Reincarnation Must now be Approved by Chinese Government

China is so determined to suppress opposition to its rule in Tibet that it has instituted a law regulating reincarnation. It's now illegal for Tibetan lamas to be reincarnated without first having applied for and received authorization from the Chinese government.

Here's the official report on the law.


China’s 2007 “Reincarnation Law”. The case of the 11th Panchen Lama raised implications for what happens upon the death and subsequent reincarnation of the current Dalai Lama (the 14th) living in exile. Apparently mindful of its previous experience with the 11th Panchen Lama, Beijing late in 2007 took steps designed to solidify its future control over the selection process of Tibetan lamas. On August 3, 2007, the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) issued a set of regulations, effective September 1, 2007, that require all Tibetan lamas wishing to reincarnate to obtain prior government approval through the submission of a “reincarnation application.” In a statement accompanying the regulations, SARA called the step “an important move to institutionalize management on reincarnation of living Buddhas.”

The Dalai Lama’s Special Envoy, Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, described the new regulations as a blow against “the heart of Tibetan religious identity.” The regulations also require that reincarnation applications come from “legally registered venues” for Tibetan Buddhism — a provision seen as an attempt to illegalize the reincarnation of the current Dalai Lama, who has declared he will not be reborn in China if circumstances in Tibet remain unchanged. In the aftermath of the new reincarnation law, the Dalai Lama also has said that he is thinking of alternative ways of choosing his successor, including selecting a candidate before his own death. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman responded to these comments by saying that such a move would “violate religious rituals and historical conventions of Tibetan uddhism.” The new reincarnation law inserts the Chinese government directly into what for centuries has been one of the principal mystical and religious aspects of Tibetan Buddhism.