By Patrick E Tyler, New York Times Service

5 October 1995

LUSHAER, China - On a terraced hillside overlooking me gilded temples of the remote Taer Monastery here in western China, a young monk implored a visitor: "Would you please send me a photograph of the Dalai Lama? We are always waiting for him."

As be spoke, dozens of artisans were putting the finishing touches on an ornate guest residence for the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, who serve as political and spiritual leaders for the Tibetan people.

The problem is that no one can say when these living Buddhas might ever get the opportunity to visit here.

The 14th Dalai Lama has lived in exile since 1959, and the latest reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the 6-year-old son of a herder, has not been "approved" by the Communist Party leadership in Beijing.

For anyone who travels through western China, it takes very little time to discover the depth of support here for the Dalai Lama in secular and religious matters relating to the 6 million Tibetans who populate the sweeping landscapes of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

"Because the Dalai Lama is the highest figure of authority for our Yellow Hat Sect, all of the believers and we monks worship him," said one of the monks who, moments before, had been chanting from ancient scriptures in the Temple of Longevity, one of the many sacred halls among the labyrinth of courtyards and buildings that can be seen from the terraced hills. "Whatever is decided needs to have his approval."

The monk then rose and moved nimbly around a tiny altar, on which he prepared an offering of lamb, yak butter and candy wrapped in colored foil to the memory of a 17th-century' peasant named Luo Qi, who saved the life of the Panchen Lama by carrying him piggyback through the floodwaters of the Yellow River.

Perhaps the most urgent matter for Tibetans lately has been the political standoff with Beijing over the reincarnation of the 11th Panchen Lama. The 10th Panchen Lama died in January 1989, and according to the tenets of Tibetan Buddhism, his soul has migrated to a new host.

In May, the Dalai Lama announced from exile in India that after six years of searching, the 11th coming of the Panchen Lama had been found incarnate in the body of young Gedhun Choekyi Nyima in the Tibetan village of Nagqu.

Recognition of the reincarnation "is a religious matter and not political," the Dalai Lama said, adding, "It is my hope that the Chinese government will extend its understanding, cooperation and assistance."The proclamation was denounced by the authorities in Beijing, who for the first time since 1949 have an opportunity to select the Panchen Lama and control his upbringing and education. They have attacked the Dalai Lama's splitist" behaviour and 'illegal and invalid" act - accusing him of seeking to wreck the unity of the motherland and calling him every name secular leaders dare call a living Buddha without offending the Tibetan masses who worship him as a god-king.

But they have yet to challenge the religious verity of the Dalai Lama's choice: the boy with frost-reddened cheeks and an impish gaze who faces an uncertain future.

The struggle between the Communists and the Dalai Lama over who has the right to name the Panchen Lama is not just an arcane religious struggle; it is part of the collision of interests over who rules Tibet.

Since fleeing Tibet in 1959, when China crushed the most recent independence up-rising, the Dalai Lama, 60, has built an influential worldwide campaign for his return and greater autonomy for Tibet. The Taer lamasery is in a valley 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Xining, capital of Qinghai Province which was once part of Tibet, The lamasery was founded here in 1560 and today supports 560 monks and II living Buddhas, ranging in age from 7 to 80.

The 10th Panchen Lama visited the lamasery in 1987, and though he was greeted warmly, he was regarded as a collaborator by some Tibetans because he stayed after Chinese troops marched into Lhasa in 1959. He gave legitimacy to the Chinese occupation even as the Dalai Lama fled and fought for Tibetan rights in exile.

But he also struggled for Tibetan interests, petitioning the government to end torture, preserve Tibetan culture and stop the immigration of ethnic Chinese to Tibet. For his efforts, he spent a decade in prison during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.

THE MONKS here want any new Panchen Lama to avoid political entanglement with the Chinese government. Politics, another monk said, should be left to the Dalai Lama.

'The Panchen Lama should be a purely religious man and not a political figure," the monk said.

The struggle over naming the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, if not a arises yet, could still become one, as Beijing has yet to reveal how it will orchestrate the official steps to recognition.

After the 10th Panchen Lama's death at the age of 50, the search for his reincarnation began. Monks from the Tashilhunpo Monastery, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama in Xigaze, scoured the countryside for six years, examining candidates and seeking omens.

It now seems likely that as the abbots narrowed the list, word, leaked out to the Dalai Lama's exile home in Dharamsala, India. There, his proclamation and recognition of the boy preempted China's secular recognition by the State Council under Prime Minister Li Peng.

"If the Panchen Lama would have been enthroned only with the blessing of the State Council, that would have been a disaster," said Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama's representative in Washington.