In a statement that would upset China, the United States has made it very clear that the Tibetan Buddhists have the right to select the next Dalai Lama and that the Chinese Communist Party does not have any authority.
This is according to a US official dealing with international religious matters. “The United States is opposed to China picking the next Dalai Lama,” Samuel Brownback, the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom said on Tuesday (November 17).
“They have no right to do that. They have no theological basis to do that.”, Brownback said about China trying to pick the next Dalai Lama.
The 85-year-old Dalai Lama is the 14th leader of Tibetan Buddhists and he fled Tibet in the 1950s after the Chinese takeover of the Tibet to India.
As per time-honoured tradition, the Dalai Lama is the one responsible to help the believers find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. However, the Communist government of China wants the right to determine who becomes the leader of the Tibetan Buddhists.
“We think that’s completely wrong of the Chinese Communist Party to assert that they have that right,” Brownback told reporters during a telephone briefing.
“The Tibetan Buddhists have successfully picked their leader for hundreds of years, if not longer, and they have the right to do that now,” he added.
The prevailing fear is that, once the current Dalai Lama passes, it might be the end of a long tradition. That is why the Dalai Lama has said when he reaches around 90, he will consult other lamas, the Tibetan public and followers of the religion to decide “whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not”.
The Dalai Lama warned that “no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China”.