Tibet names reincarnated lama; China angry

Scott Simon, WES, 4/1/23; CC Liu, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

"His Holiness" the 14th Dalai Lama under ordination banner (The 14th Dalai Lama)

A Mongolian boy has been declared an important leader for Tibetan Buddhists

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(NPR) A Mongolian boy has been named a top leader of Tibetan Buddhism [reborn on earth and therefore called a tulku]. China is angry about this development as, officially, it maintains that it controls all Tibetan rebirths.]

NPR's Scott Simon talks with Julian Dierkes of the University of British Columbia on the implications for Mongolian-Chinese relations.

HOST SCOTT SIMON: The Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhists have declared their third most-important spiritual leader has been reincarnated in the body of an 8-year-old boy in Mongolia. The news has brought joy to [Tibetan Vajrayana] Buddhists, but it's also expected to create [political and economic] problems between Mongolia and neighboring China, which regards Tibetan [Vajrayana] Buddhism with suspicion and often outright hostility. Julian Dierkes is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia and joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.

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PROF. JULIAN DIERKES: Well, thank you for your interest.

SIMON: Do we know much about this young man?

DIERKES: We don't really. There's a little bit of news reporting, but that's not quite confirmed yet. I think it's probably deliberately being kept a little bit vague.

SIMON: For his own safety?

DIERKES: In part although we believe him to be in Mongolia, and so there wouldn't be any threat to him. But, you know, he's 8 years old by the reporting -- maybe keep him out of the limelight a little bit.

SIMON: Yeah, Tibetan Buddhists say he is the 10th reincarnation of the Khalka Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche. How do they know? How did the news come out?

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DIERKES: I am not a specialist on [Vajrayana] Buddhist reincarnations and how they find them [the tulkus], but it is a process the clerical hierarchy follows. And the announcement now has been an official announcement. There was an earlier announcement by the Dalai Lama when he was visiting Mongolia last that the search was on and that they were expecting to name someone. But that was not quite 10 years ago, but a while ago. And now the official announcement came. More

• Weekend Edition Saturday, 4/1/23 with Scott Simon