Reincarnation: Indian MP Urges New Delhi to Recognise Dalai Lama’s Institution
By Tenzin Chokyi
DHARAMSALA, 17 Dec: Tapir Gao, an Indian Parliamentarian from Arunachal Pradesh, urged the Indian government to recognise the institution of the Dalai Lama during a zero hour in parliament yesterday.
The MP, who is also a co-convenor of All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet said the recognition is crucial as China had already decided in 1959 to choose the next Dalai Lama which presents a great threat to Buddhism, the Tibetan people and the future of Tibet.
The MP considered the possibility of two 15th Dalai Lama, one appointed by the Dalai Lama and the other by the Chinese Government.
He stated, “When the 14th Dalai Lama, whose name is Tenzin Gyatso, dies, there will be a reincarnation here as in the Buddhist tradition, and there will be a Chinese-appointed Dalai lama as well therefore, I urge the Indian government to confer the Bharat Ratna to the Dalai lama who is on the mission of love, peace and compassion and India must be ready from now to decide whether it will recognise the Chinese appointed Dalai lama or the one in Hindustan”.
The Dalai Lama, while addressing the issue of his reincarnation in 2011, stated that “the person who reincarnates has sole legitimate authority over where and how he or she takes rebirth and how that reincarnation is to be recognised.”
He further added that if he chose to reincarnate, the responsibility for finding the 15th Dalai Lama would rest on the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which functions as his private office.
The Dalai Lama has called the Chinese meddling in the matter inappropriate, given communist China’s rejection of the Buddhist concept of rebirth and declaration of religion as poison.
“It is particularly inappropriate for Chinese communists, who explicitly reject even the idea of past and future lives, let alone the concept of reincarnate Tulkus, to meddle in the system of reincarnation and especially the reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas.”
