A tussle for control of the Dalai Lama institution
Tenzin Norgay says the Dalai Lama institution, invested with spiritual significance for the Tibetan people, defies Beijing's attempt at control
Extreme societal intrusion was a hallmark of imperial China's statecraft on Tibet. Today, the Communist Party, too, does not shy from such practice. This has resulted in the relentless issue of quixotic laws and orders, the most recent being party leaders' order that the Dalai Lama must reincarnate under the terms of its 2007 law on reincarnation.
Pundits in both China and the West have commented extensively on the Dalai Lama's strategically ambiguous statements of being the last Dalai Lama, but all seem to have missed the pivotal point: the Tibetan people are the ultimate stakeholders in the Dalai Lama's decision over whether the institution should cease or not.
In their most recent response, party leaders admonished the Tibetan leader for "betrayal" by profaning Tibetan Buddhism and the reincarnation system "permitted" by the state. The fact, however, is that the Dalai Lama is restoring the institution to its original form of 600 years ago, free from the historical state interferences and abuse by power elites, including Tibetan elites. The unique Tibetan reincarnation system of religious figures is an indigenous system built on the people's faith in rebirth. But imperial China sought to control it in its empire-building project.
The ebb and flow of Sino-Tibetan-Mongolian politics have over the years transformed the Dalai Lama institution. This could turn out to be a double-edged sword for political security, as the present Dalai Lama is well aware. In ceding political authority in 2011, the Dalai Lama effectively sent two messages: firstly, the Dalai Lama institution is no longer available as a source of legitimacy for any dynasty-like rulers in Tibet, including the Communist Party; and secondly, that legitimacy is conditioned on the sole welfare of the Tibetan people.
The Tibetan experience of Beijing's rule has not been gentle, with flawed policies and campaigns that included the Cultural Revolution. Thus, the legitimacy of the Communist Party is shallow on the Tibetan plateau. It can be concluded that so long as the Tibetan people continue to suffer in their homeland, the Dalai Lama institution will not cease to exist as a source of spiritual power. In his grave, Mao Zedong must regret underestimating the power of spirituality and allowing the young Dalai Lama to escape Tibet in 1959 when cooperation between the two leaders failed. That strategy backfired as the Dalai Lama embarked on a worldwide spiritual conquest to highlight Tibet's plight in response to China's territorial conquest.
In exile, the Dalai Lama single-handedly kept the spotlight on the party's repression of the Tibetan people. In reply, Beijing pumped in billions of dollars in subsidies to buy the Tibetan people, albeit with miserable results. It's not the economy, stupid. It's governance that has always been the problem, and naturally the key to solve the Tibet problem in the People's Republic of China.
With no consensual autonomy arrangement in sight, Tibet's story must remain alive. It will survive if there is a next Dalai Lama in the free world as a "universal jewel", a title by which the Tibetan people refer to him to this day.
