Panchen Lama

The Panchen Lama (Tibetan: པན་ཆེན་བླ་མ་; Chinese: 班禪喇嘛) is the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa (Dge-lugs-pa) sect of Tibetan Buddhism (the sect which controlled western Tibet from the 16th century until the Seventeen Point Agreement). The successive Panchen lamas form a "tulku" reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha. The name, meaning "great scholar", is a Tibetan contraction of the Sanskrit "paṇḍita" (scholar) and the Tibetan "chenpo" (great).

The current Panchen Lama

The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (Brtan-'dzin Rgya-mtsho), named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima ("Dge-'dun Chos-kyi Nyi-ma") as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama on May 14, 1995 but the government of the People's Republic of China quickly named another child, Gyancain Norbu ("Rgyal-mtshan Nor-bu"). Shortly afterwards, Gedhun and his entire family vanished. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance and continued absence have led his supporters as well as the western media to refer to him as "the world's youngest political prisoner". [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-worlds-youngest-political-prisoner-446248.html World's youngest political prisoner turns 18 (provided he is still alive)] ] Chinese authorities state that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima has been taken into protective custody, but there is no reference to what, or whom he must be protected from.

The true present (11th) incarnation of the Panchen Lama is a matter of controversy: the People's Republic of China asserts it is Qoigyijabu, while the Tibetan Government in Exile maintains it is Gedhun Choekyi Nyima; the latter was arrested by the Chinese government in 1995 and as of 2008 has not been seen in public. [http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/29/asia/dalai.php Chinese view of Dalai Lama bodes ill for its Tibet policy] , a March 29, 2008 article from the "International Herald Tribune"]

The recognition of Panchen Lamas has always been a matter involving the Dalai Lama [, Biographies of the Tibetan Spiritual Leaders Panchen Erdenis. Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1987. pg 350.] [ [http://www.savetibet.org/documents/pdfs/2004ReligionReport.pdf When the sky fell to earth] ] . The 10th Panchen Lama himself declared, as cited by an official Chinese review that "according to Tibetan tradition, the confirmation of either the Dalai or Panchen must be mutually recognized." [Panchen-lama. 1988. "On Tibetan Independence." China Reconstructs (now named China Today) (January): Vol. 37, No. 1. pp 8–15.] The involvement of China in this affair is seen by some as a political ploy to try to gain control over the recognition of the next Dalai Lama (see below), and to strengthen their hold over the future of Tibet and its governance. China claims however, that their involvement does not break with tradition in that the final decision about the recognition of both the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama traditionally rested in the hands of the Chinese emperor. [See Melvyn Goldstein's book "A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State". University of California Press. ISBN 0520075900. Emperors of the Qing Dynasty certified and approved the choices of both Dalai and Panchan Lamas. For example, the tradition of using the Golden Urn, which is unrelated to the religious or spiritual proceedings preferred by Tibetan Buddhists, had been introduced in the year 1792 by the Qianlong Emperor of China to deal with a previous controversy. After the Qing Dynasty, Republic of China's government took over the role. Both the current Dalai XIV and the previous Panchan X were certified by the Republic of China's government.]

Relation to the Dalai Lama Lineage

The Panchen Lama bears part of the responsibility for finding the incarnation of the Dalai Lama and vice versa. Furthermore, the search for the late Panchen Lama's reincarnation, or any reincarnation, is a philosophic matter. In the case of the Panchen Lama, the procedures traditionally involve a final selection process by the Dalai Lama. This has been the tradition since the Fifth Dalai lama, Ngawang Lobsang, recognized his teacher as the Panchen (Great Scholar) Lama of Tashilhunpo Monastery (Bkra-shis Lhung-po) in Shigatse (Gzhis-ka rtse). With this appointment, Lobsang Choekyi Gyaltsen's three previous incarnations were posthumously recognised as Panchen Lamas. The Fifth Dalai Lama also recognized Panchen Lobsang Yeshe (Blo-bzang Ye-shes) as the Fifth Panchen Lama. The Seventh Dalai Lama recognized the Sixth Panchen Lama, who in turn recognized the Eighth Dalai Lama. Similarly, the Eighth Dalai Lama recognised the Seventh Panchen Lama. [ [http://www.tibet.com/PL/june1.html Appeal For Chatral Rinpoche's Release] , from the website of "The Office of Tibet, the official agency of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in London"]

