Published byTibet News Digest - November 1995

Beijing has selected its own Panchen Lama, creating a bitter confrontation with the Dalai Lama and his supporters. In an unprecedented move, Chinese authorities summoned 75 Tibetan Buddhist leaders to Beijing to choose three candidates for the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama. Pleas to include Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, already confirmed by the Dalai Lama as the rightful reincarnation, were rejected by China's leaders. Citing a 1792 agreement between Lhasa and occupying Manchus, who were toppled in 1911, Beijing insisted on using the "Golden Urn" ceremony to select Gyaltsen Norbu in a lottery that has left Tibet with two rival Panchen Lamas - one blessed by Tibet's exiled god king, the Dalai Lama, and one sanctioned by China's atheist Communist government. The drawing of lots from the golden urn has previously been used in recognizing three of the six Dalai Lamas and two of the six Panchen Lamas chosen since 1792. Shortly before his death in 1989, the 10th Panchen Lama said that he and the Dalai Lama should a

pprove each other's reincarnations. The last time a foreign power invaded and tried to install its own hand picked religious leader was in the 17th century, when the Mongols deposed the 6th Dalai Lama and instituted their own pretender, whom Tibetans never accepted.

The current affair has left Tibet tense. The Chinese have heightened security, with curfews imposed in Tibet's main cities. Reuters reports demonstrations and wall posters in Lhasa and Shigatse, home of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, seat of the Panchen Lama. Chadrel Rinpoche, the abbot of Tashi Lhunpo who directed the Beijing sanctioned search for the reincarnation, was deposed and branded a reactionary after the search committee's choice was confirmed by the Dalai Lama as the true reincarnation. The abbot's current whereabouts are unknown. Several dozen monks from Tashi Lhunpo are said to have been arrested for supporting the boy recognized by the Dalai Lama and subsequently rejected by Beijing. The whereabouts of the six year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima are unknown. Associated Press (AP) cites reports that he was being held at a guest house in Beijing. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the boy is not missing nor in custody, but at home. The spokesman's remarks also contained a veiled threat to ban Tibe

tan Buddhism, according to AP.

Little noted in the current controversy, Beijing has revived the Ganden Tripa, the head of the Gelukpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, a post banned since 1959. Observers fear Chinese authorities are trying to increase control over religious institutions in Tibet and are planning a purge of major Tibetan religious and political figures.