M.J. Rose

The Politics of Reincarnation (from The Huffington Post)

by Christal Smith

(Originally published March 10, 2009)

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against China’s occupation of Tibet and the fleeing of the Dalai Lama to India. Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, then only 23 years old, fled through the Himalayas and has lived in exile since. He is revered as a deity by Tibetans and respected worldwide for his peaceful and nonviolent message.

Chinese media are framing the anniversary as “Serf Liberation Day” comfortable in knowing that the world stood by last year when demonstrations within Tibet around last March 10 were brutally suppressed.

Now at a time he that himself has called “the darkest period in Tibetan history,” the Dalai Lama is forced to confront the issue of his succession. The Beijing government has already indicated that it will attempt to designate his successor rather than wait for a young boy to be found by Tibetan elders and groomed for the role.

Pico Iyer has known the Dalai Lama since he himself was a young child. He traveled with him extensively and his latest book about the Dalai Lama, The Open Road, comes out in paperback today.

Q: Pico you wrote recently that the Dalai Lama is considering a “radical” approach regarding his successor. What would this be?

PI: I think His Holiness has always been a realist before anything else and really what we are seeing and hearing is that the events of the last year have shocked him even more than they’ve shocked the rest of us. He’s been used to cruelty and oppression and obstructionism from the Beijing government for the last 60 years but he never expected quite the degree of ruthlessness that he’s seen since the demonstrations last March and the way in which China has dropped this black curtain so that the whole of the world can’t know what’s happening in Tibet. What he has been saying, is that he’s done everything possible in terms of opening the door, [from] extending the hand of freedom, [to] making concessions, and bringing logic to the situation, and none of that has moved China at all. I think he’s almost given way to a little bit of exasperation and said “there’s nothing more I can do but let’s hope that China comes to its senses soon.”

So how is he opening a new chapter in Tibetan history?…

(For the complete article please click here. Also, you can hear this interview and other stories about March 10 on www.thetibetconnection.org.)

Image credit: Shepard Fairey