By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, May 3: Tibetan religious heads, including that of ancient Bon religious tradition, have congregated here for a two-day conference to discuss and build an overview of the ever flourishing Tibetan Buddhism and to upkeep its traditional practices.
Heads and representatives of four major sects and sub-sects of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon are taking part in the conference that began yesterday at Surya Hotel. The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama presided over the inaugural meeting and also spent first half of the day meeting separately with the different religious heads and representatives. Sakya Trizin, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa and Menri Trizin, throne holder of Bon, are also attending the conference.
Earlier this morning, the spiritual heads and senior officials of the exiled Tibetan Government briefly gathered at the Main Tibetan Temple (Tsuglagkhang) to offer prayers for the Tibetan victims of recent unrest in Tibet and for peace. The special prayer congregation, led by the Dalai Lama himself, was joined by hundreds of people, including members of monastic communities and Buddhists devotees from different countries.
During the two-day meeting, the senior lamas, or Trulkus (‘Living Buddhas’), will engage in a substantive discussion on the issue of reincarnation tradition in Tibetan Buddhism.
The meetings will also find ways to withstand timely challenges to keep traditional Dharma practices intact and to avoid degrading influences from pervading into Tibetan religious traditions.
In recent times the issue of reincarnation of “Living Buddhas” became a thorny issue for China. China’s State Administration of Religious Affairs implemented a new law called the order no. 5, containing 14 articles on Management Measures for the Reincarnation of ‘Living Buddhas’ in Tibetan Buddhism.
The new law bans Tibetan lamas, or trulkus, from reincarnating without Chinese government approval and says anyone outside China cannot influence the reincarnation process and only monasteries in China can apply for permission.
Many Tibetans denounced the move as another attempt by communist Chinese leaders to undermine Tibetan culture and even absurdly to control the religious afterlife. Dharamsala based Tibetan Government-in-exile and Tibetan Buddhist heads, now mostly based outside of Tibet, have repeatedly repudiated the order as Chinese Communist government’s blatant interference to tighten its control over Tibetan Buddhism and its unique tradition.
In his inaugural talk yesterday, the Dalai Lama urged the other Tibetan religious heads to find ways to retain the healthy practice of Buddha dharma and not to be tarnished by political and worldly associations.
“Dharma should be purely spiritual,” he told the gathering. He described Buddhism as an emerging spiritual practice in the world with immense potential to contribute to the spiritual wellbeing of humanity and insisted fellow religious heads of the need to maintain religious practices in an orderly and healthy manner.
The Buddhist leaders’ meeting is being organized by the Department of Religion and Culture of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. Senior Tibetan Government officials were also present at the opening of the two-day conference.
