M A I N   N E W S

China finds new ‘Living Buddha’
Karmapa’s kin offers to mediate

BEIJING, Jan 13 (AFP) — The Communist Party’s control over spiritual reincarnations again came to the fore with the announcement yesterday of the discovery of a reincarnated “Living Buddha,” who in the 1930s played a key role in administering Tibet and the discovery of the incarnation of the present Dalai Lama.

No details concerning the identity of the spiritual child that has been chosen as the seventh Reting Rinpoche and the reincarnation of the sixth Reting Rinpoche has been revealed.

The sixth Reting died in 1997, while the fifth Reting was the most noted of the lineage for having been chosen regent in 1933 by Tibetan parliament to administer Tibet and oversee the selection and enthronement of the present Dalai Lama in 1940.

The Chinese authorities reaffirmed their right to supervise the intricate reincarnation rituals of principle Tibetan spiritual leaders today, further opening a lively debate with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

“The role of the government is to supervise the work of the searchers in order to verify that the deceased lama has the qualities required for being reincarnated and that he is really dead,” an official at the Religious Affairs Bureau in Beijing said.

The official said it was up to the regional government in Tibet to announce Tibetan reincarnations and that it was “not necessary to ask for advice from the Dalai Lama.”

Pratibha Chauhan reports from Dharamsala: Mr Namgyal Gompo, uncle of the 17th Karmapa, today offered to open channels of communication with China, to resolve the crisis following the escape of the 14-year-old Ogyen Trinley Dorjee from Tibet.

Mr Gompo, who arrived here yesterday as a Chinese emissary was not granted permission by the Tibetan officials to meet his nephew. While returning to Delhi as a disappointed man, he said, “I am pained at being labelled a Chinese spy here, whereas the purpose of my visit was to carry the message from the Karmapa’s family and relatives.”

Mr Gompo, who lives in Kathmandu, was allowed to meet his niece, Ngodup Palzom, who had also fled from Tibet, with the Karmapa. “Since I was not allowed to see the Karmapa I sent two letters for him in which I have offered to mediate between him and the Chinese, with whom I am in touch. apart from this I sent a message to him from his family”, he revealed.

In spite of spending two days to reach his nephew, Gompo was not granted permission to see the Karmapa at the Gyuto Tantrik Monastery in Sidhbari. Talking to TNS he said he was in no way worried about the safety of the Karmapa, as he was safe in the hands of the Tibetan Government.

“Though I am aware that the decision to flee to India was taken by the Karmapa himself, but I am confident that it was Tai-Situ Rinpoche, who masterminded the escape from the Tsurphu Monastery in Tibet, he alleged. Terming it to be a wrong decision, he said the Karmapa should have applied for a student visa, so that his entry here could be legal and non-controversial.

He sought media’s help cover his message to the Karmapa, that he should not act in a haste and should seek permission to undertake his studies in India. He felt that there was nothing wrong in the Karmapa pursuing religious studies in India.

Mr Gompo, said the Chinese President had high regard for the Karmapa and he was willing to open the channels of communication with the Chinese. “There is no doubt that the Karmapa has committed a blunder by fleeing to India, as in this manner he has disappointed millions of Tibetans, who are facing a lot of repression in Tibet”, he opined. He said the people in Tibet were disappointed as they had pinned their hopes on the Karmapa. He informed that he had rebuked his niece for having taken such a major decision without caring for the family’s interest. “I met the Karmapa’s parents in Tibet, before coming here and they are in a perfectly good condition”, said Mr Gompo.

Mr Gompo, urged the Karmapa, not to act in a haste on the issue of political asylum, as it would have an adverse impact on the Indo-Chinese relations. “At a stage when the reconstruction of Tibet is in full swing, it should not be disrupted because of the Karmapa’s flight to Mcleodganj, the headquarter of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Commenting on the uncertainty regarding the grant of political asylum to the Karmapa, he said the Tibetan Government was confused and the position of the Indian Government was no different.

Give asylum: Tibetan ‘MP in exile’

NEW DELHI, Jan 13 (PTI) — The government today said it had received a “personal application” from a Tibetan “member of Parliament in-exile” for grant of political asylum to 17th Karmapa Orygen Trinley Dorje, though no formal request has come from the boy monk.

“A personal application for grant of political asylum to the Karmapa from a member of the ‘Tibetan Parliament’ was delivered at the reception of the External Affairs Ministry,” the ministry spokesman told newsmen declining to offer any comments on it.

The spokesman was referring to the personal memorandum submitted by a member of the ‘Tibetan Government in-exile’ Mr Dolma Gyari, which also urged India “not to fall” to Beijing’s pressure for deportation of the 14-year-old boy and his entourage.