Choekyi Gyaltsen, the 10th Panchen Lama, became the most important political and religious figure in Tibet following the 14th Dalai Lama's escape to India in 1959. In April, 1959 the 10th Panchen Lama sent a telegram to Beijing expressing his support for suppressing the 1959 rebellion. “He also called on Tibetans to support the Chinese government.” [ Lee Feigon, Demystifying Tibet, page 163.] However, in 1964, he was imprisoned. [ [http://www.ibiblio.org/chinesehistory/contents/04ear/c07.html Exploring Chinese History :: East Asian Region :: Tibet] ] His situation worsened when the Cultural Revolution began. The Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng wrote in March 1979 a letter denouncing the inhuman conditions of the Chinese Qincheng Prison where the late Panchen Lama was imprisoned. [ [http://www.weijingsheng.org/doc/en/Excerpts%20from%20Qincheng.htm Excerpts from Qincheng: A Twentieth Century Bastille, published in Exploration, March 1979] ] In October 1977, he was released but held under house arrest in Beijing until 1982. In 1979, he married a Han Chinese woman and in 1983 they had a daughter, [ [http://tibetoffice.org/en/index.php?url_channel_id=8&url_publish_channel_id=786&url_subchannel_id=13&well_id=2 BUDDHA'S DAUGHTER: A YOUNG TIBETAN-CHINESE WOMAN] ] which was considered controversial for a Gelug lama. In 1989, the 10th Panchen Lama died suddenly in Shigatse, Tibet, at the age of 51, shortly after giving a speech critical of the Chinese neglect for the religion and culture of the Tibetans.cite news| title = Panchen Lama Poisoned arrow |url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A644320 | publisher = BBC| date = 2001-10-14 | accessdate = 2007-04-29] His daughter, now a young woman, is Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo, better known as "Renji".

List of Panchen Lamas

ee also

*History of Tibet
*Sakya Pandita

References and footnotes

External links

* [http://tashilhunpo.org/amber-alert.htm Help Find the Panchen Lama of Tibet!] , a reward is being offered for information on the whereabouts of the current Panchen Lama.
* [http://www.tibet-society.org.uk/pbackground.html Tibet Society UK - The Background To The Panchen Lama] from http://www.tibet-society.org.uk/
* [http://www.tibet.cn/english/zt/TibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/moban.asp?id=03 China Tibetology No. 03] , a series of articles from http://www.tibet.cn/ explaining in detail the Chinese government's position on the search of reincarnations of the Panchen Lama:
** [http://www.tibet.cn/english/zt/TibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/2003120053195249.htm Preface]
** [http://www.tibet.cn/english/zt/TibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/2003120053195527.htm The reincarnation of Living Buddhas of Tibetan Buddhism and the administration over Living Buddhas exercised by central governments]
** [http://www.tibet.cn/english/zt/TibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/2003120053195657.htm The Grand Living Buddha Reincarnation System in the dGe-lugs-pa Sect and the Central Government Strengthening the Governing of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas]
** [http://www.tibet.cn/english/zt/TibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/..%5CTibetologyMagazine/2003120053195756.htm A Successful Example in Searching and Confirming the Eleventh Panchen Lama Set for the Reincarnation of Grand Living Buddhas of Tibetan Buddhism in a New Historical Condition]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4551425.stm Tibet's missing spiritual guide] , a May 2005 article from BBC News
* [http://www.panchenlama.info/ 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet] , a website about Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
* [http://www.amazon.com/Search-Panchen-Lama-Isabel-Hilton/dp/0393321673/ The Search for the Panchen Lama] , The non-fictional story of the Panchen Lama's disappearance, written by Isabel Hilton.
* [http://www.dharmaking.com/ The Dharma King] , The Dharma King is a novel about one man's quest to find the reincarnated Panchen Lama and the long buried truth within him.