B2) What were the roles of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas in Tibetan history?
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This article is from the Tibet FAQ, by Peter Kauffner Peter.Kauffner@bearsden.org and Nima Dorje tibet@acs.ucalgary.ca.
B2) What were the roles of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas in Tibetan history?
The Dalai Lama was traditionally considered supreme in both temporal and
spiritual matters while the Panchen Lama was traditionally considered
supreme in spiritual matters. A contradiction is therefore created when the
two lamas disagree, a recurring problem in Tibetan history.
Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, was born to a Tibetan peasant family
in Qinghai in 1935. He was discovered at the age of two by a search party of
high-ranking monks who gave him various traditional tests and concluded that
he was the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama (1876-1933). He was
proclaimed 14th Dalai Lama in 1939 by the Tshongdu, Tibet's national
assembly.
When the Chinese occupied Tibet in 1951, the Dalai Lama at first attempted to
cooperate with the new rulers. But concern for his personal safety sparked an
anti-Chinese revolt in 1959. He then fled to India, crossing the border just
ahead of pursuing Chinese troops. He now heads a government-in-exile which
administers Tibetan refugee camps and has its headquarters in Dharamsala,
India. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and has met with U.S. presidents
George Bush and Bill Clinton. His autobiography, entitled _Freedom in Exile_
(1990), is banned in Tibet.
"Panchen" is a traditional title of the abbot of Tashilhunpo and means
"great scholar." In the 17th century, the "great fifth" Dalai Lama (1617-
1682) declared that his tutor, the fourth abbot of Tashilhunpo (1570-1662),
would reincarnate. Although the three earlier abbots did not reincarnated,
they are usually counted as the first three Panchen Lamas.
As a result of a dispute between the Tibetan government and the Tashilhunpo
Monastery over tax arrears, the 9th Panchen Lama (1883-1937) fled to
Mongolia in 1923. He died fourteen years later at Jyekundo in Qinghai,
still an exile.
His officers (_labrang_) chose as 10th Panchen Lama (1938-89) a boy born in
Qinghai. At the insistence of China, the Tibetan government confirmed this
choice in 1951. The Panchen Lama was then brought to Tibet by a Chinese
military escort and enthroned.
In 1962, the Panchen Lama sent a "70,000 character letter" to the CCP
Central Committee in which he accused China of pursuing a policy aimed at
"genocide and elimination of religion." In a 1964 sermon delivered to an
enormous crowd in Lhasa, the Panchen Lama hailed the Dalai Lama's leadership
and declared that, "Tibet will soon regain her independence." [Dhondup78]
In response, the Chinese accused the Panchen Lama of "counterrevolutionary
crimes." He was then arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. He was released in
1978, married an ethnic Chinese, and moved to a large house near the center
of Beijing. As a vice chair of the National People's Congress, China's
national assembly, he often appeared on Chinese television. He died in 1989
of a heart attack, according to reports in the Chinese media. [Southerland89]
In 1995, the Dalai Lama recognized the six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as
the 11th Panchen Lama. China denounced this choice as a "fraud" and instead
recognized Gyaincain Norbu, the six-year-old son of a security officer.
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