still resides there.
Possible last Dalai Lama
The occupying government tried to disrupt the succession in Tibet as early as 1995, when the Dalai Lama identified the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second highest-ranking Tibetan, in a boy who was only six years old. However, Beijing imprisoned the child and his family. He has not been heard from since.
Instead, the Chinese Communist Party installed its own Panchen Lama. After the Dalai Lama’s death, there could therefore be two successors – one chosen by the Dalai Lama and one by Beijing. “This is a model that will apply again this time,” believes Barnett.
“From the Chinese point of view, it doesn’t matter if the Dalai Lama chooses his deputy or not. The Chinese will be guided by the fact that they want their own Dalai Lama,” agrees BR Deepak, a professor of Chinese studies in New Delhi.
The Chinese government considers the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist, but he himself does not strive for the independence of Tibet, reminds Radio Free Asia. He wants to take a middle, non-conflict path – he recognizes that Tibet is part of China, but demands religious, cultural and linguistic freedom for Tibetans. However, it is unlikely that Beijing would agree to this, as evidenced, for example, by Beijing’s efforts to use the Chinese name for Tibet in English texts instead of the traditional Tibetan name for its territory.
Twenty more years with the Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama himself does not admit to health problems and declares that he will live to be at least 113 years old. “The longer he lives, the better it will be for us,” said his 55-year-old follower Karmu, who attended a ceremony for the Dalai Lama’s long life last month.
“Conditions may be unfavorable, but you can turn them to your advantage,” he said during a session with the Dalai Lama’s supporters last week.
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