EVENTS

About the Speaker

Dr. Tenzin Desal completed his early education from Tibetan Children's Village School, Ladakh and then completed his doctoral studies in Anthropology from the University of Mysore. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute, researching on “Development in Tibet and Ethnic Policy in China".

Abstract

Arguably, unparalleled in world's history, Tibetans carried out momentous cultural importation of Buddhist India to Tibet, traceable to the seventh century in recorded Tibetan History. Tibetans undertook a harlequin translation project to make Buddhism available to Tibetan practitioners and students of Buddhism in Tibet. Since the declaration of Buddhism as the state religion by one of Tibet's great emperors, centuries down the line, Tibet produced Buddhist thinkers, writers, and practitioners who left a rich corpus of literature bearing influence on its art, architecture and their way of life. Tibet's prodigious scholarship and its cultural influence spread far beyond its political boundaries of modern time. Unique to Tibet, a practice of reincarnation was adopted and this practice still holds spiritual and political significance. Since communist China's engagement with Tibetan polity, Chinese authorities made series of attempts to bring the recognition of Tibetan and Tibetan Buddhist Lamas under its sphere of influence. As Tibet goes through one of its most turbulent times in its history, questions surrounding the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama is subjected to ever greater scrutiny and holds future implication not just in Tibet but in the larger Buddhist world.  

About the Speaker

Mr. Tenzin Tseten joined Central Tibetan Administration in 2007. He did his schooling from Tibetan Children's Village School, Dharamsala. He graduated from St. Aloysius College, Mangalore University, and post-graduation from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda. Currently, he is working with the Tibet Policy Institute. His research focuses on Chinese leadership.

Abstract

The Party-state’s management of Tibetan Buddhism particularly the control of the unique Tibetan reincarnation (tulku) system of religious figures, an indigenous system built on the people’s faith in rebirth, has resulted in the relentless issue of quixotic laws and orders. The Chinese leadership, right from the top communist party bosses in Beijing to their local cohorts in Tibet, is adamant at appointing the next Dalai Lama whether or not the 14th Dalai Lama decides in favor of continuing or ending the institution. My presentation highlights communist China’s policy decisions regarding the tulku system that are directly responsible for the current state of affairs and habitual distortion of traditional practice and study of Tibetan Buddhism. It also attempts to analyze how the Party-state by using the laws (the most recent being the “management of the reincarnation of living Buddhas also known as state order number 5” that came into existence in 2007), attempts to achieve the political ends of the Party-state with clear reference to the succession of the 14th Dalai Lama.